Becoming Jo by Sophie McKenzie

In this retelling of classic Little Women made modern, we see from the perspective of aspiring writer Jo, as she befriends a guy her age called Lateef whom is an immigrant orphan living across the road from her family with his foster dad who lost his family too. He's richer than Jo and her family.

Amy is quite superficial wanting a nose job and to fit in and find friends as well as enjoy making art and painting.

Beth is shy and quiet loving to play piano but not in front of others and needs to find her confidence.

Meg dreams of being a nanny as she loves kids but feels judged by Jo who though she wanted to be a designer as she's good with styling.

Jo of course wants to be an author.

As the novel progresses, Jo and Amy come to blows about her writing, a fall out over money with Lateef leaves Jo feeling sad and of course the girls deal with many issues as their dad gets sick abroad working and has to leave them in the care of their aunt they don't like!

However each girls discovers her true path in life and Lateef stuns Jo with a revelation she didn't see coming. For the sisters, illness, crushes, college and writing all push them apart but ultimately they'll be stronger for it I feel.

A novel with real teen family life at the heart!

My Big Greek Summer by Sue Roberts

When bar manager Mandy finds out her husband Danny has been having a fling she up's and leaves for exotic Greece inspired by watching A Place In The Sun, for adventure, sun and sea. A welcome break from the pub as her boss wanted her to take a break after the shock break down of her marriage after they'd been together since they were teenagers.

Her best friend Hayley also suddenly arrives in Greece to stay with her and also falls in list after Matt. Meanwhile kindly hotel worker Costas takes a liking to Mandy especially after Mandy helps him and his father begin hotel renovations and she helps them set up a music festival, even when she returns home she carries on helping. Danny also see's sense and splits up with Slimming World Sarah, an old school acquaintance of Hayley and Mandy's but Mandy knows Greece is calling once again.

The chemistry between Danny and Mandy was dwindling from the start as the serial cheat got on with his own life without Mandy yet when she met Costas you can't help but root for the pair to get together for sure! A fun read with great maturity in Mandy dealing with a rubbish situation and I'm glad she got so much from her trip to Greece with helping out a festival beginning which is a first in any chick lit book I've picked up and I loved it the story line was perfect for this book!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Oh My Gods by Alexandra Sheppard

Helen is a semi God and living with her dad Zeus and half sister Aphrodite after moving back to London and leaving her grandma's.

Her friends Noor, Daphne and Yasmin all planned to throw a New Year's Party which at last minute gets relocated to Helen's behind her dad's back and there she meets Marco, her dreamy guy who gave her her first kiss!

However with family around, Eros and Apollo her dad is always out with his new girlfriend Lisa and despite being head of the Gods seems to be distracted beyond normal.

However when her family break the rules about revealing powers to humans and gaining massive fame, on TV and YouTube, the family are landed in all sorts of serious trouble as they're called up to court to come on trial for their actions thanks to Marco revealing evidence he had despite promising Helen he wouldn't...

I saw what was coming in this book and figured Marco was a shifty character from the moment we meet him in odd circumstances however the twist at the end was and wasn't a shocker and the outcome was what I hoped and overall while it became predictable for me, the humour and tone of teen voice from Helen is so spot on it was super enjoyable and as someone who struggles to read fantasy I can't recommend this enough!

The Secret Cooking Club by Laurel Remington

In this book we meet Scarlett, living with her little sister Kelsie and her embarrassing blogger mum who thinks it's ok to share all the details about her eldest daughter online even though she can't see how it's ruining her daughter's life as she ditches her friends and clubs after school to be more plain and less blogable.

So when she stumbles across next doors kitchen when her neighbour goes into hospital and finds a recipe book, she can't resist trying out some baking, only for school new girl Violet to join her.

As the pair start baking together they leave samples at their school for people to trying keeping themselves anonymous and the mystery growing, only soon enough Mrs Simpson returns from hospital and has to battle with Emory, her nephew to stay in her home as he believes her incapable of being alone.

There's new friends, possible boyfriends, fires, kind neighbour's and tons of cooking and baking in this cool book, if you like Coco Simon's baking series books, you'll love this too! The girls become a group and have their fun in a productive way each finding friendship and gaining a new skill whilst enjoying it.

