Stacking the Shelves (202)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme created by Tynga’s Reviews and hosted by Reading Reality.
It’s all about sharing the books we’ve picked up for the week, whether they are bought, borrowed, gifted, galleys, physical or virtual.
Share your shelves and remember to visit Tynga’s Reviews where it all started to find more great books!

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For Review

Thanks to Scholastic Australia for sending me this book for review!

Promise by Alexandra Alt

At 15, Lene is questioning everything. She is sick of the compulsory League of German Girls meetings, and everyone being made to fight for a final victory that never seems to come. She is in love with Ludwig who lives upstairs and listens to enemy broadcasts. Like Lene, he rejects the war and the endless Nazi indoctrination. But he has caught the attention of his ruthless Hitler Youth squad leader, Kurt. Unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, Lene has to watch every step, every word to protect those she loves. When Ludwig is ordered to the Eastern Front, can Lene and Ludwig hold on to their promise to one another and resurface from the darkness of the abyss in post war Berlin?

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Thanks to Bloomsbury Australia for sending me the following for review:

Toffee by Sarah Crossan

I am not who I say I am,
and Marla isn’t who she thinks she is.

I am a girl trying to forget.
She is a woman trying to remember.

Allison has run away from home and with nowhere to live finds herself hiding out in the shed of what she thinks is an abandoned house. But the house isn’t empty. An elderly woman named Marla, with dementia, lives there – and she mistakes Allison for an old friend from her past called Toffee.

Allison is used to hiding who she really is, and trying to be what other people want her to be. And so, Toffee is who she becomes. After all, it means she has a place to stay. There are worse places she could be.

But as their bond grows, and Allison discovers how much Marla needs a real friend, she begins to ask herself – where is home? What is a family? And most importantly, who am I, really?

The Gifted, the Talented, and Me by William Sutcliffe

Laugh-out-loud funny and instantly recognisable – not since The Inbetweeners has a coming of age story been so irreverent and relatable.

Fifteen-year-old Sam isn’t special. He’s not a famous vlogger, he’s never gone viral, and he doesn’t want to be the Next Big Thing. What he likes most is chatting to his friends and having a bit of a kick about.

None of which was a problem until Dad got rich and Mum made the whole family move to London. Now Sam is being made to go to the North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented, where every student is too busy planning Hollywood domination or starting alt-metal psychedelica crossover bands or making clothes out of bathmats to give someone as normal as him the time of day. Can Sam navigate his way through the weirdness and find a way to be himself?

A brilliant modern satire about fitting in, falling out and staying true to your own averageness.

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father’s failed suicide attempt leaves Rob and his mother responsible for his care.

Everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has a secret of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle.

When Rob and Maegan are paired together for a calculus project, they’re both reluctant to let anyone through the walls they’ve built. But when Maegan learns of Rob’s plan to fix the damage caused by his father, it could ruin more than their fragile new friendship…

This captivating, heartfelt novel asks the question: Is it okay to do something wrong for the right reasons?

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Borrowed

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

For fans of Pretty Little Liars, Little Monsters is a new psychological thriller from the author of The Darkest Corners, about appearances versus reality and the power of manipulation among teenage girls.

Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and, strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister.

Kacey’s new life is eerily charming compared with the wild highs and lows of the old one she lived with her volatile mother. And everyone is so nice in Broken Falls – she’s even been welcomed into a tight new circle of friends. Bailey and Jade invite her to do everything with them.

Which is why it’s so odd when they start acting distant. And when they don’t invite her to the biggest party of the year, it doesn’t exactly feel like an accident.

But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all – especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.

Kacey is about to learn some very important lessons: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes when you’re the new girl, you shouldn’t trust anyone.

After really enjoying The Cheerleaders, I wanted to read another of Thomas’ books. Found this on audio at my library.

How We Roll by Natasha Friend

Quinn is a teen who loves her family, skateboarding, basketball, and her friends, but after she’s diagnosed with a condition called alopecia which causes her to lose all of her hair, her friends abandon her. Nick was once a star football player, but because of a freak accident — caused by his brother — he loses both of his legs. Quinn and Nick meet and find the confidence to believe in themselves again, and maybe even love

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What books did you get this week? Have you read any of these and what did you think? Share the love in the comments below!

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