And Actually...... by Denise Deegan

review by Maryom

Since Rachel has moved to Strandbrook College, her life has turned around. She now has real friends who she's grown to love and trust, and she's managed to put behind her the shameful things that have happened in the past. When she's lands a part in a TV medical drama, it feels like all her dreams are coming true but almost the first person she meets there is someone from her past, Rebecca French - and all the bad memories come flooding back...

And Actually... is the third in the Butterfly series and this time Rachel takes centre stage. Her story may be more 'everyday' than Sarah's or Alex's but none the less devastating in its impact. Bullying is an issue that affects many people's lives and here it's shown in all its insidious  bitchiness. The bully comes across as friendly and outwardly nice, managing to worm her way into people's lives then gradually manipulating their opinions. It's easy to see why so many were taken in with her stories - even when the reader clearly knows the rights and wrongs of the case.

A great stand-alone novel but for followers of the series, Alex and Sarah are back with their continuing stories.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Hachette Books Ireland
Genre - teenage fiction

Buy And Actually ... from Amazon

And For Your Information by Denise Deegan

A Slice of Teenage Life
review by Maryom

Sarah feels that her life is out of control - her parents have separated, her mum is angry all the time, boyfriend Simon pays her no attention, her best friends Alex and Rachel keep secrets from her and have loads more spending money... So when she accidentally discovers the power that shoplifting appears to give her, it feels like a good thing. Can that be right? or is it the way to spin even more out of control? Getting caught may be better for Sarah than she realises. It certainly proves to be life-changing!

To be honest, I'd expected And For Your Information to be just another fairly light-weight teen chick lit/school story - exam stress, bullies and boyfriends, - but realised quite early on that this story was something more than that.
Denise Deegan deals with important issues in an accessible, readable, yet thought-provoking, way. I haven't read the previous novel in the series, but found it easy to slip into the lives and problems of Sarah, Alex and Rachel - and between them they seem to have all the teenage problems in the world. It's not all doom and gloom for them though - there are plenty of laughs and a lot of romance. As the parent of a teenager, I particularly liked the way in which grown-ups were shown to have thoughts and feelings of their own - too often ignored by their teenagers!
An excellent slice-of-teenage-life novel - just be warned, the ending won't leave a dry eye in the house!

I think the cover didn't do the story justice - and could have been responsible for my expectations of it. The Mole actually suggested it looked like a fitness book!

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Hachette Books Ireland
Genre - teenage fiction

Buy And for Your Information: a Novel (Butterfly) from Amazon