REVIEW: Does Snogging Count as Exercise by Helen Salter

Does Snogging Count as Exercise? by Helen Salter
ISBN 13: 978-1-4169-3801-9
Simon Pulse (Simon and Schuster, NY)

Holly Stockwell is the misfit of her family. Everyone else is sports-obsessed. She'd rather read a book. Her older, perfect sister has gone off the university, but is still clearly the family favorite, as well as obviously being the favorite student of many of Holly's teachers.

Holly is a student at an all-girl's school in England, which makes it awfully difficult to meet boys. Lucky for her, her best friend Poppy has a dreamy older brother, Luke. Unlucky for her, Holly can't put two words together when Luke is around. Even worse, when Poppy shows a picture of Luke to the girls at school, popular, pretty Claudia sets her sights on dating him. Part of that plan is pretending to be Poppy's friend, so Holly gets cut out.

One of the things I liked about this story was that even though Claudia does some questionable things, she's not one of those all-powerful high school movie villain girls. These are the kinds of things a real person could do to really make your life miserable, not because she's evil, but because she never stops to consider other people's feelings.

I think everyone has been through one of those terrible times when a good friend suddenly changes. It's no fun suddenly feeling alone. While Holly is hurt and thinks about saying mean things to Poppy, she doesn't stoop to it. That's a pretty admirable trait in a character. Plus, it makes is easier for them to go back to being friends after Claudia moves on to fresh victims.

This is a fun, breezy read, more comedic than dramatic, and well-paced. There's nothing I hate more than a spoiler, so I won't tell you if Holly ever works up the courage to talk to Luke. Read it and find out for yourself. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

PS. The cover art by Karin Paprocki is wonderful.