Playgroups And Prosecco by Jo Middleton

In this fun debut all about handling motherhood day by day through insightful diary entries from single mum, Frankie we see how she handles her teenage daughter Flo, lively three year old Jess and the tasks of playgroup, mother group meetings with her friends Louise and Sierra as well as the trials and tribulations of giving online dating a go, disasters and demands a plenty on the men's part!

She has to contend with useless ex Can getting in touch out of the blue, finding a job which fits around childcare but suits her too and fixing her friendship with Jess's dad her best friend after they ended their marriage mutually.

This book had some hilarious moments which were unbelievable but also down to earth moments which were truthful as I too as a kid did some of the play activities Jess does from soft play, learning to swim and the joys of Barbie and Lego playing too. The mum's were a cool group do I their best and Frankie was a realistic mum, they all have a biscuit habit and love wine, to me they do anyway!

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

Butter by Erin Lange

Nicknamed by school bullies after there was an incident involving butter, our protagonists nickname became Butter.

He plans to eat himself to death and posts online on a website he creates advertising his upcoming last meal. It's through this that the popular group at school start to befriend him and take him under their wing.

Butter also likes Anna, a girl whom can't see him for who he is as they talk online anonymously all the time making Butter fall for her more but in real life she has no idea it's him she's really talking to online...

As he battles with his feelings over friends, weight, food and family we see how it all results in his 'last meal' as he feels lost in life...

A touching book showing how deep out feelings can effect the world around us and the way we see things too. It was especially touching in how he feels alone and only included when expected to kill himself and shows how dangerous the wrong attention and influences can be.

Editing Emma by Chloe Seager

Comprised of internet posts day to day over September and October, as a form of online diary blog after her boyfriend Leon ghosts her, we follow Emma as she tries to move on. She starts to date Greg as Leon dates Anna or 'Apple ' and follow her life as shecopes with friendship drama and her private blog being made public knowledge!

We also see her friend Faith struggle to come out to her parents, Gracie and Emma falling out, Steph being on hand to try and help Emma move on with someone new and witness the antics of her wild mother trying to date and even including attending dance classes with her!

Grace, Steph and Faith are a typical friendship group as they help each other with coming out, dealing with break ups and generally cheering each other on as they negotiate school. Reminiscent of Georgia Nicholson, these teens are the modern version as they rely on the internet and social media to be in the loop and connected at all times. The book has a great plot showing the dangers and benefits of online and is a great slice of teen fiction.

Friendship Fails Of Emma Nash by Chloe Seager

Picking up from where book one of Emma's life and blog stopped, we catch up with Emma, Steph, Gracie and Faith as Emma keeps up her new blog and comes without Leon or Greg and comes to terms with Steph dating Andy, Gracie's brother!

As she tries to befriend other girls in her year whilst also cope with Matrix boy and Charlie, a friend whom she knows through him also being a keen designer and being a friend of Leon's too.
We see how Emma and Steph have to reform their friendship dynamic as Emma struggles when Steph has less time to hang out a lot with her.

Emma Nash is a more modern version of Georgia Nicholson with more social media influence and of course still the boy drama! A relatable teen, Emma is a great example of a modern typical teen girl. Chloe captures the teen voice expertly as Emma deals with relationship troubles and friendships too as new boundaries are forged as her friend gets a boyfriend and we see how Emma deals with it.

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

Lorali by Laura Dockrill

This book is about mermaid Lorali whom winds up on a beach in Hastings naked with legs after finding out from her mum Queen Keppel about her real father, leading her to reject the sea. She gets found by Rory whose supposed to be celebrating his birthday but instead sets about helping the girl he found and takes her to hide by his home.

His best mate Flynn's grandfather knows about mer folk and knew Lorali's heritage thanks to his love of antiques and history.

As the mer folk led by Queen Keppel send Opal to the human or walkers land to help campaign for the return of their princess, they tell the walkers of their existence shocking them especially when their children come at risk.

Then Lorali gets taken from Rory as his other best friend betrays him as he teams up with the pirates after Lorali. However, Lorali is taken by the Cavities and so the Cavities vs pirates fight ensues.

Overall I enjoyed the book.
Told from a split perspective of Lorali, Rory, the sea personified or another story character I really liked the idea of a mermaids story being told as a tapestry on their tails. I do however have a hard time getting into fantasy fiction books and did find it a hard slog to get through but from persevering, I feel it was worth it. I would have liked there to be a more developed base plot line about Lorali ending up on the beach and what she planned on doing though and I wouldn't think she'd be willing to wander off with any human the way her mer folk spoke of them, surely she would be felt more uneasy.

A sparkling tale of history and fantasy.

What's A Girl Gotta Do? By Holly Bourne

Lottie is having a hard time, her hippie parents are pushing her to attend Cambridge or Oxford so she can follow her dream of being prime minister which is great until they want her to stop the spinster club!

