Humans have 70,000 thoughts per day, it takes 30 minutes for a human body to produce enough heat to boil half a gallon of water and the human brain consists of 80 per cent water are just some of the gems dotted amongst this YA read.
Harriet Manners has just finished her exams, her ex-boyfriend has texted her, her parents are obsessed with the impending birth of Harriet's new sibling, and Harriet still only has one best friend (and a friendly, harmless stalker).
So what better plan for the summer than to go to Tokyo to model for a new line by terrifying designer Yuka Ito? There, Harriet makes friends, encounters her ex-boyfriend and finds that she just can't get a break when it comes to modelling.
I confess, I haven't read the first book in this series, so I was a little worried I'd be completely lost. That worry was unfounded though. Smale's descriptions and her characters are so lively that I felt like I knew what was going on immediately.
Harriet is a great protagonist, and despite the fact that hardly any of us were recruited as models when we were 15, she is relatable. Her insecurities are the insecurities of every teenage girl out there, and every teenage girl us adults still feel like sometimes - why do I always look stupid when I really can't afford to, why do I never say the right thing when it's needed, why, why, why?
But for me, it was the secondary characters that really stood out. I loved Harriet's crazy agent Wilbur, who seemed like a cross between that guy from Pineapple Dance Studios and Carrie's friend from Sex and the City. I also loved Rin, despite her faults, and her long-suffering cat Kylie Minogue. And then there was Nick, the teenage boyfriend dreams are made of when you're 15!
Model Misfit took me barely any time to read, and was light-hearted but with an underlying serious side. It's a book for every insecure girl out there.
How I got this book: Borrowed from the library
I've jumped into a series midway through before (a couple of times by accident), and it's usually confusing! Glad to hear that wasn't the case here. This is such a cute cover, and from your review, it sounds like it's just like I would have imagined from the cover. It's nice when that happens. :)
ReplyDeleteStephanie @ Inspiring Insomnia
I think there are some series you can jump into at whatever point (anything by Nora Roberts, some teen stuff) and others where you wouldn't have a clue what was going on. I think because this was a lighter read, there wasn't too much background knowledge needed, and anything you did need was repeated anyway.
DeleteSarah