Book Review: All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins

What a Bi time to be Alive.


A warm, witty, important story about being a young woman today, and what it's like to find a real connection amid all the noise.


Vetty's never told anyone she gets feelings for girls as well as boys. It could have been easy once, back when Pez was the boy-next-door and she was still comfortable in her own skin. But then Mum died and her family moved out of London, and it felt much safer to keep her heart in hiding.

Now Vetty’s seventeen and heading back to London, she’s determined to start living out loud. Pez is the key, she’s sure. She was always fearless around him.

But Pez is different too. Guarded. It’s like their special connection never existed. And suddenly Vetty’s sure he’s hiding something too.

Okay, this is an odd one. I thought I had written a review for this book but can find no record of it. I definitely had thoughts when I finished this book and I looked everywhere to find a record of these thoughts but there must have got lost in the drama of another hospital stay. Not mine but I did a lot of dring this week.

This has a Bi main character realising she bi, but it's an odd one because it's like she doesn't have access to the internet. She knows she like girls at the start of the novel but has never heard of any Queer labelling outside of the LG, I mean Bi is the next letter after that. I mean this book name drops Tumblr and apparently before it managed to destroy itself. At the age of sixteen, she does a quiz to find out if she Bi, but knew she liked girls at age 12. It does have a moment of "I hate Labels" which is a trope I hate when it comes to people who are attracted to multiple genders. Yeah, some people haven't found labels they comfortable with, but why is always people who are Bi/Pan in media.

This book was meant to be set the during the time I read it and I have some tragic news. It either really dated or lives in a parallel universe as the plot involves NSFW things being still allowed on Tumblr. Maybe Tumblr will try to save itself and allowing NSFW stuff back on it. In the internet age, books can date so easy when listing the actual website. Even with a website that still exists, people who uses them changes. Facebook was for young people, not only parents use it. It's still good for group work but not much for else.

A lot of issues are dealt with in this book, including grief and addiction. The friendships and family relationships in this book were done well.

Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for Wedding Planning. It is good to have a book about having someone know that they Queer and coming terms to the attraction to the opposite sex. The intention is very good, but cultures change over time, so I don't buy that main character even with her gay Aunts, I just don't buy she wouldn't have realised that multiple-gender attraction is a thing.

Read 24 July 2019, Finish Review 29/01/2020
Published Date 7 March 2019
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Source: Netgalley
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.

Book Review: Read Me Like A Book by Liz Kessler

Queer and has the words 'read' and 'book' in te title, I should love this, but yet.


Ashleigh Walker is in Love. 

You know the feeling - that intense, heart-racing, all-consumiing emotion that can only come with first love. It's enough to stop her worring about bad grades at college. Enough to distract her from her parents' marriage troubles.

There's just one thing bothering her...

Shouldn't it be her boyfriend, Dylan, who makes her feel this way, not Miss Murrary, her English teacher?

The author started writing this book fifteen years before it was published, meaning starting it in the early 00s and it shows. Especially as it starts with 'I'm not like Other girls' trope: "Actually, wait up a second, I'd better get something straight here, just in case I'm giving the wrong impression. I'm not one of those brain-dead bimbos who talks about boys and make-up all time." There is some girl hate in this book, as well as the main character being overwhelming jealous. I read Haunt Me by Kesser and didn't like it much. It felt old school YA, but in a bad way. It tried, but I didn't think I would pick Kessler up again but this was a Queer book I found in the library and it had 'read' and 'book' in the title so I decided to try again with Kessler. There's a first time sex scene in this, not queer. It's the standard heterosexual stick it in and call it 'sex'. I just wish there's was YA book out there, that didn't have a sex scene where it's just dry penetration, something to break the myth that your first time should hurt and that doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. It's normal to do sex badly the first time but remember kids, no matter what or how, if penetrating, always prepare and use lube, from the virgin thirteen-year-old who knows more about sex ed than she might ever use. I'm pro-sex scenes in YA, not excessive, but enough to show what normal healthy sex should be like, so they know enough to use a condom. This book also has a pregnancy scare in this book, which is the universal uterus having experience, because who hasn't thought: "Maybe I'm the next Virgin Mary". I guess this done realistically, except that's ends in period happening and that could just be spoting so Ash could be pregnant at the end of the book and just not know it as she never takes a pregnancy test and pregnancy are each unique angels. This book starts in September I think, her period is late during the Christmas holidays so it must have happened in November. Exam results are in August. Okay, so probably not secretly pregnant but what a way to end a book that would have been. Which brings us to another problem this novel has. This novel feels very disjointed, especially in Part three which feels like five epilogues in a role, then some plot, then just ends. It feels like it needed another hundred pages to smooth it out, but I also might have given up if there had been another hundred. This a school year in life of book, but we jump around a lot, not a smooth course through the year. On the pluses, it's own voices and it's queer. Besides, some mild girl hating this novel was okay. It has the typical It got better than first few chapters. I actually almost returned this to library unread due to the first chapter and the way the characters were introduced. I neither regret reading it or would have regretted never reading. If this book has been released during original conception then it would have stood out but frankly, in 2020, there are tons of better Queer girl books out there.  The teacher crush is part of Ashleigh discovering her sexuality and is acknowledged by Miss Murary but nothing really happens if you're looking for a scandalising read, this is not that, which I'm fine with. I know some people like reading teacher-student books, but I'm not here for abuse of power stories unless it confirms the teacher being in the wrong and not romanised.

