Grace Not Perfection by Emily Ley

Emily is a very busy woman, life with juggling kids, work and of course her husband and friends means time is precious for other activities as the circus of life takes place.

This book is all about enjoying what you do and approaching it your way no matter about achieving perfection but facing it with grace and your style taking matters into your own hands. However, it is also okay when you need to take a break as Emily learned by causing herself a serious health scare, nothing is worth breaking yourself for as without you imagine what the world would be like. Realise your worth and importance and accept that rest can be best and other times sure work is crucial but just make sure you enjoy it and if not manifest it into that.

The main aims of Emily's book is to allow us to realise what we need and don't need, appreciate everything we have whether it's big or small, enjoy life but don't allow it to take over and cause you unnecessary stress and most of all, face everything with Grace, perfection is overrated and you have your own perfection within you, trust yourself!

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

Baby Lost by Hannah Robert

Only two days after Christmas back in 2009, Hannah's life changed drastically after a car crashed into her car while she was eight months pregnant with her little baby 'Halloumi'.

Also in the car was her partner, Roma and their daughters, Jackie and Jazzie who all managed to escape the wreck along with Hannah but unfortunately, baby Zainab had just one tender day with her family due to the horrific accident. No amount of bruises or broken bones were as significant a side effect of the crash as an innocent newborn life being so cruelly taken. I feel anger towards the reckless driver for taking this poor family's precious baby away, reckless drivers need stopping and need punishment.

Hannah's writing during the time of being in hospital talks of her inability to face traveling in a car again so soon as the trauma caught up to her and all she was facing ahead of her felt too much, working with a physiotherapist to walk again properly as well as grief all taking a toll.

I was glad to know that the reckless student driver was caught but saddened to know that Hannah and Rims split. However, their grief was aided by Ali's arrival, a newborn baby boy joined their family and sent a new glimmer of life and hope to them.

I was so glad to read that Hannah's family escaped but the loss of a new baby is always a tender thing. In our family, my aunt suffered a lot to get pregnant and I have a friend trying multiple rounds of IVF to try and have a baby, it's an emotional toll to endure at any stage of pregnancy from conceiving to birth. Hannah's account is detailed and strong, the family is a powerful team and baby Z would be proud to have such a loving family.

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

Bunk 9's Guide To Growing Up by Adah Nuchi

Camp Silver Moon's bunk nine girls are here to teach you all about growing up what's ahead.

The girls discuss and compare experiences throughout the book as no one person's development will be a copy and paste story. Their diary talks us through the stages they went through to grow up in their early teens to now always set around the camp narrative.

Starting back at age twelve, early puberty calls for the essential development growth or lack of we each experience. The girls were sometimes jealous that others had developed faster, which is always okay, stages of change be it growing body hair, using deodorant, spots appearing, breasts appearing as well as your internal changes in hormones causing more emotions and feelings as well as causing your period to begin.

The book has styling tips for your hair type and how to keep it clean and healthy as well as beginning to use and have an interest in make-up and how to handle the varying acne types you may encounter as well as how to choose the perfect first bra for you.

The book talks about gender issues, how you feel vs what body you have been born into and how you should always ask a trusted adult in confidence to advise you if you feel you want to.

The best thing about this book is that every girl could benefit from it, it would also be useful for single parents or embarrassed about having the talk parents as they exist! My parents couldn't deal but I had my school sex education class from age nine to teach me and my parents were happy that way. This would just reassure parents their girls are sure of what's normal and ahead for them in a concise and friendly way!

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

My Rad Life: A Journal by Kate Schatz

This a journal is an empowering book for women and girls filled with influential quotes and illustrations of some of the most famous and idolized women in the world today.

The idea is that we can use this journal to express ourselves in any way we want, with our own doodles or quotes, stories, poems or whatever the heck you want to fill the space with!

It is a great journal to allow us to dream big of our life we want and how to achieve it step by step like the women mentioned have done.

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

Find Your Awesome by Judy Clement Wall

Set over thirty days, to be completed by you a little bit everyday, this journal's focus is to make you fall in love with yourself and promotes self love through persistent activities.

From simply writing kinds things about yourself to encouraging your mind to get creative and draw too at points, colour designs you create, list positives vs negatives in your life and find what you appreciate and want to manifest in your life. The journal also encourages uncluttering your life by donating and binning or reusing for others benefit and your own.

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

A Step Towards Falling by Cammie McGovern

Emily and Lucas both witnessed something, an attack on another student, Belinda in high school, at a football game where Lucas was playing. Neither got help, Emily believed Lucas would/did.

Mary runs a group for disabled students where Emily and Lucas both have to go and help due to their actions and not helping when they knew a rape attempt was happening and thought of the consequences only on them.

Belinda lives with her depressed mum and her nan. She hasn't been able to leave the house much if at all and instead watches Pride and Prejudice the TV series over and over obsessed with Colin Firth's character so much she believes he talks to her.

