Owen And The Soldier by Lisa Thompson

Owen likes to visit the local memorial garden where he talks to a stone soldier statue after losing his dad and his mum becoming withdrawn and depressed.

So when he learns the garden is to be changed and the soldier gotten rid of, an opportunity at school to speak up and tell the council and everyone how he feels may help change their minds.

He also gets the chance to get help for his mum's grief and depression as well as make a friend himself in Megan.

A powerful story about a boy channelling his grief and finding a cause to move forward and fight/live for to make his dad proud.

Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

The Ouija board brings up a lot towards the plot and all the snippets spoken are enough to lead us to various scenario's which lay ahead for us.

Rebecca had a terrible accident. She fell down the cliff around their house and broke her leg, thus freezing to her death as it had snowed. The story surrounding Rebecca's death is very intricate and woven into the whole story right from the start of the book, she had an obsession with an old folk ballad about a girl called Charlotte whom froze to death and Rebecca collected the dolls of her after she found them in the basement of their home they now live in.

They were previously owned by the Edwardian school children and one of their girls died from the window, falling.

In this creepy thriller horror story we witnessing how unpredictable dolls can be when they come to life and have their own minds of was a gripping tale which was suspenseful and shocking and I'd love to see this as a film one day!

The Benefits Of Being An Octopus by Ann Braden

Zoey is the eldest of her mum's children and since learning about octopuses from an old documentary she watched figures she could do with being one as she has to run around her siblings, Hector, Bryce and Aurora whilst their mum works.

They all live in a trailer park with Lenny, Hector's dad and their mum where they struggle for money as her mum's a waitress. Kenny is quite scathing towards their mum especially as he knows she works with Connor, a kind man at the pizza parlour she works in whom likes Zoey and the other kids.

Zoey has just started middle school with Fuchsia her friend where she learns about a debate team and her teacher insists on her taking part. Whilst in school shots are fired outside, a gunman whom Zoey later realises she knew of as he knows Fuchsia.

Neither girls home lives are secure it stable, happy ones and so each girl asks their mum about an idea they have to leave the controlling father figures in their lives well away from them but instead all survive together. They just need to speak up and out to the police and courts, if they can persuade them that is...

The book raises the issue of domestic abuse and all the spectrum of can occur from physical threats and acts to emotional abuse verbally and trying to control a person. We see how it impacts the whole family and Zoey has a lot to cope with hence her feeling comforted by her octopus passion as she knows how she could do with enough arms to do everything she has to do but envy them as they don't have to juggle school work or look after their siblings.  It was nice to see she found debate club a way for some own time and be able to connect more with other students while developing a passion.

Raw and intense look at life as a grown up but while still being a child yourself.

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

Secret Suffragette by Barbara Mitchelhill

When close to her family home the suffragettes appear fighting for women's rights, Daisy knows she's interested in joining and helping out even though folk around don't like them, mostly the men who feel like her dad to her mum that they won't and should control their wives.

However after her mum loses her job she gets up the fight to campaign harder despite the consequences after trying to get better working conditions which angers her husband and forces him to throw out their mum and move in their horrible auntie.

Daisy sticks by her mum and helps her right for women's rights despite being so young and shocked by the actions she sees the women doing around her. A courageous young girl, Daisy is a good role model of a strong girl who knows what she believes in and it was a thrilling read about an interesting time in history.

That's Not What Happened by Kody Kepplinger

Leanne lost her friend Sarah at school during a massacre when a male sixteen year old opened fire killing nine students. Only now Leanne is setting the record straight and has discovered the truth about what happened by getting the survivors and her now friends to write their account of the day's events in letter form.

Eden a gay girl, Miles a troublemaker and Denny, a blind student with a guide dog Labrador called Glitter also witnessed the attack as well as Kellie a goth girl, from in the bathroom where Sarah the so called religious girl was killed too with Leanne her best friend witnessing it all happen.

I liked the book featuring a mix of disabled and asexual characters as it's against the normal seen in young adult never too often. The aspect of a shooter as a sixteen year old in a place of legal gun use too was interesting and showed a further element of mystery about the shooter into the mix though I was disappointed in how little we see his story and whether he was known to all the group. It felt truly authentic and horrific alike when a real American shooting has taken place sadly and I'm glad it was fiction and not fact for once. It was a greatly emotional and moving story especially in a time where acts like this can be committed at any time it seems.

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

Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill

Freida isn't the most popular of the girls, but her friend of now drifting from friend, Isabel used to be ranked number one in this book all about being the best and most desirable girl manufactured in order to be chosen by a man.

These girls are made specially for the men, carefully designed and kept until one day their men arrive and select them to begin a life with where they need to produce only sons and never daughters as all women are manufactured. If they can't be a companion, the girls are either destined to be a chastity at the school or a concubine forever or even worse, underground experiments.

Megan is now the most popular girl ranked at the top out of all their year and despite Isabel, Frieda's old best friend only ever wanting to be on top, she soon battles with her weight which is heavily discussed in this book by all the girls as they criticise each other hardcore as they need to be perfect to the men. There is also more than meets the eye as we learn later on as to why Isabel distances herself and struggles to cope in some ways.

As the boys begin their visits to the school to spend time with potential partners, Freida feels honoured to be Darwin's choice many times as he's the best ranked number one, however Megan isn't happy about this at all but when Freida tries to hard to be accepted, the best and gives in to her feelings she ends up paying the price in the end.

This book is brutal and vain but in a great way, a bit triggering for anyone with an eating disorder  I feel but besides that it was an intriguing storyline and essential looking at real life Barbie or Brats being made in the way the girls are spoken about in the book. It was very honest in topics discussed from sex, marriage and the girls relationships with their bodies which portrays they were more human like in attitude than brainwashed into set ways of thinking though they did have rules to follow for the so called ideal life to be theirs.theirs