And By The Way by Denise Deegan

I read this book after a friend told me about it, she was obsessed. She had written a song inspired by this book so I thought I would go ahead and read it. I loved it. I really liked it as it follows the lives of three best friends living in Dublin. Alex, Sarah and Rachel are all in transition year in a private school so I could really relate to them. This first book is told from Alex's point of view and the following two books are told from Sarah's and Rachel's points of view. Alex's mum has recently passed away and her friends are trying to help but they can't really understand what she's going through. A boy in her class; David's mum also passed away but he seems to be ignoring her. They end up fighting about it and then fall in love. David helps Alex get over the loss of her mum. Alex's dad is distant and doesn't seem to care about her anymore. Throughout the story Alex fixes the relationship with her dad but unfortunately at the end David has to move and Alex goes off the rails. This book is basically just another teen drama but set in Ireland and exactly like my life. Once I started reading it, I couldn't stop. My family had to rip it out of my hands at dinner time or if they needed to talk to me. I didn't want the story to end and luckily there are two more after it which are just as amazing.