Friend Me by Cathy Hopkins Review

When I originally bought this book, I thought I was getting such a bargain, because who doesn't love getting three books in one for $8.99?? However, after probably about a year of sitting on my book shelf, because once again, other books kept getting in the way ;), I finally picked it up.  And let me just come out with it right away: It was annoying!

The three separate novels in this one book, are all part of one book series by Cathy Hopkins.  Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras, and Mates, Dates, and Cosmic Kisses, and last Mates, Dates, and Designer Divas.  There were numerous amounts of things wrong with these books, that I could mention; but I think to be fair, I should first of all mention that I found these books to be way too young for me.  I think the perfect age group for this series is probably between 12 and 14.  These girls were just a bit too immature for me...and I definitely still have my fair share of immature moments.

The novels consist of three best friends.  Each one of the three stories (each fairly short, the entire book, with all three novels, was a total of 497 pages) is in the point of view of Lucy; who suffers from self-image issues (then again: who doesn't??, especially at the age of 14???...oh who am I kidding, any age!!!).  Mates, Dates, and Cosmic Kisses is in the point of view of Izzie, who is realizing that boys aren't always as reliable (all I have to say to that is: DUHHHH...).  And then Mates, Dates, and Designer Divas is about Nesta who is the more spoiled on out of the three, and believes that her boyfriend won't like her if he finds out that she doesn't have the money to keep up with him (well...then he probably wouldn't be the right one for...ANYONE feeling that way!!!).  At the age that they are at, the girls use a lot of word choices that I found annoying when talking to someone in real life.  For instance: "fab" instead of "fabulous", and they said "brill" and "brillopad" which both stood for "brilliant".  It was all very Bring It On for me, if you get my drift; minus the bitch talk and cheerleaders and "totally"s.

I really must say though, if you or someone you know is a young woman growing up in this world, who is a bit naive about the reality of life (at least issues that practically every young woman goes through) then this would probably be the perfect series for them.

However, sorry I'm not done yet...

I didn't have this problem with the second and third novel in the book, however, there was one thing that really stood out for me in the first novel: how many stinking spelling and grammar errors there were in the first five chapters!! And that isn't even including the other ones in the last ten chapters!  It was getting so ridiculous that I actually almost put down the book and almost never opened it again.

One thing I did however enjoy about this novel was that this novel took place in London, England.  i love British accents and the individual words that American English doesn't use, such as "snogging", which in American English would mean "making-out" or "kissing".  As well as "mates" instead of friends and using the overall more proper form of the true English when using words like "fancy" instead of just plain-old "like" and "pleasant".  I loved that!

Overall Rating:

So that's it from me once again, I hope everyone has a great week.  If you are starting your summer vacation, then ENJOY the freedom!!

The Romance Bookie :)