Guess what?

I’m a teenager, and teenagers have hormones, and those hormones make you enjoy romance books.

That’s my excuse anyway.

Seriously though, I had no interest in reading romance at all until after I had started high school, so I think I’m probably right in blaming it on being a teenager.

So, as I DO like it now, here are a few reasons why;

Romance is a great option to read in almost any mood. When you’re happy you can identify with how the characters in the book are feeling, and when you’re a bit down, or angry, they can do a great job of cheering you up.

Also, a lot of the time it’s just fun to imagine yourself in the story, because, honestly, who doesn’t want a completely unlikely, really sappy, cheesy romance story? I think that secretly everybody, even total cynics, want that – although I will say, I often prefer romantic comedies, because a person can only take so much lovey doveyness at one time, and romance all by itself is often not a great storyline.

A few of my favourite “romance reads”, that I’d totally recommend are Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, A Girl Called Shameless by Laura Steven, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, & One Silver Summer by Rachel Hickman.

So, read a romance book! They’re escapist, cheesy, unrealistic and sappy, but sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

Jack Of Hearts (And Other Parts) is written by L.C.Rosen, published by Penguin, and has a front cover by Neil Swaab.

I love this book but, let’s just say I wouldn’t be reading it in the same room as my parents!

Jack Of Hearts (And Other Parts) is about a teenage boy called Jack, who’s gay. He loves life and is totally conquering it but, everything starts going downhill when he starts receiving creepy anonymous notes.

I really enjoyed the story. It was funny and touching, dramatic and scary. It’s such a brilliant book, but as I said it has some more mature scenes/chapters so definitely not one for reading aloud to your parents or kids!

One of the reasons I liked this book is because of the way Jack lives his life to the fullest, and enjoys himself which I think is something people nowadays are sometimes forgetting how to do. I really love the character of Jack’s mom, and his friends are all awesome.

I do however have a genuine hatred of the ‘anonymous note sender‘ and I absolutely couldn’t believe who it ended up being.

I completely recommend this book, which I would suggest for maybe age 12/13+, and definitely for secondary school libraries. Oh, and I also I wish my fashion sense was as good as Jack’s!

Holly Webb 🐶 🐱 💕

I love Holly Webb, and I think I have more books by her than anyone else, yet she’s one of the few “favourite authors” I’ve never actually met

Holly Webb is an amazing, incredibly prolific, children’s writer. I mean, if you do a quick search through my Twitter feed I’ve read at least 80 of her books, so obviously I’m not bored of them! (and, you know I’m almost 15, read lots of Stephen King, Agatha Christie & political non-fiction, and yet I’m STILL reading her books …though maybe that just says something about me to be honest).

She has actually written over 130 books (so I’m a bit of a failure for being 50 short!) when, let’s face it, most people can’t even write one. Her books are amazing stories that are great to read to younger children, and perfect for kids to read themselves once they get a bit more independent.

The books of hers that I’ve read most of are the Animal Stories, of which she has millions (might be exaggerating a little bit, but oh well) and they all tend to have really good morals and are really sweet. But I’ve also read lots of her books for slightly older kids, like the Lily & Rose series’, Girl Of Glass & The Mermaid’s Sister, Evie’s War, Frost, Return To The Secret Garden & The Princess And The Suffragette.

I tend, now, to think of many of them as great ‘comfort books’. I usually have one or two by my bed, for if I read a really scary or awkward bit in a book. I just pick up a Holly Webb book and read a couple of pages or chapters.

But whatever Holly Webb book you choose to read, for whatever age range, you won’t be disappointed and she is definitely an author that needs to be stocked in schools, libraries and homes everywhere.

Still never met her though …I really think I should!

Rosie Loves Jack is written by Mel Darbon, published by Usborne and has a front cover by Nancy Leschnikoff.

I love this book, it’s so sweet, heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Rosie And Jack is about a teenager called Rosie who has Down syndrome. When her boyfriend Jack gets sent away, she must be brave to get him back, and she faces some scary things along the way.

I really love this book and think that everyone should read it. I love Rosie and I love Jack, and although at points I really didn’t like her parents …in the end I did.

At times I was so scared for Rosie, especially when she sometimes didn’t understand what was going on (and, if I ended up yelling at a fictional character to leave her alone then that’s my business 😁) and although my heart was in my mouth for a lot of this book, praying for her to get to Jack, I loved the ending.

Buy this book, read this book, enjoy this book. I think this book would probably be perfect for anyone aged 12+, and a good high school book.

High Rise is written by Sharna Jackson, published by Knights Of and has a front cover by Wumzum.

Very dramatic, very unusual, very funny, very sad.

This book is about two teenage detectives who are sisters. When one of their neighbours dies, they take the case on, only to find that their own family are suspects. So, whodunnit?

This is a great book, from fantastic publishers Knights Of who are doing wonderful things with inclusive books.

I absolutely enjoyed High Rise and thought it was really interesting, with lots of action and drama (seriously, a car blew up!) and it was so sad when the girls were having to investigate their own dad – I mean, come on!? (and *spoiler* even though that didn’t end terribly, it was still kind of awkward to find out what they did discover about him!)

