December's Monthly Recap

We're at the end of the month, and the end of the year. It's not been the best year for me away from the blog, but I on the blog, I think it's been pretty good! Here's a look over what's happened on the blog in the last month.

Reviews:

• What We Left Behind by Robin Talley - I was pretty disappointed in this. No communication between characters, and exhausting.
• The Art of Wishing by Lindsay Ribar - This was fun and awesome! I'm looking forward to the sequel
• Just Visiting by Dahlia Adler - My first Adler book, but not my last! A really wonderful story fo friendship.
• More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera - THIS WAS AMAZING! So much better than I thought it would be! So surprising with a fantastic twist! (Not pictured as it was borrowed.)
• A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig - This was wonderful! Charming and magical, and really made me smile! (Not pictured because I lent it to someone.)
• Made You Up by Francesca Zappia - Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Romance, mystery, Schizophrenia! Such a great story!
• The Next Together by Lauren James - Absolutely gripping, but the ending left me disappointed.
• One by Sarah Crossan - Great premise, but verse, it seems, isn't the right style for me when it comes to getting emotionally involved in a story.
• Rethinking Normal by Katie Rain Hill - This was really fascinating. A memoir by a transwoman of her teenage years. Eye-opening and interesting.
• The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew - This book was SO thought-provoking and scary, and oh my god, you need to read this book! The whole thing! Even the notes at the end!
• Rooms by Lauren Oliver - Beautiful writing as always, but it felt quite slow to me. I wasn't as invested n this book as I normally am in Oliver's novels.

Other posts on Once Upon a Bookcase:

• We hs just one post for Bookish Spinsters - Equality in Sport - before I postponed the link-up due to things happening in my personal life. The postponment might become a mini-hiatus. I'm not sure yet when it will be back up, and I'm still dealing with a lot of things.
• As it's the end of the year, I wrote a post Looking Over 2015, Looking Forward to 2016. I've signed up for a couple more reading challenges since writing it, so if you're interested in what I'm taking part in, check out my reading challenge page.

What I've been reading elsewhere online:

• Katherine Locke discussed how she's making Twitter her space again, after leaving for a week because of abuse she was getting, with some great tips if it's becoming too much for you.
• Pop! Goes the Reader held a month long 'Tis The Season: Authors Talk Holidays event, which is pretty self explanatory. There were a great number of authors sharing their personal holiday stories, with a number of holidays covered. Do go check it out.
• Dahlia Adler now has a number of pages on her blog for diverse books with minority characters: 
• 2016-17 YAs by Authors of Color
• #OwnVoices in Disability and Neurodiversity
• Books By and About Marginalized Races
• Books By and About People Who Identify as LGBTQIAP+
• Jewish MG/YA/NA Authors
• Resources for Marginalized Perspectives
• Courtney Summers wrote a blog post about how difficult girls deserve to be loved and why she would never write a book that suggests otherwise.
• Check out Disability in Kidlit's Goodreads shelf for #OwnVoices YA.
• Barnes & Noble talk about 15 of Our Most Anticipated LGBTQ YAs of 2016.
• On YA Outside the Lines, Natasha Sinel talks about mature themes covered in YA, and how parents have an issue with sex in YA - Is There *gasp* Sex in This Book?
• Forever Young Adult share their Most Anticipated Books of 2016: Standalones & Series Starters.
• Epic Reads talks about The 17 Most Anticipated YA Books to Read in January.
• Grace of Gracie Actually Writes wrote Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a post on female masturbation on Oh No, Not Another Blogger.
• Author Alex Gino wrote Why I Use the Pronoun "They".
• Over on XOJane, K.T. Bradford wrote I Challenge You to Stop Reading White, Straight, Cis Male Authors for One Year.
• Along the same lines, a reading challenge has come up on Twitter to #ReadWomen. In response to this, Dahlia Adler wrote a really fantastic post On #ReadWomen that you might want to read before you crack on with the challenge.
• After reading Dahlia Adler's On #ReadWomen post, author C.K. Oliver wrote A Trans Guy's Thoughts on #ReadWomen.
• Dahlia Adler (can you tell I'm a fan of this lady?) also answered a question on Goodreads on moving from writing m/f romance to f/f romance. 

 So that's been my December! How was yours? :)

Have a Happy New Year, everyone! :)

Review: Rooms by Lauren Oliver

Rooms by Lauren Oliver (reading copy) - Compulsive and powerful ghost story narrated by two spirits who inhabit the walls of an old house. It's a tale of family, ghosts, secrets, and mystery, in which the lives of the living and the dead intersect in shocking, surprising, and moving ways.

Wealthy Richard Walker has just died, leaving behind his country house full of rooms packed with the detritus of a lifetime. His estranged family - bitter ex-wife Caroline, troubled teenage son Trenton, and unforgiving daughter Minna - have arrived for their inheritance.

But the Walkers are not alone. Prim Alice and the cynical Sandra, long dead former residents bound to the house, linger within its claustrophobic walls. Jostling for space, memory, and supremacy, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself - in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a light bulb.

The living and dead are each haunted by painful truths that will soon surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide - with cataclysmic results. From Goodreads.

Being the huge fan of Lauren Oliver's novels that I am, I was really excited when I first heard that Oliver wrote an adult book, Rooms, about ghosts and secrets and the past. However, I didn't enjoy Rooms as much as I hoped.

When Richard Walker dies, the family he has left returns to sort out his belongings and to discover what they have inherited, partly hoping they've inherited his wealth, partly wanting to be well away from the house and all it's memories. The lives of Caroline, Richard's ex wife, and their daughter Minna and son Trenton weren't happy ones when they lived together. Caroline drinks to forget and to cope, Minna struggles to find any kind of happiness, and tries to get what little she can in the wrong places, and Trenton, who feels worthless and unloved, believes there's only one way out. But they are not alone in the house. The ghosts of Alice and Sandra, previous tenants of the house, are living in the walls. The house is their body, and also hides their own secrets. The arrival of the family upsets their peace, with squabbles and noise and movement. The pasts and secrets of them all collide in the days the family are there, and all that is buried will come to light.

