Sami's Silver Lining by Cathy Cassidy

Sami's Silver Lining is the eagerly anticipated second book in The Lost & Found series by Cathy Cassidy, following on from Love From Lexie. I got the book the day before it came out luckily and I was really excited to read it as we don't hear much about quiet refugee boy Sami in Love From Lexie.
Sami tells the story of his family life back home in Syria and the traumatic, difficult journey him and his family face fleeing from the conflict in Syria. I very quickly felt sad for Sami and his family and I rooted for him on his journey. I had to keep reading to see how his journey turned out. It was really eye-opening for me and it also made me feel really sad that this is what real children have to go through to escape conflict in their home country. The news doesn't tell us specific, personal stories like these. It often tells me things I don't fully understand so the book brought the current affairs in Syria more to life for me. I enjoyed the symbolism in the book too (you'll have to read it to find out what Sami's 'silver lining' really means!)
The book also continues on the story of the Lost & Found band through the eyes of Sami. It was really interesting to see the band from Sami's point of view and catching up with the other members of the band. I loved reading as Sami finds his voice and his confidence within the band, as well as some romance! I also enjoyed the references to sweet treats, which I have come to love about all of Cathy Cassidy's books!
There is a really shocking ending to the book, which I never saw coming, it was brilliant and made me love the book even more! I hope lots of real refugee children have a similar ending to their stories.
The book made me want to find out more about refugees, particularly children, and find out ways which I could help them.If you liked Love From Lexie, you have to read Sami's Silver Lining. If you haven't read either, you have to read BOTH now!

I can't wait for the next book in the Lost & Found series (I wonder who will be next?!) and I'm looking forward to going to a Sami's Silver Lining event at a local book festival this summer!

 Picture of me reading Sami's Silver Lining 

Love From Lexie by Cathy Cassidy

I got Cathy Cassidy's latest book, Love From Lexie the day before it came out (15th June 2017) and I loved it from the first paragraph. It is about a girl with a very sad past after her Mum leaves her one day and never comes back and she feels lost after ending up in foster care. She decides to bring together others at school who feel lost or alone or like a misfit and creates a group. I immediately loved this idea and related to it and wanted to see where it would go. I loved the variety of different characters who joined the group and wanted to know all their stories.

Lexie forms a special connection with one particular member and the book almost had me shouting at Lexie with advice in the friendship, I just had to keep reading to see what would happen and it turned out there was a huge shock later in the book that I was not expecting and I changed my opinion completely!

The group form a cool band  and decide to campaign to save their library under threat of closed down with a protest concert and festival... which sounds awesome and I would love to go to it! I think the book will inspire lots of young people to re-create this cool idea.

The book also has a historical twist which I love. It feels very different and unique to anything else I've read and incorporates lots of different issues such as foster care, sexuality, different cultures and refugees. I hope this book teaches lots of young people to be accepting of everyone.
Love From Lexie celebrates diversity, individuality, music and of course libraries! I can't wait to read more about Lexie's friends and find out what else the Lost & Found get up to! 

Jessica's Ghost by Andrew Norriss

I found Jessica's Ghost in the 'new books' section in my library, so I got a brand new copy. I wasn't sure about the storyline of this book at first because I'm not that interested in supernatural/sci-fi books anymore. I wasn't sure if I would like a book about a ghost.
BUT, it was awesome. It was not the usual type of ghost story and did not even seem like a supernatural book AT ALL! I'm so glad I was not totally put off and I decided to read it.

Jessica is indeed a ghost, who befriends outcast Francis and they have a great friendship. Jessica feels like she is really alive to us readers and not like a ghost at all, just as she does to Francis. They soon make friends with two other very different outcasts and the book follows their friendship, adventures, and secrets.

The book reveals an extremely sad underlying story - a sad secret problem shared between the group of friends. They open up together and find unique ways to solve their problem, only possible by the help of Jessica.

The story also about being different and that being different to most of the other people your age is ok, which the friends learn in the book. They are able to be great friends with each other even though they are all totally different.

Despite being sad, the book is also sometimes unexpectedly and subtlety comical, which made me smile.

I related to the sad story and it made me feel a lot of empathy for the characters and I felt really sad during the book. The theme was so sad and serious that I almost thought the book should come with a warning and maybe not appropriate for younger readers.

It was an amazing, heart-warming book and it made me feel less alone. It was a sad-but-happy book. Please read it!

(The picture is not my picture. I forgot to take a picture of the book before I returned it to the library, so I found one on Google!) 