It was a light and fun read that was addictive and can easily be devoured in one sitting!

The Secret Cooking Club 2: Confetti And Cake By Laurel Remington

In the second secret cooking club novel we catch back up with Scarlett and the cooking gang as they prepare for Scarlett's mum's wedding to Emory we met in the last book.

As the club deal with Violet and her sudden nightmares about her passed parents, Nick and Scarlett discover more than friendship between them and the fight to be the face of the club takes a toll on friendships, this book isn't short of drama. Especially as the return of a surprise character shocks Scarlett and throws her mum's wedding into jeopardy.

This group is full of fun and drama which I never bore of reading about as the girls delve back into their cupcake making and begin hectic preparations we see the stress, fun and friendship tested to the max true to real life, realistic but fun reading anyone can enjoy!

Opposite Of Always by Justin A Reynolds

In this book Jack at a party meets Kate, a girl he falls for hard only she is sick, with sickle cell and is facing death all through the book.

As Jack tries to save Kate from her death, he travels through time to try and redo the past to spare her life as he loves her only he also must correct everything he did wrong to his best friends Franny and Jillian as they face issues with their parents being absent and struggling to get by money wise too.

However I didn't see a shock twist after Jack's third attempt to save Kate coming which changes the whole outcome you expect to see happen.

Yet as we got through all scenarios of time travel to save Kate, we make the realisation that saving someone can actually save yourself as your feelings and decisions change your life too and how time travel may not ever always make things perfect if it did exist in real life throughout the novel to me the book proves the fact that everything happens for a reason and how we learn from our mistakes the unlikely couple are cute at times but to me also Jack does border too much on coming across too strong as a boy interested in the girl and Kate plays it more cool where usually it's the other way around!

Accurately represents how teen relationships can be totally worth a read and may be relatable to you that way too!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Unstoppable by Dan Freedman

Roxy and Kaine are fourteen years old twins old Kaine is a bitter guy hanging out and causing trouble while his friend Aj is by his side.

With their mum working all hours and their dad jobless now money is tighter than ever.

However the kids futures look bright a possible football star in Kaine and a tennis star in Roxy.

But Kaine is a complex character after the death of his grandma he's after out becoming increasingly angry at the world and his family for not being there. He believes he's second best to them all and gets in trouble at school despite his chance with a football scout he gets taken in to a notorious gang alike his uncle wound up involved in even if his was by accident and soon enough he's in deep and carrying a knife...

For Roxy though her dad pushing her tennis career has ended the fun for HR as he likes on the pressure and drinks a lot to quell his own disappointment in himself being jobless treating her future as his job and controlling her whole life.

However as tragedy strikes second chances are granted but can everybody survive?

In this family both teens are unhappy but see each other as flipping ecstatic unable to see they're unhappy too. Their relationship is utterly broken and by the end of the book we see how they need to actually talk and be open to each other to be truly happy not be snippy with each other how they come across.
I really enjoyed how the characters and up and their contrast as Roxy has a bright future while Kaine looks an escape and winds up in with a gang he knows it wrong to do and the difference in how they cope with their situation after losing their grandma and deal with their pushy and ignorant parents highlights how no one should not tell their parents how they want to live their life!

This book is one you won't want to put down until you've finished, it's a fantastic gritty and gripping story.

Unicorn Food by Sandra Mahut

This book looked amazing due to the cover image of the gorgeous unicorn cake which looked amazing!

Packed with rainbow coloured, cosmic fantasy inspired foods that are eye catching and arty but super simple to create and bake for yourself thankfully with little fuss either in my opinion.

Each recipient idea is beautifully pictured along with a list of ingredients required and listed steps for you to follow along to easily. It doesn't matter what your skill level is as there's recipes anyone can do and with practice hopefully your bakes will improve too!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

The Rest Of The Story by Sarah Dessen

After losing her mum years ago to addiction and then death, Emma or Saylor as some know her, is learning how to move on and adapt as her dad remarries to her stepmum Tracy.

At North Lake she discovers her old self from her younger days as she learns about the past she had there growing up as a kid on holiday there with her grandma, mum and family including her aunt's and young cousin's.

