FALLING IN LOVE WITH ENGLISH BOYS – Melissa Jensen
Speak
ISBN-13: 978-0-14-241851-2
January 2011
Young Adult Romance

London , England – Present day and 1815

My name is Catherine Vernon, but my friends and family call me Cat.  I am so not going to enjoy this summer; in fact, it might be the very worst time of my life.  While all my friends are going to be sunning it up at the beach and shopping in all the great stores, I am on my way to London where my mother (translation: "(s)mother") will be spending the entire eleven weeks of my summer vacation in an old, dusty library studying dead people.  (Ewwww !)  Mom wouldn't allow me to stay with Grandma—(S)mother thinks GM drinks too much caffeine for someone her age, and Dad is too involved with soon-to-be-stepmonster , so he doesn't have time for me, and the twenty-years-younger-than-he-is soon-to-be-stepmonster took over his apartment and there's no room left for yours truly.

Well, after a whole four days living in London , I am bored-bored-bored!  Mom thinks I should do more than just sit in the apartment writing blogs.  It rains all the time, shopping is strange; clothes here are sized two sizes larger, shoes are sized smaller, and Mom brought me a diary to read, written by an eighteen-year-old girl named Katherine Percival—in the year 1815!  ( S)mother thinks we have a lot in common; I mean, like, what would I have in common with a teenager who lived over 200 years ago!  Sigh .  So, here I sit, reading about all the fun my friends are having without me, getting daily reports on Adam-the-Scum who threw me over (in an email!) just so he could date what's-her-name !  But the good news is that I've met the very nice newsagent, Mr. Sadiq, and his daughter Elizabeth. Always ready to supply me with wonderful English chocolate bars, Mr. Sadiq is wonderful.  But really, I am so going to have to exercise off all these calories if I keep eating like this!  And (S)mother introduced me to this dishy English boy. His name is William Percival, and he's the cutest ever!  Do you suppose he is related to Katherine of 1815?

FALLING IN LOVE WITH ENGLISH BOYS is a Young Adult novel by debut author, Michelle Jensen.  The chapters alternate between sixteen-year-old Cat Vernon's blog to her friends and the pages of Katherine Percival's 1815 diary.  Both young women detail their lives, which soon begin to show distinct similarities in nature, events, and concerns.  Cat expands her horizons when she meets new friends and begins what might be a romance with young Will Percival.  Katherine's diary is a refreshing change and written in the Regency romance style, while Cat's blog is definitely, young chick lit.  This novel would be much improved by a guide to the abbreviations used in Cat's blog and text messages.  Most of the teenagers with whom I checked were not sure what she was saying, even though, for the most part, it is easy to figure out. However, not all teens speak the same text language!  Other than that, the characterization is spot-on, and this is a fun book to read.

A great story to start the new year with, don't miss FALLING IN LOVE WITH ENGLISH BOYS!

Diana Risso