Proud by Various and Juno Dawson

One of the most hyped up teen books is finally here and I'm so excited and not just because it's put together alongside Juno Dawson!

Written by various authors the stories gathered in the book focus of different aspects of LGBTQ+ issues that they may face.

Simon James Green focuses on a gay penguin couple and two guys realising their feelings at prom.

Kay Staples features a Travelodge near Leicester, my hometown of all places! Where two guys find themselves hiding out at to discover their romance after a big lottery win as one of them tries to figure out if they're really a girl or just a boy who's into dresses and make up etc

David Levithan focuses on a choir singing Katy Perry as two boys feelings are growing for each other and look for acceptance from their families.

While Tanya Byrne focuses on Orla a teen coming to understand her sexual preference and how she falls for a girl, Reeba and also touches on death and grief.

Michael Lee Richardson focuses on a football team and their inclusivity of LGBTQ community members. As the main character is transgender and gay too. With a crush on a fellow team mate. The issue of using a binder is also talked about briefly which is refreshing to read as it's hardly ever mentioned.

Karen Lawlor focuses on a group of frenemies after Darcy is overheard being mean about our main character, Lizzie's best friend. However the two girls face conflict and discovery about their true feelings towards each other...

Jess Vallance focuses on the life of seventeen year old learner driver Lucy as she comes to realise her true feelings towards her friend, Fizzy.

The anthology does include also poems and fantasy themes based stories too of which just weren't my natural preference from this collective book.

Over all this is a powerful collaboration and celebration for the talented LGBTQ+ community involved in or set to read this beauty of a book purely based on the inclusivity and understanding of issues faced by the members of their community. It was heart warming, emotion tugging, fun, realistic and eye opening and everyone can take something away from this book of not just to be proud of ourselves.

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

I'll Be Home For Christmas by Various For Shelter

This is an anthology of short stories based around various people and their versions of home. The stories range and all feature many things from broken families, new step siblings and parents, being gay and coming out, love and crushes, friendship and work.

From the anthology my favourite was Juno Dawson's Homo For Christmas, a story about coming out to your parents as in his case he has a boyfriend and is very happy with him but is anxious anticipating his mum's reaction.

All for a great cause, homelessness these stories are gripping and hard hitting as well as being fantastic quick reads.

Clean by Juno Dawson

Lexi is a heroin addict, thanks to her caring brother Nikolai, she enters treatment at a residential mansion on a secluded island.

We learn her story in stages as the chapters are set in treatment step orders and reveal more as she opens up in therapy and group therapy. Her boyfriend got her hooked on pills and heroin, she met Kurt amongst all the other high fliers as she's an heiress but was it love or using her for her money?

We also discover her turbulent family life growing up with her father's endless affairs and the drama surrounding each time he was caught and how her mum struggled with her anger towards her husband as their failing relationship failed. We also learn of her friendship troubles especially with old friend Antonella.

There's plenty of drama at the residential mansion and wildcard character Sasha is a dangerous likewise who causes a ton of crazy drama which leads to a thrilling gripping situation towards the end of the book as things retake a dangerous turn...

The book focuses on many mental health issues in the treatment from OCD, sex, drugs, alcohol, anorexia, bulimia, self harm all multitudes of addictions and shows the journey the group goes on together confusing in their issues and making friends of sorts. I particularly liked trans girl Kendall and Lexi making friends as they didn't judge each other but found a friend to help them at a hard time in their life. Lexi and how she comes to terms with who Kurt made her become and how with Brady she slowly crushes on him made clear her clarity was getting better and she was becoming herself again properly getting to see things clear with new eyes on the situation she had been through and how she had been used. The book highlights it's not an easy battle getting clean hence the title as many characters think about it do, relapse or worse. There's killer secrets packed into this gripping novel, Juno's writing never fails to captivate me and never let's me down!

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