Kicking Off Dick Kerr Book 1 By Eve Ainsworth

In this book we see how during the war effort young girl Hettie takes over her brother's factory job only she's making ammuntion and making friends with the fellow worker girls who get her playing football which she enjoys immensely only when an injury stops her playing her manager helps her still boost the women's team as they take on matches despite her gloomy strict father's words against her actions and eventually dramatic news comes about her brother's arrival home will be have survived the war? A great look into what life during the war would be been like for these young women inspired by their true lives becoming a team together and the worry they faced about their families and friends away fighting too. Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Wigglesbottom Primary The Toilet Ghost by Pamela Butchart

 In this funny book about a primary school class, they discover a toilet ghost making the boys unable to use their toilet at school resulting in a funny if not obvious outcome.

The second part of the story focusses on a show and tell of tricks
which wasn't funny for the teachers but was obvious to us readers what was happening!

Finally the third story focusses on a mysteriously itchy carpet with a not obvious at first cause that'll make you itch upon reading too!

This was a funny little quick read I flew through in ten minutes Pamela is a fabulous author to have discovered for writing funny books and I highly recommend you check out her books!

Sleepless by Lou Morgan

 In this book we meet student Izzy who along with her friends, Dom, Mia, Noah, Tigs, Grey, Juliet and Kara start to experience hallucinations and creepy deaths after taking FokusPro which Tigs gives them to aid studying.

However Kara doesn't take it and Tigs doesnt realise it's harmful until its too late as shes jealous of Grey and Izzy being such close friends.

After Izzy got kicked out of her last school she just wants to do well and keep her dad happy while he goes away for work.

However as her and Grey try to stay awake and not die, they discover maybe their friends are more dangerous than they thought and maybe even they'll be the end of each other?

Wow what a thrilling book, I was hooked on discovering which of the characters would survive or not as we get straight into the nitty gritty plot from the get go. I liked the jealousy and toxic friendship aspects as they added extra drama this book was all round captivating.

Fire Boy by J M Joseph

 In this book we meet, Aidan who gets sent a package he opens with his friends Sadie and Hussain only when they each eat a sweet from inside the package do they change, gaining new magical and superhero-esque powers!

Aidan has a strict grandma, dead previous army serving dad, mum who works all hours he has obviously had a bit of a rough upbringing, especially as his grandma approves of old fashioned beatings it seems too and is a bit psychopathic!

As he finds a circus set up near by know him a cirque du freak esque book vibe joins in as he's foreseen by them coming however when his dad's so called old army friend, Ash Aitkens comes to visit and take the parcel off their hands trouble breaks out as the sweets contain a rare juice from a legendary destroyed tree and Ash is set in getting them back for himself to use...

This new series looks set to be like a male hero character version of Alesha Dixon's Lightning Girl as the style of adventure and powers is the same, family and friends are involved and there's a bad guy to beat, thrilling and plenty of detail to the plot this is a series I'll be reading the next book of for sure!

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

The Teashop On The Corner by Milly Johnson

 Carla loses her husband at only thirty four years old, her husband Martin and her shared only ten years of marriage to lose it to literal sudden death. She faces the funeral with neighbours as her best friend Theresa is on holiday and she doesn't want to spoil their holiday.

The drama kicks off as Julie Pride also announces she's married to Martin and has been for thirty years, whilst also being five months pregnant by him supposedly too when she makes herself known at the funeral!

Will Linton loses his money while his wife Nicole blows tons on unnecessary items of clothing and expensive treatments. After looking for a room to rent he meets Carla...

Leni runs the teashop on the corner as well as her ginger cat being there overseeing the action too but she doesn't expect to have a new Saturday boy on her hands with as poor a past despite him being a good lad he suffers at home...

Margaret marries a good guy whilst her sister Molly marries a rotten one which unfortunately also leaves her son influenced that way too as Molly's love of her life returns and drama kicks off between them all...

All these wonderful character lives collide at the little tea shop and it was a vibrant book full of evolving and historical drama over their lives. I love the way they are all so unique but really do click when they meet up at the cafe.

The Wedding Date by Zara Stoneley

 Sam hires actor Jake thanks to her friend Sarah, to play her boyfriend as she's make of honour at her best friend Jess's wedding where her cheating ex, Liam is the best man.

As she gets to know Jake, she learns he's a volunteer dog walker and so she also tags along on a dog walk with him, getting to know him better resulting in her covered in mud. They talk amended rules like no sex as to ensure they keep things friendship like as it's business, they also agree to have as much fun as possible while in Scotland for the wedding and to have dates beforehand to know each other like a proper couple would do. They also have to survive dinner with her parents though her Mum falls for Jake easily as a suitable boyfriend for her daughter!

