The Deepest Breath by Meg Grehan

Stevie likes Chloe a girl at school she has more feelings for than anyone or anything else before.

As she tries to bring it up with her mum as her dad isn't around, she winds up at the library where a kindly librarian helps her and tells her it'll all be ok.

I really enjoyed this novel being told in verse and focusing on a younger character coming to terms with their sexuality where as it's usually older teens or twenties when the subject of sexuality is raised. It showed how truly consuming and confusing it can be coming to terms with and wondering how your family and friends will react to you coming out.

Letting Go by Cat Clarke

In this book Astrid goes on a hike with her ex girlfriend Ellie and her new boyfriend Steve.

As they say goodbye to Ellies mum, they realise their unfinished romantic history needs closure, but when trouble strikes and Steve gets injured suddenly their solemn day becomes one filled with panic and worry.

This book delved into multiple issues in one go, death and loss, sexuality, relationships, friendship and facing a tough situation too. I highly reckon this for quick thrilling read.

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!

Some Girls Bind by Rory James

Jamie is gender queer binding her chest and hiding her secret from her friends Levi, Nora and Eric as well as her family and brother Steve in this novel told in verse.

Over the course of the novel we witness her friends come out to mixed reactions and approval as well as disapproval too.

Jamie is a good, bold and proud character whilst also being anxious over reactions she could face. The book raises issues straight to the point around gender and sexuality and the fluidity people can have freely now. It is a good bold read and will surely open eyes to the subject matters raised.

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

Read Me Like A Book by Liz Kessler

In this book, in her final run up to her last A level exams, Ash finds herself dealing with her parents divorce, falling out with her best friend and discovering her sexuality whilst keeping up here school work.

After having sex with Dylan, a guy she tries dating only it never feels right, she finds herself in a worse state and relies on talking to her English teacher Miss Murray and soon falls deep into an unrequited crush developing into love.

Doubting herself and whom she likes as her parents separate for good filing for divorce and her dad getting a new girlfriend her best friend and her heal their friendship and hit up the gay bar helping Ash decide once and for all her true sexuality and forget the stresses of her A levels coming up.

This is the book everyone doubting their sexuality should read. It was gripping, truthful, shocking and of course relatable as Ash is a normal teen struggling with growing up whilst her parents arguing all the time then divorcing of course affect her. All the issues made the book hook me in especially as she falls for her female teacher which added a while other dynamic to the book. You should totally read this ya book, no matter your age you'll be hooked.

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Whilst her twin, Cassie gets a girlfriend, Molly is left sidelined only to be told by her sister she will find her a boyfriend so she isn't left out.

Molly ends up epically annoyed with her twin and her easy life right now as she herself battles with her feelings towards Reid, whom she works with and Will, a friend.

Add in how our seventeen year old Molly feels being a bigger girl in today's society. Reid is also talking to newly single Olivia, making Molly jealous and also opening her eyes at how she is really deep down feeling.

This book was really good and an honest look at dealing with a crush and emotional feelings. The book also focuses on modern day app Pinterest as reference to a lot of Molly's crafting.

The Art Of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

David secretly dresses up as a girl, he knows he's not actually a he inside. He is a girl born that way in the wrong body. He endures torment from Harry the bully at school who calls her a freak show. Still, Essie and Felix her friends and a couple themselves are always there for her, whatever the issue.

Then David meets Leo, born a girl and now a boy he himself knows the challenges all round the issue of being transgender. The pair face off Harry bullying but Leo has his own issues of navigating the love life unbeknown to him before. Alicia his friend wants more than friendship and wants to go to the Christmas ball together.

But as the pair have found each other at crucial times of their lives who knows what may happen between them as they head off on a specific journey to find someone, together...

A beautiful read about both sides of transgender transitions which is a great twist and highlights this book to be a good influence on the teens hopefully picking it up and becoming more open and accepting towards the issues around the subject.
A book full of inspiring characters for sure.

Skylarks by Karen Gregory

After birthday celebrations at a restaurant for her brother, Jack, Joni first spots Annabel. As Joni learns Annabel has joined the library too to work, the pair get closer forcibly but soon learn they're completely opposite in their way of life.

Joni's family and their home is threatened while Annabel lives in a huge home with plenty of cash for boarding school available, not that Annabel liked boarding school. Both of them may be studying for A Levels, but Joni and her family have a petition to see through about saving their home after her parents have already lost their jobs, but can they get more signatures and involvement with their petition in time?

Joni has experienced being with a girl before while Annabel had never acted upon her feelings. Until now that is.

