I didn't realise the novel was aimed at Teenagers so did not finish the book, However it is well written and I'm sure youths would enjoy it

Perfect for any traveller. This made me want to travel more, see all the things, and also be more confident! Its also funny and sweet and full of romance and friendship mishaps. Just pure fun!

This was such a cute summer contemporary! I felt like i was exploring Europe with the characters. It was so cute and I definitely loved this book a lot. It was written so well, and the reactions while travelling was adorable.

An enjoyable book to read as we follow the girls travelling through Europe.

Sydney is used to looking after her mother, who suffers from anxiety and agoraphobia, but she is assured that her trip to Europe with her best friend will go ahead as planned. It doesn't stop Syd worrying about her mum though, or her younger sister who should be looking after her.

Then of course there's the added drama of finding out that Leela's ex Matt is on their plane and planning the same trip (as it was supposed to be Leela and Matt's holiday before they broke up). So Leela is both angry and desperate to rub his face in her being over him, even though she isn't, and drags Syd through a lot of emotional turmoil. And then there's Matt's friend Jackson, apparently renowned man-whore, who is often left with Syd when Matt and Leela go off and fight/have make-up sex. Whichever.

I can always count on Sarah for a very funny and memorable story, usually involving lots of kissing and leaning on friends. The girls (and sometimes the boys) take us across Europe, all the good and major cities, hitting the tourist traps and enjoying local fun - Amsterdam needs no explanation! It was lovely seeing all the different places, how the atmosphere and the character's enjoyment depended on where they were and who they were with.

It was also a great mix of road trip fun and mental health awareness, as Syd worries over her family, has a panic attack climbing the stairs in the Eiffel Tower, and has a huge row with Leela over the guys. All in all, a fantastic story - classic road trip fun, with hot boys, good friends and life lessons learned.

If you love travel, or have been on a similar European tour, then this will feel like a Travel Diary and send you right back to your own adventures.

Every so often a book comes along that will literally consume your everyday life and suck you into the story that you become a helpless victim and are unable to do a single thing about it.

Sarah Mlynowski’s The Girl’s Guide to Summer is one such book. It got me that riled up that immediately after I read the final page I sent the author an effusive tweet begging for more.

The Girl’s Guide to Summer focuses on the relationships, mainly protagonist Sydney Aaron’s to everyone else in her life: her best friend with whom her relationship has become strained since going to different colleges, her irresponsible younger sister, her agoraphobic mother and her new love interest. Sydney is feeling the pressure so time away seems like the perfect antidote.

Part travel novel part coming of age drama, The Girl’s Guide to Summer is THE read for the summer. I don’t care where you read it or how you obtain your copy but you must add this book to your summer reading list. Never before has a novel made me want to don a backpack and bugger off into the horizon but dagnammit The Girl’s Guide to Summer did just that.

The Girl’s Guide to Summer by Sarah Mlynowski is available now.

For more information regarding Sarah Mlynowski (@SarahMlynowski) please visit www.sarahm.com.

For more information regarding Hachette Children’s Group (@HachetteKids) please visit www.hachettechildrens.co.uk.

Leela and Sydney are heading off to Europe for four and a half weeks yet on the plane, Matt, Leela's ex is also travelling.

We learn of Sydney's hesitance to leave her agoraphobic mum and as a result of her mum's condition, her stressed and stuttering sister will be left to somehow cope alone with their mum.

Leela leaves an online social media trail in the hopes of Matt coming and finding her, until someone else catches her eye and just maybe she doesn't need Matt after all...

This book was a lovely read for the summer and as someone who can't travel on planes I enjoyed getting a feel of the travel they go through and the cities the travel to. Leela was a likable character but I was rooting for her to have a nice time and forget Matt so she could just enjoy her adventures!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

What do you do when you're putting your life on hold to care for your agoraphobic mother? Go on a four week holiday with your best friend...or at least that's what our narrator, Sydney, does.
We watch the girls travel from country to country and it was amusing to see some of their experiences. It felt repetitive ultimately.

When long-time best friend Leela's unexpected break-up sees her offered a spare plane ticket and the chance to backpack around Europe for a month, teenager Sydney, who hasn't taken a break from her studies or from being her mom's carer in years, can't resist. Unfortunately, Leela's ex-boyfriend Matt has decided to go backpacking anyway, and within days it becomes clear that they have unfinished emotional business of the tongue-tennis kind to take care of, leaving Sydney to play gooseberry - or get to know Matt's mysterious (and, as she frequently reminds us, surprisingly hot) friend, Jackson. What unfolds is the story of a girl learning to navigate new continents, secret romances, thorny relationships, and the London Tube with, shall we say, varying levels of success.

Organised, put-together Sydney is there for her friends and family, whether that's guiding drunk friends to the bathroom or checking up on her mother from thousands of miles away, but with temperamental Leela veering from loved-up to heartbroken at the drop of a hat and constantly placing demands on her attention, readers will likely feel she's allowing herself to be pulled about a bit too often. Both meet other backpackers on their travels, including some particularly exuberant Australians, but I would've liked to have seen a more balanced, mutually beneficial friendship take up the core of the book. Her resident Paris friend, Kat, also gets plenty of time on the page but where emotional depth should appear alongside her confidence, she's defined mostly by Sex and the City levels of brassy materialism. Sydney's romance with outgoing, handsome Jackson, meanwhile, is certainly aiming for swoony - but one can't help feeling it's a little shallow, as after some initial back-and-forth Sydney spends most of the book specifying only her attraction to him while meaningful conversation is glossed over.

And, perhaps most crucially, while this book is being marketed as YA, specifically to Mlynowski's YA audience, it is not YA. It's something resembling NA (the once-popular 'New Adult' category), with a touch more added for some attempt at a half-hearted transition. There's heavy drinking, drug use and (apparently in place of taking more than one or two opportunities to explore themes in a thoughtful, interesting way) a scene entirely set at a live sex show in Amsterdam. The protagonists' travels around Europe rely on super generalised stereotypes, the relationships lack depth, serious themes aren't particularly thoroughly handled and the ending is completely rushed, leaving little room for wrapping up details or any narrative conclusion.