Fourteen-year-old Lara Bloom is going into Year 10 but she’s still as clumsy, flat-chested and frizzy-haired as ever. On the positive side she’s also the captain and top goal-scorer of the girls’ football team, and she has three fantastic supportive friends. But when she meets gorgeous new boy, Caiden, she starts to worry that boys don’t like sporty girls and becomes convinced that she desperately needs a makeover to catch his attention. Lara’s friends insist that she doesn’t need a makeover she needs a ‘glow-up’ instead – she needs to work on her confidence and self-worth rather than her appearance. But Lara’s nemesis, the flawless Sienna, has her sights set on Caiden, and Lara knows she won’t stand a chance if her Mum doesn’t at least let her relax her hair…
Lara documents all of her thoughts in a diary app (after her brother reads her paper diary and blackmails her) and her laugh-out-loud funny inner monologue, as well as some of the ridiculous situations she finds herself in, prove Dee Benson a worthy successor to Louise Rennison. (I thought I might die of second-hand embarrassment during several points in the story.)
‘Glow Up, Lara Bloom’ is a heartfelt, hilarious and deeply relatable story with a wonderful message about learning to love and embrace everything about yourself. There aren’t enough funny books for teens, and I’ll definitely be recommending this one in the school library.
Swimming in Books 