
Author: Louise Rennison
Publication Date: 6/28/11
Publisher: Harper Teen
Blurb: Wow. This is it. This is me growing up. On my own, going to Performing Arts College. This is good-bye, Tallulah, you long, gangly thing, and hellooooo, Lullah, star of stage.
Tallulah Casey is ready to find her inner artist. And some new mates. And maybe a boy or two or three.
The ticket to achieving these lofty goals? Enrolling in a summer performing arts program, of course. She's bound for the wilds of Yorkshire Dales—eerily similar to the windswept moors of Wuthering Heights. Tallulah expects new friends, less parental interference, and lots of drama. Acting? Tights? Moors? Check, check, check.
What she doesn't expect is feeling like a tiny bat's barging around in her mouth when she has her first snog.
Bestselling author Louise Rennison returns with her trademark wit, a hilarious new cast, and a brand-new cheeky heroine who is poised to discover plenty of opportunities for (mis)adventure!
Review:
A new series from Louise Rennison and, thank vati, it does not disappoint.
Talullah Casey is Georgia Nicolson's 14.5-year old cousin and an aspiring performer. She is lucky to have been accepted to a performing arts college Dother Hall for for the summer semester. Here she acquires new (mad) mates and surrenders herself to the wonders of theatre. What is disappointing though is that it turns out, Dother Hall is an all-girl school. How are girls supposed to enhance their love lives if there are no lads around? Will their sexual experiences remain limited to: getting her bottom felt at a bus stop (Tallulah); having her bra undone through a T-shirt by an unknown guy who ran right away on a bike (Jo); having her cousin put an ice cube down the front of her T-shirt and then offer to get it out for her (Vaisey); watching a boy wear her freshly-washed pants on his head (Flossie)? Luckily, some boy-toys emerge - there are Phil and Charlie shipped to the nearby Woolfe Academy to be taught how to become decent citizens, a local emo boy-band headed by a very-very bad cad appropriately named Cain, then there is an "older man" Alex, the list goes on... Let the summer of theatre and love begin!
I thoroughly enjoyed this romp. It might not be quite as hilarious as Georgia's books, but it still gave me a lot of laughs. Tallulah is much less flamboyant than her cousin, shier and more subdued, but has her moments. The mates are weird and funny, the lads are vair attractive but hard to understand, as usual.
On the negative side, the ending is very open. There is hardly any resolution to any love drama. And secondly, Withering Tights is pretty much the same thing as Georgia's diaries. The setting and the players are different, but the plot is the same - boy troubles, lippies, body insecurities (non-existent corkers a.k.a nungas and knobbly knees - compare to Georgia's nose misfortunes), mad mates, and snogging experiences. But I won't complain, I love this stuff and I am ready to read about these adventures once again. And the theatre bits are a hoot too. I've always known artistic people were crazy, here is another confirmation.
Withering Tights is a great, very light, funny read. I am looking forward to the next book in this series. Have one request for Rennison though - can we get an update on Georgia/Dave relationship? After all, Lullah is G's cousin, she should know what's what, right?
4/5 stars