Goodbye Perfect by Sara Barnard

When perfect student Bonnie goes missing no one least of all her best friend Eden, expects her to have fun off with Mr Cohn, her music teacher! She called him 'Jack', so Eden assumed he was their age despite her acting so secretive over it.

Growing up in care, Eden's life has been turbulent but with steady friend Bonnie vanishing she experiences anger, jealousy and despair over wanting her back, over her friends selfishness at how she's treating her caring family, something she never naturally had.

However, through all this, Carolyn her adoptive mum and her biological daughter Valerie, Get a bit closer to the family Eden has craved after for so long. As well as Connor her steady boyfriend helping in any way he can being supportive and devoted to helping her.

The only twist is all along since Bonnie ran off, Eden has been getting texts from her telling her about where they are and going to. But Eden can't cope and eventually the weight of knowledge gets too much...

Set over a dramatic week when taking GCSES plus a flash forward to August results day, we see how grooming works from the point of an outsider and not one of the couple involved.
It was a dramatic read but the ending didn't satisfy me completely as we don't find out what specifically he got charged with, how Bonnie is doing and how she coped in the time following the couple's split.

Overall, it was alike Anne Cassidy's books and it did keep me entranced to read on and on.

A Quiet Kind Of Thunder by Sara Barnard

Stefanie, or Steffi is a girl whom suffers with anxiety, introversion and selective mutism in her first year of sixth form. We know she likes to read and keep to herself from the start and is seen as invisible by other pupils until she is paired up with new student Rhys, who is deaf but Steffi and Rhys can communicate by sign language and feel comfortable in each other's company unlike the the other student's who haven't been able to really connect with Steffi at all apart from Tem.

Steffi's best friend September or Tem, who is a passionate runner and has grown up like a sister to Steffi as their lives have been interwoven by Steffi's mum helping Tem's family live safely from a refugee crisis center.

Over the course of the novel, we see the challenges sufferers of both conditions face day to day. We also see parental concern over Steffi wanting to go to university to study whilst her mum worries she won't talk to anyone and end up in a more anxious state. There is also the fact that her step brother died and he went off to university meaning he didn't see much of them at times and her dad and Lucy, his new wife missed out on some extra time with him.

The novel was super cute but also very realistic to teenage dating whether it be between Tem and Karam being one sensible, set on a path of dedicated education and one up for a party whilst pondering their future career still. Or, the situation between Steffi and Rhys, especially when want to prove to their families they can go away together on holiday safely which causes lots of concern's and conflict.

Overall, I think Steffi and Rhys are great! They gel throughout everything they go through even the few disagreements can't break these two but they do need to learn they're not burdens to each other as they each believe! We see how they both actually save each other towards the final part of the book and it was done heart stoppingly well, prepare yourselves!