Thursday 20 December 2018

The Growing Pains of Jennifer Ebert, Aged 19 Going on 91 by David M. Barnett

Synopsis (from Goodreads

Pages: 304 
Publisher: Trapeze 
Released: 15th of November 2018

Nineteen-year-old Jennifer is regretting her hasty move into Sunset Promenade, an unusual retirement home taking in students to save money. Despite their differences in age, Jennifer and the older residents thrive and embark on a series of new adventures. But when Sunset Promenade is threatened with closure, cracks begin to show, and this quirky group of friends must work together to save their home.

What I Have to Say 

This combined my love of old movies with my love of books that have a different take on what's normal. I love the idea of uni students lodging in a care home with old-aged pensioners and it really highlighted the tensions that we have going on between generations at the moment. Add in some mysterious disappearance of personal items and Jennifer's love of old movies and a strong desire to reinvent herself and become Lauren Bacall and it's a wonderful book full of mystery, hijinks and people who aren't quite what they seem.

But of course Lauren Bacall, traditional femme-fatale and oh so glamorous movie star, doesn't quite fit Jennifer's actual personality and the constant strain of trying to be someone she's not inevitably gets to Jennifer and it turns into a lovely story about identity, about finding herself and working out how to bridge the gap between who she is and who she wants to be.

The story has so much more than this, but if I go into everything I loved about it, it would become one of those reviews that says more about what happens in the story than what makes it good. Just know that it has a thrilling mystery, amazing characters that not only are quirky and fun but also feel very real and sinister goings on that will make you feel like you're in an old film-noir.

I got this book because it sounded fun, but I didn't realise quite how good it would be. I absolutely loved it and I hope you do too!


My thanks go to Netgalley and Trapeze for providing me with this copy for review. 

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