Girl, Aloud really is a cross between the Diary of Adrian Mole and a Jodi Picoult, balancing a level of everyday humour with emotional realism to create an emotive flash-back producing story about a normal teen-age girl.

Parts of this story made me want to cry, the horrid flash-backs to teen-age fights with best friends, the pain and suffering, the embarrassment that only parents can put you through at that age. Other parts just made me want to laugh, with happy flash-backs to teen-age giggling and the shared looks that only best friends will get.

Although incredibly well written, it just has horrible level of realism that left me cringing in sympathy more than once. Kass gets to deal with her slightly insane father, her mother going through a mid-life crisis, discovering the boy that she likes is also the same boy that her best friend has had a crush on for the last year, as well as the usual difficulties involved in being a teen-ager.

Although terribly funny at times, I found the level of realism just a little too hard. I like to read a world of nice cosy make-believe. Not to be able to relate to the characters on such a personal level. So, for me, I just found this far too believable and realistic, in an everyday sort of way.