Review: The Arctic Curry Club by Dani Redd

Soon after upending her life to accompany her boyfriend Ryan to the Arctic, Maya realises it’s not all Northern Lights and husky sleigh rides. Instead, she’s facing sub-zero temperatures, 24-hour darkness, crippling anxiety – and a distant boyfriend as a result.

In her loneliest moment, Maya opens her late mother’s recipe book and cooks Indian food for the first time. Through this, her confidence unexpectedly grows – she makes friends, secures a job as a chef, and life in the Arctic no longer freezes her with fear.

But there’s a cost: the aromatic cuisine rekindles memories of her enigmatic mother and her childhood in Bangalore. Can Maya face the past and forge a future for herself in this new town? After all, there’s now high demand for a Curry Club in the Arctic, and just one person with the know-how to run it…

Review: What an interesting concept for a book! I don't think I've read anything predominantly set in the Arctic before, Polar bears and 24 hour darkness makes for an excellent dramatic melting pot. I loved the description of the scenery here and I was definitely feeling the cold as I was listening to the audiobook so the scene is set perfectly. We also have the juxtaposition with some of the scenes describing parts of India and the UK too so if anything that made it feel colder. make sure you've got a warm blanket or a fireplace around when you're reading this one!

Poor Maya is having a tough time, she hasn't had an easy run at life so far and this adventure is supposed to be the making of her but things don't always turn out the way we plan do they? Maya is a really interesting character because she seems pretty weak to begin with, someone who always plays second fiddle and is fine with that but we get to see her blossom and grow over the course of this novel. We learn that once she does start to take responsibility for herself and make her own choices and devisions, somme of her old anxieties come back to haunt her. 

This book deals with mental health really well. It shows how taking care of your mental health is something that we should all be doing, not just waiting until it becomes an issues. It shows that everyone can be affected by anxiety or depression, not matter their walk in life and that it is OK to ask for help and I find that commendable, especially in this genre that doesn't always take mental health into account. I liked seeing anxiety through Maya's eyes although it did end up making me feel quite anxious and often down for her at times so make sure you're in a good headspace when reading this book.

Overall this book was very different from what I expected. The writing is definitely excellent given the fact that it had the power to make me cold and anxious all at once but it was definitely a lot darker than I was prepared for. There are moments in the book that verge on scary they're so tense and so there's definitely a touch of the thrill about some scenes and you definitely have to prepare yourself for the depths that it discusses depression, anxiety and suicide. The setting is fabulous though and the food will definitely make you hungry!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Fresh by Margot Wood

Some students enter their freshman year of college knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Elliot McHugh is not one of those people. But picking a major is the last thing on Elliot's mind when she's too busy experiencing all that college has to offer--from dancing all night at off-campus parties, to testing her RA Rose's patience, to making new friends, to having the best sex one can have on a twin-sized dorm room bed. But she may not be ready for the fallout when reality hits. When the sex she's having isn't that great. When finals creep up and smack her right in the face. Or when her roommate's boyfriend turns out to be the biggest a-hole. Elliot may make epic mistakes, but if she's honest with herself (and with you, dear reader), she may just find the person she wants to be. And maybe even fall in love in the process . . . Well, maybe.

Review: Oh this book was so great, once I picked it up I didn't want to put it down again. It made me laugh, it was sex positive and it didn't pull any punches, just a really great reading time. 

I love when books cover that difficult first year away at college/university. It is such a tricky but pivotal time and such great fodder for comedy and introspection at the same time. This book handles that ups and downs of that first term just so well whilst at the same time being entertaining and thought provoking. The new customs, the fire alarms and the friendships. We get to uni thinking those first friends are going to be the ones we end up with for life but oh so often that is not the case and I love how this book handled that. 

Elliot is a great character to experience all of that with because she is just so open and honest. Being from a flyover state in Boston for the first time automatically puts her on the back foot and then we have her footnotes. She speaks directly to us as readers, as if narrating her own life and then adds footnotes to things, Don't you wish your life could contain footnotes for just a little further explanation sometimes? I loved Elliot's tone. I loved her attitude to life and I loved the fact that she is so sex positive and open about when she does and doesn't want from her romantic life. It was great hearing about her hopes and desires and I wish I had met her when I first went to university!

