Title: Zoe and Chloe: On the Prowl
Author: Sue Limb
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publication: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2nd July, 2007
Pages: 312, Paperback
Source: Library
Zoe and Chloe need escorts for the forthcoming Ball, and one thing's certain: they're definitely not going to go with their mates Fergus and Toby who are simply not dreamboat material. Zoe yearns hopelessly for glamorous Oliver Wyatt: Chloe gets swept off her feet by dangerous Beast Hawkins. More realistically, they also advertise for young men to help with an "exciting project". Zoe, everybody's minder, also has to help her older sister Tam out of a serious fix. Zoe's struggles to rescue Chloe and Tam have to be scheduled alongside some excruciating interviews with various boys who have replied to their ad. Alas, the boys who have applied bring a heap of problems with them... Zoe and Chloe are at their wits' end, when suddenly, out of left field, an amazing solution appears. The experience is mind-blowingly liberating.
I enjoyed this book, it didn't WOW me but it didn't make me have to put it down, it was mostly an average type of Juvenile/Young Adult fiction book.
The thing I didn't enjoy about the book is that there was no character or plot depth. The plot was very basic and nothing mind-blowing happened along the way, there were no twists and turns and it was basically just about the main character, Zoe Morris, moaning about her life and her best friend's attraction to the most repulsive boy in the school. The characters didn't change in any way at all. Zoe still remained a bit selfish and Chloe, after being humiliated and cheated on by her "boyfriend", broke up with him but was still blushing when his name was mentioned, so not really a strong, independent character you are looking for.
I also found there was quite a bit of inappropriate references in the book. There was a lot of mention of stuff that I thought was a bit wrong to put in a children's/teen's book. So if you're still quite young and sensitive, I would recommend that you wait a bit before reading this book.
There wasn't really swearing in it, which is good.
On the positive side, it was a real laugh out loud kind of book, there were quite a few parts in where I was just cracking up with laughter while being strangely stared at by my family members and asked if I was okay, that did happen quite a bit with reading this book, so make sure you're in a private space while you reading this or the people around you might start thinking you're a bit of lunatic and avoid you at all costs, not that this has ever happened to me...pfaw phf, ahem.
So I would recommend this book if you're 12 or 13 and older, it did have some rude bits but there were a LOT of extremely funny parts. So try it and tell me what you think! :)
I give it: 3 CUPCAKES!