So taking along a surprise extra guest, Nutmeg Jake's dog and meeting Stella the horrid Liam's new partner who's heavily pregnant as well as having fun times and getting closer to Jake, things really heat up at the wedding not to be missed as dog and baby drama ensues right up to the altar!

I loved this book so much! It was sweet, hilarious and satisfying in every way! The plot was enthralling and I was rooting for Sam and Jake from the very start from When they first meet they seemed electric. Liam was a horrid man and good riddance as Sam does so much better and I loved the way we saw her grow as a person sticking to what she knows and loves not changing for any man! Amen to relatable girl situations and the uniqueness of this book!

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

Dork Diaries Book 13 : Tales From A Not So Happy Birthday by Rachel Renee Russell

 Nikki is back once again with her friends Chloe and Zoey plotting her birthday party which they palm to make a super cool pool party!

André and Brandon are also back too and still rivalling it out over Nikki's affections as she finally decides what to do over the summer, band tour or trip to Paris?

Meanwhile her rascal little sister Brianna becomes obsessed with baking and even starts up a little dog treat business with Nikki's help as it benefits her and funds her dream as we discover!

Complete with all the normal sister drama and wind ups, crushes wish are only still crushes! As well as the best friends we've come to love as well as the enemies we too hate like Nikki, this book will make you laugh, commiserate and sympathise with the various situations that Nikki finds herself facing! It was super cute and fun, a quick read anyone can enjoy.

An English Boy In New York by T.S. Easton

 Following on from where we left off in book one, Ben fresh from his win at the Knitting Championship now faces fulfilling his knitting orders and balancing a new challenge in his life, a girlfriend, Megan!

However, Megan uses her Grandma being ill as an excuse to stay home yet her brother Marcus keeps Ben up to date as she meets up with Sean back home. So instead, Gex his best mate joins him and his parents in New York but gets in touch with Keith his seemingly possible criminal of a cousin. Drama ensues as Ben tries to help his manager Brandi get rid of her ex G, he faces a huge business meeting not knowing about it and takes on the best knitting machine in a battle to be the quickest knitter!

A fun book filled with hilarious innuendos that makes it great reading for teens and adults too if they wanted to read it!

Dead Popular by Sue Wallman

 Kate is the head of her boarding house and is beautiful in looks and attitude so she feels.

However it never was always that way.

When a new house mistress starts, her friend's artwork starts to get misused to reveal secrets about the girls one by one including a secret of Kate's...

Her friends Bel and Lo always stood by her until one party thrown by Kate results in a girl dying, her sort of enemy/rival Clemmie.

There's also plenty of boy drama as Kate crushes on stuck up Hugo, Bernard takes an interest in her and Munro and her slowly possibly shown signs of becoming more than friends...

Another gripping book by Sue here I really enjoyed this book especially the angle of an old friend who causes the drama despite not even appearing in the book! The boy drama was chilling and actually quite a good warning to how you can miss judge someone, Kate was a very bold proud of herself character and didn't let anything stop her at all even at the end her spirit come across during the hardest time of all and as he was a well developed character.

The Lost Princess by Connie Glynn

Lottie is back, as they face the fact that Leviathan are targeting the children of influential people they could all be in grave danger.

As well Lottie's grades get messed up by them resulting it them taking a trip to Japan and the sister school of Rosewood where they discover more secrets surrounding her ancestor too as well as making friends over there, her and Ellie are not acting on their previous feelings and Jamie is left feeling useless meanwhile Leviathan are watching building a group that's following their every movement...

A weaker book to me in the series so far sadly, however as it felt like a filler and confusing too with Japanese references and words I didn't understand even with translate however I was happy to discover about Japanese cat myths I never heard of! I wished we'd seen more of Lottie and Ellie's feelings come out and Jamie finding a good guy friend to confide in not a bad guy who disappears without a trace. However it has left me wanting to read the next book to see what happens with Jamie and his part in the continuing series now.

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

We're All Mad Here by Claire Eastham

 

Talking in the book about her experience with social anxiety, she has hilarious stories to tell from her past sufferings as well as tip and tricks of how she manages her condition day to day. Claire has many useful facts woven within her story, such as about how serotonin levels can be depleted by certain caffeine's or how your anxiety levels can spike due to consuming too much of it too quickly. The importance of finding the right therapist and whether you can work with them as well as cost and long or short term affording the treatment best for you and weaving a pathway to get through and overcome your problems e.g. take CBT then progress to Exposure Therapy once good progress has been made. Claire also raises a great point in that when we are looking back, we can see traits of anxiety in our younger selves as we grow through school. For me and Claire alike we are both more introverted and both hated being spotted in class and feared putting up our hands. It's great to realise someone else gets it even now we aren't of that age! Claire and her university tales are a great example of how stressed any student can get trying to navigate a social life and exams etc without even the use of alcohol to relieve the pain and when you can drink, it won't help the anxiety you feel but fuel it more. Talking of letting go of old pain, emotional or physical memories of it and liberating yourself and your mind from reliving the anxiety of the time you felt years ago, I particularly love her recommendation of listening to Frozen's Let It Go at the same time. Too right! Claire has written a witty, informative and deeply important book for anyone else who suffers anxiety, wants to learn more on the topic or just somebody who maybe needs a deep but funny at times read too! Many thanks to Jessica Kingsley publishers for sending me a copy to review!

