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BOOK BLOG: Lisa Williamson

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First Day Of My Life: An incredible story of secrets, lies, friendships and love. 

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First Day of My Life tells the story of 3 teenagers whose lives are very much intertwined on a day in their lives where something terrible happens: a baby goes missing. 

first day of my lifeProof copy sent from the publishers, David Fickling Books.

We meet Frankie, Jojo and Ram. Three teenagers who are celebrating the summer holidays. They’ve finished their GCSEs. The day the book starts on is actually GCSE results day. A baby goes missing. When Jojo doesn’t turn up, Frankie starts thinking the very worst. (yep, you’ve got it… she thinks her best friend has stolen the missing baby!) What follows is Frankie’s quest to find the truth, a missing baby and her best friend. There’s an awful lot of emotion and familiar faces that join the story to help her! 

The first thing I have to say is that this book is MAGNIFICENT. It’s clever. It’s heartbreaking. It’s hard to read. It’s real. It’s scary. It’s being a teenager. It’s dealing with your emotions. It’s questionable parenting and some decisions which made me SO ANGRY. It’s having secrets and telling lies. It’s needing to tell more lies to cover up the lies you told. It’s dealing with some tough things. It’s knowing who to turn to when you need help most. It’s misleading. It’s unpredictable. It’s so many emotions rolled into one incredible book. 

It’s just a really great story with incredible characters.

For anyone who is new to Lisa Williamson books, where have you been? Lisa writes in such an incredible way and her stories always punch me in the gut. I swear to you, there’s not a Lisa Williamson book I’ve not read that I haven’t cried at! Lisa does realistic contemporary novels brilliantly well and I can’t wait to read more! 

All About Mia review

The Art of Being Normal review

Paper Avalanche review

This book is written in a split perspective and I really loved it. I loved learning about how the lives of the friends were interlaced. I loved learning about the characters through each other and through their own narratives. It was really interesting being part of secrets when the other people in the story didn’t know. 

There’s some decision making by adults in this book that MADE ME SO ANGRY. I can’t really share what they are because spoilers, but just know that some of the adults in this book made me so cross. I think what makes it worse is that there is some element of realism to the decisions that the adults make. 

One of the messages I got from this book was that even when we love people, even when we think we’re looking out for the people we love, we can hurt them. Even when we don’t think we are. 

This book is full of ALL OF THE EMOTIONS. There’s love, hope, happiness, relief, love, loss, heartbreak, betrayal, sadness, reunions. 

There’s loads of moments in this book of quiet, honest love and some of love in sheer desperation. The girls love each other dearly. They want the best for each other, but when things start going a bit wrong, they don’t give up on each other. They show that it’s love and kindness that matters most. 

I loved that this book celebrated diverse family situations. Each of the 3 main characters has a different family dynamic, and while that may not seem like something worth celebrating, it totally is. It’s so important that we show people that their family matters. That there’s no one way for a family to be. 

A massive shout out here to the scene between Ram and the policeman (I can’t give any more context here because spoilers hah). It was a gentle and tough and heartbreaking scene to read. It completely broke me. I cried so so hard at that scene. There’s so much emotion in that scene on the page that it translated to many tears for me! 

My Goodreads review:

This book is all kinds of magnificent. It’s heartbreaking and tough and hard to read. It’s revelations and secrets. It’s love in so many forms. It’s doing what’s right for you even when you know it’s going to hurt the people you love. It’s hard hitting and raw at times. I love how intertwined the 3 characters are and how their stories unfolded. The 3 perspectives worked so well. The epilogue made my heart so happy. Massive shout out to the scene between Ram and the policeman: it broke my heart. Bloody bravo!

And that’s it! 

A MASSIVE MASSIVE thank you to the publishers David Fickling Books for sending me a proof copy of this incredible book. I devoured it in a matter of hours. 

Have you read any Lisa Williamson books?
Are you excited for this one?
What’s your take on split-perspective books?

Chat to me! I’d love to know your thoughts!

S x 

BLOG TOUR: Lisa Williamson

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Hello loves!

How are you today? What’s going on in your world? Anything exciting?

Today I’m here to be part of the blog tour for the paperback edition of Paper Avalanche by Lisa Williamson! To coincide with the release of the paperback, the publishers have also rereleased 2 of Lisa’s other amazing books with gorgeous sprayed edges and I couldn’t have been more happy to see them! Just look at them!

Updated Lisa Williamson Jackets Nov 2019

Now I’ve read both Paper Avalanche (I read it in hardback) and The Art of Being Normal and I’ve shared my thoughts about them, so I thought today I’d share my thoughts on ‘All About Mia.’