What I love most about Oliver is her writing style. I have raved about her writing and imagery countless times before, and the beauty of her words can be found within the pages of Rooms. However, the story just didn't interest me as much as I thought it would. I found it to be very slow, and most of the characters so self-absorbed. They all had their issues, and I did feel sorry for them, but I couldn't bring myself to really care.

Each person has a chance at narrating; Sandra and Alice each narrate their stories in first person, and we have third person narration from Caroline, Trenton, Minna, and occasionally, Amy, Minna's daughter. They each have a story, and we jump from one to the other, all the while following what's happening in the present. I'm not new to stories that jump about, nor averse to them, but it just didn't work for me with Rooms. I found the plot quite slow as it was, but it feels even slower when you jump from one person's past to another.

Sadly, Rooms just didn't work for me. But it is a really interesting premise, and I do think this is a story a lot of other people would enjoy. It just isn't my book, unfortunately.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the reading copy.



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Published: 25th September 2014
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Lauren Oliver's Website

Looking Over 2015, Looking Forward to 2016

I know most will take part in Jamie of The Perpetual Page-Turner's End of Year Survey, but I'm just not in the mood for it this year. However, I did want to write something that looked back over the past year on Once Upon a Bookcase, and looks forward to 2016.

In this post I'll talk about my favourite books of 2015, what I received from my Secret Santa, looking back over 2015's reading. I'll also talk about my plans for 2016, which include the kind of books I'll be aiming to read, the challenges I'm taking part in and why, and my plans regarding Twitter and my thoughts on leaving it.

Favourite Books of 2015:

This isn't an easy choice. I could choose just one, but it would be leaving out so many other wonderful novels. So instead of just choosing one, I'm going to choose one for different genres, or on different topics. Also, this is for books I read in 2015, not necessarily books published in 2015.

Fave Book of 2015 Overall:



All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Fave YA Novel on Mental Health:



Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Fave LGBTQ YA Novel:



More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Fave Historical YA:



The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

Fave Atmospheric/Creepy YA:



The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Fave YA High Fantasy:



Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Fave Feminist YA:



What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

Fave Intersectional YA:



Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz

Fave UKYA:



Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

Fave Adult High Fantasy:



Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb

Fave Middle Grade:



George by Alex Gino

Fave Non-Fic:



Asking For It by Kate Harding

Presents from My Secret Santa:

I took part in Faye of A Daydreamer's Thoughts' UK Book Blogger Secret Santa, which was brilliant! My Secret Santa was Rebecca of Rebecca McCormick's Authorial Blog, and she sent me some wonderful books from my wishlist!


The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu - I heard about this book a number of years ago, but it was recommended on The Oral History Podcast by Carrie Mesrobian!
My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi - I've read Verdi's two other books and loved them, so I really wanted to read her debut!
The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry - This is another book recommended by Mesrobian on The Oral History Podcast that sounds brilliant!

Thank you to Rebecca for my fantastic books! I didn't receive any other books for Christmas, but I think three is a pretty awesome number!

Looking Back over 2015's Reading:

I think I had a pretty good reading year over all! I completed six of the seven challenges I signed up to; pretty good for me! I read a fair number of novels based only on recommendations, which I think is brilliant. More recs from my fantastic blogger/reader friends in the future please!

I managed to read 46 diverse books in 2015, 27 of which were LGBTQ. I'd still like to read more diverse novels in 2016, but I'd like things up a bit. I still want to read a lot of LGBTQ YA, but perhaps not the majority of the diverse books I read. More on this later.

Sex in Teen Lit Month II went pretty well, I think. It wasn't as successful as I had hoped in regards to getting people talking about the topics here on the blog - most of the comments from the discussion posts came from other people taking part in the 2015 Book Blog Discussion Challenge, rather than from regular readers. But still, I really enjoyed it, and had wonderful contributions from authors and other bloggers, and so I'm happy!

Looking Forward to 2016:

Diversity in YA:

As I said above, I want to read more diverse books outside of LGBTQ YA. I'm hoping to read more
YA with characters who are disabled and characters who have chronic illnesses. I'm not giving up on LGBTQ YA, however. I still have quite a few LGBTQ books sitting on my TBR pile, but within LGBTQ, I want to try and focus more on the identities we don't see much of. I also want to read more intersectional YA, too. Some of the diverse books I'm going to read are:



The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry - A character with type 1 diabetes, and another disabled war veteren.
My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi - The main character has HIV.
Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen - The main character's father has HIV.
Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom - The main character is blind.
The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen - The main character is in a wheelchair. This is a NA novel.
Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate - One of the main character is pansexual, and another is, apparently, asexual.
This Song is (Not) For You by Laura Nowlin - One of the main characters is asexual.
If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan - The main character is a Iranian lesbian.

Reading Challenges:

I'm going to be taking part in the usual reading challenges (2016 Debut Author Challenge, LGBTQIA 2016 Reading Challenge (different challenge run by a different blogger, but same idea), What's In a Name? Reading Challenge 2016) but I'm taking part in a few different ones as well, in order to try and keep track of what I'm reading. I'm taking part in the Read the Books You Buy Reading Challenge 2016, which is pretty self-explanatory and the 2016 NetGalley Reading Challenge, to try and get 80% of NetGalley eProofs read.

I'm also taking part in the Contemporary Romance 2016 Reading Challenge. As well as keeping track of the YA novels in this genre I read, I'm also hoping to do some re-reading in 2016 of books I've yet to review, so this challenge will help with that. I'm also taking part in the 2016 Classics Challenge; I never read classics, and I'd like to remedy this. And I'm hosting the Retellings Reading Challenge 2016, so do check that out!

Twitter:

I am considering leaving Twitter. As useful as it is to promote my posts, I think it makes me kind of lazy. I don't visit other people's blogs as often as I should; I ten to read the posts highlighted on Twitter, but those posts only, and not much else on the blogs. I also rely on Twitter to discover new books, which is great, but I very rarely try to find books myself, I kind of stumble on them. Also, I'd like to be much more active in the blogging community offline. I have yet to go to single Meet UKYA social events, and I'd really love to. If I don't talk to people so much on Twitter, the only way I'll talk to them is in person. I want to put more effort into my blogger-friendships. I think there are a lot of benefits for me if I leave Twitter. I'll still have my personal account, so I'll have a few of the benefits of Twitter that I get now, but it's a lot less reading focused, and I also use it a lot less. This will mean that those who hear about my blog posts via Twitter will need to follow me and my blog in some other way. I recommend Bloglovin'.

