The Yearbook | Arc review

Thank you to Netgalley and Usborne Publishing for providing me an eARC in return for an honest review. 

TW: Body shaming, bullying, suicidal thoughts, self harm, domestic abuse.

The Yearbook by Holly Bourne brings out the brutal side of secondary school bullying and how school isn’t a pleasant memory for everyone. The main protagonist Paige works for the yearbook and is the silent observer that notices everything that happens in school especially the bullying done by fellow class girls and notes them down in her journals for years. She doesn’t retaliate or step in for any of the victims out of fear of being the next target. Her home situation isn’t that great as well as she has to suffer in silence through her father’s domestic abuse, unable to get any help from her brother or aunt. Her only outlet for the rage she feels against all the injustice around her, is her journal and also annotating on her library books. In one of the library books, she notices a like-minded person’s scribbling on red ink and tries reaching out to the stranger. 

Can we read old books the whole way home and share the best bits we find in the margins while eating mint Aeros please?

Up until Paige meets red-ink the story was progressing at a very slow pace. 

There were a lot of trigger warnings that made me think school is definitely scary these days. But for all the anger that Paige has, the ending didn’t justify it. Like it feels powerless and not enough. 

Also the bullying is more focussed on the mean girls and not on the guys, and the way teachers chose to ignore it, showing all of them in a bad light was also slightly disappointing. 

I loved the friendship that evolves between red-ink and Paige and kept looking forward to their encounters.
Overall a 4 star read for me! 

If you have read this book, do share your thoughts on the same.

The Songbook of Benny Lament | Book review

This is my first Amy Harmon book and when I saw the e-book is available for free on Kindle Unlimited, I immediately downloaded it after reading some rave reviews on Instagram and Goodreads.

The Songbook of Benny Lament is written alternatively in first person POV as narrated by Benny Lament and his radio interview from the The Barry Gray Show. When I read the synopsis as well as the first few chapters, it sort of gave me a Daisy Jones & the Six vibe and since its one of my favourite books, I had huge expectations for this one.

This book has interracial romance, Italian mafia and the 1960’s music scene all etched in perfect detail and imagery but it lacked a little bit of angst, that punch I felt with Daisy Jones. The writing was amazing and the way the story is told through interview snippets and in-detailed POV made it interesting. Like a preview and the actual play.

Benny’s family are part of the Italian mafia and he shares some complicated relationship with his father and his mobster uncle. He wants nothing to do with them and makes his own life through music and becomes reasonably popular for all the songs he writes for famous musicians. When his estranged father takes him to watch Esther Mine singing in a nondescript club, Benny is hooked to her voice and couldn’t deny the hold it has on him. Benny and Esther join hands together to make music and turn up a revolution instead. Because Esther is a woman of colour and this is the 1960’s and added to the mixture are some secrets that threaten their lives.

What I loved

I loved the father-son relationship however rocky and complicated it might be. I also loved the entire process of making a song and how Benny flawlessly puts in words and together with Esther, he creates magic. A lil reminder of Daisy Jones again!

The World building – loved the near perfect depiction of the 1960’s world – with a side of mafia and racism portrayed to the T.

What failed me

The actual chemistry between Esther and Benny. I didn’t “feel” as much as I wanted to. The forbidden romance should have pulled all the strings but as much as the lyrics to the songs they write enamoured me, the chemistry wasn’t enough ?!

I was easily able to guess the suspense that was a part of the story, so that fell flat too.

The perfect way to describe how I felt about the book, using a quote from book itself..

All I know is that I fell in love very.. reluctantly.

Overall its a beautiful story that has to be read and also good enough for TV as well. Stories of interracial couple ought to be told, fictional or real.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

It Only Happens in the Movies | Book Review

I’m back after half a century to post a review of Holly Bourne’s book that was gifted by a dear online friend of mine for Christmas.

I was looking for something that wasn’t sappy but still YA to read during February and this couldn’t have been a better a choice. This book, just like its title says so, points out the flaws in romance movies and how they sort of give an unrealistic idea of romance or love and end up hurting them because of the big expectations they tend to give.

TW – Drug abuse, Divorce, self-harm.

