Review: What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

Sometimes a new perspective is all that is needed to make sense of the world. 

KIT: I don't know why I decide not to sit with Annie and Violet at lunch. It feels like no one here gets what I'm going through. How could they? I don't even understand.

DAVID: In the 622 days I've attended Mapleview High, Kit Lowell is the first person to sit at my lunch table. I mean, I've never once sat with someone until now. "So your dad is dead," I say to Kit, because this is a fact I've recently learned about her. 
When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David's blunt honesty--in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit's attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad's tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they'll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?

Review: This was another hit from Julie Buxbaum, I have found a new author to add to my favourites list! This book is just as full of feeling and covert romance and loverly friendship as Tell Me Three Things but this one deals with some deeper and more misunderstood issues as well. This books covers family not being what you expect them to be again, which I always enjoy when it comes up. This book also deals with mental health, grief and Aspergers. And of course dealing with all of that doing high school-yey!

These were two new characters for me and I found myself really warming to David right away. I loved his take on the world and his awareness that he didn't see things that same way as other people so he would have to keep notes watch other people or ask for help when it comes to social interactions. He is also incredibly clever and don't play it down in any way, which I loved too! Kit took me longer to warm to. I enjoyed her take on things and the fact that she too has a different perspective of the world. I didn't always like the way that she handled things she was put up against but she is grieving and so that is to be expected. 

Of coursed being high school, we have members of the other classic high school groups and they all have their part to play in this novel. I really enjoyed who friendship was explored at every level. I know having gone through high school how friendships can look different, can be more superficial than you realise and can also be found in unexpected places an this book really does cover all of that well. I think this would be a great solace to someone currently experiencing high school but was also really interesting to revisit having gone through the experience and successfully come out the other end!

I would love to hear more from Kit and David, like I need a sequel now. I am sure you will love their story too!

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

Review: Tell me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that's what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. It's been barely two years since her mother's death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son, and to start at a new school where she knows no one. 

Just when she's thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help? 

In a leap of faith--or an act of complete desperation--Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can't help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?

Review: this was such a sweet and romantic book, but funny and true at the same time and just left me feeling warm and fuzzy and saying 'aww!' out loud on more than one occasion. I just loved this book and could definitely recognise high school feelings I had had throughout this book, it is definitely very true to life. There is the whole issue of internet safety thrown up in this book so it would be a great book to read with teens and discuss, but overall it was just really entertaining. I read the audiobook and it was really well done I would recommend this format!

Jessie as a character was very relatable, I could have been her and I just hate to imagine what moving schools in the middle of high school would have been like. She is very realistic and down to earth because she has lived a little bit and that's one of the things that I liked about this book, the characters all have a little life experience even though they are teens. The male characters in this novel are great too, they can play confidants and love interests, friends and enemies and make for some interesting reading. 

Some of the moments in this book are just so romantic but not overtly so, just the little things that anyone who has experienced them, or longed to experience them can recognise. Having said that, there is definitely more to this book than just the romance. There are issues about friendship and loyalty, about high school and all the issues it brings and about how you might be feeling when your parents don't behave like typical parents do. There is also a book store in this book, always a winner for me and so I am sure that will bring joy to a great many the readers too!

I just really enjoyed this book and it is a book I have been craving a re-read of, already, I know! I would really recommend this one if you are looking for a read with a good dose of reality but also a good dose of romance. I loved it and I am sure that you will to!

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