Love and Muddy Puddles

Coco and Charlie Franks #1

by Cecily Anne Paterson

This edition has another cover

Thirteen year old fashionista Coco Franks has finally made it into the popular group at school and is planning to have the most amazing year ever. But then her dad decides to go all eco-feral-greenie-crazy-tree-change and moves the whole family to a remote farm so they can 'bond'. With social death looming and more than a few pairs of ballet flats ruined by mud, Coco's plan is to get herself back to Sydney and her clique at any cost. But it will take an Akubra-hat-and-flanny-shirt-wearing boy and a nervous horse called Cupcake to show her who her real friends are.

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Amazon, Horses, Novels

Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2014

About the author

Cecily Anne Paterson is the author of eight novels for young teen girls, as well as an award-winning memoir for adults.

Her first novel Invisible, was a semifinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards in 2014, and 'Charlie Franks is A-OK' won the CALEB Award in 2017.

Cecily writes 'brave-hearted fiction', hitting some serious issues, but in an age-appropriate, clean, and helpful way, and always with a hopeful ending.

Cecily grew up in Pakistan, where she went to boarding school in the Himalayan mountains, and now lives in Sydney, Australia with her husband, four children and a cuddly dog.

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love and Muddy Puddles by Cecily Anne Paterson is the first book of the Coco and Charlie Franks series. This one is more middle grade than young adult with the characters being thirteen but they certainly bring to mind the old saying of thirteen going on thirty but it’s a cute contemporary read.

Coco and Charlie are thirteen year old twins that are actually pretty opposite in nature. Coco cares about nothing more than getting into the popular crowd and has spent years with her best friend planning and plotting on just how they could do so. Just when things go Coco’s way however her father drops a bomb on the girls announcing they’re moving to the country.

Coco may be the type of character that some would find annoying but others will find hysterical and entertaining, I happened to be in the latter crowd. Very much self absorbed Coco only cared about herself in the beginning but a bit on the predictable side the story sees her grow and learn throughout. This one turned out to me to be quite a cute read overall with plenty of chuckles along the way that I would rate 3.5 stars.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/

[Meredith Resce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coco has attitude and is full of herself - but she doesn't know that. We get a good insight into her through the first person narrative. She is funny and intelligent, but she has a lot to learn. Though she is angry at her dad for shifting her away from the city and her snobby horrid (mean-girl) friends, and she is determined to keep that anger alive, there are many adventures and country disasters that eventually help Coco to see just how much she needs to take a long hard look at things.
Themes of bullying and teenage angst about appearance are featured. I'd recommend for girls aged 11-15. It was fun and funny.

[R.J. Rodda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable book for teenage girls. It's not only funny but it shows really clearly the difference between real friends and mean girls and it really rams home the message that popularity is not worth having if you have to be fake to attain it. And extra points for featuring a really solid genuine likeable guy. Even though Coco is such a spoiled brat she hardly deserves real friends yet I was glad when she finally saw the light.

By the way, the cover of the book I read was much nicer!

[Suba Wijesinghe · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Star Rating
Bravo!!! A fascinating story with pleasing & impressive writing style.....
If I ever had to describe about the book, I'll describe it like this,
#.Super Interesting
#.Super Amazing
#.Super Impressive
#.Super Satisfying Story!
Yeah, Definitely these are the fine words to describe my feelings of the story.
Author's writing style was the exact writing style I always expect when I started
to read a book. It's very pleasing & I love it. I think her writing style was always able
to keep me on the track.
Story plot & concepts were excellent & interesting. And also a page-turner, indeed.
Character Development was absolutely PERFECT. All the characters had various &
unique characteristics. For instance, Coco & charlie had completely opposite characteristics.
I love the simple, smooth & calmy feelings I felt while the reading. And I love the warmth sensation
clasp through my heart & brain while the reading lot. Absolutely, a stunning & brilliant novel. Recommended!

[Liza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read like a Disney movie. Especially reminded me of Hannah Montana: the Movie but with some Mean Girls thrown haphazardly in there.

[Sally Poyzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Although I'm an adult and it's clearly written for a younger audience, I found it very entertaining and read it in a day and a half. There were some great lines and I found the asides amusing. A great read. 4.5 stars!

[Adele Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coco Franks is thirteen years old and has it all worked out. What she needs is a plan to elevate her and her bff from average (in her mind being equivalent to inconsequential) to popular. And in a few short chapters she achieves her goal, which soon has a bonus inclusion of meeting the acceptable style-of-the-day, fashion standards and conversational topics of her new group. Throw in a 'meet by text' boy, and she's pretty much in heaven ... or so she thinks. Then things go wrong. Very wrong.

Her parents get this ridiculous idea that she (and her siblings, but never mind them) must be uprooted from her now 'perfect' life and dumped in some back-of-nowhere rural Australian locality. Horses, leeches and other unsavouries included.

