London Belongs to Us by Sarra Manning

London Belongs to Us by Sarra Manning
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Seventeen-year-old Sunny's always been a little bit of a pushover. But when she's sent a picture of her boyfriend kissing another girl, she knows she's got to act. What follows is a mad, twelve-hour dash around London - starting at 8pm in Crystal Palace (so far away from civilisation you can't even get the Tube there) then sweeping through Camden, Shoreditch, Soho, Kensington, Notting Hill . . . and ending up at 8am in Alexandra Palace.

Along the way Sunny meets a whole host of characters she never dreamed she'd have anything in common with - least of all the devilishly handsome (and somewhat vain) French 'twins' (they're really cousins) Jean Luc and Vic. But as this love-letter to London shows, a city is only a sum of its parts, and really it's the people living there who make up its life and soul. And, as Sunny discovers, everyone - from friends, apparent-enemies, famous bands and even rickshaw drivers - is willing to help a girl on a mission to get her romantic retribution.


I read this in a couple of sittings at the beginning of the holiday's. I really wanted something light and fun to get my out of my reading slump and this did just that.

The book is extremely easy to read, as I read the book I felt I had gone on a journey with Sunny and really wanted Mark to stop being such an idiot! I couldn't believe the way this character behaved though the book and although he isn't a 'main' character as he doesn't say an awful lot directly he plays a massive part in this story - it is the whole reason Sunny is trekking across London!

The story takes place over one night, a night where Sunny is on a wild goose chase to find her boyfriend Mark. When she arrives in a new area of London, we get some information about that part. I really loved reading about the areas through history and actually learnt a lot, whether this was about famous residents or shops that originated from there. I thought this was a unique feature to the book.

This book is fast paced and funny, it is a young contemporary book with Sunny being 17 and set in the summer holidays. This is a real light read and perfect for the summer months. The only reason I have given this book 4* and not 5* is because at times I did skim read a little, this was only because the structure of the story was a little repetitive, (Sunny trying to find Mark - paths may cross, she chases him a bit more and again misses him.) At one point I thought perhaps Sunny had done a little too much chasing him. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy her adventure or the people she met a long the way, because I did immensely.

If you like YA, especially UKYA then grab yourself a copy of this, even if you just like London, grab a copy as you will love this. I think this is a really great YA read and a perfect one for the summer months. I recommend this book!

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.