Review: The Black Flamingo

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Told in free verse, this heartfelt story follows Michael from birth to university as he discovers his identity and finds the people who will stand with him. Mixed in is the poetry he writes to try to understand himself and his reactions and those of the people around him. This is a lovely, quick read with beautiful illustrations. This is a story that will stay with you for a long time.

Be aware, there is a lot of discussion of sex and some drugs.



He puts his arm around me and says,
'Don't worry, you can't score every time
but you still gotta take the shot.
Respect for taking the risk, bro.
I've got a question for you: why did you
ask out the whitest boy in school?
Why not give a brother a chance?'

I laugh, through my tears. 'You're funny.'

'Yeah,' Kieran sighs, 'so are you.
I should go but if anyone gives you any trouble,
you let me know.'
He squeezes my shoulder,
walks to the door.

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Review: I Hold Your Heart

I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gemma has just started her A levels when she meets Aaron. He understands her in a way no one else ever has, and soon she's spending all her time with him. Her friends don't understand what it's like. They're jealous. Right?

This book starts out fine; Gemma's studying, playing music, working and hanging out with friends. Even Aaron, at first, seems nice; kind and thoughtful, dedicated to Gemma's happiness. As things go on, though, they get increasingly creepy. Aaron's change in behaviour is slow and subtle and it's easy to understand why Gemma gets caught up with him. It's terrifying to watch; I just wanted to scream at her to get out of there immediately. This is a fantastic read on a very important topic; too many teenagers wouldn't recognise abuse of this kind and it needs to be talked about more. This book will definitely do it.

Between this title and Countless, Karen Gregory is on my must-read list.

Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.


When she doesn’t answer her messages, or her phone when I call her, that’s when I look. Not before. But I know how to get into her WhatsApp; it’s easy if you’ve got someone’s number.

The first thing I see are the messages from Cal. Way more of them than she said. The winky faces. Kisses. Little in-jokes from a time before I knew her.

I read through each one, feeling the nausea rising.There’s a rational part of me that’s aware her messages indicate nothing more than friendship, though his are screaming he wants more. But a larger part of me feels like a vortex, as though my lungs are collapsing in on themselves and I’m struggling for breath, fighting to pull up and out. Fighting to remember who I am. Before I know it, I’m dressed and driving, taking the corners on the wrong side of the road, not bothering to brake at red lights, the night a blur of looming hedgerows and cat’s eyes flaring at me from the middle of the road.

I kill the engine at the bottom of her track and sit there, holding on to the steering wheel. Go home, a voice is whispering in my head. I try her number again but there’s still no answer. And the need to just see her, to touch her hair, is overwhelming. Too big for me to fight.

I step out of the car and jog up the track.

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Review: The Chain

The Chain by Adrian McKinty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A teenage girl is kidnapped. A terrified mother receives a call. Her kidnappers don't want a ransom - or, not only a ransom. She must also kidnap another child and pass the conditions on to those parents, thus ensuring her own complicity and keeping the Chain going. The Chain is important. The Chain must never be broken. Or the Chain will come for you...


This is a tense, exciting thriller. It doesn't exactly have twists - most of the plot developments are signaled long before they come into play - but I definitely wanted to find out what was going to happen next. The characters are well written and the peril is nicely played, not too gratuitous, just the right amount. The style reminded me a little of Stephen King in spots.

A fantastic read all around.



“All right, this is the plan,” Rachel announces. “One, we drive to the Old Customs Hall. Two, we wait for the kids to come out. Three, we follow Toby home along Revenue and Standore Streets. Please, God, let Toby be by himself. Four, we pull the car up next to him. Five, we grab him and throw him inside. Six, we drive off.”

“Do you want me to grab him?”

She nods. “And I’ll drive.”

“OK, then.”

She looks at him. “There are so many things that can go wrong, Pete. I’m glad you’re with me.”

