Break Your Glass Slipppers by Amanda Lovelace

This is an amazing thought provoking collection of poetry once again these poems are so relevant in today's society bringing Cinderella's story into modern day poetry talking of love and heartbreak between family, friends and with ourselves as we can hate not love so much about our bodies most of the time as it's easier.

A fabulous new collection of poetry making the classic tale of Cinderella a modern time relevant story through the poems.

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

Something Like Happy by Sasha Greene

Nick tries to commit suicide driven by his depression and unfulfilling job, he climbs to the edge of a building...

Then Jade stops him, bearing the weight of her sister's suicide she wants to prevent anyone else going the same way.

Jade gets Nick to meet up with her and pursue her happy list from days out with Archie an old man
from an elderly folks home, to yoga and dinner dates together the pair find a unique kind of happy from such a horrible situation. But can it last?

This was a fantastic book all about the impact and choice of suicide. It was a deep and tearful read to get through but so much happened I flew through it in a day. A fabulous debut about an ever important topic.

I Hope My Voice Doesn't Skip by Alicia Cook

As a new poet to me, I really enjoyed this collection of work. I knew basics around the themes including mental health, death, beauty, acceptance, love and more.

The layout, part as poetry, black and white then switching to vinyl format of a tracklist followed by more emotional song lyrics.

For me, these subjects are relatable and drew me more into the power of Alicia's poetry. They start off as basic observations that become a mostly saddening reality which bred these beautiful, moving poems.

Each situation was imaginable and immersed me into a world through the art of Alicia's words, truly moving, captivating and inspiring.

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

Hole In The Middle by Kendra Fortmeyer

Morgan is slim, with a hole in her abdomen, her best friend and cheerleader for body positivity Caro her roommate who is always encouraging her to go out and live her life instead of hiding away.

She revealed herself publicly in a club, Mansion by dancing in crop tops. Only to discover she's become an internet sensation and is being talked about nonstop.

As she later gets approached by another surgeon she struggles trust whom is in charge of a boy and his case of deformity as he has a lump growing which correctly fits Morgan's hole, a strange coincidence but they set about trying an experiment with their separate DNA giving each other a bit of theirs to try and 'fix' themselves. Only with the press hounding them and feeling out of control of their bodies, they try to break free for a while to get a break and time together.

A story about the pressures of news and wanting to be normal and to fit in and not be the but of sick jokes of ridiculed online. It was an unheard of health issue and never read about before in YA fiction so I really enjoyed learning about it as I read, it was eye opening and very realistic with all the medical talk and trying to help solve it.

Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

Nadia catches the London tube train on which she notices handsome model like Daniel.

Daniel is in love, he thinks, with Nadia. Having a hard time after losing his dad he puts an advert in the paper asking the cute girl from the train for a drink.

Emma and Gaby, her best friends encourage Nadia assuming it's got to be her, she matches the description perfectly she also has her friend Naomi whom also encourage her to write back.

After some back and forth across the Missed Connection page, the pair arrange to meet up never giving names or numbers just agreeing times and places only of course things don't go to plan!

After a revelation about her best friends, Nadia comes to terms with her feelings about Eddie a guy she meets while Daniel has to stand up Nadia as his mum breaks down about the loss of her husband.

After chance near meetings throughout the novel its at a Romeo and Juliet event they finally feel a spark...

The ending is so romantic and lovely, a dream for a couple to meet just imagine!

This book is such a step out there a chance meeting at love on a train sounds so random but it actually happened for my auntie and uncle when they were sixteen which made me want to pick this book up after we just lost said auntie. I think she'd love this book like I did, the relationship that develops after so many near misses makes them even stronger in my opinion as it's like they were being pushed together from the world it was so funny that way. I liked the random LGBTQ relationship that develops though I figured it pretty quickly when the story progresses. I really did love the book, it captured my heart and you wouldn't regret picking this one up.

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

Every Colour Of You by Amelia Mandeville

In this book, we meet Zoe and Tristan whom meet each other first in a hospital waiting room/ reception area. From there the pair meet through coincidence again until Zoe starts to befriend Tristan as she sees something in him he can't see in himself, despite his depression, Zoe is the colour to his world even if he takes some time to realise that fact.

