My Brother's Name Is Jessica by John Boyne

In this book Sam idolizes his older brother Jason a talented footballer and the two have a close sibling bond as their parents don't have a lot of time for them as they work for the government in parliament.

However, growing up Jason comes out one day to the family with his secret. His parents react badly thinking it's a silly phase while
Sam is curious and doesn't care just wanting Jason to be happy again especially as Jason gets bullied at school for his girly longer hair, scrunchie and scarf he wears despite comments and bullying.

Can the family survive the truth from Jessica?

Showing bravely how coming out can make it break a family and the stress and upset it can initially cause this was a brave and bold read which I hope will open people's eyes to how coming out is a massive huge deal to admit who they really truly are.

Birthday by Meredith Russo

Eric and Morgan have known each other since they were born and always spend their brithday toegther.

However when Morgan loses her mum, she shuts off from the word after trying and failing to come out to her friend about really being a girl, trapped in seemingly a boy's body and tha she's actually transgender.

As they grown up, we see how they both question their sexuality over thoughts they have for the other, how they feel attracted to each other and especially how they deal with girls who they encounter.

There's a heavy aspect of homophobia bought up too as in their small town, many of the football players speak horrifically about gay people and especially Eric's dad is a very cruel man pushing his family away and seemingly only caring about how rich he can be, a fickle bitter man indeed.

Morgan was a brave and strong character throughout even if I was screaming when little young Morgan wasn't heard coming out about her true self when she was with Eric for their first birthday mentioned in the book!

I really enjoyed this book, not only for the transgender topic being handled and executed so well but the eighteen year development of a loving relationship, the pair truly were made for each other and this book's ending is movie style for sure this should be adapted and be a Netflix craze for all to see!

George by Alex Gino

In this book we meet George whom knows he's in fact a girl and so is transgender wanting to be her true self Melissa.

As she struggles with how to tell her closet people, her mum, brother Scott, best friend Kelly etc she also wants to play Charlotte in the play their school is putting on of Charlotte's Web.

However dealing with school bullies and hiding her girl magazines at home mean that soon enough things come to a head with the help of Kelly opening show night could be the turning point of her life she craves...

A perfect short story about being your true self despite whatever you may be faced with you must be true to your heart and that point is made perfectly clear even when challenged by her mum.

Love Is Love by Mette Bach

Emmy is dating Ty, a guy her friends Tiana and Michelle along with her mum and subsequently her stepfather, don't approve of because of him being bad news. Emmy can't take their criticism anymore and decides to stay with her aunt, cousin and uncle, back in Vancouver where her dad was previously before he passed away.

Whilst out there, she unexpectedly finds herself falling for Jude a transgender man whom she met briefly years before by her cousin Paige when he was still Judy.

The two's relationship develops through shared interests of creative subjects from music to poetry and acceptance of each other showing they are creative and open minded individuals.

Through the book we see Emmy struggle and compares herself to Paige and other women around Jude, feeling inadequate because of being the bigger girl and comfort eating away her emotions instead of helping herself feel better in other ways as she learns to bike around as she can't drive around for example and use that as a stress reliever.

Emmy also had a complicated background with her dad and her uncle gives her old notebooks of his along with telling her about his love of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana hinting that maybe her dad's drinking was to do with depression possibly.

The book dealt with complex issues surrounding Emmy and her friend's lives. It was a great read and appreciative of all people and a celebration of acceptance.

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

Proud by Various and Juno Dawson

One of the most hyped up teen books is finally here and I'm so excited and not just because it's put together alongside Juno Dawson!

Written by various authors the stories gathered in the book focus of different aspects of LGBTQ+ issues that they may face.

Simon James Green focuses on a gay penguin couple and two guys realising their feelings at prom.

Kay Staples features a Travelodge near Leicester, my hometown of all places! Where two guys find themselves hiding out at to discover their romance after a big lottery win as one of them tries to figure out if they're really a girl or just a boy who's into dresses and make up etc

David Levithan focuses on a choir singing Katy Perry as two boys feelings are growing for each other and look for acceptance from their families.

While Tanya Byrne focuses on Orla a teen coming to understand her sexual preference and how she falls for a girl, Reeba and also touches on death and grief.

Michael Lee Richardson focuses on a football team and their inclusivity of LGBTQ community members. As the main character is transgender and gay too. With a crush on a fellow team mate. The issue of using a binder is also talked about briefly which is refreshing to read as it's hardly ever mentioned.

Karen Lawlor focuses on a group of frenemies after Darcy is overheard being mean about our main character, Lizzie's best friend. However the two girls face conflict and discovery about their true feelings towards each other...

Jess Vallance focuses on the life of seventeen year old learner driver Lucy as she comes to realise her true feelings towards her friend, Fizzy.

The anthology does include also poems and fantasy themes based stories too of which just weren't my natural preference from this collective book.

