The Forget Me Not Flower Shop by Tracy Corbett

A chance meeting happens when Evie calls in a random plumber, Scott to deal with their boiler at her flower shop, she doesn't expect any of what happens next as life takes a lot of twists...

Evie along with Saffy run The Forget Me Not flower shop together and Evie looks into buying it from the overseas owner thanks to a helpful customer. Laura runs a bridal shop where she send customers to get flowers from Evie's shop as they are friends not just in business.

Scott is a plumber who looks after his disabled mum and his nephew Ben as his sister works abroad. He often has to cancel clients from his plumbing jobs due to care needs for his mum.
Ben has a girlfriend called Amy whose plan to get married at their ages of both being eighteen but put up a good fight to both sets of guardians. Patricia, Amy's mum knows Martin, Laura's ex husband to be and so all their lives collide by chance and through each other.

Drama ensues the whole way through this book with chick lit classic drama of divorce, marriage and love taking off and causing a classic case of I can't put this damn book down for one second, it's so good! I really loved Evie and Ben and Amy mostly for their fun yet mature in the teens cases parts of their personalities as it created not just vibrance but memorable characters you will remember for a long time!

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

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Sydney is a young girl in her brother's broken shadow, never in trouble but massively sheltered from life by her parents because of his actions she begins to rebel and just be herself unapologetically.

Peyton, Sydney's brother is sentenced for a drink driving accident after he originally started doing drugs and breaking and entering it spiralled until he was put into jail long term after disabling a young boy when he hit his bike.

Ames, Peyton's best friend from a narcotics anonymous group is left to look out for Sydney for Peyton only he's a very creepy guy and not just Sydney but Layla her new friend from the pizza parlour she goes to notices it as well.

Layla's brother, Mac, becomes close to Sydney and shares with her his past weight issues and his self belief in Saint's with a necklace he wears. He later passes on another one to Sydney to keep her hopeful of change to come for the better after moving from private school to Layla and Mac's school she feels like she fits in better and finds herself having masses of fun until her parents try to stop her going out to concerts.

Her mum is a very Peyton only focused character and misses all the good Sydney does meanwhile when Ames stays and he and Sydney are alone, things get tense as things come to ahead just what will Ames do...

A very good book, not my favourite Sarah Dessen but nevertheless a great read about teenage life and being in the shadow of a sibling.

How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Grace has come back from a holiday to find that her mum has uprooted their home and moved in with her latest guy.
But the craziest thing is that her ex boyfriend is now her kind of step brother for however long the relationship plays out for.
Plus his dad is totally over the top in physical affection of her mother, including in front of the teens.

Grace's friend Luca, lives with his mum and they both run and work in their diner. Through Luca, Grace is told of a girl called Eva, her mum has passed away and is coming to stay for a bit with him and his mum.

When Grace later finds herself on a secluded beach, she meets a girl sobbing, sat on the sand eating peanut butter alone. The girl is Eva. Thus ensues a fast turn of events consisting of Eva sneaking into Grace's room at night and hanging out together at the top of the lighthouse.

Throughout the book, we learnt of Grace's mum and the actions she takes being extremely wrong and dangerous to others around her. She seems very switched off in parts yet Grace and Eva are there to help her as they have to be. The two girls have their passions and hopes to achieve their goals of Grace being a Pianist professionally and Eva a ballet dancer professionally just like her mother was.

The book also had strong relationship lines around friendship, lesbian/bisexual characters and teenage behaviour in general.

In this book, I really didn't like the main character's mum, she came across as being trying and needy over attention and her male relations. Some of the things she came out with were a little on the edge of what you should discuss with your daughter in real life anyway. However, we do discover the issues surrounding her character like consuming too much alcohol and excessive intake of it and raising a young baby on your own after her husband died in war and she does face up to it.

Overall it was a great book about finding the true you in career hopes and in love. Thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Mr 60% by Clete Barrett Smith

Matt barely scrapes by at school, lives in a trailer park with his uncle who has a lot of medical issues and Matt is also often in trouble at school because of his actions.

His behaviour and grades land him in the Helping Hands group helping out with community tasks as he participates delivering books to the hospital with Amanda a girl who is a member of Helping Hands. With her, he finds a friend and confidant about his uncle's condition and the worse he gets as the cancer slowly drains him and Matt needs support as he faces a big life change.

This book was a work which tested me at times as I hate the idea of drug abuse or misuse, but we see the side of that which is never fully discussed in real life as it may be extremely necessary to people unable to get proper healthcare. Thus, we see Matt in a better light of getting by to help a dying relative which anyone would try to help ease their pain. A moving book that proves friendship can help in the worst of times.

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

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Solomon is a unique sixteen year old who suffers with agoraphobia and severe panic attacks. He can't leave his house and fears dying yet water makes him calm. He hasn't left his house in three years until events unfold in the book.

Lisa takes an interest in Solomon after her dentist is actually his mum and she asks after him as well as writing him a letter as feels she could help him get better, she too has suffered with her mental health, she also wants to study to be a therapist in college and so uses real technique's she's looked up to try and help Solomon fear the outside less.

