All I Know Now:Wonderings and Reflections on Growing Up Gracefully - Carrie Hope Fletcher

We all know that growing up is at sometimes, hard. At times we rely on the reassuring words of someone who had walked along that winding road a few strides in front of you and has ended up as a fully-functioning adult.

Carrie Hope Fletcher is that person. Thanks to her massively popular YouTube videos, Acting and Singing, Carrie has become an 'honorary big sister' to hundreds of thousands of young people across the world who turn to her for advice, friendship and, most of all, the knowledge that things will get better on a daily basis. Being the younger sister of Tom Fletcher, the lead singer of Mcfly currently 1/6th of McBusted sounds like the perfect life but even so, Carrie grew up facing problems every teenager/young adult has.

Carrie has created a positive place for young people to connect and share their hopes and concerns online, and now she shares her personal thoughts and experiences in her first book. Part memoir, part advice guide, it includes Carrie's thoughts on some of the topics she's asked about regularly: bullying, body image, relationships and one of the scariest question of all: what does the future hold? With warmth, humour and a sprinkling of hard-won wisdom, Carrie provides the essential tools for growing up gracefully... for the most part.

Being a fellow McBusted/Mcfly fan I grew up knowing the Fletcher family but none of the deep personal  experiences until Tom released a small part of his life in the Mcfly book. This book is so different due to is humour and advice. Watching Carrie on YouTube had often bought me happiness in tough times, or just so I could keep up to date with her. She's played a sister role to so many young people it takes my breath away and even at time Carrie can not see how she is anyone's roll model.

Throughout the book my emotions were riding a roller coaster, I laughed cried and shrivelled up into a ball and wailed like a banshee at times. I somehow always found the will to carry on reading until the end. I'm always touched by the stories of people due to how truly underestimated they are, just because they seem to have abetter life than you or just because they're famous to a point doesn't mean they get an easy life, the book really does show the truth behind it all. From the front page to the final one I imagined it was Carrie reading it to me because they were all her words, I couldn't find one word that didn't feel like she had written to explain something, it all seemed so her.

I fully recommend this to any teenager who has or currently is finding it hard to be a teenager just so they know they are not alone and be able to see things to get better. I also recommend it to anyone who wants a good read because even if you don't think anything in the book could relate to you, you could find something. My hat goes off to Carrie for creating such a beautiful book.

Book Rating /5
5

Geek Girl Model Misfit - Holly Smale

After having such fun and enjoyment out of reading the first book I thought it was worth diving into the second. Of course I read it all in one day once again.

In Model Misfit, Harriet takes an trip to Tokyo, Japan, where she has wanted to travel to since she was six years old. She begins to create a New and Infinitely More Glorious Summer Plan 2 flow chart since she has been dumped by Lion Boy, abandoned by her best friend and her family don't seem to want to be around her any more.
I couldn’t help saying ‘awgh Harriet’ every few chapters, and if you read it, you will see why. It’s full of surprises, and not just for Harriet.

Model Misfit is as funny as Geek Girl, with little moments which are made even funnier because they actually happen. I loved it because I came to know every character well, i do say to anyone who reads it, expect the unexpected.
I simply enjoyed reading it.

Since reading it I've decided Japan is rising on my To Visit list. Maybe I won't live in a model flat, or have to wake up at 4am for a photo shoot or in fact experience any of the things Harriet did but even still.

One great thing about Geek Girl is that it's full of those facts you wouldn't ever come to know just by coincidence when surfing the Internet the whole day.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a giggle or a quick read or simply just needs more books on their shelves.

Book Rating :
5/5

Geek Girl - Holly Smale

I discovered the first two books of Geek Girl in the middle of the book Isle in a store and I spent several minutes there lookin at what to buy. In the end I bought both of the Geek Girls that I found and planned to take them on holiday that was coming up.

These books didn't make it out on holiday because of the heat, it begun to crinkle pages and I didn't want it to happen to these books. So I read John Green books I side in the room with air conditioning and never got round to reading the Geek Girl books until now. 8 months or so after buying them I sat to read the first of the series, after discovering the one book I had read was hard to get into. So at 10:30 I sat in bed and begun reading, 2:33pm came and I was still in bed and I had read Geek Girl cover to cover.

Geek Girl is a quick read, it’s the story of 15-year-old Harriet Manners.
You see, Harriet is a geek. She knows this because she looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary sitting on her bedside table. Harriet has one friend (fashion loving Nat) and a stalker (even geekier Toby), and everybody hates her. But I cany understand why: Harriet’s personality shines through from the very first page, and I was hooked.

Geek Girl shows us, like we didn’t already know, that people with intelligence and enthusiasm, especially when they are teenagers, can (unfortunately) sometimes fall subject to bullying,  as Harriet discovers when her biggest enemy Alexa Roberts humiliates her in class. But is her modeling career going to solve all of the problems?

Aside from our protagonist, Geek Girl is full of wonderful and witty characters. From Annabell, Harriet’s suit-wearing stepmother and her overly enthusiastic father, to her wild fashion agent with a talent for turning any phrase into a nickname.
It’s delightful and funny and silly, yet you’ll learn some fantastic conversation-starters (or stoppers). I must admit I giggled a lot when I read this book but thats because well written books dont take much to make me giggle aha.

I enjoyed every page of the book and would recommend this book to any geek or any none geek. Hell  I recommend it to anyone.

