Making Friends with Alice Dyson

Written by Poppy Nwosu

Narrated by Katherine Littrell

ALICE DYSON knows exactly how she’ll spend her final year of high school: head down,
avoiding all attention while concentrating on her work and her perfect plans for the future. That
is, until a silly, out-of-character moment with Teddy Taualai, the school’s notorious troublemaker,
goes viral, derailing her plans and pushing her into the spotlight.

Suddenly Alice’s quiet, orderly life has turned into an improvised dance of beach trips,
museum visits, and parties. And the worst part? Teddy Taualai is everywhere she turns, and
always a step ahead.

Poppy Nwosu’s pitch-perfect debut novel explores the ever-tricky dance of staying true to
yourself while opening your heart to the queasy, disorienting power of first love as it sweeps you
up and spins you away from your carefully choreographed life

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781705010358

Reviews for Making Friends with Alice Dyson

[jenson_aka_dl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I first started reading this story, I really wasn't sure I would like it. I found the first person voice a bit odd, however, it really did grow on me. This is a coming of age story about a young girl in her final year of school before university (I believe it is set in Australia, but nothing was ever really mentioned). At the beginning she is subject to a rash of humiliation due to a video of her dancing in the street with the most unpopular boy in her class. Although I'm familiar with the high school hierarchy issues, I'm a little out of touch on how social media works into these type of issues, especially when the incident causing the uproar was so innocuous. Once I got past the first couple chapters and Alice's internal voice grew on me the story became more interesting and less annoying. This is a fairly short story about first love, living up to expectations and trying to stay true to yourself in the very turbulent time of being on the cusp of adulthood and finding your own path.Overall, I did enjoy the story. It was quite innocent and would be good for early teens on up.

[herenya_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Australian YA. Alice plans to spend her final year of high school staying invisible and studying hard. But she’s thrown into the spotlight after someone posts a video of her dancing with Teddy Taualai. Suddenly Teddy keeps trying to hang out with her, and Alice’s best-and-only-friend May is eager to expand their social circle.I loved how intensely this captures Alice’s emotions and perspective, and how the story explores that people have different emotions, perspectives and needs. Despite being friends for years, Alice and May both have more to learn about being supportive and accepting. Alice’s growing relationship with Teddy is also lovely. Alice seems very much to me like someone who might be on the autism spectrum -- and whether or not that’s the interpretation the author intended, I think it’s great to see characters like her represented in YA.I wish that the ending had unpacked Alice’s relationship with her parents more -- they have clearly influenced Alice in some really significant ways, even though they’ve been emotionally distant (and even though the story’s focus is on school and Alice’s social life). But anyway, that didn’t negate how much I enjoyed this book. “Shut up, Teddy Taualai. You are driving me crazy.” He grins at me, all close and in my face. “Yeah, but we’re friends now, right? Isn’t that what friends are for?” He turns to May, all innocence, with wide eyes. “That’s right, isn’t it?” May nods eagerly like the traitor she is. “Definitely,” she declares. “Alice would waste away in the library if it wasn’t for me. She’s seriously shrivel up and die. Friends are important for a girl like her.” “Excuse me?” I’m offended. May sticks out her arm and shakes Teddy’s hand enthusiastically. “Welcome aboard, Teddy. It’s a hard job, being Alice’s friend, and I’m glad to have someone to share the burden with.” “Glad to be here, Ma’am.” Teddy’s voice is ridiculously serious. He returns the handshake vigorously and I roll my eyes at both of them.

[niquetteb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a cute teen romance surrounding a studious nerdy girl and a boy everyone thinks she should avoid. The author appeals to the YA crowd, using clipped sentences and short digestible chapters. There is a strong friendship between the two main female characters that is tested by conflicts that evolve through the story. The story kept me engaged and I didn't want to put it down.

[nbmars · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’ve always been so impressed with the young adult books that come from Australian authors. Maybe Americans only see the best of them, but this adorable and touching story certainly meets the high standards set by others I have read.Alice Dyson is a self-described nerd who doesn’t socialize much except with May, her best friend since childhood. As the story begins, however, Alice suddenly is who everybody is talking about after a video was posted of her dancing in the street with classmate Teddy Taualai. Teddy is the subject of many negative rumors in the harsh social climate of their high school: he is "dangerous"; he is “the school’s delinquent; a "waster"; the kind of boy who always sits at the back of the class.” Except, it isn’t really true. No one has ever given him a chance.After Alice irrationally attacks Teddy over the viral video (how, after all, could he have taken it if he was in it?) they next become allies in ferreting out the real culprit, then somewhat reluctant friends, then something more than that.If this sounds simple and predictable, it is anything but. For one thing, Alice is not like the other teens in her school, obsessed with popularity and inclined to be mean and underhanded to achieve it. She considers the approval of her peers to be a shallow, transient, even absurd desire. She is conscientious, loyal and thoughtful, and has a secret dream for her future that requires a great deal of perseverance and bravery, qualities Alice has in abundance. She doesn't want to be noticed, and she doesn't want any interruptions from a social life. But to realize her dream, she comes to understand that she must accommodate unexpected changes in her life, as well as the feelings of others, and adapt as best she can. When you love, whether it involves family, friends, or a partner, your life is no longer just your own, and your decisions need to take others into account. But rather than diminishing you, love gives you a new kind of strength and a deeper kind of happiness.As for Teddy, he is not the "bad boy" so common to young adult novels who is appealing to the girls in spite of, or because of, his reputation. His first inclination is always to take care of the others in his life. His bad rep was unfairly bestowed upon him, and is something he has had to live with along with the hurt and loneliness that went with it. As you plunge into their fictional world, you just want to embrace and protect both of them.Evaluation: Alice and Teddy, each from families that make their lives challenging, are endearingly awkward, earnest, and beset by fears, but also full of hope and goodness. I loved the characters and the way their relationship evolved, and I loved the way the author did not push Alice or Teddy into stereotypical outcomes, but let them mature and structure their futures without compromising what was important to them. Highly recommended!