Positively Izzy by Terri Libenson

 Izzy is heavily into drama after all Izzy is her stage name, and looking forward to the school talent show however when she gets grounded by her mum her sister helps her plan to escape and make her performance...

Meanwhile Brianna hates drama her mums the teacher while she prefers to shy away from acting when her mum needs her she gives in and gets to act alongside her crush Dev which helps sweeten the deal a little but can she find her acting ground or will she clam up onstage?!

There's a really clever twist I didn't see coming until the end of the book a brilliant humorous graphic novel about braving the limelight and family life.

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D Schmidt

 In this book we meet Jack whose mum and dad take in Joseph, a young fourteen year old who has a baby, Jupiter and the book focuses on his love and loss as well as his time in juvenile detention as well as around his abusive dad.

We hear all about Joseph's past and a sense of foreboding lies wove into this book as a tragedy strikes once again...

An emotional rollercoaster from a male teens perspective especially as it focuses on an underage dad and not mum of which either is rarely seen. It was a good read but slightly off putting reading about the young pregnancy as it seemed unbelievable but in reality can totally happen!

Cotton Candy Wishes by Kristina Springer

 Taylor has a disastrous birthday party where no one turns up, theme being cotton candy everything which sounds amazing to me! However feeling sad no one came, she makes a birthday wish to become a member of the popular group of girls in school.

So when Taylor and her family move towns it's her chance to be a member of the popular group. Whom at this new school are led by Elle and Daniel is the hot popular guy Elle tries to pair Taylor off with throughout the book.

However Taylor and Daniel both don't like each other that way it becomes clear as Taylor begins to realise the popular girls she wished to be friends with maybe aren't the best company to keep if they're not genuine friends...

The book reminds me of You Wish by Mandy Hubbard which I also really enjoy themed around birthdays. It shows the way to spot friends being genuine or not and how it's best to find and stock to those who'll be there for you and not just use you.

Radio Boy Revenge Of Granddad by Christian O'Connell

 We catch back up with Spike, Artie, Holly and the additional member of their team at least for a while, grandad.

As his nan has thrown his grandad out, he finds himself having his life taken over by him as he gets his bed and joins their radio show. But if course, his grandad is crazy and tries to be trendy in an old fashioned way singing Elvis songs whilst having his hair  styled a crazy way.

In this book we see Spike enter into a radio competition to take over his idol's radio show for a week whilst he goes away on holiday.

However, of course we see the horrid head teacher also enter whilst there's instances in the book of pet napping, revenge and drama with farm animals!

This series won't ever disappoint I'm sure as the antics get upped from the last book as Spike seats his sights on his major future career he dreams of, we can all appreciate a good dream about our ideal career after all! I enjoyed the competitive nature of the characters and the grandad was a real display of an embarrassing yet proud grandparent. The plot was well thought out and I read it in one sitting absolutely hooked.

The Secret Puppy by Holly Webb

 Daisy and Oliver are on holiday camping at a farm, wanting a dog Daisy falls in love with a german shepherd puppy on the farm she calls Barney and wishes he could be hers despite her parents not wanting a big dog.

However after Barney keeps escaping to get to her one time is amazing as he helps alert them to trouble...

This book showed how good dogs are at learning and how their instincts can save lives and help others from loneliness and making friends to saving lives any animal lover will enjoy the book I'm sure!

Apple Pie Promises by Hillary Homzie

When Lily's mum leaves for a work stay abroad for a year Lily is sent to live with her dad's new family and has to hide her crush on Ethan from her stepsister Hannah who looks set to wreck her life.

Lily and best friend Keisha often talk about Hannah as the book goes on as Lily and Hannah become embroiled in a prank wars on each other getting more and more serious as the book progresses.

With the baking pie competition coming up and her dad not showing he cares enough to help her out, she feels let down and relies on Keisha to help her bake her pie for the contest just right. Then there's also the matter of the haunted house the kids are taking part in to help out and that's where Lily suddenly realises why Reese always calls her Magic and chats to her unlike Ethan...

If you like fun and quirky books you'll enjoy this with pranks galore sweet treats and crushes coming throughout.

Not Hungry by Kate Karyus Quinn

Told in verse we follow the life of June and her struggle with anorexia breaking the myth that 'fat' girls can't be anorexic.

Her sister Mae is also a big girl while her mother seems to encourage her to lose weight while she goes under the radar of best friend Lacey who notices everything about everyone else around.