She rediscovers her friendship with Roo, the son of her mum's best friend as well as getting to know her grandma, aunt and grown up now cousin's all over again. From, Trinity, Gordon and Bailey, she meets Colin and Brad who get her involved in dance and parties.

This book truly captures how life and people can change over love periods of time apart. The book had typical teen drama from dancing, drinking and ventures in love to discovering family and hidden secrets especially about her mum who died. Emma is a strong character who's conscious of her mum and how her life wound up after addiction and I liked that she was supposed to be aware of all that and had not been hidden away protected from it which is a positive. The story was good but I couldn't help but wish for a further drama to arise from the night danger in the story or with one of the new relatives she gets to know to add some more to the story however as I don't normally like books set at either camp or around lake's this one kept me entertained and the teen drama was fun.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Roam by C H Armstrong

Abby is homeless living in her mum's truck after a scandal involving her mum at their last school where her mum was a math teacher.

On her first day she meets Josh and his bunch of girl friends he ironically nicknames Disney characters after they are lookalikes.

She also meets Zach, a hot guy she falls for only to make an enemy of his jealous ex girlfriend Trish who takes an instant dislike to Abby.

As Abby and her family live in their van, we see the trials they face from sleeping in it in the perishing cold weather, begging for money on the street, washing and using public shop bathrooms and having to rely on salvation army food and church food donations too as well as in desperation after being ill the family find themselves squatting too.

The book shows how normal families can fall into poverty and not even have a home nor money for basic supplies we all have a right to for survival. We see the dangerous effects of sleeping out in the cold as they become ill and especially how it can take a toll emotionally on the whole family not just the children in the family either. Realistic, moving and tragically hopeful too.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Hattie's Home For Broken Hearts by Tilly Tennant

Hattie returns home from Paris to her doctor parents in Dorset after realising a fashion career isn't for her and at twenty six she has to discover her path again meanwhile Melinda her best friend has four kids by twenty four and is happily settled with her husband and that's despite their money woes and baby boom.

Jo owns a donkey home and animal sanctuary where she wants help around doing things which Hattie jumps at the chance of doing as she loves Norbert a donkey up there as soon as she meets him. However being off the beaten track it's isolated and no one visits.

As Hattie comes up with the idea of raising awareness of the sanctuary, getting visitors and publicity for donations and trips, her cafe owning friends introduce her to Owen a journalist on a paper who can help her run an article on it meanwhile she also has a crush on local vet Seth but, after a fall out Hattie doesn't know whether to stay or go back to Paris after Jo kicks her out...

However a cry for help from Seth after receiving an odd note from Jo about the animals sets alarm bells ringing can Hattie help heal her and Jo's hearts from their sort of shared heartache of sisterly loss?

A moving story about loneliness and how animals and humans can help heal each others heart's and also how a bond can form between the most unlikely of people.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

The Rules Of Seeing by Joe Heap

Kate is married to Tony an abusive man who leads her to meet Nova in the hospital.

Nova has just had an operation to give her some restored sight after being born blind and finally she can see, she has to learn to live all over again hence the Rules of Seeing that she creates and also with the help of Kate as they meet up again months later...

Throughout the book we see how Nova saves Kate and Kate saves Nova from abusive Tony stalking them and her harsh mother vanishing her Nova becomes Kate's lifeline and Nova finds with Kate she can navigate new and exciting things from learning colours, shapes, seek the sky, Paris and people this couple become a proper pair got to like a jigsaw in love as they become one despite all the efforts Tony goes to as he progressively becomes more psycho from stalking them to the thrilling ending which took me by such surprise I got goosebumps reading it.

This book was captivating and I honestly loved the characters, concept and the thriller element in this book!

I liked the fact that Kate seems to be bisexual as she leaves Tony for Nova but of course we don't ever need to label sexuality I liked the fact that Nova was A bubbly character as Kate was more serious they really balanced each other out and the fact the book was set in months over years shows how their connection grew more and more especially as we read from split character perspectives.

A must read book of 2019!

The Goodbye Summer by Sarah Van Name

Caroline is dating older guy Jake and plans to move away with him after the summer.