It also attempts to tackle divorce, which involved the parents arguing all the time and being unbearable to live with, which is relatable. I can't actually think of YA book that deals with the parents divorcing during the book, a lot of have divorced set up before but usually, that's just an excuse to only have one parent around for the majority of the book.

Overall, I give this book 2/5 stars for Dated Lesbianism. If this book had been released during the 2000s then it would have stood out but frankly, in 2020, there are tons of better Queer girl books out there. 

Read 4/5/2019, finished reviewing 15/1/2020 (I had written the majority but never put the finishing touches.

Quotes

Page 8, "Actually, wait up a second, I'd better get something straight here, just in case I'm giving the wrong impression. I'm not one of those brain-dead bimbos who talks about boys and make-up all time."

Page 178, "'What's GSOH?' Mum askes me,
'Good Sense of Humour. God, Mum everyone knows that!" Yeah, I have never seen that term before. Maybe exclusive to online dating.

Book Review: A Girl Called Owl by A.J. Wilson

When Monster High runs out of Monsters...

It's bad enough having a mum dippy enough to name you Owl, but when you've got a dad you've never met, a best friend who needs you more than ever, and a new boy at school giving you weird looks, there's not a lot of room for much else. 

 So when Owl starts seeing strange frost patterns on her skin, she's tempted to just burrow down under the duvet and forget all about it. Could her strange new powers be linked to her mysterious father?And what will happen when she enters the magical world of winter for the first time?

A glittering story of frost and friendship, with writing full of magic and heart, A Girl Called Owl is a stunning debut about family, responsibility and the beauty of the natural world.

This novel sounds like a cool concept and then you realise it about 13 years old. To be honest, I think making the protagonist thirteen years old was a mistake, it feels like she should be fifteen for some of the storyline. Her maturity is not of a fifteen year old (though she probably maturer side of some of the 15 yrs old found in YA) but is of a 13 yr old so she is written well in that sense. Parts of the storyline do match, but there was just a lot dancing around the birds and the bees.

The story seems to get lost a bit, then I started analysing the chosen villain and how the conflict makes little sense. I feel like it was added as a second layer because there wasn't a natural villain to push the plot and character development along. Might have worked better without the forced conflict. Some of the chosen mythology was just kinda odd to throw in without explanation. Like it took from Arthurian Mythology for some reason, whilst being based in fay with some own invention I believe (google shows nothing).  I now would randomly like to point out that May used to be the first month of summer, and any Queen associated with that month that is an old myth would be a Summer Queen, and therefore next to Autumn already. Basically, I would have liked more thought, or explanation of thought behind the mythology. There was suggestions to things that would have been interesting, but were just intriguing mentions.

There were important female characters in this book, but they're literally sat back and let the male ones rule the roost (for majority). Owl does have a girl best friend, but she was not there to add to plot/action as she is human.

