The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall

Pages: 336 

Publisher: Aria 

Released: 12th of October 2023 

For fans of Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls, The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic is a debut novel that explores the shields we build around our hearts to retain our own magic.

Sadie Revelare has always believed that the curse of four heartbreaks that accompanies her magic would be worth the price. But when her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer with only weeks to live, and her first heartbreak, Jake McNealy, returns to town after a decade, her carefully structured life begins to unravel.

With the news of their grandmother's impending death, Sadie's estranged twin brother Seth returns to town, bringing with him deeply buried family secrets that threaten to tear Sadie's world apart. Their grandmother has been the backbone of the family for generations, and with her death, Sadie isn't sure she'll have the strength to keep the family, and her magic, together.

As feelings for Jake begin to rekindle, and her grandmother growing sicker by the day, Sadie faces the last of her heartbreaks, and she has to decide: is love more important than magic?

Readers who love the magic of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and the sense of community found in The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches will enjoy this warm, witchy novel.

What I Have to Say 

So going into this book, I was expecting a warm, cosy baking novel. Which it was. But what I hadn't picked up on was the emphasis on heartbreak in this novel. It was incredibly, incredibly sad. It tackles grief and terminal illnesses and losing the most important family member you have. 

Along with these issues, this book also shows the different kinds of heartbreak you can have. I was so happy to see that the heartbreaks weren't just about dating and romance, the main one of course being the sight of her grandmother being taken from her by cancer. I felt this was really really important especially since family is such a big part of the book. 

And there is cosiness in this book. There's a generous helping of small town charm, a lot of baking magic (with recipes interspersed between each chapter!) and a whole extended family's worth of love. Though I would hesitate to call this a cosy book considering how sad it all is, the cosiness is there to be seen. 

5 stars 

My thanks go to Aria and Netgalley for providing me with this gifted copy for review. 

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith (audiobook)

Pages: 236 

Publisher: Quercus 

Released: 7th of September 2023 

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

What I Have to Say 

This is my second time reviewing this book. The first review can be found here. 

I wanted to reread this book so when I saw the audiobook up for request, I jumped at the chance. I feel like a lot has changed since my first read. I wasn't so swept up in the humour and the comfort of it. I still think it's written in a very light-hearted style but man this one plays with your emotions. 

I liked the narrator a lot, she had a good voice for the character and her terrible accents for the English characters didn't grate on me as much as I thought they would at the start. I don't have much to say about her beyond that, but I would definitely read another book narrated by her. 

One thing I did pick up on, which while being a bit of a mistake, I find really funny is the times in the book. At the start of each chapter the time is said in each time zone that the book takes place in, but while it's summer in the book and therefore the British time should be in BST, it's not, it's written in GMT. 

I maintain my comment from the earlier review that this book would be absolutely perfect for a plane ride. 

5 stars 

My thanks got to Quercus and Netgalley for providing me with a gifted copy of this audiobook to review. 

 

Forty Words for Love by Aisha Saeed

Pages: 304 

Publisher: Kokila

Released: 22nd of August 2023 

In this tender genre-bending young adult novel by New York Times bestselling author Aisha Saeed, two teen protagonists grow from friends to something more in the aftermath of a tragedy in their magical town.

Moonlight Bay is a magical place—or it was once. After a tragic death mars the town, the pink and lavender waters in the bay turn gray, and the forest that was a refuge for newcomers becomes a scourge to the townspeople. Almost overnight, the entire town seems devoid of life and energy. The tourists have stopped coming. And the people in the town are struggling.

This includes the two teens at the heart of our Yasmine and Rafay. Yasmine is a child of the town, and her parents are trying and failing to make ends meet. Rafay is an immigrant, a child of Willow Forest. The forest of Moonlight Bay was where people from Rafay’s community relocated when their home was destroyed. Except Moonlight Bay is no longer a welcoming refuge, and tensions between the townspeople and his people are growing.

Yasmine and Rafay have been friends since Rafay first arrived, nearly ten years ago. As they've gotten older, their friendship has blossomed. Not that they would ever act on these feelings. The forest elders have long warned that falling in love with "outsiders" will lead to devastating consequences for anyone from Willow Forest. But is this actually true? Can Yasmine and Rafay find a way to be together despite it all?