Tristan suffered from losing his dad while his brother whom acts like his dad is now quite partial to drinking alcohol to forget everything that happened to them. Meanwhile Tristan has Misha, his dog to make him feel happier and loved when he feels low. He also suffers severely from suicidal thoughts and tendencies throughout the novel which is a very truthful look at how some one can swing from ok to suicidal quickly as can happen with depression sufferers.

It was a commendable book for featuring mental health so realistically throughout the book as it's the main subject tackled as well as other things from health troubles, family situations and deaths which feature too. I really liked how the main characters were like opposites but they connected super well and could see the best in each other's strange ways. A brilliant debut from a young author!

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

In Too Deep by Amanda Grace

When Sam is all dolled up in her best girliest and sexiest clothing, she turns the head of Carter much to his ex's disapproval, Rayna wants him still while Sam wants Nick her best friend to notice her as girlfriend material.

As Sam can't handle being drunk as she is, then Carter's insult towards her, her friend Michelle thinks he's taken advantage of her and raped her. Then next day, remembering nothing except drinking too much.

When Nick splits up with Rayna and later kisses Sam, all is amazing until they realize why Carter's car was egged recently and drama ensues as graduation nears and Carter gets more angry at the lies someone's feeling guilty about telling by accident...

Full of drama and a bit too much worry, Sam's life changes based on the actions of a night any teen can relate to about parties. An essential lesson to everyone about the danger lies can cause.

The Snowman by Michael Morpurgo

 

In this retelling of the classic Raymond Briggs story, we see how Michael has adapted it into another version of the beloved story, still as moving as ever!

 

In this story, James has a stammer which leaves him feeling lonely and friendless in school. After building the classic snowman, he discovers the magic of friendship and Christmas as the snowman takes him on a magical journey to meet Father Christmas and the snowmans family in the North Pole.

Also in the book James has a grandmother who also witnessed the magic and partakes in a flight with the snowman which adds to the Christmas magic sharing it with others!

I really enjoyed venturing back into the childhood classic we all know and love it was a great spin on the traditional story and the addition of grandma as a character was funny sharing the magic even more making Christmas even more meaningful any one will adore this retelling.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

All That She Can See by Carrie Hope Fletcher

Cherry sees the worst in people, their Meddlums as she and her friend dubbed them years ago thanks to a childhood friend whom also saw them too, Peter.

Now settling in Plymouth on the latest bakery stop she has to make she finds new friends and customers to fulfil her happiness and whilst she works in comfort, dressed in pyjamas and queen of each little bakery she sets up stocked with her magically ordinary treats, she never expects to find Chase whom sees the best in everyone around him and a failed business man at first is very angry and cynical and embodies the badness she tries to keep away from people.

But as the two very locked in a business world, they discover their kind and get shocked as they find out a magical gifted guild has been watching over them and all they have been doing.

I love Carrie and her first two books were great, this one just made her work so far better. I loved the magical element to the bakery and how Cherry could help make people feel better with a cake and safe space to be as it's quite comforting and realistic. It was a well plotted and intriguing book I really loved.

Hope by Rhian Ivory

Hope is a talented singer facing a tough time, rejected from her drama school of dreams that she and her dad imagined her going to.

Now her dad is gone and Hope feels sad and alone she can't face her GCSEs and rejects her friends despite her discovering her violent mood swings are more than just PMS after talking with a lady she works with at the hospital she help out singing at she discovers she had PMDD, something very much unknown.

She also has to recover her voice after messing up her audition and decide on her new future plans while she also navigate a the possibility of a chance at love with the guy whom saved her life as she was onboard a boat...

It was a touching novel and very much emotional as we see a young girl cope with death, new dreams, love possibly and PMDD which I had never heard of but seems very much like more information should be made known to girls about it.

A Boy Called Ocean by Chris Higgins

Jen, Ellie, Macca and Kai are all supposed to be meeting at the beach and hanging out.

