Pretty Things (Bite) - Softcover

Sarra Manning is a teen queen extraordinaire. She spent five years working on the legendary but now sadly defunct UK teen mag, J17, first as a writer and then as Entertainment Editor. She then joined the launch team of teen fashion bible Ellegirl UK, which she later went on to edit and has consulted on a wide range of other youth titles including Bliss, The Face and More. Sarra was most recently editor of BBC's What To Wear magazine. She's now advises a number of UK magazine publishers as well as writing features and a monthly column for ELLE UK and is a regular contributor to Grazia and Red magazines. Sarra has also contributed to The Guardian, ES Magazine, Seventeen, Details and Heat and wrote the Shop Bitch column for Time Out London. Sarra lives in North London with her devoted dog, Dino, the mongrel she saved from an untimely death. http://sarramanning.blogspot.com

Grade 9 Up–Four deftly drawn teens from North London share the spotlight in this romantic rectangle. Brie regularly invites Charlie, her gay best friend, to sleep over in her bed. Charlie falls head over heels for Walker, a straight teen who is involved with them in a summer drama group that will be performing The Taming of the Shrew. Although Walker leads Charlie on, his heart really belongs to Daisy, a well-endowed lesbian who is also in the play. Gender identity issues intensify as Daisy discovers she is attracted to and enjoys sex with Walker as much as with her girlfriend, Claire. Charlie decides that even though he is really, truly gay, he still loves Brie enough as his best friend to want to have sex with her, though she does not reciprocate. Daisy finds Brie pitiful and annoying, but she forces an intense kiss on her just to show her what it's like to be kissed by another girl. Brie knows wholeheartedly that she is straight, but the boy she likes is sexually demanding and she thwarts his ultimate attempt to rape her. Despite all the confusion, complications, and miscommunications, by story's end everything seems squared away and the teens are a little surer of their relationships. The constant bombardment of gay versus bisexual versus straight issues and attitudes, and the frequent and excessive drinking, wears thin and becomes almost overwhelming. However, the four distinct voices that come alive and echo a strong story of love, disillusion, and resolution are the novel's saving grace. As she did in Guitar Girl (Dutton, 2004), Manning skillfully depicts scenes of romance and conflict.–Diane P. Tuccillo, City of Mesa Library, AZ
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