Far From Perfect By Holly Smale

Faith Valentine is a feisty girl who's set to be an actress like the rest of her family it seems.

However when her relationship with her singer boyfriend Noah hits the rocks, her mum is depressed and locks herself away from the world while Faith 's dad is off with his new partner.

All Faith wants is to be happy and do what makes her happy, can she get there?

Faith is a feisty character having to cope with a lot happening in her life while trying to work out what will make her happy to growing up into her future she desires. For me it was as gripping as the first book and worth a read to get to know the family and their drama better I can't wait to get to know the other siblings and their various different lives too as the series progresses on.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them and take part in the book blog tour!

The Switch Up 2 LA Exchange By Katy Cannon

In this book we rejoin the lives of Willa and Alice who are, two friends who look practically identical and in this adventure Alice heads out to LA to stay with Willa.

When Alice flies to LA to stay with Willa, she gets roped in to help. Willa should be volunteering at an ocean conservation charity but can't as she wants to help make a film, so Alice fills in for her. Only while there she falls for Jake only he believes she's Willa and as they get closer Alice has to come clean, will Jake understand why she did it and will Willa get on in her dream of being an actor and director wwith a successful first project?

Of course, will they actually get away with switching up places once again too?

I love The Switch up books, I grew up watching The Parent Trap film which is reminiscent of these books only these are more modern times and older characters too. The drama is constantly evolving and engaging and of course the not knowing if they'll get caught out swapping places kept me hooked it's a fun light read that teenagers will enjoy!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book and take part in the tour for them!

Gemma's Not Sure by Gil Stewart

Gemma is facing tough decisions, go and play piano professionally as a performer despite her shyness, or persue a different career altogether despite her work playing.

Jamie has tough decisions to make too, after finding uni more of a chore only enjoying rhe social aspects and his refereeing.

However as the two get friendlier, they discover they have more in common than they thought, as they start a bad, Gemma helps a piano student she takes on called Rosie to have a better time at school and of course Jamie is Lily's ex, her best friend.

There's plenty of drama but this book is utterly relatable for the issues it raises throughout from tough life work choices and following your heart and your true passion. I loved that Jamie and Gemma came together in a very quick yet natural way and feel like this book was even better than Lily's story! I truly can't wait for more from Gil about these characters lives!

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

Love, Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson

In this book Frankie is enemies for a start with Sally a girl who's mean to her after assuming her mum is a drunk after an incident at their school.

However as the book goes on, Sally befriends Frankie after seeing her out with Sammy her best boy friend from next door who evidently likes Frankie a lot more...

As Frankie learns about her feelings she's dealing with, coping with the drama of her sister's, her mum's MS worsening and their dad's new life situation everything feels out of control for her to cope with.

It was a refreshing read to have a chronic illness as a central issue and a girl struggling to come to terms with her sexuality too probably the most relevant Jacqueline Wilson book about right now and I just know this will help many girl comes to terms with their feelings and accept them too I do wish that we saw more of the alcoholic storyline from Sally's mum though as many kids are also effected by that however maybe we can have a follow up book as the ending left one to be desired...

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

The Sky Is Mine by Amy Beashel

In this book we meet Izzy, a girl who's being blackmailed into sleeping with a guy, Jacob from her school while at home she and her mum are domestically and verbally abused by Daniel, Izzy's stepfather and her mum's husband.

Grace is her best friend but spends most of her time now with her girlfriend Nell and makes Izzy jealous of their close bond as she feels pushed out and unwanted.

However as things keep worsening with Jacob and Daniel, her mum one day decides enough is enough and the pair up and leave with dramatic consequences...

This book tackles many girlhood topics and I recommend it for teens to read.

I loved this book Izzy is a body positive hard as nails girl who has to deal with so much life rubbish from loss, rape, consent issues, blackmail, friendship drama and maybe falling in love, Izzy is a teen who raises many issues and tackles them all alongside her rebecoming herself mum, new love interest and with a kicking playlist to boot for ultimate positive vibes, this book was a fantastic debut knocking these topics out of the park, you need to read this book!

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

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

Michael is a gay guy and he's known he was since he was a child and wanted to be friends with girls and play with Barbies.

However as he grows up, he faces bullying, first crushes, finding his best friend Daisy and how she too comes to terms with her sexuality and also heading off to university and discovering drag blossoming into his true self.