Kai wants to have a nice date with Jen at the beach front cafe where he plans to ask her to be his girlfriend. She doesn't know of the impending date but goes to meet him at the cafe only to learn he needs to work late now thanks to his boss.

Ellie persuades Jem to stay out with her and Macca and Jay on the beach but Kai sees and gets angry lashing out at customers and breaking cafe property which he then gets fired from and storms off, the grab Macca's surfboard and plunge into the sea...

As Jen stays out with Macca, Ellie reads the situation wrong assuming that Men fancies him now which upsets her deeply as she likes Macca.

The Jem discovers Kai isn't home, that's why he hasn't answered her calls or texts, no one knows where he is, so lifeboats are launched and a rescue operation over a underway to rescue him before it's too late...

As kai is stranded we learn of the domestic abuse his mother suffered and why they escaped to Cornwall, originally they loved Cornwall thanks to the stories she used to tell Kai about mermaids. His thoughts about Jen all keep him going while stranded at sea and when he sees a seal and realises it's not a dangerous shark, he feels comforted even if the seal can't help him.

He wants his future and holds onto his life as best he can while stranded out at sea. Jen, the girl he cares for so much is highly anxious and impatient awaiting news of him as lifeboats and helicopters get deployed and shows how a big scale rescue goes down whether fiction or real life it's awe inspiring the life saving work they do all year, all day round. There's also a final addition at the end of the book with Kai's mum talking about why she left Kai's father and her possible probable postnatal depression which caused her to rely on alcohol.

The issues around safety in the sea are issues which should be raised more in teens and children's fiction in my opinion but at least they are in this stunning book, much praise to Chris for this!

It was a gripping read that leaves your heart skipping beats in anticipation.

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

How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Grace has come back from a holiday to find that her mum has uprooted their home and moved in with her latest guy.
But the craziest thing is that her ex boyfriend is now her kind of step brother for however long the relationship plays out for.
Plus his dad is totally over the top in physical affection of her mother, including in front of the teens.

Grace's friend Luca, lives with his mum and they both run and work in their diner. Through Luca, Grace is told of a girl called Eva, her mum has passed away and is coming to stay for a bit with him and his mum.

When Grace later finds herself on a secluded beach, she meets a girl sobbing, sat on the sand eating peanut butter alone. The girl is Eva. Thus ensues a fast turn of events consisting of Eva sneaking into Grace's room at night and hanging out together at the top of the lighthouse.

Throughout the book, we learnt of Grace's mum and the actions she takes being extremely wrong and dangerous to others around her. She seems very switched off in parts yet Grace and Eva are there to help her as they have to be. The two girls have their passions and hopes to achieve their goals of Grace being a Pianist professionally and Eva a ballet dancer professionally just like her mother was.

The book also had strong relationship lines around friendship, lesbian/bisexual characters and teenage behaviour in general.

In this book, I really didn't like the main character's mum, she came across as being trying and needy over attention and her male relations. Some of the things she came out with were a little on the edge of what you should discuss with your daughter in real life anyway. However, we do discover the issues surrounding her character like consuming too much alcohol and excessive intake of it and raising a young baby on your own after her husband died in war and she does face up to it.

Overall it was a great book about finding the true you in career hopes and in love. Thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Solomon is a unique sixteen year old who suffers with agoraphobia and severe panic attacks. He can't leave his house and fears dying yet water makes him calm. He hasn't left his house in three years until events unfold in the book.

Lisa takes an interest in Solomon after her dentist is actually his mum and she asks after him as well as writing him a letter as feels she could help him get better, she too has suffered with her mental health, she also wants to study to be a therapist in college and so uses real technique's she's looked up to try and help Solomon fear the outside less.

Lisa gets her boyfriend on side to her helping him as he shares Solomon's love of Star Trek Next Generation and he finds out that Solomon is actually an ok guy.

Solomon and Lisa grow a friendship after she visits his house and he even comes out as gay to her before anyone else.
However, I saw what was coming ahead despite never having read any blurb online about the book and I took a guess that Lisa's boyfriend would start hanging round Solomon more and more until suddenly the trio end up threatened from their own closeness.

