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I Think I Love You: A Novel
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I Think I Love You: A Novel
Unavailable
I Think I Love You: A Novel
Audiobook12 hours

I Think I Love You: A Novel

Written by Allison Pearson

Narrated by Sian Thomas

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

The new novel from the best-selling author of I Don't Know How She Does It takes us on an unforgettable journey into first love, and-with the emotional intensity and penetrating wit that have made her beloved among readers all over the world-reminds us of how the ardor of our youth can ignite our adult lives.

Wales, 1974. Petra and Sharon, two thirteen-year-old girls, are obsessed with David Cassidy. His fan magazine is their Bible, and some days his letters are the only things that keep them going as they struggle through the humiliating daily rituals of adolescence-confronting their bewildering new bodies, fighting with mothers who don't understand them at all. Together they tackle the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz, a contest whose winners will be flown to America to meet Cassidy in person.

London, 1998. Petra is pushing forty, on the brink of divorce, and fighting with her own thirteen-year-old daughter when she discovers a dusty letter in her mother's closet declaring her the winner of the contest she and Sharon had labored over with such hope and determination. More than twenty years later, twenty pounds heavier, bruised by grief and the disappointments of middle age, Petra reunites with Sharon for an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas to meet their teen idol at last, and finds her life utterly transformed.

Funny, moving, full of beautiful observations about the awakenings of both youth and middle age, Allison Pearson's long-awaited new novel will speak across generations to mothers and daughters and women of all ages.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 8, 2011
ISBN9780307747532
Unavailable
I Think I Love You: A Novel
Author

Allison Pearson

Allison Pearson was born in South Wales. She is a columnist and feature writer for the Daily Telegraph. Allison’s first novel, I Don’t Know How She Does It, was an international bestseller; translated into 32 languages it was made into a movie of the same name. Oprah Winfrey called the book ‘A Bible for the working mother’. Allison lives in Cambridge with her family and two poodles. You can find her on Twitter @allisonpearson

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Reviews for I Think I Love You

Rating: 3.5915493352112677 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Really enjoyed this story - very relatable, as well as funny & entertaining. I highly recommend it!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very humorous book, but also with some hard-hitting truths and gorgeous sentences. When Petra was thirteen, she was in love with David Cassidy. She and her best friend, Sharon, enter "the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz" to win a chance to meet their idol. Over twenty years later, as Petra is cleaning out her deceased parents' house, she finds an envelope in the back of her mother's closet. Inside is a letter informing her that she and Sharon have won the contest and will get to meet David Cassidy! On a whim, Petra tracks down the old magazine's publisher and shares her story. They decide to honor her prize, and she and Sharon get an expenses-paid trip to Vegas to finally meet David Cassidy.

