REVIEW: My Dating Disasters Diary by Liz Rettig

Tomboy Kelly Ann loves football and computer games and has no interest in stupid romantic stuff and boy crushes. Her best mate is Chris, the boy next door, and he’s not into that stuff either, is he? Kelly Ann’s hilarious diary explores the crazy world of love.

Kelly Ann is fourteen and a tomboy - she's never had a boyfriend, and she's never wanted one! But when her best friend Liz convinces her she needs to get one soon or everyone will think she's 'sad', Kelly Ann sets out to find one, with disastrous and cringeworthy consequences! 

After finishing My Dating Disasters Diary, I have realised that despite only reading two books in this series, it's already one of my all-time favourites! This book is just brilliant. It's hilarious and addictive and I didn't want it to end! I read this in under a day, and would have read it in one sitting if I had had the time. It's easy and fun to read, and I flew through it.

I  (of course) loved Kelly Ann (who wouldn't?), maybe even more than I did in My Scorching Summer Diary! She is closer to my age in this book, so I found her and different situations she was in more relatable. Kelly Ann is one of the best and funniest characters I have ever come across in fiction and is incredibly likeable! As are her best friends Liz and Stephanie. I mentioned in my review of My Scorching Summer Diary that I thought that if I got to 'know' them a bit better I would like them more  - and I absolutely did! They were just fantastic! Liz was hilarious, physchoanalysing Kelly Ann all the time, and dumping her boyfriend because he was too boring (according to Liz) because he had no childhood traumas, phobias, and was too normally sane! Stephanie was great too, but unfortunately we didn't get to see a whole lot of her because she only came into the book over halfway through - she was still fab though, and I really liked her. How I would love to be friends with these three! Chris was lovely, although he didn't feel as real to me as the rest of the characters. Kelly Ann's Mum and Dad were really fun to read about - very embarrassing! 


I couldn't put 'My Dating Disasters Diary' down! Rettig writes brilliantly, and grips her readers in to Kelly Ann's world. I was totally hooked from the first page till the very last. I love books written in diary format, and most of Kelly Ann's diary entries were quite short, which I think is a very clever thing to do in books, because its not too long and boring, and makes people think - I'll just read one more bit! -  but then the entries are so short that you just can't stop! 


There is so many hilarious scenes in this book, and it's hard to choose favourites, but one was definitely when Prince Charles visited Kelly Ann's school, and she was allowed to meet and greet him. I won't say what happens, I'll let you find that out for yourself, but I will say it's  absolutely genius of the author to come up with something like that! Or another of my favourites was Kelly-Ann's 'date' with a boy called William - what a disaster! You really have to read this book - I can't recommend it enough!


The Kelly Ann series is totally underrated - it deserves far more recognition and a place on the bestseller lists! It reminds me of the Georgia Nicholson series - fans of Louise Rennison will fall in love with Kelly Ann and her outlandish adventures. Every teenage girl (and everyone else actually!) should read this book!

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: 368

Age group: 12+

Official Publication Date: 7th May 2009
Publisher: Corgi, an imprint of Random House