Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight - Nick Earls and Rebecca Sparrow

Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight is two weeks in the life of Joel Hedges and Cat Davis. 


Everyone knows that Joel and Cat hate each other. Then they end up partners in a writing assignment. By the second paragraph they’re in the thick of an all-out tandem story war.


Then Cat’s dad and Joel’s mum start dating, and they can finally agree on something – it’s got to stop. But will sparks fly between Joel and Cat for all the right reasons as they go about setting a few things straight? 


What ensues reveals a lot about how smug teenage boys are and what teenage girls really think. No, wait – it's about a sane female and an insane male. It's about revenge and mistaken identity. (synopsis from jacket cover and goodreads)


I spent one lazily delicious afternoon grinning my way through this.

And then. 

About half way through, everything kicked up a notch and I couldn't put it down. The build up to the climax was perfectly done, raising the stakes and the level of hilarity.

It was a completely fun book that felt like high school and had me grinning stupidly and occasionally snorting. One of the scenes (where Joel "takes one for the team") had me laughing so much my tummy started to hurt - how do they think up that stuff? Even thinking about the book right now, I have a ridiculous smile on my face - it genuinely cracked me up.

I also loved the spoofy Jane Austin and Matthew Reilly style writing that Joel and Cat wrote to each other, for an assignment, in the story (they emailed a paragraph per chapter, and used it to vent - killing/torturing each others characters, etc). So cleverly done. Classic!

It felt like Nick and Rebecca had a blast writing this and the chapters flowed so smoothly - one of the best collaborative efforts I've come across.

My only criticism is: at the beginning the build-up of some of the subplots dragged a little and I would have preferred to see more of Joel and Cat antagonising each other (in those initial chapters) as they had the whole sharp, eloquent insult thing down pat in the most entertaining of ways.


Praise for Joel & Cat Set The Story Straight

• "Nick and Rebecca are a match made in heaven." The Age
• "One of the funniest and most memorable reads of the year (2007) in YA fiction" Sydney Morning Herald.

I choose this book from Penguin's site - after winning a comp where the prize was $100 to spend (!) Whoo Hoo! If you're an Aussie you should definitely keep an eye out @ your library/book shops for this. Such a fun feisty funny read. Loved it, my mateys. How cool is the premise too? And I <3 Joel.

Cool interview about the book with Nick Earls and Rebecca Sparrow