Read All The Books

This was such a fun and quick read! It follows Yuna and Akari, two girls that are complete opposites who meet in an unexpected way and soon become best friends. Yuna is a shy quiet girl while Akari is outgoing and not afraid to speak her mind. While they seem to have nothing in common they soon start to realise that maybe they aren't so different after all.  The graphics in this are really beautiful and I hope that it is published in colour as in some cases I couldn't tell which girl was which particularly when it was a close up of Akari's face as you couldn't see the dark ends of her hair. I think this is a great manga for teens as it explores the topics of friendship and crushes/first loves and that our impressions of people aren't always what they seem and you should get all your facts before jumping to conclusions. Thanks to NetGalley and VIZ media for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Bea as she moves to Melbourne to get a new start after ruining her best friend's wedding. Friendless and working at a job she hates, the highlights of her day are her books and getting her daily coffee fix until she discovers a second hand book with beautiful annotations and poems littered throughout. She falls in love with the writing and decides to track down the owner of the book. When I heard that this book is about books, I knew I had to read it! I love reading and finding a book with gorgeous annotations and poetry is every bibliophiles dream. However this did not live up to my expectations. It is in no way a bad book by any means but to me it was just average. I initially loved all the book references in this novel but it quickly got to be too much. It kinda felt like this book was trying too hard. If you are not a BIG reader then this book is probably not for you as some of the references can go over your head. Kinda like someone quoting a movi...

So the premise of this book sounded like it would be a fun quick read, a home-schooled girl who has a crush on her neighbour and spies on him through her bedroom window finally gets her chance to go to public school and come face to face with her crush. Fun right! Well it was that and so much more! The first three quarters of the book was Mallory navigating through high school for the first time, making new friends, and finding out that Troy, her neighbour and crush is not what he appears. I loved the scenes between Mallory and Troy, the back and forth, the hate he appears to have for her but then all the times when she ever needs him there he is. They made my heart swoon! The last quarter of the book was a wild slightly dark ride indeed! It had me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next and I definitely couldn't put the book down and it was not what I was expecting but I loved it! The best part of this story is how throughout the book Mallor...

29 Dates follows Jisu, a young South Korean girl as she navigates a new high school in a different country after her parents find her struggling to cope at her very competitive high school in Seoul and send her off to America.  Living with a host family, Jisu has a hard time juggling school and new friends as well as going on blind dates that her mother's match maker sends her on. I really enjoyed this book. I liked Jisu and how she always had an open mind when going on her blind dates even though she didn't want to be there. I liked that she stood up for herself and always spoke her mind when it was called for. I really felt for her when she felt the constant pressure from her parents to do well and how she felt that she really didn't know what she wanted to do or be after high school. I feel that is relevant to most young people and although this novel is aimed at someone younger than me, I still felt a connection to the character and the story. I found mysel...

What an adorable novel this was! Darcy's twin brother Jamie hires their childhood friend Tom to renovate their grandmother's cottage so they can sell it for a profit. Darcy has had a crush on Tom since they they were 8 but Tom and Jamie have been best friends and Tom's loyalty is 99% Jamie's. Tom shows up one night, newly single and every bit as perfect as Darcy remembers him being. Sparks fly as the renovations begin and Darcy is determined to make Tom 99% hers. Sally Thorne is amazing! She has a way of writing characters that you can't help but like and really feel for.  Darcy is not someone I started off liking. She came across as annoying and bitchy but the more I read the more I loved her and realised she has a heart of gold. Any one who stays up all night sewing underwear for their friend is someone you want to have in your life. Tom reminded me of an overgrown golden retriever puppy. He was just so adorably good! The guy just doesn't have flaw...

So when I saw that an Emery Lord book was on NetGalley I immediately requested it not thinking twice. I love her books! Plus the premise sounded like something similar I had read before and loved. A few chapters in and I realised, I had read this book before! No wonder it had sounded so familiar however, I had read this book 4 years ago when it was published. Not sure why it is getting published in Australia 4 years later and in the winter no less but who am I to judge on what publishers are doing. I am here just to share my opinions on the book and that is exactly what I will be doing. This is the story of Taylor Swift going on tour with her best friend. Just kidding! Honestly though it is how I imagine Taylor Swift's tours would be like.  Country singer Lilah Montgomery is about to go on tour for the summer. Her best friend Reagan has just broken up with her good for nothing boyfriend and decides the best way to get over a broken heart is to head off on tour with her b...

Happy Glass is a lover of all things French! She dreams of the day when she can go to Paris and experience the magic it has to offer.  Happy has no plans for her school break. She has no friends since moving to Brisbane. Her best friend Rosie lives in Sydney and isn't around for her like she used to be. Having just won a french essay writing competition she decides to use her earnings to get a french tattoo. That would hopefully get Rosie's attention but at the tattoo parlour she meets Alex, a sexy french tourism intern. Soon after she meets girl Alex, a gardener for Professor Tanaka and they both recruit her to help them find the cure for Paris Syndrome, a syndrome they both fear that she has.  Happy does not believe she has Paris Syndrome but offers to help as she uses looking for a cure to spend time with boy Alex. To save from confusing the Alex's she names them Alex One (boy) and Alex Two (girl).  After kissing boy and girl Alex she is soon confused abou...