A bold fabulous story about becoming the real you despite the bumps along the road this was a powerful novel told in verse and a moving unique story.

Royal Rebel Book 2 Designer by Carina Axelsson

In this sequel we see how Lily is still posing on YouTube as Tiara Girl but when a photo on Instagram looks too alike her alias online, her and best friend Leonie sets about making the two look more dissimilar than they have been so far.

As Lily finally gets a design opportunity from her family, it could lead to a dream design job but as she has to learn how to dance and do royal duties alone through her princess lessons will her secret identity stay hidden as someone leaves her another note saying they know her secret...

I enjoyed the second of Lily's stories and seek how she keeps her identities apart despite the struggle and that women in her country hold more power than men in that they become queen and no kings rule. I like the girl power aspect running through this series as in modern times how things are changing so much.

Belly Up by Eva Darrows

In this book we meet Serendipity or Sara as she gets called mostly, after her ex Aaron broke her heart by getting another girl, she goes to a party and meets Jack, who she has drunk sex with this creating her a baby she later calls, Cass.

Thee book focuses on how Sara handles moving in with her grandma, making new friends at a new school, finding her baby daddy, her chosen new future and of course actually giving birth!

It was a realistic look at teen pregnancy and also the danger of reckless sex and the impact on your life one choice can make I enjoyed the language style of Sara being quite unique voiced as she came across humorous, sarcastic and just like a teenager does. The girl power of the family in this book is brilliant and some families I don't doubt are just like them and it made the book more joyous to read especially with Jack an his father's impact in the novel.

I can't recommend this enough, totally worth the hype it's been getting lately!

Women In Sports by Rachel Ignotofsky

When I saw this book I was so super happy. As a girl, I've actually always preferred male sports and been parts of Cricket, Golf, Football, Badminton and now weight lifting groups as well.

We often get judged for it and unfairly so and a book about women doing great in sports is just what is needed in society to be celebrated more.

The book goes through a timeline of history as well as including a wide range of sports. It talks of the challenges the women faced and some consequences were even death in past times!

This book would be brilliant for schools, in modern day we need women and young girls to not give up on sports and think its for boys and it's a subject I am passionate about greatly. An empowering and inspiring book with many modern athletes we know doing great today from Serena Williams to Simone Biles and Nicola Adams.

Thanks to the publishers for allowing me a copy to review!

All The Things We Never Said by Yasmin Rahman

Mahreen is a Muslim teen whom feels she can't compete or stand out in her family against her brother or cousin who are both high achievers and has what she call The Chaos in her mind telling her to cut and causing her depression.

Cara is a disabled wheelchair user after a car crash changed her and her mum's lives forever and she feels stifled by her mum now too.

Olivia is a girl from a rich broken family background with a sinister secret about her mum's new boyfriend and wants to escape her life.

The girls get put together after they each individually sign up to a suicide pact website, MementoMori.

Only as the girls complete the tasks and hang out more they become friends. Until things change after they stop doing the tasks set to them from the website and instead have their lives ruined by the person behind the website as they manipulate all the information about the girls as they can. As each girl hits a new low, one of them goes too far but with the girls not talking, can they come together to save each other in time?

The plot reminded me of the Hollyoaks teen self harm pact with a digital edge from the website involved in this book. It doesn't belittle mental health but shows the sinister extent teens could go to harm or end their lives. The website reminds me of the anorexia buddy websites we hear about causing harm to teens mental health and this book broke down boundaries that mental health only effects one type of person as we get the three very different girls all suffering. I particularly like Olivia telling her story in verse as she came across as a ghost in her own home forgot by her mum as she suffered abuse unnoticed. This book will make you appreciate all the good in the world, as it can be horrifically dark.

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

Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber

Reiko has suffered a huge loss years ago when her sister Mika died. Since then she has been haunted by what her sister missed out on and strives to achieve the best she can to do so in her honour as she never got to achieve such things as Homecoming queen etc.

So when she gets talking to Seth an outsider from the popular group she hang round in normally, she feels like she must keep him a secret but she treats him harshly to hide him away from her glossy popular life until he has enough and soon enough as they make it official, Seth changes...

Luckily, Reiko has her best friend Dre by her side constantly supporting her in the book and former friend Libby too before she changed and betrayed her in a way.