    Pearson nails exactly how teen girls are about their idols, and it's with the perfect mix of humor and realism that keeps you from feeling ridiculous for whomever you loved as a teen. I especially loved the interview with Cassidy she included in the end, which allows the reader to see exactly how much of this book was fiction, and how much was Pearson herself.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I Think I Love You by Alison Pearson captures the thoughts and feelings of insecure thirteen year old Petra, who, like millions of other teeny boppers in the 1970s, has a massive crush on pop star David Cassidy. The author made Petra’s struggles and angst of trying to fit in with the right crowd and bowing to the whims of the top girl very realistic. Petra’s escape was dreaming of what her life would be if only David Cassidy would show up and claim her for his own. Alternating with Petra’s story, is that of Bill, a recent college grad and aspiring writer who has the job of ghost-writing letters from David Cassidy to his fans. Bill hates his job, can’t stand David Cassidy and lives in fear that his girlfriend, Ruth, will discover that he isn’t the serious rock journalist that he pretends to be. Of course Petra’s source for all things David Cassidy happens to be the very magazine that Bill writes for.It’s obvious that Petra and Bill are on a collision course and they do meet up at a David Cassidy concert in 1974 but it really isn’t until years later that they develop a relationship. When Petra is thirty-eight and her husband has left her for another woman and Bill is also recently divorced and doubtful that such a thing a true love exists these two once again connect.Unfortunately I never really warmed up to this story and although I was never a fan of David Cassidy and didn’t really understand his appeal, my problem with I Think I Love You had more to do with its predictable plot and wordy delivery. I did enjoy the first half of the book much more than the second as I thought the author captured the essence of peer pressure and the nature of an adolescent girl’s crush on a teen idol.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first half of the book is set in Wales in the 1970s where thirteen year old Petra and her friend Sharon are besotted with, obsessed by, David Cassidy. They have an encyclopedic knowledge of him based on their reading of The Essential David Cassidy Magazine unaware that the material is made up and spouted by a young wannabe journalist, Bill Finn. Pearson's young Cassidy fans are portrayed perfectly, down to their colour-coordinated nails. There are many humorous moments where we might recognize our young selves no matter who or what created the obsession. Pearson rendered the teenage girls and the 1974 stage perfectly, right down to the Mary Quant eyeshadow (that I remember well). The girls enter a contest, sure they will win a trip to California to meet the beloved Cassidy. Before the results are known, they sneak off to a concert where a girl is killed in the crush, which brings the worship crashing to a halt.Twenty-four years later, Petra finds a letter from the magazine that her mother kept hidden informing her that she won the contest. This one-time, Cassidy fan, now music therapist, goes in search of the magazine to claim her prize. The resulting trip forms the second half of the story that examines how we change, how we stay the same, and accepting the results. A slow section around the middle allows the reader to take in Petra, Sharon, and Bill's current lives but the pace picks up again when they fly to California. I adored Sharon, honest and forthright to a fault. Unfortunately I can't remember who recommended this book to me. I've had it for a few years because I've never had the slightest interest in David Cassidy nor have I seen him in any of his tv shows. I’ve no idea what he looks like or sounds like. Sorry I waited, it was more than the chick-lit that I expected. I really enjoyed Pearson's funny, bittersweet story. I'm sure Cassidy fans would enjoy it even more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very fun light read. I enjoyed it more than Pearson's previous effort. It reminded me of my youthful love for Michael J. Fox.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really liked this mainly because I could relate to Petra and Sharon. Like them, I had unhealthy infatuations with celebrities who have no idea I exist. In fact, I still have these obsessions (I’m still waiting for Tim Lincecum to marry me). As for the storyline, I liked how it included the perspectives of both Petra and Bill. You got to see two different sides to the David Cassidy mania. Overall, I enjoyed this novel and its insights into fangirl culture circa 1974.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pandemic read. I just found out Alison Pearson wrote a followup book after I Don't Know How She Does It (a book I read and loved) and while looking for that (which was not available for me at the time) stumbled on this. I am older than the David Cassidy craze, but remember it, and as such, this was remarkably interesting to read, especially the interview between AP and Cassidy at the end. I never knew what happened to him as an adult, whittled me down an interesting internet search to find out.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Boy did this book bring back memories!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although I was not a David Cassidy fan (Leif Garrett was my guy), I did enjoy this novel. Reading it brought back many memories for me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Growing up in the 70s, reading Tiger Beat magazine and loving David Cassidy made me love this book. A small group of "friends" plot to travel to David Cassidy's last concert.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The “inside flap” description of this book seems very light-hearted and frivolous, focusing on a group of teenaged girls and their desperate love for teen heart-throb David Cassidy in the mid 70’s. And yes there are very light moments in the book (and embarrassingly honest, if I remember the 70’s correctly). The book also includes some dark realities with regards to peer pressure, needing to fit in, real boys vs. teen idols, etc. The crescendo comes when the girls sneak away from their homes to attend the famous concert at White Castle.

    In what I considered the “second half” of the book the reader is quietly taken into present day where our lead character Petra confronts truly adult issues such as an impending divorce and the death of her parents. While going through her mother’s things she finds an envelope that was never given to her back in the day … informing her that she had won the “Ultimate David Cassidy Fan Contest”. Despite the fact that it is 30 years later and the magazine sponsoring the contest is now defunct … Petra wants her prize. She does get her prize … in a very unexpected fashion.