 All About Mia: a brilliant story with family at it’s heart

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“One family, three sisters. GRACE, the oldest: straight-A student. AUDREY, the youngest: future Olympic swimming champion. And MIA, the mess in the middle.

Mia is wild and daring, great with hair and selfies, and the undisputed leader of her friends – not attributes appreciated by her parents or teachers. When Grace makes a shock announcement, Mia hopes that her now-not-so-perfect sister will get into the trouble she deserves. But instead, it is Mia whose life spirals out of control – boozing, boys and bad behaviour – and she starts to realise that her attempts to make it All About Mia might put at risk the very things she loves the most.”

I remember picking up this book knowing that I was going to be impressed. Lisa has this incredibly effortless way of punching you in the face and making you feel all of the things. This book was just great and it made me laugh AND cry.

Mia is the middle sister of the family; older sister Grace is the over-achiever who’s scored herself a spot in a much sought-after university; younger sister Audrey is a swimmer who has the Olympics in her sight. Mia is just Mia. No university, Olympics, greatness in her sights. She doesn’t know what her “thing” is and feels like she’s living in the shadow of her sisters’ greatness. With all of this, and then a revelation from one of her sisters, Mia’s life doesn’t go QUITE how she planned. 

I loved the exploration of family dynamics in this book. I only have a brother myself, so getting to read about life with 2 sisters was great. Some of the things I could relate to! There were lots of moments in this book between the sisters that made my heart just jump with joy and that’s what I’m here for. It’s always great to read HONEST portayals of families too because we all know that our families aren’t perfect, so reading this imperfect family was refreshing. 

I started the book and I didn’t love Mia. I don’t know what it was about her, but we just didn’t click, but as I read, she grew on me. I learned to love her. She makes mistakes, she said some of the wrong things and DEFINITELY DOES some not so wise things. Her character arc was just wonderful to experience with her. She becomes someone I want to hug and love. She has a wonderful sense of humour – if you’re a fan of a sarcastic, sassy MC, then Mia is definitely a girl for you!

This book is one that I really did love. It’s like one of those brilliant YA books that you just wanna devour. With characters you wanna fall for, emotions you will definitely feel and moments that we can all empathise with, this is how it’s done. It’s like reading about yourself, or your friends, without being pointed at. Mia learns that it’s OK to not know what your thing is, it’s OK to make mistakes and it’s OK to still be learning… and we learn and appreciate this alongside her. 

Lol, my Goodreds review is of course as helpful as ever!

Give Mia a chance. She’ll grow on you.

Have you read All About Mia?
Are you, like me, a massive Lisa Williamson fan?
Can you recommend me some books like this one to read?

A massive thank you to the publishers David Fickling Books for inviting me to be part of the blog tour. I love Lisa’s work a lot! Check out the rest of the blog tour to see what other’s think! 

If you’d fancy a copy of Paper Avalanche for yourself, click on over to Waterstones to get yourself a copy! I would TOTALLY recommend it! 

Paper Avalanche blog tour banner

S x 

The One Where I Read Two Books In One Day And Cried…

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Hello. 

If you know me, you know I cry at all of the books.

I decided to read two books in one day the other day. Both of them which would make me cry. 

Why did you decide that? I hear you cry.

BECAUSE I AM A FOOL. A FOOL.

However, since I read them both, I figured I would write quick reviews of them because they were BOTH incredible and they need to be read ok? Excellent. 

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The Art of Being Normal – Lisa Williamson

Two boys. Two secrets.
David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl. On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long…

The Art of Being Normal tells the stories of David and Leo – two boys who are going through A LOT. David wants to be a girl: he knows he’s in the wrong body. Leo wants to be forgotten: he wants no attention. These two boys are so very different, but there’s something that they very much have in common (something I did NOT see coming). What you get when you put these two boys together is a brilliant story of unlikely friendships, solid bonds and an awful lot of tears! (I cried for the last 50 pages)

I loved this book so so much. The thing that stands out the most about this book is the incredible portrayal of relationships (between families, friends, enemies) and the power that these relationships have on our day to day life. You see the two boys’ relationship grow in front of your eyes and realise that sometimes the most important relationships you have in life are the non-romantic ones – it’s friendships built on love, respect and acceptance. You get to explore the incredible relationships between siblings; with parents and their children; not only that but negative relationships like the one between bullies and their victim; misunderstood relationships between parents and children. 

