Birthday Blues

by Anne Cassidy

A gripping story focusing on an abandoned baby. A day-old child has been left in the street in a cardboard pet carrier - but who is little Bobby's mother? And how could she leave him like this? Police are desperate to reunite them, but no one is coming forward...

Genres: Young Adult

241 pages, Paperback

First published January 21, 2005

Reviews

[Aida Pottinger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry absolutely boring. I hated it
Tediously predictable ending and storyline.
Teenage girl gets pregnant, leaves baby in cardboard box and is reunited with abandoned baby with a lot of fluffy fillers to make it into a book which really should have been published in a teen magazine as a one page tale.
Told from the perspective of a reluctant (initially) friend who has just been dumped by her first boyfriend because he found her best friend more appealing (for a short while).
This book could have been so much more interesting had it not been written as if it were to be read by junior school readers. If it was meant to be written for a target audience of 12 - 15 year olds then that's the age the protagonists should have been. Not supposedly intelligent A level students
Its not a moral tale even. The characters are simplistically nice who go on nice holidays and everything in the end will turn out nice except in the case of the grandmother to be, who is mildly depressed, and the narrator's ( reluctant friend who eventually is won over by the niceness of the teen mum to be ) The language is that of a 9 year old or maybe a teacher who is more used to dealing with slow learners and cannot switch to normal young adult like conversation.
Frustrating details about what is in the policeman's sandwich box made me flick through the whole middle section and read the last few pages where lo and behold it wos the step daddy wot dun it!
2 hours of my life I will never get back!

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, Julia's boyfriend dumps her for her best friend, and a few weeks later she worries that she's pregnant, fortunately she's not. Some months later her new best friend Tina faints on a school trip. They use the pregnancy test and she is pregnant, about 6 months pregnant 😮
Tina refuses to do anything about it, she won't see a doctor, she won't talk to anyone, but Julia tells her cousin Kath who's a nurse.
When Tina goes into labour she refuses to go to the hospital. Kath helps deliver the baby, and the next day they leave him at a doctor's surgery.
Tina tells Julia that the reason she can't tell anyone is because her stepfather is the babies father 🤦‍♀️
The police find Kath, and she tells them the truth, and Tina changes her mind and decides she wants her baby back. She has to be assessed by social services, but hopefully she'll get Bobby back.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago when I was only 12, and I had to get my mother's permission for the school librarian to allow me to take it out as it was for older readers but my mother told them I was quite advanced a reader for my age and she was happy to let me take it, she'd also looked it up online first.

I may re-read because it was about 10 years ago now but I remember it was a brilliant book and I was very moved as I had initially not known what it was about I thought it was a happier story but I'm glad I read it all the same, it was very eye opening especially at the age I was.

[Crimelpoint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jest to fajna i lekka książka, którą czyta się szybko i przyjemnie. Mimo dość poważnego tematu, jest napisana prostym językiem.
Momentami jest dość przewidywalna i często wcale nie zaskakuje. Jednak mimo to, powieść ta po prostu tego nie potrzebuje. Akcja nie toczy się bardzo szybko, jednak nie zmienia to faktu, że warto zapoznać się z tą pozycją.
Jest to przyjemna lektura, ale przy okazji poucza nas i pokazuje problemy nastolatków. Czasem była trochę przesłodzona, ale właśnie jest to taka słodko- gorzka pozycja.

[Honorata · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

[Paulina · Rating 3 out of 5]

była dobra ale nie było to cos niesamowitego co nie ale dobrze mi sie ją czytało wiec nawet polecam🙃

[Paulina.Evelynh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dawno ją czytałam. Nigdy wcześniej jej nigdzie nie widziałam, zobaczyłam w piwnicy i po prostu przeczytałam. Nie zakochałam się, ale nie miałam zbyt dużych oczekiwań wobec niej.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the only one of the Cassidy books that I read and didn't like, it's a shame really because the story-line could have been great, but with such a small book I struggled to get into the story fully.

Like I said, I liked the story-line, girl gets dumped, boyfriend moves onto best friend, girl finds new friend, growing relationship with new friends problems brought into the mix. I also liked the character of Tina and her naivity, yet she is the one who ends up pregnant with a baby she ends up getting rid off, after being unable to face the troubles of parenting.

I just didn't like the main character. Even though you should sympathise for her, I kind of felt that her proud and arrogant personality deserved it. Also the whole abandoning baby part was unnessecary I felt, and the book was too short to get into the story enough for it to be emotive.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was just skimming through some of the other reviews and I noticed that one reader called Anne Cassidy the Jodi Picoult for teens. And I can see how that's true. I'm a fan of Jodi Picoult. And after reading my first novel of Anne Cassidy's- Looking for JJ- I really liked her writing as well. But I have to say that Birthday Blues didn't really live up to my expectations. Not that it wasn't a good read. In fact, I was really surprised as to the turn out of the book. The little summary for the book... so misleading... but in a good plot twisting kind of way. It's just that it reminded me of an episode of Grey's Anatomy. The novel itself isn't bad. But I can't really pinpoint what about it just had me drifting in and out. I just couldn't really get drawn into the book.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a real emotional rollercoaster for you, the reader, and the characters in it, mainly Julia and Tina. It is based on 2 teenagers, both 17 who are brought together though hard times. Then they discover a problem, Tina's problem that is getting bigger in her life. They can't change anything now... not when the problem is catching them up in a race to the finish line. A truley heart-warming tale that you wouldn't want to miss out on, by the highly credible author Anne Cassidy, who wrote the prize-winning 'Looking for JJ' another best seller.

[Marie Carlino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book which looks at a surprise teen pregnancy. An overweight teen finds out her growing waistline is not just food a little too late, then has to live with the consequences. The book is split into two periods of time, before the birth and after the birth which are intermingled throughout the book. A big surprise about who the father is at the end of the book which was a bit creepy.

[Pages and Papercuts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can I just say they sure do drink a lot of tea in this book! :)
I found Birthday Blues a bit unrealistic. I don't care how fat this young girl was, if she's nine months pregnant, somebody's going to notice.
The book got a bit draggy towards the end as well.

Ok, now that I'm done being critical... Birthday Blues was a entertaining read, with one big twist towards the end.

[Nightinkgale · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started of as a normal chick lit book and then takes a surprising twist. I enjoyed it. Certain chapters were real nail biters and you had to finish it before you could put the book down. Then giving you a quick relieve and a chance to breathe just to plunge you back down in misery.

[Amy w · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really Good Book ! For teen girls .

[Talia Avakian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Birthday Blues is a pretty interesitng book. I liked reading it.

[Kwakhanya ngcongco · Rating 5 out of 5]

to not trust stepfathers and they are dangerous.dont even think of trusting best friends

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The middle is very boring but the ending is actually quite good :)

[Steff S (The Bookish Owl) · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be reviewed...

[Emily Benoit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concept/Ideas: 3.5/5
Storyline/Plot: 3.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Writing Style: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

[Lala · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was probably a bit too old for me (I'm a tween) but good all the same.

[Ophelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really gripping, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I read it when I was a young teenager, but would happily re-read it now I am older! It was brilliant.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

a bit dull in some parts but a quick mostly enjoyable light read