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!