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I didn't know much about this book going in, in fact I didn't even read the synopsis, I had just heard vaguely through booktube that it was about a proper young lady who goes to the city of sin to track down her missing mother with the help of a con man and it sounded like a lot of fun! I didn't even realise that this book was sci-fi and fantasy until I had picked it up! Honestly this book was hard to get into. I had to force myself to pick it up at times to read it and forcing yourself to read a book is never any fun. At first I thought I was having such a hard time to get into it mainly because like I said I had not expected this book to be sci-fi or fantasy and was finding it hard to wrap my mind around it but honestly the story wasn't really going anywhere until almost half-way through the novel. I understand the first book in a series is usu...

I love Gayle Forman's 'Just One Day' series (you can read my review of the first novel in the series here ) and when I saw that this novel takes place in one day I immediately needed to read it! I Have Lost My Way follows 3 main characters who literally fall into each others lives just when each is feeling lost and confused. This starts an unlikely friendship between the trio and they ultimately help one another overcome their situations.  While this book takes place in one day, there are flashbacks to the past so you get to see how each character got to the point of feeling lost at the beginning of the book and then you get to see how their lives intertwine and how they help each other overcome it. This was a very quick read as it has you turning the pages and wanting to know what happens next. My only fault with this book is that I didn't quite like how it ended. I felt like it needed another page or two. However, this is a powerful novel of friendshi...

This was a really fun quick read that is extremely relatable too.  A comic on the struggles of growing up to be a mature adult.  There is also a short self help guide towards the end for struggling artists that is quite motivating and I honestly think could be applied to not just artists but anyone who puts their work out there for the public.  The illustrations are charmingly adorable and had me laughing quite a bit.  This was my first comic from Sarah Andersen and I will definitely be picking up the other comics in the series! Thank you to NetGalley for proving a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This coming of age story follows, Alex, a teenage girl living in rural Australia living in fear that someone will find out her secret, that she is a lesbian. Living in a small town with small minded people, Alex knows that she will not be accepted for who she is, so she is happy living in secret until she can move away and be who she wants to be when she graduates high school. Enter Phoenix Stone, the out and proud lesbian whose family just moved to town. She doesn't care what anyone has to say about who she is and thinks every day is for living the life you wish. Alex soon starts to have feelings for Phoenix and realises that in life sometimes you just need a little courage to jump! I flew through this book! It was so beautifully written and within reading the first few pages I felt transported to a country town and honestly could feel the summer heat coming through. I loved all the Australian vernacular and honestly hope Alicia Tuckerman writes more novels set ...

I loved this book, it was so cute and funny and it also features book boyfriends so what's not to love! The main character Merrilee is an avid reader. She constantly has a book in hand and thinks 'boys are better in books.' (So relatable!) Merrilee, her younger sister Rory and her best friend Eliza are about to start at 'Hero High' (I know right!! The school even has modern-day knights, I mean how could you not love this book!) where she meets a 'magic' English teacher and soon finds herself right in the middle of her own classic book adventure. I would say this book is a retelling as it follows a certain classic novel but I won't say which as I don't want to spoil anything, even though the cover gives it away. (Just read the book! Trust me!) Merrilee is a quirky character that you just can't help fall in love with. Slightly clumsy, huge romantic, wherever she goes hijinx ensue, which makes this book charmingly hilarious. Eliza is th...

Being beautiful is everything, especially in the world of Orleans, a world where most are born graey. Camellia Beauregard is one of the few born beautiful, colourful, a Belle. Her and her Belle sisters have the ability to make others beautiful. The Belle's main goal is to become the favourite, the one chosen by the roayl family to live at the palace and be the royal family's own personal Belle. Camellia soon learns that things are amiss and that perhaps her gifts go beyond just making a person beautiful This book is nothing like how I expected it to be and I truly loved every single word of it. This was an intersting take on how appearnaces aren't everything, that beauty is only skin deep and that being obsessed with how you look can be a dangerous thing. I am eagerly awaiting for book 2 as this end on a cliffhanger of sorts! Thank you to Hachette Australia and NetGalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book over the span of a week, right before going to bed and I have noticed a slight improvement in my sleeping already. To fully get the benefits of this book, I think you need to constantly work at all the advice given even though some of the advice can be hard to do for some people like me ie. not using any electronics before going to bed. This book is split up into sections going through why getting a good night's sleep is beneficial, understanding your dreams and why we dream and how that affects our sleep to steps on how to actually get a good night's sleep. I really enjoyed the journaling prompts given as well as the step by step guide to meditating. I marked a lot of pages to look back on such as the breathing exercises which I found very helpful to help me in the future. I also thought the sleep/dream quotes scattered throughout this book was a nice touch.