However, Jake's cousin Toby gets her a job in the local aquarium gift shop to earn cash to save to afford to move and live off but while working at the aquarium she meets Georgia, they become good friends and soon she starts having fun with her and making some good friends and get to be just a normal teen before senior year and having to knuckle down to decide her future.

When Jake's dad offers them to stay with him, Caroline isn't happy and doesn't want to settle but see the world or not leave her home at all...

All through the novel, she struggles with her feelings to the point of making herself be ill with worry about the future while Jake is an over powering and dominating character who's persistent and pushy bordering abusive in his actions. Growing up is hard enough without growing up too soon and this book shows that clearly.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

The Boy Who Lied by Kim Slater

When Ed loses his memory after playing in the park with his brother, Sam who has learning difficulties and has downs syndrome he can't help the police to find his brother as he suffers trying to recover his lost memories.

With the press hounding their door, his depressed mum, having no money or food, his dad in prison from doing fraud with a business partner which leads to a good plot twist at the end to do with their friend's Augustine and Charlie who live with them during this hard time...

They search the area from the park, den and streets of Nottingham especially with the help of the new  neighbours next door Fallon and her dad who help him visit his dad in prison and also notice a red car coming and going at night and when they follow it make a stunning revelation...

I always love Kim's mystery books especially being set down the road in Nottingham not far from me. I enjoyed this one though did predict what would happen not perfectly but who would be found guilty yes upon being introduced to the characters. I liked the difference in the two brothers and how Ed has to recover himself despite his family not believing him he doesn't give up getting to his beloved brother no matter how long it took. I hated Charlie as you should the way he spoke and his manner was horrible. You will enjoy this quick mystery I'm sure it's like a teenage Midsummer Murder though no murder just mystery instead.

Flying Tips For Flightless Birds by Kelly McCaughrain

Birdie and Finch are twins and make the Flying Franconi's part of their circus, they run an online blog to try and advertise themselves to try help business keep going.

Set in Finch's perspective, we see new boy Hector arrive and Finch's past relationship with his best friend James and what happened to them, especially as Kitty was James's girlfriend and she's the lead bully towards them.

As Finch struggles in school Hector helps him as he wants to be taught circus act stuff and so Finch repays him by teaching him that. However it's tricky as Hector takes a lot of practice to get it and settle into the basics.

Finch battles his feelings about his uniqueness in his style and sexuality drawing unwanted attention to him until Birdie has her accident and he switches to plain clothing without his partner.

Then Birdie has an accident and ends up in hospital and in a coma during which Finch must become part of a new act with Hector as he teaches him more and more the pair naturally become a great duo. Finch then finds out Sinead and James are hiding something as he sees them visiting his sister and sets out to discover something he never expected...

This is a fun but serious novel too, featuring issues such as comas, circus acts, bullying, sexuality, individuality and friendship. I loved the play of words on the title and how Finch and Hector helped each other and became a great team too once confiding their feelings. It shows sporting and hope throughout and that's what makes it all the more gripping and emotional as they never give up on Birdie or their act.

Planet Omar Book 1: Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian

Omar and his family have just moved to a new house. There they have a new grumpy old neighbour and are the only Muslims in the area.

As Omar joins a new school he goes through the motions of being nervous to finding a friend in Charlie but also a bully in Daniel.

Though as his neighbour falls ill, the family celebrate Eid and a trip to London for school goes awry, drama mounts up but it may be for the better overall!

The book focuses on showing how a Muslim family lives their day to day life and how they can face prejudice and try to make people more tolerant of their beliefs and how they are just like us apart from they have to say their prayers multiple times a day really! It highlights the importance of Mali friends and not judging someone even bullies can change and aren't always big and scary and great debut I can't wait for more in Omar's series!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

You Only Live Once Gracie Dart Book 1 by Jess Vallance

Gracie starts this book facing death by tropical disease, or so she thinks anyway!

Til her best friend is always there for her and cheers her on in her quest to embrace life after the so called near death sentence!

We see her face her sexuality, venture to Paris with her fun nan, go to a concert and possibly find a girlfriend but she also makes some dubious friends in a bid to show she's grown up and can do what she likes and not have to conform and stick to get life plan.