Whilst the spinster club is thriving and helping her immensely after she faces sexual harassment every morning walking by some pervy builders who feel it's okay to catcall her and make comments I'm glad to say she sticks it to them well and stuffs them good and proper.

As Lottie and Will get closer, hanging out more and teasing each other tons soon they find themselves facing facts that they like each other more than friends when an argument fires their passion...

It was great to read the next spinster club installment but I do think it could have been shorter as there was more on feminism issues as is Lottie and the girl's passion which obviously isn't a bad thing, however the book did feel like a bit of a trawl through and not as great as the two before it unfortunately.

Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais

Mireille is used to winning the top award for being ugly, started by her ex friend from school, Malo.

As she discovers this years ranking, falling short of winning gold, she befriends Astrid and Hakima whom become quick friends to her.

They all have a reason to get to Paris by July 14th, as on that date, Mireille's real but secret father the president's husband is part of a party of which Hakima's brother whom is an ex soldier who's lost his legs in the war, wants to raise awareness of his inquiry into events that happened out at war.

The girls all use Mireille's bike's and borrow a trailer to use to sell sausages to fund their trip as they gogo, united by their love of good food.

As they venture on, more publicity builds from stalking reporters to more social media roar about them and their journey.

Malo also surfaces along the way and causes hassle and they also experience new things from parties with alcohol to getting your first period and making memories and lasting friends or sisters.

I loved Mireille's sarcasm and humour she was a vibrant, witty and unforgettable character from the start of the book and really knew how to handle any situation thrown at them, I also loved how she called Kader, her crush 'the sun' as he's so hot to her, truly relatable to teen girls with a huge crush! The story itself had such deep meaning behind their quest as they set out to prove ugly girls are great girls and looks aren't everything as they raise money for a good cause and do it together having fun and making memories. Meanwhile the vibe of the book being about breaking standards of beauty set in schools and by society as we harshly judge each other is so true and relevant now Clementine did a great job with!

Almost Adulting by Arden Rose

Arden is a popular YouTube personality which is of course, why I picked up her book.

The book is full of different story's and lessons which we can all learn from as we read. From sex to moving out young or even handling a close ones illness, we can appreciate how one young person handled the situations we also may be faced with. I also feel like younger readers will be able to take some strength from the book's part about body image. In a society where body image is so changeable and pressurized, Arden reminds us that it's perfectly fine to just be your own you and not someone's imagined version of you!

The book was hilarious yet serious in all the right places and we really got a feel for her life experiences so far. It shows that not even the most popular online personality's get away from situation's unscathed and a lot of us have bad experience's growing up. Let's all enjoy Arden's book and commiserate of the bad and laugh at the great together!

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.

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Noah and Jude are twins who were extremely close until their mum dies suddenly one day. After the event Noah hides some serious secrets from his family about his mum which ends up causing more pain until Jude breaks through to Noah later but will she understand why he hid the information from her?

The book is very art heavy and the flashbacks to past events aren't made clear. At least, not on my kindle version. I kept getting confused reading it but the base of the novel around Noah's guilt was always present as was the issue about his sexuality.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Andrew has tried to commit suicide previously and we soon learn why, better known as Amanda now and returning to live with her father and leave her supportive mother behind where they had set up a new life, Amanda wants her dad to be a part of her life now she can live as her true self.

We soon learn of the torment Amanda was put through before and early on during her transition at her school and now she feels at a new school she will be accepted, even if she came out as transgender.

At the new college, she makes friends with a group of girls, including a bisexual girl, attracts the attention of Grant whom becomes her boyfriend much to the annoyance of Parker who also seemingly likes her.

After confiding in Bea her secret of her past, she betrays her in the biggest way outing not only her secret but others too, publicly she is then left in a dangerous situation with Parker and return's home to her mum feeling unsafe. Though she later proves her strength in herself as she faces up to events.

This book is raw and open about the struggles many transgender people widely across the world unfortunately still have to face. Amanda shows the hope I wish all transgender people to have as people grow more accepting.

Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls by Lynn Weingarten

What a book, I was very intrigued to read this one so much since it has been so popular I thought I'd give it a read too, as usual and it didn't disappoint though it was a bit odd in places.

When Delia 'dies' suddenly, Julie's life takes a turn to trying to find out the truth surrounding her old friends death. Originally deemed as suicide, as a note is found as well as the circumstances she supposedly died in are her worst fear, fire.

Julie takes it upon herself to discover just what happened, this is where her boyfriend, Delia's boyfriend and stepfather become suspects to Julie for playing a part in Delia's death somehow.
There's also the fact that the voicemail left to Julie sparked her trying to find out what happened and somehow led off to everything that happens.

It started off better but unfortunately to me seemed to get worse as it went on in a lot of area's. I will say that I did like the twist at the end and a huge twist surrounding the Delia suicide mystery as well.