I loved how this book talked about grieving and losing someone close to you. It was done excellently. The literary elements were my favorite aspects of the novel. So many YA book references! The novel is set in Austraila, primarily in a bookshop and a small town. The bookshop was so unique and I really liked the element of letters and the Letter Library - you saw so many deep storylines within the letters!

The romance I could've done without. Henry is a hopeless romantic and stuck in a love triangle. He keeps going back to his ex and doesn't see how she just uses him. The romances seemed rushed especially between Henry and Rachel.

Overall, this was a cute but deep book about books and the meaning of words.

John Green really knows how to write a teenage girl. He always gets their personality, character traits and dialogue almost to perfection. However, while reading Turtles All the Way Down I felt as if some of the things Aza did say didn't portray a teenage girl. Despite that, I did feel a connection to Aza with having one friend and her mental health.

Aza has been diagnosed with anxiety and OCD. As for myself, I also have anxiety and most of Aza's anxious thoughts were very relatable to my own experiences. Some were so relatable that I struggled with reading her thoughts. Aza's OCD is #ownvoices since John Green himself is diagnosed with OCD. I also enjoyed seeing Aza's therapy sessions. However, from my own personal experiences with therapy, I felt that the therapist was written cliche.

The plot of this novel is ambiguous. Is it about Aza rekindling with an old friend, whose father goes missing and there is a 100K reward? or Aza struggling with mental health while in high school? It's a cluster of different storylines. Often, I was confused when reading because the overall plot was unorganized and I was bored. The last 100 pages really made the book feel alive and then I was enjoying it.

I felt that the relationship between Davis and Aza was very forced and felt more platonic than romantic. It was awkward to read at times. They didn't have many interactions as many written romances have.

Daisy was my least favorite character. She didn't treat Aza like a friend and she was always complaining about her. There is also a scene where she blames Aza for her mental health and saying she is too worried all the time. This infuriated me since I have been in this situation with a friend before. I like how their friendship does patch up in the end.

Overall, this was a great mental health book and I just had some issues with it.

This book was fantastic. If you're a fan of Hannah Hart, I highly recommend. It was so interesting to be immersed in her background, family history/childhood, & all of her memories.

4.5 *

Very strong and deep contemporary filled with film references and summer love.

Anya, a first generation Russian immigrant falls into a hole and meets a ghost who wants to help her with her life. Funny, creepy & loved the diversity!

Very cute read! Reminded me of Amy & Rogers Epic Detour by Morgan Matson with the music elements and different tastes. I could really relate to June because she was a senior in high school who hadn't gotten their license, I haven't gotten my drivers license and it was refreshing to a see a character who doesn't drive. Cute contemporary with some serious parent issues (divorce, single parent with boyfriend) & LGBTQIAP+ side characters including a bisexual Christian girl, a gay teenage boy and later a lesbian Christian girl.

I was sent this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Set in the summer of 1972 in California, we follow 15 year old, Nani who is dealing with the loss of her father, discovering herself and trying to fit in with the honey girls on the beach. This story was very unique because it's about a Hawaiian girl living in 1972 where girls weren't allowed to surf and being gay wasn't accepted. We see scenes of how you were treated if you were gay and it saddened me. There is a scene where a gay man is beat up and screamed at for being gay. It was fascinating to learn about how different it was then vs now.

Nani is a complex character who is dealing with her mother, now a widow and living somewhere that isn't Hawaii. Throughout the story, Nani is focused on following rules she was taught to abide by to become a honey girl herself. Nani grows a liking to the lead honey girl, Rox and discovers that she likes boys and girls.

However, the story was very slow for me and I didn't feel that there was much emphasis on Nani having a crush on Rox. This story is full of emotion and grief while Nani is grieving the loss of her father and trying to figure out a way to dump his ashes into the ocean where he belongs. Honey Girl has a lot going on but I did enjoy the read. Historical fiction isn't a genre I normally read and I enjoyed the setting as well as Nani's character. Lisa Freeman included Hawaiian slang and there is even a glossary in the back! It was fun to learn some Hawaiian words, it was very different!

I do believe that this is a great read for young readers because of Nani's character and discovering her sexuality.

IF you're a fan of pop culture references and TV Twitter, you'll love this book as much as I did. The writing was very easy to read and made me fly through the book! I found myself immersed in the story and couldn't put it down. We follow a fat main character, Kiki who is used to hiding in her room and talking to her Twitter friends about her favorite show, Project Earth. She is accepted to Krause for opera singing camp and learns a lot about herself. She's stuck trying to overcome what her sister missed out on, holding high standards from her parents to get the scholarship at the end of the summer. This story is also about trustworthiness when their Opera teacher picks students to spy and tattle on those who are disobeying the rules such as partying, drinking alcohol, singing music other than opera and staying out late. The game of trust really plays into Kiki and her new friends.

I related to Kiki on a deep level because she experiences social anxiety, like me. She was constantly overthinking things and I couldn't relate to that enough!! She experiences friendship ups and downs, having never been kissed falls into a romance with a fellow Project Earth fan and a golfer. She plays golf, too. Kiki has easily became one of my favorite characters!

Kiki learns valuable life lessons from her time at camp, her story is really a whirlwind. Music is really the heart of this story and I learned a lot about music and opera from Kiki's story. This book is very empowering and full of body positivity!!! I flew threw this novel and I loved every minute of it.