Red Flags

Neither Poppy nor Cameron, known as Cam, has ever had a relationship longer than three weeks. They both have idealised images of fantasy couplings. They attend the same sixth form college. Each of their friendship groups separately challenges them to date someone without ending the courtship for two months. If they continue to like each other, they can stay a couple. If not, they’re free to go their separate ways. Reluctantly, each agrees to this.

Poppy has, since she was very young, made a list of the qualities she would like her dream man to have. Cameron’s best friend, Ciaran, who has decidedly misogynist views, gets hold of Poppy’s latest iteration of her dream man list. He then shares it with Cam who, determined to sabotage the experiment, becomes nightmare man – the opposite of the list. Can Poppy and Cam ever form a real attachment and what disasters will occur along the way?

Within this convoluted plot, Sophie Jo tackles some big topics such as non-traditional family set-ups, and what a long-term relationship actually entails. One of the strongest relationships in the novel is between Cameron and his granddad, Stan, with whom he lives. It is beneficial for young readers to see that cross-generational relationships can be fruitful and loving.