Zelle – Ending up in hospital did it. There wasn’t a problem before that. Zellie swears by it. But alcohol poisoning after a night out helps Zelle’s mum make the decision to leave Wellington NZ. Getting Zelle away from the booze is her number one priority, but Zelle is livid. Not only is she leaving her friends behind, they are returning to the small Sth Island town they fled from three years before.

There are so many memories in this town, both good and bad. Her best friend Callum is the first person she contacts – telling him she’s moving back. She hasn’t spoken to him over those three years and tries to push away the memory of why that was. Now she’s a different person after Wellington, and the past a different life. How is she going to deal with all she left behind?

Callum – Zelle’s timing couldn’t be any worse. Callum is an anxious person at the best of times, so learning Zelle is back in town just before an important interview at Broadcasting School is a disaster.

Why now? Why is she back? What will he even say to her? They were incredibly close from primary school to the day she left, even if it was after something terrible happened. Telling their friends she’s back doesn’t go well as the anger how she left rears up again after those three years. There’s only a few months left of their final year. How will he face Zelle at school?

Winner of the Storylines Tessa Duder YA Prize 2024, and a Storylines NZ Notable Book, this young adult novel is well deserving of its accolades.

Told in two points of view, Zelle and Callum are polar opposites but that’s what made them such close friends since the age of 9. They have a close shared history, along with three others from school, but as they grew up, they began to hold secrets from each other which helps their relationship spiral downwards into anger, confusion, guilt and a three year gap of no communication at all.

It’s a Bit More Complicated Than That is the perfect title for this award winning novel as the relationships portrayed are messy, awkward, and complicated with all that came before. Guilt compounds everything, but the friendship between the two characters is also the glue of the novel as they try to put the pieces back together. This is far from smooth and a difficult journey, making it an engaging read.

So good to have a Real Life Teen novel amongst the plethora of Fantasy. Something Real Life readers can get their teeth into.

Author – Hannah Marshall

Age – 14+

Publisher – Allen & Unwin

(2025, Allen & Unwin, NZ, Friendship, Romance, School, Betrayal, Conflict, Family, Grief, Real Life, Wellington, Small Town NZ, Alcohol Problem, Relationships, Loss, Guilt, Tessa Duder Award Winner)