The lives and loves of Jesobel Jones

About the book

Being one of the three daughters of a hand model and an ex-rock star is not easy, after all you have expectations to live up to! Jess had never felt the need to be ashamed of herself, Jess loves herself and her family for who they are. But when own clothes day takes a turn for the worse and Jess ends up on the floor in front of her enemy Jess is sure things won’t get any better. However, when she gets an invite to the Party of the year hosted by her dream boy she must make a very important decision…should she try and fit in or should she be the girl she had always believed she was? After all, you can’t fit in when you were born to stand out.

To read or not to read…That is the question…

The lives and loves of Jesobel Jones is a good read about a girl who wants the boy of her dreams to like her. In the first chapter of the book Anna Mainwaring explains that the original Jezebel was a witch from the bible who got executed for doing magic and that her dead body was fed to dogs.I really like the name choice as Jesobel Jones is similar to the original Jezebel in the way that they both rebel against something

One of my favourite things about this book are the Invisible rules/Jess observations at the beginning of each chapter. The Invisible rules and Jess observations are facts/rules that, as Jess notices, form disagreements and make people hate themselves (and others) for who they are, what they look like etc.

Another thing I loved about this book are Jess’ absolutely HILARIOUS comebacks, one brilliant scene in particular when Jess comes face to face with the school bully, when Zara calls Jess grotesque and Jess says…

“Grotesque, Zara? That’s a big word for you - do you think you can spell it?”

I love the book because of the message behind it: You shouldn’t change yourself for the benefit of others and that you shouldn’t judge people by their looks. This is a key message many teens should know and understand. Another thing I loved was how relatable Jess’ character was. She went through struggles such as being bullied but in the end she went back to who she really was and didn’t let the bullies get to her. A lot of the time when I was reading this book I felt as if I was really there in the world of Jess. I laughed so hard but also felt her as she went through the difficult moments as well.

Some of my favourite Invisible rules/ Jess Observations:

Chapter 2

Invisible rule No 2: If a girl has curly hair, she wants straight. If she’s short, she wants to be tall. If she’s got no boobs, she wants huge ones. You’re never allowed to be happy with what you’ve got.

Chapter 3

Invisible rule No 3: If a pupil doesn’t do their work, they get detention. If a teacher doesn’t mark work, nothing happens. There is no such thing as teacher detention..

Chapter 6

Invisible rule No 5: When a parent says they want to “talk,” it means they want to tell you off. They talk, you listen.

Chapter 7

Observation No 3: If being thin is so great, why are thin people always miserable? Excitment

Chapter 13

Invisible rule No 13: Never tell the truth. I mean, really, don’t. No one ever really wants to hear it. Just tell yourself the truth.

Chapter 15

Invisible rule No 45: Guys work out to get bigger. Girls work out to be smaller. Go figure.

Chapter 19

Invisible rule No 61: Only thin people can exercise. Which is ridiculous whichever way you look at it

Chapter 22

Observation No 5: Rules are there to be broken.

Chapter 26

Jess observation No 101: What if you’re a girl and you’d rather read a book than shop — do you get expelled from Girl Club?

Chapter 28

Observation No 21: Sometimes food is not the answer. But not very often.

Rating

On a scale of 1-5 I would rate this a 5 because of how relatable it was but also how it completely transported you into her world. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy reading about the problems of a normal teenage girl and also to those who enjoy reading books that have a great sense of humour.