Book Review: Friendship Fails of Emma Nash by Chloe Seager
Author: Chloe Seager
Publisher: HQ
Release Date: 09th August 2018
Synopsis: Emma Nash is back….and determined to work out the world of friendships and relationships once and for all (…ish).
Now she’s in the sixth form, Emma’s expecting life to be a breeze but when her best friend Steph suddenly has a boyfriend who she’s spending more time with Emma’s not sure what to do with herself.
So Emma’s got a mission in mind: making new friends. Signing up for the school fashion show seems like the perfect opportunity. Although soon, through a series of mishaps that are absolutely not Emma’s fault (well, sort of), her world is teetering on the edge of disaster again.
Would going back to creating a life for herself online reaaaaaallllyyy be so bad?
Review: Emma is back! Which means that my life has once again be carefully studied and spread across the pages for everyone to read! At least that's what it feels like. I should legally look into getting my name changed to Emma Nash. I think its the only appropriate thing to do at this point.
I remember reading Editing Emma and feeling so connected to both the book and the character, like someone had dragged part of my personality out and laid it down in book form. This makes it a joy to come back to a character you feel like you know and have been on a journey with because book one was quite the ride. We'd left Emma full of resolutions to change and so you'd be right in thinking New Book New Emma (I'm apparently very keen of that phrase atm) however as we all know and as Emma finds out, nothing in life is ever that simple, especially when you feel like you've changed and the world around you has its own ideas.
Written in short episodic diary entries we get everything; the before, the during and the after and the result is a really raw an open narrative where we see Emma, thinking, considering and learning with every entry because she is far far to open and observant about everything. She has a very distinct and comedic voice, and I read it like I can hear her talking to me (is that weird?). She's a trier god bless her, I'll give her that. The conversational tone really draws you in and I was addicted to this book, constantly wanting more, cringing with every other entry but more importantly laughing, openly and loudly in all kinda of public places because it was such a fun read. The only annoying thing was I was reading it on my phone so when i got a funny look I couldn't wave my phone in front of their faces and say its a BOOK! like I know Emma would.
Emma has this great selfish point of view. I don't mean selfish in the negative sense of the word, more, and this is something we all do, is that her pov is very single minded to what she think she knows and understands about the world around her. Her reactions to situations then don't always go the way she wants them and it's through these pitfalls that she learns to grow. And when you're Emma Nash/Me you don't make it easy for yourself. Hilarity ensues (thought I've never had and hope not to have a stalker!).
This was sone of the things that I loved about the dynamic of Emma and Steph's relationship. How they could be so close but their lives were both slowly changing and moving in different ways, with new people and new situations to factor in, but as is teenage way they weren't talking about it. So Emma assumes she knows what's best and you should never assume...because when you assume you make an ASS out of U and ME. I'm so glad I've been able to finally write that down. I think Emma would be proud.
This was actually reflective of a lot of Emma's relationships throughout the book, and this is a great example of how friendships are these complicated difficult things. Things that need work, things that we take for granted and more often than not something that is right there in front of us the whole time. It was great then to see how her relation with Gracie changed through out the book. If we learnt anything from this book it's there are just certain ways to approach trying to make new friends, stalking them on Twitter is NOT one ( thoughI'm sure we've all done it) nor is picking someone based on surname! You can have the best of intentions but not everyone is going to get that! I think that's a lesson we can all learn.
Plus there was another Britney reference. It really is the way to my heart in a book!
I can only imagine what situations emma is going to get herself into in the future. Can you image her at university!? I am here for that ride!
I remember reading Editing Emma and feeling so connected to both the book and the character, like someone had dragged part of my personality out and laid it down in book form. This makes it a joy to come back to a character you feel like you know and have been on a journey with because book one was quite the ride. We'd left Emma full of resolutions to change and so you'd be right in thinking New Book New Emma (I'm apparently very keen of that phrase atm) however as we all know and as Emma finds out, nothing in life is ever that simple, especially when you feel like you've changed and the world around you has its own ideas.
Written in short episodic diary entries we get everything; the before, the during and the after and the result is a really raw an open narrative where we see Emma, thinking, considering and learning with every entry because she is far far to open and observant about everything. She has a very distinct and comedic voice, and I read it like I can hear her talking to me (is that weird?). She's a trier god bless her, I'll give her that. The conversational tone really draws you in and I was addicted to this book, constantly wanting more, cringing with every other entry but more importantly laughing, openly and loudly in all kinda of public places because it was such a fun read. The only annoying thing was I was reading it on my phone so when i got a funny look I couldn't wave my phone in front of their faces and say its a BOOK! like I know Emma would.
Emma has this great selfish point of view. I don't mean selfish in the negative sense of the word, more, and this is something we all do, is that her pov is very single minded to what she think she knows and understands about the world around her. Her reactions to situations then don't always go the way she wants them and it's through these pitfalls that she learns to grow. And when you're Emma Nash/Me you don't make it easy for yourself. Hilarity ensues (thought I've never had and hope not to have a stalker!).
This was sone of the things that I loved about the dynamic of Emma and Steph's relationship. How they could be so close but their lives were both slowly changing and moving in different ways, with new people and new situations to factor in, but as is teenage way they weren't talking about it. So Emma assumes she knows what's best and you should never assume...because when you assume you make an ASS out of U and ME. I'm so glad I've been able to finally write that down. I think Emma would be proud.
This was actually reflective of a lot of Emma's relationships throughout the book, and this is a great example of how friendships are these complicated difficult things. Things that need work, things that we take for granted and more often than not something that is right there in front of us the whole time. It was great then to see how her relation with Gracie changed through out the book. If we learnt anything from this book it's there are just certain ways to approach trying to make new friends, stalking them on Twitter is NOT one ( thoughI'm sure we've all done it) nor is picking someone based on surname! You can have the best of intentions but not everyone is going to get that! I think that's a lesson we can all learn.
Plus there was another Britney reference. It really is the way to my heart in a book!
I can only imagine what situations emma is going to get herself into in the future. Can you image her at university!? I am here for that ride!
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