Geek Girl Model Misfit

Geek Girl Model Misfit by Holly Smale      Audio Book:  8 hours     Hardback Book:  416 pages    Genre: Young Adult/Fiction  Social Themes/Friendship

Harriet Manners is a teen who is not only academically brilliant but is also a fashion model.    Her mother passed away when she was little and now she lives with her father and his second wife, both of whom she adores until her step-mother becomes pregnant.    All of a sudden she has a full-on  attitude change toward her parents and becomes argumentative about everything.    Seems she is jealous of the baby to be and feels she is being squeezed out by the thought of this new thing growing in her step mom’s belly.    Then while she is processing this new state of being her bff is shipped off to Austrailia to some previously unknown relatives for the Summer.    The only person each of them can reach out to during their times of stress and now they will be thousands of miles from one another.   Cell phones shorten the distance some, but, not enough.   Add to all this stress that her boyfriend’s family has decided to move to Canada.   Harriet’s life is in shambles then her agent calls to tell her that a Japanese fashion designer wants Harriet to be the new face of her clothing line and wants Harriet to come to Japan for a photoshoot to kick off the new line.   Harriet has always dreamed of going to Japan one day so here is the answer she has been hoping for except her parents can’t chaperone her with the new baby coming, her step-mom can’t travel and she wants her Dad to be with her for the delivery.    Harriet throws a fit and goes into anger mode shouting and calling the baby “That thing” and going all evil on how her parents are selfish and don’t care about her ad infinitum.   Feeling like her world is completely dark, her boyfriend gone, her best friend gone, and now the opportunity to see the one place she has always dreamed about going to is dashed, she is beside herself with anguish.  But, sometimes at our lowest answers come from mysterious places and change our lives for the better, enter step-mom’s hippie dippie mother.    Not the most reliable of chaperones but a chaperone.   The parents are o.k. with it thinking a little space apart for all of them and less stress in the house might be a really good thing for all of them, plus it is a really great career opportunity for Harriet to have an in with a top fashion designer.   Its all good till Grandma goes off on her own path leaving Harriet in the hands of the designer and her other models.   Language barrier aside, being a brilliant student, Harriet researches the Japanese language and has a handle of enough words to have some conversation and the other models speak broken English and all except one become fast friends.   That one just happens to be the NEW girlfriend of Harriet’s boyfriend, who was also contacted for this photo shoot.   Harriet’s happy place didn’t last long and her bff, Natalie is too far away to cry on her shoulder.   However, Natalie rallies and gives Harriet a buck up and act as though she could care less and is even happy for the new couple.   It isn’t easy but Harriet does follow her friend’s advice and proves herself Oscar worthy as she is dying inside the whole time.   Her now ex-boyfriend is thrown by her nonchalance and yep, he comes running back.   Many mishaps occur during the time in Japan and Harriet’s troubles are far from over.   I won’t spoil the ending, I will just say this was a very pleasing story in the vein of a Sophie Kinsella novel.     I didn’t realize this book was part of a series, but, I think I will read the other titles as well as this was a very well written story and I especially like the attention to detail.   Good read.