AustLit

'When their English teacher sets an assignment to write a letter as Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, it gives Tom Sweeney the chance to prove to the hottest (and most hated) girl in school, Amy Jones, that he is most definitely not a boofhead. He thinks he can do the sensitive male thing with the best of them and will rub it in to Amy that getting inside a chicks mind is not rocket science. He then decides to further prove this point to his mother (and women in general) by becoming an agony aunt for his mums new girl magazine, PINK.

'Using the pseudonym Carrie Edwards, he ropes his best mates, Steve Casey and Ed Saunders, in to help execute his plan. He also hopes that this little caper will be a way of getting the three amigos back together again as Eds been busy starting his football career and Steves been all over the place since his straight-as-a-nail brother came out of the closet.

'Soon, everything will be back to normal - so Tom thinks, until he discovers that being Carrie Edwards isnt the barrel of laughs he thought it would be. Its tough being an agony aunt, especially when youre not qualified and dont know the first thing about women (never mind the tricky ethics involved). He gets so involved in maintaining this scam and his fantasy of uniting his friends that he doesn't see the complete opposite is happening until it is too late. His friends lives have spiralled completely out of control and Tom, for the first time in his life, wakes up mateless.

'The tensions build to a dramatic and life threatening climax where Tom realises that accepting change is an inevitable part of growing up. Only when he does this can the three amigos get their lives back on track, put their differences aside and be boofheads together again. Boofheads is a contemporary novel for teenagers about three lifelong mates dealing with girls, families, growing up and drifting apart.' (From the publisher's website.)