This New Adult book brings an American girl to an international school in London, with a heady mix of students. She's nineteen, named Maggie Carpenter, and she has a preoccupation with underwear. I SEE LONDON as her alternative to being surrounded by people who know she failed to make it into Harvard. Maggie did gain a scholarship to this university for embassy officials' children, so without knowing a soul in London she arrives for term.

South Carolina doesn't make boys like this, is pretty much Maggie's first thought upon arriving. Next she has to learn some of the minor differences that make travel such fun - the first floor sits above the ground floor for instance. The room she'll share with two other girls is cramped, but there is a view over Hyde Park. A good-looking guy called Samir unfortunately is dating her French room- mate, but maybe she's better off without an arrogant, teasing boy in her life. Funny how she can't seem to forget him....

The other students have been dragged from country to country, or boarded in Switzerland, all their lives, so Maggie feels out of her depth. She's over the legal drinking age here, for a start, and she's suddenly expected to party. Course-wise, she's really into International Relations and she's in the right place to learn it. Samir turns up there as well. He's Lebanese. Maggie's other room-mate Mya lends her some skimpy designer dresses for weekends. A club owner called Hugh starts making moves on Maggie, who is pretending to be older, and suddenly her life is moving too fast.

Going to college is all about having new experiences and meeting new people, and Maggie does plenty of that, which I enjoyed reading. Fleur insists on paying for her roomies to accompany her to Venice; Paris is just a train trip via Channel Tunnel from awe-inspiring London. I did get a little tired of wading through nightclub story after nightclub story, of the agonising over drunken kisses, of well-off men who want a charming companion but not a relationship. There's plenty of excitement and some strong language in this tale of growing up and finding yourself, finding out who really cares about you and who just cares about themselves.

Maggie's tale continues in London Falling so if you enjoy Chanel Cleeton's I SEE LONDON the party doesn't have to end.