Review of Toxic by Lucy V Hay

What I love about the Intersections series is the clever way that the central device (a sort of Sliding Doors scenario) means that the topic at hand is thoroughly explored in new and thoughtful ways. Just as in the last book Proof Positive where the choices facing a pregnant teenager are enumerated, Toxic wades into the volatile world of teenage friendships. County athlete Jasmine is besties with Olivia in the seaside town of Winby. One summer, Ellie and her glamorous London family move in, grockles from the big bad city. Jasmine finds her loyalties tested to breaking point as she is invited to Ellie's party but Olivia is excluded. As the iterations build up so do the secrets that everybody seems to be hiding, as does Jasmine's understanding of the true nature of friendship and her growing maturity.

Refreshingly free of the usual clichés concerning teenagers, the novel vividly captures the crippling insecurities that girls suffer over their friends, their appearances and crucially, their behaviour, or their perceived behaviour. The author draws on her own Devon-based upbringing evoking what it is to be stuck in a seasonal seaside town that seems dreary compared to the exciting lives of the out-of-town city folk who descend on such places every summer. I'm looking forward to the next story in this series.

Toxic on Amazon