This book joins Sundae Girl in "CC books I actually almost liked."

Indigo Blue isn't that bad. Sure, the main character is eleven years old. Sure, it's full of stupid dialogue and cringe. Sure, the characters are paper thin. But I ended up *almost* liking it. It is one of Cathy's older books, and I am now of the opinion that Cathy got worse over time.

INDIGO

Indigo is our main character, an eleven year old whose mum has an abusive boyfriend, Max. At the beginning of the book, the mum, Indigo and her little sister Misti leave the abusive boyfriend. It is an old formula, but it's still pretty good.

Indigo doesn't really have a personality, but that's just what we were all expecting. The ultimate shock is that she doesn't end up with a boyfriend. There is a kid called Shane who goes everywhere on a skateboard, but he doesn't do much except wink at her a couple of times and "turn her insides to melted chocolate."

Her school does a production of Oliver and she gets the main part, which I don't fully understand because it's traditionally a part for boys. Of course a girl can play it and whatever but like....it's a weird choice for a primary school that has plenty of boys available.

And Indigo is super talented at acting and singing because of course. Though in the end she doesn't get to perform because shit happens, so another girl steps in instead.

JO

Indigo's friend Jo turns on her because she is of course super into Shane and flirts with him and all this really weird extreme shit. I had to struggle to remember that she was only eleven at times:

She storms off, flicking back her hair and wriggling her bum in case Shane Taggart is watching.

Carrie Naughton tells everyone that Jo and Shane went behind the school kitchens and snogged till the bell went for afternoon classes.

These eleven year olds blow my mind. When I was eleven, I had only just stopped playing with dolls. All the eleven years old girls I knew were experimenting (badly) with makeup, obsessed with shitty boy bands, into friendship bracelets and having stupid little baby crushes on boys that lead nowhere.

In the world of CC books, these eleven year olds really be out here with their 16 layers of makeup and fake tan, flirting with boys, smoking, and snogging behind school kitchens.

I also hate how it's framed as though Jo basically preyed on Shane, like he hasn't got a while of his own. Jo asks Shane out, and apparently he doesn't really like her, but "you don't say no to Jo Ashton."

Lol, why not? What tf is she going to do?

Jo also does this stupid thing where she always paints her nails at school at lunch time. Like that's just so awkward and weird. Why would you? At one point she and Indigo paint their toes "silver with purple dots" and get in trouble for it, like......ok.

INDIGO'S MUM BEING FUCKING STUPID

Indigo's mum, Anna, is a total fucking airhead when it comes to Max. I do know that abusers mess with your head, and it's realistic that she thinks Max means his apologies and is willing to give him another chance - but this woman annoys me with how far those chances go. It's at the point where she is putting her two children in danger and she still does it. Near the end, she agrees to go out with Max for dinner, leaving her two kids alone in the flat. Then Max beats seven shades of shit out of her and it's just like......at what point are her boundaries.

I may sound a little cruel on that point, but on reading this book, I couldn't help but compare it to Jacqueline Wilson's Lola Rose, a book with a similar plot that does it a lot better. Comparing the two mothers in both books leaves no competition - Nikki wins every time.

Although she is obviously scared of her husband and he's abusive, she still realises the best thing for her kids is to leave, realising that when he hits her daughter for the first time. Though she has let him hit her time and time again, he has now crossed a boundary and she is furious with him. The sense of urgency and the danger of the situation is realised as they run in the middle of the night, making up new identities and starting new lives. Although Nikki is sometimes selfish, she puts her kid's needs first when it matters. And though she gives Jay continuous second chances, she eventually realises that she cannot keep doing this if she wants her children to be safe.

In comparison, Anna is so paper thin it is laughable. She decides to leave Max because.....I don't know. There is no turning point like there is in Lola Rose, no boundary that Max has crossed. She just randomly decides to leave, although she seems to still be in the illusion that they're a happy family, and does so when she collects Indigo from school like normal. She keeps Indigo in the same school, which is very accessible to Max, and indeed where Max comes to pick her up once. She moves to an estate only a short way away, and doesn't make much effort to hide from him, further putting her children in danger. She keeps calling him by phone, and when he eventually turns up, agrees to go out with him again and leave her kids alone.

I'm not saying that Anna is a bad mother, just a bad character. Her motivations are non existent, and her incredible selfishness and lack of awareness of the safety of her children left a bad taste in my mouth.

I also didn't like how she started up a brief romance with their upstairs neighbour, Ian. She did not need a new boyfriend so soon. They didn't get together officially or anything, but there was a lot of flirting and he was around SO FUCKING MUCH. Again, to compare this to Lola Rose, Nikki also has a brief relationship with a guy named Jake - but said relationship shows her bad traits of selfishness and her dependence on men and is not portrayed in any way as healthy, unlike Anna and Ian.

Also can I just talk about this woman's obsession with the colour blue for a moment, lmao. Apparently she once went to a fortune teller who told her that blue is her lucky colour, so now she is OBSESSED, and I'm not joking. She buys blue curtains, blue carpets and blue duvets for their new flat. She names her daughters after shades of blue. She is constantly dressed in blue from head to toe, even with blue nail varnish, blue earrings, a blue shoulder bag. Apparently Indigo's real dad is even called Blue, which is fucking insane and made me laugh.

So this was Indigo Blue. Averaging on at least bearable, I give it 1/5.