[basilsbooks · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I think my niece would have loved this book but I in fact did not. I do think it is a good book just not for me.

[oceancat-3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Making Friends With Alice Dyson is about Alice, at the beginning of her senior year of high school, who has what is to her an embarrassing video go viral and because of it ends up becoming friends, and maybe something more, with the school “bad boy” who she finds out isn’t actually all that bad. Unfortunately this book was not for me. It is cute, and well written, but there is too much lack of boundary respecting and pushy friendship for me to like it. I seem to be very much in the minority so don’t necessarily take my word for it. Alice isn’t bothered by it, but having known people like that in real life it is not something I have much tolerance for. I liked Alice and I’m glad of how the book ends up, it just wasn’t quite for me.

[aimless22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this story about a introverted homework nerd and her slowly expanding circle of friends.One note about the editing - I know it is an ARC, but the editor must have performed a find and replace on the entire manuscript. Every word that ends in "ms" is printed as "Ms." Seems, arms, exams. looms, screams. It was quite distracting during the first read.Back to the story . . .Alice Dyson has one friend, May, that she has known since kindergarten. The two are in their final year of high school. For three years, Alice has been the quiet, do-your-homework-and-don't-socialize student and May has been her stalwart friend. Feeling pressure from her parents to get perfect grades, Alice focuses on doing her work - at school and at the nearby movie theater. May tries to get in with the popular kids in school. She worries that she is missing out on important experiences.But Alice has a secret plan for after high school. She has not told a soul. To tell might make it unattainable or someone might manage to talk her out of it.Enter Teddy Taualai. (I did not know how to pronouce this name, so I made it sound like "towel-eye" so I could continue reading.) Alice refers to Teddy by his complete name - both to herself and to him.After a video goes viral online of Alice and Teddy performing an impromptu dance off, she works hard to figure out who took the video and why they uploaded it. She enlists Teddy to help her. Their friendship grows as she allows him to follow her as she investigates. The budding videographer turns out to be quite a shock. All in all, I really related to Alice (and sometimes to May). That desire to just keep to yourself and get your work done describes me in high school for the first two years. After that, a boy also altered my world view.I like the way the author keeps the reader waiting for explanations or expansion of key plot points. The wait works.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Alice has only ever had one friend and she’s okay with that. Alice isn’t comfortable socially and she’s so busy studying to please her parents that she barely has time for May anymore let alone anyone else. But one afternoon, one viral moment of dancing on the street alongside a boy she barely knows, expands Alice’s world, her thinking, and her heart.I loved that Alice, May, and Teddy were more real than perfect. They each have their share of flawed moments, the kind where you cringe a little as they happen but it’s easy to forgive them almost immediately because they’ve been crafted with such depth, it’s clear that they’re operating from a place of fear, insecurity, or hurt.Alice is ever so endearing with her awkwardness and reluctance around Teddy, wanting him near yet often pulling away. I also appreciated that Alice’s story isn’t just about falling in love, friendship is prized here as well, and while I wish a little more time had been spent on Alice’s relationship with her parents especially towards the end, I admired that Alice knows what she wants for her future, she has a plan and she’s unwilling to let it go for anyone.May offers a welcome counterpart to Alice being so sure of her future, May’s a relatable character for those who feel lost or have felt that way. As for Teddy, he’s such a vulnerable boy, sweetly, helplessly in love with Alice, and when I think about what will most stay with me from this book, it’s the scenes of Alice’s first visit to Teddy’s home, how she had to push herself to be there for him, how he was such a raw open wound, how moving it was, how well written both characters were in that emotionally difficult moment. I received this ARC through a giveaway.

[nsc1234 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Making Friends with Alice Dyson by Poppy Nwosu readily taps into that awkward time in our all of our lives when we're figuring out not just how to transition to adulthood, but how childhood friendships change, how unexpected relationships come to be, how we learn to love, and how competing plans for the future can throw one's life into disarray. The story is a mild roller coaster of emotion complete with a satisfying ending. Nwosu deftly puts the reader into main character Alice's head as she deals with the aforementioned life lessons. The writing is superb and the characters are believable; quirky and interesting without overstepping into any tired YA tropes.

[meaqhan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

** I received a copy of Making Friends with Alice Dyson as a courtesy of the publisher. This has not affected my rating or review of the novel. **This book is a pretty average YA romance, I’d say. It starts off very rough in writing, but gets a better towards the end. Most of it kind of reads like fanfiction, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if that’s the type of writing you enjoy. Ultimately, this is just a normal book. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to anybody but if you think you’d like it based on the premise there’s no reason not to read it.

[snash_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A YA book written in the present tense which managed to pull the reader more closely into the character's shoes. It seemed a good portrayal of the high school social anxieties and the characters were intriguing.

[dallenbaugh_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This high school story started slowly and I wasn't sure I wanted to finish it, but I persisted and found myself interested in the characters, and the plot line. I liked the character of Teddy, the proverbial bad/nice boy. Sometimes I wanted to shake Alice and get her to face life with a little more enthusiasm, but after reading a little more about her family situation I came to realize why she had shut herself down until her friend May and Teddy plotted to wake her up. I thought it portrayed a realistic view of the culture and sometimes cruelties of high school especially if you don't fit in, and how friends can make all the difference. Perhaps a cliche but also something many of us have experienced.

[tellen81 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book. I honestly couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed reading about the characters and what they were dealing with.