Readalong: On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God

Can you believe it's already time to discuss the second book in the Georgia Nicolson readalong? (Side note: Maybe by book three my brain will finally remember that there is no H in Nicolson.) On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God was just as funny as the first book, Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, but...it happened, readers. I finally found myself getting super annoyed by 14 year old Georgia. I'm actually quite distraught about this!

If you want to read more about the reasoning behind the reread of these books, check out Jessica's post here. Again, we'll be reading one book every three weeks and we're discussing them on social media using #GeorgiaNicolsonReadalong, on our personal blogs, and on Goodreads in a special group.

Here's the synopsis of book #2:

Georgia Nicolson has started dating the Sex God (aka Robbie). So life should be perfect...except in Georgia's life, nothing is ever perfect. Her cat, Angus (the size of a small Labrador), is terrorizing the neighborhood. Her sister, Libby (who is slightly mad), hides her pooey knickers at the bottom of Georgia's bed.
Then the Sex God breaks it off because she's too young. It's time for a plan. It's time for a Red Herring. It's time for Georgia to become a "heartless boy magnet!"

As I mentioned, I was a wee bit frustrated with Georgia in this book. Usually I don't read YA books featuring characters under 16 because I, at almost 29, can't quite handle being back in a young teen's brain. Living through it once was bad enough! I tried really really hard to not judge Georgia for things she was doing that she would have no idea were actually quite ridiculous. For example, after Robbie the Sex God dumps her (he's quite a smart bloke, actually, and realizes that, at 17, he's much too old for her, at 14) she decides to get her revenge by dating someone else - and leading him on - just to make Robbie jealous. Poor Dave the Laugh. I can see that Dave is actually a really good guy but she's all moony over Robbie and refuses to see that Dave is completely worth her time. I was proud of Dave for basically calling her out for using him. I hoped Georgia would snap out of her "bad boy" phase. (I know I've read the books before but it's been ages and I actually can't really remember what happens with Dave the Laugh.)

I did find myself laughing throughout the book though. Actually, at one point, I had to try really hard not to burst into uncontrollable laughter while eating lunch at work. I don't think my coworkers would have quite understood what was so funny.

Cannot. Stop. Laughing. (Awkward when you're eating lunch at work.) 😂 #GeorgiaNicolsonReadalong pic.twitter.com/fGPFfP4ung

— Kaley Stewart (@KaleyS23) April 1, 2016

This book also gave me and my friends a new favourite saying when we first read it: "We have to put our feet down with firm hands!" I have no idea why we loved it so much (was Georgia really very smart? I now wonder...) but we did!

I also found a Doctor Who reference (Georgia's Uncle Eddy puts some toy on his head that makes him look like a Dalek) that I most definitely didn't understand when I first read the books. This is why rereading is such fun sometimes...there are moments and cultural references you may not fully grasp the first time around and it takes time, age, and experience to really get it.

In all honesty though, I just couldn't get into On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God. Georgia is so self-absorbed, whiny, and sometimes downright rude to the Olds (aka her parents) that it was hard to have as much fun with this book. I'm hoping the third book, Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas (these titles are so ridiculous! haha) provides more laughs than cringes. And more Dave the Laugh! The next review will be up May 3.

Now, this readalong installment was also meant to discuss the movie adaptation of book one (which was inexplicably changed to Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging). Here's the problem. I've actually never seen it and I couldn't find it anywhere near me. Neither library I'm a member of had it and the one movie rental store (yes, we actually still have one) near me didn't have it either. There are other ways to find movies, I know, but I suppose I was feeling a tad lazy. I'm going to try to do an interlibrary loan for it soon though so stay tuned!

UPDATE! I wrote this post on Sunday and scheduled it to go up Tuesday morning. On Monday night I went to a friend's house and she surprised me by tracking down Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging! We had a lot of fun watching it, even though she's never read the books. I'm pretty sure I bothered poor Jess with messages as I was watching it, noting what was different and finding great amusement with life in 2008 (when the movie was released). There were changes, as there always are. Most of them didn't significantly change the storyline - Tom and Robbie were twins in the movie, and Dave the Laugh is introduced earlier than he was in the book, Mark with the giant mouth who Georgia kind of dates in the first book isn't even mentioned - so it was easy to relax and enjoy the movie. I did notice that Georgia seemed more upset about her dad moving away for work and the possibility of her parents' divorcing than she was in the book (she was actually quite mean in the book). I think that may have helped balance how awful she was to Dave and Jas (her best friend). After reading Jess's review of Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging (read it here!), I realized how negatively Georgia and her friends viewed being a lesbian - like it would be the worst thing in the world and they didn't want anyone to think they were lesbians. So, I was tuned in to how they approached it in the movie. Not well. It was just as awkward and some of the comments were pretty uncalled for. In funnier and better news, they seemed to lift lines right from the books. There are certain phrases that stick in your head when you're reading and it was amusing to hear them repeated back on screen. Overall, it was a lot of fun to watch. I wish I had watched it when it first came out so I would have been that much closer to being a teen (I actually told my friend at one point that I was oh so glad grade nine is over and done and I never have to be 14 again...such an awkward time period) but I still laughed and cringed in the appropriate spots while watching the movie. I consider that a win!

In case you missed it, here are my thoughts on book one, Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging.