YOURS CHLOE: March 2023

Review: I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver*

*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: I Wish You All The Best
Author: Mason Deaver
Genre: LGBTQIA+ Young Adult

Trigger warnings: Transphobia, Misgendering, Rejection From Parents After Coming Out, Panic Attacks

Rating: ★★★★★

I Wish You All The Best is the story of Ben, a teenager who comes out to their parents as non-binary and is thrown out and forced to move in with their estranged sister Hannah and her husband Thomas, attending therapy to try and process their parents’ rejection and the anxiety and panic attacks is has triggered. When they relocate to move in with Hannah, Ben has to move schools mid-way through their senior year and tries to keep a low profile but the outgoing and charismatic Nathan takes Ben under his wing and makes them part of his wider friendship group. Slowly Ben and Nathan’s friendship begins to grow and their feelings begin to change, giving Ben a chance to start a happier new life as his authentic self.

This book has been on my to-read list for a while now so I was excited to have the opportunity to read and review it following it’s UK publication and I was definitely not disappointed. I normally write notes on the book I’m reading as I go along, to prepare for reviewing, but I was so captured by the story that I read it in a single sitting, barely even pausing for breath.

I Wish You All The Best is a complex yet powerful coming of age story of acceptance, friendship and love which is equal parts heart-warming and heart-breaking. Mason Deaver has a truly beautiful writing style which is so engaging yet easy to read. I was astounded to read that it was their debut work and really look forward to seeing more from them in the future because they truly are one of the current standout authors, particularly within queer fiction.

Ben was an incredible protagonist who I didn’t feel ready to part with when the story came to a close. Nathan is just joy personified in a character and the unconditional acceptance Ben receives from the entire friendship group was incredibly heart-warming. The slow burn romance between Ben and Nathan was truly beautiful and the scenes on Nathan’s rooftop were some of the best romantic scenes I’ve read in a long time. Also, the scene where Ben comes out to Nathan was particularly powerful and Nathan’s immediate apology for having unknowingly misgendered Ben so many times just melted my heart.

I Wish You All The Best has strong mental health representation through it’s authentic portrayal of Ben’s experiences of anxiety, panic attacks and depression. I also enjoyed the positive portrayal of therapy, particularly seeing Ben’s initial resistance to attending the sessions grow into appreciation of the positive impact talking to an impartial person can have.

Through reading I Wish You All The Best I feel I’ve learnt so much about non-binary experiences, therefore enabling me to be a better ally. Ben’s story has made me consider things I previously wouldn’t have as a cisgender person, such as how commonly used terms of endearment for friends and siblings are gendered. The intolerance and prejudice shown by Ben’s parents was a heart-breaking and difficult read but it’s so important that we don’t shy away from these stories.

My only possible criticism for the book would be that it wasn’t longer. I was so captivated by Ben’s story that I would have loved it to be longer to allow for a deeper exploration of certain characters, particularly Maleika and Sophie who brought such joy to the story, and certain aspects of the plot such as Ben and Hannah reconnecting after being estranged for over a decade.

Overall, I Wish You All The Best is a powerful truly ground-breaking story that I think everyone should read at least once. It’s going to be particularly impactful for both members of the LGBTQIA+ community and those who want to become better allies. I was so delighted to hear that the book is being adapted into a film and I’m really excited by the casting and the opportunity to see Ben’s story portrayed on the big screen.

Review: The Officer's Wife by Catherine Law*

Title: The Officer's Wife
Author: Catherine Law
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: War, Parental Loss, Domestic Violence, Cheating/Affair, Poisoning

Rating: ★★

The Officer’s Wife is the story of Vivi Miles, an American heiress who has a whirlwind romance with naval officer Nathan and they quickly marry before he leaves to join his ship. But when Nathan returns from Dunkirk injured he is distant and Vivi suspects he’s hiding more than his wartime experiences. But could it be linked to the mysterious evacuees Vivi has discovered are secretly living in a remote cottage in the wood on Nathan’s estate?

I want to preface this review with the fact that I did want to love this book. As an avid reader of historical fiction (particularly of books set during World War Two) the concept really interested me and I thought the air of mystery surrounding the identity of the mysterious evacuees added something really different to your usual WW2 fiction story. But unfortunately, the book really missed the mark for me and I was left really disappointed.

One of the biggest issues I had with the book was that although it was centered around Vivi and Nathan’s relationship, their relationship was so flawed that it was so difficult to root for from the very beginning. They have a real whirlwind romance and don’t actually see each other between their first meeting, getting engaged and getting married, instead only communicating via letter. As passionate as I am about the power of the written word, a mere forty letters to each other does not seem like a solid basis for a marriage so it was a given that their relationship was going to have its troubles. Whilst I appreciate that in wartime Europe whirlwind romances leading to quick weddings was relatively common, the speed of this marriage seemed particularly ridiculous and their relationship very difficult to root for from the get-go.

The second relationship in the story is between Elise and Nathan and again it was really difficult to root for as we see very little interaction between them, even though it is implied that they get to know each other fairly well as the story progresses. Seeing such little of them made it even harder to comprehend why Nathan would show a woman he’d briefly met once as a child more affection in a single air raid than he did to his actual wife.

The characters in the story lacked really any real depth whatsoever and felt ultimately really unlikeable. I was hopeful that in Vivi we’d get a strong female protagonist but in reality she was naïve and immature. Her anger at her husband for being away at war and not there to support her, despite marrying him in full knowledge he was actively serving in the navy, showed such immaturity. You really wanted her to be the strong support her husband needed after returning from war with the trauma that experiencing something like Dunkirk would have brought but she was pretty useless to be honest. She had a slight reprieve towards the end of the story with how she stood by her husband but it ultimately felt like a little too late. I found Genna and Dornie to be two of the only likeable characters in the book, aside from Robin and his father, and thought it a shame that we saw so little of them.

In Nathan we had the potential to have a really interesting and powerful exploration of the psychological impact of war, particularly as a result of his experiences at Dunkirk, but this unfortunately wasn’t well executed. It wasn’t really taken beyond descriptions of him being distant and aloof and we saw very little of how he started to recover in order to return to work. I thought that this was the biggest disappointment in the story as it had the potential to set the story apart from other historical fiction works of a similar nature.

The story felt incredibly rushed and therefore lacked any real depth to it. Certain aspects of the story – such as the circumstances surrounding the death of Nathan’s father – felt skipped over despite having the potential to be really interesting and this was disappointing. We had frequent jumps forward in the timeline and frequent changes of perspective with no real structure to the narrative and this made it difficult to keep track of the progression of the story. Whilst being mindful of avoiding spoilers, I thought the choice to give Elise the ending that she got was a distasteful and badly written solution to Vivi and Nathan’s fertility problems and it ultimately resulted in me finishing the book with a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall, The Officer’s Wife was a really interesting concept but it was disappointing overall.

Review: The Polish Wife by Gosia Nealon*

Title: The Polish Wife
Author: Gosia Nealon
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: War, Domestic Abuse, Antisemitism, Violence, Guns, Victim Blaming Surrounding Domestic Abuse, Attempted Rape, Martial/Spousal Rape

Rating: ★★★★

The Polish Wife tells the story of Anna and Mateusz and their work for the Polish resistance in Warsaw during the Second World War. Married to an abusive member of the Nazi party and the daughter of a famous engineer who would also go on to work for the Nazis, Anna flees Germany with the help of her mother and escapes to Poland. Now residing in Warsaw, Anna opens ‘Café Anna’ which she uses to gather intelligence which can be passed onto the Polish resistance. Mateusz followed in his father’s footsteps and became a well-loved doctor in his community but when he is approached by the Nazi’s to become their doctor, he shuts his practise and starts working for the resistance, where he meets Anna. But one day their hope for a future together, and their resistance work, is shattered when Anna’s husband tracks her down.

The Polish Wife is the second book in Gosia Nealon’s Secret Resistance Series and, after reading The Polish Girl earlier this year, I was eagerly awaiting its publication and it did not disappoint. Gosia Nealon has a captivating writing style which really pulls you into the story and makes it impossible to put it down and The Polish Wife is no exception. I was hooked from the prologue and thoroughly enjoyed the fast-paced exploration of themes such as revenge, secrets and romance.

There is an overlap of both events and characters between The Polish Wife and The Polish Girl, with operations such as the Warsaw Uprising featuring in both. Many of the characters featured in The Polish Wife had been introduced during the events of The Polish Girl and it was fantastic to have an opportunity to return to them and experience their perspectives on the events from the previous book.