    Before I go on, let me just say that despite my closest friend’s infatuation with Donny Osmond I was always a David Cassidy girl myself. Allison Pearson admits to being the same, so this book is written with a tender take on all that teen angst. I loved this book, if only for the memories it evoked. . Do we ever truly outgrow our teenage crushes?
    My one complaint … the book should have come with a soundtrack. I still have my 45’s, but alas … no record player to spin them on.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really liked this mainly because I could relate to Petra and Sharon. Like them, I had unhealthy infatuations with celebrities who have no idea I exist. In fact, I still have these obsessions (I’m still waiting for Tim Lincecum to marry me). As for the storyline, I liked how it included the perspectives of both Petra and Bill. You got to see two different sides to the David Cassidy mania. Overall, I enjoyed this novel and its insights into fangirl culture circa 1974.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Growing up in the 70s, reading Tiger Beat magazine and loving David Cassidy made me love this book. A small group of "friends" plot to travel to David Cassidy's last concert.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    We first meet Petra when she is thirteen. This is an awkward time in her life. She struggles to fit in with friends and to survive life with her strict mother. But, by far, most important part of her life is her undying devotion to David Cassidy. She and her friend Sharon devour the David Cassidy fan magazines, but little does she know that the monthly letters from David and even the Ulimate David Cassidy Quiz are written by Bill, a writer whose perspective is innerwoven with that of Petra's. Part two of the book fast forwards 25 years. Petra is a responsible adult who works as a music therapist and is mourning the loss of her mother and the break-up of her marriage. While cleaning out her mother's things, she discovers a secret that puts her and Sharon in touch with both Bill and her teen idol David Cassidy. The somewhat improbable ending is nonetheless satisfying.I wasn't quite sure what to think of the first half of this book. Petra's mom is stereotypically harsh. While Pearson captures the inner life of a thirteen-year-old girl quite nicely, the David obsession gets a bit tiresome. But the story comes together in the second half. The adult Petra is likeable (although not so likeable as her friend Sharon, who is absolutely a hoot), and her response to being pulled onto memory lane is believable. This isn't great literature, but it is a fun engaging story. It also worked quite well on audio.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I actually expected this novel to be lighter and fluffier than it was given the subject matter- the story of a teenage crush on David Cassidy doesn't sound like it's going to be particularly deep. Once I began reading though, it became clear that Petra had unexplored depths, and that her obsession with David Cassidy filled a deep void in her life. Petra's awkward attempts to maintain her place in her friend group while dealing with a disapproving yet beautiful foreign mother who told her she didn't look so bad is poignant and authentic. The revelations about where exactly all those facts about David Cassidy that Petra and her friends (and millions of other girls) collected like pearls was amusing and yet also sad; I was delighted that Bill worked his was back into the modern-day section of the story in the end.Well-written, both funny and heartbreaking in places- this novel is a wonderful way to spend a weekend afternoon. Trust me- if you ever nurtured a deep and lasting love for any pop star, you will see at least a little bit of yourself in Petra and her friends.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The first part, in 1974, was great. Almost too real. The 1998 section was not quite as affecting. Or effective. But it did contain the lines, "All the Cassidy girls have entered the age of grief, that time when life's losses start to stack up. Few will have been spared. Count yourself lucky if you get to your mid-thirties without knowing death, divorce, or other species of grief." That's a humdinger.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I had high hopes for this book after I heard an interview with the author on NPR. I simply had to read a book about a woman who used to be in love with David Cassidy as a young girl. The book, though not quite what I expected, brought back many fond memories of Cassidy and the Partridge Family. I, too, remember all the lyrics to those songs. This book has some interesting and clever twists and turns. The ending was predictable, but it was fun getting there.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Petra and Sharon are best friends who live for David Cassidy. They absorb every detail about his life and are entering a contest requring hard core fans to know the details about his life in order to win. The book is split into two parts - 1974 and then flashes forward to their lives in 1998. However, this story is about so much more than an obsession with David Cassidy. It is a story that transends generations. After all, what young girls don't have their teen idol - that changes out every few years? This is a story about growing up, peer pressure, young girls wanting to fall in love from afar. It is also a story about out adult lives and reconnecting with that youth that we once were. Enjoyable story!