The Protagonist, Audrey (named by her parents after Rom-com star Audrey Hepburn, ofcourse) has had a tough couple of months, what with her dad’s affair and her parents divorce, her dad’s remarriage and her own break-up and her mom gone completely ballistic over the fact that her dad is living his life with his new family. Her elder brother abandons her most of the time, leaving her to take care of her mother solely and she has had it with romance movies and boys. Enter Harry, a guy she meets at her new job in the local ‘posh’ theatre and he is all sorts of danger and cute and exactly what she doesn’t need at the moment.

When Audrey is required to pick a topic for research as part of her Media studies coursework, she chooses – “Why Love is never like the movies”. I really loved how she broke down the rom-com tropes available in all popular movies and analyses them. One of the reasons I liked the book was because it wasn’t just being critical and nit-picking on the popular rom-coms that we know but also talks about some great ones like Cinema Paradiso.

I did not like Harry. Or his friends so I have nothing much to say about them. But Audrey’s friends? There’s a lot of complicated relationships discussed in the book and one among them is her all-girls friends gang. They are good people. The ones that wait for their friend on the sidelines and let her have her crazy moments and be there for her. I loved that bunch and Leroy.

The book just like the movies, has its cheesy moments but it does break out of that cliché. It brings about some mature conversations about your first time, first love and is also slightly feminist. And that ending ? I stan.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I highly recommend this book, if you are in the mood for a complex and cynical read, that’s also YA.

Tweet Cute |ARC review

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord was an ARC I wished for in Netgalley and the wish was granted (a first, for me!) by them wonderful folks. For which I’m immensely grateful. Because the book did not disappoint. And to my surprise, it felt like like I got what I missed for while reading “Technically, you started it” and “Comics will break your heart”.

Let me be clear, I enjoyed the two books but I felt something was missing in either of them. The Romeo-Juliet-esque plot in CWBYH and the texting-a-stranger-You-got-Mail kinda thing in TYSI was nice but definitely lacked somehwhere. Enter Tweet Cute and my corny, sappy heart did a happy dance. I loved it ❤

So the plot is basically You’ve Got mail but instead of bookstore we have a big fast food chain restaurant picking up fight with a family deli. Through their social media accounts in Twitter. Which is actually managed by the teens of the family, who happen to study in the same private school. Like small world, y’all!.

Pepper (swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist) and Jack (class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side) do not know their fighting each other in Twitter and also befriending each other in Weasel, the anonymous chat app built by Jack exclusively for his school kids. I loved their banter and their tweet wars as much as I loved their character. Pepper has this altogether other side that Jack gets to see and Jack has this app building interests which no one is aware of in his family because all credits usually go to his identical twin, who is the star kid in his school.

I loved the family dynamics – Pepper and her sister’s bonding over a baking blog, Jack and his grandmother’s love for the deli, the twins’ parents – and also the friendship between Pepper and Pooja. I did not like Pepper’s mom though. The book also shows how social media can get into your lives and makes things blown out of proportions.

I need to warn you! Do not read the book overnight or you will be left with a longing and empty stomach craving for Monster cakes and cheese sandwiches.

Altogether the book feels like a fun package, with lots of banter, food cravings and a new book boyfriend!

My rating 4/5 stars ❤

About the Book

Author: Emma Lord
Publishers: Wednesday Books
Release date : 21 Jan 2020

Synopsis
Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate ― people on the internet are shipping them?? ― their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.

You can buy the book from Amazon.com |Kobo

By Any Means Necessary – Blog Tour |Review & Favourite Quotes

Today’s my stop in the blog tour of Candice Montgomery’s amazing book – By any means necessary and so today I get to share what are the things I loved in this book along with a few quotes.

Thank you to The Fantastic Flying Book Club and Page Street Publishing for providing me a physical copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

About the book

Author: Candice Montgomery
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Release Date: October 8th 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes&Noble |Book Depository |Kobo |Google Books

Synopsis

An honest reflection on cultural identify, class, and gentrification. Fans of Nic Stone and Elizabeth Acevedo will eagerly anticipate Torrey.On the day Torrey officially becomes a college freshman, he gets a call that might force him to drop out before he’s even made it through orientation: the bee farm his beloved uncle Miles left him after his tragic death is being foreclosed on.Torrey would love nothing more than to leave behind the family and neighborhood that’s bleeding him dry. But he still feels compelled to care for the project of his uncle’s heart. As the farm heads for auction, Torrey precariously balances choosing a major and texting Gabriel—the first boy he ever kissed—with the fight to stop his uncle’s legacy from being demolished. But as notice letters pile up and lawyers appear at his dorm, dividing himself between family and future becomes impossible unless he sacrifices a part of himself.

