Pretty Things - Softcover

Sarra Manning started her writing career on the music paper, Melody Maker, than spent five years working on the legendary UK teen mag, J17, first as a writer, then as Entertainment Editor. Subsequently she edited teen fashion bible Ellegirl UK and the BBC's What To Wear magazine.
Sarra now writes for ELLE, Grazia, Red, InStyle, the Guardian, the Mail On Sunday's You magazine, Harper's Bazaar, Stylist and the Sunday Telegraph's Stella. Her YA novels, which include Guitar Girl, Let's Get Lost, the Diary Of A Crush trilogy and Nobody's Girl have been translated into numerous languages and her first grown-up novel, Unsticky, was published in 2009.

Grade 9 Up–Four deftly drawn teens from North London share the spotlight in this romantic rectangle. Brie regularly invites Charlie, her gay best friend, to sleep over in her bed. Charlie falls head over heels for Walker, a straight teen who is involved with them in a summer drama group that will be performing The Taming of the Shrew. Although Walker leads Charlie on, his heart really belongs to Daisy, a well-endowed lesbian who is also in the play. Gender identity issues intensify as Daisy discovers she is attracted to and enjoys sex with Walker as much as with her girlfriend, Claire. Charlie decides that even though he is really, truly gay, he still loves Brie enough as his best friend to want to have sex with her, though she does not reciprocate. Daisy finds Brie pitiful and annoying, but she forces an intense kiss on her just to show her what it's like to be kissed by another girl. Brie knows wholeheartedly that she is straight, but the boy she likes is sexually demanding and she thwarts his ultimate attempt to rape her. Despite all the confusion, complications, and miscommunications, by story's end everything seems squared away and the teens are a little surer of their relationships. The constant bombardment of gay versus bisexual versus straight issues and attitudes, and the frequent and excessive drinking, wears thin and becomes almost overwhelming. However, the four distinct voices that come alive and echo a strong story of love, disillusion, and resolution are the novel's saving grace. As she did in Guitar Girl (Dutton, 2004), Manning skillfully depicts scenes of romance and conflict.–Diane P. Tuccillo, City of Mesa Library, AZ
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