Counting Stars by Keris Stainton

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 288

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Released: 3rd of September 2015

Big city, big dreams, no money, no problem...

Six 'friends', one flat, big dreams... what could go wrong? When eighteen-year-old Anna leaves school and moves to Liverpool, she feels like her life is finally beginning. She's landed her dream job at a theatre, and she's moving into an exciting (if not slightly run-down) flat on a buzzing street lined with shops, bars, and buskers. Best of all, her new flatmates are kind, welcoming and a lot of fun - what more could she ask for?

But although her new life is fun, it's also a little overwhelming. Anna's job quickly falls through, and then she realises that although her new friends are great, they're also a little mixed-up... and it's not long before Anna starts using her blog to talk about her experiences, from the hilarious to the ridiculous to the little-bit-scary. But when Anna spills a bigger secret than she can handle, suddenly the consequences are all too real. She'll have to prove she has the mettle to make it in the big city, or risk losing everything she thinks she wants.

What I Have to Say 

This book was a very realistic tale of a teenager moving away from home for the first time and one of the few books I've see that show a character choosing not to go to University, which is good because it shows the other path that people can choose. This will really help people who, like Anna, don't really want to go. 

Anna moves into a house with people who are honestly the dream housemates. They're fun, they're quirky and they don't argue about who's going to do the washing up (though I think that's just because Alfie does it). I really liked them as a group.

It shows various problems, living away from home for the first time, abuse, job hunting, parental pressure, sharing your life with the internet and many more. But it was a fairly gentle read. A lot of these problems bubbled away under the surface of the story for a lot of the book with the only real conflict coming in the last couple of chapters.

Though this book wasn't a "page-turner" or a "thrill a minute", it made a lot of valid points whilst being a gentle read. Let's be honest here, if all the books you read are "unputdownable" you'd never get anything done.

It probably won't be a book I think back on in six months time, but it was one that I enjoyed reading.

3.5 Stars