Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
Genres: Contemporary (YA), Coming of Age (YA), Mental Health
Pages: 288
Goodreads

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 do 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.

This is such a sweet story about a family learning and growing together and a young girl finding her courage, with a little dash of a love story. It’s a story about a girl with the fear of other people, people she doesn’t know, looking people in the eye – in other words, extreme social anxiety. It’s uncommon in the YA genre to read about such an extreme case which makes this story even more perfect. I think what really made this plot well-rounded was the characters. Without Audrey’s quirky family and swoon-worthy love interest, I don’t know how great this book would have been – but luckily we don’t have to find out!

Audrey’s family is what really makes it so relatable, it’s like reading about your own family. First, there’s the mother, who is a believe-everything-in-the-news type of mother. She thinks video games are the devil and that gluten-free is the way to go. Her freak-outs and rants are hilarious and the way the children respond is even better.

Which leads to Frank, Audrey’s brother. He loves video games, plays the majority of the day, and his sarcasm is what makes the family interactions the funniest parts of the book. Audrey’s dad is laid-back but definitely follows the motto “happy wife, happy life”. The family’s personalities and interactions is the classic model of a sitcom.

Audrey is relatable in her own way as well. While not everyone has an anxiety disorder, Sophie Kinsella created a character that most people can find some connections to. !! This may be a spoiler ⇉ When you first begin this book all you want to know is what happened to Audrey to make her have such bad anxiety, but Kinsella never reveals all the details, just snippets. At first I was disappointed, but it makes Audrey’s situation communicate with the audience so much better. You get to fill in your own blanks, creating a story you relate to. Here is a quote from a Bustle article with Sophie Kinsella on this exact topic:

“…I feel strongly that if you start to think ‘This event caused this reaction and was responsible for Audrey’s condition,’ you actually relate less to Audrey’s predicament. So many teenagers these days suffer from anxiety, I wanted them to be able to relate to Audrey and not feel, ‘I didn’t have that event happen to me so I’m not like her.”

End spoiler !!

Linus is a great addition to the people that surround Audrey. He helps her through her anxieties by giving her challenges, such as going to Starbucks and making conversation with strangers. He helps Audrey realize that not everyone is talking about her, not everyone is going to hurt her. Their interactions just make you smile and their relationship is an adorable version of young love.

This is a very well-written novel. It’s heavy on Audrey’s thoughts and dialogue between the characters. Again, the dialogue is just perfection, especially between Frank and pretty much everyone else. It’s an easy read with great writing and no lulls in the plot.

Sophie Kinsella did an amazing job at bringing to life the struggles many young girls face, with bullying, anxiety, family, boys etc., and turning it into a story that everyone can relate to. Just an absolutely phenomenal read.

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Rating Report
Plot
Characters
Writing
World Building
Romance
Overall:	5 / 5