Over all this is a powerful collaboration and celebration for the talented LGBTQ+ community involved in or set to read this beauty of a book purely based on the inclusivity and understanding of issues faced by the members of their community. It was heart warming, emotion tugging, fun, realistic and eye opening and everyone can take something away from this book of not just to be proud of ourselves.

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

The Pants Project by Cat Clarke

Liv's just started middle school but is hiding a secret deep down, she knows she's a boy, transgender and hates the school's uniform being sexist that girls have to wear skirts not trousers.

This spurs her on to petition and make a change along with the support of best friends Maisie and Jacob who's own battle is with hyper mobility syndrome while Jade the school bully has her own fun with the situation while the school head has a meltdown when the petition campaign makes the local news!

Her two moms and her brother all accept her for who she truly is as she eventually works up the courage to be the real him and brave coming out in the open about his feelings deep down.

A raw and emotional book about a transgender teen fighting for their belief's and taking a stand. I enjoyed this book and found it interesting with all the history through childhood memories we got to relive as he dealt with his feelings growing up.

The Art Of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

David secretly dresses up as a girl, he knows he's not actually a he inside. He is a girl born that way in the wrong body. He endures torment from Harry the bully at school who calls her a freak show. Still, Essie and Felix her friends and a couple themselves are always there for her, whatever the issue.

Then David meets Leo, born a girl and now a boy he himself knows the challenges all round the issue of being transgender. The pair face off Harry bullying but Leo has his own issues of navigating the love life unbeknown to him before. Alicia his friend wants more than friendship and wants to go to the Christmas ball together.

But as the pair have found each other at crucial times of their lives who knows what may happen between them as they head off on a specific journey to find someone, together...

A beautiful read about both sides of transgender transitions which is a great twist and highlights this book to be a good influence on the teens hopefully picking it up and becoming more open and accepting towards the issues around the subject.
A book full of inspiring characters for sure.

Like Other Girls by Claire Hennessy

Lauren attends St Agnes's a posh girls school her mum is the head teacher of which causes issue for her as home issues get dragged into school later in the book.

Her old best friend Steph is transgender becoming Evan and through flashbacks to the past and events between herself and Steph show us a whole new side to their relationship as more than friends.

Lauren herself is a cis girl and is a member of a local LGBTQIA group where she makes good friends with Ellie and Steph also used to attend their meet ups until things became awkward between the pair.

In the book we early on see reckless sex and heavy drinking mentioned as she falls in with boyfriend Justin and his friends whom are scum in the language they use about Lauren. Justin is a flake of a boyfriend and coldly cuts her out of his life as she desperately tries to contact him as she suddenly realises she's late and now pregnant.

We see her battle with abortion and where to get one as she lives in Ireland and soon outs a clinic to a newspaper whom blast the story. She also flees to England to seek an abortion over there as her only resort which sees her use devius ways to afford it.

All this time though, she keeps it to herself and confides in no one and starts drinking more and more until she attends therapy and finally opens up to how she truly feels about everything that's happened in her life.

In the upcoming school musical she has to play a man singer which angers her as she watches the other girls get better roles she wished for but she turns the situation around after confiding  in her friends about the newspaper story on abortion not being fair was through her and so the play becomes her own.

This was a hard novel to get into but eventually it picked up after about one hundred pages and more drama was thrown in from the abortion perspective. While a good book with that storyline, I did wish for more with her friends and their love lives as mostly it seemed confusing to keep up and would've preferred it to be a little easier to follow who was what and  with who. I do commend it as a good novel about LGBTQIA issues but for me I need  to possibly read up on the more newer types of sexuality to appreciate it more, the abortion side was well played out as it's real life events still as people fight for abortion to be legal in Ireland and so is doing well raising further awareness in the future generations.

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.

The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord

Luce is a pastor's daughter, captain of the swim team despite her asthma and has a doting boyfriend, Lukas.
Yet, her mum fought breast cancer, to the knowledge of everyone as she is also the school nurse as well as pastor's wife.
For Luce, Prom was magical until doubts bubble up towards her mum's condition after the concerned head principal approached her.

After a double mastectomy they learn the cancer has spread to her mum's lymph nodes and so her parents ask her to keep things normal and go and work as a camp councillor for the summer at camp where she usually goes. She worries about her mum of course but goes to camp especially as her boyfriend has paused their two year strong relationship.

At camp she has a good time and makes friends with Anna, a fellow councillor. However the kids at camp have a lot of issues such as underage pregnancy, health conditions, being transgender, suicide and dead parents. At camp they can escape the bad and enjoy the activities on offer.

Then trumpet player Henry Jones sets Luce's pianist heart a flutter which is great, until Lukas turns up!

Cue a lot of drama ahead, a family secret found out by accident and then an emergency in the hospital the force of love within a family has never been stronger.

The books deals with teen pregnancy and the pressures of cancer on a family and the individuals it shows the good and bad of each and the way things get better or worse before they can flip around again and again but love around you never changes, never wavers.

A great new novel by Emery Lord, thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review it for them!