Giveaway and Review: "Lost in London"

"Lost in London"
by Cindy Callaghan

Publisher: Aladdin

Release Date: Oct 15, 2013
Source: sent by publicist

My Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

Summary from the publicist: 

A tween’s foreign exchange experience lands her in London luxury—and some hot water as well! Twelve-year-old Jordan isn’t unhappy, but she’s definitely bored. So when she gets the chance to take part in a London exchange program, she’s thrilled to ditch her small town in Delaware and see the world across the pond.

Unfortunately, Jordan’s host sister in London, Caroline, isn’t exactly enthusiastic about entertaining an American girl. Despite the chilly welcome, Jordan finds herself loving the city and Caroline’s group of friends, who are much nicer than Caroline herself.

And then a major misstep leaves Jordan and Caroline trapped together overnight—inside Daphne’s, the world’s largest department store. Given they have complete access to all the fancy shoes, designer dresses, and coolest makeup around, there are worse places to be stuck. But when the girls’ fun has not-so-fun consequences, Jordan’s wish for excitement abroad turns into a lot more than she ever bargained for...

My Review:

This was such a fun middle grade/tween book! I was so caught up in Jordan's (aka JJ) adventures, that I couldn't put the book down. While it's still a very age appropriate book for middle grade readers, I think it would satisfy an older MG reader, who is not quite ready for YA but wants something a little more sophisticated.

I love that JJ and her friends romp around London completely unsupervised by adults. It's a great way to see tweens earning their independence and stretching their boundaries. All of the characters in JJ's group are very well rounded and multi-faceted. None of their personalities are stereotypical teens.

The ONLY drawback that I saw in the book was the focus that JJ seemed to have on clothes, makeup, etc. While her style does mirror her transformation, I just would have liked for JJ to focus on the other ways she was developing as a person, not just her style.

Otherwise, this was a super fun, fast-paced romp through London by five friends (and maybe one frenemy). It was fun to see London through the eyes of the jaded Londoners, and the young American tourist. You could really see the ways they bonded and helped each other see new things every day. The action was a mile-a-minute, and made for a book that was hard to put down.


Main Characters: 5/5
Supporting Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Uniqueness: 5/5
Cover: 4/5
Writing: 5/5

Bottom Line: This was such a fun read for tweens, with enough action and drama to keep even older MG (and adult!) readers interested. Highly recommended!

About Cindy Callaghan: Cindy grew up in New Jersey and attended college at the University of Southern California before earning her BA in English and French, and MBA from the University of Delaware. She recently exited corporate America after nearly twenty years, and is now fully entrenched in business consulting, writing, and family.  She is very involved with her children’s activities, including coaching the occasional soccer team. Cindy lives, works and writes in Wilmington, Delaware with her family and numerous rescued pets


Find Cindy on the web:

www.cindycallaghan.com

www.twitter.com/cindycallaghan

https://www.facebook.com/cindycallaghanauthor

www.instagram.com/cindycallaghanwrites

http://bit.ly/ShareLondon - GoodReads

Buy the book:

http://bit.ly/LondonBook - Books a Million

http://bit.ly/getlondon - Barnes & Noble

http://bit.ly/lostinlondon - Amazon

GIVEAWAY RULES

The publicist and publisher have generously provided TWO copies of this book for two lucky readers of my blog.

All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

• US only
• Prizes will be mailed out by the publicist
• Must be 18 or over 

• Ends Nov 17

Thanks to everyone for entering! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publicist in exchange for an honest review.