This book doesn’t shy away from the issues around a main character who is transgender and I really respect that. There’s discussions about all kinds of thtmes: clothing, acceptance, body image, coming out to parents, coming out to friends, bullying. I think this book has a place in every teenager’s life and I think it’s important. I don’t know why it’s stayed on my TBR for so long. If you haven’t picked it up yet you absolutely should. I want to give Leo a massive hug because I adore him.

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They Both Die at the End – Adam Silvera

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

Imagine living in a world where you get a phone call to tell you that you’re going to die that same day. JUST HOLD THAT IN YOUR HEAD FOR A MINUTE. IMAGINE THAT. (I can’t, it’s too big an idea for my head, I don’t know where I would start, who I would see, what I would do. I think I’d be too overwhelmed and just cry for a day) This book explores a world where this is the reality. A reality for two teenagers who are told they’re going to die before midnight. 

We meet Rufus and Mateo, two very different boys, who have been given their call. They’ve got one more day on this earth. Mateo needs someone to help him along on his day otherwise he’ll just end up in his bedroom all day. He needs to tell his dad he loves him and his best friend. Rufus needs to say bye to his family, to the girl he loves. These two meet and what happens is a wonderful story about how sometimes you can meet the person you need most when you need them most.

The two boys grow together and change massively through the day. Rufus starts his story beating someone up and by the end his actions couldn’t be more gentle and caring. Rufus doesn’t push Mateo to do the things: he’s just there and him being there makes Mateo more brave. These boys do more for each other in one day than I think some people can do for each other in years. 

This book BROKE MY HEART. It tells us in the title what’s going to happen, but my god I was NOT prepared. Typical Adam Silvera breaking my heart. Again, you need to read this book. It’s just wonderful and it makes you think. 

—

There we go – two books, one day, LOT OF TEARS. 

RECOMMEND ME MORE BOOKS THAT WILL MAKE ME CRY.

I love a good cry!

S x 

BOOK BLOG: Lisa Williamson

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Paper Avalanche: an absolute punch in the feels

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“When it comes to flying under the radar, Ro Snow is an expert.
No friends. 
No boys.
No parties.
And strictly NO VISITORS.
It may be lonely, but at least this way the truth remains where it should – hidden. Then Tanvi Shah, the girl who almost died, comes tumbling back into her life, and Ro finds herself losing control of her carefully constructed lies. But if Ro’s walls come crumbling down, who’s going to take care of Bonnie…”

A massive thank you to my lovely friend Adele for buying this book for me to cheer me up recently. 

Paper Avalanche follows the story of Ro Snow, a young girl who is having to battle between the world of being a teenager, trying to disappear and her mum’s hoarding. She’s a girl who very much wants to just go under the radar. Everyone knows about the house, which Ro never admits that she lives in, and it is a constant battle in Ro’s life. She knows that if anything were to happen, her mum’s hoarding tendencies could spiral out of control. Ro feels like she’s barely keeping a lid on everything, when suddenly there’s a young man thrown into her life and a best friend who is in her very own way a total whirlwind – one that could potentially make Ro’s world topple down. 

I ABSOLUTELY loved Tanvi and Noah. They brought such an incredible thread into Ro’s life that she had never had before. There’s such a gorgeous flip from how lonely and colourless Ro’s life is before these two show up. Tanvi, the best friend who appears suddenly having been out of school for a few years, brings colour and joy and noise to Ro’s life, a life that she’s tried to live so quietly before. There’s an incredible scene set on Diwali that brought my heart such joy. It was one of those scenes in a story that I’ll remember for a long time. 

One of the things that I loved about this book was how relatable it is. We don’t all have mothers who are hoarders, but we all have something we want to hide from the world. It may be the smallest thing, or the biggest thing, but Ro’s struggles to hide her things from the world is something that we have ALL done. We’ve all been there. Ro struggles a lot with worrying about what people think about her (dear God, I relate) and battles to keep a lid on her emotions at times. She’s a very closed off young woman, who definitely has a lot of anger under the surface. There’s a scene toward the end where she lets this anger out and I was like YES RO. YOU GET THEM TOLD. She has an incredibly complicated relationship with her mum (who she calls Bonnie the majority of the time) and her dad. She feels like she’s the adult in the relationship with her mum, and feels like the forgotten child with her dad. (I’m not a fan of Dad’s new wife FYI). She’s constantly battling with wanting attention from her Dad, while wanting the rest of the world to not see her. 