Despite being a work of fiction, there is a lot of historical accuracy in the book and, as you can expect from Gosia Nealon, it was impeccably researched. In a similar format to The Polish Girl, The Polish Wife doesn’t end at the end of the Second World War and I do think this exploration of the experiences of the characters beyond VE Day really sets the Secret Resistance series apart from other historical fiction works of a similar nature. In this case we get an insight into life in Poland after the occupation of Poland by Soviet troops following Nazi Germany’s surrender. Despite being an avid reader of WW2 Historical Fiction, this is an aspect of European history I'd not seen explored in other fictional works and it was brilliantly done.

Continuing the high standard of well-written characters Gosia Nealon set in The Polish Girl, the characters in The Polish Wife were beautifully complex and we have another really strong female protagonist in Anna who demonstrated such strength, bravery and tenacity throughout the story. Anna’s escape from domestic abuse was superbly and emotively explored and the blossoming romance between Anna and Mateusz was beautiful and well-developed as the story progressed and their connection grew. I also enjoyed the parallel between Anna in The Polish Wife and Wanda in The Polish Girl as both women take in and care for young children who had been ripped away from their parents due to the war.

The chapters are short and snappy, quickly taking us on a fast-paced journey through Anna’s life over twelve years. In order to fully explore this extended time period, we do have frequent jumps forward in time by months or even years at a time. Overall, this was executed well for the most part but I did find myself craving an insight into Anna’s move to Poland and how she established a new life away from her abusive husband so the allocation of a little more page space to explore this aspect of the story in greater depth would have been well received.

A fantastic well-crafted epilogue brings the story to a close and it was a nice choice to give a little nod to Wanda and Finn as well as Anna and Mateusz as it brought the story of the four of them to a satisfying close.

I found The Polish Wife to be a 4* read overall as although we do have a really strong story and there were lots of different aspects of the plot which were all very interesting and had great potential to them, there was simply not enough page space to explore them all in the depth I craved. I would have loved the book to be a couple hundred pages longer to allow for further exploration of aspects of the plot such as Anna’s move to Poland, the return of Anna’s abusive Nazi husband, Anna and Mateusz’s work in the underground hospital and Mateusz’s resistance fight against the Red Army after the end of the war. It is also worth noting that the plot point surrounding Leszek’s revenge plan seemed underdeveloped and we were given very little context for what Mateusz had supposedly done in order to warrant it. This made it harder to engage with and I do honestly think the story wouldn’t have lost much had this aspect of the plot been removed.

Overall, The Polish Wife is another incredible historical fiction work from Gosia Nealon which fans of the genre are guaranteed to love.

Click here to read my review of the first book in Gosia Nealon’s Secret Resistance Series: The Polish Girl.

Review: The Lost Song Of Paris by Sarah Steele*

Title: The Lost Song Of Paris
Author: Sarah Steele
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: War, Antisemitism, Suicide, Death Of A Partner

Rating: ★★★★

The Lost Song Of Paris is told through a dual timeline narrative, sharing the stories of Sophie (aka Agent ‘Colette’) in the 1940s and Amy in 1997. Amy is an archivist who was recently widowed and is researching Agent Colette, leading to her meeting the agent’s MI6 'godmother' Verity Cooper. Much of Agent Colette’s story is told retrospectively as an elderly Verity tells Amy the story she has kept secret for sixty years. We also get a story within a story following Amy trying to process her grief following the death of her husband Michael.

The idea of a character being shunned by her friends and neighbours for being a ‘Nazi collaborator’ when truly she was an undercover operative for the Allies was a fascinating premise which was really well executed. The story perfectly captured how crucial the work of SOE agents was to the war effort and ultimate Allied success. I also enjoyed the double identity aspect, with Verity despising Sophie, his brother’s girlfriend, and having full admiration for Colette, despite them being the same person.

The Lost Song Of Paris was impeccably researched and historical details were seamlessly woven into the narrative. Although the story is largely fiction, certain plot points such as the SOE agent discovery of the existence of V1 and V2 rockets truly happened and it was nice to give a little nod to the real SOE agents who were involved in this.

The narrative was relatively slow paced for the first half of the novel as they took the time to world build and establish the characters but this pace was dramatically increased during the second half and it had me on the edge of my seat. Whilst being mindful of avoiding spoilers, I thought the ending was really cleverly crafted to include the elements of a happily ever after many readers crave whilst also capturing the horrific impact of war and Nazi persecution.