What I Have to Say 

This book was bursting with metaphor and themes and everything that make English Lit students happy. I loved the idea of a pink and lavender sea and enjoyed thinking about it. And the absence of it made a really powerful metaphor for grief, especially after the tragedy that happens in the first chapter of the book. This book is about the town grieving from a tragic event. It was beautifully constructed to show that. 

The only problem was that because there's so much grief and emotion in the town, it made the first half of the book really depressing to read. It wasn't hard to get into, but it was just a lot of very hopeless sentiment. It did get better though in the second half of the book when there was more hope to be had. 

The ending was beautiful as well. It made me gasp at points and ended in exactly the right way. I thought I knew how it would end from about a quarter of the way into the book, but I was so wrong. It really left an impression on me. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Kokila for providing me with this gifted copy for review. 

Greenwild by Pari Thomson

Pages: 385 

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books 

Released: 1st of June 2023 

Open the door to a spellbinding world where the wilderness is alive and a deep magic rises from the earth itself . . .

Eleven-year-old Daisy Thistledown is on the run. Her mother has been keeping big, glittering secrets, and now she has vanished. Daisy knows it’s up to her to find Ma―but someone is hunting her across London. Someone determined to stop her from discovering the truth.

So when Daisy flees to safety through a mysterious hidden doorway, she can barely believe her eyes―she has stepped out of the city and into another world.

This is the Greenwild. Bursting with magic and full of amazing natural wonders, it seems too astonishing to be true. But not only is this land of green magic real, it holds the key to finding Daisy’s mother.

And someone wants to destroy it.

Daisy must band together with a botanical genius, a boy who can talk with animals, and a cat with an attitude to uncover the truth about who she really is. Only then can she channel the power that will change her whole world . . . and save the Greenwild itself.

What I Have to Say 

This is a great eco-focused book for children who love plants and nature! I really enjoyed meeting the botanists and exploring their world. I loved how there was some range in their powers as one of the characters has a power over animals instead of plants! 

I felt that this book was more of a set up than anything else. It was about discovering the world and learning about magic rather than fighting the evil characters, though there were some of that too! It was really good how everything was connected and fell into place at the end. 

I feel like this could be a good book to give children a respect for nature, if they come across it themselves, but it could feel pushed on them if handled badly. Better buy it for a child who already has an interest in plants and animals. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Books for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Isle of the Gods by Amie Kaufman

Pages: 465

Publisher: Rock the Boat 

Released: 4th of May 2023 

Magic, romance, and slumbering gods clash in the start of a riveting fantasy series spanning gangsters' dens, forgotten temples, and the high seas from the New York Times bestselling author of the Illuminae Files and the Aurora Cycle.

Selly has salt water in her veins. So when her father leaves her high and dry in the port of Kirkpool, she has no intention of riding out the winter at home while he sails to adventure in the north seas. But any plans to follow him are dashed when a handsome stranger with tell-tale magician's marks on his arms commandeers her ship under cover of darkness: He is Prince Leander of Alinor, and he needs to cross the Crescent Sea without detection so he can complete a ritual on the sacred Isles of the Gods.

Selly has no desire to escort a spoiled prince anywhere, and no time for his entitled demands or his good looks. But what starts as a leisure cruise will lead to acts of treason and sheer terror on the high seas, bringing two countries to the brink of war, two strangers closer than they ever thought possible and two dangerous gods stirring from centuries of slumber...

What I Have to Say 

An beautiful fantasy tale with fantastic world building and description that makes you feel like you're actually on a boat, this book was a delight to read. I loved the characters, the world, the themes. It was really good. 

The themes of grief and personal growth were really interesting to read. The characters all had roles they had to grow into and bad habits they had to move on from. It gave it a coming of age style of narrative to the book, that really added a level of realism to the characters. 