This book was hilarious every sentence practically will have you in stitches. However there is a few serious issues tackled, losing someone you love and discovering that you want to dare to do something different and feel overwhelmed by the choice and grief too making her act out more than she probably would have.
I loved her character and personality and can't wait to read the next instalment of the series to see what antics she gets up to next!

Princess In Practise The Rosewood Chronicles by Connie Glynn

Lottie is back protecting Princess Ellie along with Jamie whilst she finally tells her old friend Ollie the truth about what's happening.

As students in the school begin to fall ill seemingly after rating Tompkins chocolate bars, Binah the girls friend helps them to uncover the mystery of why Leviathan are poisoning the bars that the students eat at school.

Lottie also discovers her families history with Lilli and William and Henry and Edith...

Lottie and Ellie's friendship also takes a different turn to maybe more in the future...

I love the second novel a lot more than the first as the story is obviously developing and relationships are developing too which creates more gritty and gripping drama for us to enjoy reading. I can't wait for the final part to see where the characters and up!

Noah Could Never by Simon James Green

Noah and Harry are a couple! Result!

Only Noah now sets to broaden his horizons and bulk up in a gym, only it doesn't go to plan especially when his mum's ex Josh works there! Especially when Noah gets dragged into selling protein shake only to be forced out of business...

He has to deal with his mum's drag queen friend sleeping on their sofa, his father living back with them, his new half brother, a pregnant Jess and the school having French exchange students. Including Pierre, Harry's hot exchange student. While Noah gets left to handle eighteen year old Eva, a soon appearing to be shady girl as she hangs around in select company only.

In this book we see his dementia affected Gran have her seemingly fake tiara stolen by his dad and Eric as they plan to sell it only of course it doesn't go to plan, Noah and go track them down whilst Noah himself thinks he's being followed by a couple in an Astra.

Noah also feels more pressure as Pierre makes a pass at him and can't decide whether or not to tell Harry about it especially as he feels never enough for Harry and seems to have a low self esteem about his body.

Noah brings all the laughs once again and even a trip in this novel where we see a drag queen face off...only in Noah!

Full of fun and joy we are the gang of students all go off together on a mini road trip to help save his grans tiara and to make a huge discovery about it too whilst Pierre is a heart stealing cad or is trying to be as he could've split Noah and Harry up!

All the drama and joy Noah brings eh! Simon has a great talent for writing witty and moving stories with some of the best antics happening in YA books I've seen!

Noah Can't Even by Simon James Green

Noah and Harry are best friends whilst Noah has a crush on fellow classmate, Sophie whom he gets to work with on a school project.

His dad vanished when he was ten and hasn't been seen since whilst his mum has a cabaret act that is a ramshackle of a performance and makes Noah the but of jokes at school.

As Sophie invites him and Harry to a party it's their first teenage party and the night fuelled with alcohol and fun leads the boys to making a discovery of their own, that they're more than friends, possibly?

Then Noah discovers his mum has a shocking boyfriend which he can't believe...

There's also drunk girls to contend with, being blackmailed and a secret brother to discover! But as Harry stops talking to him when evidence of their relationship gets out and Noah's gran ends up in hospital, will the boys finally start talking again and make up and be an official couple at last?

The book has many sex references and awkward moments but lots of funny moments too reminding me of an older Mark Lowery's Roman Garstang. Noah reminds me of a young gay guy version of TV's Miranda as he had the same happy go lucky jokey manner about him and it's so fun. Noah is the type of guy whom would be a hilarious fun best friend and the book made me so happy from laughing this is the funniest book by far I've read! It was serious at times too don't get me wrong with the friends nearly falling out instead of accepting their feelings at first but overall, you will be grinning at the love, randomness and happiness in this book.

We Are Not Okay by Natalia Gomes

In this book we meet Sophie, she loves her boyfriend but feels pressed to have sex with him. She's friends with Ulana. However she fixates on being the perfect weight and sends her boyfriend a risky photo he asks her to send...

Sophie admires Lucy, popular girl and recently single after secretly her boyfriend Rhys dumped her not the other way round and starts seeing Trina like she lies to her friends. She also hates the fact her dad left for a new family and her mum can't leave the house now. Only as she wishes her ex would go back to her she makes a shocking discovery that he had no idea about as he moves on unaware what has happened since their split...