I’d say this is a great book for approximately 11-13 year olds and would be a perfect choice to have in a school library. Now, Alexanders assemble!

The Missing Bookshop is written by Katie Clapham, illustrated by Kirsti Beautyman and published by Stripes 🌈

This is such a cute book 😍

The Missing Bookshop is about a young girl who’s a bit of a bookworm (so she’s basically me) and she has to figure out what to do when it looks like her favourite bookshop might close down.

Although this is a short book (obviously aimed towards a younger age group, but we all know reading shouldn’t rely on age, but enjoyment!), it was still a great read and really sweet. The illustrations were lovely as well.

It really made me wish I’d had a bookshop like that when I was growing up. Maybe if I had, I’d have got into reading sooner …I was a bit of a slow starter!

I think this book would make a great read aloud to younger kids, is probably aimed at around 5-9 year olds who might not be ready for chapter books yet, but can be enjoyed by anyone who loves books and bookshops really.

Ship It is written by Britta Lundin, published by Freeform Books and has a front cover by Marci Senders and Andrew Rae.

I REALLY like this book, but will be getting back to the fact that I need somebody to explain to me what’s up with the pages, because they were a pain, like they’d been glued together in the binding process, or hadn’t been cut, and left that way, so you had to separate each one individually as you read???

ANYWAY

This book is about a teenage ‘geek’ called Claire. Her life is average and normal until she goes to a panel for her favourite TV show, Demon Heart, and a snap decision changes everything.

This book took me a while to read but I really enjoyed it. I will say it seemed a bit weird, reading about fanfic in a book, as usually those worlds don’t collide but once I got over that it was just SO good.

Claire is basically me, but braver, because I absolutely become obsessive about things (cough *Harry Potter* cough) and sometimes i think it would be amazing to see a fanfic become real.

This was seriously a brilliant book, and great representation in general, realistically portrayed, because NOT EVERYBODY KNOWS THEIR SEXUALITY. It’s all dealt with perfectly – part of the plot without being the only important thing about the character. I mean we also get demons, acting, fanfic, embarrassing parents and very annoying, entitled Hollywood people, so what more could you ask for, right?

And lastly if anyone knows the author/publisher of this book, could you please ask them why the pages were all still stuck together???

Outside is written by Sarah Ann Juckes and published by Penguin.

This is one of the most unusual books I’ve ever read. I’d seriously like to know what it’s like in the head of this author.

Outside is about a young girl who was kept in a room for her whole life, then one day escapes. She finds two people who show her what the world outside is like, and help her face some scary but important truths.

This book had some serious shock factors in it, I mean I like to think that I can predict at least a bit of what will happen in a book, but not this one!

It was heart wrenching to read some parts, and I was just rooting for her to escape and to be able to live her life, and geez there were some emotions. Not even just from the main character though, there was just drama and emotion everywhere. It was also really cool to read about everyday things from the perspective of someone who has never experienced them before.

Outside is a brilliant book and I really enjoyed it. A great read that I think I would suggest for age 11-12+.

A Pocketful Of Stars is written by Aisha Bushby and published by Egmont.

This book made me cry. Might not sound like a great opener for a review, but there you go. It did make me cry; it was sad and heartwarming, and sad and amazing.

This book is about a girl called Safiya who’s about 13 and a gaming nerd. When her best friend starts to become less of a best friend and her whole world is suddenly turned topsy turvy, gaming, some magic memories, and new found freinds are what keep her going.

This book is just so good. I loved the characters, and the concept and the feels. Because the feels are there, and they get to you (I try very hard not to cry over books too often, but sometimes u just can’t help it, you know) and I may be a bit cruel but I have a little bit of hatred (maybe not hatred really, just annoyance) towards Elle and Abir, but some serious love for Izzy, Charlotte and Gini, because who wants to grow up anyway, right?

So yes, definitely a great book to read. I would suggest maybe for age 10-14ish, but be warned for tears because, like I said, it is sad.

Now does anyone have some magic perfume to lend me?

Paper avalanche is written by Lisa Williamson, published by David Fickling Books and has a front cover by Alice Todd.

First of all I want to say the title is misleadingly upbeat compared to the content of this book, which hit me hard (like an actual avalanche, not a paper one!).

This book is based on a young teen girl whose mother is a hoarder. She’s trying to hide this fact from her new found friend at school, whilst also trying to manage all her own feelings about her dads new wife, and her new friends old best friends.

This is definitely one of my favourite books and one of the most interesting as well. I read a lot of books on sexism, racism, homophobia, mental health etc, but they’re mostly non-fiction so can (sometimes!) get a bit boring. Paper Avalanche was so good though, it showed the struggles of a teenager dealing with the fallout of her parents’ divorce and her mum’s illness, but also the more normal teenage crappy stuff, like drama with friends and school.

The book is so sad and I’m spending the entire time I’m reading just begging her to tell someone, and for her dad to stop being horrible and for her to leave her freind alone!?! (whew and breathe)

I mean, I was practically yelling at the book sometimes, it’s so sad – but so good (it sounds like a blimming addiction) but yes, it’s a good book and you should read it.

A great story, and definitely suggested reading for everybody. It would also be a really good book for any school library ( *cough* mental health awareness *cough* ) so you should definitely buy it.