Unfortunately, by part three I had predicted what was going to happen but it's not to say the story wasn't great at all as it was and went how I wanted it to go sadly! I understand the Skylark was a symbolism of their freedom and love also with how they recreated and became alike them themselves through their actions. Utterly brilliant plot and refreshing to see lesbian relationships unjudged in teen fiction for once too by the characters parents.

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

Like Other Girls by Claire Hennessy

Lauren attends St Agnes's a posh girls school her mum is the head teacher of which causes issue for her as home issues get dragged into school later in the book.

Her old best friend Steph is transgender becoming Evan and through flashbacks to the past and events between herself and Steph show us a whole new side to their relationship as more than friends.

Lauren herself is a cis girl and is a member of a local LGBTQIA group where she makes good friends with Ellie and Steph also used to attend their meet ups until things became awkward between the pair.

In the book we early on see reckless sex and heavy drinking mentioned as she falls in with boyfriend Justin and his friends whom are scum in the language they use about Lauren. Justin is a flake of a boyfriend and coldly cuts her out of his life as she desperately tries to contact him as she suddenly realises she's late and now pregnant.

We see her battle with abortion and where to get one as she lives in Ireland and soon outs a clinic to a newspaper whom blast the story. She also flees to England to seek an abortion over there as her only resort which sees her use devius ways to afford it.

All this time though, she keeps it to herself and confides in no one and starts drinking more and more until she attends therapy and finally opens up to how she truly feels about everything that's happened in her life.

In the upcoming school musical she has to play a man singer which angers her as she watches the other girls get better roles she wished for but she turns the situation around after confiding  in her friends about the newspaper story on abortion not being fair was through her and so the play becomes her own.

This was a hard novel to get into but eventually it picked up after about one hundred pages and more drama was thrown in from the abortion perspective. While a good book with that storyline, I did wish for more with her friends and their love lives as mostly it seemed confusing to keep up and would've preferred it to be a little easier to follow who was what and  with who. I do commend it as a good novel about LGBTQIA issues but for me I need  to possibly read up on the more newer types of sexuality to appreciate it more, the abortion side was well played out as it's real life events still as people fight for abortion to be legal in Ireland and so is doing well raising further awareness in the future generations.

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Ann Peters

When Swanee passes away suddenly of a heart attack, Alix her girlfriend finds it a huge thing to deal with. Reliving memories, like how they met on a school ski trip, Swanees's sister, Jewell sticks around Alix to share memories with her and support her.

When she finds messages left on her girlfriend's phone from an LT, she doesn't know what to do. Half written in English and Spanish, she perseveres and finds herself uncovering a whole other relationship Swanee was having with Liana, a girl whom even believed herself to be in an engagement with her!

From a bad situation however, the two girls bond and enjoy a relationship together combined grief and love from the betrayal they've both suffered.

Both Alix and Swanee's parents are supportive of their relationship and that's such a good thing to include in a YA. The plot was very simple but effective as we see cause and after effects of one person's actions on lives of others. I found Joss to be a bit too dramatic a character in this book as a grieving sister I felt she would mellow a little whilst still harbouring some anger but that didn't happen.

How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Grace has come back from a holiday to find that her mum has uprooted their home and moved in with her latest guy.
But the craziest thing is that her ex boyfriend is now her kind of step brother for however long the relationship plays out for.
Plus his dad is totally over the top in physical affection of her mother, including in front of the teens.

Grace's friend Luca, lives with his mum and they both run and work in their diner. Through Luca, Grace is told of a girl called Eva, her mum has passed away and is coming to stay for a bit with him and his mum.

When Grace later finds herself on a secluded beach, she meets a girl sobbing, sat on the sand eating peanut butter alone. The girl is Eva. Thus ensues a fast turn of events consisting of Eva sneaking into Grace's room at night and hanging out together at the top of the lighthouse.

Throughout the book, we learnt of Grace's mum and the actions she takes being extremely wrong and dangerous to others around her. She seems very switched off in parts yet Grace and Eva are there to help her as they have to be. The two girls have their passions and hopes to achieve their goals of Grace being a Pianist professionally and Eva a ballet dancer professionally just like her mother was.

The book also had strong relationship lines around friendship, lesbian/bisexual characters and teenage behaviour in general.

In this book, I really didn't like the main character's mum, she came across as being trying and needy over attention and her male relations. Some of the things she came out with were a little on the edge of what you should discuss with your daughter in real life anyway. However, we do discover the issues surrounding her character like consuming too much alcohol and excessive intake of it and raising a young baby on your own after her husband died in war and she does face up to it.

