SEE ALICE-MIRANDA FRIENDS FOREVER AT THE CINEMA NOW! SPECIAL EVENTS LISTED BELOW TOO!

Jessica♡

Dear Mrs. Harvey,

Remember me? I sent a comment talking about how your books impacted me, and you responded by saying that my post made your year! You have no idea how delighted your reply made me. In that comment though, I mentioned that I was going to read AM keeps the beat sometime soon. Brace yourselves, because I finally got time to purchase it on my kindle and read it, hence this review. SPOILER ALERT, by the way! I won’t disclose anything too pivotal to the plot, but still- read no further than this before you get to the book.

Everything starts out with our little girl jamming out to some tunes in her head, tapping her fingers to the rythm during math class- Something I immediately assumed to be the outcome of some drumming lessons. I won’t say who’s teaching her, though! 😉 Later, the girls are on their way back home from a spectacular barbeque at Ambrosia’s place when Jacinta spots smoke pouring from the Abboud family home and restaurant. Quickly realizing the family was still inside, the girls (Like true heroines) jump into the fire and save everyone. Good news: most of the family members are fine and dandy, however their residence was burnt to a crisp. There was also a matter of where exactly young Zahra was during all this. One thing leads to another, and AM and company end up making commitments to a music festival!

Next, we get introduced to Miss Tabitha Crowley, who right off the bat became my favorite teacher. Her happiness is incredibly contagious, and the first thing she does as the new english teacher is get rid of a rather mundane Lord of the Flies (I’m not a fan either) and brings in her innovative ideas. In the light of raising funds through the festival, she also brings the Winchester-Fayle singers back in full swing! I also would like to say that a personality like hers helped ease all the tension between Mrs. Reedy and the other teachers (for me as a reader), so that was cleverly played out for sure. She gets everyone rehearsing and planning quicksmart- and during the rehearsals Jacinta makes an interesting discovery.

During all this we get our usual dose of Caprice vs Millie, Lucas + Jacinta, adorable new babies, splendid food (sometimes not so splendid), mystery and a whole lot of drama.

RIght after the fire we (it’s about time) get a call from Jacinta’s father. Oddly enough, he seemed ready to become a proper family again- Even if it meant delaying his business chats with Jamie, his “Colleague”. This and Myrtle Parker’s notoriously accurate gossip about Lucas moving to New York to live with his mother and her new fiance eat away at Jacinta, and pretty soon it gets to Lucas too.

Whether or not Jacinta’s dad really is a good egg, where Mrs. Crowley is really from, whether Lucas is right in his suspicions or not, what Zahra was really doing that evening and from whom those creepy notes are from are something you’ll have to read the book to find out, and it’s amazing how the threads are so beautifully woven together. Trust me- it’ll all make sense in the end.

I loved this book Mrs. harvey: and I’m already waiting for AM’s Aussie adventure next year! 😀

Anna

I am soooooo excited!!! I cannot believe AM is going on an outback adventure. Can’t wait to read it and see what AM and friends get up to this time!

Reet Seth

Hi,Mrs Harvey
I’m Reet and I recently just finished one of my favourite books from the Alice-Miranda series/books and that book was -Alice-Miranda in New-York and I absolutely adore the book.I’am very excited for the movie and I completely love your books.
#Mrs Harvey’s books rule!
(p.s Cant wait to read the rest of the series again!)