Through this 'trauma', Coco eventually (and I do mean eventually, as she's pretty good at being hard headed and pouty) has opportunity to learn that good friends don't necessarily dress in the latest fashions, and maybe the fact she's had to lie to keep 'in' with her new group could be a hint to look a little deeper when it comes to choosing her friends and life priorities. But then again, if she could just convince her parents that the relocation was a complete mistake, she could leave behind the eye-roll-worthy country folk and their bumpkin ways and get on with her life. Maybe.

This was a fun story I felt I could comfortably recommend to young readers in the target demographic. (And enjoyed myself. :) ) Although Coco can put on a mother-sized turn, I think most tweens and young teens would be able to see the humour lurking in the shadows of her tanti-cloud. With Coco's choices come more serious consequences, which enables young readers an opportunity to take away some valuable perspectives on friendships and family.

[Katie Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it in one day.

There's something about Coco Franks that I loved and completely hated. I am her sister Charlie so I didn't really align myself in understanding Coco's mindset of needing makeup. But there was something so fascinating about Coco's view on life that, despite her brattiness, endeared her to me immediately. It brought me back to my teenage years in a very real way. She really does go through a lot and you can't help but feel for her, the stubborn brat!

Part of me just loved Coco for her want to fit in, her drive to be as loved and accepted as Charlie. Being popular as her "thing" seemed sufficient motivation as to why Coco wanted to be so popular for me, and was willing to forgo all else for it, although I could never adopt that mindset myself.

What's great about her brattiness is the development that came a long with this story. Coco is annoying, self-consumed, and totally snarky. But she develops in a muddy, more accepting, contrite girl that moves forward past her self-consumption. I was most impressed by the amount of character development I saw in this book.

I loved Charlie, too. And the hilarious exploits that Coco found herself in that made me bust up. I know some other reviews have tagged this as a slow start, but Coco has so much attitude and voice at the beginning that I was hooked from the get-go and didn't think it was slow at all. Personality is Coco's hook, and she has it in abundance.

I've read Paterson's other novel, and while I enjoyed Invisible, and it made me want to read this one, I LOVED this book. It's totally appropriate for any girl who has ever been through the teen years, who may be currently going through them, or who anticipates going through them soon.

I'm keeping my eye on Paterson for future works.

[Julia Collings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember well the yearnings of my adolescent heart towards enduring popularity. I remember hanging around the edges of different groups of girls at school desperately hoping to be noticed and accepted.

I remember with a pang the pain of being dropped from a group that I had been on the edge of for a year or so...the agony of betrayal by a one-time best friend who had to drop me too...for the sake of the group.

It is a rare book that can reach out of it's target demographic and thrust the reader kicking and screaming back into their own painful adolescence. "Love and Muddy Puddles" (LAMP)is such a book. A book aimed squarely at the Young Adult niche, LAMP took me back to my days of desperation, longing, hoping, disappointment... days of wanting to be popular,wanting to be looked up to, wanting to be recognised for my wit and charm...rather than my shrimpiness and not-pretty-enough-ness... It was in some ways an uncomfortable read because I could see myself in Coco...the maddening always-right-ness of youth... the dismissal of the road less travelled... the certainty of ones' superiority...

Paterson has the knack of creating true to life characters with believable story-arcs... in some ways LAMP is a tragedy with redemption... in other ways it is the comeuppance of the bitch.
Either way, Coco is not your run-of-the-mill heroine. She is flawed. But capable of growth and change... it is an existential journey... one that all adolescents will undertake...

LAMP is a book that your teenaged female reader will like... an astute reader will enjoy LAMP for the generous nods to Austen... and those alone will be a good reason for me to re-read it!

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have received a copy in exchange for an honest review

To be completely honest, I was a little nervous to read this book. I'm always nervous when authors send me books to review because I never want to offend anyone. However, I did end up enjoying this more than I thought I would.

Coco is pretty much your typical teenager trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs. All she wants is to fit in somewhere. I think a lot of people can relate to her. Maybe not her snottiness, but just wanting to be excepted by people, wanting people to like us. It's human nature to want affection from other people. As much as I disliked Coco (oh boy, if she was my daughter, ohhh no...) I felt myself feeling more and more bad for her as the story progressed. I wanted her to know how horrible her so called friends were.

I gave the book a 4 out of 5 because I feel like there were quite a few grammar mistakes (even though I'm bad a grammar myself, so the things I may think needed commas may have really needed etc). I did enjoy the characters though. I didn't feel much of a connection with Coco's brother Josh, but I did love their Dad if we don't really get to know him. There was just their adorableness about his character.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I thought it was really nicely done. I also really enjoyed how everything turned out. It was a really nice coming of age story, although, I see this story being more for middle school than young adult.