This book doesn't hold back when it comes to sex and relationships and I really loved that about it. It felt a little like reading a continuation from Are You There God, It's Me Margaret. The way the main character thinks and feels about the next step in her life, only instead of talking to God, we have footnotes. I think this would have been a great book for me to read when I was at the age of making those choices about university but even reading it now very much past the college age I took a lot from it. This book made me laugh, it made me cringe and it warmed my heart. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

 Chrissie knows how to steal sweets from the shop without getting caught, the best hiding place for hide-and-seek, the perfect wall for handstands. 

Now she has a new secret. It gives her a fizzing, sherbet feeling in her belly. She doesn't get to feel power like this at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer. 

Fifteen years later, Julia is working in a fish and chip shop and trying to mother her five-year-old daughter, Molly. She is always worried - about affording food and school shoes, about what the other mothers think of her. Most of all she worries that the social services are about to take Molly away. 

That's when the phone calls begin which Julia is too afraid to answer, because it's clear the caller knows the truth about what happened 15 years ago. 

And it's time to face the truth: is forgiveness and redemption ever possible for someone who has killed?

Review: This book was not at all what I was expecting it to be. It was pitched to me because I love Lisa Jewell and CL Taylor but this is a very different thriller. Do make sure you read the synopsis thoroughly because this book comes with a lot of care warnings for neglect, abuse and infant death.

I think I probably accessed this book on quite a different level because I have always worked with children and I am a teacher and so I found this book really tough to listen to at times. I think that the narrator did a great job although this book takes place in the north east of England and the narration reflects that. Being a northerner myself I thought the narration was great but I know its not always the most popular accent. This book really exposes what can happen when a child is not shown love and care early on in life. Although the synopsis mentions lack of money really it is the lack of care that is at the centre of this book and I think it was a really brave thing for the author to tackle. 

The book also tackles issues surrounding mental health particularly when you don't have the privilege of disposable income to help with the care that your mental health requires. I love that this is shown to be an issue in this book. We always highlight the importance of taking care of your mental health and seeking help when appropriate but we don't always have the time or the money to put towards that and that is fully explored in this novel.

The way this book is structured does make for a very compelling read. We meet Chrissie and we meet Julia and we pretty quickly learn of their connection but we jump back and forth between their two worlds and this is very much a dual narrative and dual time line novel. I love that structure in a book because it does make you keep listening to find out what will happen to each character next and what impact that might have on the other. 

This was definitely a tough read and I did feel an almost physical pain for Chrissie at many moments throughout this book but I love what this author has done in terms of taking risks to tackle subjects that not a lot of people talk about. Definitely read through the synopsis before picking this one up but if you are OK with the care warnings then I definitely recommend giving this a read. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Moon Over Kilmore Quay by Carmel Harrington

When your heart belongs in two places, can you ever truly find home? 

Brooklyn, New York.

Bea has grown up in the heart of the Irish community, always hearing stories of home. When she discovers a letter from her younger self, written years before, it sends her deep into her own family history.

Kilmore Quay, Ireland.

Years earlier, Lucy Mernagh leaves her much-loved home and family in search of the New York dream. The Big Apple is a world away from the quiet village she grew up in, and the longing for home aches within her.

When Bea uncovers a shocking secret, it takes her back across the water to Kilmore Quay, where - finally - long-buried truths will come to light. But fate has one last twist in store....

Review: You know a book is going to be a favourite of the year when you're chilling out listening to the audiobook and suddenly sit up and gasp at something that has just happened. This book has some of my favourite features of a novel, multiple timelines, multiple narratives and revelations you never saw coming!

One of the other things I truly and deeply loved about this book was that it deals with the immigrant experience. I know a lot of books deal with people who have been through the immigration experience and have a language barrier or a cultural barrier but it can be just as tough and experience when you move from one English speaking Western country to another. There are still cultural hurdles to tackle and still immigration worries to face and so I was so pleased to find those written about in such an in depth and sensitive way as they were as part of this story. 