I didn't enjoy the way the book went, Seth took control after using Reiko for popularity while he came across as so caring for her but did highlight how people can use and dump you. I would've preferred to see Reiko end the book on a happier note where as I feel like the story was unfinished in many ways as there could be more to do with the friendship dynamic to play out as well too.

George by Alex Gino

In this book we meet George whom knows he's in fact a girl and so is transgender wanting to be her true self Melissa.

As she struggles with how to tell her closet people, her mum, brother Scott, best friend Kelly etc she also wants to play Charlotte in the play their school is putting on of Charlotte's Web.

However dealing with school bullies and hiding her girl magazines at home mean that soon enough things come to a head with the help of Kelly opening show night could be the turning point of her life she craves...

A perfect short story about being your true self despite whatever you may be faced with you must be true to your heart and that point is made perfectly clear even when challenged by her mum.

Going Off Script by Jen Wilde

Bex is new to LA as she looks into pursuing her dream of being a TV scriptwriter and ultimately have her own TV show.

As she moves in with her cousin Parker a gay make-up artist and her idol growing up, she tries to figure out how to tell him she's gay too and no, not to just copy him.

At the TV studio where her favourite werewolf drama is filmed however she soon learns behind the scenes things are less than perfect but she does have the executive producer Jane on her side while Malcolm a fellow scriptwriter takes an instant dislike to her.

From parties with the famous and stars of Silver Falls and handing her own version of a script for an episode to her boss whom rips it off a his own!

As she falls for Shrupya an actress playing the role she wrote in her script to make a gay couple happen in the show they fall into a natural relationship which could crumble after Malcolm changes the script after a homophobic rant by Archer the straight white male lead in the show.

The book featured heavily on the LGBTQ community and also having YouTube actresses being included too. I liked the cast being a mix of cultures and identifying as various types of people, shows it's a great modern young adult book and up to date with the times! I also picked up on The Brightsiders being talked about, another great book by Jen and the sneaky hints didn't go unnoticed. I really enjoyed the way the plot went and loved the story even though after reading about the script she wrote I kinda guessed correctly the way it would play out there was still great drama and so didn't expect the love interests either which was an obvious great addition. A perfect teen read if you love movie's, TV or LGBTQ relationship dynamics.

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

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What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K Arnold

When her boyfriend Seth breaks up with her, after her parents have split up too, Nina is heartbroken and in disbelief as she also discovers she's pregnant.

After and incident with Seth and his ex Appolonia months before, she is stunned he leaves her but really the sex was never great as proved by when Seth buys a creepy not sweet anniversary present.

All the while we see why girls aren't displayed always as perfect things but how we supposedly are to guys especially, from hairy legs, periods, pregnancy accidents, using the toilet like any other human and needing to have perfect hair, make-up, outfit, body etc.

We also see frequent mentions of Eros and Thanos the Greek gods throughout the book as plot deals with sex and love as the gods believed themselves. We see the torture Nina puts herself through over the breakup and how it leaves her searching for an explanation about how love works. It was a bit flat for me as a story as I hoped for a more typical plot than I got and would have liked to have seen more about the baby and parents in the story.

Beautiful Broken Girls by Kim Savage

Francesca and Mira were sisters with dark secrets.

Ben and Mira had a connection, a teen couple in secret as Mira and Francesca had a controlling dad.

Nick and Francesca, despite him being older and her teacher were infatuated with each other as Francesca believed herself to be special, a sort of saint reincarnated.

The girls suicide is a shock but after their cousin Connie's death they've never told anyone about until now leaving the paper trail of notes to Ben revealing to him why they were so unhappy in their lives.

This book was very strange and focused a lot on religion and Saint's which wasn't for me at all. I was intrigued by the mystery but most of the book left me feeling confused and lost and it didn't live up to my hopes and expectations.

Giant Days by Non Pratt

Starting out at university, three girls make friends, Daisy, Susan and Esther they may be very different people but they look out for each other.

Susan and Rather become rightly concerned when Daisy hangs around a lot with cult like group at the university called The Yogic Brethren after signing up to their group during the welcome activity fair for new students and they appear to spread throughout the whole campus. But students go missing and Daisy acts strange attending these meetings which include wearing creepy masks to get into meetings.

They do also do normal university students things like going to student union's and getting drunk as well as flirting with guys, even seeing guys they know from before uni at uni. Discovering their tastes in things changing and who true friends are.