[Nancy H Vest · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rule is to read 10% of a book before calling it quits. And rarely do I quit reading a book ever, but I almost did quit reading Love and Muddy Puddles. In the first part of the book the characters seemed to be stereotyped, and the story seemed to be a typical teen angst story. But I kept reading, and I'm glad I did. It had some typical teen angst stuff, but it was deeper than that.
The dynamics between the characters is real and believable, and even though some plot parts seemed far-fetched, the story is mostly real and believable. I also enjoyed reading a story set in another country which allowed me to see that some themes in life are universal.

[Wanda W Banks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Typical writing

I read this book for a possible recommendation to my students, but as a Black educator, there’s no way I would recommend this to ANY of my students! The description of a “...blue-eyed, blonde haired...” whyte girl as “perfect” is insulting. Whyte authors always proffer the idea of “perfect” “ beauty” with descriptions such as this, but the reality of what most of them actually looks like is soooo far from the narrative they write in their books. The fact that this book was written for young girls (and I’m sure the author would deem her book inclusive) is even more insulting.

[Duane Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent coming of age story by Cecily Anne Paterson about a 13 year old girl named Coco who wants desperately to fit in and be popular. She finally gets accepted into the circle of friends at school that will bring her happiness only to find things are not always as they seem. With an unwanted move by the family and some up and downs and bumps and bruises she learns what true friends really are. It's a good life lesson but one kids usually learn the hard way just as Coco did. Good writing, good characters, and a fun read.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I made it to chapter 13 before calling it quits. CoCo is a spoiled little kid who always gets her way and has to be in the "in" crowd. She is rude to her parents, siblings, peers and the poor neighbors. I wanted to smack her through this whole book. After every rude statement we have to hear her pep talk about how great she is, and how everyone ruins her life. The author got an extra star for making me hate the character so much. I don't miss 13 year old drama, and I wouldn't recommend this book to them unless you want the attitude to rub off.

[Madelynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome!!!!

I chose this rating because the book talked about true friends and friends that you have to try hard to be friends with. If you think about it, this stuff happens quite a lot in our life today. I hope that anyone who is going to read this book or is reading it now will love it as much as I did.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cardboard cutout version of a permanently whingeing teen MC without any redeeming features whatsoever. The girl is an total brat. Also full of cliche tropes and the horsey sublot perpetuates the myth that somebody can go from total beginner to galloping rider in two months (on a difficult horse nobody else can ride no less). Disappointing.

[Brooklee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love and muddy puddles is a great book that makes you not want to stop reading. I encorage people of any age to read this book it is not disapointing. This book makes you realize many things that you didn't realize before

[Christine Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you're not 13 and don't have children this is a super book. I loved the struggles. I loved seeing where poor choices end up. A wonderful book to raise issues of what is truly important and what is true friendship.
NSW year 7 curriculum choosers. This would be a good one.

[Dianna Winget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun middle grade read about friendship, family and not being unduly worried about what your friends think. Girls ages 9-12 should really enjoy this book.

[Rose English · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 14 of my reading challenge a very enjoyable teen read with lots of fun in the country for twins Coco & Charlie. A great read for horse lovers.

[Linsey Painter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coco Franks is good at one thing and that is being popular. It’s her first year of high school and she is determined to make the most of her talents, land a spot in the most exclusive girls group in the school and be set for the rest of high school.

But when her workaholic father decides he’s had enough of city life and moves the family to the country, to a farm, to live in a piggery, while he builds a house out of mud. Coco’s destiny gets covered in mud too.

Every other person in the family—her mum, her annoying older brother, Josh and her super talented, super nice, super gorgeous sister, Charlie—all love the idea of living on the farm in the middle of nowhere. No one is paying attention to what Coco wants. She has give the new farm life a whole years trial before she can escape back to Sydney and sanity.

While her family is busy—spending ‘quality time together, connecting with the neighbours, learning how to ride horses and building a mud brick eco house—Coco is in full damage control. She makes up a story about going to an exclusive girls school for the rest of the school year. When she returns she’ll be welcomed back into the group.

Oh and she isn’t speaking to her father for the twelve months that she’s been exiled away from Sydney and her friends.

It’s going to take a lot of love and muddy puddles before Coco Franks can pull out of her year-long sulk.

As soon as she can Coco leaps at the chance to attend a party with her Sydney friends. She’ll even get to meet the gorgeous boy whose been waiting for her all year. But things don’t turn out they way that she dreamed.

When Coco loses everything that she’s dreamed of and worked towards, will she be able to find new dreams and new friends or will the fall be too much?

Cecily Patterson has written another beautiful book for brave hearted girls. Cecily’s characters are real and flawed. They make mistakes but also have big wins. Coco is strong but she has sold herself short by comparing herself to her talented twin.

It’s up to Coco to decide who she’s going to be and who she’ll trust. It will take a lot of guts to get herself out of the trouble she’s caused but like all of us Coco is stronger than she realises.