I really loved reading both Bea and Lucy's stories. I loved that we got to switch between the two of them and yet we always got to keep in tough with the location and family that unites them. I was pleasantly surprised that we don't just get to hear about Bea in present day Brooklyn but also past Bea whether that was one year ago or many years ago. I felt like we got to know a lot more about Bea as a fully formed character than we did Lucy but that was for some VERY good reasons. We get to meet Lucy when she first boards the ship to Ellis Island and the experience of being a young Irish Girl in The Big Apple for the first time. I felt like I could really sympathise with Lucy and I loved getting to know her story as the novel progressed. 

Although there are a lot of adventures to be had in this book there is some sadness and tragedy too and so this book overall could definitely be described as a bitter sweet novel but as a first time reader of this author I was just so impressed by the depths that this story goes into whilst still keeping up the pace of the breadth of the novel. I really loved this book and I highly highly recommend it. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon

Annika Dev believes in love, second chances and fairy-tale endings. Her app, Make Up, helps couples believe in these things too.

Hudson Craft believes in fast cards, flashy start-ups and high efficiency break-ups. His app, Break Up, helps people expedite their failing relationships. It's wildly successful and everything that Annika hates.

Which wouldn't be a problem if they'd gone their separate ways after their summer fling in Las Vegas, never to see each other again. Unfortunately for Annika, Hudson's moving into the office next door to hers - and he's planning on also competing at the prestigious EPIC investment pitch contest. A contest Annika needs to win if she wants to keep Make Up afloat.

Annika is not prepared to go down without a fight. Only, as the two rival app developers clash, Annika finds that she enjoys sparring with Hudson way too much. And that underneath his shallow exterior, he might not be all that despicable... Could it be that everything she thought about Hudson is completely wrong? Could the creator of Break Up teach her what true love's really about?

Review: This book features one of my favourite tropes, a killer setting and kick ass female business owners but unfortunately it just fell a little bit short for me. It was one of those reads where you kept reading on and on and waiting for something romantic or sexy to happen and it just didn't. I think there was just something a little off with the pacing and so I felt like I was still waiting for something to happen as I reached the ending. 

The characters in this book are really interesting because they are self made, we have a female business owners, a female coder and people who have really identified gaps in the market and capitalized on that. This book also really shows how the whole hustle culture is really taking its toll on people today. The whole thing about boasting about lack of sleep is truly real! These characters were great on their own but I really didn't get the chemistry between them, even the rivalry or friendship let alone the romance. 

I think that if this book had given up a little more action earlier on it could have been a real contender for a great romcom. I loved the idea that characters have met before and now they're forced back together again in turbulent circumstances, it's like the beginning of Grease! However I really needed to know what had happened in Vegas, and what was going to happen next as a consequence. I really wanted to love this book but it just didn't do it for me. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd

 People like Emmy Jackson. They always have. Especially online, where she is Instagram sensation Mamabare, famous for always telling the unvarnished truth about modern parenthood.

But Emmy isn’t as honest as she’d like the fans to believe. She may think she has her followers fooled, but someone out there knows the truth and plans to make her pay. Because people like her have no idea what pain careless words can cause. Because people like her need to learn what it feels like to lose everything.

A smart and thrilling debut that delves into the darkest aspects of influencer culture, Ellery Lloyd’s People Like Her is about what you risk losing when you don’t know who’s watching . . .

Review: I really loved the way this was a thriller but had a much slower pace and shallower incline than a lot of thrillers I've read. This novel lets you get to know the characters and their world fully before you jump to any sinister goings on and what a world that is. I love that we are getting more and more books about the dark side of social media and the dark side of the people behind those accounts now because you just don't realise how this world is until you are in it. 

Emmy and her family are intern et sensations. She is a queen mum influencer and her little pod on Instagram is equally big in the world of mum's online. She looks like she has it all on the surface because of the following, the merch and the everts she hosts and attends. She knows the world inside out and her manager makes sure that she maintains her spot at the top. But what about how her husband feels about ti all, what about the people she is influencing and what happens if all that world starts to crumble. 

