For various reasons I only managed to read two books in February which qualified for the challenge. One of them was the script for Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, which I can’t talk about for obvious reasons (#KeepTheSecrets). But that’s ok, because my other read was the brilliant Waiting For Callback: Take Two, by Perdita and Honor Cargill.
Take Two picks up where the first book ends. Elektra James has just been offered a staring role in a Hollywood film and her (potential) boyfriend, Practically Perfect Archie, has just kissed her. Everything looks set for one amazing and romantic summer…
But of course, things don’t go exactly to plan. It’s hard to have a romantic summer when your potential boyfriend goes to Transylvania to play a vampire hunter (surrounded by ‘maidens of peerless beauty’). Meanwhile, being on set has its own challenges: Elektra has to transform into a dystopian action hero (including learning how to run like a normal person) while fending off the advances of smouldering co-star Carlo AND still keeping up with her French GCSE homework….
I really loved Waiting for Callback, so I was definitely looking forward to getting my hands on Take Two. You’ll be relived to know that it didn’t disappoint AT ALL. Take Two has just as much warmth and humour, and the same fantastic cast of characters. There is more from Moss, Elektra’s super-fashionable friend, more from Eulalie, her fabulously French grandmother (‘Is it being too late to rescue the situation? Le shopping?’), and more from her poor, stressed-out mum: “‘It’s bad enough that they’re expecting Elektra to miss some term time,’ (it really wasn’t) ‘without her having to drop everything and gallivant off to Mali!'” There are also some brilliant new characters introduced. In particular Amber Leigh, the queen-bee A-list actress, and Eddie, the Abba-loving stage-manager, both absolutely leapt off the page. Of course, Elektra herself is as funny, vibrant and relatable as ever, whether she’s having tea at Claridges in her horribly purple school uniform, or suggesting replacing her actual birthday party with YouTube videos…
Seeing the inside of a film set for the first time through Elektra’s eyes was fascinating. But there is also drama in her personal life. At one point I literally had tears running down my face. And they weren’t happy tears either – it was just SO SAD. But then, by the end of the book, I was crying happy tears, because – no. I won’t spoil it. You’re just going to have to read it yourself.
The Corr Sisters 