Sugar Rush

by Julie Burchill

Overview

It's survival of the fittest at Ravendene Comprehensive - the terrifying teenage jungle for which Kim Lewis must trade her safe, posh private school. But help is at hand - in the unlikely form of the rude, raucous, toxic and tantalizing Maria (aka Sugar) Sweet, queen of the 'Ravers'.

As Kim falls quickly under her spell, and gambles her good-girl past for an exciting life of late-night parties and daring emotion, she must ask herself a disturbing question: has she fallen in love with her best friend?

Julie Burchill's Sugar Rush is saucy, shimmering, loud and larger than life - come get your sugar fix!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509805419
Publisher:	Pan Macmillan
Publication date:	08/04/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	590 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Julie Burchill is famed for her controversial and acerbic journalism. She began her career at the New Musical Express when she was seventeen, later moving to The Face and the Sunday Times. She has written for many magazines and newspapers, and now writes a weekly column for The Times. She is also the author of twelve books, including her biography I Knew I Was Right, and Burchill on Beckham. Sugar Rush is her first novel for teenagers.

The Mirror has said of her: 'This woman writes the backside off her contemporaries.'

Julie Burchill is famed for her controversial and acerbic journalism. She began her career at the New Musical Express when she was seventeen, later moving to The Face and the Sunday Times. She has written for many magazines and newspapers and now writes a weekly column in The Times. She is also the author of twelve books, including her biography I KNEW I WAS RIGHT, and BURCHILL ON BECKHAM. SUGAR RUSH is her first novel for teenagers, and has been made into a critically and commercially acclaimed Channel 4 series. She is currently writing her second teen novel, guaranteed to be full of her trademark fresh, funny and sharp writing.

Editorial Reviews

A fabulous story of sexual fascination, guilt-free, intoxicating and delicious.

EBOOK COMMENTARY

The fast-paced writing here makes British journalist Burchill's first novel for young adults a fun and addictive read. After 15-year-old Kim's mother abandons her family, her father claims he cannot "afford" to keep the teen in private school, so she must transfer to Brighton's tough public high school. There she meets and befriends Maria "Sugar" Sweet, a beautiful bully who introduces her to a wild life of drinking and clubbing. Kim realizes she has a "pash on the naughtiest girl in school," but as their relationship turns physical, she gets increasingly possessive, and confused, by Sugar (who will kiss Kim in public to get attention, but Kim has to tell her not to talk about a boy Sugar once hooked up with). Some of the plotting fails to make perfect sense: Kim's realization that her mother is a child, and her acceptance of her new home with her father and brother seems sudden. But Kim's narration is clever and animated, and readers will understand why she feels like she's in a music video with Sugar, "running, laughing, taunting, teasing, and always to the thump-thump-thump of soaring, searing, dance music," even as they begin to recognize that the relationship is doomed. Ages 14-up. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 9 Up-Kim lives in Brighton, England, with her father and younger brother, Matt; her mother has left them for a younger man and lives in the Caribbean. Kim's voice is authentic teenage, dealing with uncertainty and issues, and with her attraction to superachiever Zoe. Money runs out and Kim must go to a rough-and-tumble local school, leaving Zoe behind. There she meets Maria Sweet, a wild, impulsive Top Girl who tests all limits. Kim and Maria link, indulge themselves in liquor and drugs, and sample with abandon a lesbian relationship. Maria, known as Sugar, betrays Kim and their budding relationship to experiment sexually with men. And Kim somehow picks up the pieces of life and goes on. This is an excellent coming-of-age story that deals with the thoughts and emotions of a girl coming to terms with being lesbian, and also with accepting herself for who she is and not being enamored of the strong personalities around her. British teenage slang will slow American readers down a bit, but not for long, for the dialogue is authentic teen banter. This is a solid addition for most YA collections. All young people need good stories of teen relationships that will help them make their way on the rocky road of growing up.-Alice DiNizo, Plainfield Public Schools, NJ Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Sure to cause a stir.

The Observer (UK)

An irresistibly witty tale about teenage high spirits, cattiness, friendship, sex, and growing pains.

Bookseller (London)