Pete thinks back to that night at Camp Bastion in September of 2012 when everything went wrong. He bites his lip. “Yeah, it’ll be fine, Rach,” he says.

“But even if it all goes right,” she replies wretchedly, “it’ll still be absolutely terrible.”

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Review: You Won’t Believe This: Get swept up in the most stunningly moving and hilarious mystery of the year.

You Won’t Believe This: Get swept up in the most stunningly moving and hilarious mystery of the year. by Adam Baron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cymbeline is having trouble at home and at school, with someone targeting his favourite teacher and his best friend's grandmother not well. Can he help to solve both problems before they run out of time?

This is a great read. I think it's at least the second in a series, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything, there were just a couple of references to things that didn't happen in this story. All the clues come together really satisfyingly, including the ones that didn't seem like clues at the time, and I loved how everything worked out. Apart from that, there's some fabulous history on Boat People weaved carefully in.

I recommend this to everyone.


Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.



There was music then, and dancing. We watched for a bit and then walked up past the National Gallery, where all the roads were shut. There was an EVEN BIGGER dragon in Leicester Square, after which my mouth literally dropped open. I'd been to the street that is Chinatown itself. But today it ws hung wit red paper lanterns, lots of smaller dragons dancing around beneath them to even more drummers, the sound SO loud as it thudded back off all the buildings. There were men with red-and-gold robes and long fake beards, their hats like snakes. Again I thought about trying to talk to Veronique but she kept pulling me off to see this thing, and that thing, before pointing to the end of the street. Another procession was marching towards us, this one of enormous inflatable pandas which went right over our heads. It was stunning and for a second it felt like I'd been whisked off to China.

But it wsn't just Chinese people. There were white people and black people and Asian people. Outside one shop there were some very British-looking police officers with flags poking out from their uniforms. So we weren't in China; this was my city, where I live. My London. It made me feel bigger, as if there was more to me than I knew about. I looked at Veronique and felt something similar, remembering my thoughts when she'd first told me about Nanai. I'd thought that the Chinese bit of Veronique was, sort of, on the reverse side of her, that it had nothing to do with me. But if this party was here, where I lived, then that part of Veronique was connected to me too. It wasn't a bit of her that was different. Her Chinese bit was mixed in with her British bit. And if this was happening here, where I lived, then I was mixed in with it too.

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Review: Check Mates

Check Mates by Stewart Foster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Felix does his best, but he just can't concentrate in school. No one seems to understand how hard it is. No one but his quiet, closed off grandfather. Granddad's been a bit depressed since Grandma died. Until he comes up with a wonderful plan to help Felix concentrate. He's going to teach him chess!


This is a sweet, nice story about a grandson and grandfather learning to connect with each other. I know a little about the chess, just the basics, and was able to follow perfectly well, so don't be put off if you don't know anything about the game. I also learned some information about the Cold War that I hadn't known before, and that was really interesting to me.

One thing I did think was odd: Felix clearly has ADHD, but he doesn't seem to be getting any help. There's mention that he refused a classroom assistant because he was embarrassed, and he's in an extra reading class, but that's it. No other accommodations for him. This is a minor thing, however.

This is a lovely story that will also lead to discussion topics, and that's a great mix.



"Phew," says Jake. "You had me worried."

"I know," I say, trying to shake the fog out of my head. "They're all dweebs! I don't know what I was thinking."

"You were thinking it was a good idea."

"No, Granddad. I wasn't."

Jake gives me a strange look.

"What?" I say. "I'm not going in there."

"No," says Jake. "It's what you just did. You were talking to your granddad."

"Did I? Was I?"

"Yeah. It's like he's getting inside your head, brainwashing you. Maybe he's a spy. My dad always says he's a bit strange."

"My granddad's not strange," I snap. "And he's not a spy. What does your dad know? He's never even spoken to him."

"Sorry, didn't mean to upset you." Jake puts his arm around my shoulder. "He's not strange. Not really - now let's get some dinner and then we'll go and shoot some hoops."

