Eighteen-year-old Pip Mitchell has had it tough. Her big sister was killed in a hockey accident and she went off the rails a little shutting herself away and then sleeping with her sister’s widow husband.

Now she has left the family home in England to become an Au Pair for the von Feldsteins family in Germany looking after Max and Ferdi the youngest members of the family after their mother upped and left (again). She doesn’t realise that there are two more older brothers, both of who are hockey players and heading off to the Sydney Olympics, where her late sister’s husband will be, and why she took the job to get some cash so she can see him out there.

Pip’s life is complicated and is just about to get more so.

No Number Nine was an easy read and one that I rushed through. Pip was a character which although I struggled to warm to, and at times got angry at her actions, I also felt sorry for her. She had been through so much heartache in her young life and had now decided to place her life on hold in hope of a future with her late sister’s husband who tells her that they can not be together until after the Olympics.

The Von Feldsteins is how you would imagine a super-rich family to be. They are suave, sophisticated, big-headed, and think they can do what they like and stuff the consequences. Yet they were also friendly, helpful, and loyal. A real mixed bag. (with exception to their mother).

The book is filled with humour and I loved the bickering and back and forth between the older Von Feldstein boys and Pip. They brought a lot of joy to the story and gave me a giggle now and again.

This is a book about grief, moving on, love, life, and hockey. I can’t say that I was that invested in the sport, but even if like me it isn’t a sport you are into, the book is so much bigger than the game and is definitely worth a read.