The Prison Doctor by Dr Amanda Brown

Amanda Brown was a regular loved GP in her area until a change at the practice led her to a job in a youth prison for boys aged 15-18 firstly which taught her a lot.

From diabetic patients, severe suicide attempts, young men who grew up in care and feeling lonely without a mother's love and also winning round the prison governor too Amanda has had to prove her worth as a doctor which is obvious she did her job extremely well and was a genuinely caring and interested person in all their lives, making them mostly feel at ease and show their more human side of emotions not a hard prison face all the time.

Amanda describes her life working most recently in a women's prison too where a lot of her patients have been subject to abuse, rape, violence at home etc feeling safer in prison though some have become addicted to drugs making it harder for them to get control of their lives completely. In a really open look into life working in many prisons it gave us an exclusive look into what working in that environment must be like.

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

Rules Of The Ruff by Heidi Lang

Jessie is staying with her aunt, uncle and cousin Ann where she's left out and bored. she does make a friend in soccer playing Max but they get off to a rough start as he assumes she's a bit for a start!

she has always wanted her own dog but after her mum passed away, never again touched the subject with her father.
When she meets local dog walker Wes, she manages to convince him to let her be his apprentice and she has to learn his rules of the ruff, all about dog walking, handling and getting used to them all.

Then they discover a new dog walker is taking clients they had from them! The woman she is shocked to find out knows Max and that makes it so much worse as the walk wars is on. Meanwhile Ann's friend Loralee is stealing Max away just like she stole Ann from her and Jessie is out for revenge with Wes against their dog walker stealing newcomer.

Wes also has to deal with his relationship with his ex wife and dog owners which come to involve Jessie too when their plan to sabotage Monique the other dog walker goes a bit extreme and finds out Ann hasn't completely changed as she helps her against Max and Loralee.

The responsibilities of pet ownership come as a welcome theme as many believe pets are easy to keep and look after but none are and children can learn that with this book as well as the way friendship has no barrier, age or gender wise. I really love the book and if you know a child who is dog mad, they would enjoy this one I'm sure.

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

A Boy Called Ocean by Chris Higgins

Jen, Ellie, Macca and Kai are all supposed to be meeting at the beach and hanging out.

Kai wants to have a nice date with Jen at the beach front cafe where he plans to ask her to be his girlfriend. She doesn't know of the impending date but goes to meet him at the cafe only to learn he needs to work late now thanks to his boss.

Ellie persuades Jem to stay out with her and Macca and Jay on the beach but Kai sees and gets angry lashing out at customers and breaking cafe property which he then gets fired from and storms off, the grab Macca's surfboard and plunge into the sea...

As Jen stays out with Macca, Ellie reads the situation wrong assuming that Men fancies him now which upsets her deeply as she likes Macca.

The Jem discovers Kai isn't home, that's why he hasn't answered her calls or texts, no one knows where he is, so lifeboats are launched and a rescue operation over a underway to rescue him before it's too late...

As kai is stranded we learn of the domestic abuse his mother suffered and why they escaped to Cornwall, originally they loved Cornwall thanks to the stories she used to tell Kai about mermaids. His thoughts about Jen all keep him going while stranded at sea and when he sees a seal and realises it's not a dangerous shark, he feels comforted even if the seal can't help him.

He wants his future and holds onto his life as best he can while stranded out at sea. Jen, the girl he cares for so much is highly anxious and impatient awaiting news of him as lifeboats and helicopters get deployed and shows how a big scale rescue goes down whether fiction or real life it's awe inspiring the life saving work they do all year, all day round. There's also a final addition at the end of the book with Kai's mum talking about why she left Kai's father and her possible probable postnatal depression which caused her to rely on alcohol.

The issues around safety in the sea are issues which should be raised more in teens and children's fiction in my opinion but at least they are in this stunning book, much praise to Chris for this!

It was a gripping read that leaves your heart skipping beats in anticipation.

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

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella

Demeter may be the boss at her work but no one likes her and they all moan about her behind her back. When she makes Cat dye her hair and doesn't have the courtesy to listen to her ideas for company projects.

Then Alex turns up, a client for adult toys like drones and enlists Cat's help as Demeter is stuck with hair dye all over her. As Cat find's out what a big deal his family is in business, she can't believe he's interested in meeting up with her.

However, she uncovers Demeter and Alex previously were together whilst she gets sacked by her as well resulting in her reluctantly going home to help her dad and step mum run their glamping business as it begins to flourish.

Then Demeter turns up there on holiday... let the revenge commence!

She comes to realize Demeter's life isn't perfect and her image on Instagram changes to the title in honor of Cat's life now with that new perspective.

I really like Sophie's books and own all of them but this one isn't my favourite unfortunately as I found myself waning in concentration throughout reading it as it wasn't as gripping as her previous novel's. I think it is just me not really able to immerse myself into the story enough and still did enjoy the more dramatic parts of the book.

It won't make me not read her future books in any way and I still love her work!