Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Audrey, Wait! (2007) (Hodder Children's Books)
Robin Benway
Grade: B
Genre: young adult
Source: own

General RBC 2015: A book on your TBR pile 

When Audrey Cuttler breaks up with her boyfriend Evan, lead singer of the Do-Gooders, the last thing she expects is for her – and him – to become overnight celebrities. Evan, in a fit of rare and truly inspired genius, writes a song about their break-up and it goes viral. ‘Audrey, Wait!’ is catchy and an unsuspected success, getting the Do-Gooders airtime on every local radio station. Of course, everyone wants to hear Audrey’s side of the story and before she can blink, reporters and their cameras are following her every move, she’s forced to take all her classes in the school office just so the other kids stop staring, and her job at the Scooper Dooper becomes a peep show. Audrey can’t wait for all the attention to die down … in her dreams …

Audrey, Wait! is been one of the books that has been sitting on my shelf and thus my TBR pile for years. Literally, years. Finally, this status has been remedied and it’s one of many young adult books (amongst others) that I bought whilst still in my YA phase, that I can tick off the to-be-read list. This was definitely a good start.

Our eponymous heroine is funny – like the type of stand-up comedian I would actually like to watch, and I don’t like many. The writing is a little Princess Diaries-esque and like Mia Thermopolis, Audrey is flung into stardom overnight when news gets out that she’s the Audrey of the song. Truthfully, she was just fed up of being passed over by her boyfriend in favour of band rehearsals and gigs. Until this point, the Do-Gooders were nothing special: just another group of high-school boys aspiring to make it big. After performing this song at a local gig (just hours after the Break Up) they literally rocket to fame. To Audrey’s dismay, this isn’t just fifteen minutes, either. She can only watch in horror as the song climbs the charts and as the Do-Gooders’ rise in fame, so does she. In the sense of the media attention, this was fast-paced novel and it was a surprisingly enjoyable read.

If you’re in the mood for something light and fluffy, this is the book for you. As she is put in the spotlight, Audrey’s relationships with her family and closest friends are put to test, showing exactly who is on her side. Audrey has a tendency to act before she thinks, leading to hilarious and cringe-worthy results. genuinely one of the funniest books I’ve read in a while and I’m sorely tempted to see whether Robin Benway’s other books are just as good.

Image courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.