The characterisation was consisted and decent for our main characters. But a certain important character's characterisation filp-floped so much that I for sure thought he had to be a different character. There is no explanation for this.

The romance is this book is very mild, but clearly hinted at. There's also weird vibe from it, because I have no idea how old this guy is next this thirteen year and I feel like there has to be two years at least with plot stuff, so that just humanly wrong (if you are 13 years old, please stay away from people two years or older than you. There is something wrong if they are interested in you romantically. This rings true till twenty basically) or he is immortally a thirteen year old and so is she so that might just be tragic. This could just me thinking way too much about the plot.

Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for accidental freezes. In writing a review of this book, I have probably thought too much about this stand alone book than it was ever meant to be thought about (if there is a sequel, it will lose points, if you say the end, then its the end). Its charming, middle-grade book, that I probably wouldn't recommend past that age, but for that age sure.

I got this book for review off NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Books.

Book Review: How to Build a Girl: A Novel by Caitlin Moran

I relate to this book on a spiritual level.


What do you do in your teenage years when you realize what your parents taught you wasn't enough? You must go out and find books and poetry and pop songs and bad heroes—and build yourself.

It's 1990. Johanna Morrigan, fourteen, has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there's no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde—fast-talking, hard-drinking gothic hero and full-time Lady Sex Adventurer. She will save her poverty-stricken Bohemian family by becoming a writer—like Jo in Little Women, or the Brontës—but without the dying-young bit.

By sixteen, she's smoking cigarettes, getting drunk, and working for a music paper. She's writing pornographic letters to rock stars, having all the kinds of sex with all the kinds of men, and eviscerating bands in reviews of 600 words or less.

But what happens when Johanna realizes she's built Dolly with a fatal flaw? Is a box full of records, a wall full of posters, and a head full of paperbacks enough to build a girl after all?

So I have taken up walking as a form of exercise. It gets boring quickly so I thought I would try audio books. It was a success, it made me walk longer but then it got dark outside and I keep listening to it so it was too success in the entertainment side. I listened to the audio book narrated by Louise Brealey, who was really good and brought the character to life.

I could really related to Johanne, I got to say it weird how in Twenty years Britain has went full circle. High Streets empty and dogs being great friends. Wait, that last thing has always been true.

I'm finding it hard to explain to this book with spoiling because I think a lot of it great parts you should come across yourself whilst reading. The relationship within the families are done well 

Overall, I gave this book 5 for 5 stars for entertaining bad decisions. This book dealt with a lot of issues really well whilst still being hilarious. I would highly recommend it to everyone.

P.S. Happy New Year.

Book Review: Lobsters (also now know as A Totally Awkward Love Story) by Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison

Don't buy books with Lobsters on them unless they have a daisy in their claw and

Sam and Hannah only have the holidays to find 'The One'. Their lobster. But instead of being epic, their summer is looking awkward. They must navigate social misunderstandings, the plotting of well-meaning friends, and their own fears of being virgins for ever to find happiness. But fate is at work to bring them together. And in the end, it all boils down to love.

I saw this book on Netgalley and didn't click on it because it looked like a American book and contemporary American romances is not something I'm not interest in, well because it everywhere. Of course going off the cover, wellies are not very American so I should have known that it wasn't set in the states. 

 I have also met these authors at the Edinburgh Book Festival (which is experience to be found here).

This is a duo perspective with Ellen writing the point of view of the boy character Sam and Ivison writing the point of view of Hannah. The story follows both them and their friends' summer. They live near one another but don't know each other at the start of the novel. They of course bump into each in comical ways through out the summer and hilarity insure.

 I really enjoyed this book as its funny and the characters are realistic. They are teenagers and do dumb things like teenagers do. I love finding realistic teens in YA (which is mainly why I don't read contemporary American romances).

They take the character to fun places such as music festival which reminded me fond memories of the time I went to TTIP the summer I left school.I also just want to say that there is a ton of Harry Potter references in this book. 

 Overall, I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars for names on doors. I really loved this book and I'm so glad that Edinburgh International Book Festival made me pick this masterpiece of YA contemporary (I'm not totally laughing from writing that last bit. I'm thinking of scene from the novel). I would totally recommend you read this book on bus on way and back to a Book Festival.