No Big Deal by Bethany Rutter

Emily is comfortable in her own skin, plus sized and sick of hearing about her mum's diets she's trying out relentlessly as well as trying and failing to get Emily to do them as well.

However when her best friend Camila comes home no longer Emily's plus size best friend and partner in crime, things change between the pair as Camila dates Emily's old crush Ryan as he fancies her now she's lost weight and couldn't deal with Emily's size after their failed kiss.

Emily then instantly likes Joe, a guy she meets at that party briefly and then befriends him after going to his family's record shop.

Throughout the novel we see how they get closer and even nearly sleep together until horrible Holly comes along but helps Emily realise that she's fine as she is and not to let her odd doubts get the better of her.

The book was very My Mad Fat Diary inspired, to me at least, with the record shop element and plus size main character fancying the normal sized glasses wearing cute guy. I liked her other two best friends being a gay girl couple representing the LGBTQIA community in teens and the positivity that Emily has not hating on herself but accepting herself like the wonderful unique girl she is which is an amazing and inspiring lesson to us all!!

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

Lost by Eve Ainsworth

Alfie is struggling with the loss of his mum after she passed away from cancer. Meanwhile his dad is shut off from him unlike he was before and the pair seen to just exist not live anymore especially as their shared love of football is now nonexistent after Alfie refuses to play now his mum's not cheering him on.

Then at school he meets Alice, the pair judged each other at first sight and since then the pair's new friendship gets off to a Rocky start after Alfie realises his new friend doesn't have a happy home life either for an entirely different reason.

Throughout the novel we get flashbacks to the worst time in Alfie's life when he loses his mum and it was so sadly realistic it was emotional and moving. Meanwhile Alice and her family situation is also dangerous and scarily true for many people out there right now in the world living in fear. Utterly breathtaking this novel is one you will zip through and not forget.

The Gift Shop On The Loch by Maggie Conway

Lily is shocked when she's fired from her beloved department store job amid hard times and feels humiliated her boss and crush James could just get rid of her like it's nothing.

Reeling from it all and the loss of her hopeful promotion, she realises she has to take care of everything her mother, Patty left behind after she'd passed now she has time including surprisingly, a cat called Misty, she knew nothing about at all!

As she travels to Loch Carroch, she finds the quaint gift shop her mother had bought before her sudden death and meets back up with Iris her mum's best friend. She also meets Jack whom she remembers from holidays there years ago and Angus, a kind old man who finds herself reminding her of a father figure she wishes she'd had.

As she discovers Jack's past and his love of whisky the pair form a friendly bond until suddenly James reappears and it seems Edinburgh hasn't seen the last of Lily yet as she faces a new, better job back there, but will it be what she wanted after all?

After putting work first for so long, will Lily finally discover it's time to take a chance on other life things too?

The idea of the book is super quaint and idyllic sounding and is in the book too. Lily transforms in the book from being set in her ways to finding some roots and family ground to build on her future. A quick relaxing romantic read about fresh starts and finding love unexpectedly.

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

How To Rob A Bank by Tom Mitchell

In this, after burning down his friend Beth's house which had no insurance despite being a mini model of the whites house, Dylan then comes up with a plan.

He later thanks to his dad's love of films comes up with the master plan of robbing a bank inspired by Al Pacino and George Clooney, after all at fifteen and being jobless he has no cash to help his friend.

After his plan goes awry in a really hilarious way, his sister agrees to help him on his next attempt with usb code in a bank's cash machine...

If you love Mark Lowery and his Roman Garstang series you will enjoy this immensely it had me laughing and despairing in parts after his dedication to stealing from his accidental job goes so badly wrong every time he tries. Obviously stealing isn't good but this level of dedication was hilarious and he only wanted to honestly help his friend and was unable to being without enough money!

Splash! by Charli Howard

In this book, Molly is an aspiring swimmer growing up with her grandparents who champion her natural talent in water.

However as the pressure of facing secondary school loom, her best friend Chloe starts acting out being mean towards everyone. As she starts making jibes at Molly about her weight alike some horrid boys Molly encounters at the swimming pool.

When her absent mother finally turns up, she doesn't get the dream reunion she wants and as she fails to impress Chloe, she feels pressure to please and ends up losing her best guy friend after hurting his feelings when she lashes out.