Trina, Rhys new sort of girlfriend doesn't fit the stereotype of university student as she feels stuck in her town with her mum as shes in debt. She gets called a slut at school because of rumours and how she dresses.

Ulana is a new girl, a muslim in a school alone from her fellow usual students who accepted her. Her only friend seems to be Sophie now and Aidian who sticks up for her against the bullies only as the pair descend into a relationship her religious beliefs start to break their happiness despite Aidan wanting them to act like a normal couple...

The girls lives collide as they all deal with serious teen issues as describe above and further others in the book it's a relatable book as anything mentioned could happen to a teen girl or a girl of any age. I liked that the characters all had very different personalities from being shy, outgoing, self assured etc sometimes it can be hard to split characters apart in your mind but these were all unique and made the read better. This is a book perfect for showing the pressures that can be mounted on teens.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Jemima Small Vs The Universe by Tamsin Winter

Jemima Small hates how she looks bigger than the other girls and her surname, small for being her opposite.

She's proudly smart and is excited when an opportunity to take part in Braniacs her favourite TV show arises she's happy but at the same time, everything said to her by the kids, bullies, strangers all builds up.

Jemima has a great best friend in Miki who never fails to stick up for her while her old best friend Alina ditched her to hang out with Lottie who bullies Jemima.

As she faces joining far club forced to after being humiliated in school, she makes friends with others who feel like she does and makes a friend in Gina who runs the course.

Throughout the novel Jemima is courageous and learns that being herself is a great thing despite her issues around her weight, mum and bullies. She is a brave character and a typical teen when she wants to dye her hair rainbow which some of us can relate to! I loved her brainiac personality and zany family Tamsin has created a book that'll be forever important for girls now and in the future, her writing is some of the most relatable and hard hitting making the YA fiction we need.

With The Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Emoni is a teen mom in school with her babygirl Emma to care for she had with Tyrone her ex.

Malachi joins her class and elective, cookery which is what Emoni is passionate about and the pair strike up a relationship of acquaintances as Emoni knows boys are trouble despite her loving her Emma.

She dreams of being a chef and working creating magical dishes of food for people and has done all her life. Raised by her abuela while her mum passed and her dad flits in and out of their lives, they struggle for money and so when she helps to fundraise so they can all go to Spain on a trip, it looks to be a life-changing experience.

I loved Emonis situation though Tyrone got away with doing hardly any parenting unlike Emoni and his family are trouble for sure speaking harshly of Emoni but not their son for his role in baby making!

Emonis best friend being a lesbian was also included but not a great deal but she was a fun bubbly character to contrast the hard worker Emoni is and make the pair a good friendship match. The writing was very emotive and I enjoyed the journey we were taken on during the novel.

After all the hype I was wary to pick this book up, but I'm glad I did as it was a great read with a main character with courage to follow her dreams even when it got tough and a supportive family too.

Bookshop Girl Book 2: Life's A Beach by Chloe Coles

We catch up with best friends Paige and Holly as they embark on an adventure out of their boring town and head for Skegton On Sea and a book festival full of surprises awaits them once they arrive.

From a hot boy knocking Paige off her feet, an erotic fiction writing elderly lady and discovering that working a book festival isn't as easy as it many actually sound!

It was an hilarious read and kept me so entertained as we see how the book festival really tried Paige's patience as authors aren't how she expects and things go crazy wrong. I can't wait for more adventures with Paige and Holly in the future, especially as things are going well romance wise for the pair!

100 Days Of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons

Tessa could see until a car accident makes her blind, hopefully temporarily but she suffers PTSD from the impact and her life suffers as she rarely leaves her bedroom, can't even write her poetry or update her blog.

Then her grandparents put and ad in the newspaper for a helper to type for her, queue Weston.

Weston knows what disability can cause you to feel, he lost his legs below the knees in an accident two to three years ago before meeting Tessa.

As he helps Tess he opens her up to the world around her again using her other senses, smell, taste, hearing, touch and so uses flowers, foods, instruments and Polaroids for her sight to see when or if she recovers.