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this for fun but it really stayed with me. This says so much about media and celebrity and womanhood and how too often people use imaginary idols to try to fix what's wrong in their lives.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It's 1974 and Petra and her friends are all "in love" with singer David Cassidy. Petra is the ultimate Cassidy fan, making collages of pictures of the singer, subscribing to his fan magazine and knowing all there is to know about David. Petra hopes that someday all this knowledge may come in useful should she ever meet David and the two fall hopelessly in love.One of the biggest sources of Petra's knowledge is a David Cassidy fan magazine. And while the letters from fans appear to be responded to by Cassidy, it's really Bill writing the responses. He's a college graduate, trying to break into the rock and roll journalism scene whose taken a detour to the Cassidy magazine to pay the bills.Bill is tasked with coming up with a Cassidy questionnaire contest. The prize: a trip to L.A. to visit the set of the Partridge Family. And of all the people out there, Petra is most suited to win.The first half of "I Think I Love You" is a coming of age story about Petra and her friends. The story contrasts Petra's love and obsessiveness about Cassidy with Bill's reaction to his job. The two both know more about Cassidy than most, but seeing how each reacts to having such a fount of knowledge is intriguing. (Bill hides what he does from his girlfriend for fear of her thinking less of him.)Were it not for the hook of the Cassidy obsession, "I Think I Love You" might not be as entertaining as it is. Petra's relationship with her friends and family is intriguing, especially given that her mother doesn't really understand or support Petra's interest in the pop music star.The second half of the story finds Petra in 1998, facing her mother's funeral and her husband walking out on her. Going through her mother's things she finds out that she actually won the contest in 1974 but that her mother hid this from her. Petra must come to terms with that as well as her own relationship with her mother and her husband.As I said before, without the Cassidy hook, this novel wouldn't be nearly as entertaining as it is. Anyone who's ever had a youthful obsession with something or someone will identify with young Petra. And those who have looked back on our youthful loves will identify with the older Petra of the second half of the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When you hear the title of Allison Pearson's new novel, I Think I Love You, you know right away that David Cassidy plays a role in the story.Petra and her best friend Sharon are thirteen years old in 1974, and David Cassidy mania is in full bloom. They live in Wales, and when they find out that he will be playing a concert near them, they buy tickets for the show. Of course, Petra will have to lie to her very strict mother about where she is going.Pearson does a terrific job taking the reader right back to her teen years, wanting desperately to belong in the popular girls' crowd, being insecure about her looks, whether she has the right clothes, will a boy ever want to date her? All those feelings come rushing right back.Petra has to deal with Queen Bee Gillian, whom every girl will recognize right away, with her manipulative ways and hurtful, cutting comments. Gillian does her best to cause problems between Petra and the sunny Sharon. And when a boy whom Gillian likes likes Petra, the claws really come out.While that story is familiar, it is the David Cassidy angle that makes this story unique. Petra and Sharon know EVERYTHING about David, and when a David Cassidy fan magazine offers a trip to California to meet him on The Partridge Family TV show set, they team up to win the trivia contest.The novel also follows Bill, who wants to be a rock magazine journalist, but ends up writing for the David Cassidy fan magazine, in the voice of David himself. A pivotal section of the story occurs at the concert, which Bill has to cover. The crowds push forward, and several girls are injured; one girl is killed. (That incident really occurred at the concert- I remember reading about it when it happened.)Fast forward twenty-fours years later: Petra has to deal with her mother's death, and her husband leaving her for a younger woman. Her husband even has the nerve to bring Petra his dirty sheets to wash- he doesn't have a washing machine on his houseboat- and she does them! Oh, Petra.Going through her mother's things, she finds out that she and Sharon won the David Cassidy fan contest 24 years ago; her mother hid the letter from her. Petra calls the magazine office, and all the stars align, because the magazine's boss thinks it would make a terrific human interest story to take them to Las Vegas to meet David Cassidy.Readers will no doubt relate to Petra, with all of her insecurities. And reading this novel made me want to dig out my old Partridge Family albums (yes, I had them all) and The Partridge Family Season One DVD (yes, I bought it). Pearson has a transcript of the fascinating interview she did with Cassidy for The Daily Telegraph in 2004 in the back of the book, which inspired the novel. Now all I have to do is find Cassidy's 2007 memoir, Could It Be Forever? My Story. Cause that has got to be one juicy read.This book will appeal to all the women who loved David Cassidy as a young girl, or any woman who fondly remembers her tween celebrity crush. And just try to get that song out your head.