Girls in Love

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Meet Ellie and her best friends Nadine and Magda, three teenage girls just starting Year Nine with a lot on their minds - mainly boys! Told in the bright, sparky and authentic voice of Ellie, Girls in Love is a funny, frank and revealing look at their friendships, problems and heartaches that older fans of bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson will adore.

Books in the series-
1. Girls in Love
2. Girls Under Pressure
3. Girls Out Late
4. Girls in Tears

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

One Girl The first day back at school. I'm walking because I missed the bus. Not a good start. Year Nine. I wonder what it'll be like. Number nine, number nine, number nine . . . It's on that classic Beatles White Album, the crazy mixed-up bit at the end. I've always felt close to John Lennon even though he died before I was born. I like him because he did all those crazy little drawings and he wore granny glasses and he was funny and he always just did his own thing. I do crazy little drawings and I wear granny glasses and my friends think I'm funny. I don't get the opportunity to do my own thing, though. It's half past eight. If I was doing my own thing right now I'd be back in bed, curled up, fast asleep. John Lennon had lie-ins, didn't he, when he and Yoko stayed in bed all day. They even gave interviews to journalists in bed. Cool. So, if I could do my own thing I'd sleep till midday. Then breakfast. Hot chocolate and doughnuts. I'd listen to music and fool around in my sketchbook. Maybe watch a video. Then I'd eat again. I'd send out for a pizza. Though maybe I should stick to salads. I guess it would be easy to put on weight lying around in bed all day. I don't want to end up looking like a beached whale. I'll have a green salad. And green grapes. And what's a green drink? There's that liqueur I sipped round at Magda's, creme de menthe. I can't say I was that thrilled. It was a bit like drinking toothpaste. Forget the drink. I'll phone Magda, though, and Nadine, and we'll have a long natter. And then . . . Well, it'll be the evening now, so I'll have a bath and wash my hair and change into . . . What should I wear in bed? Not my own teddy-bear nightie. Much too babyish. But I don't fancy one of those slinky satin numbers. I know, I'll wear a long white gown with embroidered roses all colors of the rainbow, and I'll put a big flash ring on every finger and lie flat in my bed like Frida Kahlo. She's another one of my heroes, this amazing Mexican artist with extraordinary eyebrows and earrings and flowers in her hair. OK, there I am, back in bed and looking beautiful. Then I hear the door opening. Footsteps. It's my boyfriend coming to see me. . . . The only trouble is I haven't got a boyfriend. Well, I haven't got a Frida Kahlo outfit or a bedside phone or my own television and video and my bed sags because my little brother, Eggs, uses it as a trampoline whenever I'm not around. I could put up with all these deprivations. I'd just like a boyfriend. Please. Just as I'm thinking this a beautiful blond boy with big brown eyes comes sauntering round a car parked partly on the pavement. He steps to one side to get out of my way, only I've stepped the same way. He steps to the other side. So do I! We look like we're doing a crazy kind of two-step. "Oh. Whoops. S-sorry!" I stammer. I feel my face flooding scarlet. He stays cool, one eyebrow slightly raised. He doesn't say anything but he smiles at me. He smiles at me! Then he walks neatly past while I dither, still in a daze. I look back over my shoulder. He's looking back at me. He really is. Maybe . . . maybe he likes me. No, that's mad. Why should this really incredible guy who must be at least eighteen think anything of a stupid schoolgirl who can't even walk past him properly? He's not looking up. He's looking down. He's looking at my legs! Oh, God, maybe my skirt really is too short. I turned it up myself last night. Anna said she'd shorten it for me, but I knew she'd only turn it up a centimeter or so. I wanted my skirt really short. Only I'm not that great at sewing. The hem went a bit bunchy. When I tried the skirt back on there suddenly seemed a very large amount of chubby pink leg on show. Anna didn't say anything but I knew what she was thinking. Dad was more direct: "For God's sake, Ellie, that skirt barely covers your knickers!" "Honestly!" I said, sighing. "I thought you tried to be hip, Dad. Everyone wears their skirts this length." It's true. Magda's skirt is even shorter. But her legs are long and lightly tanned. She's always moaning about her legs, saying she hates the way the muscle sticks out at the back. She used to do ballet and tap, and she still does jazz dancing. She moans but she doesn't mean it. She shows her legs off every chance she gets. Nadine's skirts are short too. Her legs are never brown. They're either black when she's wearing her opaque tights or white when she has to go to school. Nadine can't stand getting suntanned. She's a very gothic girl with a vampire complexion. She's very willowy as well as white. Short skirts look so much better with slender legs. It's depressing when your two best friends in all the world are much thinner than you are. It's even more depressing when your stepmother is thinner too. With positively model girl looks. Anna is only twenty-seven and she looks younger. When we go out together people think we're sisters. Only we don't look a bit alike. She's so skinny and striking. I'm little and lumpy. I'm not exactly fat. Not really. It doesn't help having such a round face. Well, I'm round all over. My tummy's round and my bum is round. Even my stupid knees are round. Still, my chest is round too. Magda has to resort to a Wonder Bra to get a proper cleavage and Nadine is utterly flat. I don't mind my top. I just wish there was much less of my bottom. Oh, God, what must I look like from the back view? No wonder he's staring. I scuttle round the corner, feeling such a fool. My legs have gone so wobbly it's hard to walk. They look as if they're blushing too. Look at them, pink as hams. Who am I kidding? Of course I'm fat. The waistband on my indecently short skirt is uncomfortably tight. I've got fatter this summer, I just know I have. Especially these last three terrible weeks at the cottage. It's so unfair. Everyone else goes off on these really glamorous jaunts abroad. Magda went to Spain. Nadine went to America. I went to our damp dreary cottage in Wales. And it rained and it rained and it rained. I got so bored sitting around playing infantile games of Snap and Old Maid with Eggs and watching fuzzy telly on the black-and-white portable and tramping through a sea of mud in my wellies that I just ate all the time. Excerpted from Girls in Love by Jacqueline Wilson All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