Emmy really is just like any other mummy you know aside from the fact that she turned her experience in the magazine world around to help her build her online platform and her own personal brand. I think that is what is so compelling about this book, she could be just like you and me. I really loved getting to know Dan as well. He is in a really unique position of having his own life and career but being better known for being Emmy's husband and Coco and Bear's dad. Its a really unique position and I am glad that his perspective was included in the narrative. 

This book is structured in such a way that you really can't put it down, you have to keep turning the pages. We get to hear from Emmy, Dan and the follower. You never know who this follower is but you know their words are written in malice and so its just so easy to keep turning those pages because you have to find out what is going to happen next. 

This book really does get quite dark and definitely comes with care warnings for baby loss. At the same time though if you are a fan of contemporary novels that get a little bit darker I think this is a great transition book because it has the action and pace of a thriller but you aren't thrown in at the deep end and there is still plenty of characters and situations that are easy to relate to. I would compare this to The Wives or The Girls in The Garden by Lisa Jewell. I read this in 2 sittings and I loved it, I'm sure you will too!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

 

Review: Coming Undone by Terri White

To everyone else, Terri White appeared to be living the dream, named one of Folio’s Top Women in US Media and accruing further awards for the magazines she was editing. In reality, she was rapidly skidding towards a mental health crisis that would land her in a locked psychiatric ward as her past caught up with her.

As well as growing up in a household in poverty, Terri endured sexual and physical abuse at the hands of a number of her mother’s partners. Her success defied all expectations, but the greater the disparity between her outer achievements and inner demons, the more she struggled to hold everything together.

Coming Undone is Terri’s documentation of her unravelling, and her precarious navigation back from a life in pieces.

Review: This book comes with care warnings for addiction, self harm, suicide, abuse and sexual assault. 

Those care warnings do mean that this book is a challenging read at times but challenging in the best possible way. This is not a book you will pick up and breeze through in one sitting. You have to take this book in decent doses and sit with it a while before moving onto a new chapter. And sit with you this book will, I am still thinking about all of the things that this writer has overcome and gone through in her life. This is a very transparent account of being a recovering addict and battling with mental health issues. 

Not only did it strike me how honest this book was, something i greatly appreciated, but this book is written so well it is almost poetic at times. It is tough to get your head round how something so horrific could be written in such a beautiful way and how things which might seem normal and even nice to some people can be so incredibly painful to others. 

I loved that this memoir is not necessarily linear but more of a reflection and so therefore events and experiences link back to others. I liked that we got a full account of what it is like to be hospitalized on a psychiatric hold and how childhood trauma can have a whole host of effects in later life. This book was an eye opener for me and I really recommend listening to the audio as it is read by the author. Take the care warnings into consideration when picking this up but I do recommend this audiobook to you. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Matchmaker by Catriona Innes

For Caitlin Carter, love means business.

She's taken matchmaking back to basics. There is no swiping left. No creepy location tracker. Definitely no unsolicited pics of areas of the anatomy no one wants to see.

She's made dating great again: personal, patient... and profitable. Her startup is going from strength to strength, with clients wanting to find the love she has with her own husband Harry, and she even has celebrities wanting to use her services...

Caitlin is living the perfect life.

Except it's all a perfect lie. And Caitlin doesn't know how long she can keep it up.

Review: I love the fact that this story covers a good old fashioned match maker. This is high end dating, not relying on apps and filtered pictures and Caitlin really does have a genuine gift for that. I like the fact that these dates and Caitlin's business is the background of this novel and it totally hooked me in, I love reading about some good entrepreneurial drive but Caitlin herself has a whole side to her that she is hiding from those she works with. 

This might seen like your typical romcom from the cover but this book has some depth and really is a great social commentary on the parts of ourselves we put out there to friends and colleagues and also the things we use to cope with the pressures of modern society. Caitlin walks us through all of that in this novel and I love the way that she did it. 