"Hoops? What is hoops?"

Granddad, I say in my head. You're going to have to stop this.

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Review: The Virtue of Sin

The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love cult stories, but I feel like this one was confused about what it wanted to say. The rotating PoVs made it difficult to develop any attachment to any character, and nothing much happened until almost the end, when All The Things happened.

It's not awful; it's a chillingly realistic depiction of a cult, and of how easily a clever con man can keep a whole group of people scared and compliant. It just could have been so much better.




“That’s what I used to think, too. But you know what? There is a choice. I could keep being good Miriam, the girl who does what she’s told. The one who goes along with what everybody else wants. The one who keeps her mouth shut.” I step back, farther into the shadows . But if I keep being this Miriam, I may as well disappear altogether.

“Or what?” he asks, leaning forward. “What else can you do?”

“I can start thinking for myself.”

And there arose a disagreement between them, so sharp they parted ways. —Acts 15: 39

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Review: Fan the Fame

Fan the Fame by Anna Priemaza
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Told from three points of view, this novel tackles misogyny and bullying in the world of video game streaming.


If it weren't for Sam's storyline, this would be a lower rating for me. I didn't like the two girls; they seemed amoral and willing to be cruel to get what they wanted. And after the whole buildup of the story, the fallout was briefly dealt with in the epilogue.

However, this made slightly more sense when I read the author's note and realised that Sam's storyline was the whole point of the novel. I loved the friends he made at the con, who accepted him as he was and made an effort to make sure he knew it.

So it's good, but sadly not great for me.


Legs pushes the door open for both of us, and we step into the convention center. It feels more chaotic than last night, somehow, even though there probably aren’t as many people here yet as there were then. Legs and I both step to the side to take it in.

We’re in a wide hallway, wide enough that there are short faux-leather chairs clustered into seating areas along the right wall behind a row of enormous cream pillars, and there’s still plenty of room for the growing crowd of Legends of the Stone enthusiasts to walk through or mill about or stare up at the huge posters on the wall—including one big one of my brother. I don’t know how I missed seeing that last night. Ick. No one needs to see Cody’s face blown up as big as the sun.

The thing I didn’t realize about geek conventions before is that some of the stereotypes about geeks are actually true. I mean, not across the board, but amid the brilliant cosplay and geek chic, there are the clusters of guys in sweatpants and oversize shirts, with questionable hygiene. Part of me wants to yell at them for giving nerds a bad name, but another part of me wishes I could wear sweatpants and an oversize shirt and not care if people thought I looked sloppy.

Except, don’t actually be sloppy about the hygiene part, folks. Can we all agree right here right now that good hygiene is a vital cornerstone of the society we live in?

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Review: Ten After Closing

Ten After Closing by Jessica Bayliss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An exciting read about a hostage situation gone very, very wrong. I enjoyed all the parts in the 'now' section; however, I found myself skimming the past sections. I'm sure they were meant to make points about the characters, but I found them dull and uninteresting and I didn't need them to understand what was happening.

A great read, one I'll heartily recommend.


"Ok, everyone," Pavan whispers to us as he comes around the counter with Twitch's coffee. "Just calm down. Those guys will be back soon. If you're saying we're still defenceless, we'd better come up with a way to remedy that."
I'm such a stupid, useless ass.
Everyone's martyr...
Except it's the martyr's job to die. With my rash decision, I may have killed us all.

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Review: Me and Me

Me and Me by Alice Kuipers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've always been interested in the Many Worlds theory, and it's fantastic to read about it in a book this entertaining. Lark is a brilliant character, racked with guilt over something that wasn't her fault at all. That said, I liked World 2 Jade...where she saved Annabelle...better than World 1 Jade, where she saved Alec. Maybe that was part of the point, to show how someone's character can change very quickly in certain circumstances. If so it's clever.