Lisa gets her boyfriend on side to her helping him as he shares Solomon's love of Star Trek Next Generation and he finds out that Solomon is actually an ok guy.

Solomon and Lisa grow a friendship after she visits his house and he even comes out as gay to her before anyone else.
However, I saw what was coming ahead despite never having read any blurb online about the book and I took a guess that Lisa's boyfriend would start hanging round Solomon more and more until suddenly the trio end up threatened from their own closeness.

I did enjoy the book but unfortunately, being predictable to me left it just short of what I would call stellar, that being said, it is still worth a read!

Tone Deaf by Olivia Rivers

Ali may be deaf, but at a Tone Deaf concert due to her friend Avery wanting to win the backstage pass to meet the singer of the band, Jace Beckett she soon fingers herself thrown into the experience as an ex performer and hopeful musician previously herself.

However, he gives her the middle finger and Ali is shocked at what a horrible guy he is just because she's deaf. We later fins out it is the date of his mother's death six years ago it happened now and so he's struggling but it's no excuse for treating anyone the way he did.

Ali's dad is an abusive drunk despite being a retired police chief and so when Jace agrees to meet her and make it up to her for his reaction before, he also promises to give her a sum of money which would allow her to escape the abusive life she's trapped in ever since her mum passed away.

Yet Have knows her pain and agrees that she can't go back, she stays with the band hoping to get to New York and start a new life for herself away from it all. Yet she ends up on the news as missing while she grows closer to Jace and their relationship blooms. Also whilst travelling with the guys she handles his social media on the tour as they perform and let's Avery know she's fine.

Just what will happen to her as her father can't let her go...

I was a bit bored with this one, purely because a lot of the story happens solely on the tour bus. I did expect her to make it to New York and then be found by her dad. That wasn't the case and instead was pleasantly surprised by the ending and seeing hope alight for the girls.

Sunshine Is Forever by Kyle T Cowan

Hunter is depressed and so he goes off to a camp where they help through therapy to work on the teens and their history.

Whilst at camp, he meets Corrine a very out there, confident girl who he finds himself in a form of relationship with despite relationships being banned at camp. Although she wants to break them free, just as maybe he feels the camp could possibly benefit him...

We learn during the book of the turmoil he feels of guilt by his parents and everyone else he thinks, blaming him for not being able to prevent a harrowing incident occurring to his sister.

This book was a really good read for how complex depression can be due to trauma and the therapy mixed with camp is obviously used to show a case of one method of escapism and treatment combined to try and prevent suicide. The language was raw and honest but could trigger people if effected by depression and suicide themselves.

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

Say Her Name by James Dawson

A boarding school holds a deep secret, a group of girls known as The Elites along with Naya and Bobbie, two other students at the school and two boys all start messing with Bloody Mary one night after telling ghost stories.

What immediately follows over the next five days is a series of odd events leading Bobbie to solve the mystery as Mary keeps appearing around in reflective surfaces trying to pass through and tell her story.

As Sadie disappears first from the school eventually more of them disappear to solve just what Mary wants after they summoned her.

There is involvement of the boarding school rooted into the story with past pupil's and teachers making it an engrossing story which is just the right amount of scary to read before bed still as I did! It was a great creepy tale with the Scooby doo style investigative fun to keep you reading on.

By The Time You Read This I'll Be Dead by Julie Ann Peters

Set over twenty three days, we learn of how suicidal Daelyn signs up to Through The Light, a website where people discuss their trauma's leading them to their suicide attempts. She also gets graphic into a list of ways to suicide she creates during the count down till her next attempt at the end of the twenty three days.

For Daelyn, we learn of the bullying from school for her size as she was classed as obese and so the girls made fun of and excluded her. She was also physically assaulted by a gang of boys at her last school. She also remains mute and tells the woes of going away to fat camp.

Now, at a new school, very quiet and withdrawn she hangs around or is followed a lot of the time by Santana a goth/alternative guy who has a pet rat who is persistent in getting to talk with her. He also confides in her about his own battle - cancer. He's also preparing a memoir video which he asks her to watch.

I thought this book was very intriguing and keeps you guessing obviously as to if she's going to commit suicide or not, get with the guy, or not as well as just what led her to this point in time. Sometimes it did seem a big dragging but it is a short read over all.

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom

Parker is a blind girl who's navigating her life after her dad's death, this caused her aunt and her family to move in with her to help out after her mum caused the car crash which blinded her and she's now also gone.

So when her friends and especially Sarah her very best friend find out that Scott is hanging around their school again Parker finds herself on edge after what she felt for him before he caused an incident.

Meanwhile she's happy with Jason, another guy at school that she also likes and she met recently when shopping and he helped her. He also supports her for her running passion which he also has a share of.

I did enjoy this book but lost interest as Scott came into it more and it wasn't clear what the heck was happening with him and Parker. It is worth a read as Parker is a great strong character with being blind and loving to run not letting her passions get lost.