Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics by Ellie Phillips

I was having a bad hair day when this whole thing started.

Published by Electric Monkey in June 2013

Pages – 277

Book Summary

Sadie Nathanson's back - with more style and tangles than ever before. "Mrs Nellist came in for her cut and colour while Auntie and Tiffany were out the back having a coffee, leaving me to sweep up, and that's kind of where everything got really ugly. It was the hairstyle that Mrs Nellist never knew she wanted. That's all it was about. I don't know why everyone had to go so completely hysterical about it, but that's my family for you." Sadie Nathanson is back! After sorting out exactly who she is, she now feels ready to tackle who she is going to be! With hair as her focus, Sadie decides to enter a major hairdressing competition - though she has her work cut out for her when she gets fired from her Saturday job in Auntie Lilah's salon. And if that's not bad enough, it turns out there are yet still more surprises in store Dadwise...

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This is the second book in the series and although I enjoyed the first book, I really think the author has stepped it up a notch with this one. I read it with ease in two sittings and loved every word of it.

Told in first person, Sadie’s voice is funny and yet heart warming at the same time. Sadie had a lot going on in her life. She is still coming to terms with the new relationship she has with her sperm doner father, whom she finally found in the first book. Now she also has a surprise family member to get to know too. Not to mention the changes in her relationship with Tony – one minute it’s all hot and heavy, the next they are scraping their relationship up from the ground after their first big fight.

Sadie is far from perfect, as she messes up occasionally, leading to disastrous results. However Sadie has grown up a lot in this book and her determination to be the best hairdresser ever shines through. She won’t let anything get in her way this time, even if it means being fired.I loved getting to meet the maturer Sadie on her quest to success.  Sadie is hoping to enter The Junior Apprentice Hairdresser of the Year competition, but things out of her control keep going wrong, which knock her back every time.

The book is filled with an  array of interesting characters, who all seem to be part of Sadie’s extended family. There is obviously never a dull moment when Sadie’s family are around and I’d love to meet them all.

Each chapter begins with advice on entering the Hairdressing competition, and just like the hair styles from the previous book, they relate so well to the content of each chapter. I found myself looking forward to them.

A lovely read, ideal for tweens through to teens. Realistic, well paced and easy to get lost in.