This book is amazing, the chemistry the pair have is fiery but sweet and understanding. They remind me of Augustus and Hazel from The Fault In Our Stars. As a book debut it's so developed and emotional the depth is immense and a truly addictive, beautiful read. Abbie is a star with her writing style making a beautiful story.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Alex In Wonderland by Simon James Green

In this book Alex gets a summer job at Wonderland an arcade in his town on the seafront after his best friends Will and Anna become a couple and make plans together just the two of them leaving out Alex.

However at Wonderland he meets Ben and Efia after a bit of embarrassment ensues, as well as Caleb who runs the seafront lemonade stand too and another hilariously awkward moment again!

We see how Wonderland is under fire from an anonymous source and that property developers want to get their hands on the seafront to sell it for building accommodation on but how the group try and come up with ideas to refurbish the arcade and bring back customers to make a profit again.

This book was brilliant for showing how loneliness is a very real thing people fear and how love can come from unexpected people. It really makes you laugh as there's some great jokes and innuendos as usual Simon James Green style. The story being set in an arcade was truly brilliant I haven't come across a teen fiction set in one until this book and I'm sure we all love the arcade when we go on holiday. Alex was a wonderful character being sure of his sexuality but also having an unrequited crush on his best friend makes for relatable reading for teens too. Overall this book is outstanding and a perfect summer read, I loved the police interview,  quirky flamingo and the scene in the chemist particularly, now I hope you're intrigued enough to go pick this book up!

The Home by Karen Osman

In this book we meet successful solicitor Angela whom grew up in care until she was fourteen and got adopted by James and Rosemary.

Her foster life was harsh and some of the things you read in here are unimaginable to have to face at her young age back then

She holds resentment towards her birth mother so when James asks her to find her birth mum as he's dealing with cancer and wants to be there to support her she's thrown but decides it's time and so sets things in motion after finding a support group who helps trace birth parents.

However as the story goes on Evelyn her birth mum faces trouble after her noisy neighbours get murdered and things suddenly become clearer as Angela discovers her parents are all connected in some way...

The book was a great chilling thriller that wasn't an easy to see coming plot twist at all. There was a nice hold up of tension and suspicion that made the climactic ending play out very well especially with a fantastic twist to the story, trust me you don't want to miss this book!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them and be on the blog tour today!

Buy the book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DKL3CK9/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb_uk-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40579175-the-home?ac=1&from_search=true

The Eclair Affair Cornish Cream Tea Bus Part 2 by Cressida McLaughlin

Charlie and Marmite her yorkiepoo are back and setting up the Portgollow food festival to help raise the areas profile and make their businesses a success as she runs her Cornish Cream Tea Bus.

As she reunites with Oliver from The Marauding Mojito, Daniel invites her to the spa after her opens up about helping and failing to give her friend a job.

So on enough she has a choice to make and to address her feelings, safe Oliver but sexy and risky choice Daniel, who'll she realise her feelings for?

I love this story and read it in one sitting as soon as it was available I was that excited! The chemistry between the characters is building nicely and the business is helping the area slowly but hopefully surely, the book is light and fun romance which is as sweet as the cream tea's and eclairs I'm imagining being served on board!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Lost & Found Book 3: Sasha's Secret by Cathy Cassidy

Sasha feels pressured, at home her life isn't perfect as her parents argue a lot and there's always an air or tension around. At school, she gets to hang out with her friends and after of course too at band practise but she is trying to hide a huge secret, her absence see which remain undiagnosed through the first half of the book.

As Matt a wannabe news reporter comes along with the Lost & Found band as they head away to record their debut EP, she can't keep faking she's ok being around everyone 24/7 and soon enough Jake notices what's up...

With boy drama and figuring out her dreams for the future in this book Sasha has a lot to face.

I was surprised to discover absence seizures as I've never ever heard them mentioned before and especially in this book it was inspired by Cathy's daughter Cait and her struggle with the condition and it's especially great that's the reason they're included. I also loved the fact that The Chocolate Box series tied in to this new story with Jake being involved and didn't realise it was that Jake at first! Sasha was a genuine and great teen girl character dealing with a lot of issues in all aspects of her life which is super relatable, Matt was the perfect villain and I sussed the way the story would go and it was executed very well indeed!

I can't wait for the next instalment in this series now!