I'm still thinking about this all, and I'll probably have a trial break from Twitter to see how I get on. But I thought I should mention it. I really like the idea of not using social media. Seeing if I can do it. (RE my personal Twitter account, I wouldn't really count it as I don't use it very much). What do you guys think of this? Would my leaving Twitter cause huge problems for you all? Would you be willing to follow my blog some other way? Or would you stop reading altogether? Please share your thoughts.

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So that's it! My look back, and my look forward! Hope you've enjoyed the past year on Once Upon a Bookcase, and I hope you'll stick around for 2016!

Review: The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew

The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew (eProof) - A startling coming-of-age novel set in a contemporary Nazi England.

Jessika Keller is a good girl: she obeys her father, does her best to impress Herr Fisher at the Bund Deutscher Mädel meetings and is set to be a world champion ice skater. Her neighbour Clementine is not so submissive. Outspoken and radical, Clem is delectably dangerous and rebellious. And the regime has noticed. Jess cannot keep both her perfect life and her dearest friend. But which can she live without?

THE BIG LIE is a thought-provoking and beautifully told story that explores ideas of loyalty, sexuality, protest and belief. From Goodreads.

I cannot even begin to tell you how incredible The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew is. An alt-history novel about what the world would be like today if the Nazis won World War II, this book is extremely thought-provoking, and unbelievably scary.

If you really think about, WWII wasn't that long ago. It ended only 70 years ago, no matter how far in the past it might seem to some of us. The Big Lie shows us the possible present world we could be living in had the Nazis won, and the world we're shown is terrifying - not just because of how awful it is, but because this could be our lives. It's not a dystopian novel set in very distant future, it's set now. Present day with a different past.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot, because this is very much a story whose horrors you shouldn't be prepared for, but I will talk about the important aspects of the book. The book is split into two parts. The first part - the only part I feel comfortable discussing without spoiling the story - shows us the history of Jess and Clem's friendship, and just exactly who these two girls are. Jess does her best to be the very best daughter of Germany she can be. She's passionate about doing what's right, and has such a huge love of Germany. Even though they live in Britain, it is now a German country, which is governed by the Fuhrer, who is worshipped like a god-like figure. The amount of brainwashing that has gone on through the years since the war is astounding. Britain is not a country "suffering" under the rule of the Fuhrer, but a country that was saved from it's corrupt government before Hitler freed it. The devotion Jess feels to her country and her role in society - as a young woman who will eventually be wife and mother, and who will keep her home and raise her children while her family works.

Clem, on the other hand is from an outspoken family who haven't been so brainwashed by all they've been fed. They have strange ideas that step outside the rules. Clem's family want change, and have brought up their daughter to think for herself and to question what she's told. So whereas Jess is blindly led by her authority figures - her parents and the leaders of her Bund Deutscher Mädel (the Nazi female youth organisation) - Clem can see what's not being said. And when she becomes victim to the rules of Nazi run Britain - having been given her date for the removal of her womb, as there's a chance she might produce "defective" children because her mother gave birth to an "imperfect" son who was taken away and killed (we're never really told exactly what problems their son had) - the whole family, and Clem in particular will not be silent.

The Big Lie has huge themes running throughout, and covers feminist issues, morality, deep female friendship, and questions about loyalty - to country, to your beliefs, to your friends. One wonderful aspect covered is Jess' questions about her sexual identity. I think I might be safe in saying Jess is a lesbian, but a label is never given, and Jess doesn't think about "homosexuality" in any real words. It's just her feelings and who she's attracted to, and who she falls in love with. Without spoiling the story, there is the possibility that Jess is bisexual; as I said, no labels are given, and there are moments with male characters, but I read those moments as Jess trying to be "normal", fit in, and stop feeling ashamed. There may be others who may have read it differently, though. Either way, the look at sexuality, discovering what and who you like, on it's own and in the world Jess lives in, was dealt with brilliantly.

What I also found really difficult to deal with was the Historical Notes on The Big Lie that comes at the end of the book. Mayhew talks about the various elements of the book that are true; the beliefs and actions of the Nazis being as they were back in WWII, but also the elements of the book that comes from present day world events. These appalling and disturbing events aren't from a period of history, they're happening today. We might think we live in a different world now, but we do not. Yes, we might be more accepting than we were, we might be, in some ways, better, but there a lot of things that simply have not changed, and there are injustices people are having to live with everyday. I implore you to read The Big Lie, and also to read Historical Notes on the Big Lie afterwards, and have your eyes opened to what is happening in the world, if you didn't already know, and think about this world we live in. I said at the beginning that this book is terrifying because this could have been our lives, but the truth of the matter is, in some parts of the world, for some people, this is their lives, this is their present.

An incredible and harrowing novel, The Big Lie is not a book to pass up, and not one, once read, you'll be able to ignore.

Thank you to Hot Key Books via NetGalley for the eProof.



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Published: 27th August 2015
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Julie Mayhew's Website

Review: Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition by Katie Rain Hill

Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition by Katie Rain Hill (reading copy) - In her unique, generous, and affecting voice, nineteen-year-old Katie Hill shares her personal journey of undergoing gender reassignment.

Have you ever worried that you'd never be able to live up to your parents' expectations? Have you ever imagined that life would be better if you were just invisible? Have you ever thought you would do anything--anything--to make the teasing stop? Katie Hill had and it nearly tore her apart.

Katie never felt comfortable in her own skin. She realized very young that a serious mistake had been made; she was a girl who had been born in the body of a boy. Suffocating under her peers' bullying and the mounting pressure to be "normal," Katie tried to take her life at the age of eight years old. After several other failed attempts, she finally understood that "Katie"--the girl trapped within her--was determined to live.

