Northern Soul

14-year-old Marv is perfectly happy with a life playing FIFA and hanging with his best mate Jimmy. Girls don’t come into the picture. 

But the first time he sees Carly Stonehouse in registration, he turns into a dribbling, lovestruck numpty complete with fireworks and deafening love songs belting out in his brain. It even stops him thinking about his fantasy league football team. 

And when he finds out she lives in his street, it’s almost too much to bear. 

Desperate to make an impression but with no idea quite how to do it, Marv embarks on a series of ill-fated courses of action – mainly dictated by the persistent hallucination of a long-dead soul singer addicted to junk food. And made worse by his Croc-wearing embarrassment of a dad. 

By turns funny, relatable and cringe-inducing, Marv’s romantic woes are a cautionary tale about who you choose to take advice from but also show that love is often found where we least expect it.  

Presented in a super-readable, dyslexia-friendly format and featuring some truly awful song lyrics, this is a great teen read that will have wide appeal.