This book was seriously almost perfect. The only thing that gave me pause was the fact that both queer characters were on the villain side. There was a hint that a third character was asexual, which would add some balance to it, but I wasn't sure. I'm hoping that in the next book one of the characters will switch sides, but I'm not sure if he will or not. All the characters were well rounded and didn't seem like tokens at all, but I'd like to see at least one LGBTQ+ character on the side of our heroes. 

Overall I enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to the next book! 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Rock the Boat for providing me with this copy for review. 

The First Move by Jenny Ireland

Pages: 368 

Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK 

Released: 13th of April 2023 

Juliet believes girls like her - girls with arthritis - don't get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends' social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn't just 'the girl with crutches'.

Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape; there, he's not just 'the boy with the brother'.

Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn't want him to be anyway because he always acts like he's cooler than everyone else. Whereas, Ronan thinks life is already too complicated for dating and just wants to keep his head down at school.

Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . .

What I Have to Say 

This book was so easy to sink into and get lost in. The voices of the characters were so strong and they were so relatable. 

I enjoyed the disability rep, it was well done. I do feel like all the disability rep is taking the same vein at the moment. That the character feels like a burden and hates their disability and though this is a really valid way to feel, I'm seriously ready for a character who's accepted themself and is more positive, so that we can see how much more they are than their disability. The books about Neurodiversity went through this phase too and I don't mean that there isn't any place for books about coming to term with disability, but there should be more to the genre. 

I liked the general message of this book. That everyone has something going on in their lives and that asking for help isn't a bad thing. Nothing excuses the ableism that takes place in this book, but it was good to remember that sometimes people have reason for this. 

In all, I really just loved this book especially the online messaging. Great to see some disability rep. 

4 stars 

My thanks goes to Netgalley and Penguin for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood

Pages: 416 

Publisher: Magpie 

Released: 16th of February 2023

From the Sunday Times bestselling historical fantasy author of THE SHADOW IN THE GLASS comes a tour-de-force of faerie bargains, perfect for fans of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LA RUE, MEXICAN GOTHIC, and TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY

A dance with the fae will change everything

1919. In a highland village forgotten by the world, harvest season is over and the young who remain after war and flu have ravaged the village will soon head south to make something of themselves.

Moira Jean and her friends head to the forest for a last night of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She had plans to leave once – but her lover died in France and with him, her future. The friends light a fire, sing and dance. But with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees.

The fae are here.

Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away. The iron medal of her lost love, pinned to her dress, protected her from magic.

For the Fae feel forgotten too. Lead by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends – and fast, for the longer one spends with the Fae, the less like themselves they are upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltine, they will be lost forever…

Completely bewitching, threaded with Highland charm and sparkling with dark romance, this is a fairytale that will carry you away.

TW: obsession, toxic relationship, sickness, death, injury, brief suicide mentions, grief 

What I Have to Say 

This is how to do fae romance right. It was obsession, it was tricks, it was every twisted thing I want from a fey who's become interested in a human. It was good because it wasn't love. It wasn't treated as love. I didn't like the ending, but up until that it was everything I wanted it to be. 

I loved the relationships that Moira Jean had with different ones of the fey. The brownie was my favourite. I also loved how the changeling flirted with her and made the book so much gayer. I like how Moira Jean's bisexuality was acknowledged in a way that fitted in with the times though I do wish there had been more of it. 

Moira Jean's grief made her character and I don't think she would have been the same without it. It was a good way of getting more romance into the book because there were flashbacks. I don't think it would have been the same book without it. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and I hope there'll be more in the genre like this. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Magpie for providing me with this copy for review. 

A Million Pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith Barton

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 336

Publisher: Penguin

Released: 11th of July 2019 

How can I hold myself together, when everything around me is falling apart? 

Neena's always been a good girl - great grades, parent-approved friends and absolutely no boyfriends. But ever since her brother Akash left her, she's been slowly falling apart - and uncovering a new version of herself who is freer, but altogether more dangerous.

As her wild behaviour spirals more and more out of control, Neena's grip on her sanity begins to weaken too. And when her parents announce not one but two life-changing bombshells, she finally reaches breaking point.

But as Neena is about to discover, when your life falls apart, only love can piece you back together.

