Keris Stainton, Counting Stars, Hot Key Books, 1 Sept 2015, 324pp., $16.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781471404634
Leaving home is a major milestone in any young person’s life and Anna cannot wait to move to a share house in Liverpool. The eighteen-year-old has been promised a job in the theatre she worked in as an intern, but on arrival discovers there are no vacancies. Deciding to stay, she finds part time work while she settles in to the house, getting to know her house mates and their friends. Anna is a keen vlogger under a fake name, Anna Sparks, and posts of her new life and small snippets of information about her new housemates and their lives. Anna appears young and naïve until her vlogs are discovered and begin to threaten her new friendships. She faces this with maturity and sensibility.
The narrative follows not only Anna’s new life but also those of her housemates, a varied group of young people including Alfie, business student, Molly and Sean, college students, and Nina, who has dropped out of college and is cleaning hotel rooms. Each character has their own issues to deal with and at times the narrative is told from their viewpoints. It is mostly Anna’s story, however, and charts her move from dependent teen to young, independent adult. She is a likeable character, as are her housemates.
The dialogue is believable and smoothly written. I enjoyed this book, easily becoming involved in the lives of the characters. I am not confident about labeling this a YA book however. The new adult category, with characteristics such as the ages of the protagonists, making difficult decisions and sex, I think is more suitable. This book would do really well in a public library so all ages could access it. I would recommend school librarians read it before adding it to their collection to assess its suitability to their school.
Reviewed by Liz Derouet