We Are Not Okay: Review an Q&A with Natália Gomes!

When I first heard about We Are Not Okay, I was really curious to read it!

It was marketed as four female voices with unique stories to tell, and the short snapshots about each character sounded really intense and interesting. So when an opportunity to review an advanced reader copy came up, as well as to quiz the author, I jumped at it! 

Thank you to Harper Collins Publisher HQ for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

BLURB

If only they could have spoken out.
Lucy thinks she’s better than the other girls. Maybe if she’s pointing fingers at everyone else, no one will see the secret she’s hiding.
Ulana comes from a conservative Muslim family where reputation is everything. One rumour – true or false – can destroy futures.
Trina likes to party. She’s kissed a lot of boys. She’s even shown her red bra to one. But she didn’t consent to that night at Lucy’s party. So why doesn’t anyone believe
her?
Sophia loved her boyfriend. She did anything for him, even send him photos of herself. So why is she the one being pointed at in the hallways, laughed at, spat at when it was him who betrayed her trust?

Bullet Point Mini Reviews // Water Outages, Arranged Marriages & Mystical Wars!

Hello book friends! I hope ye are fairing well. 

I feel like I’ve been devouring books at a fast rate lately, gobbling up stories like they’re my last meal for the next month, desperate for more characters and more amazing worlds.

Yep, I am a book glutton. 

Anyway, as much as I would love to write reviews for every book I read, alas, this thing called time is against me, and I am a pawn to its whims.
Still, I’ve read so many good books lately that I couldn’t let all of them go without giving the nod to AT LEAST SOME OF THEM, and others, I really just wanted to share with you!

So read on for my latest adventures!

The Pancake Book Tag // Pairing Books with Sweet Treats!

 

Hello everyone! Today is Shrove Tuesday, hurrah!

While I’m not religious in any way, I certainly jump on any excuse to have a sweet treat like a pancake or waffle, and I have a feeling you do too! 😉

(Literally drooling at this picture right now. Ahdfjdhfiufjf, NOM)

I was scratching my head trying to think of a themed post that I could do around pancake day (and treats in general) because sugar is awesome, and suddenly it came to me, A PANCAKE BOOK TAG.

So I had a little google, and it turned out that I couldn’t see that anyone had done this before, WHAAAAT. So now I feel like pancakes have been underrepresented in the book community, which is just not okay! Naturally, I felt I had to write this wrong.* Also, for the record, I think pancakes should be an all year thing. How do we overlook this?

*I have always been a champion of the underdog

So, I got down to business and created my first ever original book tag, which was kinda scary, but also, I had so much fun doing it and playing around with all the graphics! 

SO, if you’re into munching on pancakes, like reading awesome books, and like food-related puns, read on and discover all your favourite things! 

Accurate footage of me eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I am a monster.

The Wonderstruck Book Tag // Ft. All the Taylor Swift GIFS!

Hello everyone! 

I came across this super cool tag recently created by the wonderful Purely Olivia. She has a fabulous book blog and you should definitely check it out if you haven’t come across it before!

This tag combines two of my favourite things – books and Taylor Swift songs.
I mean, win-win, right?!

Taylor Swift’s music saw me through most of my teenage years (alongside Paramore and The Pretty Reckless, I’m diverse Y’all). While I’m not such a fan of her newer pop albums, her country songs still make my heart SO HAPPY, and instantly transport me back to teen angst, first crushes, and belting out song lyrics with my friends at sleepovers! 😀

CONTENT WARNING: This post may cause you to unexpectedly burst into song, hum in public for up to 24hrs after reading, or get caught in a dangerous Taylor Swift Youtube cycle.*

*I may or may not have gone on a two day Taylor Swift music binge after writing this. BLAMING YOU, OLIVIA!

My Most Anticipated Book Releases of 2019 in YA & Fantasy!

Hello everyone! 

I hope 2019 is treating you kindly so far! We’re two weeks in now, and I kind of still feel like I’m living in some kind of post-celebrations fog??!?
THIS BOOKWORM IS NOT READY FOR THE REAL WORLD YET.

