And Baby Makes Two- Dyan Sheldon

When 15 year old Lana Spiggs meets Les, the manager of the local Blockbuster, it's love at first sight . . . for her anyway. All she has ever wanted is a husband and lots of children so when she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant she's well on her way to seeing her dreams come true. Or is she?

This book caught my attention in the book shop, standing proudly with Dyan's other books in their matching paper themed spines. The book itself was intriguing, but not ideal. Lana is very naive, childish and has her head in the clouds, this is very frustrating for the reader. She smooths things over to try and get perfection, but the reader can very clearly see the cracks. For example her relationship with Les is very shallow, and Lana (not wanting to pester him) leaves Les to lead a single mans life. Les is evidently not bothered at all with Lana once she becomes pregnant, and finds little baby Shinola a nightmare and a pain. But Lana keeps shining it up, imagining their relationship as being neat and ideal.

Lana has a turbulent relationship with her Mother, who seems to be rather neurotic, but then again I was getting frustrated with Lana by just reading the book- let alone being her mother. Dyan Sheldon is an American author but the book is set in London, England. She gets most things correct for this setting apart from that all of the names in the plot just don't sound very English. I'm sure London does have its Lanas' and it's Leses' but they just don't seem to fit the scene well. The book gave a unique point on teenage pregnancy, and is the first book i've read on the topic that doesn't make the reader feel empathy for the character. With it's dynamic end, I would say it is an ideal book to read on journies because the chapters are fairly short and end on cliff hangers.

Two stars