laura jarratt | ChooseYA

I absolutely adored Laura Jarratt’s debut YA Skin Deep last year, so when an unexpected copy of By Any Other Name came through my postbox, I practically squealed with joy.

Holly has only been Holly for a few months. After witnessing a crime, she along with her family are in witness protection and starting over in a small town in England. However being a teenager who has to start a whole new identity and lie low is incredibly difficult and after reaching out to an old friend, she has to accept she may have placed her whole family in danger.

A lot of sensitive topics are dealt with in this book; Holly’s sister, Katie, is autistic and encounters prejudice as well as really not understanding what is happening. Holly is struggling with her identity. When you’re fifteen your sense of identity is so important and you’re still working out what that exactly is, so to be told to leave everything and everyone behind would be horrible. As you would expect Holly really struggles with this and I found it really interesting to read how she started off planning to blend in the middle and not stand out, before thinking ‘stuff this’ and infiltrating the popular crowds. The change from a city to a rural area was also a factor that was explored well as Holly struggles with the different ways to pass the time and pace of life. I really liked though that the majority of the action took place in the small town or a coastal holiday village as

I really loved Emo Boy, or Joe as he’s really called, and his development throughout the book. I think he was an excellent example of not prejudging people and the way we can particular can be very superficial at times with regards to appearance. His relationship with Holly was brilliant and just reminds me that Jarratt has a real talent for bringing the development of teenage relationships to life in a way that is never patronising and feels very true.

Jarratt’s writing is just as beautiful and intense as Skin Deep and I love the complexities and humanity she shows in her work. Her characters are flawed, human and yet completely relatable. I really felt for Holly and her family throughout the book and was desperate for everything to work out for them.

The mystery of what exactly Holly saw was interspersed throughout the novel through flashbacks and while I found them interesting and they did add to the plot, I’m not if I liked the way they broke up some chapters personally. Craft wise, I could understand the choice, however, when we first get the flashbacks of the build up, I wasn’t sure if they felt truly necessary or could have been conveyed in some other way. This however is just my personal preference and flashbacks as a whole are hard to use in a novel well, which for the majority of the novel Jarratt does very well.

By Any Other Name is a great book filled with drama, relatable and compelling characters and an intriguing mystery and suspense at its backbone. A definite recommendation from me! I received a free review copy from Egmont/ Electric Monkey for my honest reviewing purposes. By Any Other Name is available to buy now.

Jenna is slowly attempting to rebuild her life after the car accident that killed her best friend and left her permanently scarred from burns to her face. The crash has had divisive repercussions in her village as the drunk teenage driver was not convicted, and her father has started a campaign and charity in response to this about teenage drink-driving.

Ryan is a traveller who arrives in Jenna’s village expecting the same frosty reception and prejudice. As Jenna and Ryan keep bumping into each other, a friendship is formed which gradually becomes something more intimate. When a body is found and a murder investigation mounts, Ryan comes under scrutiny as a suspect.

As soon as I read the summary for this novel, I knew I was going to love it and I was not disappointed. Jarratt’s debut simply blew me away. We are all guilty of prejudice in some way and this novel proved this to me. I have watched shows like My Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and while I know much of it is exaggerated for entertainment, I have at times been guilty of prejudging travellers. Ryan’s position as a traveller however challenged my preconceptions here and I really respect Jarratt for doing this.

The romance between Ryan and Jenna was gradual and sweet, I adored the two of them together and really wanted them both to get some sort of happy ending. I loved that both of their own issues, Ryan’s mother’s bipolar and Jenna’s difficulties after the accident weren’t just used to make them angsty couple fodder, but to put up obstacles and barriers as such issues would in the real world.

Ryan’s arrogance was well-written and just stopped short of making me think he was a jerk, but made him feel like a real person and the sort of person who, were he not a traveller and stigmatised for that, would totally be that popular fun guy at school.

Jarratt very sensitively handled Jenna’s accident and scarring and truly showed the pathos of such an event for a teenager (let’s face it, teenagers can be brutal about looks) without ever making Jenna too self-pitying.

The crime and repercussions were compelling and I was constantly trying to work out who had killed the murder victim.

Overall, this is the sort of novel I would want to write myself, the novel I wish I was writing now. It’s funny, heartfelt, poignant and completely evocative of what it’s like to be a teenager, to be judged and first love. I highly, highly recommend it.

I received my copy of Skin Deep through Electric Monkey, the teen imprint of Egmont UK, in exchange for my honest review, which you can read above. Thank you so much to the publishers for sending me this book. Skin Deep is available to buy now and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Recommended if you’re a fan of: Contemporary YA
- Katie Dale
-YA set in Britain
- Books that challenge your thinking

Links: Amazon UK
Amazon US
The Book Depository