It seems fitting that my first blog post of the year is looking ahead at all the good things coming up in the book world. This is actually my first time doing one of these anticipated releases posts if you can believe it! This is mostly because I am a very unorganised lemon and I never get all my dragons in a row as it were.

However, this year, I seem to have amassed a rather significant list of amazing new titles that I’m desperate to get my hands on.

I’m so excited to discuss these with you so that we can be excited together! I’ve split my 2019 releases into fantasy and contemporary reads, and then within each section by publication date to make things fair.

I’m also pleased to say that my list is a mix of both hyped and lesser-known novels, so I’m hoping that there may be a few on here you haven’t heard of yet!

SO READ ON TO DISCOVER AWESOMENESS! 😀

***Note: Full blurbs can be read by clicking on the drop-down arrows!***

Mini Reviews: YA Books I’ve Been Devouring Lately!

Hello, readers!

I hope you’ve been enjoying the holiday season by eating too much, sipping on bubbly and just maybe, rewatching all the Harry Potter movies. 😉

If you’re anything like me, you’re currently in that post-Christmas but pre-New Years bliss where time slows down, you end up staying in your pajamas all day, and even forget what day of the week it is!

All of this, of course, is very condusive to quality reading time, and I’ve been zooming through an interesting mix YA books, some of which were noteworthy enough for me to share with you!

SO LET’S DO THE REVIEW THING *FIST PUMP*

Book Review: Rosie Loves Jack by Mel Darbon

The publishing industry has come on in leaps and bounds when it comes to putting diverse books on the market, certainly the Young Adult section of the store anyway *SO PROUD, sniff*, but one area that is still overlooked is learning disabilities. So I was super excited when I received an advanced reader copy of Rosie Loves Jack from publishers in exchange for an honest review, a contemporary love story following a protagonist with Downs Syndrome, which is something I have never had the chance to read before! A somewhat ambitious tale for a debut author to take on perhaps, but I have to say, she does a pretty good job!

Rosie loves Jack. Jack loves Rosie. So when they’re split up, Rosie will do anything to find the boy who makes the sun shine in her head. Even run away from home. Even cross London and travel to Brighton alone, though the trains are cancelled and the snow is falling. Even though any girl might find that hard, let alone a girl with Down’s syndrome. See the world through new eyes in this one-in-a-million story about fighting for the freedoms that we often take for granted: independence, tolerance and love.

Why You Need to Read ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ IMMEDIATELY // A Review

Oh my god guys. Oh. My. God. This book, SLAYED MY HEART. It squidged and bruised and punched it, and then turned it into joy confetti. WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?! Thank you universe for putting this little miracle of a book in my path.

I feel so lucky to have received an advanced reader copy of Only Love Can Break Your Heart from publishers because it is 100% the best book I have read all year, and I have a feeling a lot of people will be talking about it (in between uncontrollable sobbing). The thing is, it looks like such a sweet little unassuming book, BUT DON’T BE FOOLED. Inside is hidden treasure folks, shiny awesome desert treasure.

Book Review: Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.
So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

 

Based in the same setting that Albertalli created in Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda (and therefore one of my most anticipated reads of the year), Offbeat follows Leah, one of Simon’s best friends who is a self-confessed misfit, and in her own words, the school’s ‘resident fat Slytherin Rory Gilmore’. What can I say? Leah is a girl after my own heart. Well, mostly.

The ‘I Spy’ Book Challenge | Highlighting some Awesome Books!

Hello bibliophiles, caffeine addicts and dragon riders!

I was tagged by the wonderful Sprinkles of Dreams to do this tag (if you haven’t been to her blog before, check it out, it’s gorgeous!). I definitely pick and choose which tags I participate in these days, but this one looked like so much fun that I wanted to jump right in!

Rules for the tag: Find a book that contains (either on the cover or in the title) an example for each category. You must have a separate book for all 20, get as creative as you want and do it within five minutes!