I did enjoy the book but unfortunately, being predictable to me left it just short of what I would call stellar, that being said, it is still worth a read!

Tone Deaf by Olivia Rivers

Ali may be deaf, but at a Tone Deaf concert due to her friend Avery wanting to win the backstage pass to meet the singer of the band, Jace Beckett she soon fingers herself thrown into the experience as an ex performer and hopeful musician previously herself.

However, he gives her the middle finger and Ali is shocked at what a horrible guy he is just because she's deaf. We later fins out it is the date of his mother's death six years ago it happened now and so he's struggling but it's no excuse for treating anyone the way he did.

Ali's dad is an abusive drunk despite being a retired police chief and so when Jace agrees to meet her and make it up to her for his reaction before, he also promises to give her a sum of money which would allow her to escape the abusive life she's trapped in ever since her mum passed away.

Yet Have knows her pain and agrees that she can't go back, she stays with the band hoping to get to New York and start a new life for herself away from it all. Yet she ends up on the news as missing while she grows closer to Jace and their relationship blooms. Also whilst travelling with the guys she handles his social media on the tour as they perform and let's Avery know she's fine.

Just what will happen to her as her father can't let her go...

I was a bit bored with this one, purely because a lot of the story happens solely on the tour bus. I did expect her to make it to New York and then be found by her dad. That wasn't the case and instead was pleasantly surprised by the ending and seeing hope alight for the girls.

Sunshine Is Forever by Kyle T Cowan

Hunter is depressed and so he goes off to a camp where they help through therapy to work on the teens and their history.

Whilst at camp, he meets Corrine a very out there, confident girl who he finds himself in a form of relationship with despite relationships being banned at camp. Although she wants to break them free, just as maybe he feels the camp could possibly benefit him...

We learn during the book of the turmoil he feels of guilt by his parents and everyone else he thinks, blaming him for not being able to prevent a harrowing incident occurring to his sister.

This book was a really good read for how complex depression can be due to trauma and the therapy mixed with camp is obviously used to show a case of one method of escapism and treatment combined to try and prevent suicide. The language was raw and honest but could trigger people if effected by depression and suicide themselves.

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

Under My Skin by Laura Diamond

Adam has heart failure and needs a transplant, a British boy in America, he has travelled a long way for a second chance at life.
He hides his pains and comes across as depressed to his parents.

Darby and Daniel are twins until an argument sees Daniel pass away and his organs harvested and given to donor of which I'm sure you can guess.

Through their shared therapist, slowly Darby and Adam come to realise that as they grow closer, Dr Shaw has made each of them realise just who's heart has saved Daniel despite his apparent suicide wish after an accident occurs.

Daniel's medication also starts to fault and his heart reacts meanwhile Darby's home life is tense and emotionally draining for her to cope with, so maybe Adam is worth dreaming of still?

It was such a good read about two people who meet partially by chance in the hospital and find they're impacted by events which evolved there and through sharing doctors, therapist etc.
I do think the apparent psychosis that Adam suffers at a time in the book could've been better explained as I felt it suddenly shifted away from his believing Dr Shaw was deliberately trying to harm him too fast.

The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

When Hadley misses her flight to London by four minutes, she is stuck having to wait to fly out to London for her father's wedding till the day it's happening on! Hadley isn't looking forward to the wedding after her dad abandoned her and her mum in America for new step mum to be, Charlotte in Oxford, England.

What she doesn't expect is to get to know a boy, Oliver she meets in the airport and find he's going to be sitting on her row on the same flight and is also heading to England for an event too.

Over their shared flight they talk and get to know each other better but soon after landing go their parted ways only to feel the pull between them and end up meeting the other again at each of their separate functions.

As Hadley experiences her first love it seems she may come around to the idea of her dad moving on and she may be okay with the idea at last.

I loved the concept of falling in love with someone in twenty four hours however far fetched it seems it was a cute story that kept me interested in what would happen to the youngsters!