An uplifting read about a girl with social anxiety and her journey to recovery.
Finding Audrey Summary
An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.
Finding Audrey on Goodreads | Amazon | Waterstones
Finding Audrey Review
I’ve been a fan of Sophie Kinsella’s adult novels for a long time. I’ve never read her famous Shopaholic series, but her fun, feisty writing style had me laughing out loud at many of her standalones. Finding Audrey is Sophie’s first foray into Young Adult writing, and actually takes on a more serious tone. Sophie takes on the difficult subject of anxiety, and does so incredibly well.
Sophie’s fantastic character building shines through in Audrey and her family. Despite the serious issues being dealt with in Finding Audrey, Sophie maintains that fun, bubbly writing style so you’ll still find yourself giggling along whilst reading this one. Don’t expect things to get too deep, and don’t expect to find out too much about how Audrey’s anxiety came to be. This book is about her recovery and her rediscovery of herself instead.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the portions of the book that took the form of a script/screenplay. Audrey’s doctor asks her to create a film about her life as part of her therapy, and in doing so Audrey captures some fantastic moments that we see through the script itself.
It’s Audrey’s family and their relationships that I loved the most about this book. The family is quirky but close-knit, and each member supports Audrey in their own way. It’s a joy to read about such a lovely bond between them all.
Finding Audrey is a quick read, fast-paced and very enjoyable. It’s surprisingly uplifting and is well-worth reading for anyone suffering from anxiety or anyone that knows someone who is. It’s not the best book about anxiety I’ve ever read, but it’s a good one nonetheless. See my recommendations below for other great reads about mental health.
My rating
**** 4/5 stars
You might like:
Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman
Underwater by Marisa Reidchart
The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard
