Making Friends with Alice Dyson by Poppy Nwosu
Pages: 276
Publish date: November 5th 2019
Publisher: Wakefield Press
ISBN: 9781743056127
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU
My gaze follows the shoes up over long legs to a towering figure.
I stand abruptly.
Tall, black eyes, messy hair, a permanent scowl on a permanently angry face. Our school’s delinquent, a waster, the kind of boy who always sits at the back of class. The kind of boy even popular people like Sophia are afraid of. Teddy Taualai.
And even worse? Now Teddy Taualai won’t leave her alone.
A story about rumours, friendship, and discovering who you really are.
Making Friends with Alice Dyson:
Making Friends with Alice Dyson by Poppy Nwosu wasn’t high up on my TBR list when I first heard about it. YA contemporary isn’t something that I read a lot of these days. However, it did still catch my eye, and then I started reading all the reviews and I knew that I had to pick this one up for myself. And I’m so glad that I did. I loved it so much that it made it onto my top books for CBCA’s Clayton night.
You know those books that you read and they just put a smile on your face, this is one of those. This is a beautiful, adorable, and honest novel that explores the highs and lows of the last year of high school. This novel follows Alice Dyson in her last year of high school. Her plan? Focus on her future! Head down, do her homework, and nothing is going to stop her. Expect maybe a dance-off with troublemaker and delinquent Teddy Taualai. Alice is thrown into the spotlight when rumours start flying around.
Alice was an interesting character and protagonist. She wasn’t someone that I could immediately connect with and like, but as the novel went on I really started to enjoy her. I think that her character arc was fantastic and the reader is able to see her grow immensely throughout Making Friends with Alice Dyson. Alice’s growth really pushed the novel and I loved that. Even though Alice thought she hated everything that followed the events with Teddy, but the reader is able to see that she actually enjoys it. Even if she doesn’t think so. One of my favourite things about young adult novels is seeing the growth of characters and I think that Poppy Nwosu does that so well. Especially in regards to everything that comes with the last year of high school.
I loved Teddy from the start. While I might have disliked this type of guy while at school, I love them in novels. He has this ‘bad boy’ reputation and it plays along with it. He has this fun and playful nature about him that added this other layer to the novel and made him more than an archetype. Poppy Nwosu has a knack for making characters that are real and have faults and this makes for such an enjoyable read.
The romance in Making Friends with Alice Dyson was beautiful and I loved it with my soul. Teddy is a flirt, and Alice is a shy bean, and while at first, they seem like total opposites. However, as the novel goes on, they are able to connect with one another. What turns from hesitation and avoidance, into a soft friendship and then slowly into something more. It was beautiful and has to be one of my favourite friends to lovers romance. It’s just very sweet, soft and a somewhat innocent romance. I loved that Teddy was able to push Alice in a way that lets her know herself even more.
Making Friends with Alice Dyson is very character-driven which I love. But also there is a lot of other things that do drive the novel along. I adored the first interaction between Alice and Teddy; the dance. It’s one of the most innocent things I’ve read and I loved it. All Teddy wants is a friend and Alice becomes that person. Friendship is a massive theme throughout the novel. And the reader not only sees the friendship between Alice and Teddy grow into something more. But it also looks at Alice’s friendship with her best friend.
I loved that Poppy Nwosu looks into the notion of female friendship and the many ups and downs that come along with it. Especially in those last few years of school. I enjoyed that it explored that girl friendships aren’t always smooth and showed a realistic approach to how girls interact and their relationships.
Making Friends with Alice Dyson also explores the notion of coming of age and that last year of high school. I think that Australian novels do this exceptionally well and that is clearly evident in Making Friends with Alice Dyson. It showed the trials and tribulations that go along with being in that last year of school. All the ups and downs. The decisions that we need to make. And the pressure that we not only put on ourselves but that others put on us as well.
Making Friends with Alice Dyson is a sweet story that looks at friendships, the most adorable romance, and the strength of opening up. Everything about this book is tender and sweet but also packs a punch. This is a great book to pick up when you are feeling that little bit down because it’s a feel great book for sure. I also think it’s one that a lot of teens can read. This is a fantastic debut that is brilliant and soft, and I finished it with a massive smile.
Have you read Making Friends with Alice Dyson by Poppy Nwosu? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? Let’s Chat!
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