Lucky Girl by Amanda Maciel

I had a lot of thoughts about this. I thought it was beautifully written. The skill of the author as a wordsmith and storyteller were really great. The word choice, pacing, and characterisation led to high engagement and I ended up reading this book pretty quickly. I didn’t much like Rosie as a person, but […]

Fireworks by Katie Cotugno

I enjoyed this book. I found its 90s setting charming – it was never very ‘in your face’ – and in fact, I found it pleasant to read a contemporary (or is it historical now?) book where no one had a cell phone or social media. The music references weren’t ultra-hip, in fact, I think […]

Literally by Lucy Keating

In Literally, main character Annabelle finds that an author named Lucy Keating (also the author of the book) is literally writing her life, and fights back. I will use Lucy for the in-book author and Keating for the real-life author. So this book. This book was weird. The author, Lucy Keating, wrote a (clearly) fictionalised […]

ARC review: Book of Living Secrets by Madeleine Roux

I was super interested in reading this book as I was – and still am – going through a phase where I want to read about people who step into stories. The blurb totally drew me in: two contemporary teen girls literally (and literarily)  enter the world of their favourite book, gothic romance Moira, only […]

Girls With Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young

I thought this book was phenomenal. It had everything I ever wanted. Amazingly strong, lovely female friendship and no backstabbing. Sweet yet realistic boy that isn’t required to save anyone because they save themselves An intelligent heroine I also thought this was plotted beautifully and really reminded me of Plato’s allegory of the cave. It […]

A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo

I quite enjoyed this book, though there are a couple of things that I do have issues with. First I’ll talk about the good things: It’s queer and there is no judgement or hate for the queer characters. Jess’s mother, who is Chinese, even says, “If you’re a lesbian, that’ s not a problem.” Jess […]

A Dark and Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell

I quite enjoyed A Dark and Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell, who I followed on Twitter even before she announced her book deal. I was drawn to the concept of the creepy forest, and yes, to be honest I was also drawn to a book that dared to put a fat character front and centre, […]