In this first-person account, Katie reflects on her pain-filled childhood and the events leading up to the life-changing decision to undergo gender reassignment as a teenager. She reveals the unique challenges she faced while unlearning how to be a boy and shares what it was like to navigate the dating world and experience heartbreak for the first time in a body that matched her gender identity. Told in an unwaveringly honest voice, Rethinking Normal is a coming-of-age story about transcending physical appearances and redefining the parameters of "normalcy" to embody one's true self. From Goodreads.

I'm pretty lucky to have had the opportunity to read this book. As you may know, I am a children's bookseller. Simon and Schuster Children's Books contacted my head of department about two memoirs written by two transgender authors that were published by S&S in the US that they were thinking of publishing. They were going to send her a copy of each, to get an idea of what a children bookseller thought of them, and because she knows how much I enjoy and promote LGBTQ YA, she thought I might want to read them and get back to S&S with my thoughts.

The first of the two is the fantastic Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition, in which Katie Rain Hill tells the story of her life as a transgender teenager. Hill wrote this book at 19, and tell us about when she was a child, realising that her body didn't match up with how she felt inside and the depression and bullying she suffered, to coming out to her mother as a teenager and her path of transitioning to the young woman she is today. We also learn of the LGBT support groups that helped her, how through them she herself became a LGBT advocate which led to some time in the media spotlight along with her then boyfriend - who is also trans - Arin.

Hill's story is a moving one. She didn't have a very happy childhood. The first few years of her life weren't so bad, but once she realised that she was a girl and not a boy, she fell into misery that became depression. She went to various doctors and therapists, and was prescribed a number of antidepressants, but nothing really worked. She tried explaining things to her mum, but she didn't really understand what was wrong with her. At first she thought she was gay, because she was attracted to boys, but even that didn't feel right to her. Her mum, at the time, told her everything would be ok, but would ignore the situation afterwards. On top of that, Hill was very badly bullied for her femininity. Things got so bad for Hill that at eight-years-old, she attempted to take her own life. Reading that was so unbelievably sad, seeing a child so unhappy, so confused, she thought it would be better to die. But things were going to change for Hill. Time after time of Googling, trying to find out what was wrong with her, she finally came across an article about a transgender teenager, and things finally clicked into place. She wasn't alone. There wasn't anything wrong with her. She was transgender.

I don't want to talk too much about what Hill recounts in the book, because this is definitely a book you should read for yourself. What I loved about this book is how accessible Hill makes it. As a reader of a lot of LGBTQ YA, I feel I've got a pretty good grip on transgenderism for the most part, but it was still really eye-opening to read the actual story of a real transgender person. I think the closest I have got otherwise is reading middle grade novel George by Alex Gino, the only novel I've read so far written by a transgender author who know exactly what being transgender as a child is like. But it was wonderful - and incredibly inspiring - to read Hill's own real story. Hill writes with such honesty, but also with an openness; it doesn't feel just like Hill is writing about her story because more people should learn about transgenderism, but also because she's happy to talk about her life. There's a lightness to her writing, that even when recounting the darkest of times, you can feel how happy she is in her skin now - that she got through it to become this remarkably strong, intelligent, and brave young woman.

I believe this is the first memoir I have read, and this played it's part in my enjoyment of the book. This isn't a story, it's Hill's account of her life so far and her path to transition. But I felt we were told a lot that I would like to have actually seen on the page. But this is a book of recounting events, not following along a narrative in a novel. Although we hear about the various significant events of Hill's life in detail, we're told about these situations, rather than "witnessing" them as we would in a novel. I think what made it difficult for me was having 19-year-old Hill talking about, for example, the suicide attempt when she was eight; it was an older voice talking about the feelings of a child, rather than the voice of a child that we might get through a novel. It's a small thing, but kept me from emotionally connecting to Hill's story as much as I wanted to. As I've already said, it was very sad, and difficult to read, but I as upset by it as I imagined I'd be before reading. But this is a personal style preference, and not a criticism of the book.

I also had some tiny issues with Rethinking Normal. It feels like it's written with a subtle agenda, which of itself is understandable; Hill wants to promote understanding and acceptance of transgender people while telling her story. But it felt slightly forceful to me. I do think there is a difference between reading a book and learning from it, and having a book set out to teach you something. However, as I said, this is quite subtle, so I was able to get past it to read the whole book, but it did niggle at me.

Overall, Rethinking Normal is an amazing story, and one I highly recommend. I'm really looking forward to reading the second memoir I have, Some Assembly Required, by Hill's friend and ex-boyfriend, Arin Andrews.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the reading copy.



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Published: 29th September 2015
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Katie Rain Hill on Twitter

Review: One by Sarah Crossan

One by Sarah Crossan (proof) - Grace and Tippi are twins – conjoined twins.

And their lives are about to change.

No longer able to afford homeschooling, they must venture into the world – a world of stares, sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at school? Can they find real friends? And what about love?

But what neither Grace or Tippi realises is that a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead. A decision that could tear them apart. One that will change their lives even more than they ever imagined…

From Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this moving and beautifully crafted novel about identity, sisterhood and love ultimately asks one question: what does it mean to want and have a soulmate? From Goodreads.

On hearing that Sarah Crossan had written One, a book about conjoined twins, I was so eager to read it. However, I finished the book feeling a little disappointed.

Tippi and Grace are conjoined twins. They have been homeschooled their whole lives, to keep them away from the cruelty of others, but now their parents can no longer afford it. Tippi and Grace start their senior year of high school with trepidation, waiting for the stares and cruel words. But they find school isn't so bad once they make friends with Yasmeen and Jon, the only two people outside of family, medical professionals and teachers who see them as two individual people, rather than a curiosity to be afraid of or bully. Their lives start to get a little complicated when Grace starts to fall for Jon; there's no chance Jon could possibly like her, being one of conjoined twins, but even if he did, how could any real relationship be possible? But soon the girls realise Grace's feelings are the least of their worries; when their health is threatened, the biggest and most dangerous of their lives lies ahead.

