Girl In Between in Aussie Readers

Apr 30, 2017 Julia Durie rated it it was amazing

You know you're reading a great book when you ignore all social contact because you are so engrossed in the story.
That's what happened with Girl in Between.

The story is about Aussie girl Lucy Crighton from tropical Queensland who is figuring out what she wants from her career, love and life in general.

The story is sweet and clever, the setting is unique with great descriptions of north Queensland and London and you will laugh out loud more than once.

Few authors can truly express Australian cultu ...more

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Jun 08, 2017 Josie rated it it was amazing

Oh this was a brilliant read and I loved it for all of it's bogan glory! (I actually read this over the course of 1 evening.)
I've been somewhat "off" chick lit for a number of years now, but this was a refreshing sidestep from my usual go to reads these days.
Largely set in Rockhampton in northern Queensland of the east coats of Australia - which in itself is a great thing - this is a coming of age tale, in your 30s!
The locations this book weaved between were all familiar to me, so this really di ...more

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May 12, 2017 Bree T rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, women-s-fiction

This debut from Anna Daniels takes the reader firstly to the Queensland town of Rockhampton where 32 year old Lucy Crighton has moved back in with her parents after a failed relationship. She’s broke and has decided that her future lies in writing the next great Australian novel so she’s taking some time to complete her first draft.

I’m a couple of years older than Lucy, not really enough to make a difference, so we’re kind of the same age but to be honest, it didn’t feel that way. It felt like L This debut from Anna Daniels takes the reader firstly to the Queensland town of Rockhampton where 32 year old Lucy Crighton has moved back in with her parents after a failed relationship. She’s broke and has decided that her future lies in writing the next great Australian novel so she’s taking some time to complete her first draft.

I’m a couple of years older than Lucy, not really enough to make a difference, so we’re kind of the same age but to be honest, it didn’t feel that way. It felt like Lucy read quite a bit younger than 32 – she seems directionless, like someone who had just graduated from university at 22 or so and didn’t know what to do next. Bumming around in her parent’s house, having to scrounge around in their loose change for enough money to go out and buy herself a coffee was sort of more sad than funny. I know that sometimes circumstances force people to go back rather than forward but for a large portion of the story Lucy seems content to just….drift like this. She doesn’t really look for work all that actively, she doesn’t look to move out or regain some independence. She is gifted a trip overseas and then goes to London because her best friend does. For a girl in between everything she sort of gets a lot of things.

There’s a romance running through this, it’s by far not a dominant part of the story and the good part is it doesn’t really define Lucy, nor does she sacrifice anything for it the way that she did in the past, giving up her job in television to follow her boyfriend only for him to break up with her. However I didn’t love the character of Oscar. At first he seems great but then something is revealed about him that changed my opinion of him. He drifts in and out of Lucy’s life as he visits his mother next door and then turns up when Lucy is living in London, seemingly finally getting her life together. It seemed like quite a selfish thing to do to be honest and didn’t endear him to me at all.

I did really enjoy quite a few of the supporting characters, especially Lucy’s parents who are believably quirky and quintessentially laid-back country Australian. A lot of the references and interactions in the parts set in Rockhampton are very Aussie – playing the drinking games with the clothesline, the references between QLD and NSW State of Origin rivalry. They’re the type of thing that almost every Australian is going to be familiar with and there’s a sort of comfort in that, seeing your own experiences recognised and realised on paper. To be honest, I didn’t dislike Lucy…..I found her frustrating at times but she was also quite endearing at times too. I couldn’t help but cheer for her in a way, I wanted her to find her true passion, to get herself back together because it just seemed like the more time she spent drifting, the more unraveled she became. Moving to London and working in a bookshop actually gave her a lot of grounding and it seemed like she was the most settled there. She found a tribe, fellow employees at the bookstore, one of the flatmates in her share house. I liked the time in London, it was probably my favourite part of the book.

I was in two minds about this book for nearly the whole time I was reading it. As I mentioned, I liked Lucy at times but she frustrated me as well and some of the humour wasn’t really my humour. I didn’t do any laughing out loud although the were a few amusing moments littered throughout. The idea of finding yourself is probably one that a lot of people can relate to but there were times when I thought Lucy was more waiting for things to find her, rather than attempting to find what she wanted for herself in a proactive manner. There were some good friendships and an interesting rivalry between Lucy’s mother and another woman in Rockhampton as well, which was something a bit different. But some of the core stuff didn’t really work for me and I was quite put off by some aspects of the romance.

Somewhere on the fence on this one! Didn’t love it but I didn’t dislike it either. I’d recommend it to Aussies who enjoy a bit of cultural humour. ...more

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Apr 28, 2017 Tanya rated it liked it

I'd heard comments about this being hilarious and laugh out loud funny, so perhaps I had high expectations? Either way, I was left feeling underwhelmed.

Look, it was light, fluffy, easy to read. But to be perfectly honest, the characters seemed pretty shallow and I didn't feel invested in what was going on in their lives. Whether that's because Lucy/Rosie and I are such polar opposites? I don't know. ...more

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Mar 29, 2017 Tianne Shaw rated it it was amazing

Very easy to read and quite a light hearted book of a 30plus Lucy and her dramas between jobs and finding herself again. The characters certainly have some great almost Kath and Kim type elements but an enjoyable book overall.

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Sep 11, 2017 Lia rated it liked it

Shelves: australian, female-authors, debut

This book is McDonalds.
You know you shouldn't eat it, but sometimes you just want a burger and fries (usually the morning after the night before!)
I don't normally read chick-lit like this. EVER.
The author was at Dymocks when I was there last week and I met her and picked up the book. Anna Daniels was delightful in person, and this comes across in her writing.
I am rating this book against other books in this genre I have read. I liked it, it was sweet, it was Australian, it was quirky.
There was s ...more

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Dec 22, 2017 Nikki Sims-Chilton marked it as to-read

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