By Cynthia Ayala

Being a teenager is hard. There are boys to kiss, facials to work on, and in Georgia’s case, a little sister who latches to her side and room and a wild cat, Angus, who terrorizes everyone who isn’t her. Filled to the brim with a bottomless pit of teenage angst, this teenage journal is far from the perfect teenage dream for this one British teenager.

Published January 1, 1999, by HarperTeen, Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison, is the first in her YA realistic fiction series, Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, in the form of diary confessionals.

This is a novel that will reach out to younger readers who happen to be fans of Bridget Jones’s Diary. But for older audiences reflecting on their youth, this novel may just be, well, just a tad dull.

Now, that’s not to say that this is a bad novel, it’s full of some crazy antics, that’s for sure, but overall, it’s meant for younger audiences, and this particular reader is, as her mother likes to say, an old lady…at 25. But as a reader and writer, finding the right things to critique has never been hard to do.

This novel will certainly entertain young readers as it follows Georgia on her wild ride of a life as she figures out how to be more attractive to boys in the hopes of getting the attention of the boy of her dreams. Full of dairy entries that span months, Georgia is the embodiment of a crazy teenage girl who is boy obsessed. Added to that her crazy cat that is as wild as her, the two of them make a great pair. But that’s really all the novel has going for it. The tone of the novel is definitely there, and the style of the story, portraying the novel as diary entries, makes for a unique voice, and definitely a strong way to get her character across to the reader. Her voice is definitely believable to the reader, but what doesn’t always work is keeping the reader hooked.

As entertaining as the novel is, there are times where it falls apart and becomes monotonous. She’s giving herself the same facials that continue to clog her sink, she continues to move forward with her life. Sure there are some draw backs, but nothing climactic really happens, unless you count her getting the boy. The tone doesn’t shift and there isn’t a lot of character development in this novel for this character. She’s a teenager, of course there shouldn’t be a lot of character growth, but something should happen to make her just a little more likable, or at least a tad more mature by the end of the novel.

Overall, it’s a decent enough novel that allows for a fun read, especially if you’re in the mood for something less familiar. (★★★☆☆ | B).

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