Book Review: Brooklyn Girls: Angie by Gemma Burgess.

Product details:
Publisher: Quercus.
Paperback, 303 pages.
Release date: March 6th 2014.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Ages: New Adult
 Series: Brooklyn Girls  #2.
Other Books in Series: Pia.
Source: Received from publisher for review.

Broke. Brokenhearted. Bored.

Angie James is lost. A regular poster girl for Generation Screwed, life aged 22 isn�t exactly what she expected. Shouldn�t she feel a little more together by now?

In the Brooklyn townhouse she shares with her best friends, Angie knows she should be happy. Instead, she presses self-destruct. Over and over again. Until the people she loves the most seem more distant than ever, and the bottom of a vodka bottle is easier to face than the future. It�s going to take a lot to find her way back . . .

Who knew adulthood would be so damn grown-up?

To the casual onlooker, it might look like Angie James has her life all sorted out.  An �It� girl who knows all the right people, and goes to all the right places, Angie has a wardrobe to die for, and, you might think, a bank account fitting of her social status. Not so. With her twenty-third birthday looming, Angie is broke; she�s also unemployed and is fast becoming dependant on her good friend Vodka to get her through the day.  Angie knows that things have to change; random hook ups with guys she doesn�t know and whose names she can�t even remember the morning after have left her feeling empty, used. She knows she�s better than that. She knows the life she wants is out there, somewhere. She�s just not quite sure where �or how- to find it.

Angie�s story is the second instalment in the Brooklyn Girls series by Gemma Burgess, and if you loved the wild ride that was Pia�s story, then you�re in for another treat with Angie James. Unlike Pia, who I didn�t hit it off with right from the start, I liked Angie immediately. Figures, I guess, because Angie was my favourite character in the first book too. So, let me recap: Angie is Pia�s best friend �they went to boarding school together � and share everything. But when we meet Angie she�s feeling pretty much alone in the world; her parents are divorcing and Pia is so loved up with boyfriend Aidan that she exists only on the fringes of Angie�s life these days.  It�s not until Angie escapes near disaster on a yacht involving some questionable men and a whole lot of Class A�s, that she turns to her Brooklyn girls for help; but while Pia, Julia, Coco and Madeline (OK, well, not so much Madeline) do their best to help Angie out, they can�t get her the life of the job that she wants.  Angie wants a job in fashion more than anything. She just needs someone to give her a chance.

What she doesn�t need is a distraction in the form of a �boat boy� called Sam. Angie is off men � for reasons you�ll find out all about when you read this book � but after they bond over movie marathons after which they fall asleep side-by-side, Sam is suddenly on Angie�s mind 24/7. But Sam is just a friend, right? And that�s a good thing too � because Julia, sweet, sensible Julia, has completely fallen for him. Yikes!

If Pia�s story was all about the drama (like the girl herself!) then Angie�s story is somehow more thoughtful and relatable: I think everyone has known a girl like Angie � or maybe been a girl like Angie- in their early twenties; you know, the girl who is the life and soul of the party, who can get any guy she wants, and yet, underneath it all � on the rare nights that she does make it home �she�s a little bit sad, a little bit lost, a little bit on her own in the world with no idea of where her life is going. You know that girl? That�s Angie. While I didn�t relate to Pia very much at all, I related to Angie on a number of levels (the fashion-loving thing, obviously � not the vodka for breakfast, guys!) and that�s what made this story a joy to read. I also loved the Reality Bites references in this book: Angie and Sam watch the movie, and later, Angie bites the bullet, swallows her pride and takes a job at the Gap.  Now, any book that makes you want to go re-watch one of your all-time favourite movies over and over again has got to be a good (great!) thing, right?!

If you haven�t already checked out the Brooklyn Girls series, I totally recommend it, the books are bight and breezy, but they deal with those real-life, serious issues too; have a great cast of characters, and a couple hot guys for good measure. Coco�s book is up next, and after all the little sister of the group has been through since this series started, I reckon hers is a story not to be missed.