Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot ·
01/04/2024 21:38
As a kid/young teenager I remember reading a book series for teenagers and they have sort of lived rent free in my head ever since (I am now almost 36!) and not being able to remember them properly is driving me nuts.
What I do remember:
- they were published as sort of part of the same universe but each book was stand alone (I think).
- one of them was about a teenage boy (of about 16/17ish) who grew up in a working class household who wanted to be an artist or designer (or something similar?). Typical my parents don’t understand me stuff. He met an older rich bloke who owned his own ad agency who let him stay in his flat and gave him a trial job designing stuff. I vividly remember the apartment overlooking some sort of canal or river! Teenage boy spends time with the flashy ad bloke, and meets a girl who is beautiful but not very nice - I remember her name is Portia. There’s a love triangle and the other girl also has a difficult relationship with her own mother. He sacks off Portia and ends up with the nice girl. Ad agency bloke kind of fucks him over, he goes back to college. happy ending all round.
- There was another book about a teenage girl who went on holiday with her friend to Seville. Teenage girl main character always felt in shadow of much more beautiful friend. Much describing of Seville and oranges. Another love triangle, ridey Spanish bloke chooses main character over more beautiful and confident friend - they fall out and pal goes home. There was an older overweight woman who wore a lot of jewellery (can’t remember what she added to the plot lol).
- may have had sort of ‘for teens only/no parents allowed’ stamp on the cover of the books - although I may be mixing that up with other books I read around this time.
- mild sex scenes as the characters were all late teens. Completely unrealistic amounts of freedom to go travelling around Europe/shag Spanish blokes/move into flashy ad man apartments. All seemed very glam when I was 14!
Does anyone remember this series? mumsnet you are normally excellent at this sort of stuff, don’t let me down!