Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 353

Publisher: Simon Pulse 

Released: 26th of September 2017 

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.

But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.

What I Have to Say 

This book touched me so much. It went beyond a question of identity and showed how it feels to be a girl who is pretty much completely ignored by her mother. A girl who's entire life has been living in a household where half of her identity is completely ignored. Having divorced Kiko's father, her mother refuses to engage in anything Japanese. The idea of living like that touched me so much. 

So of course, it was good to see Kiko exploring her Japanese side. I loved watching her come out of herself. Seeing for the first time that someone who looked like her could exist in the world and was just as worthwhile as her white mother and the faces she sees in magazines. It was also interesting to see how her and her brothers coped with their mother's neglect so differently. 

I also loved the art theme of the book. The way that art was really essential to everything. The pictures that Kiko saw leading her to an artist who can help her explore her identity and change her life forever. 

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

Her Last Breath by Tracy Buchanan

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 394

Publisher: Avon Books UK

Released: 12th of June 2017

A fifteen-year-old girl has gone missing. They say Poppy O’Farrell has run away from her celebrity parents, and the media is in a frenzy. But none of this has anything to do with successful lifestyle blogger Estelle Forster . . . So why would someone send her a picture of the missing girl – and a note, claiming to know Estelle’s secrets?

One small photograph will push Estelle’s pristine life to the brink of disaster. To find out who is threatening her, Estelle must return to her coastal hometown and the shameful past she thought was long behind her.

Estelle knows there’s more to Poppy’s disappearance than teenage rebellion. A dangerous game is being played, and the answers lie in the impenetrable community she once called her own.

But how will anyone believe her, if she can’t tell them the truth?

What I Have to Say 

This book was a struggle to read. I enjoyed parts of it, but it dragged a lot. I didn't really like the character at all. I get what the author was doing with her and how everything about her past added up to create who she is, but I just didn't like her at all. 

The mystery didn't really grab me at all either. I don't really know why. I think because Estelle didn't really know Poppy there was none of the drama that books about missing children often have. I don't know. I just didn't get into it. 

I hated the ending as well. It was screwed up and I felt like the stuff that was revealed about Estelle at the end just came out of the blue. I think maybe this type of reveal doesn't really work with a third person narrator or at least they should have had more hints and foreshadowing. 

My thank go to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Girl from the Tyne by Melody Sachs

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 400

Publisher: Zaffre

Released: 20th of April 2017 

Ballroom dancer Alice Rooney seduces Jack Wood, a local boy from a good Tyneside family. With a little one on the way, Jack is forced in to a shotgun marriage. He vows to protect his baby daughter but his marriage is volatile from the start.

Damaged by her own dysfunctional childhood Alice shows not a scrap of affection towards little Lizzie. As Alice feels more trapped and unhappy, Lizzie becomes the focus of her frustration and anger. Lizzie's saving grace is her loving grandmother, Mrs Wood, who does her best to improve life for her whenever she can.

When Jack is drafted in to the Air Force at the start of WWII, Lizzie is left alone with her unstable mother and life becomes almost unbearable. 

It's only when Mrs Wood steps in and introduce Lizzie to the Madame Bella's Academy for the theatrical arts, that Lizzie blossoms. Though still very young and innocent, will Lizzie fulfil her dream to escape her mother's clutches and leave Newcastle behind to pursue a glittering theatrical future? And will she be safe, if she does?

What I Have to Say 

I think I just prefer books with a more defined plot arc. Books like this where there isn't one are all well and good, but I spent most of the book waiting for the story to really start, not realising that it actually already had. I mean it wasn't a bad story. It was interesting to see Lizzie grow up and the way that the abuse of her mother had an effect on her. 

I do think that Lizzie grew up into a surprisingly good kid considering the lack of affection and the critical way her mother was towards her. I mean the amount of times Lizzie skipped meals to avoid conflict or was sent to bed without, I feel she probably should have been severely undernourished. Either way, I think that it was probably inaccurate that she would be such a put together person having grown up with a mother like that. 

It was interesting to see how the family all banded together to try and look after Lizzie as much as they could though. I've never thought about how things were before child services and how kids could just suffer all on their own like that, so it was nice that they showed that, but also showed the father and his family doing what they could to support Lizzie and give her time away from her mother. 

