Trouble – The Argle Bargle

Publisher: Walker Books

Publish Date: March 2014

Genre: YA, Contemporary

Rating: 4 stars

“In this dazzling debut novel, a pregnant teen learns the meaning of friendship—from the boy who pretends to be her baby’s father.

When the entire high school finds out that Hannah Shepard is pregnant via her ex-best friend, she has a full-on meltdown in her backyard. The one witness (besides the rest of the world): Aaron Tyler, a transfer student and the only boy who doesn’t seem to want to get into Hannah’s pants. Confused and scared, Hannah needs someone to be on her side. Wishing to make up for his own past mistakes, Aaron does the unthinkable and offers to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s unborn baby. Even more unbelievable, Hannah hears herself saying “yes.”

Told in alternating perspectives between Hannah and Aaron, Trouble is the story of two teenagers helping each other to move forward in the wake of tragedy and devastating choices. As you read about their year of loss, regret, and hope, you’ll remember your first, real best friend—and how they were like a first love.”

Me and my lovely friend Erica @ Tangled in the Willows did a book swap a few weeks ago and I’ve only just got round to blogging about it *slaps wrist*. I gave her my treasured copy of ‘All The Bright Places’ by Jennifer Niven which she LOVED and I got her copy of Non Pratt’s ‘Trouble’ that blew me away. ‘Trouble’ is definitely the sort of book I’d recommend reading – it’s funny, light but still blows exposure onto some serious and important issues that surround a lot of YA readers.

Apart from that eye-catching cover, the best thing about this book is the plot twist (or big reveal? Not sure how to describe it). About half-way through I did see it coming but it’s the sort twist that you sit there debating whether the author will be daring enough to go through with it. And Pratt is very daring. She pushed that plot twist all the way and then some, dribbling out the last of the character’s secrets right until the end. This is definitely a shocker of a book, it’s ready to make your breath catch in your throat.

“It’s too much to be forgiven when all you want is to be blamed.”

Another very lovable feature of Pratt’s debut was how open and honest it was. She didn’t dress up the subject of teen pregnancy in any way but didn’t dress it down either. Not that I’ve had any experience of it, but you can see the authenticity of the story – it wasn’t airbrushed so you could see how some parts of it end up being very negative. And, through Pratt’s masterful writing skills, you can also see the beauty of the experience. As a reader who’s not a fan of pregnancy or children in anyway, even I could see some the softer and emotive events that occur and how tender the relationship between daughter and mother can be.

I was also a huge fan of some the lighter, even funnier moments. Pratt showed how everything does have its best moments and that not everything is doom and gloom. One of our favourite moments was at the start of the novel when Hannah (accidentally) hits Aaron with her car door – it may be more of a ‘you have to read it’ sort of thing but it is definitely a highlight. The author managed to be humorous without being sounding forced, making it an absolute delight to indulge in.

“There are some things it are best not to repeat. I think I heard most of them in that antenatal class.”

The characters were one of the books best traits. Aaron was detailed in such a way that you really couldn’t help but love the guy – he was just too lovely and protective. His unnecessary guilt also caused me so much frustration – I’d love to go into the politics of it but I don’t want to ruin anything. It was Neville who took pride of place in my heart. He, along with the other elderly characters in the novel, were presented in a way that is so different to a lot of other YA novels – they weren’t these ‘evil’ people who don’t understand the youth but act more as friends to the younger characters. But Neville was just so funny and open that he really was, in my opinion, one of the best characters in the book.

All of the characters just appeared so real too. Their personalities felt so natural and easy to read that you could really imagine them as your friends, your family or even just your neighbors. However. I did have one problem with them. They definitely did not sound their age. There is no way in hell that Hannah etc were only 15, 16 maybe but definitely not 15. It was this that lost a bit of that lovely realism for me and knocked off a bit of that love. Maybe Pratt needed to reduce how powerful and ‘educated’ the characters were – if anything, she’s written them too well.

Get yourself a copy of this book – not only will it look good on your shelf but it’ll make you laugh, smile and cry. It is written in such a way that makes the story real enough to allow full a full escape from the real world, you can’t say no to that can you?