Caitlin's life and her career also highlights the importance of looking after our own mental health and checking in on our friends and loved ones to see how they are doing. This book shows us that we can't do everything ourselves no matter how strong we are and that there is no harm in seeking professional or personal help and I am so pleased that we are seeing so much more of that now in commercial fiction. I feel like this book will speak to its readers and hopefully have an impact on them. 

It is so hard to review this book without giving away spoilers but the issues that Catriona Innes covers in this novel are important and they are dealt with here in a sensitive way whilst being an integral part of an engaging and relatable storyline. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Wedding Bells at the Signal Box Cafe by Annette Hannah

Here comes the bride...

Lucy Woods has always dreamed of running her very own wedding venue. After moving her eight-year-old son to the countryside she's surprised to find the perfect location and her best friend, Abbie, eager to help make that dream a reality! Too bad Abbie's older brother Dominic isn't keen on Lucy or their big idea!

As a divorce lawyer Dominic doesn't believe in love at first sight or wedding vows, he's seen them broken more times than he can count. But when Lucy arrives back in town, his hardened heart begins to crack.

Making her dream come true is a huge undertaking, but Lucy knows that The Signal Box Café is her chance to finally make something of her life. If only the irritating (and oh-so-gorgeous) Dom didn't make her imagine wearing a white dress and walking down the aisle...

Can Lucy and Dominic find a way to each other this summer or will the wedding bells chime for another couple?

Review: Oh this book gave me some serious butterflies of my own. It is funny and romantic and provided some lovely escapism from the world right now. 

I loved getting to meet Lucy and her determination to follow her dreams. She is a guarded person except when it comes to her family, she will do anything for them. I loved her gumption but also the fact that she was a little bit scared to let people in. 

She moves into her grandfather’s cottage whilst he is recuperating in order to help him and he is such a character. There are some real laugh out loud moments when it comes to his care home and the other residents there. Take care you're not taking a sip of your coffee at that point because you will be spitting it out. 

Then there is the romance. I loved this enemies to lovers kind of trope we had going on and it was achingly slow getting to a point where anything was going to happen for Lucy, due to the prickliness of the man in question but also due to her own stubbornness. I really enjoyed reading these scenes and found myself racing through some of the signal box cafe moments in order to read more of the romance!

I enjoyed this book and enjoyed being able to read something from one of the nicest people in the blogger world. I can’t wait to see what Annette Hannah writes next!

To order your copy now, just click here!

Review: The High Moments by Sara-Ella Ozbeck

Scarlett makes mistakes – over and over again.

She’s not perfect, she has a tricky relationship with her mother and is desperate for people to like her.

She repeatedly goes back to the people that hurt her, no matter how badly.

She moves to London with no plan (of course), but manages to land a job at a modelling agency. Finally, she’s getting her life on track, but the fashion industry is a murkier place than she had imagined. 

She changes herself to please others.

Just as she starts to find her place, Scarlett’s life begins to spiral. But at least people know her, she is starting to become someone. And surely it’s better to be someone – even if it’s someone you hate?

With a vein of dark humour at its core, The High Moments offers an astute, often stark look at the fashion industry and the issues you can face as a woman in your twenties.

Review: This book felt like The Devil Wears Prada meets Sweet Bitter and I loved it. I love the format of this book, the fact that it reads a little like a diary with some new year's resolutions at the beginning and notes to self throughout and then we always know what day and kind of time of year it is following the fashion calendar. 

Scarlett is a prickly character and not everyone is going to love her but you will definitely find her intriguing and want to watch as she tries to better herself but kind of ends up going into self destruct code. Scarlett is definitely a follower but likes to think that she is a leader and so older readers, like myself will definitely feel like they want to take care of her and look out for her even though she is intent on the path she is taking. 

This book is definitely not for the faint hearted, there is a lot of sex and drug use and Scarlett’s life isn’t always pretty to watch. There are some  very questionable choices on almost every page but that’s what makes it compelling reading and once you start you won’t want to stop turning those pages. 