Rating:/5
5/5

If I Stay - Gayle Forman

So unfortunately for me, I saw the movie before the book. Never mind though, because both, book and film were perfect. Even though the book is more descriptive, I would say it would be hard to see the book come to life if I hadn't seen the film.

In this book we have a family of four. A Mom, Dad, a young boy called Teddy and a 17 year old girl called Mia. The four of them are involved in a accident, leaving only one. Mia.

Through the book we go on transitions from flashbacks/memories of Mia's life, and the out of body experience where Mia can see her visitors in the ICU without actually being awake.

The flashbacks are in proportion to those of the out of body experiences. All  of which link to eachother. One thing the out of body experiencing Mia knows is she controls the game. She has to chose whether to wake up an orphan or give up the fight.

Without ruining it for you all, it's an emotional roller coaster ride. A tale of love, loss, friendship and experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone, even if you hate reading I still recommend it.

Finally I just want to add a few Thankyou notes here.

Thank you  Chloë Grace Moretz who brought Mia's character to life, becoming the true vision of Mia.

Thank you to the cast and crew of the 'If I Stay' movie. Because without you all, I would have a whole heart and a damn lot more tears to cry else where. Thankyou for creating the perfect adaptation of the book.

And finaly.

To Gayle Forman, to whom I owe the biggest Thankyou too, because without you these books would cease to exist, and we as readers would never of gotten a chance to have another journey and another life.

Book Rate:
5/5

Looking For Alaska by John Green

Finishing my 3rd book of 2015 left me emotionally ruined leaving me no choice but to eat some chocolate.

Like most of John Greens books I have been unable to put it's power and meaning into words. Looking for Alaska is in no way different. I was left speechless and crying for ten minutes. I had written, deleted and re written this review several times to make sure I got it right finally settling with this.

In 262 pages Green was able to create a novel that allows teenagers to review their place in the world and deal with eachother better.

Miles Halter is a junior in a boarding school in Alabama. The teen from Florida is used to the sun, but not the heat of the Deep South. He's also not used to being one of the gang, but at Culver Creek this shy boy is accepted for what he is, after being wrapped in duct tape and thrown into a lake.

Like any school, there are cliques, the biggest two being the rich kids who live locally, who go home for the weekend and the kids who are there 24/7.

The latter group adopts Miles, and within that group his particular circle of friends is certainly a right bunch: there is The Colonel, his roommate, who is barely ever refered to by his real name. Takumi, the Japanese kid with the Southern accent; and Alaska Young, "the hottest girl in all of human history." Apart from a demanding school load, their main hobbies consist of smoking, drinking and the Culver Creek tradition of playing pranks on the other group all while avoiding the piercing gaze of The Eagle, the school's headmaster.

The experiences come fast for Miles, but the one thing constantly on his mind, Alaska. Flirty and distant, friendly and angry, unattainable (with a boyfriend in college) and available, and highly intelligent, her personality leads Miles and his friends into a labyrinth of emotions that, after a shattering tragedy, leave him wondering if there is any way out.

Looking for Alaska is funny, sad and inspiring. To all those who read this book, I hope you enjoy it.

Rating:
5 / 5

Hells Horizon by Darren Shan

Hell's Horizon is in fact the 2nd book of The City trilogy. Much like Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher, I haven't read the book that came before. I did however pick this book up from a store close to my sixth form while they were having a sale. This book could sell for £13 or in the range of £5-£8 but I was able to add it to my library for just 59p and what a buy it was.

Al Jeery is a loyal member of his personal guard but is relieved from his duties to investigate a murder. Al isn't a trained investigator but with time he gets the hang of it and just before he finds  the killer, another murder investigation makes its way to him on a even more personal level.

Along the way Al goes through hell and somehow made it through. I'd be reading the book all happy something I wished to happen was soon going to, only to find a shock in its place.

Darren Shan could easily of drowned us in swear words, but there was never any irrelevant use of bad language or an overkill.

For a book like this I can't go into extreme detail without ruining the whole book. However what I can say is, Al Jeery finds out secrets of the city and his past and I'm deffinetly going to try and get a hold of the first and third and final book.

I recommend no one under the age of 14 should read this book, anyone with a detective brain should read this and see if they can catch the kilĺer/s before Al does.

Christmas with Billy and Me - Giovanna Fletcher

When I first got this book I was a little disappointed with how thin it was but Giovanna deffinetly has a talent when it comes to writing. I can't decide whether it's a Talent or a Skill.

So I do have to admit I haven't read Billy and Me that came before this but I was unable to find it in the same shop I had bought this from.

The books starts off with a little back story of Stacey who now owns a little teashop after its initial owner, her best friend passed away. Further into the story Stacey and Billy recieve and email from a mystery man requesting if he can propose to the love of his life in the small teashop. Of course they say yes, but who's the mystery man and the blushing bride to be?  I'll leave that for you guys to find out.

What Fletcher has managed to do is avoid writing something cliché. She could have quite easily overloaded us with sappiness but she didn’t. She took a different road and made a damn fine short story.

The book sort of hinted at more tales of Sophie May and Billy. The open ending made me so happy. Come on Mrs Fletcher, make your fans happy and write about them again. Please.

I give this book a rating of
4.5 out of 5.

Mostly on the pure basis that I want more books about Sophie and Billy a great book to read if you're into this sort of things. Also a great book if you don't have alot of time but wish to read.