What I Have to Say 

A great new novel to add to the ranks of excellent depictions of mental health in YA. This story explores grief and how much it can affect your mind. It shows Neena's spiral into complete breakdown in a slow gradual way, building up symptoms and issues, going unnoticed by those around her until it's too late. 

I love how deeply it delves into how the mind can trick you. How it can tell you things that you know can't be true, but still you believe them. The way Neena got so utterly convinced that her brother was helping her finish her paintings, the way that they were better when she woke up to them finished.

It was good to see a mental health book that really highlights the taboos surrounding mental health and discussion of it. The way Neena's mother doesn't leave the house but won't talk about it, pretending that everything is normal. The way she treats Neena's medication, hiding them away and treating them like a dirty little secret that she shouldn't tell people around. 

I also loved the cultural aspects. The descriptions of food made my mouth water! 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Penguin for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Switch Up by Katy Cannon

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Stripes Publishing 

Released: 13th of June 2019 

WILLA

Drama queen

Fashion guru

Spontaneous

Looks like Alice

ALICE

Bookworm

Allergic to fashion

Planner

Looks like Willa

LAX Departure Lounge. Two girls board the same flight to London as complete strangers. When the plane touches down, it’s the beginning of the craziest plan ever. Can Willa and Alice really swap lives for the summer?

Things are going to get complicated...

The first in a fun new series, this summer read is The Parent Trap meets Freaky Friday and is perfect for fans of GEEK GIRL and SUPER AWKWARD. 

What I Have to Say 

This might be a new favourite series! I loved the girls so much, how different Alice and Willa were but also the way that became friends so quickly. They have nothing in common except a 

very similar appearance and the fact that they're so desperate to get away from their current plans for the summer, but by switching summers and keeping in contact in order to keep up the ruse, they become proper friends. 

I loved the way it changed the girls too. It pushed them both out of their comfort zones and made them do things differently to the way they have always done. With Alice it's an obvious change. To pretend to be Willa she has to be more outgoing and has to dress completely differently. For Willa, she has to contain her enthusiasm more and think about the people around her more. It was so interesting to see how this effects their personalities as they change and grow over the course of the book. 

Learning it's a sequel is interesting. I don't know where they have to go now, but I'm sure Cannon will come up with more adventures for them. I just hope they involve more hijinks and pretending to be one another! 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Stripes for providing me with this free copy for review. 

Pog by Pádraig Kenny

Synopsis (from Goodreads and Chicken House) 

Pages: 288

Publisher: Chicken House Books 

Released: 4th of April 2019 

David and Penny arrive in a strange new home in a forest. Other creatures live here – magical creatures – like Pog. He’s one of the First Folk, tasked with protecting the boundary between the worlds. But David is drawn into the forest, lured by a darker entity, who tells him there’s a way he can bring his dead mother back …

What I Have to Say 

Pog was a really well written tale, full of deep themes of grief and loss. I enjoyed it a lot, but not as much as Tin, though I felt this a really fun story. I think Pog is a great character who will appeal a lot to the kids reading this book. He's very quite with an interesting way of talking, but he's also got so many other attributes. He's a fierce protector who quickly grows to care for the family living in the house. He also has his own emotions and history which complement the grief felt by the family a lot. 

David and Penny were also great characters. You could really feel love between the family and between the kids and Pog by the end. You could feel the loss of their mother and how much it was driving them into their own forms of grief. 

I really love Kenny's way of bringing such deep personal issues into a magical adventure story and how he brings everything back to the theme without it seeming like he's pushing the issue. 

It's a very authentic story filled with adventure and emotion. 

My thanks go to Chicken House for providing me with this free copy for review. 

The Year After You by Nina de Pass

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352

Publisher: Ink Road 

Released: 14th of February 2019 

New Years’ Eve, San Francisco. The most promising party of the year ends in a tragic accident. Cara survives. Her best friend Georgina doesn’t.

Nine months later, Cara is struggling, consumed by guilt and grief. Her mum decides a Swiss boarding school will be the fresh start Cara needs. But Cara knows that swapping sunshine for snow won’t make a blind bit of difference. Georgina is gone, and nothing will bring her back.

