Leah
Written on Jan 7, 2016
Although I will admit, I'm quite devastated because as it turns out, this is the last Brooklyn Girl book. I was expecting two more - Maddie and Julia's books, but alas, that is not happening, which makes me profoundly sad because that means I genuinely don't know when I'll next read a Gemma Burgess book, and that's a travesty as she's one of the sharpest, wittiest writers on the block. For those who love Caitlin Moran and Lena Dunham, you'd love Gemma too. BUT you will see Gemma on TV screens soon, as she's writing a TV show which is freaking amazing, but I want another book. LOTS MORE BOOKS. *SAD FACE*
I got into Coco as soon as I started it, Coco is just ultimately likeable, and completely different to Gemma's other heroines, usually they're way more badass right from the off, but Coco was sweet, innocent, naive; until she decided to go a bit mad, have a bit of a wild time, as she tried to figure out her life, and why not? At 21, in New York, only having to pay for food, why not have a bit of fun and try and figure out what you wanna do with your life? That sounds luxurious (and mildly stressful).
Turns out being a millennial is hard (and I HATE that word with a passion it's been bandied about so much). Being an adult is hard. It's all much harder than it seems and what made it easier was the fact that Coco had Angie, Pia, Julia and Madeleine to help her through it, they all stuck together, they were all there for each other, and their friendship really shone through. To have friends like that is priceless. But my favourite character was Joe. Ahhh, Joe. He was just so much fun, so much less serious, and he brought out a lighter side to Coco, allowed her to stop thinking, for a little while at least and that was glorious. The two really just clicked and honestly, the pages they were in together just flew by.
I really enjoyed the book, Gemma's an amazing writer, honestly, one of the most under-rated authors ever, and deserves to be selling millions of copies, because she writes real, she writes life like it is, no candy coating, no holds barred, etc, etc. I'm sad this might be Gemma's last book, genuinely sad, but it was an amazing send off, and maybe I'll just have to re-read A Girl Like You every year and pretend I've never read it before. Or sit in the corner and cry, and curse that Gemma has movies to write and TV shows to write, and she's too busy for books. That works for me, too. OR maybe if everyone reads her books and we get a petition going, we can convince her books six to ten need writing ASAP? YES. I like that idea...