TBR - April 2017

And so my second ever April in the book blogging world begins!
And what a good selection of books I have for this month!

Asking for It by Louise O'Neill
This has been on my TBR for a long time and it seems like a really important read. I'm very confident that it's going to wreck me, but I'm also very excited about it.

What We Left Behind by Robin Talley
I've not heard very much about this but it sounds really really promising, I love Robin Talley's writing and there different gender symbols that are all over the cover are making me look like this: 😎.

See How They Lie by Sue Wallman
This is a random grab from the library because I'm going away for a week and need plenty of books! Seems like it'll either be really interesting or very unoriginal? I'm hoping for the former, obviously!

George by Alex Gino
This has been loosely on my TBR for a while, I keep looking at it and thinking I'll love it (trans rep, hello!) and as I just said I needed books for my holiday and there it was in the library so it's time for me to read it!

Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
Either going to be a "girl who's problems are fixed by a boy" book, in which case I'll roll my eyes very loudly,  or it'll be a really positive book that I'll really love! Only time will tell!


What's on you TBR for April? Any of these? Have a good month of reading whatever you pick up!

TBR - March 2017

This is my first ever TBR feature but I'd like to make it a regular thing, as we're already ploughing through March at an alarming speed I've only picked three books that I'd really like to get around to this month, but here's what they are and why I'd like to read them! 

All About Mia by Lisa Williamson
Well in case you haven't read my review of The Art of Being Normal I absolutely adored it, my favourite book of last year, if not ever! I just cannot wait to see what else Lisa Williamson can do. I've heard a lot of good things and I'm just all round super duper looking forward to it. I'm going to yell about it a lot I can already tell!

Ariadnis by Josh Martin
I picked this up out of sheer curiosity and I'm really intrigued as to what it's going to be like. It seems like it's going to feature some super strong females (it doesn't even mention a single guy in the synopsis so that's unusual!)
and maybe even some f/f romance, who knows?

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley
I'm super excited for this, it seems so rich in diversity and I've not yet read a book with a bisexual character (let alone two!) so I'm really looking forward to it. If it's anything like as good as Lies We Tell Ourselves then it won't disappoint!



What are you planning to read this month? Have you read any of these? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Rating: 9/10
Published: 3rd October 2014
Publisher: Mira Ink
Pages: 368
Synopsis from Goodreads: It's 1959. The battle for civil rights is raging. And it's Sarah Dunbar's first day of school, as one of the first black students at the previously all-white Jefferson High. No one wants Sarah there. Not the Governor. Not the teachers. And certainly not the students – especially Linda Hairston, daughter of the town’s most ardent segregationist. Sarah and Linda have every reason to despise each other. But as a school project forces them to spend time together, the less their differences seem to matter. And Sarah and Linda start to feel something they've never felt before. Something they're both determined ignore. Because it's one thing to be frightened by the world around you - and another thing altogether when you're terrified of what you feel inside.

Before even starting this book I knew it would be wonderful, it came highly recommended and every single time I mentioned it someone would say "Ah it's amazing!!" which is always a good sign. Also, I know you aren't meant judge a book by it's cover or whatever but when said cover has the quote "Even though she's a girl, even though she's coloured, I want to keep kissing Sarah forever." on it I reckon you're allowed to, right? I certainly did anyway, and I judged correctly because it was everything that I have ever needed from a book ever.

It follows the story of two girls in high school in America during the late 1950s, Sarah is one of the first black students to integrate into a previously all-white school whilst Linda is the daughter of a powerful man who is fighting to maintain segregation. Neither of them want to have anything to do with each other and they would both much rather things went back to the way they were before, despite the conditions of Sarah's previous school being much worse, the aggression that she and her friends must face everyday makes her wish she could go back, but she knows how important their perseverance is for all of their community.
Somehow Linda and Sarah end up working on a school project together, spending more time with each other than they would like, they spend their afternoons arguing about pretty much everything but gradually they both begin to change. Linda in particular starts to see that things aren't quite a clear-cut as her father has been telling her for her whole life and it's interesting to read her side of things - she has so many ideas about the way life "should" be and the way she makes excuses for how Sarah is "different to all the other black people" simply because she is intelligent is just, well, shocking really. Everything that Linda has been brought up and brainwashed into thinking about people of colour is truly irrational and ridiculous and it made me so so angry! Particularly so because whilst reading this you know that this isn't just a story, this happened and is continuing to happen to a certain extent to this day.

The way in which Lies We Tell Ourselves deals with the harsh reality of the racial issues whilst combining this with the story of two girls developing feelings for each other and realising they're not "normal" by their societies' terms is truly brilliant. Without spoiling completely, I just want to also express how much I loved that this wasn't all about coming out and being welcomed by your family or anything, it's somehow more subtle than that and it dealt with sexuality in a different way to most of the books that I've read before which I found quite refreshing.

Lies We Tell Ourselves was a wonderfully honest and diverse novel that I truly loved.