The premise of the story is wonderful. I was really interested and intrigued to see where Crossan would take Tippi and Grace's story, and to see how much we would learn about conjoined twins and their lives. But I did have trouble getting emotionally involved in the story. One is 448 pages long, but it's also a verse novel, so there isn't a huge amount of text. One is the kind of book you could fly through in one sitting, it's a super quick read. and I found the story goes by too quickly for me to feel much connection to the characters.

I do not deny the huge amount of talent it takes to write a story in verse; to be able to tell a full, complete story in the structure of poetry, with really very few words. It's amazing and admirable. But for this kind of story - an intense and highly emotional story - I need to feel connected to the characters, I need to be emotionally involved in their story to care, and this structure just didn't work for me. I didn't care as much as I should have for the story being told. When we reached the climax, I felt sad for the characters, my eyes filled with tears, but tears that didn't fall. If this story had been told in prose, my heart would have broke and I would have been sobbing uncontrollably on the bus home. Instead, I finished it, put the book away, stared out the window, and my thoughts quickly turned to other things. Don't get me wrong, I do like verse novels, it just seems for me, with a novel that is on such an emotional topic, verse doesn't hit me the way prose does. That's not to say it won't affect other readers differently. I guess it just comes down to what grabs you personally.

Unfortunately, One wasn't a book that worked for me on an emotional level, but it's still a fascinating and interesting story. It's eye-opening and thought-provoking, and I'm sure a lot of people will love it.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Children's Books for the proof.



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Published: 27th August 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
Sarah Crossan on Twitter

Bookish Spinsters is Being Postponed

This is an announcement to say that Bookish Spinsters is going to on break until the New Year. I've had some really bad news recently, and unfortunately, I'm just not able to put the passion and thought into these posts that not only I would like but I feel is required for this link-up. I'm hoping those who read the posts will bear with me as I get myself together, and will come back to reading my Bookish Spinsters posts in the New Year.

Thanks for understanding.

Review: The Next Together by Lauren James

The Next Together by Lauren James (reading copy) - How many times can you lose the person you love?

Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again, century after century. Each time, their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.

Spanning the Crimean War, the Siege of Carlisle and the near-future of 2019 and 2039 they find themselves sacrificing their lives to save the world. But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace?

Maybe the next together will be different... From Goodreads.

There aren't many YA novels on reincarnation that I've read, so when I heard that Lauren James' debut novel would be about reincarnation and science, I was desperate to read it. The Next Together is a unique story, and absolutely gripping - but a little disappointing.

In 1745, Katherine Finchley, a well born woman, and Matthew Galloway, her coachman, fall in love while trying to help protect the city of Carlisle from a siege against the Jacobite rebels.
In 1854, Katy is an orphan trying to get herself out of poverty by pretending to be a boy to get work. She is working for Matthew Galloway, journalist for The Times. Together, they are covering the Crimean wore on the front lines, and when Matthew discovers Katy is a girl, they slowly develop feelings for each other.
In 2019, Matthew and Katherine Galloway are a married couple, biologists working for Central Science Laboratories. When they discover that their employers are trying to create a biological weapon and attempt to stop them, they are killed and accused of terrorism.
In 2039, Kate Finchley an Matt Galloway are studying biology at the University of Nottingham. When they discover that they were both related to the terrorists Matthew and Katherine Galloway, they try to find out exactly what they discovered and what happened to them, falling in love along the way.
What they don't know is that they are all the same two people, reincarnated time and again, destined to find each other and subtly change the world.

I absolutely love how this story is told! In every chapter, we follow the story of all the Katherines and Matthews, jumping from timelines and geographic locations. We see them fall in love repeatedly, but each incarnation of the two is passionate about doing good and doing the right thing, and are incredibly brave in the risks they take to do so, no matter what year they're living in. We discover the story of Matthew and Katherine Galloway of 2019 through notes left on the fridge, comments made on social media, and articles online, as well as through the research of Kate and Matt in 2039. Those two timelines are the two most connected; Katherine was Kate's aunt and Matthew was Matt's uncle, neither believe what has been reported about the married couple, and are desperate to find out. Both having an understanding of biology helps as they understand exactly what they're relatives were doing. Snooping into something that got the 2019 couple killed is highly dangerous, and you're constantly on edge. But there's danger in every timeline; during the Siege of Carlise and the Crimean War, becoming a casualty is a very high risk.

What's awesome is, as you're reading along, you're very much aware that you're not the only one following all these incarnations of the couple. Fairly often throughout the book, you will get what are almost commands put into a computer (does anyone remember DOS? You know the letters on the black screen? It's very similar to that). Their lives were being manipulated by those who were observing them. Each incarnation is some kind of an assignment, and there is an objective of each assignment, but one we, the readers, and the incarnations, know about. It was fascinating! What exactly are these people watching wanting all the Katherines and Matthews to do? Why are they so keen on keeping them alive? Why are they assignments? What is the objective? How is it possible that they are able to "reboot" the incarnations in new timelines? What's happening?! Oh my god, so gripping!

I did have to suspend disbelief pretty early on, though. I found that, no matter year it was, all incarnations fell in love far too quickly and easily - especially as we don't get to know much about them in any year. The focus is on their relationship, and what's happening in that timeline, rather than on who these people are. Every incarnation of Matthew has an interest in farming. Every incarnation of Katherine is pretty humorous and is inclined to constantly take the mick out of Matthew. But other than that, we don't know much about them as people. I did find 2019 Matthew and Katherine to be the most interesting incarnations, because Katherine was just so funny! She really was hilarious, but we never actually meet her, as their whole story is told through notes on the fridge, etc. Those incarnations are the only ones that show much personality, because it comes through in their notes to each other. However, I would just let it go that I wouldn't really know the incarnations, and they were going to fall in love easily because they had already been in love with each other so many times before. I let it go, and just enjoyed the story for what it was, and spent most of the story feeling excited and eager to know what was going to happen next for all of them!

