Della says: OMG!

by Keris Stainton

Don't miss this fantastic debut novel - Keris Stainton is a fabulously contemporary, witty and fresh new voice who teen girls will adore.

Della's over the moon when she kisses her long-standing crush at a party - but then she discovers her diary has disappeared...
When scans of embarrassing pages are sent to her mobile and appear on Facebook, Della's distraught - how can she enjoy her first proper romance when someone, somewhere, knows all her deepest, darkest secrets?

• ISBN10: 1408304279
• ISBN13: 9781408304273
• Publish Date: 6 May 2010
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 8 February 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Orchard Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jo]

Della’s over the moon when she kisses her long-standing crush at a party – but then she discovers her diary has disappeared...
When scans of embarrassing pages are sent to her mobile and appear on Facebook, Della’s distraught – how can she enjoy her first proper romance when someone, somewhere, knows all her deepest, darkest secrets? From Amazon UK

I have had this book sitting on my TBR pile for such a long time, and I really regret not picking it up sooner. Della Says: OMG! Is such a sweet novel!

It's completely believeable, it's a situation any teenager who keeps a diary would die over. You can't help but feel for Della when she realises her diary is gone and excerpts start appearing - especially considering the type of entries that show up. Not only are they personal, but they are likely to cause friction between her and the people in her life, because of things written in anger or changing situations. In some ways, it reminded me of Good Girls by Laura Ruby - although the plots are slightly different, they both involve humiliation through the sharing of things that should have be kept private through new technology. I had the same jaw-dropping reaction to both over how mean people can be.

Although it was pretty bad, I found that Della's relationship with Dan, and the sub-plot of her best friend Maddy's own relationship problems, to be what I was interested in most. Was Dan really genuine? What was Maddy going to do? I think this book really says something about relationships, how the most unlikely of relationships might not be as rocky as you'd assume, and how the strongest of relationships might not be as strong as you think.

There are funny moments, sad moments, and moments of extreme embarrassment, but what I love is the change that came over Della as the story progressed. From the unsure, self-concious girl, to the one who is a lot more confident, Della's story really is wonderful to read. My only negative is that I felt it ended quite abruptly, but overall it was a really sweet, lovely quick read. It would be great for summer reading!

From Once Upon a Bookcase - YA book blog

[Leah]

I first came across Keris Stainton one day when I was reading her blog although I'm entirely sure how I came across it. Back then, Della Says: OMG didn't appear to be ready for publication and it's only as I joined Twitter and friended Keris that I learnt about her debut novel. I thought it sounded like a fantastic read - even more so as I began reading more books tailored to the young adult market and I suddenly couldn't wait for Della Says: OMG to be released. I pre-ordered it, as always, and it finally came into stock a week or so ago and I eagerly awaited for it to tell me it had dispatched, it finally arrived today and I started it immediately.

In a nutshell, the quote on the front of the book - from YA royalty Meg Cabot - kind of sums up the book perfectly: "A fun, delicious treat you'll want to eat up in a single bite!" That's high praise for a book, so to say I was expecting an outstanding read is quite an understatement and I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact I loved it so much that I devoured al 279 pages in just over 2 hours without stopping once. That rarely happens but because it was a relatively shortish book I managed to not have to stop once which meant I could lose myself in Della's world until the very last page.

The plot of the book is fairly basic but it's still hugely enjoyable because, surely, every diary writers worst nightmare is to find out that it's lost/stolen and to have that kind of panic as you try to find it. It must then be worse still should someone start sending you pages of your diary including some of your most embarrassing secrets. That is the basis for Della Says: OMG and I thought it was an incredibly fun read. I've never kept a diary myself but I could absolutely see why it hurt Della so much to find her diary missing and have to put up with the fact that someone somewhere has stolen it and is now sending around pages of her diary.

Another huge important part of the book is Della's romance with the lovely Dan. I thought their relationship was so incredibly sweet and was part of the reason I found it so difficult to put the book down. It was portrayed quite realistically and I couldn't help grinning like a loon whenever Della and Dan had scenes together - which was a lot - so I was generally one big grinning loon throughout the entire book. There is a lot of kissing between Della and Dan and it's so lovely to see them fall in love with each other because they seemed like such a cute couple. I think every teen will be able to relate to Della and Dan's young love and will go going 'Ahhh' throughout the book.

I actually loved Della. She appears to have very low self-esteem particularly when it comes to Dan and I just wanted to tell her that she was pretty and she had absolutely nothing to worry about (bar her missing diary, of course). She was incredibly easy to like and is definitely a relateable character. I also plain old loved Dan, too. He seemed normal compared to most teen boys you see in young adult fiction and he sounded like the dreamiest boy you could ever meet. Everyone should have a Dan in their life! The book isn't only about Della and Dan though, we also have Maddy, Della's best friend as well as Della's parents and sister, Jaime. I really liked Maddy, and she even has her own subplot which was incredibly interesting. Della's parents aren't like most parents you find in YA books (ie. missing) and were incredibly supportive of Della and they seemed like the fun and cool parents most teenagers wish they had. I also must mention Bob, who works at the deli where Della works and that her parents own, I thought he was lovely and rather wise, too.

Overall Della Says: OMG is an outstanding debut novel. It's well-written, it's funny and it's so easy to get lost in that you lose track of time and find yourself finished the novel without even really realising it. Keris Stainton is definitely a fresh new voice in young adult fiction and I look forward to her next book. Della is definitely one of my favourite books so far this year and is definitely a book I'll be able to read again and again and again. If you haven't already picked up this fab book, go out and do it now, because it really is that good.