French for Girls by JP Wright. BooksGoSocial, 2018. Tabitha Tickham Series. https://www.tabithatickham.com/

Most really good coming of age books I’ve read have been about boys, so French for Girls was a delightful surprise, a work of unexpected depth that in terms of quality reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Anne of Green Gables. It differs in that it focuses on a shorter window of time and on one relationship.

The story begins when an older Violet comes across a bundle of letters and reminisces about her twelve-year-old self and her pen pal at the time. Violet, having been moved up a year at school was perhaps a bit out of sync with her older classmates. She develops a relationship with her French pen pal Albert. Violet writes Albert in French and Albert writes Violet in English.

Their teachers are sisters. Two class exchange trips are arranged: first Albert visits Violet and then Violet visits Albert. Her relationship with Albert becomes the most important thing to Violet, dimming the effect of even her parents’ separation.

Violet’s very detailed recall of things that happened when she was waiting for Albert and when she was with Albert includes the food they ate, their mothers’ questions, their shared distain for their younger sisters and their sisters’ antics and how she felt. Though all of this is interesting, some of it seems to move as slowly as no doubt the time did when Violet was experiencing it.

There was for me a sudden twist to the story that I did not see coming. This lifted it from good to great. I realize that this is one of a series of books about Violet’s sister Kitty (Tabitha Tickham), but I am keen to know more about Albert.

I enjoyed reading French for Girls and I recommend it.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of French for Girls free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Note: I've submitted my review to Amazon.ca twice, not sure why it's not showing up. Will check and add later.

Every now and then I come across a book that feels personal, almost like an insight to my thoughts and feelings. This book did just that.

The story revolves around twelve year old Violet and her French exchange pen pal Albert. As Albert’s visit gets nearer, Violet thinks that she loves him and when they meet she decides that he’s her soulmate. During his visit there are calamities, a school disco and a language barrier which in parts are very funny and I found myself laughing out loud periodically throughout the book.

Overall, this is a story about first love in all of it’s juvenile form with heartbreak, delirious happiness and hormone fuelled thoughts. It transported me back to the lazy, carefree days of my youth and I loved it for that alone.

Many thanks to Netgalley and BookGoSocial for allowing me the privilege of reading this wonderful book.

This book is a gem! I don't even really like this genre but I loved this book! Great story, humorous at times. Love the characters.