Losing it by Lizzie Wilcock

Gabbie Martyn has the perfect family, perfect grades, perfect everything. She's fourteen and is loving it. Things couldn't get any better. But then things change and things get worse

Her uncle Daryl moves in with them for some mysterious reason. Her best friend Zoe is more cryptic then usual, she's rebelling and even getting arrested. And then Gabbie's falling in love with Zak, the gorgeous new boy from New Zealand.

Gabbie has to fight, because if she doesn't, she may just lose it.

I think that my expectations were too high. I was told by friends that it was “the best book ever”. I disagree. Straight after I read the novel I found that it was written too simply, the MC is made out to be quite intelligent as far as fourteen year old girls go, but I felt as if her intelligence in the writing style was understated. When I look back on the novel now though, I think that innocence in the style is important to the plot.

Each character was somewhat complex, I really loved Zoe's character, she was delightfully dark and in some ways I could relate to how Gabbie felt about her friend, slowly slipping away. I also loved Zak, he was sweet and made me smile. Gabbie was great as far as MC's go. She was sweetly innocent and I loved going through her story and watching her experience new things.

This story is fun and sweet, but has a terrible theme lurking in the background, that gives the book a dark twist. It's always there, on the edge of your tongue and makes the book one that you have to finish. I'm not going to spoil this novel for anyone who hasn't read it, but I think that as you get into it, you will know what I am talking about.

I thought that this novel was pretty good, like I've mentioned, a tiny bit too juvenile for my liking, but still, really liked it, defiantly not a terrible novel. It was a wonderful coming of age story, though, like I said, there's a dark element to it.

If you know me well, you will know how I feel about happy endings. This novel had a dramatic ending, that people who like things to be all cleared up at the end would hate. It left a lot of stuff up in the air and gave only a fraction of closure. I was glad that I didn't have to go through the end bit filled with closure and happy endings, instead the ending is somewhat happy and it leaves a lot up to the readers imagination as to what happens next.

All in all, I'd give this novel three stars, very sweet, fun and had a creepy element that I didn't so much as enjoy, but made the novel a lot more interesting.

--Allie