Summer 1975: Helena is bored out of her mind—there's absolutely nothing to do and her supposed 'best friends' Gwen and Elaine are holidaying in the South of France without her. The only saving grace is that she's allowed to re-decorate her room—bring on the purple floral wallpaper. By some miracle, the girls meet and hang out together. The 1970s sure had quite a range of unique fashion statements, parties, and music. According to a 'palm reader' Helena might be in great danger. Not every tragedy can be avoided. There must be something that Hermione can do to change the course of fate as long as she keeps close to Helena.

What follows is a time-travelling adventure which sees Hermione end up in 1975. She must be there for a reason. Will she find out why she is there, and fix things before it is too late? Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. In 2021, Hermione has just moved with her mum to live with Paul, her mum’s new boyfriend. Bored and far away from her friends, Paul says she can decorate her room, where she finds a message from 1975..From acclaimed writer and comedian, Jenny Eclair, comes a hilarious and heart-breaking story about a friendship against all odds. Jenny Eclair did the narration and I much preferred the 1975 narration and that part of the story, and that was good because I think that was where most of the story was set, I genuinely got confused at one point thinking I'd imagined the first modern day section.

I enjoyed the plot and the time travel element, but I wish that there was more of it and the impact of it and then ending left me wanting more, in a way that it felt like the ending had been quite rushed. I was expecting there to be a meet up in the later timeline, or some impact of what had happened in the past. From acclaimed writer and comedian, Jenny clair, comes a hilarious and heart-breaking story about a friendship against all odds.The language is questionable. The 2021 character uses a lot of terms that will probably be outdated by next year. The older character uses lots of words and phrases that also seem far too modern for her. Overall, one will be incomprehensible soon and the other will keep being anachronistic. It also reads a little bit like a creative writing class assignment; something you have to do and want to show off with but don't really care about. However, it feels like nothing is seen through to its satisfying conclusion, as if Eclair has tried to do the working out to fashion a satisfying twist or resolution, but when it came to writing it simply couldn’t bring herself to do it, for whatever reason. The ending falls entirely flat, with us not fully understanding what Hermione learned from the experience. From acclaimed writer and comedian, Jenny Éclair, comes a hilarious and heart-breaking story about a friendship against all odds. What follows is a lengthy passage (I think it takes up roughly a third of the book?) from the perspective of said girl, Helena. Helena is a sort of Georgia Nicholson type - in fact, the resemblance is quite uncanny, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find that it’s a conscious homage to Rennison’s work. Helena’s a teenager who’s flaws manifest in predictable ways - her friends are too childish, so she treats them with disdain, abandoning them for the cool kids and the attention of a boy, any boy. Her parents are even disappointed when she lifts a box of Milk Tray from the local off license, and receives a tepid school report. So, as Helena’s segment ends the reader is left wondering how she is finally going to realise her behaviour is shallow and make amends with the people she truly loves.

In 1975, Helena loves boys, Marc Bolan and David Bowie. She is facing a summer alone after her friends go on holiday without her. As a treat she is allowed to redecorate her bedroom, and decides to write a message beneath her new purple wallpaper. My initial interest in this book was piqued by the author herself being local (or formerly local?) to the area of London I live in - I was curious to see if her YA offering had any local interest, since there is such a density of secondary schools in this part of the city. It does, just a little, but most of this book is set in t’ North, where our Londoner protagonist, Hermione, is forced to move when her mother takes up with a new beau. When the new boyfriend, as an olive branch, encourages Hermione to redecorate her room, she discovers a message from a girl named Helena, to whom the room belonged in the mid-seventies. Hermione is more street smart, with what seems like an older head on her shoulders. Do modern teens grow up faster than in previous generations? It does seem that way. The world is at their fingertips in an instant, and although social media can be divisive, it certainly gives young people a voice and the need to be both seen and heard. Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user.

The added element of peril truly gripped me and I was hoping for a happy ending throughout. I’d have loved to see Hermione and Helena meet again in 2021, but can understand and appreciate the ending as it stands. Summer 2021: New to the north, Hermione's mum has moved her away from London and all her friends to start a new life with new boyfriend Paul, who resembles a slab of meat from the butchers. Just as well she can paint over that hideous wallpaper in her new room.

Summer 1975: Helena is bored out of her mind – there’s absolutely nothing to do and her supposed “best friends” Gwen and Elaine are holidaying in the South of France without her. The only saving grace is that she’s allowed to re-decorate her room – bring on the purple floral wallpaper.Helena is a funny and feisty character, yet naïve when it comes to to relationships with boys and issues of consent. Her going to an all girls schools means boys are alien to her. I was born in the 70s so there were a few things I was aware of and that helped enjoy both time periods I think. From acclaimed writer and comedian Jenny Eclair comes a hilarious and heart-breaking story about a friendship against all odds. Summer 2021: New to the north, Hermione’s mum has moved her away from London and all her friends to start a new life with new boyfriend Paul, who resembles a slab of meat from the butchers. Just as well she can paint over that hideous wallpaper in her new room. I enjoyed this book, and found both lead girls endearing; I grew fond of them both over the course of the story.