Young Adult Book Reviews

Name: Stephen Leitch
29 April 2025;

Genre: Social Issues

Set in modern day Glasgow, this powerful novel follows the lives of Finlay (18) and Banjo (17) as they both try to negotiate their ways through life, a life where something as simple as a hug is strange and alien act. Banjo is trying to stay out of trouble long enough (and kee...

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Name: Eileen Armstrong
28 April 2025;

Genre: Fantasy

Some 20 years on from the Twilight phenomenon, a resurgence of the vampire narrative seems timely. The Sunday Times bestseller, Where Shadows Meet, provides an original twist - combining vampire lore with the romantasy subgenre popularised by...

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Name: Clare Wilkins
25 April 2025;

Genre: Personal Growth

Ty Forrester's involvement in a high profile armed robbery results in an 18 month sentence in a Young Offenders' institution. Falling in with a crowd his close friends and family had warned him about has left him in Ryecroft and at the mercy of a chaotic system and an inmate hierarchy where an...

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Name: Clare Wilkins
23 April 2025;

Genre: Representation & Inclusion

15-year-old Maaryah is a fish out of water, plucked from a life of wealth and luxury in Dubai and thrown into a state secondary in Essex. Already reeling from the unfathomable breakdown of her parents' marriage and the lifestyle shift it has necessitated, she is soon navigating a new school, f...

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Name: Sam
21 April 2025;

Genre: Romance & Relationships

If you know a young YA romantic, then this is the book for them this summer. Not That Kind of Hero by Alexia Casale is a lovely read. The story has a dual perspective for Orla, the story's main protagonist, as part of a blended family, alongside her internal s...

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Name: Linda Brown
18 April 2025;

Genre: Adventure

Captain of Fates is a spin-off adventure from the wonderful Twin Crowns series and in this standalone novel, author Katherine Webber has done it again. Her words are like the mermaids song that she describes… they will simpl...

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Name: Sue Wilsher
18 April 2025;

Genre: Dystopian

Feldspar awaits execution. As shield to an ascendant, a member of the Hive's royal family, she should have died when her charge, Euphemie, was murdered, but she survived. Expecting no clemency, Feldspar is surprised when a member of the royal family, Niko, comes to her defence and starts inves...

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Name: Sue Wilsher
16 April 2025;

Genre: Historical Fiction

Stuck on a train full of younger children being evacuated, there are four who do not want to leave the city. Gradually, each comes to realise that they could simply get up and leave the carriage - and so they do. First to go is the Gremlin, followed by Lawrence, Olive and Franklin. Linked by t...

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Name: Linda Brown
08 April 2025;

Genre: Romance & Relationships

Eden Victoria's debut novel Close Protection promises suspense, romance, and a hint of danger, but unfortunately, it doesn't fully deliver on those fronts. The story follows Daphne Green, an heiress to the Greenway Discoveries fortune, whose life of privilege is interrupted af...

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Name: Clair Bossons
04 April 2025;

Genre: Romance & Relationships

Orla has always felt like a sidekick rather than a hero. She quietly works hard to support her mum look after their blended family and money is tight. When she is offered the chance of a scholarship at a theatre school, she's given the opportunity to pursue her dream - but is...

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