Up in the Alps, Cara’s old life feels a million miles away. At Hope Hall, nobody knows about her past. And she intends to keep it that way. But classmates Ren and Hector have other ideas. Cara tries to keep her distance, but she’s drawn to the offbeat, straight-talking Hector, who understands her grief better than anyone. Her new friends are determined to break down the walls she has so carefully built up. And, despite it all, Cara wants them to. 

The closer Cara grows to Hector, the more Georgina slips away. Embracing life at Hope Hall means letting go of the past; of her memories of that fatal New Year’s Eve. But Cara is quite sure she doesn’t deserve a second chance. 

What I Have to Say 

Exploring the themes of grief, loss and survivors guilt, this touching novel explores how deep the damage of losing someone in an accident can be. It deals heavily with the responsibility that someone can attribute to themselves when something like this happens and how moving on can feel like betraying the person you lost. 

The best thing about this book for me was how it showed that fears can sometimes not seem logical to an outside viewpoint. Cara is terrified of going in lifts and cars, because her mind tells her that if it crashes then it's her responsibility because she got in the car. This is the way that the mind can twist things based on past experiences, but de Pass when deeper, exploring the fact Cara is completely fine with planes. I've experienced this kind of logic in my own condition with my OCD a lot. People don't understand why this is fine but /this/ isn't. It's something that's hard to understand. So it made me feel really understood to see a similar twisting of logic and fear shown in The Year After You. 

I loved Cara so much as a character. I loved her interactions with Hector and with Ren. It was heartbreaking to see her story and the way that her fears and grief from the past controlled her. It all felt very real and well thought out. 

There's so much more I haven't said in this review, but these are the parts that really touched me.  I really, really recommend getting a copy and seeing Cara's story for yourself. 

My thanks go to Ink Road and Netgalley for providing me with this free copy for review. 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 480

Publisher: Penguin 

Released: 16th of August 2018 (first published 2012) 

The night Cameron Post's parents died, her first emotion was relief. Relief they would never know that hours earlier, she'd been kissing a girl.

Now living with her conservative Aunt in small-town Montana, hiding her sexuality and blending in becomes second nature to Cameron until she begins an intense friendship with the beautiful Coley Taylor.

Desperate to 'correct' her niece, Cameron's Aunt takes drastic action.

Now Cameron must battle with the cost of being her true-self even if she's not completely sure who that is.

Trigger Warnings: homophobia, conversion camp, d slur, parent death

What I Have to Say 

This is such an important book, but I'm sad to say I found it a bit slow. I felt like I was always waiting for something to happen. I think it's because it's not the sort of book that I normally read. It's not written to be full of action. It's written to show a girl exploring her sexuality in the place where most people would look at that sexuality as a sin. 

Other than the pace, it was really good. The characters were well crafted. Cameron herself is such a perfect character for the subject matter. It was great to see her develop throughout the book.Though Ruth is a character full of judgement, I really liked the way she was described throughout the book. It was obvious that she did do what she felt was best. It really showed that the parents that send their kids away to be "fixed" often do think it is the best for them, even though they are so completely misguided. It's so easy to paint these homophobic parents as hateful, so it was really interesting to see the relationship between Cam and Ruth. 

The camp was interesting too. I was expecting more of a boot camp, when in fact the conversion was more subtle. It was really scary how the concepts they were introducing to Cameron sunk into her head, even though she wasn't engaging with it like some of the other kids there. 

I would have preferred more action, but this is not a book meant to sensationalise. It's a thorough exploration of identity and sexuality told from the point of view of a beautiful character. 

My thanks got to Netgalley and Penguin for providing me with a copy for review. 

A Bad Boy Stole My Bra by Lauren Price

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 304

Publisher: Ink Road 

Released: 12th of July 2018 

Imagine waking up in the dead of night to find your hot new neighbour dangling out of your window. What’s more, he's clutching your tattiest bra in his hand.

What. The. Actual. Fudge.

When bad boy Alec Wilde moves in next door to Riley, sparks fly. After their 'unconventional' introduction, Riley is determined to get her own back. A nemesis is just the distraction she needs: inside, she's barely holding it together. It's game on.