I loved being in this world of fashion, the cut throat world that it was and living in it vicariously through Scarlett. I loved getting to know her and watching her grow and learn as the book went on and I definitely loved the gritty edge that this book had. This is coming of age meets literary fiction and was such a refreshing read. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Blog Tour: Review of People Like Us By Louise Fein

Today is my stop on the blog tour for People Like Us by Louise Fein. I have a review to share with you today and if you like the sound of that you can click here to order People Like Us which is out now! Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for more exclusive content and reviews. 

Here's what it's all about...

Leipzig, 1930's Germany.

Hetty Heinrich is a perfect German child. Her father is an SS officer, her brother in the Luftwaffe, herself a member of the BDM. She believes resolutely in her country, and the man who runs it.

Until Walter changes everything. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, perfect in every way Walter. The boy who saved her life. A Jew.

Anti-semitism is growing by the day, and neighbours, friends and family members are turning on one another. As Hetty falls deeper in love with a man who is against all she has been taught, she begins to fight against her country, her family and herself. Hetty will risk have to risk everything to save Walter, even if it means sacrificing herself...

Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Book Thief.

Review: What an appropriate time for this book to be released, right on the 7th anniversary of VE day. The Tagline for this book compares it to the Book Theif which I definitely agree with but also, if you have seen the film Jojo Rabbit, some of the more serious parts of the movie the friendship between our lead and his Jewish stowaway, really reminds me of this book. 

I loved Hetty as a main character because I felt like I could really relate to her confusion with the world and her quest to do the right thing at the same time as trying to please herself. I feel sure that a lot of readers will relate to her and so with have an instant sympathy and empathy with her as I did. We have all faced hardships in our lives but none as big as the hardship of watching your friends and loved ones be driven out or worse in the horrors that were Nazi Germany. 

There are a lot of dark moments in this book but the dark moments are not what the book is purely about. This is very much  character driven book and we see the whole mixed up world through Hetty's eyes. I love her passion and her thirst for knowledge as well as her loyalty to her family and friends and that is really the heart of the book. There are definite moments which make you feel uncomfortable as a reader but rather than put me off reading, I was in awe of this writers ability to affect such emotion in me. 

Yes there are dark moments in this book and yes there is a lot of historical detail in this book but this is a coming of age novel with the best kind of Romeo and Juliet style of love story at its centre and I really did enjoy the pace and the heart of this book, I am sure you will too. 

About the Author

Louise Fein holds an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary’s University. Prior to studying for her master’s, she ran a commodity consultancy business following a career in banking and law. She lives in Surrey with her family. People Like Us is inspired by her family history, and by the alarming parallels she sees between the early 30s and today.

Follow Louise:

Facebook: @LouiseFeinAuthor

Twitter: @FeinLouise

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Review: The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

A family reunited on a holiday of a lifetime...what could possibly go wrong?

When 70-year-old Charlotte Perkins submits an essay to the 'Become a Jetsetter' contest, she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee, an almost-famous actress; Cord, a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist; and Regan, a harried mother who has never forgiven Charlotte for buying her a Weight Watchers gift certificate for her birthday.

But when she wins the cruise, the reality is not quite as she expected. As they sail from sun-drenched Athens, to glorious Rome, to tapas-laden Barcelona, lovers old and new join the adventure, and long-buried secrets are revealed.

Can four lost adults find their way back to themselves, and to each other? And more importantly, can they do it without killing each other?

Review: I don't usually get on well with books that are part of celebrity book club picks but I liked the premise of this one and I enjoy books set around cruises so I thought why not? I think perhaps I should have trusted my judgement on this one and just given it a miss. 

Its not that there is anything particularly bad about this book it just didn't live up to my expectations and it wasn't that memorable for me. I really like the fact that the main character, the matriarch of the family in this one is older and I think that more books are pushing the boundaries with the ages of their protagonists but more could definitely have been done with this and I didn't really find myself sympathizing with the character. 

I found myself liking Cord as a character and I would have loved to have seen more of him in the book. I really found it hard the way they had the characters interacting, or not interacting as the case may be and I could think of a few ways that Cord could have been added to storylines involving Charlotte, Regan or Lee that would have added a bit more tension or even comedy. 