My thoughts

Firstly I would like to say that this book was not at all what I expected it to be. At first, I found it hard to get into the book, because its told only in first person and from Torrey’s POV. So I was beginning to get bored thinking it’s going to be the voice of a person who is only going to keep grumbling about the situation he is in. But the story evolved and with it, Torrey too.

To say life’s been tough for Torrey wouldn’t be an exaggeration. The kid is Black and poor and gay in a homophobic society that still treats persons of colour differently.

I text Lisa again, because I need somebody. You know that feeling, right? Where you just need somebody, anybody really, to care about you down to your marrow. Someone who’ll make you their Number One.

I liked the cutesy way Gabriel and Torrey become a couple. No beating around the bush, or pushing and pulling each other till the end of the book. And totally loved how Gabe calls Torrey his Principe (Spanish for Prince) *insert heart-eyes*

Gabriel is all risk and wild decisions. But me? I am hesitation. I am Gabriel’s antonym. The Taurus to his Pisces.

And when I was beginning to get antsy about the lack of strong females, Candice blesses us with Emery. I loved her so much. Together with the CAKE ( Clarke, Auburn, Kennedy, Emery) or alone with Torrey, she just rocks and I loved her so much. Even Torrey is amazed by her. I loved the below quote from the book because its so beautifully written about a girl, from a guy’s point of view. A guy who is not a boyfriend !!

Girl’s a poem in the boxing ring. She’s breathless. She’s gorgeous. she’s moving — dancing. She’s a fire blazing in a rainstorm, a strike of lightning across a cornfield. She’s everything.

And ooh who wouldn’t love the scene where Torrey takes her to the apiary and they harvest honey together!! The imagery in itself was so much pleasing and I loved it. And Torrey leaves you surprised by the random bee facts he throws in and I did not know most of them.

Most people don’t know that there are more than twenty thousand species of bees, only four of which are honey bees. And why should they? I mean, did you know that?

Not only bees, Torrey also lets you know what is really happening in the Black ‘hoods. How gentrification is affecting their livelihood and displacing them. I love how through him, the author is trying to bring attention to how silently the society is replacing the Hoods and white-washing them. Also loved how so MUCH importance is given to their community, the women and their ways, the dialect, the habits, standing for each other, being your own support system. From the college professor who makes Torrey learn punctuality to Emery who provides him all the support he can get, I say Torrey is blessed with all these women in his life. ❤

I had very few problems with a book – like Torrey digressing a lot from his point and jumping randomly from one thought to another and Torrey’s spiral into vandalism. But they teeny tiny minor things that I’m willing to overlook because overall, this is such a powerful book. Having read books by Ibi Zoboi, Elizabeth Acevedo, Angie Thomas, I know where all this anger comes from and I get it – I get how every single oppressed soul feels like, through these wonderful authors. I’m so glad I got this chance to read Candace’s second book and I very much recommend it.

Leaving you with few other favourite quotes from the book.

I like thinking that we loved like the seasons changed for nothing, because we were everything that couldn’t exist during the little showers of rain that didn’t get along with the sparks lit between us — and yet, still we did.

—

It’s everywhere, this gentrification shit. It’s careless and it escapes me how people – white people who have never been and will never be affected by this – would fail to explore all avenues and future points of downfall. I know, I know. I’m not being naive here. They don’t give a shit, and if it keeps Blacks and brown folks under a shoe then their work has been done.

Systemic Oppression. Google it.

My rating 4/5 stars.

About the Author

Candice “Cam” Montgomery is an LA transplant now living in the woods of Seattle, where she writes YoungAdult novels. Her debut novel, HOME AND AWAY can be found online and in stores now, and her sophomore novel, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY will be released October of 2019. By day, Cam writes about Black teens across all their intersections. By night, she bartends at a tiny place nestled inside one of Washington’s greenest trees. She is an avid Studio Ghibli fan and will make you watch at least one episode of Sailor Moon and listen to one Beyoncé record before she’ll call you “friend.”

