My Worst Best Friend by Dyan Sheldon

Gracie and Savannah are best friends – despite being totally different. Savannah is beautiful, outrageous and irresistible to the opposite sex. Gracie is shy, smart and would rather be learning about lizards than meeting boys. Together they make a great if surprising team and it seems like nothing could come between them – but over a long summer Gracie begins to question Savannah's reliance on lies and manipulation to get her own way and wonders whether her friend is quite as confident as she seems. When Gracie meets a boy she really likes, and Savannah comes between them, Gracie realizes that maybe it's time she started thinking for herself. 


Now, I wasn't expecting to like this book much. It sounds predictable and average, nothing very original or different. And I suppose, it was a bit predictable, and not very original, but I really, really liked it! It was a witty, character-driven novel about friendship, first love and becoming your own person. 


As I said before, this is a very character-driven novel, and all of the characters are well-thought out and likeable, bar Savannah. Not that she wasn't a well-thought out, she was, but I didn't like her. At all. She wasn't a nice person, and  thought it was perfectly OK to lie and deceive people, yet she got upset when others did the same back to her. Savannah was selfish, and wasn't a good friend to Gracie. But Gracie was annoyingly naive and kept on thinking Savannah was great. Seriously, sometimes I felt like shouting at Gracie 'Can you not see what a bad friend she is? Get rid of her!'. 


But Gracie was still a fantastic character. She was a bookworm, and really cared about the environment, and animals. I could really relate to her! I liked her relationship with Cooper, a boy she's friends with, but only starts to develop feelings for recently. It felt very real, even though not a lot happened, romantic-wise, between them. They had a lot in common, especially helping others and watching old movies. One of the bits I liked the most was when either Gracie or Cooper quoted lines from old movies and the other had to say what movie it was from, and who starred in it. I learned some great one-liners from this book!


This may seem like a ridiculous complaint, but I thought the book's major fault was Savannah. (It's not really a fault, actually. It's just my constant complaining). I know she was a vital character, and the book may as well not exist without her, but she just annoyed me so much. Every time she appeared in a scene, I felt like sighing and saying 'Oh just go away Savannah'. Yeah, you are now all allowed to laugh at me as much as you want.
I also thought the first half was a bit boring. But the story picked up in the second half,  a lot more happened, and I enjoyed it more.


I really enjoyed this novel! It's a great book, by a great author. Sheldon's writing was excellent and I can't wait to read more by her. My Worst Best Friend is the perfect combination of humour, friendship and romance. Highly recommended to fans of Cathy Cassidy and Cathy Hopkins. 


                                                 Rating: 4/5
Source: Borrowed
Pages: 320
Age Group: 12+
Official Publication Date: 1st February 2010
Publisher: Walker
Author Website: /www.dyansheldon.co.uk