Review: Girl Hearts Girl by Lucy Sutcliffe

 

Publication Date: June 2016

Publisher: Scholastic

Blurb:  [ Goodreads ]

An inspiring, uplifting and sympathetic story about sexuality and self-acceptance, Lucy Sutcliffe's debut memoir is a personal and moving coming out story. In 2010, at seventeen, Lucy Sutcliffe began an online friendship with Kaelyn, a young veterinary student from Michigan. Within months, they began a long distance relationship, finally meeting in the summer of 2011. Lucy's video montage of their first week spent together in Saint Kitts, which she posted to the couple's YouTube channel, was the first in a series of films documenting their long-distance relationship. 

Funny, tender and candid, the films attracted them a vast online following. Now, for the first time, Lucy's writing about the incredible personal journey she's been on; from never quite wanting the fairy-tale of Prince Charming to realising she was gay at the age of 14, through three years of self-denial to finally coming out to friends and family, to meeting her American girlfriend Kaelyn.

As June is pride month, I spent the month reading a lot of LGBTQ+ book. This book had been on my physical TBR since it came out 10 years ago. That is way too long to have a book on my shelf, granted I probably have older ones, so I knew I wanted to read this autobiography. 

Lucy Sutcliffe was a prominent UK Youtuber at the time of publication who mostly shared her relationship with her long distance partner Kaelyn on their channel Lucy & Kaelyn. I didn't follow them at the time so going into the book I didn't know much about them, and unfortunately, I sort of felt the same finishing the book. 

Review: Woman Down by Colleen Hoover

 

Publication Date: January 2026

Publisher: Montlake

Blurb: (Goodreads)

Her words used to set the page on fire. But a viral backlash over her latest film adaptation forced Petra Rose to take a hiatus, resulting in missed deadlines and an overdue mortgage. Branded a fraud and fame-hungry opportunist, she learned the hard way what happens when the internet turns on you. And she’s been uninspired to write ever since.

Now, with her next suspense novel outlined and savings nearly gone, she retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping to find inspiration. It’s Petra’s last-ditch attempt to save her career—and herself. Then he shows up.

Detective Nathaniel Saint arrives with disturbing news, his presence igniting a creativity in her she thought long since burned out. Petra’s words return in a rush, and her fictional cop character begins to mirror the very real cop who’s becoming her muse.
Their “research” sessions blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Each glance, every touch pulls Petra deeper into a world she thought she’d never lose herself in again. She’s never felt more alive. But inspiration this powerful comes at a cost.

When Saint starts taking his role in her career a little too seriously, Petra’s forced to confront the chaos she created. But doing so could cost her more than the reputation she’s been trying to salvage. The reputation the world wrote for her—the reputation only she can reclaim.

I think Colleen Hoover should stick to writing thrillers over romance. I have enjoyed more of her thrillers than her romances much much more.

Although this one didn't hit as hard as I thought it would, I still flew through it in a few days. 

It did feel a little hard to separate the art from the artist so to speak with this one as the plot focuses around an author whose novel has been made into a movie which has faced severe backlash within the crew and online. Hmm where have I heard this before... 

Looking past all of that, I found that once I started reading the book it was a real addictive page turner. Although some parts of the plot felt a little far-fetched as I tried to suspend my belief that this could plausibly happen - an author renting a cabin in the middle of the woods and having a man that is basically her character arrive at the door and engage in an outlandish role play relationship to further her novel... I did actually end up enjoying the wild rollercoaster of a novel. 

The ending felt a little bit flat for me, it seemed a little too rushed and tying up loose ends as quickly as possible. But overall a fun, crazy, thriller that was a good quick read. Hopefully Colleen Hoover writes some more thrillers as I think they are better and more entertaining than her romance novels. Overall - pick this one up for some fun, outlandish reading that you can fly through but won't blow your socks off. 

Review: Shorelines by Ruth Ennis

 

Publication Date: 2026

Publisher: Little Island Books

Blurb: (Goodreads)

When proud mermaid Muireann flees her climate-ravaged ocean in search of hope on land, she confronts human cruelty and body-shaming as she struggles to find her true home and voice. Caught between a dying ocean and a divided world, she must grapple between the sea that made her and the surface that might break her – in this stunning verse novel that reimagines The Little Mermaid.

Muireann is a mermaid – fierce, curious and proud of the body that keeps her warm beneath the waves. But life in the ocean is becoming impossible. The merfolk are at war with the human ramifications of climate change: food is scarce, and her twin sister has been killed in a mass-fishing net. With her mother lost in grief and her world falling apart, Muireann longs to escape to the surface to find some answers. But the human world isn’t the haven she hoped for. It’s colder, crueller – and here, her large body is seen not as strength, but as something to be ashamed of. 