But then we got to the end of the stories, for each incarnation, and I felt hugely let down. I can understand why some of the incarnations' stories ended the way they did - they kind of needed to for the sake of future incarnations, despite feeling unsatisfactory. But the ending to the whole book was so disappointing. We are told what happens, rather than get to actually see it. A decision is made, and then the prologue tells us, in a few pages, what happened as a result of that decision. I know there is going to be a sequel, and a lot of questions will be answered, but the things we are told about are huge! It would have been so much more satisfying to have read them as they happened, rather than be told after the fact. Sure, it would have made the story quite a bit longer, but I think it would have been worth it. The ending of The Next Together has got to be one of the biggest ending let downs I've ever read. I wasn't happy, and I felt cheated.

Saying that, the book on the whole is incredible. It's so very easy to get completely drawn in and immerse yourself in the different stories happening in the one book. It's a fantastic combination of sci-fi, historical, mystery, romance and dystopian, and for the most part, it works brilliantly! I really am so eager to find out what will happen in the next book, The Last Beginning - I just hope it has a far better ending.

Thank you to Walker Books for the reading copy.



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Published: 3rd September 2015
Publisher: Walker Books
Lauren James' Blog

Review: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia - Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up. From Goodreads.

I heard about Made You Up by Francesca Zappia from Cait of Paper Fury, who raved about it on her blog and Instagram. As I trust Cait's judgement and love books on mental health, I quickly bought myself a copy when I saw it in store. I am so, so glad I did, because this book is amazing!

Alex is starting her senior year at a new school, after getting into trouble for graffitiing the gym at her last school due to her paranoid schizophrenia. She's desperate to keep her mental illness underwraps at East Shoal, not wanting people to look at her how they did at her last school, but it's a little difficult when she must constantly be on alert for communists and making sure no-one has bugged or poisoned her food. Because of the graffiti, Alex has to do community service at a new school, and has to join a group of seniors who prepare the gym for any big games. There she meets Miles, who seems strangely familiar, but who the whole school seems scared of. Miles isn't the nicest guy, but there's something about him, and Alex enjoys antagonising him as much as he likes antagonising her. But is Miles someone Alex should really fear? And why is popular Celia suddenly having secret conversations with her bullying mum in the gym, with her mum berating her for not being good enough? What are the plans they talk about? What are they plotting?

Made You Up is the first book I've read with paranoid schizophrenic narrator, and it was fascinating to learn about her illness. In popular culture, people with paranoid schizophrenia are portrayed as being "crazy" and dangerous; talking to themselves while laughing hysterically, and prone to violence. But this isn't who Alex is at all. She can't control her illness - the delusions or her paranoia - but if you get past that, she's just like any other teenage girl. She just happens to be a teenager who has some trouble working out what's reality and what's delusion. To combat this, she brings a camera with her everywhere, taking photos of things she's not sure of; if what she sees isn't in the photo, she knows it's a delusion, and to ignore it. It's her paranoia that causes her the most trouble. She has a huge fear of communists and nazis, and whereever she goes, she has to do parameter checks; make sure she's aware of her surroundings, be certain no-one has a weapon and will jump out and attack her, and she constantly checks her food for tracers or poisons - even food her mum makes her. She doesn't want to be doing this, but she can't let go of the fear that communists are going to hurt her. But otherwise, she's a girl who does her homework, is desperate to get into college, and just wants to make friends and live a normal life.

At times, it's really quite heartbreaking and shocking just how real Alex's delusions are. She has trouble working out what's real and what isn't, and there are a few unexpected twists along the way; things Alex brushes off as delusions, and things it would never occur to her to doubt are real. These revelations are seriously hardhitting, and unbelievably sad. It's so hard to see Alex realise that she really can't trust herself at all; how is she supposed to know?

But there is Miles, the enigma that Alex can't seem to stay away from. Those eyes! Those eyes that look so similar to those of a boy she met as a seven year old, who she was so sure was a delusion. Is Miles Blue Eyes, or did she really make Blue Eyes up? And why is she so drawn to him, otherwise? The romance is slow and uncertain at first, but it's so sweet, and really, really wonderful. I love Miles. He has his own problems, and he does bad things for the right reasons, and he's dodgy but so good! He's not your typical "bad boy", he's not danegrous. He's just a guy doing what he can, in a world that confuses him. I adored Miles.

What's interesting about Made You Up is that it's not just a contemporary story about someone with paranoid schizophrenia with a romance, but it's also a mystery. Principle McCoy has a strange, unhealthy obsession and attachment with the gym's scoreboard. Why? Something weird is happening with Celia; Alex overhears conversations between Celia and her mother, and McCoy and Celia's mother. As far as her mother's concerned, Celia must be the most popular person to have ever lived, and she has McCoy trying to help her daughter. But there's really something fishy going on; Celia's mother is determined to see her plans come to fruition, and adament that Celia do as she's told. But what are her plans? What are the three of them plotting together? And what does it have to do with Miles? It was really interesting, because, is there really something strange happening with those three, or is Alex's mind creating delusions? With Alex's paranoid schizophrenia, you're never quite sure if what you're reading is true.

Made You Up is absolutely incredible, and a stunning debut from Zappia. I am so excited to read what she writes in future. And look at that cover! God, it's gorgeous!



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Published: 19th May 2015
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Francesca Zappia's Website

Review: A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig

A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig (review copy) - You are about to read the true story of Father Christmas.
It is a story that proves that nothing is impossible.
If you are one of those people who believe that some things are impossible, you should put this book down right away. It is most certainly not for you.
Because this book is FULL of impossible things.

Are you still reading?

Good.

Then let us begin . . .

A Boy Called Christmas is a tale of adventure, snow, kidnapping, elves, more snow, and an eleven-year-old boy called Nikolas, who isn't afraid to believe in magic. From Goodreads.

I absolutely love Christmas, and waking up on Christmas Day to see I had received presents from Father Christmas when I was younger are some of my fondest memories. When I heard that Matt Haig had written the biography of Father Christmas as a boy (shut up, this is real. Father Christmas DOES exist!), I knew I had to read it!

A Boy Called Christmas is the story of the boy who grew up to become Father Christmas, Nikolas. In this charming story, we discover why Nikolas went to the Far North, how he met the elves, why reindeer can fly, and why young children find a stocking full of presents on Christmas morning.