Goodreads   |   Website   |   Twitter   |   Instagram

Giveaway

Prize: Win a copy of By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery (US/CAN Only)

Starts: October 8th2019Ends: October 22nd2019

Direct Link to Giveaway

Also, show some love and do visit the other tour stops. You can find the tour schedule here.

Never Have I Ever | Audiobook Review

I listened to the audiobook version of this book that is available on Storytel.in

Never have I ever by Joshilyn Jackson is a domestic suspense novel which is about Amy Whey and her haunting past which comes back to bite her in a seemingly innocent (drunk) game of Never Have I ever.

What could possibly go wrong at a bookclub meeting when a stranger shows up at your doorstep? Amy is not happy with the way things turn out when her enigmatic new neighbour Roux starts asking her friends about their deep dark secrets. Some secrets if revealed would turn their lives upside down and Amy is hell bent on hers staying hidden. What follows is a game of cat and mice and Amy trying to understand who Roux is and trying to put an end to her charade. This book easily captivates you and pulls you into the plot and just when you think you’ve got it figured out, shoves another plot twist to your face.

I loved how Amy’s life had taken a turn from the past she is running from and how she found a life, thanks to her best friend Charlotte and becomes 15-yr old Maddy’s stepmother. I loved her relationship with Maddy and without giving away spoilers, would like to point out how excellently she manages a parental situation in the book. She’s a scuba diving instructor and after marrying Maddy’s father, has a kid named Oliver and manages the house, the kids and the neighborhood bookclub efficiently, until Roux comes into their neighbourhood. Roux is the perfect mysterious newcomer who doesn’t reveal much about her and has her way of getting things done for her by manipulating others. When I began with the book, it felt seemingly harmless but towards the end it took a U-turn and turned into U/A rating.

I recommend this book, if you are looking for domestic suspense novels filled with middle-aged soccer moms, neighbourhood gossips and of course, plot-twists you never see coming.

I rate it 4/5 stars.

The Exact Opposite of Okay – Blog Tour|Book Review | Giveaway

Author: Laura Steven
Publishers: HarperTeen
Released on : June 11 2019
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Edelweiss E-ARC provided by Publishers

Welcome to my stop (well, technically my post should have been up by 9th June, but but…*adulting sucks*) for the FFBC blog tour of The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven. Today I’m going to share how much I enjoyed reading this wonderful book and towards the end of the post you will find a link to the Rafflecopter giveaway (US only).

Synopsis

Bitingly funny and shockingly relevant, The Exact Opposite of Okay is a bold, brave, and necessary read for fans of Louise O’Neill and Jennifer Mathieu.Eighteen-year-old Izzy O’Neill knows exactly who she is—a loyal friend, an aspiring comedian, and a person who believes that milk shakes and Reese’s peanut butter cups are major food groups. But after she’s caught in a compromising position with the son of a politician, it seemslike everyone around her is eager to give her a new label: slut.Izzy is certain that the whole thing will blow over and she can get back to worrying about how she doesn’t reciprocate her best friend Danny’s feelings for her and wondering how she is evergoing to find a way out of their small town. Only it doesn’t.And while she’s used to laughing her way out of any situation, as she finds herself first the center of high school gossip and then in the middle of a national scandal, it’s hard even for her to find humor in the situation.Izzy may be determined not to let anyone else define who she is, but that proves easier said than done when it seems like everyone has something to say about her.

I was gifted a previous edition of this book by a lovely online friend and right from page one, the book had me hooked. Izzy O’Neill is unabashedly funny throughout the book even when handling not so funny situations.

Izzy O’Neil uses humor as a coping mechanism. She is an aspiring screenwriter, an orphan and is poor. What happens when a completely private part of her life becomes viral and how it turns her life upside down and she becomes the object of ridicule and slut shaming is the rest of the story.

“Oh, you know, I’m all right. It sucks a bit. But you know. Fine.” This is an understatement on a par with “the political landscape in the Middle East is a little tense”, but I’m not in the mood to go into specifics.

The relationship dynamics in this book was absolutely good! Be it the grandma-granddaughter love or the friendship between Ajita and Izzy , it felt so good to read about them. Every girl deserves an Ajita in their life! Not to mention the Drama teacher Mrs Crannon. She is one among the sweetest people in Izzy’s life and I loved how supportive she was. And kudos to the author for not completely bashing out on teachers and for showing the world that the good ones do co-exist.

