Don't Peek (The Diaries of a Teenage Girl) in Q&A with Marita A. Hansen

May 13, 2013 Chippy Marco rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: teenagers, ya, new-zealand, real-diaries, non-fiction, teenage-girls, autobiography, funny, adorable

One of the sweetest, most adorable reads I have read.

description

This isn't my normal type of read, so it came as a shock that I actually liked this book, and a lot. Right now, I don't think this author can write anything I wouldn't like, because I really was stealing myself to not liking this one because it looked nothing like her other books, but since it was cheap I thought why not give it a go, and I'm happy I did.

This book really was a streak of light in the midst of my kindle shelf of dark reads. And One of the sweetest, most adorable reads I have read.

description

This isn't my normal type of read, so it came as a shock that I actually liked this book, and a lot. Right now, I don't think this author can write anything I wouldn't like, because I really was stealing myself to not liking this one because it looked nothing like her other books, but since it was cheap I thought why not give it a go, and I'm happy I did.

This book really was a streak of light in the midst of my kindle shelf of dark reads. And because of that, I won't be recommending it to my Goodread friends who LOVE dark M/M books. Still, you will be missing out. My partner caught me constantly smiling as I read this book, the cheeky sod asking me why I was looking like a sap. I told him to go away! But really, I still can't believe I actually liked this. It was a very sweet read, almost adorable in parts, the writer's thoughts ranging from comical to really cute to totally clueless then to very insightful. And even better, this isn't fiction. I had to keep reminding myself throughout that these diaries are real, and by the end of the book I was so excited that for once the writer wrote a completely happy ending!!! And since it was real, it put a bigger grin on my stupid face.

Now, actually about the book. It's made up of real dairies that the author wrote as a teenager in the 1980s and 1990s. She's been brought up in a strict family, and goes from a Catholic school to a public one, and because she's intensely shy she doesn't have much luck with boys. So she is constantly thinking about them, along with sport in the first part. And because she doesn't have much knowledge of boys, she makes mistakes and has some pretty funny thought processes with trying to get them to notice her. She really is clueless, but so adorable, lol. It had me laughing at times, though I'm a sap, so when she finally gets the boy I wanted to jump with joy like she did :)

However, this book is not just about boys, but also about trying to become independent. It really is a coming of age tale, because at a certain point in the diaries, although her boyfriend features majorly, her family also play a major role. She wants to break free, but without hurting them, and her fear of losing her love is constant because he has a different upbringing and way of thinking to her parents. She tries to make both sides happy at her own expense. Though, one bit got to me, the comments where she whited out a name, because that hit home for me in particular.

That's enough, other than to say that I had to keep kicking myself to remind me that this was not fiction. I don't tend to read non-fiction because I find it boring, but this was not boring, this was a telling of a story, it just happened to be true.

Who do I think will like this? I think anyone, because it is very sweet. But I think teenage girls will lap it up the most, as well as people reminiscing about the past, because I haven't heard some of those names of groups for a while. INX, Duran Duran, who else was there? Poison, that is all I can remember right now. Also, the mention of Johnny Depp made me smile. My partner is a huge fan of 21 Jump Street :)

So, if you want a walk on the sweet side of life, give this a look in. 5 sweet stars from a big smiling sap.

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