A Library of Lemons by Jo Cotterill

I was excited to read A Library of Lemons because it had been recommended to me. I got it from my library as a brand new book. I loved the beginning section of the book, with it's book and literary references, especially the Anne of Green Gables references because I'm a huge fan of those books. I really thought Calypso and Mae were like a modern-day recreation of Anne and Diana which made me smile and excited! I am now reading Black Beauty after Calypso was reading it and I have never read it, so there are book recommendations in it too!! I love books so it was perfect for me.

I enjoyed the friendship between Calypso and Mae and I was so happy Calypso had made a friend who understood her and shared her interests in books because I know it can be difficult to find a friend who appreciates books too!

I felt really sad for Calypso with her relationship with her grief stricken father. The book was really good at conveying the empty, sad and cold feeling of their house and her own feelings.

I thought the lemons theme in the book was so different to any other book I've read and made it really interesting. The book was easy to read and I really enjoyed it.

I just wish I had found out more of what happened with the social services and how else they helped Calypso and her father. I kind of thought they could have done more to help but I suppose it was probably at appropriate level for a childrens' book.
This is a great book for anyone who loves books and I will definitely look forward to her next book.

Broken Heart Club by Cathy Cassidy

I was so excited to read the new Cathy Cassidy book, Broken Heart Club, and I was even more excited to win a copy on the Fan club page!

I loved the book, it was so emotional, I thought things like - "Is Eden ME?" , "Is this book written about my life?" I related to her and her situation so much and she seemed to think in the exactly same way I think, even in very small details! The book felt so nostalgic to me because it made me think of things that have happened to me and it brought it all back.

The book is about how a friendship can break down and everything can completely change as we get older and it can be totally heart breaking and destroys the self-esteem and mental health of teenagers. It made me sympathise for the characters and it also made me feel less alone in things that had happened to me in my friendships the past.

I enjoyed how the narrative is shared between Eden and Ryan, the two main characters. I like books written in this way because it breaks it up and I like hearing different characters' points of view, it makes it feel balanced. I loved reading the visual descriptions too, as I always do in the CC books, they always give me great ideas for craft projects.

It was so shocking too, I've never had a shock like that in a book for a long time! It was shocking enough for me to even be a bit confused about what had actually happened and I even had to flip back in the book to double check what had previously happened, I could not believe my eyes!

It was a great book and it already feels like a special book to me because I related to it so much. I know I will re-read it again and again and I will try to make some paper cranes! I'm also looking forward to hopefully going to the Broken Heart Club event at the local Book Festival this summer.

Here is a picture I drew of Eden (after makeover!!)

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

Apple and Rain is the first book I've read by Sarah Crossan so I didn't know what to expect. I found it in the library. It is a lovely, emotional story about a girl called Apple who lives with her grandmother because her mother left her when she was very young. The story had me hooked from the first chapter as I wanted to find out exactly what happened and why Apple's mother left and if they could ever have a relationship again. The story unravels and there is an emotional rollercoaster of events. It made me support Apple and  

The book is also about love and poetry. I am not a big fan of poetry so I didn't really love that aspect but it was okay and interesting to read. I was glad that there was not too much love and romance in this book because I don't like that too much. 
It is a decent read and I think fans of Cathy Cassidy books, like me, would enjoy it too. 

                                           

Looking-Glass Girl by Cathy Cassidy

Looking-Glass Girl is another awesome book from Cathy Cassidy, it is a beautifully captivating read about the main character Alice who, goes to an Alice in Wonderland themed sleepover party (which sounds awesome!) and has a terrible, mysterious accident and finds herself in Wonderland. The book pulls you into two different worlds - down into Alice's Wonderland and into the real world of her family and friends. It keeps you hooked all the time, as you want to find out just what happened to Alice and how or IF she will ever return to the 'real' world. I love how the book is split between the two different worlds. It is also a very real and relateable book for her friendship dilemmas and fall-outs as I felt like I knew exactly how she must be feeling because she feels like an outsider or left out and confused sometimes and I wanted to comfort her or jump in and give her advice! 
The story is a great escape and like all Cathy Cassidy books, it helps me feel less alone and carries me through difficult times, all the characters feel like friends I can visit. 
The book inspired me to go and find out more about Alice in Wonderland and the film music, other interpretations, artwork ETC. With the new Alice through the Looking Glass film coming out, this is definitely one to read, or re-read! I know I am going to re-read it again and again. I got this book for Christmas and I was really excited to own it because I don't get to own many brand new books and it is beautiful.