I didn't really get into the book but it was well written and I finished it eventually. The concept was intriguing and links to drugs and money being mistreated makes sense as it fits into the university setting as people try new things and experiences but shows how it can go to the extremes in this book! The characters were all their own people and I liked the differences they had from one being a bit gullible to other gutsy and invested in their lifestyle like true students they were believable.

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

Proud by Various and Juno Dawson

One of the most hyped up teen books is finally here and I'm so excited and not just because it's put together alongside Juno Dawson!

Written by various authors the stories gathered in the book focus of different aspects of LGBTQ+ issues that they may face.

Simon James Green focuses on a gay penguin couple and two guys realising their feelings at prom.

Kay Staples features a Travelodge near Leicester, my hometown of all places! Where two guys find themselves hiding out at to discover their romance after a big lottery win as one of them tries to figure out if they're really a girl or just a boy who's into dresses and make up etc

David Levithan focuses on a choir singing Katy Perry as two boys feelings are growing for each other and look for acceptance from their families.

While Tanya Byrne focuses on Orla a teen coming to understand her sexual preference and how she falls for a girl, Reeba and also touches on death and grief.

Michael Lee Richardson focuses on a football team and their inclusivity of LGBTQ community members. As the main character is transgender and gay too. With a crush on a fellow team mate. The issue of using a binder is also talked about briefly which is refreshing to read as it's hardly ever mentioned.

Karen Lawlor focuses on a group of frenemies after Darcy is overheard being mean about our main character, Lizzie's best friend. However the two girls face conflict and discovery about their true feelings towards each other...

Jess Vallance focuses on the life of seventeen year old learner driver Lucy as she comes to realise her true feelings towards her friend, Fizzy.

The anthology does include also poems and fantasy themes based stories too of which just weren't my natural preference from this collective book.

Over all this is a powerful collaboration and celebration for the talented LGBTQ+ community involved in or set to read this beauty of a book purely based on the inclusivity and understanding of issues faced by the members of their community. It was heart warming, emotion tugging, fun, realistic and eye opening and everyone can take something away from this book of not just to be proud of ourselves.

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

Lucy & Linh by Alice Pung

Laurinda is a posh school where every student is a high achiever and a hard worker. Only popularity isn't based on looks or grades in this school but who you're in with.

There on a scholarship is Lucy, whom witnesses a prank done by Amber, Brodie and Chelsea which sees her drawn into their group The Cabinet, purely by timing and chance. She starts to hang out with Amber especially a lot more and even goes to a party she's holding. The girls also meet up with the boys from their school too.

Lucy writes about her three terms to Linh and I found this confusing in the book as it's never made completely clear until right towards the end of the book who she is to her like a friend or relative etc. While there is some drama I found this book not exciting and a bit flat, the characters didn't seem to have distinct personalities and a lot of focus was on ethnicity which is great but only told us so much. The main focus is that Lucy changes from who she was before and becomes nothing like the person she once was or wants to be, I just feel it could've been more dramatic or easier to follow.

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

In Paris With You by Clementine Beauvais

Tatiana and Eugene met years ago as teenageers, thanks to Tatiana's sister Olga and her boyfriend, Lensky.

For Tatiana it was love at first sight of the young man Eugene.

However years later after the crush has faded, Eugene is the one infatuated if not obsessed with Tatiana but as she is set to move for a new job, will the pair staying Paris or leave together?

A very different and emotive book, it was not what I was expecting and was more poetic than young adult novel like though the expressionism was appreciated and enhanced the novel greatly padding it out else it would simply be a love story with a tragedy partly reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, only in modern day. I did enjoy it but not the expected hype build up I'd seen online about it and it seemed more of an adult fiction that young adult fiction.

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

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Astrid and Nicole are best friends but separate hobbies cause the pair to split ways as Nicole prefers ballet over Astrid's admiration for the roller derby girls especially her idol Rainbow Brite.

As Astrid settles into Derby camp, she has to find the courage to not give up, make new friends such as, Zoey after Rachel her enemy steals Nicole away at ballet camp.

From becoming a new roller derby self dubbed Asteroid, she dyed her hair becoming bolder as she discovers herself over the course of the novel. All about growing up, acceptance and learning the way friendships can play out, it's certainly an inspiring and awe inducing read.