You and Me, Always by Jill Mansell

Since Alice's mum passed away of cancer when she was little, Coral her mum's best friend brought her up alongside her now sadly dead husband, Nick.

Alice's mum Jo had written her a series of letters to reach her on set birthday's only this year in the final one for her twenty fifth, the love of her mum's life's surname is finally mentioned as the bracelet he gave her mum is now left to Alice.

Alice and her friend Patsy along with her younger brother, Dan care for Alice and don't want her to get hurt but are so happy for her when he does respond to Alice's letter and comes to meet her, Declan is as thrilled to meet them all as he was to meet her mum years ago. He also catches the eye of Coral who can't believe it's a real crush she's feeling and goes into denial but she can't fight those feelings...

There's also the factor that by chance, Alice is dating Eddie Tessler a film star. Yet when media get hold of her story and her father sells his lies they end up involved in a whole new load of drama.

It was so so so much better than I anticipated, having struggled to get into this book I really struggled on and loved it by the end. The characters are so quirky, the places chaotic or quaint in description as well as the storylines in the book being so explosive with drama, lies and betrayal.

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Tori follows her curiosity of the mysterious trail of post it notes to find a computer with Solitaire, a new empty blog open on the screen. Then she meets Michael a new guy before her old childhood friend Lucas also resurfaces.

Meanwhile her brother, Charlie is recovering from anorexia and self harm and we see how protective she is over him as he gets attacked by a bully who Solitaire later ensures gets a taste of his own bullying back.

Through the book, Michael and Toria grow closer while her best friends grow distant and more involved in other plans than friendship until Solitaire progresses. Then she realises, Solitaire or more importantly, who runs Solitaire is trying to talk to her and it's revealed to shows Toria who she can really trust and who cares for her truly.

It was hard to understand the whole concept of Solitaire and their plan overall but it was okay and had some good themes raised with male anorexia and self harm.

Wounded Dance by Deanna Roy

When Denham Young rocks up back in town, Livia can't believe it. Fifteen year old her had gotten pregnant by him when he lived with her family and was supposedly her half brother. She had to give up her young daughter as her parents shunned her into a quiet life, until Blitz Craven danced into her world and heart as in the previous first book, Forbidden Dance.

As this book is the second in the lovers dance series of standalones, I am beyond excited for this journey to play out.

It didn't disappoint and took me just over an hour and a half to finish!

Denham Young doesn't give up in practically stalking Livia and waits outside her dance studio in his truck getting evermore persistent to wanting access to his daughter even when he finds out she was adopted. We learn how Livia and him got caught up in teenage lust and passion and got carried away until Denham was sent away and his life revolved around jail sentences since. Continuing to insist he's a changed man, eventually Blitz and Livia have had enough, a restraining order hasn't deterred his persistence and so they bail him out of jail and offer to make contact with their daughter despite Livia already knowing her, just not as a mother. However, Denham shows careless and tactless he truly can be and Livia finds herself stunned at his reaction.

You in won't forget this ending in a hurry!

Deanna has done another smashing job with this book, I truly love this set so far and the passion between Blitz and Livia as well as their nature's fit so well I feel compelled and addicted to read all of these books as they're just so well written and detailed I really appreciate the author allowing me this arc copy to review and will rave about these books and the author till everyone I know reads them!

Gilt Hollow by Lorie Langdon

Ashton has been stuck in prison for four years, he is now eighteen and being released from serving his manslaughter charge. His mum signed release papers but like the rest of his friends and family, didn't want to see him.

Willow is new to working in a coffee shop, yet an awkward scene occurs early on between her and a lady whose son, Daniel was killed by Willow's accused possible boyfriend Ashton.
At school she's best friends with Lisa, a new girl and mostly has her head in a book, she's super smart and wants to study biochemistry. She also testified Ashton was innocent at his trial as they had been friends for years, since she has suffered panic attacks and anxiety.

We also see Willow going on a few dates with Brayden who told her of Ashton's release originally to warn her. Ashton seems to accept that she needs to be happy and seems okay with her and Brayden as the book goes on initially.

There is also the factor that Willow keeps hearing creepy sounds and creaking around the house and woods which its seems her brother also hears too. Their mum doesn't believe them but it really freaks Willow and makes a lot of suspense and intrigue build up throughout the book.

It really keeps you guessing and especially to really find out what happened around the whole Daniel issue and how his death really occurred. Overall, it was a great book to read and especially when you read it at night as I did during this storm we have right now!

Thank you to the publishers for allowing me to review this book!

On The Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher

What a great novel from a great YouTube personality and west end actress Carrie Hope Fletcher! As a fan of Carrie's, thank you to the publishers allowing me to review her first novel and I have indeed previously read her debut All I know Now which was a book by Carrie about her life so far and the lessons learned.

Now, Evie Snow has ended up in a middle ground, back at her old flat, number 72 and aged just 27 again. She is still dead but stranded in a limbo between heaven and back to life.

With the help of her old friend Lieffe, who works the flats lift, she attempts to settle her past secrets to allow her to advance on to the other side.

Throughout the book we learn of strict parents with old fashioned ideas and tales of forbidden love as well as forced marriages. The ideas are both still old fashioned and yet still modern day problems which makes the book stand out as one of the best at challenging people's views who shall read this book.

There is a fairytale style to aspects of the book aside from the previous as there is an intriguing scene with a rather humongous cat and a messenger dove of which reminded me of Snow White and Alice In Wonderland by Disney and of course, Evie's surname is Snow as well as Vincent, her forbidden love's surname being Winters and alas both to do with the white, snowy season of the year.