As Belinda starts to come back to school, Lucas and Emily want to help her and decide to put on a play as Belinda used to be in plays and loved them. They organize a Pride and Prejudice performance which ultimately brings together Lucas and Emily and Anthony and Belinda as two couples as well as friends.

A book that displays cowardice and strength with friendship meshes between disabled and non disabled individuals. The book shows how we can become strong and better from having people in our lives.

We Own The Night by Ashley Poston

LD, Billie, Micah and Ingrid are best friends who know how to party hard when we meet them first.

The stoey focuses on Ingrid as we learn about her, she got into NYU for her future studies but stays at home being her grandma's carer.

Of the group, Billie and Ingrid are close, with him often talking about his dad with her. They also share a maze together as a hideaway as well as a tower pointing North alike Billie's nickname for her.

Yet, Micah and Ingrid kissed before and Ingrid likes him while he had a night with Ingrid's bully, Heather whom she has to endure working with at a sweet shop. He also wants to be in a relationship with Heather, making Ingrid ask her out for him which makes her feel even worse.

Ingrid escapes at night and hosts a midnight radio show under the pseudonym, Nightowl where she has a lot of talks with caller, Dark and Brooding.

Billie pushes her to apply for an internship she gets accepted into it until her grandma's Alzheimer's worsens and she cancels, until LD goes with her and Ingrid realises many things about her life, her future and her relationships.

An emotional rollercoaster for the character of Ingrid that keeps us reading for sure.

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

Alice's leukemia changed her life, even after splitting up with her boyfriend Luke, seeing her mum cheating on her dad and dealing with how childhood friend Harvey feels for her love wise.

Harvey was always jealous of Luke being her boyfriend until they split up and Alice enlisted him to help her get revenge on him by using photo evidence of a certain shock kiss.

A Year later from her diagnosis, she is still friends or possibly more than with Harvey at times, given their past shared kisses. Alice still has cancer until shockingly against the odds her body enters remission, allowing her hair to grow back and those closest to her trying to get her back on track into ballet and school which Alice doesn't care about. Instead, she begins to pull away from Harvey and grow closer to new guy at school, Eric.

Until Eric is leaving and Harvey found them together at hers. However, he goes on to date his best mate, Dennis's twin sister, Deborah.

But there's still hope for Alice and Harvey yet on holiday...

Throughout the story the bullying between Celeste, Mindi, Luke and Alice over what she caused them at school in terms of public humiliation. The group's revenge against Alice however takes a sick turn which is disgusting and horrifying, unimaginable to me how they could do such a thing to Alice after what she's been through already.

It was a shocking book to read but one I had wanted to get into for a while. The storyline was a serious one all round and certainly brought up issues that a wide range of people can relate to. The characters of Alice and Harvey to me seemed reversed and thus a good thing, showing girls can be tough and boys can be the weaker for lack of better phrasing there that is.
You will really enjoy this book I'm sure.

Believearexic by J.J. Johnson

Jennifer is a straight A student, with as she calls it bulimarexia.

As the sessions get on, she reveals that issues to do with her parents and brother don't help. Her brother sees her as a burden while her dad is overweight and always on a new diet while her mum uses food for emotional reasons thus impacting her mindset around the issue completely. She also realises alcohol is her prop she uses to deal with how she feels too which her family has a history of alcoholism.

Heather her roommate in the EDU gets taken home by her parents with an overbearing father set on wiring her mouth shut with braces and forcing a liquid diet on her and the unit can't help her. Sophia then moves into the room and is older at twenty one, she is suffering with what we now know as orthorexia, exercising the food out as she puts it in.

The unit involves lots of complex cases and incidents take place due to each girls history. I liked how Chuck bonded with Jennifer as that helped her to keep going and not listen to the other nurses which could be quite harsh on her.

The story is based around the authors real experience in a unit and I feel things over time have gotten better overall but still, not a nice experience to have to go through. The book was detailed but not triggering as numbers weren't a focus to trigger anyone but merely hinted at if at all.

Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven

Jack suffers with prosopagnosia and was dating Caroline until he kissed her cousin having thought she was Caroline. His dad had cancer and cheated on his mum with his science teacher which causes him a lot of stress still.

Libby was 600 pounds but is now 300 and can leave her house her mum died and she put on weight. She tried to leave her house before but had panic attacks but is more confident now she's lost some of the weight.

Libby and Jack are involved in a minor incident in the cafeteria of their school which results in them both landing school community service after the end of the school day together.
They both remember her house being half destroyed to get her out to hospital when she had a bad attack, they soon realize they knew each other before now as Jack had always lived opposite Libby, knew her story and didn't judge her then and doesn't now.

Libby also loves to dance and the school team, Camels host team try outs where Jayvee and bailey cheer her on to get through trying.

I really enjoyed the book overall, I liked how Libby was strong willed and didn't take no messing from anyone but stood up to them and faced things herself unlike so many book characters where boys are needed to save them. The sense of girl power friendship between the three girls was also a nice touch that they reconnected and didn't judge Libby.