The book deals with several important topics – blaming girls for everything and having double standards when it comes to slut-shaming and also a lesser talked about topic – revenge porn. (Though I felt that everything happening all of a sudden to Izzy felt a little unrealistic, let’s just forget all about it and look at the bigger picture here) The not-so subtle feministic approach towards the end deserves all the applause !

I did love Izzy but her actions confused me. For instance who doesn’t  password protect their phone, considering it has nude pictures of oneself in it? How can someone be so careless. I’m not judging her like the rest of the people in her town do, but i was genuinely concerned about this. And why didn’t she not make an effort at the very beginning to find the cause of all the miserable things happening in her life ? 🧐

The book reminded me of Awkward, 13 Reasons Why and Simon Vs the Homosapiens. In a good way 🙂

I rated the book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to the amazing people at The Fantastic Flying Book Club and the publishers for giving me this opportunity. Please take your time in going through the schedule for the entire tour and have a look at the blogs taking part in it here.

BOOK LINKS
Goodreads |Amazon | Bookdepository

Rafflecopter Giveaway Link (US ONLY)

About the Author

Laura Steven is an author, journalist and screenwriter from the northernmost town in England. The Exact Opposite of Okay, her YA debut, was published by Egmont in March 2018. The sequel, A Girl Called Shameless, will follow in 2019.As well as mentoring aspiring authors through schemes like Pitch Wars, Laura works for Mslexia, a non-profit organisation supporting women writers. She graduated with Distinction from her MA in Creative Writing in 2017, and her TV pilot Clickbait –a mockumentary about journalists at a viral news agency –was a finalist in British Comedy’s 2016 Sitcom Mission.Laura is represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary and Media Inc

If you have read the book, do let me know your thoughts on this.. 

Nocturna (A Forgery Of Magic#1) | Book Review

Author: Maya Motayne
Genre : Young Adult Fantasy
Source: Audiobook available from Storytel.in
Audiobook Duration: 12 hours
Released on: 07-May-2019
Publishers: Balzer + Bray

Let me warn you, its dark ! Dark Fantasy and a lot of magic – elemental and a special kinda one called propio – a magic that’s unique to each person and appears to them when they really need it.

Prince Alfehr is not ready to ascend the throne – the throne that was supposedly his brother Dez’s – and is hellbent in avenging his brother’s death and trying to bring him back, all at the same time. Finn Voy is a badass thief, and her propio is face-shifting that helps her survive and to escape her mentor-slash-evil-adopted-father.  Luka is Alfie’s cousin and his best friend, who is left with the loss of dealing with Dez and a runaway Alfie and is rightfully mad at him for leaving him.

When Alfie accidentally releases a dark magic into the world, he seeks the help of his best friend and Finn (who he meets when he is reckless and trying to get hold of forbidden magic books) Together they devise a plan – one that leaves Alfie with no other choice than to get help from the person who caused his brother’s death. Only Problem – the dark magic is growing and infecting his people and said murderer is in an isolated prison bound with magic. So the plot is all about how and if they survive this evil magic thing.

So the world … is amazingly built, intricate details are shared throughout the book. The history of the Kingdom of Castallan , their elemental magic and how they were enslaved by the Englass and fought their freedom strikes a similarity with real world. And there is also the story about how the Gods created Castallan and and about Sombra, the God of Darkness who is buried because of his threat of bringing about Nocturna to the world.

The main characters – all three of them were good and I loved Luka so much!! Finn was fantastic and broken and monstrous, while Alfie was hurting and scared and conflicted. The author has hinted a romance between them but nothing happens in this book so maybe the next one and I can’t wait !! But all together, this first instalment was almost perfect and fulfils all fantasy lovers expectations.

The relationship between this book and me could be described as a slow burn romance!! I initially found it really hard to get into the story because of the complex magic system, but the book wowed me over towards the end. I read other reviews when I was about to give up in the beginning and many found it similar to Shades of Magic series by VE Schwab. I’m yet to read it, so that didn’t put me off.

A definite 4 stars from me!!.

Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts on it, if you have.

You can buy the book from Amazon using my link.