All about the pressures of school, bullying, weight and appearance this is an essential, necessary read for teens and preteens growing up into an image based world.

The Rabbit Ate My Homework by Rachel Elizabeth Cole

In this book, Drew and his sister Libby find and take home a stray rabbit they find randomly in a box after it's been abandoned.

As Drew hides the rabbit in his room, his sister complains as she wants to play and dress up the rabbit all the time.

Meanwhile their parents don't know about the rabbit and Drew tries hard to keep it a secret as their parents won't allow them to have a pet despite Libby pleading with them.

Drew hates the rabbit though after it wrecks his room, chewing cables, comics and peeing on his bed too! But he's been blackmailed by his sister as he wrecked his new bike and fakes it being stolen, he has no choice but to go along with it all!

This book was so fun to read especially being a rabbit owner, the language of the rabbit is so true, my bunny acts the exact same ways pretty much! The joy the bunny brings Libby is relatable and the anger Drew feels is honest and both character voices were spot on. The way the bunny comes into their lives is so random I loved it.

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Makani lives with her grandmother after her parents passed away, where she should be settled happily at home and school however, they're not at all. Her old best friend Jasmine, has been in touch for a start but that's not all.

A new relationship with Ollie that's fast paced but happy, things get weird when students at school start to die, from murder. Then she starts to question everyone.

She gets attacked and injured in her home and becomes paranoid of shadows around her luckily Ollie looks out for her despite his cop brother acting off...

Suspenseful and chaotic with tension in every second of the pursuit with brutality used in all the murders it makes for a tense read!

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

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

This book is a collection of raw poetry that looks through Laurie's life at some of the tough situations she has had to face and deal with. From being a pastor's daughter, dealing with her parents issues including miscarriage, war and depression to her own issues that arised, rape and how that affects a person as they learn to cope and adapt to their changed selves especially when you can't report it and make them pay for their crime.

The book also explores the relationship between men and women and why we objectify women and see men or used to see men as higher up than us instead of equals. Hugely emotional and thought-provoking if you can relate to the issues raised, you simply need to read this book.

The Happy Glampers Part 1: You Make Me Feel Like Glamping by Daisy Tate

After all studying at university and becoming great friends, Charlotte reunites them all with a stay away glamping whilst also dealing with the possible break down of her marriage and handling two kids.

As this first part of the book begins we see how Charlotte suffers under husband Oli as her girls soon see that something isn't right with the couple.

Isabelle and Emily have an evident history but also Izzy has a daughter in tow none were expecting.

Freya misses her mum but unlike Charlotte has a loving husband and kids while still struggling to handle the fact her husband once years ago slept with one of her friends!

All the girls have led separate lives in the years on since university but it's evident they still know each other well and need each other. I am excited to read the next part as this debut sparkle with potential for drama, drama, drama galore!

Just Don't Mention It By Estelle Maskame

This book is told from Tyler's perspective from his past self at the time of the first book.

Told between the past, five years ago and present day, we learn of how Tyler was treated by his abusive father in graphic accounts and how it caused Tyler's behaviour to change from happy to angry as well as his memories about his father, we see how he met Tiffani and Dean and him attending games together to watch and how well his father and him managed to hide everything as their family let alone anyone else never spotted the signs even when Tyler's wrist got broken three times in a year due to his aggressive father and him blame himself for his father's horrific actions.

Dean and Tyler are the first best friends then Jake joins them late on and so does Tiffani as the new girl at their school before she was 'queen' of the school.

Partying, kissing girls and him and Tiffani using each other for sex really shows the extent of their relationship as they clash and Tiffani is super high maintenance and crazy with manipulating Tyler and using his secrets to blackmail him to stay with her despite his stronger feelings for Eden which are true and not just out to use her like he does Tiffani.

The pull for him toward Eden shows just how much their attraction worked both ways as he can't ignore his true feelings he never had for Tiffani ever and finds himself wanting to be better to be with Eden.

This was a good book and addition to the series rehashing the first book from Eden's perspective into Tyler's as we see his feelings and hurt he suffered through in his childhood and how it stayed with him affecting him to now. It raises the subject of violence and domestic abuse happening to boys too and not just girls. Tyler was a brave young character and so was his brother for eventually discovering it and helping him, there's always a way to stop abuse.

This book might just be the most powerful one of the whole DIMILY series yet!