But behind the banter, there's a side to Alec that Riley actually likes. How can she get through to the real him when she can't even take herself seriously?

What I Have to Say 

This was a disappointment. I'd heard quite a lot about the book and it seemed like such a funny idea, but it actually fell quite flat on me and I'm not really sure why. The swear words also really put me off. I can't imagine anyone ever saying "grasshole", even a teenager with a younger brother. Just say the actual word or use a different word. 

I really liked the relationships, not just between Riley and Alec (talk about a slow burn!) but also all the friendships and family relationships in the books. It was a really good set of characters and even so many of the side characters felt really real and honest. 

I guess it just didn't have the humour that he title implied. It was more centred around the grief and guilt that Riley and the people around her feel about what happened to her cousin. And though that wouldn't usually put me off, I just wasn't prepared for it. I just didn't manage to engage with the book the way I do with most books. 

I'm really disappointed. It wasn't a badly written but I just couldn't get into it.. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Ink Road for providing me with this copy for review. 

Wild Blue Wonder by Carlie Sorosiak

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 288

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books 

Released: 28th of June 2018 

There are two monsters in this story. One of them is me.

Ask anyone in Winship, Maine, and they’ll tell you the summer camp Quinn’s family owns is a magical place. Paper wishes hang from the ceiling. Blueberries grow in the dead of winter. According to local legend, a sea monster even lurks off the coast. Mostly, there’s just a feeling that something extraordinary could happen there.

Like Quinn falling in love with her best friend, Dylan.

After the accident, the magic drained from Quinn’s life. Now Dylan is gone, the camp is a lonely place, and Quinn knows it’s her fault.

But the new boy in town, Alexander, doesn’t see her as the monster she believes herself to be. As Quinn lets herself open up again, she begins to understand the truth about love, loss, and monsters—real and imagined.

What I Have to Say 

This book pulled up a lot of my own issues for me, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have really, through no fault of the book. It was a fantastic setting with great characters with a lot of magic, monsters and a really strong story line of guilt, grief and a family torn apart by one small thing. I think I could have really enjoyed it if it hadn't triggered so many of my own feelings.

I liked all the stuff about monsters and sea creatures. This book has made puffer fish my new favourite fish, so I have it to thank about that! (If you don't know about the mating rituals of the puffer fish, you /have/ to google them. I also liked the symbolism of the sea monster, the desperation that Quinn had to find it because it gives her something to pin the blame on other than herself.

I truly think that this is a well crafted book with a great story and I'm sad that it was so tempered by my own emotions. I hope in the future once my head is back in a better place that I can read it again and give it the enjoyment it deserves.

My thanks go to Netgalley and Macmillan for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Truth About Lies by Tracy Darnton

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 256

Publisher: Stripes Publishing 

Released: 12th of July 2018 

Jess has an incredible memory. She can remember every single detail of every single day since she was eleven. But Jess would rather not be remarkable and, after years of testing at the hands of a ruthless research team, she has finally managed to escape.

Just when Jess thinks that she’s managing to settle in to living a normal life, everything changes. Her boarding-school roommate dies and the school is thrown into a state of chaos and grief. Then new boy Dan appears and Jess can’t help but find herself drawn to him. But building relationships is hard when you can’t reveal who you really are and Jess is getting hints that someone knows more about her than she would like.

Is it time to run again? Will she ever be truly free?

What I Have to Say

This was deliciously suspenseful and full of action, secrets and lies.  Jess is a fantastic character, unique and tormented by her past. Most of the things that the program put her through are only skimmed over, but the effects of them are so obvious in her voice and actions. She's so traumatised and closed off. And she just feels very, very real. 

There are so many mysteries here. First in the facts surrounding Hanna's death and how much Jess did or didn't do to encourage her along and second in Jess's history. In the details of the program and in her mum's death. It's so interesting that right from the start Jess knows all the answers, all of them locked away in her memory, or so she thinks. 

I have to say, I enjoyed every single second of this book. I loved the characters and the plot. It was just a brilliant book from start to finish. 