Dear Mrs Bird |Book Review

|Books I read in 2018 but never wrote a review|

This book is written by debut author AJ Pearce and was published by Picador books in April 2018.

All Emmeline Lake wants to do during this wretched World War, is to contribute in some way to helping the people survive it. Men have left homes to fight in the War and the women of the household are miserable, anxious and afraid. Emmeline wants to be a war correspondent working for the Government and bringing people news of the War. She doesn’t get selected while her friend Bunty is working in the War Office. So she does her part by volunteering at the Fire station where Bunty’s boyfriend works and every time the phone rings informing about yet another Nazi bombing, she makes sure the fire fighters on their way to help the victims.

When Emmeline applies for a job, which she considers will be a journalist for a famous newspaper, little does she know, she will be working for it’s sister concern Women’s Friend, a magazine that has a failing subscription rate. She is to work directly for Mrs Henrietta Bird, who replies to letters from readers (agony aunt) in her column Dear Mrs Bird. She is downright ‘Miranda Priestly of the 1940’s’ and everyone fears her. Ofcourse she has her own set of conditions and terms “actual” issues from readers as unpleasant and never replies back.

With her gnawing need to help people coping up with the war, Emmeline starts responding to these messages/letters under Henrietta’s name. She even sneaks one or two into the final copy for publishing them. Until she gets caught.

You can see what war does to the people who are left back, the women folk and children managing to survive amidst all the Nazi bombings. The toll it takes on their mental, physical and social lives. This is a really sweet book about the lives of people who suffered the aftermath of the War and dealing with loss of loved ones. It has the right amount of humour, the right amount of “unpleasantness” and appreciates women and men equally for their contribution towards Surviving the War.

Two most important aspects of the book I loved are – friendship and letter writing . I’ve always loved writing letters and though it seems to be forgotten these days, reading all the correspondence in this book was heartwarming.

If you love reading about books centred around World War II, then this is for you. If you loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society , this is for you. A debut that is wonderfully written!

I rated it a 4 stars.

The FlatShare |Book Review|A Contemporary Romance you need to read..

This is the kind of book that you would want to grab and read after seeing the synopsis.

Synopsis:

Tiffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
Tiffy and Leon have never met…

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…

When Tiffy is in urgent need of a place to stay, she doesn’t mind sharing it with a guy, who is only going to be there during the day. She thinks its a perfect arrangement. Leon’s girlfriend forbids him from seeing the girl who is going to live in his flat, his bed.. He doesn’t know what she is like and starts writing back when she leaves a random note to him. All of sudden there’s notes everywhere n anywhere and they continue to talk through notes, as friends, flatmates.

Let me list the reasons why I loved the book..

• I love Epistolary books and its no secret. That doesn’t mean only books written in letter format throughout. Be it any form of communication – Texts, Emails, journal entries etc. Writing notes to each other is the next best thing to have happened with an extra twist of not-seeing-each-other!! 
• Tiffy was like this protagonist straight outta a Sophie Kinsella book. I felt like that because of the eccentric dressing sense and the occasional naivety.  And Leon is, well he is this absolute introvert and even chapters from his POV were full of pronoun-less sentences that were short and abrupt. Like even thinking aloud in his head is too much of a task for him 😛 But together they form an amazing pair and I loved both of them.

Sometimes find it hard to talk after a long night. Just opening my mouth to form comprehensible thoughts is like lifting a very heavy thing, or like one of those dreams when you need to run but your legs are moving through treacle?

• Sheds light on important topics like – gaslighting and emotional Abuse. Many of the victims do not realise they are being emotionally abused until someone makes them realise it and Mo and Gerty – Tiffy’s best friends – are absolutely the best friends one could get. I mean Mo is the male best friend every girl needs!. He is without doubt my favourite character.
• What a cool job Tiffy has!! I envy her so much for that. She is an editor for a publishing house that prints books mostly on DIY. She gets to read and craft for a living!!
• Every other character in the book is so good – Mo, Gerty, Rachel, Richie.

TBH I loved the first 60 % of the book. It was fun to read. It got a bit dull later and had a predictable ending, which is fine because of the initial hook that the story pulls you with. Kudos to Beth O’Leary for a very satisfying debut!

The book releases on May 28th in the US!.

I gave it a 4 star rating because of the lack of surprise in the last few chapters.

You can get the ebook from Amazon.in