I would have enjoyed it better if it had been a more focused plot but it was a fairly good book overall. 

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

Stargazing For Beginners by Jenny McLachlan

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 256
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing 

Released: 6th of April 2017 

Science geek Meg is left to look after her little sister for ten days after her free-spirited mum leaves suddenly to follow up yet another of her Big Important Causes. But while Meg may understand how the universe was formed, baby Elsa is a complete mystery to her. 

And Mum’s disappearance has come at the worst time: Meg is desperate to win a competition to get the chance to visit NASA headquarters, but to do this she has to beat close rival Ed. Can Meg pull off this double life of caring for Elsa and following her own dreams? She’ll need a miracle of cosmic proportions …

What I Have to Say 

This is a sweet, geeky and very touching tale. It shows how hard it can be when parents don't take care of their children as they should and the way that elder children have to pick up the pieces. Meg does a really good job of keeping her life together when she has every right to fall apart. And she even has time to learn a thing or two about the importance of friends along the way. 

The characters that McLachlan creates are so vivid. Meg and Elsa are very well defined and unique (especially considering Elsa is only a baby), but so is Meg's grandfather, Ed and the whole of Biscuit club. It's the characters I think that make McLachlan's books so fun to read. You really get to know characters who feel real. 

The friendships that Meg found felt really real as well. Even though there was some teacherly intervention at times, none of them felt force. It felt so real and believable to see them fall into friendship with each other. 

Though sad, this is also a very comforting book to read. I think I could read Jenny McLachlan's books forever. 

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

A Library of Lemons byJo Cotterill

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 256 

Publisher: Piccadilly Press 

Released: 5th of May 2016 

Calypso's mum died a few years ago and her emotionally incompetent Dad can't, or won't, talk about Mum at all. Instead he throws himself into writing his book A History of the Lemon. Meanwhile the house is dusty, there's never any food in the fridge, and Calypso retreats into her own world of books and fiction. When a new girl, Mae, arrives at school, the girls' shared love of reading and writing stories draws them together. Mae's friendship and her lively and chaotic home - where people argue and hug each other - make Calypso feel more normal than she has for a long time. 

But when Calypso finally plucks up the courage to invite Mae over to her own house, the girls discover the truth about her dad and his magnum opus - and Calypso's happiness starts to unravel.

What I Have to Say 

A touching tale about a girl living with neglect and responsibility to look after her father while he struggles with depression, A Library of Lemons was beautifully written to show an accurate and very touching view into the world of a young girl. 

I enjoyed the way that throughout the start of the book Calypso goes about her own business, making friends and enjoying stories before the carpet is pulled out from under both her and her father and the truth is revealed about just how bad things are. It shows how many young people can just see these things as normal and everyday because they don't know any differently. 

I loved Mae and Calypso friendship as well. It started out seeming like a story about a girl making friends for the first time and seeing how much better it can be to have someone in her life to share things with, but as it turns out Mae and her family provide a vital amount of support for her as the plot unfolds.

Overall this was just a beautiful book that tackled some very tough issues in a sensitive and informative way, while also making it an enjoyable story.

My thanks go to Piccadilly Press for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Problem With Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 384 

Publisher: MIRA Ink 

Released: 1st of June 2016

TRIGGER WARNINGS: child abuse, neglect 

When Mallory was a kid, she was bounced from one horrible foster home to another. At thirteen, a terrible accident got her removed from the group home where she was living to a hospital where she met the parents who would adopt her. But when she starts a new school and encounters an old friend from the foster system sparks start to fly

What I Have to Say 

I couldn't get into this book at all. I don't think that's the books fault though. A lot of the issues that Mouse faces with anxiety were a little too close to home and it's not the right time for me to read books dealing with it at the moment. The fact that it affects me so much is, of course, a point in it's credit as it shows how realistic a portrayal it is. 

Even though I couldn't connect with the book as much as I would have liked, the book was still incredibly moving and beautifully told. It shows clearly how much damage child abuse can leave with a person, that finding a loving home doesn't stop the struggle that the child faces. Mouse's issues are very prominent throughout the book and dealt with in a sensitive, respectful but still very real way. 

If you plan to read this book, be sure to prepare yourself for the abuse it features. 

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