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although David Cassidy was before my time, I do remember having major teen star crushes (most of the guys from Beverly Hills 90210 and NKOTB) as well as running to my nearest supermarket in desperate need for the latest edition of Tiger Beat. So obviously when I read the synopsis for this book I knew I would be able to relate to it in some way. It's 1974, Petra and Sharon, two 13 year old Welsh girls, are head over heels in love with none other than David Cassidy. Ms. Pearson captures these girls so perfectly. The craziness of crushing over a teen idol, the make-up, the best friends forever, the magazines... although set in a time frame that I wasn't even born in, I can still remember the early 90's when I was going through the same thing. Fast forward 25 years, and now at 38, recently divorced and grieving for the loss of her mother, Petra discovers an old letter revealing that she had won a trip to meet her old heartthrob, David Cassidy. What is a girl to do? Claim her prize of course! Who cares if its decades later.This is the epitome of a feel-good story. It will have you smiling, laughing out loud and even shedding a nostalgic tear or two. It highly revolves on love - first love, the love of parent and child, the love of a husband and wife, the love of friends and even the love of a fan for a teen idol. I found the beginning a bit slow, but I recommend you persevere. You will find this to be a sweet, charming and joyful story - it'll have you giggling like a school girl and basking in its glow.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Having had a major crush on David Cassidy when I was in fifth grade, I ordered this book as soon as heard about it. The story is about about a group of Welsh girls who are David Cassidy obsessed. Two in particular Petra and Sharon feel like they know everything there is to know about him so when they have a chance to meet him by filling out the "Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz" they pore over it for weeks until they finally have every answer. Years later, when Petra's mom dies and Petra is going through Mom's papers, she discovers that she had actually one the contest!While I love the premise for the book and Peason's writing is great, the book was actually pretty boring. The first half with the girls obsessing over David was the same thing over and over. The only interesting part were the sections about Billy, the writer impresonating David Cassidy for the fan magazine. When we fast forward to the present when Petra find the letter, I perked up expecting some action but the big David meet-up was a big let-down and even the potential attraction starting up between Petra and Billy didn't have enough spark to ignite my interest. I don't like posting negative reviews but this book really disappointed me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    And they called it puppy love…This is one of those rare books that starts out strong and just gets better and better as it goes along. The novel opens with a one-page prologue set in 1998, where the novel’s protagonist, 38-year-old Petra, has just lost her mother. Tucked in the back of her mother’s closet, she finds an extraordinary letter, addressed to her, 25 years overdue. From there, the novel is told in two halves. Part I is set in 1974. The opening line is, “His favorite colour was brown.” David Cassidy’s, of course. Petra and her best friend Sharon are 13, and like every other girl in Wales they are hopelessly in love with him. Or perhaps not hopelessly. Hope springs eternal in the form of Petra’s innocent fantasies: “I would be hit by a car. Not a serious injury, obviously, just bad enough to be taken to hospital by ambulance. David would be told about my accident and he would rush to my bedside. Things would be awkward at first, but we would soon get talking and he would be amazed by my in-depth knowledge of his records, particularly the B-sides. I would ask him how he was enjoying the fall and if he needed to use the bathroom. It would not be at all weird, it would be cool. David would be impressed by my command of American. Jeez. He would smile and invite me to his house in Hawaii where I would meet his seven horses and there would be garlands round our necks and we would kiss and get married on the beach. I was already worried about my flip-flops.”The beginning of the novel is about Petra and Sharon; mothers and daughters; and first love, insecurity, and what it is to be 13 years old. I’m American and these girls are Welsh, but the feelings they have are universal, and I don’t know a woman who won’t relate to their growing pains with nostalgia and perhaps a little remembered pain of her own. It is also about Bill Finn, the recent college grad with the unenviable job of inventing content for the Essential David Cassidy Magazine. The first half comes to head with all of the central characters at the infamous White City concert where a young fan lost her life. Cassidy retired not long after at the age of 24, and Petra, Sharon, and Bill grew up.The second half of the novel jumps forward approximately 25 years to 1998, and opens with the line: “The day her mother died, she found out her husband was leaving her.” Thus proving that being 38 isn’t necessarily any easier than being 13. It is while mourning