This is a great comming-of-age story. It's sweet, funny and charming. I loved the story and the characters. I'll be sure to keep this book for my son to read when he is older. ( )

Reviewed by Lauren Ashley for TeensReadToo.com

ACROSS THE POND brings us the story of Englander Fred, who goes on vacation to the United States, where he stays with a family friend. This family has a daugther, Brit, who becomes quite attached to Fred, and vice versa.

However, when Fred learns something about Brit's past that she hasn't told anyone else, he decides that he has to do right by her and make sure the offender learns his lesson. During his stay in the U.S., Fred works on a project that focuses on the differences in the English language, which you find throughout the book.

This is a short, entertaining read. I liked Fred's character for the most part and enjoyed the mishaps he found himself in due to the language "barriers." His project was fun and I really liked seeing the various words and their meanings between the U.S. and England. It was exciting to see that I knew most of them, as well!!

However, I did have a slight problem with Brit. She's overly-emotional, and I felt that their relationship happened really fast. I like romance in books, and it worked okay for this story, but Fred's trip didn't seem long enough to fall that deeply "in love" with Brit.

But I'm sure it's happened and I know teens often have quick, fast relationships, so it's not a really big problem...just a thought I had at points in the story. ( )

Across the Pond is a story of an English boy who travels to America for a week while his parents vacation in Australia. While in America, Fred stays with friends of his parents and their daughter. Over the week of his stay Fred finds himself falling in love, along with multiple other adventures. The story is totally unbelievable. These teenagers fall into a trusting relationship in a matter of hours and Fred manages to fix a plaguing problem in his week stay. The characters and the conversations that take place are a little annoying. Cute but not mush else. ( )

Synopsis:

Fourteen-year-old Brit Fred Squire was not excited for his first visit to the US with his father's friends. Aside from a tiresome school assignment of compiling the Americanisms he comes across and their British equivalents, Fred is nervous about meeting Brittany, his host family's teenage daughter.

But from the moment they meet, it's clear that Fred and Brittany, a.k.a. "Brit", click. Brit makes Fred's Americanisms assignment fun. With their shared sense of humor, love of music and sports, the two become fast friends. Brit introduces Fred to life in America - the slang, the mall, her friends, American food, and baseball. Fred even helps Brit handle her one big fear. Before they realize it, the visit is over but hopefully, Fred and Brit's friendship won't be.

Review:

I really loved this book! Fred is funny, sympathetic and hugely likable. All the characters had well defined personalities and the writing was so fun that it took me a while to realize that the book is a romance. Across the Pond doesn't feel like a contemporary YA romance as much as an updated romance similar to Fifteen by Beverly Cleary. Each scene in the book is fun and diverting, and with Fred as the protagonist, I feel that people of all ages would enjoy Across the Pond.

I highly recommend Across the Pond to anyone looking for a light, fun read. I think that even young boys will enjoy the book's humor and plot. I'm passing on my copy to my nieces - and am sure that they'll enjoy this book as much I did!

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation; 1st edition (September 25, 2008), 120 pages.
Courtesy of Bostick Communications. ( )

Almost fifteen year old Fred's parents are heading for a vacation in Australia which means that they are packing him off to the US to stay with family friends. This doesn't thrill him until he meets Brit, Phil and Julie's daughter, and falls head over heels for her. As the days in the US pass, Fred meets Brit's friends, hears about a very troubling situation that Brit has kept from her parents, fights a bully, catches a special homerun ball at a Braves game, and becomes a true knight in shining armor.

The romance happens quickly with both Fred and Brit jumping in and committing their whole hearts much faster than any sane and cautious person would. But they are teenagers so although I remain a bit skeptical, it works. Fred's school project is equal parts fun and disruptive to the story. Seeing the word differences between the two countries sperated by a common language (George Bernard Shaw) can be entertaining but it sometimes gets a bit old. After the initial explanation, I found it distracting although since I read a lot of British literature, I am already familiar with most of the terms and their counterparts which may not be the case for everyone.

There was a lot going on in the book that wasn't as deeply developed and complex as I would have liked. The conflicts were fairly easily resolved. Fred was a bit too good to be believed. A few flaws wouldn't have gone amiss in his character development. Phil and Julie were perfect television parents: always understanding and wise. And there needed to be a closer editing. When I came to chapter 13 I went back and re-read chapter 12, confused by the repetition and Groundhog Day like repeat. The nitpicker in me would also like to point out that the American anthem, which Fred finds himself humming along to at the baseball game, is called The Star-Spangled Banner, not God Bless America.

Aimed at the YA audience, this might be better for young tweens than teens although the issue of inappropriate and unwanted touching makes that a tougher call. As I am in my dotage, I am clearly not the target audience but my daughter might be and I will probably pass it along to her if she's interested. Overall, I didn't love it and found some problems with it but it was sweet enough and it would probably appeal more to those for whom it was written. ( )