Scan barcode
A review by shauniesbookshelves
Chelsea High by Jenny Oliver
4.0
Norah Whittaker has lived on The Island for the entirety of her life, living in a houseboat with her parents and attending the same school as her best friend, Jess. After making a film set to make them millions, Norah's dad thinks they're all set... until it turns out the makers were fraudsters, and haven't got the money to pay back the investors of the film; the entirety of The Island's residents. Her father becomes involved in a court case, attempting to prove his innocence, but with the court case comes many changes for Norah and her family. Her father's parents are paying for the lawyer, and in order to keep them sweet, the whole family has had to up and move their houseboat to Battersea, and Norah has been enrolled in the prestigious Chelsea High (for the Posh and Rich). She tries to fit in with her fellow students, but they're worlds apart, and it doesn't help either that they all know about the Whittaker court case. One student in particular seems untouchable: the instagram sensation and lifestyle guru Coco. It's enough for Norah to deal with without Coco's superiority; Norah is having to spend time with the grandparents she never knew existed, she has the constant worry of her father, and the trial is tearing her family unit apart. Maybe auditioning for Chelsea High's play will make things look up, but is even that too good to be true?
I picked an ARC up of this at YALC this year, and I was so excited to start it!! Luckily, my first ARC lived up to my hype, and I really enjoyed it, giving it an 8/10! There were, of course, many punctuation errors, as well as some errors with paragraphing. Probably due to the fact it's an ARC, so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. It was silly little things that an editor would be able to pick up on, like (no spoilers) Norah knowing one of the teachers' names to be Mrs Pearce without being introduced to her first. Silly little things. The actual characters, perhaps due to the fact they are so similar in age to myself, are easy to relate to (if only in personality, not being able to throw the money around!) and I felt that I could be standing with Norah, sympathising with her. The school setting seemed very realistic, with its own curriculum set in place, its own clubs and its own teachers. All of which, like the rest of the characters were very well realised, and all of them seemed to stick to their guns; there were no sudden changes of heart, there were only realistic character arcs. It's quite difficult to know what to say about a book that hasn't been released without spoiling it, so I'll leave this review with a simple 'read it'!
I picked an ARC up of this at YALC this year, and I was so excited to start it!! Luckily, my first ARC lived up to my hype, and I really enjoyed it, giving it an 8/10! There were, of course, many punctuation errors, as well as some errors with paragraphing. Probably due to the fact it's an ARC, so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. It was silly little things that an editor would be able to pick up on, like (no spoilers) Norah knowing one of the teachers' names to be Mrs Pearce without being introduced to her first. Silly little things. The actual characters, perhaps due to the fact they are so similar in age to myself, are easy to relate to (if only in personality, not being able to throw the money around!) and I felt that I could be standing with Norah, sympathising with her. The school setting seemed very realistic, with its own curriculum set in place, its own clubs and its own teachers. All of which, like the rest of the characters were very well realised, and all of them seemed to stick to their guns; there were no sudden changes of heart, there were only realistic character arcs. It's quite difficult to know what to say about a book that hasn't been released without spoiling it, so I'll leave this review with a simple 'read it'!