Nikolas lives with his father in a small cottage in the woods. They have very little money, so when his father hears about a mission for the king to prove the existence of elves in return for a reward, he signs up. Nikolas is left with his awful Aunt Carlotta, but when his father doesn't return, he takes it on himself to search for him, and so begins Nikolas' fantastical journey.

At times sad and poignant, Nikolas' hard start in life teaches him that you don't need a lot to be happy, that love and hope and kindness (and belief in magic!) are all you really need. It's a moving story, but also a funny one, with Nikolas' friend, Miika, a mouse, who gives such funny responses when talking to Nikolas' but poor Nikolas' can't speak mouse language, so never knows what he says.

I don't want to give away too much of the story, because it really is something to discover as you read it, but it's absolutely wonderful! And Chris Mould's illustrations are absolutely stunning! This is an absolute treasure of a Christmas book, and one I am so excited to read to my future children.

A Boy Called Christmas is full of heart, humour, and a whole lot of magic! A must read for all children (and adults!) who still believe in Father Christmas.

Thank you to Canongate for the review copy.



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Published: 12th November2015
Publisher: Canongate
Matt Haig's Website

Review: More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera - In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again--but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can't stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.

Why does happiness have to be so hard? From Goodreads.

Trigger Warning: Suicide.

I have wanted to read More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera for ages, but for some reason the cover, and the fact that it has been likened to the movie Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, which I didn't like, put me off a little. I knew I would read it eventually because of the rave reviews, but it was always "later". I finally picked it up as it was part of Dahlia Adler's November Book Club, and oh my god, I wish I had read it so much sooner! This book is incredible!

A few months ago, Aaron's father committed suicide. It was completely out of the blue, and he has no idea why. Dealing with his grief and sadness has been tough. The only person he can really talk to is his girlfriend Genevieve; his friends don't really do real talk, his mum is almost always working to keep a roof over their head, and he's not that close to his brother Eric. The grief was too much for him, and now he's left with a smiling mouth scar on his wrist from a failed suicide attempt. He's now trying to piece his life back together. He's made a new friend in Thomas, a guy who lives not too far away, and he starts spending most of his time with him. Thomas allows Aaron to be himself, to talk about the sadness he still feels without judgement, and soon Aaron develops feelings for Thomas. But being gay is causing him more problems and more unhappiness. Maybe his only chance is to get the Leteo procedure, which will alter his memories and make him forget his feelings for Thomas. But can altering memories stop you from being who you are?

Oh my god, this is so, so brilliant, I can't even tell you! It's so clever, complex, deep and sad, but completely wonderful! I was completely engrossed in Aaron's story, which is such an interesting one, and had this huge twist I wasn't expecting at all. More Happy Than Not is set in the not too distant future, and feels very much like a contemporary novel; the Leteo Institute, where people are having memory-altering procedures to forget difficult times is the only sci-fi aspect of the story, and for a good long while, it's something that's going on in the background. Aaron knows someone who had the procedure and then moved, and he sees adverts for it and protests at his local institute, but it's not something that affects him. He's just a teenage boy living in the Bronx, trying to get over his father's suicide, experiencing firsts with his girlfriend, and making a new friend. It's not until much later, when Aaron realises he has feelings for Thomas, and Aaron starts to feel those feelings are problematic that the Leteo Institute comes into play.

'I know not being me will be a lie, but I know I'm doing myself a favor in the long run if I can somehow book a Leteo procedure. Because as I stand now, I have so much bullshit to look out for.
Happiness shouldn't be this hard.' (p157)

What adds to the contemporary feel are all the pop culture references we're all going to recognise. Aaron is a bit of a geek, and one of his favourite places is his local comic book store, so there are a lot of Marvel and DC references. I was a tiny bit annoyed by the fake Harry Potter - Scorpius Hawthorne, a demonic boy wizard. All the references are so close to the real books (book three is called Scorpius Hawthorne and the Convict of Abbadon, and Emma Watson plays Scorpius' friend Lexa in the movies), it just seemed a little weird to not use the real books, but I guess there must have been some issue there.

I also loved how gritty and real this book is. It's set in the Bronx in New York. I don't know much about the Bronx, but I have this idea that it's a rough kind of place, and Silvera makes it feel that way; Aaron lives in a one bedroom apartment, with he and his brother sharing the front room as a bedroom. It's the summer and all three of them work - his mother has two jobs - and yet there is still very little money around. Aaron is living is such poverty, but it's so normal for him, that's it's not even really a major part of the book, but it's there in everything. His sort of best friend Brendan is a drug dealer, another friend in his group who is known as Me-Crazy (and actually talks in the third person about himself, calling himself Me-Crazy) can fly of the handle at any second and will beat the crap out of anyone, and his group is known to get into fights with the teenagers from the nearby group of apartments. They also have this street way of talking, that thankfully isn't too full of slang, because I don't understand it. It's also a diverse community; there are very few people in the cast of characters who are white. There's one character I assume is white because she has red hair and green eyes, and there are a few characters who's skin colour is mentioned, but for the most part the race of most characters isn't brought up at all, but there is the feel of a very diverse community. And with Aaron, we have an intersectional protagonist as a gay person of colour.

One of the things I loved about this book is how, even though Aaron is so severely unhappy for most of the book, it's not a book that drags the reader down. I find most books about such sadness are emotionally draining and exhausting, and leave you feeling empty, all the while being a book I'm wowed by. With More Happy Than Not, I was wowed without being pulled into Aaron's sadness, which is surprising, since suicide comes up a fair bit, either when Aaron is talking about his dad's suicide, his own suicide attempt, or suicidal thoughts that come up over the course of the story. I was still emotionally involved; I cared about Aaron, about what would happen to him, about where his life would go, and I was sad for him, but not the exhaustive sadness that leaves me feeling completely wiped out.

'Sometimes pain is so unimaginable that the idea of spending another day with it seems impossible. Other times pain acts as a compass to help you get through the messier tunnels of growing up. But pain can only help you find happiness if you can remember it.' (p270)

I can't really go into much more detail about the plot without spoiling things, but believe me there is a lot going on! Silvera has woven this incredible story that completely blew me away, and has such a turn of phrase; at times poetic, and at others so poignant.