In Wilson's (The Story of Tracy Beaker) fast-paced first book in the Girlfriends Trilogy, ninth-grader Ellie describes why she's "feeling so fed up" and the sticky situations in which she finds herself. Ellie's first-person narration possesses a Bridget Jones-like energy and compulsiveness. Her constant obsession with her weight gets old, but her loathing of teachers, family and herself will feel familiar. Ellie's relationship with her two best friends, Nadine and Magda, and especially with nerdy Dan, whom she meets on holiday, serve as good models without being didactic. Feeling jealous after hearing about Nadine's new older boyfriend and Magda's summer flirtations, Ellie pretends that Dan is her boyfriend, though she substitutes his looks with those of a cute boy she's crushing on. As Dan expresses his romantic feelings for her through the letters they exchange, it becomes obvious that she won't be able to keep up her farce forever. Meanwhile, Nadine's boyfriend pressures Nadine for sex, and there's tension between Ellie's dad and stepmother. The short lists at the end of each chapter (like "nine most embarrassing moments") give readers insight into Ellie's past and her character. There are tender moments, such as when the heroine visits heartbroken Nadine, and the funny narrative, filled with British colloquialisms, and clever exchanges with Dan make this a breezy read. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

Gr 6-9-Ellie begins ninth grade with a detention for being late for English class. It's bad enough that one of her best friends has an older boyfriend and that the other one is supremely confident, but to start the school year off on such a sour note adds insult to injury. Feeling desperate and fat in comparison to her willowy pals, she transforms an unrequited crush that a younger, geeky guy has on her into a story of a sweeping romance with a gorgeous 15-year-old who lives far away. Ellie's story gets a little out of hand until Dan, who shows up at a party in London where she lives, of course turns out to be nicer, funnier, and more heroic than she had anticipated. Instead of viewing him as an object of derision, she finds herself appreciating his better qualities and realizing that it's what's inside a person that really matters. This British version of a formulaic teen romance has all the stock characters but will appeal to readers who enjoy the familiar and can empathize with Ellie's insecurities and the trials of ninth grade. Colloquialisms add a bit of authenticity to the novel. Wilson inserts lists of "nines" between chapters, such as "nine wishes," "nine things I hate about school," "nine unexpected odd facts," etc., which carry on the theme of ninth grade.-Susan Riley, Mount Kisco Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 7^-10. Starting ninth grade is more difficult than Ellie imagined. She's self-conscious about her hair and weight, and she worries about her father and stepmother. Worst of all, she's not prepared when her two best friends, Magda and Nadine, find boyfriends. Girls in Love, the first title in the British Girls trilogy, explores the three 13-year-olds' forays into romances both real and fantasized (Ellie invents her own guy). In the follow-up, Girls under Pressure, the friends face body-image challenges, sexual harassment, a lost modeling competition, and, in Ellie's case, a flirtation with anorexia. Readers, even those unfamiliar with the frequent British slang, will immediately take to Ellie's voice--all lighthearted, acerbic teenage wit and mercurial despair. They'll also appreciate the sensitivity and humor Wilson uses to show how common adolescent dilemmas become extraordinary events for each girl. Expect the girls' third adventure in the fall. --Gillian Engberg

Horn Book Review

When her best friends Magda and Nadine each get their first boyfriends, Ellie pretends she has a boyfriend, too--but really heÆs only Dopey Dan, the odd-looking but surprisingly funny guy she met on holiday. British language and setting flavor this humorous look at the anguish of starting high school, living with a blended family, dealing with puberty, and deciding itÆs okay to just be friends. From HORN BOOK Fall 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Hard on the heels of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (not reviewed) and that ilk, three 13-year-olds face life and boys in this first of the trilogy published in England in 1997 (Girls Under Pressure and Girls Out Late will follow). Ellie is the narrator, small, round, and determined to find a boyfriend. Her two best friends are the Goth Nadine and the glam Magda, and the girls' unaffected relationships with each other ring very true. Ellie's voice is sharp and self-involved, and readers will cringe with embarrassment with her over her chronic lateness to school, the boy she meets on holiday in Wales with his terrible hair, and other standard adolescent misadventures. Nadine gets involved with a much older boy, Ellie goes to her first couple of parties and crashes her first club, and she learns a bit more than she wanted to know about her dad and stepmom's relationship. Ellie's narrative is interspersed with funny little lists of nine things: nine wishes; nine dreams; and nine most embarrassing moments, which provide both giggles and heart-tugging moments. With its hot pink cover, no boys will be caught dead picking this up, which is too bad, for they would learn a lot if they did. (Fiction. 12-15)