My thank go to Netgalley and Stripes for providing me with this copy for review. 

Floored by Sara Banard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Bynre, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson and Eleanor Wood

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 320 

Publisher: 12th of July 2018

Released: Macmillan Children's Books

When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn't that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he's the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn't match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn't as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognizes him; Kaitlyn, who's losing her sight but won't admit it, and who used to have a poster of Dawson on her bedroom wall, and Joe, who shouldn't be here at all, but who wants to be here the most.

And one more person, who will bring them together again on the same day every year.

What I Have to Say 

This was always going to be the big release of the summer. Six amazing authors coming together to write a story from six viewpoints (seven if you include the omniscient narrator who pops up from time to time) and it didn't disappoint. It was everything I expected from the authors pulled together in a seamlessly created story. 

I loved each of the characters and how different they were from one another, each facing a different set of problems and anxieties and having to get through life. All the characters were beautiful and real but I think my favourites were probably Kaitlyn, Velvet and Hugo (from love to hate to actually quite like! What a journey!). Kaitlyn was so awesome and badass with an interesting journey throughout the novel. Velvet so much the contrast, so shy and insecure, watching her go through her struggles and come out of the other side having grown as a person. And Hugo, the one everyone loves, because he's a very different perspective from the others. The privilege prick who for most of the novel you want to smack, in a good way! 

If I had to criticise it would be that there really wasn't enough time with each character for the amount of time the novel covers. Six whole years of their lives (and very changeable ones at that. It would have been nice to have had a longer novel and to have seen more of their lives. 

I thought long and hard about which author was writing which characters, especially since I know their writing styles pretty well, but it's just so hard to tell! 

My guesses though... 

Hugo - Melinda Salisbury. I don't know why. I just feel like it's her. 

Velvet - I think maybe Holly Bourne or Non Pratt. Maybe Tanya Byrne or Sara Barnard

Joe - I would say maybe Lisa Williamson. Maybe Non Pratt. Really hard to tell with this one. 

Kaitlyn - I really feel Non for this one. Or Holly. Maybe Sara. I could also see her as Tanya. 

Sasha - Sasha could have been anyone. I didn't even get a sense of who she could be from the writing style 

Dawson - Dawson is another one who could have been a bunch of people. I could see Mel but my biggest guess for her is still Hugo. He feels a bit like Holly. Or Non. Or Lisa. Or Sara. 

So I'm gonna go 

Hugo- Mel,

Velvet - Sara 

Joe- Lisa,

Kaitlyn - Non, 

Sasha -Tanya ,

Dawson-  Holly

So any guesses? I can't wait to see who was who. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Macmillan to provide me with this copy for review.

The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X.R. Pan

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 480 

Publisher: Orion's Children's Books 

Released: 22nd of March 2018 

Leigh Chen Sanders is sixteen when her mother dies by suicide, leaving only a scribbled note: 'I want you to remember'. Leigh doesn't know what it means, but when a red bird appears with a message, she finds herself travelling to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time.

Leigh is far away from home and far away from Axel, her best friend, who she stupidly kissed on the night her mother died - leaving her with a swell of guilt that she wasn't home, and a heavy heart, thinking she may have destroyed the one good thing left in her life.

Overwhelmed by grief, Leigh retreats into her art and into her memories, where colours collide and the rules of reality are broken. The only thing Leigh is certain about is that she must find out the truth. She must remember.

What I Have to Say 

A beautiful moving book about family and the past, a vivid picture of Taiwanese culture and at least 50% of the reason I decided to learn Mandarin, this book is something truly, truly special. It showed the grieving process that Leigh goes through and the impact of her mother's suicide in a very real way but without making it overwhelming or triggering for the reader. Painting it with colours and isolation and the magical realism of the bird. 

The way that Leigh's grief is painted turns it to more of an adventure, chasing the bird and exploring her family and Tawainese heritage. It doesn't hide the harsh realities any more than Leigh's grief does, bringing them crashing down on her and her families head, as is always inevitable. 

It's very hard to truly express how very special this book is, but it is definitely on list of books to push on everyone I know. 