Um, yeah. So this definitely didn’t take me 5 minutes…more like an hour. But I had SO much fun matching books up! I really struggled with finding books for a few of the categories so I decided to spread the challenge to both books I have read and books on my wishlist that I’ve have heard good things about. Hopefully, this post may make you want to add a few books to your wishlist too! 🙂

7 Books On My Summer TBR Pile!

Hello everyone!

It’s that time of year when I’m really getting into that summer feeling (or trying to, with the British weather yo-yoing from scorching heat to torrential downpour). I definitely always notice a change in my reading habits as soon as the weather gets warmer – I find myself reaching for contemporary YA over fantasy novels, and I steer towards more lightweight reads over anything too involved. Looking at my TBR and wishlist, below are some novels I’m really looking forward to reading this summer! *

*As a mood reader, making a bold statement about having a summer TBR will inadvertently mean I don’t get around to reading half of them, but hey, a girl can dream!

 

 

5 Mental Health Conditions I’d Like to See Represented in YA Books

Spreading awareness about mental health is something I am incredibly passionate about. I have to say, I’m SO PROUD of how far society has come. Looking back on even the last 5 years, I feel we’ve made such progress in our understanding and I want us to continue fighting ignorance in 2018! This week is Mental Health Awareness Week so to do my part, I’ve got a topical blog post for you today.

In the last few years, publishers have been producing more and more intelligent and positive YA books featuring mental health which makes my heart SUPER HAPPY. If you’re looking for a book on depression, for instance, they’re pretty easy to find and you have a number to choose from. There are also quite a few books on bipolar disorder and eating disorders – even generalised anxiety disorder, which I had previously struggled to find any books on whatsoever (even when I was actively searching for them!), has now been spotlighted in some fabulous novels.

Book Review: The Wonder of Us by Kim Culbertson

The first thought I had when I read the blurb for this book was UM, YES PLEASE.
A once in a lifetime European trip? Complex friendship dynamics and angst? GIMMIE. So many thanks to Walker Books for mailing an advanced reader copy so it could find its way into my grabby hands!

Riya and Abby are:
Best friends.  Complete opposites.  Living on different continents.  Currently mad at each other.  About to travel around Europe.
Riya moved to Berlin, Germany, with her family for junior year, while Abby stayed behind in their small California town. They thought it would be easy to keep up their friendship—it’s only a year and they’ve been best friends since preschool. But instead, they ended up fighting and not being there for the other. So Riya proposes an epic adventure to fix their friendship. Two weeks, six countries, unimaginable fun. But two small catches:
They haven’t talked in weeks.
They’ve both been keeping secrets.
Can Riya and Abby find their way back to each other among lush countrysides and dazzling cities, or does growing up mean growing apart?

ARC Mini Reviews: Contemporary Fiction

Thank you to the publishers Walker Books and Alma Books who have been kind enough to provide me with wonderful review copies lately. I enjoyed each and every one of these!

 

BLURB: How far is too far when it comes to the people you love? 
Claire Casey hates being the centre of attention. But if it means getting Sef Malik to notice her, it’s a risk she’s happy to take.
Sef is prepared to do anything to help his recently disabled brother. But this means putting Claire’s love – and life – on the line. Because when you’re willing to risk everything, what is there left to lose?

Non Pratt’s latest novel Truth or Dare is right on trend. It’s sharp and current with its portrayal of social media, and it ticks a lot of diversity boxes including LGBT, Neurodisability and subtle nudges and observations of passive racism. (Not that these things should be seen as tick boxes because I am looking forward to the day where we don’t have to point them out like a rarity!)

Top Ten Books that Surprised Me (In a Good or Bad Way)

 

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesomely original weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

 The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

ABOUT: A young girl who loves books, set in the backdrop of World War II and narrated by death? Check, check and CHECK. This should be right up my alley, surely?

SURPRISE: Umm… turns out, not. I feel like the only person on the planet who is not in love with this book. I didn’t go into it with any particular expectations but had basically never seen a poor review of this. While I enjoyed the story and its twists and turns, I was surprised that I never developed any kind of emotional connection with it or the characters.