Oh Yeah, Audrey!

Gr 9 Up—Trying to cope with the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Beasley, a girl from Philadelphia, finds solace in her Tumblr blog, "Oh yeah, Audrey," entirely dedicated to Audrey Hepburn. When Gemma plans a trip with friends Bryan and Trina (whom she met through her blog), things are not quite what she imagined. The three friends are determined to live out a day of Holly Golightly's life from Breakfast at Tiffany's with New York City as their backdrop. All is well until a girl who has been flaming the blog shows up unexpectedly, and a handsome playboy named Dusty, whom Gemma has been helping with his Audrey Hepburn report via her blog, crashes the party as well. Gemma is swept up in a world of glamour and frivolity and has moments that help her forget about her very real grief. Readers will come away with the sense that everyone handles grief differently and that it is unhealthy to run away from problems. Though the story had true potential, it gets lost in the romance novel tropes, gay male stereotypes, and all the kitsch of a sitcom laugh track. Oh Yeah, Audrey falls short of wowing the way the real Audrey Hepburn did throughout her iconic career. —Krishna Grady, Darien Library, CT