Helpful Score: 3
While at her best friend's wedding, Flora, who is 32 years old at the time, wishes that she could be 16 again. Her wish is granted and she becomes 16 again but in the present day. I thought the book was really good with a lot of parts that I think any girl can relate to. It is emotional but not too mushy and has many parts that will make you laugh out loud.
Helpful Score: 2
At her friend Tashy's wedding, Flora's boyfriend is about to propose and she realizes her life isn't what she thought it would be. Flora makes a wish to go back to age 16 while Tashy is cutting the cake. The next day, she wakes up and she's gone back a few weeks in time and she's 16 again. She tries to figure out what to do and whether to stay 16 or go back to 32. One thing that bothered me, though, is that the back cover and discussion questions say the character's name is Sashy, not Tashy. It's totally random! I liked the story though. I'm surprised she never told her 16 year old best friend what was going on though. I think she should have tried to offer some explanation to her. Oh well.
Helpful Score: 1
From Publishers Weekly
The joys of being 16 are amply explored in this back-to-the-present comedy of second chances. At the start of Colgan's funny, fast-moving fifth novel, 32-year-old London accountant Flora Scurrison realizes that she can't bear the monotony of her job and her dependable boyfriend, Oliver. So when she sees her high school love, Clelland, for the first time in 16 years at her best friend Tashy's wedding, she can't help wondering what her life would be like with this globe-trotting hunk rather than with steady, unexciting Oliver. As Tashy cuts the wedding cake, Flora wishes herself 16 again and gets a chance to make new choices about love, career and risk. She can keep her father from cheating on her mother and be the coolest kid in high schoolnot to mention ogle her svelte self in the mirrors at Top Shop. Strangely enough, though Flora is 16 again, only her parents have been transformed with her, and it's still the year 2003. Flora's interactions with a new Britney Spears generation of teenagers as well as with the grown-up friends who recognize her in her adolescent incarnation give the familiar plot a fresh twist. Cleverly constructed and often hilarious, this is an enjoyable addition to the annals of body-switching.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The joys of being 16 are amply explored in this back-to-the-present comedy of second chances. At the start of Colgan's funny, fast-moving fifth novel, 32-year-old London accountant Flora Scurrison realizes that she can't bear the monotony of her job and her dependable boyfriend, Oliver. So when she sees her high school love, Clelland, for the first time in 16 years at her best friend Tashy's wedding, she can't help wondering what her life would be like with this globe-trotting hunk rather than with steady, unexciting Oliver. As Tashy cuts the wedding cake, Flora wishes herself 16 again and gets a chance to make new choices about love, career and risk. She can keep her father from cheating on her mother and be the coolest kid in high schoolnot to mention ogle her svelte self in the mirrors at Top Shop. Strangely enough, though Flora is 16 again, only her parents have been transformed with her, and it's still the year 2003. Flora's interactions with a new Britney Spears generation of teenagers as well as with the grown-up friends who recognize her in her adolescent incarnation give the familiar plot a fresh twist. Cleverly constructed and often hilarious, this is an enjoyable addition to the annals of body-switching.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Helpful Score: 1
I couldn't stay with this book. It was just uninteresting to me.
Helpful Score: 1
"The Boy I Loved Before" is a book that truly missed its mark, instead of making the statement that I felt the author was trying for there was a huge cop out. Deus Ex Machina truly made this book predictable.
