The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

A stunning debut about how grief can open the world in magical ways.

After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy was a rare jellyfish sting. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door. 

This is one of those books that I was hooked on from the first few pages. It made me look at grief from another perspective, when you just can't handle reality so you fixate on anything to help distract you and try to create another ending.

Behind the intelligent yet slightly dorky musings of the main characters, Suzy, were some pretty important messages for YA about bullying, the pressure you can feel to fit in, the struggles of High School, and on top of that, there were some pretty cool facts about Jellyfish! (I never realised how interesting Jellyfish were - when I came to the end of the book, I actually spent another 30 minutes googling random facts about them! To me that's a sign of a good story, if it makes you keep thinking about it after you've finished.)

A short but bitter-sweet story (I finished reading it in 2 days!) It left me feeling very similar to Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close and The Age of Miracles with their quirky out-of-place teenage angst and nostalgic for something I can't quite put my finger on. 

Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Raquel Jaramillo

“It's like people you see sometimes, and you can't imagine what it would be like to be that person, whether it's somebody in a wheelchair or somebody who can't talk. Only, I know that I'm that person to other people, maybe to every single person in that whole auditorium. To me, though, I'm just me. An ordinary kid.” 

“Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.” - August

You can't blend in when you were born to stand out.
My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.

But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.

This was a really touching story. I loved that August was so positive (mostly) and that he had a great personality. I think an important great message in this book is that with the right attitude, you can overcome many obstacles. 

Don't get me wrong, there were parts of this book that really broke my heart (*sniff sniff, the Halloween incident) but by the end of it, I was feeling optimistic with my belief that in general the majority of people are good, still in tact.

This is a book I would recommend every YA should read, and hopefully it will help them feel a bit more empathy and show a bit more kindness for those who are different to themselves. Being a teenager is hard enough as it is, there is so much pressure to be 'cool', and that can often mean that even the nicer kids can be not so nice at times (eg Jack's brother in this particular story). 

A short, but sweet story. I loved it.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

“Did anyone really know their child? Your child was a little stranger, constantly changing, disappearing and reintroducing himself to you. New personality traits could appear overnight.” 

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

I don't know why, but I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book, despite having a number of friends recommend it, and the great rating on Goodreads. I think the way it jumped to the internee comments at the beginning of each chapter initially confused me too much.

But within a few chapters I was addicted! So much so that I finished the entire book in 3 days!

The characters were charming and funny (especially Madeline and her feisty comments!), and although it touched on some serious topics like domestic violence, bullying and assault, it was written in such a light-hearted way it was hard not to smile sometimes.

It does give you a good reminder though, that you should never judge a book by it's cover...

The Dress - Sophie Nicholls

Meet Ella and her mother Fabbia Moreno who arrive in York, one cold January day, to set up their vintage dress shop. 

The flamboyant Fabbia wants to sell beautiful dresses to nice people and move on from her difficult past. Ella just wants to fit in. But not everyone is on their side. 

Will Fabbia overcome the prejudices she encounters? What's the dark secret she's hiding? And do the silk linings and concealed seams of her dresses contain real spells or is this all just 'everyday magic'? 

Among the leopard-print shoes, tea-gowns and costume jewellery in Fabbia's shop are many different stories - and the story of one particular dress. 

I bough this book for 99c on the kindle store and it was the perfect book to read while on holidays.

If i had been reading it in my normal everyday life I would have like to see it go a bit more in depth in to their stories, but for a holiday it was easy to read.

I really enjoyed the stories from the "Old Country" and thought they were woven in well throughout the story and used to help the writer make her point.

The only slight criticism I would provide would be that it didn't read like it was set in 2010, at least my school life wasn't like that, although perhaps schools in England are different to Australia.

Overall it was a nice, easy, book that I would happily recommend for a light-hearted, quick read.