Hannah Smart:Operation Josh Taylor - Melody Fitzpatrick

Title: Hannah Smart:Operation Josh Taylor
Author: Melody Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Dundurn
Publication Date: October 3rd 2015
Available Editions: EBook

Netgalley Synopsis:

To see teen idol Josh Taylor in concert, Hannah Smart is prepared to face bullies, learn terrible secrets, and discover hidden talents.
When thirteen-year-old Hannah Smart finds out that teen idol Josh Taylor (only the most talented singer in the entire world) is coming to her hometown to kick off his first-ever concert tour, she nearly goes into shock. Even more shocking is the fact that her parents one-hundred-percent refuse to buy her a ticket — if Hannah wants to go, she has to figure out a way on her own.

With the help of her genius best friend, Rachel, Hannah hatches a scheme that will surely get the girls to the concert. But when evil Scarlett Hastings sticks her nasty nose in, messing up their plan, all hope seems lost.

Will Hannah and Rachel ever get to the concert? And will Hannah even want to go when she discovers the horrible secret her parents have been hiding?

Review:

I'm getting into the swing of a book per day, it's really not going to be good for me when I return to sixth form in September but I'll love it whilst it lasts. Unlike the other books I've read per day, this book was short, and how short it was actually made it more interesting for me. I picked this book randomly from Netgalley just on the off chance I would get the rights to read for review, I did and like other reviews, I have to be 100% truthful and I'm very grateful for being granted the right to review.

So the length of the book is actually one of the things I loved the most, it's rare to find a short story that is actually great fun to read. The next thing I loved is how relatable the story line is for most or shall I say nearly most of the teenage population when it comes to their favourite band or artist. Once again I love how it wasn't focused on a love relationship, it was just friendship and that kind of sealed the deal for me because not everything has to be about love now any its just great to see a variation in YA books.

The characters were simple and very relatable, Hannah and Rachel are best friends and have the same obsession over a certain artist by the name of Josh Taylor, both characters are smart, Rachel being stated as the more intellectual one of the pair but Hannah has the ability to be perfectly natural in front of a camera and unaffected by nerves whether it be public speaking etc. Even though Rachel and Hannah are the main characters of the book, its great to see the involvement of other characters like the 'rich' characters who basically bully those who they think are of a 'lower class'. I loved the simplicity of the book, how there were only needs for 2 characters to bring the story together but needed a few background characters just to tie it up.

The story, being relatable, had me hooked within the first few pages and I just wanted to see how it ended, my one and only problem was the ending, it all seemed to be a little too coincidental because of how the story actually played out. I'm looking forward to maybe a follow up book or two? just to conclude the journey.

I'm very happy to give this book at 4.5/5, it would of been a 5 out of 5 but the ending just didn't do enough for me. I recommend this book to anyone with an hour or 2 on their hands that they want to fill, to anyone who relates to the teenagers obsession of bands and artists and just to anyone who's looking for a great book to review.