Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery by Keren David
| Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery by Keren David | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Robert James
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| Summary: A big change in style for the wonderful Keren David sees her move away from thrillers for a lighthearted read which still tackles some complicated issues. Highly recommended. Keren David has been kind enough to chat about writing this book. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 352 | Date: August 2011 |
| Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1847801913 | |
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Lia is obsessed with a guy called Raf who barely seems to know she exists. She has a sister who's got some problems at school, a mother who never seems to stop nagging... and an £8 million lottery ticket in her pocket. Suddenly, she's a lot more popular with her family and friends - but is winning the riches on offer all that it's cracked up to be?
I'm a massive fan of both When I Was Joe and the sequel Almost True, both by Keren David, and this latest from the same author didn't disappoint. That said, it's extremely different - much lighter than the two thrillers David has written for teens, as we instead explore Lia's friends and family's reaction to her winning, her pursuit of Raf, and how she copes with the fame that accompanies her win. Lia is a really interesting heroine - to start off with I found her slightly unlikeable, but as we grow to know her better we see that there are plenty of positive things about her. It's also interesting to note the way she pursues Raf, and to compare her behaviour and attitude to those of some of the similarly wealthy youngsters she meets when she takes a short break. It's certainly an easier read than the previous two books by David - which were heartstopping at times - but it has its own serious issues to raise, as the author skewers our attitudes to celebrity, friendship, sex, and gambling. As always with David, the supporting characters are uniformly strong - I particularly liked Lia's kid sister, her friend Jack, and his overbearing mother.
Overall this is a strong recommendation to everyone, particularly fans of David's writing style who are interested to see her tackle a very different theme."
For another fabulously written book with a really feisty heroine, I loved We Can Be Heroes by Catherine Bruton.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery by Keren David at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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Keren David was kind enough to be interviewed by Bookbag.
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