both her mother and her marriage that Petra discovers the letter from 1974 informing her that she and Sharon were the winners of the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz and an all expense paid trip to meet David on the set of The Partridge Family. Her mother kept it from her; she never knew.The Essential David Cassidy Magazine hasn’t existed for years, but their old offices still house magazine publishers. When Petra dials the number on the 25-year-old letter, she does indeed reach someone who thinks a decades-delayed meeting with David Cassidy would make a great human interest story. And so it is that our three protagonists (four if you count David Cassidy) are reunited, all these years later, for a trip to Vegas that just may change some lives. “One boy with a shoe, and one girl without: it could be a scene from a fairy tale… reason cowered before romance. According to romance, there was no coincidence. That was the word that nonlovers used, sad souls in the everyday world, to account for the workings of destiny.”Does it get any better than that? I enjoyed the nostalgia of the first half of this novel, but I’m a grown woman. I know the adult pain that life brings. I loved the second half of this novel, for the relatable reality of Petra’s life and compromises, for the humor that friendship brings to lighten the load, and for giving me a fairy tale that I could believe in.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "Rarely in recent times has a book called out to me as much as this one. You see, in common with the teenagers in this novel who are all fanatical David Cassidy fans, I was too.David was Godlike, with his shell necklaces, feathered hair, and whispery voice. You were either a Donny (Osmond) or a Cassidy fan in my neck of the woods – the Bay City Rollers and Jackson 5 didn’t get a look-in I’m afraid. My walls were covered with posters; I made scrapbooks with every cutting from mags and newspapers I could find. I sat in front of the telly holding the microphone of my little cassette recorder taping the Partridge Family’s songs in each episode. The first record I bought was a Cassidy single – It was Could it be forever (b/w Cherish) in 1972. I designed a Keep Britain Tidy poster for a Blue Peter competition he was promoting - part of the prize would be to meet ‘him’. I nearly got there – I won a Blue Peter competition runners up badge and got a signed photo which I treasured – until I sold it years later – wish I hadn’t now!Teenybopperdom was – and is – a serious business, but it doesn’t last. One day in 1974, after his world tour in which a girl died from being crushed in the audience at a London concert, I realised I’d grown out of him; this phase essentially coincides with a growing awareness of real boys. Our relationship may have been over, but you never forget your first fantasy loves.So back to the book… I bought it soon after publication, but restrained myself from immersion until I was really ready. This week, when I’ve been rediscovering all sorts of bits of my childhood whilst clearing my Mum’s house, seemed to be the right time, so I dove in …It starts off in Wales, at home with Petra and her best friend Sharon. Petra is a promising young cellist who is a secret Cassidy fan – her uptight German mother frowns against such things, so she goes round to Sharon’s – she has a shrine. Together they devour every word in the monthly fanzine, memorising all his favourite things, doing all the quizzes to see if they could be the perfect Mrs Cassidy. They believe every word.Of course, a lot of it is made up – that’s Bill’s job. He’s the degree qualified journalist who ends up working on a teenybopper mag and acts as the voice of Cassidy. He’s embarrassed by it – his girlfriend thinks he’s a proper rock journo, but somehow he manages to make David seem real to all his teenaged fans. It’s coming up to David’s UK concert dates soon, the last dates in his world tour. The magazine plans an ultimate David quiz which Bill creates – the winners will get meet their hero after the concert.Back in Wales, Petra and Sharon are researching the answers – they only have a couple to go. Petra is under pressure though to name the class it girl Gillian as her friend on her entry, and not Sharon. Gillian isn’t a real fan though, but she is trying to cultivate Petra to her clique. A group of girls from school manage to get tickets for David’s London concert. Petra has to weave a web of lies to be able to go – her mother thinks she’s going to see the Messiah in Cardiff. So the stage is set for a night to remember, but not necessarily for the reasons they’d longed for.I’m not going to tell you any more about the story, but it was totally satisfying and romantic. The author manages to capture the mind of the teenybopper perfectly: the idolisation of their heroes, the insidious jockeying for position, pettiness, and the bullying of all shades that goes on in school between teenaged girls. The nature of celebrity and the role of the press are also examined - is it right to embellish or re-write the truth to keep the fires going? Cassidy’s clean-cut and youthful image was also somewhat at odds with his actual years, penchant for slightly older women and, as a musician a yearning to be taken seriously. This novel will appeal to anyone who’s had a teenage crush on an unobtainable fantasy figure. Admittedly, anyone who grew up in the early 1970s will have an advantage - I did and I loved it. (9.5/10) I bought this book.