Patience is not one of my strong suits, especially when it comes to books. I could barely wait for these particular books to come out and it wasn’t a disappointment when I finally got to read them. These books are not only new and beautifully written they all cover tricky topics such as grief, mental health and feminism with tact and yet still remain utterly entertaining. If you’re searching for something thought-provoking and original, then look no further.
Rosie Loves Jack, Mel Darbon
"They can't send you away. What will we do? We need us. I stop your angry, Jack. And you make me strong. You make me Rosie."
Rosie loves Jack. Jack loves Rosie. So, when they're separated, Rosie will do anything to find the boy who makes the sun shine in her head.
Even run away from home.
Even struggle across London and travel to Brighton, though the trains are cancelled, and the snow is falling. Even though people might think a girl like Rosie could never survive on her own.
See the world through new eyes in this one-in-a-million story.
Books about mental health are incredibly important, and perhaps the most fitting media to portray it, considering that you are almost literally jumping into someone’s head, and what better way to understand how someone works than putting yourself in their shoes? This is exactly why I think Rosie and Jack are so relevant in our society. No matter the genre, people deserve to be represented. So, if you’re looking for a pacey adventure with thoughtful undertones, then this book is for you.
Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? Holly Bourne
Welcome to Camp Reset, a summer camp with a difference. A place offering a shot at “normality” for Olive, a girl on the edge, and for the new friends she never expected to make – who each have their own reasons for being there. Luckily Olive has a plan to solve all their problems. But how do you fix the world when you can’t fix yourself?
I can’t rave about Holly Bourne enough. If you’ve read any of her previous writing, then when you pick up ‘Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes?’ you know that you’re in for a treat. Her larger than life characters and hilarious writing come together into riveting novels representing important issues of today, in this case, mental health. Most children know what it’s like to go to summer camp, but what if you were sent to one where everyone is “crazy”? Another brilliantly clever, warm and hopeful book.
Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Katherine Webber
For fans of Nicola Yoon's Everything, Everything and Sara Barnard's Beautiful Broken Things. Sometimes a broken heart is all you need to set you free… Reiko loves the endless sky and electric colours of the Californian desert. It is a refuge from an increasingly claustrophobic life of family pressures and her own secrets. Then she meets Seth, a boy who shares a love of the desert and her yearning for a different kind of life. But Reiko and Seth both want something the other can’t give them. As summer ends, things begin to fall apart. But the end of love can sometimes be the beginning of you...
A lot of books tend to end with the first kiss, the perfect moment and happy couple trapped forever as they are. But in real life, things don’t stop when you’re kissed, the relationship keeps going and all too often it ends. This book not only details the jubilant highs and painful lows of a relationship, beautifully portraying the harsh realities of a teen romance, it also focuses on the protagonist’s continuous struggle of her sister passing away and her own first tentative steps into the adult world. If you’re looking for a thoughtful romance this year, then this book is the one for you.
Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies, Scarlett Curtis
Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies is a collection of writing from extraordinary women, from Hollywood actresses to teenage activists, each telling the story of her personal relationship with feminism. Often funny, sometimes surprising, and always inspiring, this book aims to bridge the gap between the feminist hashtag and the scholarly text by giving women the space to explain how they actually feel about feminism.
Another extremely relevant issue is feminism, a topic so vast and with so many opinions it is often very hard to breach. So, what better way to represent it than a book filled with dozens of very different pieces from dozens of very different women? Rather than reading an entire book on one particular topic from one particular person, reading this book is perfect if you’re just beginning to dive into feminism, or if you’re looking for some new material to discuss.