Sutton Shadows

Little Bang
I was drawn to this book because of the cover art, but my word does this book go beyond the cover! I fell in love with both the main characters right from the start, then had mixed feelings about them throughout the book - this is because of the brilliant character development and the way these characters’ opinions and decisions affect their lives and altered my own opinions about them. This book taught me a lot about abortion and it brings in voices from all different sides of the abortion argument, without forcing one particular narrative on the reader. The writer has a fascinating take on parenthood and family (and the last twenty pages resulted in drowning in my own tears). I would rate this book an 8/10, because although it was fantastically written, it is not the sort of genre I love the most (Little Bang is set in the real world, I prefer to read fantasy). There were also times that I felt really sad at times whilst reading it, although that was probably the writer’s intent! I would definitely recommend Little Bang to my friends and other teenage girls, and it has made me want to research the topic of abortion more widely. Overall, a fantastic, educational and challenging read. 8/10

Amélie

King of Nothing
I did not think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. Yes, the language is often unserious and "fam" is repeated quite a few times.. but the plot, characters were humorous and heart-warming. Each character had flaws but even the ones you are supposed to dislike, you could understand and felt real. The messages in this book are important; harder themes like grief and toxic masculinity were handled well, and are especially topical right now. I enjoyed watching Anton's development and watching his relationships with his friends and family change. A sincere and genuine book that can be read in a day.

Erica

Glasgow Boys
The characters in this book were crafted to perfection with the complexity and realism in every action and behaviour they exhibited. the elusion of the hard facts of their traumas till near the end of the book rather than knowing every detail from the beginning works effectively as it put the focus on viewing and understanding the characters as real people as if the reader is coming into contact with them in real life . the emotional complexity acts a lesson in empathy and representation for how people are affected by their experiences. there were many thought-provoking, beautiful sentences which managed to be moving without feeling disjointed from the personal perspectives. overall 10/10

Mariya

Play
The book was very effective in tackling the themes it wished to discuss, highlighting how and why characters acted as they did with the different perspectives being very recognisable from each other due to the unique tones of the characters which is often hard to accomplish with multiple POVs. The pacing and ambiguity in parts did make it quite confusing to follow even though it was an intentional writing decision to reflect the story so its definitely a book where the reader really has to focus to be able to fully understand the progression of the plot. The ending was equally beautifully written and strange, being completely different to the vibe of the rest of the book but made sense in the context. Overall 8.5/10 stars

Mariya