Mates, Dates, and Mad Mistakes

As i bookseller with specialty in kids and teens, I must really give this series the "thumbs up"! They are great "light reading", but with substantial contents for their target group. A series with all the right messages - trust in yourself, value your good friendships, be your own person, don't succumb to group pressure etc. BUT they are not annoyingly politically correct, and they are written in a way that will appeal to most age 11-14 girls. They deal with friendships, first loves, puberty, parents, siblings, school and issues like 'what am I good at' and 'what do I want to be professionally' etc. The first 6 books are narrated by 4 different girls (who are all friends), which gives a good insight to how different girls in a group see, react towards and percieve the various situations and issues. Reading "guidelines": The first five books are good from age 11 and up, from book six the girls mature somewhat and, depending on the individual of course, readers should be a year or two older.

This is the sixth book in this series and it is about Izzie. In this book, she meets a boy in the park, Josh, and he is a bad influence, he does drugs, smokes and drinks. Izzie thinks nothing of it and does it too, even though she doesnt like the feeling of any of it. She starts getting into fights with her mom because of it and gets into lots of trouble and her friends start worring about her. Read this series, its really good!!!

I love this whole series! This book was good because you could see another side of Izzie. She was faced with some tough decisions that made the book all the more realistic. Teenage girls can really relate to the girls in this book and the decisions they have to make. These books have a good lesson in the end as well. Have some fun and read all the books in the Mates, Dates Series!

I loved this book. I was really surprised at all the things that Izzie was getting into. This was unlike the characters we first fell in love with. But it s does make sense. Izzie wanted to seem more grown up and she thought by trying new things she could do this. I feel that this is a coming of age story that all teens should read! its a great lesson to be learned.

The Mates, Dates series rotates among four friends: Lucy, Izzie, Nesta and TJ. This time it's Izzie's turn, and the British four are getting ready to enjoy the last of summer before Year Ten begins. They decide to symbolize their friendship with a navel piercing --- but some chicken out and then Izzie's Mom finds out and makes her take it off. She even reads Izzie's diary --- why can't she just understand that Izzie needs her space to experiment?New hottie on the scene Josh helps Izzie experiment with drinking, smoking various substances, late night escapes and some serious making out. His friend Spider is seriously creepy, too, and embarrasses Izzie at her band's gig. Her friends begin to avoid her, and suddenly Izzie is way past her comfort level.This latest installment in the popular Mates, Dates series reminds readers where some seemingly harmless mistakes could lead. Everyone can relate to falling for the wrong person when growing up. While British stories and friend quartets seem to be everywhere in teen girl fiction these days, this series manages to keep it real with issues to accompany the fun, light reading.(...)