I loved the exploration of doing things for yourself in this book. Ro discvovers something that she’s really good at and that she wants to pursue. It was lovely to see Ro trying to make her mark, all the while trying not to stand out. (Shout out to Tanvi and Mr Milburn for helping her out! I love reading a supportive teacher role… please can we have more of these in YA) She ends up doing something that makes her happy, but Bonnie turns it into a disaster. My heart BROKE for Ro when I was reading this. I hated Bonnie so much. 

Reading this book made me feel ALL OF THE EMOTIONS. There was joy, sadness, shock, worry, panic, love, laughter, disappointment. You’ll feel ALL of the things. It’s SO WORTH IT. 

Another shout out here to Tanvi’s family. They’re bloody brilliant. So welcoming.  

I’d REALLY love to see this story made into a film. I think it would be BLOODY brilliant. 

My goodreads review:

I am so full of love right now. I’ve gone through them all: anger, sadness, panic, anxiety, love, laughter. This book and its characters are just exceptional. I love the way in which Ro and Bonnie have to deal with this massive problem: their roles reversed, while Ro still has to deal with being a kid. Massive shout outs to Tanvi, Mr Milburn and Noah. Excellent excellent book.

HELLO ALSO. That cover. I ENJOY THAT PINK SO MUCH. Underneath the jacket, it’s just white with pink metallic lettering on the spine and it’s just such a beauty.

Have you read Paper Avalanche?
Do you also love Lisa Williamson?
Have you read anything else by Lisa Williamson?

Talk to me! I am so glad I read this book… in like 3 hours. It was a one sitting book, that’s how good it is! 

S x 

BOOK BLOG: Floored

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Floored: what happens when you put some of YA’s biggest names together? Brilliance.

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“When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn’t that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he’s the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn’t match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn’t as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognizes him; Kaitlyn, who’s losing her sight but won’t admit it, and who used to have a poster of Dawson on her bedroom wall, and Joe, who shouldn’t be here at all, but who wants to be here the most. And one more person, who will bring them together again on the same day every year”

So I think I’ve been talking about this book ever since I found out about it.
A while. A long time.
When I was offered the chance to read a review copy, I JUMPED AT IT.
But then again why wouldn’t I want to?
7 brilliant UKYA authors, including 2 of my all time faves?
A contemporary with 7 perspectives?
A brilliant sounding concept?
A cover which makes my eyes VERY happy?
I just… yes please. SIGN ME UP.

What Floored brings to the table is an incredible story, with memorable characters and an honest look at life, relationships and friendships, all wrapped in 7 authors who you know you can trust. Add to that the fun of guessing which author wrote which character and you’ve got what is a sure fire winner. 

(This is one of those book reviews where I’m really struggling to write it because I just want to say I LOVED IT SO MUCH OK?)

One of the things that stood out to me was the comparison between how individual their lives were at the beginning of the book, but then as the book develops you notice that they are part of each other’s lives and then by the end they become each other’s lives. They are all integral parts of each other’s lives. Friendship is a MASSIVE part of this book, but as you go through it, it’s not all plain sailing – just like life isn’t all plain sailing. Things happen that make the friendships hard; the relationships change and develop and fall apart; people naturally are drawn to one over the others. All of these dynamics are explored and for me that’s what’s so brilliant about it. I see so much of my own friendships and relationships in this book. 

I can’t go through this review without expressing my sheer ANGER at Hugo and some of his actions. Oh, this man. Hugo, Hugo, Hugo. I think I could talk about Hugo for a while. But I won’t as his actions, especially at the beginning of the book, do not deserved to be spoken of. As questionable as some of his actions are, he made me laugh. 

While we’re talking characters, I just think they’re each lush. 
Hugo – questionable morals, made me laugh.
Kaitlyn – a brilliant badass young woman who won’t let anything stand in her way
Sasha – poor Sasha, I just wanted to hug her.
Dawson – oh complicated little Dawson, I feel you so much my friend. Let’s talk.
Velvet – don’t let them get you down my friend, you’re wonderful.
Joe – keep that ambition about you my friend, keep being lovely.

I just adored this book. It made me laugh, cry, angry. It’s EVERYTHING I hoped for in the celebration of all that is wonderful. 

Massive MASSIVE thank you to the wonderful publicist Bea for sending me a copy – I love you forever and a day! 

Have you read Floored?
Have you had a guess at which character matches which author?
Which Floored character do you think you are?

Talk to me! Comment! Tweet! Pigeon! Postcard!

OH and come back tomorrow where you’ll see my post for the Floored blog collaboration group I’m part of! 

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S x

p.s. I did so well not to use the floored pun. Are you impressed?