'From the shapes cast by the green paper lantern, you would never know that there were two boys sitting closely to one another trying to find themselves. You would only see shadows hugging, indiscriminate.' (p136)

I must say that Silvera writes about pain and sadness in such an exquisite way, but in a way that, having read Silvera's post, Happiness Isn't Just an Outside Thing (trigger warning: he discusses suicidal thoughts), made me feel so sad for him and what he must have drawn on for the story. You can't read that post then read this book and not go, "Woah." It just makes this story mean a whole lot more - not plot-wise, but sadness-wise - and I feel like we've been given something very special. I know this is a review, but I'd like to add that I sincerely hope that Silvera gets through his dark times. We're better off for his talent.

An unbelievably beautiful novel, and I'm so excited to read whatever Silvera writes next. He's most definitely one to look out for.



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Published: 2nd June 2015
Publisher: Soho Teen
Adam Silvera's Website

Review: Just Visiting by Dahlia Adler

Just Visiting by Dahlia Adler (eProof) - Reagan Forrester wants out—out of her trailer park, out of reach of her freeloading mother, and out of the shadow of the relationship that made her the pariah of Charytan, Kansas.

Victoria Reyes wants in—in to a fashion design program, in to the arms of a cute guy who doesn't go to Charytan High, and in to a city where she won't stand out for being Mexican.

One thing the polar-opposite best friends do agree on is that wherever they go, they’re staying together. But when they set off on a series of college visits at the start of their senior year, they quickly see that the future doesn’t look quite like they expected. After two years of near-solitude following the betrayal of the ex-boyfriend who broke her heart, Reagan falls hard and fast for a Battlestar Galactica-loving, brilliant smile-sporting pre-med prospective... only to learn she's set herself up for heartbreak all over again. Meanwhile, Victoria runs full-speed toward all the things she thinks she wants… only to realize everything she’s looking for might be in the very place they've sworn to leave.

As both Reagan and Victoria struggle to learn who they are and what they want in the present, they discover just how much they don't know about each other's pasts. And when each learns what the other’s been hiding, they'll have to decide whether their friendship has a future. From Goodreads.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I discovered Dahlia Adler was an author. Originally, I thought Adler was worked in publishing in some way as an advocate for diverse YA. But once I discovered she was an author, considering how passionate she is about diverse YA, I was sure her books would be awesome, so when the opportunity came up to review her latest novel, Just Visiting, I jumped at the chance. I'm so glad I did, because it was brilliant!

Reagan and Victoria have been best friends for the past three years. Complete opposites, Reagan is academic and driven while Victoria is interested in parties and boys. The one things that keeps them close is their longing to get out of small town Charytan; for Reagan, to escape the poverty of her trailer park and to get away from a secret past, and for Victoria, to go somewhere where she can do something with her love of fashion design and where no-one bats an eye at the colour of her skin. Together, they plan multiple weekend visits to various colleges to help them decide where they will go, because one thing is for certain: they will be going together. But when Victoria struggles to find exactly what she's after, and Reagan's life is made complicated by meeting the gorgeous Dev, the two friends realise, as much as they love each other, there's a lot about each other they don't know. They have relied on each other for so long, but when the truth comes out, is their friendship sttrong enough to survive the secrets?

Oh, I loved this book so, so much! I'm always amazed when authors manage to give their characters such distinctive voices for a dual narrative, and Adler does a  fantastic job with Reagan and Victoria! The two are so, so different, sometimes it's a wonder they're friends at all, but they're both so fiercely loyal to each other, they always have each other's back. That is until they discover there's more to each other than they realised, things they've been holding back. Reagan has a secret past from before Victoria moved to Charytan, involving a relationship with a boy who is now in the army. But Reagan is very tight-lipped about the topic, it's simply not something that's up for discussion. Whatever it is, though, affected her deeply, making the tentative friendship-with-the-possibility-of-more with Dev even more complicated than it already is. Even with the hints that were dropped throughout the novel, I never really guessed what Reagan's back story would be. It was so shocking, and I could completely understand why Reagan has the problems she does. For Victoria, her secrets are intertwined with who she is. Victoria's parents are from Mexico, and she has suffered suspicion and dislike her whole life because of the colour of her skin - at best. Victoria doesn't think about what it's been like at it's worst.

The two girls have such a fear of judgement and blame, even from their best friend, they keep their pasts hidden, for fear of losing the one of the only people who accept them - because they don't know. Just Visiting is probably the first book I've read where the main focus of the story is on a strong female friendship, and it's beautiful and moving, even with it's complications and bumps in the road along the way. It actually made me a little envious; I didn't have any particularly strong female friendships until my late teens, and even that wasn't as strong as my friendship with my best friend now, who's male. Just Visiting makes me feel I missed out on an important part of being a teenage girl, but also really grateful for the friendship I have now. Just Visiting is really a story on the importance of friendship, and how strong and deep that love goes, even when things get rough.

As expected considering how passionate Adler is about diversity in YA, Just Visiting has a range of diverse and minority characters. As I've mentioned, Victoria is of Mexican descent and Reagan comes from an impoverished family, working every hour she can to pay for gas, some bills, and whatever her mum chooses to buy for herself once Reagan has handed over her money. Victoria's mum is deaf; Dev, Reagen's love interest, is Indian; and Dev's friend Jamie is an Asian Jew. Just Visiting's diverse cast feels quite natural, whereas I've read other diverse books where it felt the diverse characters were there to tick off a box and felt quite forced. Saying that, though, each identity is more than incidental and is touched on, if only briefly; Dev discusses how people have difficulty pronouncing his name, Jamie discusses how people expect him to have a surname like 'Chang' rather than 'Goldstein', and there's talk about learning ASL (American Sign Language). Adler goes into more depth on some identities than others, but it still feels really natural, conversations that would generally come up, rather than shoehorned in.

I absolutely adored Just Visiting, and I am so excited to read Adler's other books! Do read Just Visiting, it's amazing!

Thank you to Dahlia Adler for the eProof.



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Published: 17th November 2015
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary
Dahlia Adler's Website