adoptabookaus

Frankie Vega is angry. Just ask the guy whose nose she broke. Or the cop investigating the burglary she witnessed, or her cheating ex-boyfriend or her aunt who’s tired of giving second chances…When a kid shows up claiming to be Frankie’s half brother, it opens the door to a past she doesn’t want to remember. And when that kid goes missing, the only person willing to help is a boy with stupidly blue eyes … and secrets of his own. Frankie’s search for the truth might change her life, or cost her everything.

 

 

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Frankie is fantastic!

As an Aussie girl who grew up hanging around Collingwood and the city, getting into mischief, meeting my best friend for a drink at a ridiculous hours, getting in trouble with teachers. I mean let’s get it straight I didn’t have anywhere near the traumatising upbringing as Frankie, but I couldn’t help to compare my year 12 self with her.

Frankie is snarky, grumpy, and down right rude and I loved that?  Okay, I probably wouldn’t be bestfriends with Frankie but I loved her character, she was just so much fun to read.

The only problem I did have was the plot line being a little shakey. I felt like it was a bit anticlimatic, I loved the characters but I wasn’t to interested in what happend to them. I liked her brother and I liked that he was a writer(graffer) but I didn’t see the point of us searching for him, like we just met him and his missing I get it but why do I care? In saying that I would defiantly read this again based on the characters, writing, and setting alone.

If you’re looking for an Aussie book to read I would highly recommend this, if you’re from Melbourne I double recommend this! Seeing Collingwood in all its *cough* glory was fantastic, even the neighbors had my heart.

I read mainly American YA books I have started reading so much more OzYa and it’s so wonderful. Its refreshing to read about a YA character that I could understand more, I knew what year of school they were in and what age that made them, I knew what their school was like, I knew the landscape and people. I new the slang! and it wasn’t over the top! The amount of books I’ve read that make the Aussie character sound completely bloody bonkers mate is just ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong american YA is great but I love things that I can relate to with my soul, see below:

Every time I think of an Aussie character in a book my mind comes back to this horrible book I read dnf it had an Aussie as a side character and the lines were sooo bad, the Author made him sound like a 60 year old occa aussie bloke. Every second line was a “Steve Irwin” style sentence and I felt like the Author lacked research and just slaughtered our slang (there was also some English slang mixed into the Aussie which was strange and just doesn’t work because um we are two different places!?)

Frankie had my heart with its sass and Melbourne vibes and I will definitely be looking out for Shivauns next book!

4/5 stars!

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Have you read Frankie? Have you read any Aussie YA that you just loved and connected with instantly? Or are you from across the world and read an aussie young adult book? What did you think?