A great read that should spark some fun discussions.



Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.


I swim toward the screen, toward her. I feel like I might die the effort is so immense. But then, with a ripping feeling through my entire body, as if my insides are being torn from me, I'm there.
I'm standing on my street, looking at myself. Oh, my God.
She's me. She's wearing the same jeans, the same shirt, the same everything. Even the same makeup. But her hair only just reaches into a ponytail and is dyed red.
"Can you hear me?" I say to her. To myself.
"Oh, my God. I can hear you," she replies.

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Review: All of This Is True

All of This Is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A strange, meta novel about a novel, written in interviews, journal extracts and samples of the novel. I didn't mind the format, it's interesting, but the story itself didn't grip me, especially when I was basically getting it twice; the novel-within-the-novel mimics what's happening in the interviews and journals down to the word. I skipped about thirty percent in the middle and didn't feel I'd lost anything. It's interesting from a moral standpoint, though.

Enjoyable but not fantastic.

Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.

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Review: That's Not What Happened

That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've seen other novels by Kody Keplinger; The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend, Shut Out. I've always thought they looked interesting, but I've never gotten around to reading them. I'll be changing that at my first opportunity. Kody is amazing.

It's a sadly current book, the story of a school shooting from the point of view of the survivors. As I write this, the Texas shooting is still in the news. By the time the book publishes, it'll be some other shooting.

The book is mostly from the POV of Lee, a teenager who was shot at, but not physically injured, during a shooting rampage in her school. A legend has built up around one particular victim, Lee's best friend, causing townsfolk to harass and abuse another survivor who tried to correct it. Lee knows the truth and is finally ready to come forward, but it's not going to be as simple as she thinks.

I started crying within a few chapters and never really stopped. This is an incredible book, heartfelt and real, showing a range of coping mechanisms used by the six survivors - forgetting, faith, happiness, ignoring, medication and alcohol. Each choice is treated and right for that person, although the alcohol user stops during the course of the novel, and no one is demonised for how they cope.

My only tiny problem, and it's very common across a lot of media, is that while initially a couple of the survivors were against Lee's plan, in the end they all came around and agreed it was for the best. Why couldn't they have dissenting opinions that were right for them? However, I see this a lot and it's not by any means a deal breaker.

I also loved that Lee is asexual. It's comparatively rare still, but gaining ground and it's nice to see. It's great to have books to recommend to people, especially like this when it's not a major focus, just a part of who she is.

A fantastic read. I'll definitely be trying more by this author.


Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.

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Boys Don't Cry, by Malorie Blackman

Malorie Blackman's new books tackles teenage pregnancy from an unusual perspective - that of the father.

Dante is a good boy, mostly. He studies hard, he's nice to his girlfriend. Ok, so he fooled around once at a party with his then-girlfriend Melanie, but that was almost two years ago and they were both drunk. It didn't mean anything, and she moved away afterwards anyway.

On the day his A level results are due, Dante answers the door to Melanie, holding a baby. She tells him that this is his child, conceived during that party. She asks him to babysit, just for a little while, just while she goes shopping.

And then she calls to tell him she can't cope any more, that she wants him to look after Emma for a while.

At first Dante completely fails to deal with it. But he gradually begins to step up and take responsibility, and the evolution of his feelings makes for fascinating reading. Emma impacts not only his life but that of his father and brother, and watching the effect she has on this family of near-strangers is the best part of the novel. Each member is battling his own demons, but Emma manages to bring them all together.

This is a lovely read.


I woke up to the sound of plaintive mewling, like next door's cat was upset or something. Eyes closed, I mentally swatted away the noise. Then I remembered. When I managed to will my eyes open, Emma was standing up, holding onto the sides of her cot, watching me. Throwing back my duvet, I stumbled out of bed. The closer I got to her, the more the smell hit me. And the smell was appalling. I mean really, really bad in a throat-catching, nose-blistering way. I didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know I was about to be hip-deep in baby poo.

