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. 

A Tangle of Magic by Valija Zinck

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 256

Publisher: Chicken House 

Released: 2nd of August 2018 

Penelope has always been different from other children: for example, her hair has been grey since she was born. When she wakes up one day with sparkling red hair, her mother confesses that her father is a wizard. Penelope embarks on a journey to find him...

What I Have to Say 

 This was such a lovely story. It was full of magic and wonder and an absent father. It goes deep into the issue of abandonment both from Penelope and her mother and the whole that exists in Penelope's life, especially after she wakes up and discovers that she has vibrant red hair and magical powers and her dad is the only person who might be able to help her manage them.

Penelope was a really great character. I loved the way she thought. Though it was a little unrealistic, it was unrealistic in a good way. It gave a lot of humour to the book. Because what kind of person spends ages looking for shoelaces of a certain colour to replace the one she lost of her friends? Or deciding that gluing all the postboxes shut is the best way to find her father? 

I wish it had been longer though. It felt like the plot wasn't complicated enough. It was mostly just Penelope plotting and talking to roads and working out how to use her powers. I'd have liked it if there had been more of her with her new friends who also have powers. It felt a bit like she was wandering around for most of the book and then it got tied up neatly in the last few chapters. I'd have liked a bit more.

This would be such a good book for little girls who dream of waking up to discover they have magic powers. Especially if they have red hair.

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

A Girl Called Owl by Amy Wilson

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 336

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books 

Released: 26th of January 2017 

It's bad enough having a mum dippy enough to name you Owl, but when you've got a dad you've never met, a best friend who needs you more than ever, and a new boy at school giving you weird looks, there's not a lot of room for much else. 

So when Owl starts seeing strange frost patterns on her skin, she's tempted to just burrow down under the duvet and forget all about it. Could her strange new powers be linked to her mysterious father?And what will happen when she enters the magical world of winter for the first time?

What I Have to Say 

An interesting new take on the myths and legends that surround the seasons, A Girl Called Owl explores the suffering of a young girl who doesn't know who her father is and has a mother who doesn't seem to be willing to share a single detail but fairy tails, and what happens when those fairy tails turn out to not be quite the stories they seem to be. 

The desperation that Owl shows on wanting a father is shown beautifully and juxtaposed against the subplot of her friend's trouble with her parents separation. But I feel as though the fight between them was pushed in for no reason but to create conflict. From the start, Owl's friend was on her side believing her, so I feel like if Owl had been honest with her from the start, nothing would have happened. 

All in all, I did really like this book and the mythology it explored, but I felt it could have been a bit more thought out and crafted. 

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