Overall it was a great book about finding the true you in career hopes and in love. Thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

You Know Me Well by David Levithan and Nina LaCour

Mark and his best mate/wannabe boyfriend Ryan are two teens who go to gay pride together. While there Mark gets scouted for a modeling company but as he let's loose at the party full of strangers, he sees Kate from school.

Kate is there with Lehna, her best friend as well as June and Uma. Lehna wants to introduce Kate to her cousin Violet another lesbian whom Kate fancies but has never met.

Kate and Mark get talking at the pride and so starts a great friendship between the two as they try and get the love interests each so wants, successfully and unsuccessfully. We see how the two are there to support each other as Mark supports Kate when her artwork starts to get displayed and sold sharing in her joy despite his misery friendship rules.

It was a heart warming and affirming book showing how friendship can blossom unexpectedly and love can be tricky especially young, gay love too but shows how celebrated the gay community is.

All Of The Above by James Dawson

Moving to a new school is hard and here we follow along the journey of Toria as she falls in with the outcast crowd and finds a great mix of friends.

She also gets a boyfriend, Nick, from meeting him at their hang out, a seafront golf course, which is being threatened by the council to be shut down.

Toria and Polly set about getting a petition started and try to gain as many signatures as possible to keep their place open.

In the book, a character passes away, a gay relationship ensues and Toria and Polly find themselves growing closer as Nick's band takes off and he moves to London to pursue his dream.

A story for teenagers coming of age, discovering who they are and experiencing new, different, scary and exciting things with a few low blows along the way. Just like real life.

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley

Set within a Christian camp get together, Lori and Aki set each other the task of having a summer fling.

However, love is never easy and Christian Aki has a big secret to hide about her sexuality, she's bisexual and out to no one. Yet when she meets Christa, her world changes into secret get together and sneaking around, even though a photo circulates briefly of her and Christa and the pressures of keeping their connection secret threatens to be exposed.

Aki and Lori also have a difference of views and do fall out once but make it up after Lori admits what she did was wrong about her and a camp councillor, who's married too and shows the friendship bond in all it's strength and glory.

We learn how much issues matter to Christian groups as well as we see a very serious debate take place about relevant topics to today's society and how they try to do their bit to help make a change in the world to be more accepting and tolerable.

One of the best things about this book is the way it portrays coming out for the first time and having gay sex, an issue not talked about in any teen book I've read before and it's eye opening to see the way it's talked about openly which is a much positive thing to accepting others and involving everyone in being educated to create more understanding. I loved this book and believe the frankness and openness of the language is key and engaging, an essential read of the LGBTQIA fiction for teens out there!

Definitions Of Indefinable Things by Whitney Taylor

A chemist's is never usually exciting, but these two characters spark up talking to each other after both realising they have similar medications, for clinical depression.

Reggie, real name Regina, lives with her religious mum and her dad who goes with what her mum says. Her mum doesn't seem to understand fully the concept of Reggie's depression which we learn is down to two close people in her life leaving her.

Snake, a young guy who's so relaxed about every situation normally isn't now in the best situation at all. He's just met Reggie and yet his ex girlfriend Clara and school queen bee is seven months pregnant with his baby and yet it was down to a drunken accident and not a loving relationship unlike he feels for Reggie.

I loved the way that Reggie and Snake interacted by using teasing insults towards each other and because they both have an alternative style and different family make up's. I liked the fact that having two mum's was brought up as so far this is their first book I have read with this particular part of the storyline. I also appreciated that in this teen pregnancy story, the teens aren't breaking down or arguing but are accepting of the situation they have been dealt with. It was a refreshing and yet humorous read which made me want to keep on reading.

Thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book!

Girl hearts Girl by Lucy Sutcliffe

Picking this book up at first, was due purely to the colourful imagery on the cover and then the title, I noticed was different to others I've read before as the book is titled girl heart girl and I found out, written by young YouTube Lucy who writes her memoir detailing her coming to terms with her sexuality and finding her girlfriend online.

The couple in real life were still together at the time of Lucy writing and are currently not together although they have a huge following on YouTube I have since discovered.

This book starts out with Lucy depicting the scene of her living in England growing up in Oxfordshire, moving to Plymouth to undertake her film degree and finding her way through all the scenes modern teenagers go through first, high school and dealing with sexuality, whether you like someone or not, dealing with homophobic people in her life and coming out to first her friends, then parents and family.

The memoir is also different in the way a young couple meet through online blog site Tumblr. A bit like a modern fairy tale as what fifteen year old doesn't use the internet!

This book will make you commiserate with the young Lucy, laugh and feel like you are a witness to the actions that have happened so far in her young life.

Simply unput downable, a pleasurable read from cover to cover!