However, when Toby moves in next door, she finds herself crushing on him, Lacey does too though and she also finds out he has a secret as they spend time together though never in public.

The night of their school dance, we see how Erick is a nasty piece of work to both sisters especially as he bullies Mae into doing what he says and reveals a huge secret about June to their school...

This is a book that you could get triggered by I will say as a recovering anorexic since my early teens issues raised could trigger easily especially the talk of weight, foods and treatment from the boyfriend in the book. However for people who want to learn about eating disorders this will help them to learn how it can be a burden on lives.

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

The Endless Beach by Jenny Colgan

Flora and Joel are a couple in love, only as work demands mean they split their time and spent it apart whilst Joel faces work pressure building up on him can be manage it all?

Lorna and Saif are still listing after each other although Saif longs to hear news about his sons and wife back home so when he does at last will it be good or bad for the pair?

Colton and Fintan are a gay couple set to marry finally only as Colton has a huge secret will the wedding go ahead and make them both happy?

Filled with emotional twists and turns of tearful drama, Jenny keeps us hooked on the actions of the newest doctor in the small town we grow to Love thanks to the tight knit community we get a feel for. Flora and Lorna are typical friends and also very much in love with their men of attraction choice. It is a perfect beach read just keep the tissues handy!

Summer Secrets At Apple Blossom Farm by Portia Macintosh

Lily and her son Frankie are new to Marram Bay moving from London as her job demands it. As she prepares to set up a deli branch for her bosses like they asked her to, she has to contend with all the locals whom are deeply against the idea and Danny to stop it opening and in their eyes stealing their local trade.

They befriend locals Clara and her husband whom run the cafe on the very day they arrive and they cook them their welcome meal as well as later helping out babysit Frankie.

She has to deal with Mrs Snowball who's Frankie's new teacher as she often takes him to school late for varying reasons and the teacher often has words with her over other matters too.

She meets cider farmer Alfie after her son runs off and As she has a garden now full of apple trees she realises that cider farming makes a lot of sense local business wise and he also makes jams.

However, once she hires Channy to work in the deli once it's open, she learns more about the locals and especially about Alfie's character. She later goes on some dates with him and end up together back at Lily's only for Frankie's dad and then Viv, Lily's mum to turn up!

So as she tries to win over the locals, successfully open the deli, possibly become Alfie's girlfriend and deal with nightmare Nathan and his vegan ways influencing their son, will she be able to manage it all?

This was a really great book, we see the struggles single motherhood can bring whilst keeping a career but Lily is a strong capable woman who doesn't need a man but gets her happy ending anyway! The writing was fun but dramatic at the right times while there was no dips in action waning off as Frankie or Lily have so many things going on in their lives.

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

I Spy The Boy Next Door by Samantha Armstrong

Mallory spies on her neighbour a hot guy who she chats about to her online friend Nicole about all the time.

When she starts at his school after persuading her parents to stop homeschooling her she makes friends with his best friend Dax's sort of girlfriend, Evie who introduces her to the teen life of parties, watching boxing, friends, and of course sneaking out of her house!

Her and Troy keep passing in school, as well as him sneaking into Her bedroom via a trellis! Talk about modern Romeo!

Then her only sort of friend from homeschooling Kaitlyn then gets held hostage and everything changes.

From a light romance read we delve into a deep murky plot with trauma, lies and identity changes as Mallory discovers her life is not at all as she thought!

Troy's dad is an FBI agent and so from there everything really stems but until the last twenty percent of the book I couldn't put it down at all and especially the last twenty percent I was gripped in the gritty plot with a hammering heart! I was truly hooked on every plot twist and breath taking moment as you didn't know if everything would work out ok at all! Each character was great and played an essential part it's clear by the end, the love between Mal and Troy is sizzling and envious despite all the sudden realizations that become apparent that just adds to their strength as a couple. One of the best romance mysteries I have ever read, easy!

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

The Cantankerous Life Of Molly Darling by Alvy Carragher

All Molly wants in life is her beloved chickens to be safe, her dad to never have left, her mum to have kept up running their farm and her sister not to marry a boring guy who's nothing like the real her.

Instead, Molly faces stealing back her beloved chicken becoming a vegan trying to get said chickens back and getting her sisters ex boyfriend to come back to maybe stop her sister making the biggest mistake of her life.

Meanwhile she has to deal with her now arty mum having a boyfriend, then her dad shows up for her sisters wedding, awkward.

Welcome to the life of Molly Darling, nothing is as it seems, a little bit crazy but a whole lot of fun!

Molly is a fun and caring character and I loved this book so much especially being set in Ireland and her feisty nature not willing to give up on her chickens despite anything! It was refreshing to read a YA without a love story being the main focus and instead the love for a pet, I can relate!