The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose by Diana Janney

I loved this book. The one regret I have is that it took me so long to read. This book had been sitting on my shelf for the best part of three years - if not more - before I finally read it.

Harriet and her family were a joy to read about. The situations that Harriet constantly found herself in where both hilarious and cringingly real. One of the main things that I loved about her as a character though was that she didn't really care what people thought, as most of the time she didn't understand why they thought the way they did anyway. An example of this was when she told a girl at school that she was going on holiday with her mother and grandmother. The girl found this funny but Harriet didn't see the problem since she gets on fine with her them - so why shouldn't she go on holiday with them? I wish that the world of school was made up of more people like her.

I usually don't like books geared around young female lead that fit into the YA genre (despite reading them - yes, I know, strange, but never mind) because of the way that they are often portrayed. Shallow, I-like-this-boy-he-doesn't-like-me-but-by-the-end-of-the-book-you-know-we-are-going-to-be-together, kind of girls. You know what I mean. But all the way through this I knew that the leading man of the story liked Harriet but due to the dastardly scheming of Charlotte Goldman - Harriet's arch enemy - they hardly get to be together. I would have enjoyed it so much more if we had got to see more of Harriet and Jean Claude.

The book was filled with little moments and views that had me snickering quite happily to myself (another book I was happy to not be reading in public) and Harriet's unique opinions were great to read. It was good to see how she dealt with things throughout the book. She was fine with being reasonably invisible and trudging through her days but then when her book is published she deals with each day as it comes and does what she has to - though still having some realistic emotions throughout the novel.

Favourite line of the book (page 373) - Fourteen was too young to be disillusioned. You needed a string of broken relationships and a weight crisis for that.

Harriet's grandmother was fun to read as was her mother. Both of them were unstoppable once they had got it into their heads to make Harriet famous and they dealt with any obstacle that came their way.

Charlotte made the perfect 'baddy' of the peace. Smarmy, snooty, nasty...just evil, but with everyone else wrapped so tightly around her finger they can't see it.

Jean Claude was adorable. The perfect gentlemen, though I think a little bit more of him couldn't have gone amiss.

Over all 5 out of 5. I would love to read another Harriet story, but I don't think that will be happening unfortunately, but I will be on the look out anyway.