My Invisible Boyfriend: 06/06/13

My Invisible Boyfriend by Susie Day is about the difficulties of being the last one in a group of friends to find a date. Heidi, who goes to a boarding school — only because her father works there — is such a person. All her close circle of friends are dating and she's the last singleton.

While she's not all that interested in dating, she's not immune to the pressure. She decides to relieve some of that pressure by inventing a boyfriend based on her favorite TV character — Mycroft Christie.

To make her boyfriend seem more real, she creates an online identity, including giving an email address and chat ID. She then emails back and forth to create the appearance of a long distance relationship. A goof up, though, gives her friends access to "his" account and soon she is chatting and emailing with her friends in her boyfriend's voice.

As you can imagine, there's only so far this sort of deception can go. I enjoyed both parts of the book — the set up and the aftermath when her deception falls apart. Yes — Heidi and company are shallow. They're young and at that age when bad ideas seem like good ideas. If the internet had been around when I was a teen, I probably would have invented a whole cast of fictional characters.

Stylistically — especially with Heidi's odd ball grammar, unbridled enthusiasm and sometimes weird word choice — reminds me of the Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison. OK, I say that a lot — but I love the series and it's the bar I hold similar series to. This book comes close.

Four stars

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