MY LIFE UPLOADED

Move over Georgia and Angus—there’s a new girl-and-cat comedy duo in town!

Millie Porter and her mum used to have fun together, but then Mum’s boyfriend, Gary, aka the Neat Freak, moved in with his robot vacuum cleaner (which he calls McWhirter), bringing his ongoing feud with the crumb-hoarding toaster into the family. Now, Mum is in a happy, gooey love haze, and Millie is in a “coma of really fed-up.” The usually sensible English teen may be about to make her most senseless decision since naming her (female) cat Dave when she was 3: Perhaps the best thing for now is to live with Dad, who shares a home with her sexist Grandad and quirky Aunty Teresa. Millie’s best friend, Lauren, reminds Mills that “YOLO,” so she should live it up—and start a vlog. The big question: What should the topic be? Dave cuddling vegetables and surfing the robot-hoover? Household uses for castoff exercise equipment? Maybe Millie and Lozza should just improvise? The sky’s the limit; how far will cautious, play-it-safe Millie go to live in the now? Millie’s hysterical first-person narration directly addresses readers, pulling them into the moment. Briticisms firmly establish the setting, and hashtag chapter headings set up the forthcoming antics. Whiteness is assumed for most characters, including all the main ones; Millie’s crush is a part Chinese, part French Canadian boy.

Quite excellent.