My thanks go to Orion Children's Books and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Sunflowers in February by Phyllida Shrimpton

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 384

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 8th of February 2018 

Lily wakes up one crisp Sunday morning on the side of the road. She has no idea how she got there. It is all very peaceful. and very beautiful. It is only when the police car, and then the ambulance arrive, and she sees her own body, that she realises that she is in fact... dead. But what is she supposed do now? Lily has no option but to follow her body and see her family – her parents and her twin brother start falling apart. And then her twin brother Ben gives her a once in a deathtime opportunity - to use his own body for a while. But will Lily give Ben his body back? She is beginning to have a rather good time...

What I Have to Say 

This was a weird book, but I enjoyed it in most parts. Lily was a realistic teenager, cut from life too soon and desperate to just live one more day. So though she treats Ben terribly and is really selfish and immature, you can really see why. so even though her decisions annoyed me sometimes, I understood them completely. 

I was really sad, especially in the first part where Lily is just following her family around. Though I felt it lost it's feeling after Lily gets to live again inside Ben's body. Though I was worried about Ben, I felt the emotion and sadness that was captured so well in the start of the book. 

So, really I was a bit disappointed as the book went on. I enjoyed it all. It definitely wasn't a bad read, but I feel that it could have been so much better. 

It's worth reading. It shows the feelings of grief and terror of being dead so well that you could imagine it's real. It just wasn't as moving as I thought it would be. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for providing me with this copy for review. 

Things I'm Seeing Without You by Pete Bognanni

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 336

Publisher: Chicken House 

Released: 1st of February 2018 

Seventeen-year-old Tess talks to Jonah every day; through texts, tweets and emails.

So when she discovers Jonah has committed suicide, her world implodes. Feeling heartbroken and traumatized Tess unexpectedly finds herself at her estranged father’s house, wondering how well she really knew Jonah. Now, having dropped out of high school, struggling with questions about life and loss, Tess and her father come together to try and find the answers.

What I Have to Say 

I wasn't sure how this would be, so I was really glad to like it so much. It was really beautiful and poignant, with a few twists that make things really interesting. It's centred around the idea of how to mourn someone when you find out that you didn't really know him at all and how to get closure from a relationship that ends so dramatically. 

The father's funeral business adds some comedy to the book and also brings in the idea of funerals and different ways to celebrate and commemorate a person (or horse) after death. It was really interesting to see different ideas and ways to hold a funeral. 

It was a bit of a morbid book, but it really wasn't as depressing as I worried it might be. It was actually a beautiful moving tale of someone picking themself up and finding a way to go on after such a tragedy. 

My thanks go to Chicken House for providing me with this copy for review. 

Breaking by Danielle Rollins

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352

Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens 

Released: 10th of August 2017 

Charlotte doesn't fit in with her two best friends, or with anyone else at The Underhill Preparatory Institute, her cut-throat school for the rich and gifted. But when those best friends die suddenly, Charlotte doesn't know where to turn.

Were they keeping secrets? Could Charlotte be the reason they did it? Because Charlotte has a secret of her own, and now she must decide how much she will risk to discover the truth.

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, cutting

What I Have to Say 

I thought that this would be more bitchy girls in prep girls cutting each other down, but what I got was so much better than that. There was a lot of intrigue and mystery, but there was also a lot of grief from Charlotte. Grief for the way her mother can't love her, grief for the loss of her two best friends. The first part of it is pretty introspective and it makes you wonder a lot why Charlotte stays at Underhill, despite the fact that there's the mystery of the "drink me" bottle. 

But that's the heart of the story. This is the story about the way that she changes. The way that she gains the confident to assert herself, whether that's just because of the fact that she drank something from a little bottle or the fact that she's finally realising that she can be her own person instead of endlessly failing to be what her mother wants her to. 

I think it's this character that makes the book more than anything else. Charlotte is a product of her mother's desperation for her to be smart and despite her mother being absent for most of the book, she is always there in the background of Charlotte's thoughts. And as Charlotte starts to change, she starts to go against her mothers wishes more and more. 

It ended in such an interesting way too. I really can't wait for the sequel to find out what happens next. 

My thanks go to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review.