Like Other Girls by Claire Hennessy

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 288

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 25th of May 2017 

Here's what Lauren knows: she's not like other girls. She also knows it's problematic to say that - what's wrong with girls? She's even fancied some in the past. But if you were stuck in St Agnes's, her posh all-girls school, you'd feel like that too. Here everyone's expected to be Perfect Young Ladies, it's even a song in the painfully awful musical they're putting on this year. And obviously said musical is directed by Lauren's arch nemesis.

Under it all though, Lauren's heart is bruised. Her boyfriend thinks she's crazy and her best friend's going through something Lauren can't understand... so when Lauren realises she's facing every teenage girl's worst nightmare, she has nowhere to turn. Maybe she should just give in to everything. Be like other girls. That's all so much easier ... right?

Trigger warnings: Transphobia, Sexual Harassment. Abortion 

What I Have to Say 

Claire Hennessy likes to take on important issues, as she comes at it from a way that walks on a knife edge between being problematic and really showing how the issues work. In Nothing Tastes as good, this worked quite well. It would be very triggering for someone reading with an eating disorder, but as a book written to show readers what it feels like to have a eating disorder, it did it really well. 

Like Other Girls though, I think goes across the line on some issues. The transphobia really put me off. It horrified me completely and made me dislike Lauren as a character. Considering the ending, I kind of understand what Hennessy was going for, especially as Lauren and Evan have a lot of their own issues which somewhat explained the transphobic comments that Lauren was making and how much she didn't understand what Evan was going through. But I'm not sure it really made it any better. I don't think it was really addressed enough. 

The main plotline was obviously very important and I found it very emotional and interesting. It gave me the connection to Lauren as a character that I hadn't managed to find due to her transphobia, If the book had just been this storyline and there hadn't been the transphobic plotline then I think I really could have enjoyed it. 

I think this is an important book, especially being set in Ireland, but Hennessy just stepped over the line with what she was trying to show with the transphobia. I think it's good that she tried but it just didn't turn out well. 

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

The Pants Project by Cat Clarke

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 272

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky  

Released: 7th of March 2017 

"My name is Liv (Not Olivia)... I'm not technically a girl.

I'm Transgender. Which is a bit like being a transformer. Only not quite as cool as cool because I probably won't get to save the world one day."

A Transformer is a robot in disguise. Liv is a boy in disguise. It's that simple. Liv knows he was always meant to be a boy, but with his new school's terrible dress code, he can't even wear pants. Only skirts.

Operation: Pants Project begins! The only way for Liv to get what he wants is to go after it himself. But to Liv, this isn't just a mission to change the policy- it's a mission to change his life. And that's a pretty big deal.

What I Have to Say 

This is a book that highlights how badly school dress code can be damaging to transgender teens. I grew up having skirts as the school uniform policy. Even while being cis, I hated it but even as I began to understand transgender and the issues surrounding it, it was never something that crossed my mind that would be a problem. This book opened my eyes to the small ways in which transgender kids can be hurt every day. 

I loved Liv as a character.  I love his love of comics and zombies and the way he builds up a good group of friends around him. Friends who don't care that acts differently to the girls in his class. The only problem is the bullies. And the skirt he has to wear every day. 

This is a story about activism and friendship. About finding who your friends really are. The only problem I had with it was the way they dealt with the bullying. It's the same way as bullying is dealt with in every other book. It's showing the textbook way of dealing with bullies and as most schoolchildren know, it just doesn't work. It felt a bit too moralistic of a story in that way. 

Really though, this is a story to inspire. It's a story of how you can change the world or at least your little bit of it. 

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

Happy UKYA day!

Since it's UKYA (young adult books written by UK authors) day, I thought I'd share a few UKYA books I've read recently which I've really enjoyed but haven't gotten around to posting a proper review of yet.

Jessica Cole: Model Spy Series by Sarah Sky 

I've read both of the books in this series now and I am absolutely in love with them. Jessica is an awesome character and is a strong character both in that she has a good personality and that she literally kicks ass. Both her modelling and her spying seem believable (as much as any other teen spy books do anyway) as she has family connections to both.

If you like spy books or anything with strong action-y heroines then this is a great series.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

Okay so I know that everyone is going on about this book, but I wanted to add my own voice to the mix, because it really is an excellent book. It's great for showing the voice of Transgender. But if you want to know more about that go and read someone else's blog, because I only have a little bit of space here and I want to talk about the bullying in the blog. The portrayal of bullying in this book was so good that it made me angry. Because of how the teachers react to it. 

There are so many reasons to read this book. I may have to do a proper review of it later. 

A Dream of Lights by Kerry Drewery

This book shook me up. It is not a read for people who aren't looking for something a little dark, but for those who like books like that (like me!) it is a must read. It frightened me most because it read so much like a dystopia. Except it isn't a dystopia. It's a book about North Korea. And I think that is the most terrifying thing of all. 

There is also a lot of beautiful writing and an excellent plot. 

So there are some of the UKYA books I've really loved lately. What about you? Have you been reading UK authors lately? Feel free to post some of your favourites in the comments.