Darla Decker Hates to Wait

By: Jessica McHugh

Narrated by: Robin Jill

Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

Evolved Publishing presents the first book in the Darla Decker Diaries series by Jessica McHugh, with Darla Decker Hates to Wait. This edgy young adult novel follows a girl's tentative journey toward adulthood.

Patience is not Darla Decker's strong suit. Surviving sixth grade is tough enough with an annoying older brother, a best friend acting distant, and schoolwork. After adding instructive kissing games and the torturous wait for a real date with her biggest crush, Darla is perpetually torn between behaving like an adult and throwing temper tantrums.

Games of flashlight tag and the crazy cat lady roaming Shiloh Farms in a "demon bus", serve as distractions during her parents' quarrels and her anxiety about show choir auditions. Yet the more Darla waits for her adulthood to begin, the more she learns that summoning patience won't be the hardest part of being 11.

A frank and funny look at the path to adulthood, Darla Decker Hates to Wait begins a journey of love, loss, and the nitty-gritty of growing up through Darla Decker's eyes.

©2014 Evolved Publishing LLC (P)2015 Evolved Publishing LLC

Great series for YA

This is my first time reading Jessica McHugh - and the Darla Decker series is a great way to get to know her work. YA is not a genre I read all the time but the more I got into this first book the more I was hooked! As I can only read it through my filter of life, I really think a younger person would really appreciate how Jessica takes the reader through the real world drama of middle school.

I have two young teenagers and I couldn’t help but think of how they would work through the various situations.

I really think the narration was right on target too. Robin Hill did a great job bringing the story to life.

I recommend both the author and the narrator

Fun Listen!

This is my first book by both the author Jessica McHugh and the narrator Robin Hill. First the author... it has to be very difficult to write children's books, especially at the pre-teen age. I know that in today's time kids are more advanced than when I grew up, (60' & 70's), but the author still needs to make sure to get the topics correct for the age, and also needs to make sure it isn't written with language that is too advanced or inappropriate. No matter what, they are still just kids. Jessica McHugh did all that and more.

Robin Hill did a great job with the narration. She wasn't monotone, like many books I've heard, and so she was able to keep my interest and made the book fun to listen to.

This book was a pleasure to listen to and I would like to thank the author, narrator, or publisher for providing me this audiobook at no cost in exchange for my unbiased review & I look forward to listening to more books in this series & other books written by McHugh & narrated by Hill.

Relatable

I’m not very good with words so here it goes. I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The narrator easily conveyed the emotion a reader would imagine. Darla is a very relatable preteen, however I think the audience for this book would be at least 13+. The sibling rivalry between Darla and Brian is accurate, I could have been reading about my own kids! I am looking forward to seeing what mishaps Darla gets herself into in the next book.