Damn it, I didn't sign up for this.

Review: Eva's Journey, by Judi Curtin

Eva's Journey is the newest offering from Judi Curtin, author of the well loved Alice and Megan series.

Eva's father is a rich and powerful builder. Eva is used to only the best of everything; yearly trips to New York for a new wardrobe, private school, all the latest gadgets. But the building market is collapsing, and Eva's treats and luxuries have to go. Soon they're selling their beautiful house and moving into a fixer upper, and Eva's posh private school has become the local public.

Desperate to regain her former glory, Eva visits a fortune teller who tells her to do good deeds. Eva begins watching the people around her and, in the process, learns that she's not as badly off as she thought...



A modern day fairy tale, Eva's Journey charts Eva's progress as she learns that stuff, while nice, is not what makes life worthwhile. The friendship she begins with the odd girl in her class makes her new life more bearable, and the steadfast friend from her old life makes it more fun. Watching out for other people distracts her from her own troubles, and before she knows it she's enjoying herself in her run down house, last year's clothes and no gadgets.

A timely story and one I enjoyed a lot.




Victoria looked around approvingly.

'The house is looking lovely,' she said to my dad. 'You've got a talent for home improvement.'

I wondered how Dad would take that. Up to recently he'd had a talent for running one of the biggest businesses in town.

But Dad looked at Victoria like she was his best friend in the whole world.

'Thanks,' he said, beaming so much that he accidentally thumped his finger with the hammer.

Victoria and I giggled, and fled upstairs.

Review: The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams

One of the reviews on Amazon said that this book is unlikely to do very well in the UK or Ireland, as we don't have the same connection to religious cults as the USA. I disagree; we may not have the same background, but the story is just as gripping.

Thirteen year old Kyra has grown up in a polygamous cult called The Chosen Ones. When she was younger life wasn't so bad. But when the Prophet died his son took his place and things have gotten very bad. Only Kyra's two secrets — the books she sneaks out of the local bookmobile, and the boy she meets when no one is watching — make her life bearable. But then the Prophet ordains that she must marry her uncle, a man fifty years her elder. Kyra's desperate search for freedom will mean endangering everyone she cares about and leaving everything she's ever known...

It's not a long book, just over 200 pages, but it's fast paced and gripping. This is a book you'll read in one sitting and find yourself thinking about for weeks afterwards.


When I look at Laura, she's crying. "Don't go," she says, but she kisses me goodbye. Again and again.

"I love you," she says.

"I love you, too," I say.

She stands on the porch and watches me go.

Review: Viola in Reel Life, by Adrainna Trigiani

Viola is a fourteen year old native New Yorker. She's used to following her documentary producing parents all over the world. But when they sign up for an assignment in Afganistan, they decide it's too dangerous for her and enroll her in an all girl boarding school in Indiana. Viola's determined to hate every minute of it. But it's hard to hate girls who seem to understand you so well, or the boys at the neighbouring academy...or the chance to create her very first movie...

Viola walks the fine line between being whiny - there are a couple of times you want to shake her, but they pass quickly - and being too squeaky clean to be believable. Any teenage girl in her place has a right to a little self pity, but she does shake herself out of it when she learns that her interests can apply and that she can contribute to this community. Of course, the boys at the neighbouring school help with that, as does the film competition that draws all her new friends together.

It's not a perfectly happy ending, but it is realistic, and you feel that Viola has learned and grown...which is, after all, the point of boarding school.


'When I go up for a part, sometimes I'm too tall or too thin, or too this or too that, or not enough or way, way too much. The goddamned theater! You can't please them! I have to live with being judged on everything from the credits on my résumé to the size of my ankles! But you - you are not judged, and you are not dismissed. You are the first thought in your mother's and father's mind in the morning and their last one before sleep.'

'Did they tell you that?'

'No. But I'm a mother. And that's just how it goes.'