Mackenzie “Zee” Blue is 13 and about to move to the other side of the world. She is from California, where she writes music and performs in a band with her two best friends. But when her dad gets a job in London, the whole family packs up and moves to England. While it’s a big change, Zee is looking forward to maybe seeing her friend Ally, who had moved to Paris. And the boarding school she’s registered for is where Jasper goes. Jasper had lived in California for a while, and Zee had bonded with him over music.
But when Zee gets to London, Ally is too busy to see her. And her mother is busy with setting up their new house and with her Instagram account that features photos of Zee’s much younger siblings, twins, in their matching outfits and highchairs. But it’s not long before Zee has to head to school, The Hollows Creative Arts Academy, in the Cotswolds.
Zee gets set up in her new room with her roommate Jasmine, who is a ballerina. She meets Jasmine’s friend Tom, who is a philosopher. She looks around for Jasper, but doesn’t see him on campus those first few days, but she does meet a YouTube star named Izzy and another musician, Archie, who is one of the most popular guys on campus. She gets her schedule, which is a combination of academic classes and music classes. And she tries to find her way around.
As the weeks go by, Zee finds a schedule that works for her. But that makes it harder for her to keep up with her friends outside of school. Jasper finally shows up on campus, delayed by a family matter. Zee is happy to see him and looks forward to hanging out with him. But she struggles to connect with Ally in Paris or Chloe in California, so she invents the Zee Files, a way for the friends to share letters and photos and music without having to share it all through email or text.
But then things go wrong. Jasmine, her roommate, is spending a lot of time away. Archie wants to spend time with Zee, but her other friends don’t like him. Izzy flirts with Jasper during their study time, making it more difficult for Zee to do well in her classes. And Ally has stopped talking to her completely. Will Zee be able to figure out how to succeed at school and make up with her friends, or will it all turn out to be too much?
The Zee Files is the first in a series, a follow-up series to the Mackenzie Blue books that followed Zee and her friends when they were younger. Now, they’re teenagers and dealing with a lot. Zee and her friends all have strong personalities, and that helps propel the action.
However there is a lot going on in this book. I was surprised by how much pressure was put on these 13-year-olds, and without much adult supervision. I thought the school schedule would be more appropriate for college kids. But if you can accept that these kids are creative and more motivated to excel than other middle schoolers, then the story works. But as the story goes on, Zee finds herself dealing with several different relationship issues, and they don’t get resolved. I can understand leaving some things open to draw people into the next book, but there was too much unresolved to enjoy this as a stand-alone book. Be prepared to read all of The Zee Files books, or finish reading the book with questions left open.
I won a Kindle version of The Zee Files through a Goodreads giveaway, with many thanks.