Some of the descriptions of places the ship docks in this book really were beautiful, right down to the table cloths the food and drink is laid out on. So if you're used to cruising and can't right now, this might be a bit of an adventure for you! I did  this one on audiobook and I have to say the narration was very good and it was clear which character we were dealing with at each moment. 

This one wasn't for me and so I think I'll stay away from book club picks in the future!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper

As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, seventeen-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.

Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another "Astrokid," and finds himself falling head over heels--fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.

Expertly capturing the thrill of first love and the self-doubt all teens feel, debut author Phil Stamper is a new talent to watch.

Review: I did this book on audio and i heartily recommend reading this book in that format if you can because you get real broadcasts from the reality TV show following the astronauts and their families which just brings the whole thing to life. 

I warmed to Cal and his story right from the beginning of the book. I loved the fact that he is a social media star but one with a difference. He not only uses his platform to show off neighborhoods in New York but also he uses his voice, one that so many people will be able to identify with for political good. Every aspect of social media is explored incredibly well in this novel through the reality TV show and through Cal and his online presence. 

I also love the relationship that Cal develops with Leon. This a friendship as well as a romance. This is own voices for queer representation and I love that Cal and Leon live their queerness in different ways. I like the fact that Cal has to handle making new friends in a new place when he has been so comfortable with his relationships in NYC. 

This book also deals with issues surrounding mental health and the power of science, two topics not normally found together in a novel, especially not a novel that has been marketed as a gay, young adult romance. I love that the writer has fitted so much into such a small space without ever compromising an engaging story line. All of these issues are dealt with so well through events and characters in the book, I am in awe of how these issues were included in such a natural and never forced way. 

This book is something that will stay with me for a while, I am still thinking about the characters and I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Love Songs For Sceptics by Christina Pishiris

LOVE IS FOR SUCKERS . . . ISN’T IT?

My brother’s getting married in a few weeks and asked for help picking a song for his first dance. I suggested Kiss’s ‘Love’s a Slap in the Face’.

It didn’t go down well.

When she was a teenager, Zoë Frixos fell in love with Simon Baxter, her best friend and the boy next door. But his family moved to America before she could tell him how she felt and, like a scratched record, she’s never quite moved on. Now, almost twenty years later, Simon is heading back to London, newly single and as charming as ever...

With Simon back in town, Zoë is determined to finally pluck up the courage to tell him how she feels, but as obstacles continue to get in her way – Jess, Simon’s perfect ex-girlfriend, Nick, an obnoxious publicist determined to ruin Zoe’s career, and family pressure around her brother’s big(ish) fat(ish) Greek wedding – Zoe begins to wonder whether, after all these years, she and Simon just aren’t meant to be.

What if, instead, they’re forever destined to shuffle around their feelings for each other, never quite mastering the steps. Is Zoë right to be sceptical about romance, or is it time she changed her tune?

Review: This was such a great premise for a story. I love the idea of someone in the music industry having some sceptical love song choices-I actually really enjoys reading about an editor of a music magazine-a glimpse into that world was so fresh and full of entertainment.

Zoe was an interesting character to spend this novel with. She has a fiery personality and is passionately independent but she has a wonderful mix of friends and colleagues who all compliment her and are all fully developed and intriguing in their own right. I didn’t always agree with the choices that Zoe made and felt like I was often judge mental towards her but it really meant that you never knew what direction the story was going to take next.

Then there’s the romance in this novel, as if music industry gossip and a brothers wedding wasn’t enough. This novel features a love triangle situation that morphs into a variety of other shapes throughout the course of the book. I love this trope and really liked the way this author played with and manipulated it for her characters in this case. I could definitely feel the chemistry between the characters and was definitely willing the triangle to go in one direction way more than the others.

This story is structured around chapters with song titles and the chapters are a mixture of lengths, when you come across a short chapter you definitely find yourself wanting to read on and so go time and again for ‘one more chapter’ so it was definitely a fast-paced novel without lacking any depth that’s for sure. I enjoyed this read, it was interesting to read about a main character in a different field and the romantic aspect of it definitely kept me on my toes the whole way through! 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK