Sunday 29 November 2015

Review: Testing Times For Tabitha Baird by Arabella Weir

Publisher: Picadilly Press
Publication Date: Nov 1st 2015
Source: Sent for review 
Series: 3rd in the Tabitha Baird series


Blurb: 

Tabitha's ignored her diary for a while but now there's just sooo much to say. Her family are still driving her crazy - it's time to choose GCSEs and Dad wants to get involved . . . MAJORLY bad idea. Little brother Luke is still mankenstein, Dumbledore Chops is 'officially' Mum's boyfriend (bleurgh!) and Gran's knitted creations for her dog Basil and the puppies are getting madder.

And now her gang of bezzies are acting oddly because she's been getting sort of friendly with Dark Aly - random or what? - and she's still not sure if Sam is 'officially' her boyfriend. Tab's birthday party's coming up - what's a nearly fourteen-year-old to do?





Thank you to Piccadilly for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. 

If you would like to see my reviews of the first novel in the series click the titles, the first novel; The Rise and Rise of Tabitha Baird and the sequel; The Endless Trials of Tabitha Baird 

Testing Times for Tabitha Baird picks off where the last novel left off. Tabitha is still adjusting to being a teenager, coping with her family and trying to keep her group of friends together. 


Tabitha's antics are just hilarious at times. One thing I love about Tabitha's narration is how "typical-thirteen-year-old" the voice sounds. I find myself relating to so many of the things she says and thinks, so similar to myself and my friends at that age. 

I love Tabitha's interactions with her family unit. Her family is so quirky and unusual, from her lifestyle blogging mum to her granny who loves to knit clothes for dogs! In this novel, Tabitha and her mum have gotten closer and are a little less confrontational which was lovely to read about. I also liked reading about the family unit and Tabitha's relationship with her grandmother. 

Another aspect I enjoyed was Tabitha's gradual acceptance of "dark Aly" as a friend. I did think in the second novel that Tabitha and her friends were a little hard on her but in this novel Tabitha starts to see Aly as a friend as she realises she has a lot more in common with her than she thought. 

I did enjoy this novel, but somewhat less that the previous two. I think the plot felt a little dragged at times and I know I am not the target age for the audience but I did enjoy it overall. 

I would highly recommend this series to teens ages 12 to 15, overall an entertaining and light hearted series of novels. 


No comments:

Post a Comment