An excellent story, well written and interesting. It mixes the problems of a teenager with environmentally friendly concern and it works.
The characters are well rounded and likable, the plot flows and the message is clear.
I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

WOW, Laurie's parents are embarrassing. I know food waste is a huge problem and I agree that something needs to change, but they just decided that dumpster diving was the way to go and completely ignored Laurie any time she tried to talk about how she felt. I realise they were trying to make things better overall, but really. A little give and take, people. But then they did come through at the end.

Charley is confusing as well - for most of the book she seems like a typical Mean Girl, but she comes good at the end, so maybe the whole point is that everyone is both nice and nasty. That would be a lovely message, actually.

I really enjoyed the story as a whole. I loved that even when Laurie was caught up with Charley, she still did her best to help and stay close to her own friends; too often in this kind of story the old friends are dumped as the hero scrambles to keep up with the popular kid. I was really pleased when that didn't happen. I'm looking forward to trying out the recipes in the back, too!

I hope there's more books in this series. There's plenty more topics to tackle, after all.

A really great read, kids are going to love this one.

A very interesting and thoughtful read with a sweet and upbeat narrator.

I loved the flawless incorporation of the usual trials and tribulations of being a teen (being embarrassed by family, navigating social situations etc.) with the subject of natural beauty products, waste reduction and being environmentally friendly.

I would definitely recommend to my students as a more fun and accessible way for them to learn about environmental issues and some of the avenues that they can take help and adapt as it did not come across as preachy at all.

Laurie hates bin diving, however, her family, eco-warriors and food waste haters love it s they get new sealed produce for nothing so long as they don't get caught of course even Fern her little sister loves it too. Only Zainab and Emelia her school friends have no idea and they always have money to buy things whereas her parents take from bins instead never hardly paying properly for something.

So when a school project comes up and Charley the school popular girl wants to work with Laurie aka Beauty In The Kitchen, Laurie finds herself losing touch with her brand which started as her and her sister having fun, but as the competition goes on she realises Charley may not be the golden girl and her brand is hers and her sister's not Charley's.

This was a great unique read and I loved the subject about natural beauty products and reducing waste it's great to inform teens and help make a change, a book to inspire future generations!

Laurie hates bin diving, however her family, eco warriors and food waste haters love it s they get new sealed produce for nothing so long as they don't get caught of course even Fern her little sister loves it too.



Only Zainab and Emelia her school friends have no idea and they always have money to buy things where as her parents take from bins instead never hardly paying properly for something.



So when a school project comes up and Charley the school popular girl wants to work with Laurie aka Beauty In The Kitchen, Laurie finds herself losing touch with her brand which started as her and her sister having fun, but as the competition goes on she realises Charley may not be the golden girl and her brand is hers and her sister's not Charley's.



This was a great unique read and I loved the subject about natural beauty products and reducing waste it's great to inform teens and help make a change, a book to inspire future generations!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

An interesting and thoughtful debut from Joanne O'Connell that looks at growing up as an eco warrior while tackling the usual trials and tribulations of being a teen. Characters are extremely well written and very easy to connect with. It's a story that leaves you smiling.

My 12 year old absolutely loved this. Characters were great, lots of humour throughout and the environmentally friendly themes were really topical and captured her interest.