The Good Girl

I'd been reading this book for a while however I'd like to state at the outset of this review that it is the only book I've managed to finish in the last 6 months, which for someone who generally would read a book a week must say something for it.

It is a very modern tale of marriage, parenthood and adolescence in the digital age. The opening chapter sees a head teacher visited by one of her science teachers highlighting that a sex tape made by two of their students has gone viral online. It is only toward the end of the chapter we realise it is in fact the head teachers daughter Romy who features in the said tape.

From there we are taken back several months and follow the events as they build towards discovery of the tape. We have chapters alternating from mother and daughters points of view. We explore the complicated relationships between all members of the family and events from the past that have shaped how they live today.

Coming along to complicate matters are their new neighbours, New age hippy types who seek to run a sexual awakening style business in their purpose built sweat lodge at the bottom of their garden. It all sounded really unsavoury from the outset and I found that pages which featured these characters were the low points of the story.

The chapters from daughter Romy's perspective were in fact the best of the book, she reflects well the complicated sexual signals that teens today deal with incorporating families with complex sexual histories, the availability of sexual content online and the pressures this brings. She is a highly intelligent girl, both emotionally and mentally and the predicament she leads herself into is a real contrast to her otherwise sensible choices.

Some chapters were slower than others however it still, even in a mega reading slump, managed to keep pulling me back. It was well written and is an interesting tale outlining how sexually things are more dangerous than ever for our teens.

I'd recomment it as a good read, not outstanding but suitably thought provoking