I have read A LOT of Little Mermaid YA retellings, and let me tell you this one right here really did hit different. 

There was so many things I loved about this book. Written by an Irish author, her debut too, this book is up there with one of my favourites of the year. Once of the things that made me love this book was the unique twist the author took with the storyline - the plus size representation and championing of bigger bodies in the mer world then seeing the difference of how they are viewed on land, the Irish names of Muireann's family, the seeking of treasures and the sea witch not being villainized in this story. 

Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

 

Publication Date: October 2004

Publisher: Margaret K McElderry Books

Blurb:  (Goodreads)

In Crank, Ellen Hopkins chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." 

Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: "there is no perfect daughter, / no gifted high school junior, / no Kristina Georgia Snow. / There is only Bree." Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won't, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank.

This book has been on my TBR for years. I finally got my hands on a copy from my library and devoured it on a rainy afternoon in May. 

When I first heard of this book all those years ago, there was nothing but rave reviews on Youtube and Goodreads. So to say I went into this with high expectations, albeit rating my other experiences with Ellen Hopkins middling. 

The story shows how easy it can be for teenagers, or anyone, to fall into drug use and addiction. I felt the plot of the novel was a little slow in points, lots of Kristina / Bree bouncing between random boys for what seemed like no reason. But I suppose it did all point back to her need for something more in her life, looking for that rush of excitement she felt was lacking. 

Review: Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

 

Publication Date: September 2014

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Blurb:  (Goodreads)

In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town's most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept separate but equal.

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

This book has been on my TBR, my physical TBR at that, for 12 years! That is insane. I am trying to read some of my older TBR books this year and although I don't always do that as much as I should I thought 12 years is a ridiculous amount of time to have a book on my shelf unread for. 

The plot of this book is set around the integration of black and white students into a high school in Virginia America in 1959. The author clearly did so much research when writing the book that all of the tension, anger and behaviours of the time really rose from the page with how vivid they were. The subject was very tough to read about, especially with 2026 eyes, seeing how such hatred was allowed and encouraged by the staff, business people and adults of the time. 

Review: All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth

 

Publication Date: July 2018 (Goodreads)

Publisher: Penguin Books

Blurb: 

In the last day of summer, Grace Fairchild, the beautiful young wife of real estate mogul Allister Calloway, vanished from the family’s lake house without a trace, leaving behind her seven-year old daughter, Charlie, and a slew of unanswered questions.

Years later, seventeen-year-old Charlie still struggles with the dark legacy of her family name and the mystery surrounding her mother. Determined to finally let go of the past, she throws herself into life at Knollwood, the prestigious New England school she attends. Charlie quickly becomes friends with Knollwood’s “it” crowd.

Charlie has also been tapped by the A’s—the school’s elite secret society well known for terrorizing the faculty, administration, and their enemies. To become a member of the A’s, Charlie must play The Game, a semester-long, diabolical high-stakes scavenger hunt that will jeopardize her friendships, her reputation, even her place at Knollwood.

As the dark events of past and present converge, Charlie begins to fear that she may not survive the terrible truth about her family, her school, and her own life.

When I picked this up, I had been eyeing it for a while and was excited for some messy rich kid drama with a summery backdrop. And while it did deliver in that, there was a little lacking for me in some areas. 

The mystery thriller element was interesting but sometimes the twists and turns felt to me like they came out of nowhere. It began to feel a little random in the middle and I was starting to lose my grasp of what the timeline was and what was actually going on. The conclusion to the mystery was what I had thought it was from the beginning so that left me a little disappointed. 

Review: The Exorcism of Faeries by J.L Vampa

 

Publication Date: November 2025

Publisher: Vampa Productions LLC

Source: Purchased on Kindle (Goodreads)

Blurb: 

She is the daughter of morticians, studying Botany at Trinity College, Dublin. He is her Morbid Anatomy professor. And the Fae are possessing the good people of Dublin. Only Atta and Professor Murdoch can exorcize the fae, but can they fight their forbidden feelings for one another in the process?
Trinity College, Dublin 5th November, 1993

He always reads standing in front of the shelf, one hand shoved in his pocket until it’s time to flip the page. It’s the first thing I noticed about him, while I was supposed to be studying. Instead, I watched him move from shelf to shelf and book to book. I had no idea at the time that I would one day meet him and he would change everything. We would change everything.

-Excerpt from the diary of Ariatne Morrow, found in the wreckage at Ground Zero

This was a book club pick and I was glad it was chosen as it was something I never would have picked up normally, very out of my comfort zone but a welcome surprise! 

The book centers around Ariatne at college in Dublin whose real passion is human anatomy, studying and delivering mysterious corpses to a secret society of masked scientists. Secret society, mysterious deaths and dark academia vibes GALORE.