REVIEW: My Scorching Summer Diary by Liz Rettig

Seventeen-year-old Kelly Ann leaves behind her boyfriend, family and friends in Glasgow to live and work in a London hotel for the summer. But losing her luggage and fending off tube gropers on her first day isn't a good start. Almost being arrested for stealing men's underwear on her second isn't any better. However she does manages to make friends, even though, to impress her new pals, she pretends to be older and more sophisticated than she is, with a doctor boyfriend. London life is fun, even though she has to work in a steaming hot kitchen all day. But her made-up life starts to get very complicated, and she has rely on old friends to save the day.

My Scorching Summer Diary is perfect, hilarious summer reading. I absolutely loved it! Kelly-Ann is a fantastic, cool heroine, and is very likeable and funny despite all her little 'white lies'...The situations she gets herself into are unbelievably cringeworthy, but so fun to read about! 

Kelly Ann is a brilliant character, and an entertaining narrator, I really liked her. I LOVED Mark, the boy she met in London. He was so kind and gentlemanly, and was lovely to Kelly Ann. I understood why she liked him! We didn't get to see a huge amount of Chris, Kelly-Ann's boyfriend back home in Glasgow, but when we did he seemed to be quite nice. But I found myself rooting for Mark and Kelly-Ann to get together...Mark was definitely my favourite! I liked Kelly Ann's new friends Suzie and Theresa. At the beginning of the book, I wasn't too sure about them, but as the story progressed they began to grow on me :) Liz and Stephanie (Kelly-Ann's friends from Glasgow) seemed like they would be great characters, were they in it more. I enjoyed reading their e-mails to Kelly-Ann - they were quite amusing :)

Possibly my favourite part of the book was when Kelly Ann's mum came to visit - the stories she told about Kelly Ann's past were absolutely hilarious - I was laughing out loud, bot just at these, but most of the way through the book as well! Another great part was when Kelly Ann woke up after her night out (of many) in London, and saw the drunken text she wrote. The thought of everyone on her contact list receiving a text like that had me in fits of laughter! 

Liz Rettig is a fantastic, and very creative writer! I was hooked the whole way through, and honestly, I didn't want it to end! I wish the book had been longer - I 'd read about Kelly Ann and her adventures in London all day if I could!

Kelly Ann told a lot of lies about her life to her London friends, and in the end they all caught up with her and it wasn't pretty. I felt sorry for Kelly-Ann, but I suppose it just goes to show that the truth always gets out! I  understood why she lied about all these things though, and I know even the best of us have told a few lies to impress others at some point or another! But as this book points out, there's no point trying to be somebody you're not.

I'm not sure if I liked the ending or not. *SPOILER ALERT HIGHLIGHT TO READ* It wasn't so much that Kelly Ann stayed with Chris instead of Mark (but I was pretty bummed about that :/ ) but that she was pretty much giving up her dancing dreams to go to uni when she wasn't that interested in it, all just for Chris. I am quite mad at Chris for holding her back :/ *SPOILER OVER* I hope there is another book, because although it was a well closed up ending, I would like to see if anything changes in the future.

My Scorching Summer Diary is one of favourite chick lit reads of the year. It's funny and entertaining, with likeable characters and a great story. I can't wait to read more of this series. I would really recommend it - great for a day at the beach, by the pool, or just a lazy summers day at home!

Rating 5/5

Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 314 

Age group: 12+

Official Publication Date: 29th March 2012
Publisher:  Corgi, an imprint of Random House

Challenges:  British Books Challenge