The Book Catch-Up: April #1

Welcome to my second monthly book catch-up. April was a month where again I got a lot of reading done. So much so that i've had to split this up in to two posts. This is just full of the all the books I read in the first half of. the month, which is about the same amount as i read in the whole of last month. Being in Sydney for a couple of days i found made me read more and more. I got three books finished by the time I got back to Melbourne. The total reads for this month is at around 13, but for the first half of the month the tally's 7.

Field Notes On Love - Jennifer E Smith

Hugo and Mae want get their lives on track. What they're not expecting to find is each other.When Hugo's long-term girlfriend Margaret Campbell breaks up with him the summer before uni, she leaves him a parting gift: the US cross-country train trip they had planned to take together. The only problem is that all the tickets are in her name - Hugo needs to find another Margaret Campbell quickly.When New Yorker Mae Campbell doesn't get into film school, her friends and family tell her she needs to take more chances. Maybe this trip with an English boy looking for someone with her name is the answer, and maybe she will get a decent film out of it too.

For me this book was meant to last the whole of my four day trip in Sydney but after two delays on my flight up there I managed to read a lot of it at the airport and finish it that night before I went to bed. I loved this book and I love this author. I've read Jennifer's other book before and also loved it so I had high hopes for this and it passed them. I don't know how to put my thoughts on this book in to words, but the storyline kept me wanting to read more and more. There were some parts where I was really wanting to know what was going on.

You Must Be Layla - Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Layla's mind goes a million miles a minute, so does her mouth – unfortunately her better judgement can take a while to catch up! Although she believes she was justified for doing what she did, a suspension certainly isn't the way she would have wished to begin her time at her fancy new high school. Despite the setback, Layla's determined to show everyone that she does deserve her scholarship and sets her sights on winning a big invention competition. But where to begin? Looking outside and in, Layla will need to come to terms with who she is and who she wants to be if she has any chance of succeeding.

Another quick read for me. Finished it in two days. If there's one thing I love, it is when a book is set in Australia, like how this one was set in Brisbane. It gave me a look in to what it's like being a Muslim living in Australia and the struggles they have going to school but also how friendship can help overcome those struggles. I just thought it was a beautiful book.

What I Like About Me - Jenna Guillaume

You know all those movies where teenagers have, like, THE SUMMER OF THEIR LIVES? This summer is probably not going to be that. 

The last thing sixteen-year-old Maisie Martin thought she’d be doing this summer is entering a beauty pageant. Not when she’s spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone. Not when her Dad is AWOL for Christmas and her gorgeous older sister has returned to rock Maisie’s shaky confidence. And her best friend starts going out with the boy she’s always loved. But Maisie’s got something to prove. As she writes down all the ways this summer is going from bad to worse in her school-assignment journal, what starts as a homework torture-device might just end up being an account of how Maisie didn’t let anything, or anyone, hold her back…

Another book by another Australian author which I again loved. This one only took me a day of traveling back to melbourne to finish it. I was a big fan of how this book portrayed a girl who isn't seen as the standard in the beauty pageant world. I think this book would be good at showing people that no matter what size you are that you're beautiful. I also loved the romance in this book. (cont...)

It's Not Like It's A Secret - Misa Sagirua

Sixteen-year-old Sana Kiyohara has too many secrets. Some are small, like how it bothers her when her friends don’t invite her to parties. Some are big, like the fact that her father may be having an affair. And then there’s the one that she can barely even admit to herself—the one about how she might have a crush on her best friend. When Sana and her family move to California, she begins to wonder if it’s finally time for some honesty, especially after she meets Jamie Ramirez. Jamie is beautiful and smart and unlike anyone Sana’s ever known.

There are just a few problems: Sana's new friends don't trust Jamie's crowd; Jamie's friends clearly don't want her around anyway; and a sweet guy named Caleb seems to have more-than-friendly feelings for her. Meanwhile, her dad’s affair is becoming too obvious to ignore.n Sana always figured that the hardest thing would be to tell people that she wants to date a girl, but as she quickly learns, telling the truth is easy…what comes after it, though, is a whole lot more complicated.

For the first week of April this was the fourth book I finished. I was on some sort of reading spree at the time. If you loves To All The Boys or Simon Vs... Then You are going to love this book. It's a coming of age book about two girls and how one discovers she's gay. I just loved the whole purpose of the book and the mix between friendship and romance. An all round great read.

Rosie Loves Jack - Mel Darbon

Rosie loves Jack. Jack loves Rosie. So when they're split up, Rosie will do anything to find the boy who makes the sun shine in her head. Even run away from home. Even cross London and travel to Brighton alone, though the trains are cancelled and the snow is falling. Even though any girl might find that hard, let alone a girl with Down's syndrome.

I love it when a books has characters with disabilities. It makes me feel included in a way that I know what it's like to not be so normal in that sense. The whole story of Rosie trying to get to Jack was written quite well in my opinion. It shows how important love is. And what someone will do for the one they love. It kept me wanting to keep reading and find out what would end up happening. And much like the majority of books I read I ended it with tears in my eyes. An amazing book.

Whisper - Chrissie Keighery

A beautiful exploration of life for a deaf teenager. How do you know if your friends are talking about you behind your back, or if a boy likes you? They could act innocent, but you’d know from the rumours. You’d hear the whispers. But what if you couldn’t hear those whispers anymore? What if everything you took for granted was gone? Being a teenager is hard enough. But being a deaf teenager?

Another great book. Loved this one so much. I liked that it was set in Melbourne. Was able to guess where things in this book were taking place and really imagine the book in a whole different way. This book showed me what's it's like to live as a deaf person. And how hard life can be because of things other people say or do. Just an all round great read.

All The Invisible Things - Orlagh Collins

Vetty's family is moving back to London, and all she can think about is seeing Pez again. They were inseparable when they were small - roaming the city in the long summers, sharing everything. But everyone's telling her it'll be different now. After all, a boy and a girl can't really be friends without feelings getting in the way, can they? Vetty thinks differently ... until Pez tells her she's 'not like other girls'. But what does that even mean? Is it a good thing or not? Suddenly she's wondering whether she wants him to see her like the others - like the ultra-glamorous March, who's worked some sort of spell on Pez, or the girls in the videos that Pez has hidden on his laptop. How can she measure up to them? And who says that's what a girl is supposed to be like anyway?

This book wasn't as enjoyable as I'd hoped. Unlike the rest which i read within 1-2 days, this took me nearly 6 days to complete. I don't really have to much I could say about this book. One thing I will say is I much prefer Orlagh's other book over this one.

So there you have it, all the books I read in the first half of the month. I'd love to know what you've read so far this month. Or i you've read these books before.

Until next time...

Brooke