We weren’t expecting anything at all from this book when we
picked it up. The only criterion was something short that we could finish
before falling asleep. So we were very pleasantly surprised by the easy-to-read
writing the how likeable Eve Eden was in the very first scene of the book.
Eve Eden, twenty-three, is the PE teacher at Ridgecrest Academy.
Her tall blonde voluptuous bombshell looks belie her shy, reserved and rather
introverted nature. And nothing about her suggests her hidden weird thing for
Demi Moore inasmuch she considers Moore to be something of her life guru. Nineteen-year-old
Manzana (Manny) Jones, the shining star of football is disgraced after a horror
tackle in the finals of the World Cup which possibly cost the nation the cup and
most certainly cost Manny her career. An ex-student of Ridgecrest (before Eve
joined the school), Manny is returning to school to complete her year twelve
and decide what to do next. Eve is a hockey fan and not star struck by Manny’s
fame making her the best tutor for the returning star. Manny arrives to school
with noisome paparazzi lying wait for her at the school gates. She is full of
confidence, swag and sexual fire.
The writing is fast, easy and funny. The dialogues quick and
humorous. Admittedly, in the first couple of scenes in the class, Eve seemed
wildly incapable of controlling her form of five students but she’d already
been established as someone who is quite capable of drawing lines and being
firm in a preceding scene in the staff room. We didn’t quite take to Manny
initially with her overconfidence and overtly sexual mouthing-off of her
teacher but when Archer weaves the context of Manny’s behaviour in her life
undone leaving her flailing, she is not as obnoxious anymore. We would’ve like
to read more about their emotional states (especially about each other) before
the scene where Eve approaches Manny at the swimming pool. In fact, this whole madcap
romp would’ve benefitted vastly with a little more emotional depth. The banter
is fun. Their ‘dates’ completely enjoyable.
Archer creates two vulnerable and likeable young women, each
with their own back stories and we wish the light randomness was tempered with
a measure of serious emotional connect which would actually build how each one
helps the other become stronger and whole. Also, there are a couple of scenes
which range between sheesh (the scene where Manny ‘rescues’ Eve from an awful
date and her subsequent behaviour leaves so much to be desired) to outright
cringe-worthy in allusion (when Eve ‘hands over’ her colleague to a group of
drunk footballers at the said colleague’s behest) but really the book is
written with such tongue-in-cheek random triviality so we could get over our
discomfort in the sheer madness and humour.
This is a rambunctious, rollercoaster of a hugely entertaining
read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
