Death In The Spotlight by Robin Stevens

Daisy and Hazel are back this time in London with Daisy's uncle and find themselves starring in a real London theatre play where of course death strikes once again...

Being cast in Romeo and Juliet, meeting up again with the Junior Pinkertons and a dreadful flu striking the cast down as well as murders behind and in the spotlight it's a more widespread murder mystery case as we see the girls investigate in London.

With Daisy realising how she feels with her sexuality and a fellow cast member, Simon being not only American but gay as well, it raises the big topic of how back years ago it was illegal and forbidden by law and was a prison sentence!

The girls are growing up and it's delightful to see their maturing through the novels and feel like we're growing with them! The mystery wasn't my favourite of the series but it was still a tale full of twists and turns to surprise you nonetheless and the murderer wasn't a simple guess this time either!

Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

Nadia catches the London tube train on which she notices handsome model like Daniel.

Daniel is in love, he thinks, with Nadia. Having a hard time after losing his dad he puts an advert in the paper asking the cute girl from the train for a drink.

Emma and Gaby, her best friends encourage Nadia assuming it's got to be her, she matches the description perfectly she also has her friend Naomi whom also encourage her to write back.

After some back and forth across the Missed Connection page, the pair arrange to meet up never giving names or numbers just agreeing times and places only of course things don't go to plan!

After a revelation about her best friends, Nadia comes to terms with her feelings about Eddie a guy she meets while Daniel has to stand up Nadia as his mum breaks down about the loss of her husband.

After chance near meetings throughout the novel its at a Romeo and Juliet event they finally feel a spark...

The ending is so romantic and lovely, a dream for a couple to meet just imagine!

This book is such a step out there a chance meeting at love on a train sounds so random but it actually happened for my auntie and uncle when they were sixteen which made me want to pick this book up after we just lost said auntie. I think she'd love this book like I did, the relationship that develops after so many near misses makes them even stronger in my opinion as it's like they were being pushed together from the world it was so funny that way. I liked the random LGBTQ relationship that develops though I figured it pretty quickly when the story progresses. I really did love the book, it captured my heart and you wouldn't regret picking this one up.

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

Rosie Loves Jack by Mel Darbon

In this book, we meet Rosie a girl with Downs syndrome whom is in love with her boyfriend Jack. The only trouble is her dad who wants them to split up as Jack has anger issues due to his head being hurt as a baby.

So when Jack gets sent away to deal with his anger, he writes to Rosie via postcards her dad hides away but she discovers.

Using her initiative and wanting to be with Jack, Rosie plans with her friend Lou's help, a way to get to Brighton and sets off with her bag of belongings including her birthday money to fund her trip.

Only things don't go to plan and she finds herself encountering kind strangers, new friends, kind mum's, then a darker world of secret work and the dangers it can lead you into to, especially when you can't escape...

Rosie is determined, brave and severely in love. This book was amazingly bold and daring whilst it captivated me from the start with the unique collision of characters and plot. We go on a journey with a smart protagonist proving her parents she able to do things and not giving up on love especially.

An absolutely astounding debut from a brand new author in YA!

A Room Full Of Chocolate by Jane Elson

When ten year old Grace gets sent to stay with her granddad after her parents split and her mum fights cancer. Though Grace always tries to block out any thought that she has surrounding cancer As she tries to put it to the back of her mind.

As she stays with her granddad though, she discovers her mum's old childhood best friend Allie along with her daughter, Megan still live by them in the same house after her granddad sent his daughter away to school so As to split Allie and Grace's mum Chloe up. Granddad then tries to do that now too with Grace and Megan as he deems Megan a bad influence.

Megan is a wild free spirit even with a pet pig who sticks up for Grace at their school though As Grace gets bullies by Lucy and her group causing physical harm to Grace as well as sending her horrid texts.

As they plan to run away back to London from their trip to York, they enlist the help of some boys on a school trip there too only their coach is too down to london, as they leave the boys Mitchell and Grace exchange numbers bonded by their shared sadness over their mums. There's also the case of keeping their travelling pig a secret too!

I loved this book, a contrast to typical modern day life we get to experience country life on a farm as well as the struggles of being a child and having to cope with a seriously ill mother no matter how much you try to block it all out of your mind. We see the joys of friendship and family even in bitter circumstances and of course the joy of animals! The writing was serious but fun too as Megan helps Grace to cope with her changing life.

Mind The Gap by Phil Earle

When his best friend Mikey's dad, Vinny dies, we witness one boy's efforts he goes to to help his best mate get over and handle the death better than fighting with their estate's gangster, Trev.
Travelling all cross London we encounter people who didn't like Vinny at all by the end of his life unfortunately, as he was a failed big time actor who never got a big break. Meanwhile, Mikey's mum is a drunk and seems uninterested in her son's life.

Inevitability seems to pull Mikey to the underground not just to find his best friend but there he finds something he needed more than anything.

As death can effect us all in different ways, here we witness the anger and frustration after a close death coming out of Mikey showing how not processing it can hold you back as he just wants a reminder of his dad.

A short to the point read about death and it's aftermath, inspired by a real story which sounds fascinating too.

The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

When Hadley misses her flight to London by four minutes, she is stuck having to wait to fly out to London for her father's wedding till the day it's happening on! Hadley isn't looking forward to the wedding after her dad abandoned her and her mum in America for new step mum to be, Charlotte in Oxford, England.

What she doesn't expect is to get to know a boy, Oliver she meets in the airport and find he's going to be sitting on her row on the same flight and is also heading to England for an event too.

Over their shared flight they talk and get to know each other better but soon after landing go their parted ways only to feel the pull between them and end up meeting the other again at each of their separate functions.

As Hadley experiences her first love it seems she may come around to the idea of her dad moving on and she may be okay with the idea at last.

I loved the concept of falling in love with someone in twenty four hours however far fetched it seems it was a cute story that kept me interested in what would happen to the youngsters!

Playlist For A Broken Heart by Cathy Cassidy

Used to the rich life of private school and mansion home in Richmond, London, nothing prepares Paige for just what is about to happen to her life.

She finds herself out of the play she desperately wanted to star in, playing Juliet opposite her Romeo, Alex and instead moving to Bath to live with her mum, dad, aunt, uncle and their three young sons, Tasmin their daughter whom she finds herself sharing a room with and their cat and dog.

When her aunt buys her a CD from a charity shop she's intrigued, the bands are local and their songs are summing up her life right now perfectly. She plans along with cousin Tasmin and her best friend, Clover, to track down the mystery boy who made this mix and resolve the case of who made the CD that knows her so well.

Of course, in the story her best friend from back in Richmond Allegra visits along with Alex and they come for the music festival happening and too see the flat that eventually her family moves into and makes their new home whilst her mum works in a school office with her sister and her dad sets up his new business. This book was a great fast read and perfectly makes you believe that love can bloom out of any situation no matter how bad things seem. I loved the mystery and how well the girls jelled overall by the end of the book, they truly needed each other family and friendship wise and the final conclusion to whom exactly the mystery boy is was great too and made me feel like Paige was going to be with the guy for a long time.