Review: Butterfly Porcupine by Susan Francis

Title: Butterfly Porcupine

Author: Susan Francis

Publisher: Primeda eLaunch

Release Date: 14th March 2011

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Quick Review: Kai is an extravert. He likes making friends and hangs out with the close-knit group of teenagers who live in Aintree Court, West London, most of whom have grown up together and attend Aintree High School. At the end of the school term Kai's summer was all planned out: party, date the hottest girl around, play football, play basketball and pursue his hobby, taking pictures with his camera. He lands a job working for a professional photographer, and gets to spend the last weekend of summer at the Reading Music Festival. 

Life is good. That is, until a new arrival to Aintree moves into the house across from his....

If Tasha could pick a superpower, she wouldn't have to think about it. It would be invisibility. Tasha is not a people person. At the end of term she leaves her old school, her mother and her friends behind and moves to Aintree to live with her estranged father, his second wife and their son, Marc. Tasha’s summer was all planned out too: settle in her new home, bond with her father’s family and (hopefully) keep a low profile. She soon discovers that not everyone in Aintree is thrilled to have her around. 

Homesick and unable to fit in, life is not exactly great. That is, until she receives an unexpected, genuine offer of friendship… or is it?

Detailed Review: Somehow, the author's simplicity seems to fit in well with the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the name of the book was what initially sparked my interest in reading it. I thought that it was a really good name for this book after I'd read it. I've just started contemporaries last month, since my all-time favourites are still fantasy/paranormal.

The story shows how two people are affected by each other, and with the help of their friends and family backgrounds, they find themselves twining slowly together.

Natasha Wood comes from Trinidad, somewhere in the Mediterranean islands to complete her A levels. She's sad to leave her old friends and school, but particularly her mother. She has been planning to go back to visit her father in London, who'd divorced with her mother and married another woman instead. 

Kai Hansen has good looks and a girlfriend he's been wanting for ages. But since Tasha's appearance, he and Phoebe are slowly pushing away each other. There's just something that's innocent about her... not to mention that she was very pretty.

They live opposite each other in a close-knit community that's meant to nurture the best and is founded by the Marshalls, who were very selective in those who lived in Aintree.

A relationship starts to bloom between the two of them, and whether they liked it or not, especially Tasha, they seen develop feelings for each other. Tasha has been pushing away everybody who've been trying to help her after her best friend's death, but after a phone call from Kai, she starts to open up, letting him in. The porcupine is starting to shed its bristles, as I would put it. 

But then, everything shatters. Kai's a photographer and one day he managed to take a picture of Tasha looking sad and mournful without her knowledge. His uncle, also a photographer, urged him to enter it for a competition. And so he did. He didn't let the model know. 

Their relationship starts to grow into something more, but guess what? 

Kai's photo wins first prize and this time there's no hiding his guilty secret. He doesn't even mean to hurt Tasha and finally managed to screw everything up because of her father. He's really strict and asked Kai to apologise to Tasha in front of their dads and told him relinquish his prize. But there was no use, the deed was done. Tasha had already moved on, leaving Kai and his friends behind, slipping from his life. 

But then in the end they still got together.You'll have to really read this book to know what happened to put them together. I'm sorry, but I don't want to spoil too much of it if not NOBODY would ever buy this book to see how good it actually is.

 It's actually quite good that the author could make a simple storyline so GOOD. This book far exceeded my expectations. So...

Brief Review: I was happy to find out that this was the first book in a series called Aintree Tales! Can't wait to read the next book. I recommend it to anyone who don't like it too overwhelming and is simple but entertaining.

Final Rating: 4/5 'Really Liked It"

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