Love and Muddy puddles is a fun, cringe worthy, romantic book about opening our eyes to the truth of those around us. It’s about finding our own paths and not following the crowd. It’s about learning to see beauty in places and people we least expect.

Recommended for kids age 10-14

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and it was just what I needed, because I was starting to feel a little uninspired to read due to the heaviness of the subject matter of some of the books I've read recently.
This was a lovely light hearted well written fast paced read. It's the first book in what I am sure will be a great series and it told the story of twin sisters and their family moving from Sydney suburbs to the country on a large property to build their own home. This book was told from the point of view of Coco one of the twins and although your seeing things from her point of view you were also able to connect with her and the other characters on different levels and for different reasons. The family dynamics in this book were great and engaging because it was obvious that the parents really did love their kids and respected them as individuals even & especially the girls (twins).
I enjoyed this book so much that as soon as I finished it I immediately started reading (read the first chapter) the second book in the series which I feel.sure I am going to enjoy just as much as I did this one.
Due to my enjoyment of this book I can say that I am definitely a fan of this author.

[Liz Etnyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a first in a series (only 1 more out at this time that I can tell: Charlie Franks is A-OK) but stands alone quite nicely. Set in Australia – but probably universal for Western 13 yr. olds! Cute – although the level of shallowness displayed by the main character for a good chunk of the book is really annoying. Of course that may be the point! Luckily, character development does happen – sometimes painfully slowly, sometimes almost unbelievably quickly - but it happens! A wee bit repetitive at times, but not distractingly so. Not a great story for adults, but probably excellent for its target audience (which I assume is the pre-teen to very early teenage girl.) I may read the second book one of these days. Would recommend it to anyone with a preteen daughter. (One caveat: Does deal with unwanted sexual touching by older teen boy – but it handles it well. I wish the victim had told an adult, but understand that most often they won't, and why – so this is very realistic, and a good lesson for the reader.) 3.5 stars

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short teen story written by an Australian author, this story focuses on Coco Franks. She is just turning 13 as the story starts. Coco is determined to fit in with the popular girls (definitely of the mean girl variety) at her school. When they are auditioning for a new member, Coco is thrilled to be chosen. As she gets used to mandatory spa days and color palettes, her father announces that the family is moving to a farm in the outback. Coco is devastated at the effect this will have on her new popularity.
That was the setup to this story, which unfortunately lasted much longer in the book. Once the family moved, it was much more interesting. We got to see Coco develop a little more personality. I loved reading about the house building and the horse farm. Overall a decent story with a very strong message about being true to yourself and not being a victim of the quest for others' approval. I wouldn't mind reading the 2nd book and reading more about Coco's twin sister.

[Jayme Carruthers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very cute novel!

Coco and her friend Samantha want nothing more but to be popular. So when Saffron and Tiger Lily begin to run the school, they have one goal: Be their friend! The girls have try-outs to join their group and Coco is picked! But not long after, her dad tells the family that they are moving out to the middle of nowhere. Coco feels like her life is RUINED. She is nothing without her friends and her fashion. She throws a fit and her parents finally tell her that she has to try it for one year and if she absolutely hates it, she can come back to her old school.

Throughout that year Coco does a lot of growing up and learns a lot about herself, love, and life. It's a great story about finding yourself and making true friends. I would definitely recommend it to middle school girls or anyone who loves good-hearted stories.

[books_with_sass · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm an adult, but I got this book free in an email, so I went ahead and read it. It's a cute coming-of-age story filled with ups and downs, and embarrassing situations. It's a good book for teens and tweens alike. There are a lot of relatable situations that even a grown up can understand and remember feeling when they were young. I would definitely recommend it.

[R.L.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, entertaining read

Coco is a self-centered, fashion-focused heroine who is just kind enough to stay likeable. It's fun to watch her life get turned upside down when her family moves from Sydney to a horse farm in the hinterlands just as her social life is taking off. Coco doesn't see how things can get any worse, and then they do--again, and again, and again.

[Anne Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing itself was really great but I just couldn't connect with the main character. Maybe I'm finally getting too old for YA books but Coco's fashion obsession and her desire to be popular at any cost as well as fit in with a clique of wildly wealthy and transparently spiteful thirteen year olds simply wasn't on my wavelength.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I couldn't wait for the book to end because the whole part about the main character's new life was too long and drawn out (and for a while boring). At the end, things were kind of predictable. I mean, I could see it coming who Dee really was and what was going to happen with all of that. The main character is honestly not that likable. She is a brat who tries to hang out with people who are terrible for her (or anyone).

[Suellen Milham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing after enjoying Paterson’s Invisible series but I acknowledge that the book is pitched at an audience a quarter of my age! The main character was hard to sympathise with and the resolution didn’t leave me believing that she was any less self-centred.