I enjoyed the exploration of Verity’s fear of having to return to being a housewife after the war as this was a common experience of woman called up for war work. Bill’s deep rooted misogyny and view that his wife should not be working and contributing to the war effort because woman belong in the home as wives and mothers honestly made my blood boil but I recognise how common this viewpoint actually was eighty years ago.

One of the things I struggled with in The Lost Song Of Paris was the way the narrative continuously jumped forward suddenly, missing out months or even years at a time. This was a particular issue with regards to Sophie’s initial escape from and then later return to occupied Paris. Sophie’s travel from occupied Paris to London via Spain is glossed over when it could have been a really interesting aspect to the story. And then, following her time in London and her starting to regain her memory, we are suddenly jumped forward two years to 1943. This missed out further crucial aspects of Sophie’s story, including her retraining as an agent following her memory loss and reintegrating herself into her undercover life in Paris. Whilst I can in part understand a need in WW2 Historical Fiction to feature occasional jumps forward in time in order to cover the full six year war where appropriate, in this case it felt like the jumps forward cut out really important parts of the wartime experiences of the character, therefore affecting the flow of the novel overall. It felt overall that the book needed to be a couple of hundred pages longer to fully tell the story and do it justice.

I do feel like the murder of one of Sophie’s close Jewish friends deserved a lot more attention than it was given. Her death was mentioned in a single sentence in Chapter 20 and then the narrative was moved on and I think this was a mistake as ultimately, it’s a significant contributing factor to Sophie’s motivation for continuing to fight against the Nazi regime. Exploring the persecution and ultimately murder of her Jewish friends and neighbours and Sophie’s feelings towards this would have given us further insight into what has spurred her courage and determination to keep fighting against the Nazi regime.

Overall, The Lost Song Of Paris is a powerful and moving story which perfectly captures the bravery of the SOE agents during the Second World War. Sarah Steele has an enchanting way of storytelling which had me hooked and she’s created a story which is a must-read for fans of historical fiction.

Review: Stolen Kiss by Spencer Greene*

Title: Stolen Kiss
Author: Spencer Greene
Genre: Romance / LGBTQ+ Fiction

Trigger warnings: Sexual Harassment, Transphobia, Misgendering, Death Of A Partner

Rating: ★★★★

When Anna Nelson finds herself newly single, unemployed and apartment-less, she reluctantly returns to her hometown of Trenton, Virginia. Whilst in a local dive bar run by an old friend, Anna meets a beautiful stranger named Louise and their instant chemistry leads to them sharing a passionate stolen kiss before parting ways. But when Anna reluctantly returns to her family home, she comes face to face with Louise again and is shocked to learn that Louise is her brother Clay’s new girlfriend. Anna and Louise are then forced to ignore their attraction to each other and supress their growing feelings.

I tend to typically avoid books which are centered around the cheating/unfaithfulness trope but the combination of instant attraction and forbidden love really drew me into the plot so I decided to put my reservations to one side and I’m so glad I did.

Stolen Kiss is told through a dual POV narrative, with chapters alternating between the different perspectives of Anna and Louise. This was really well executed and the insight into the thoughts, feelings and background of both women it gave us really added depth to their characters and made us really want to root for their relationship.

Anna and Louise were incredible instantly-likeable protagonists with off the charts chemistry who both have real depth to them. I loved how unapologetically herself Anna was and through the character of Louise we were given a beautiful exploration of grief and the difficulty of allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to open your heart to a new relationship following the death of a partner.

We also had some really strong supporting characters through Rachel, George and Louise’s Mum (who is an absolute gem). I’d really love further books on this gang as I feel they have so much more to give and it would be lovely to see some of the potential relationships hinted at towards the end of the story play out.

As you would expect from an LGBTQIA+ romance, Stolen Kiss has a really diverse set of characters and we have lesbian, bisexual, gay and non-binary representation. There’s a great coming out scene and we get some wonderful spicy scenes which were some of my favourite I’ve read in queer romances.

I liked the simple choice to set the story around the holidays. The description of the Christmas market made me fall in love with the fictional town of Trenton and it added a real cosy element to the story.

In Anna and Clay’s parents, Spencer Greene has successfully written two of the most intentionally unlikeable characters I’ve ever come across, which is no mean feat. They honestly have no redeeming qualities whatsoever and I felt myself tense up whenever they entered a scene, in the knowledge that it wouldn’t be too long before something vile and homophobic came out of their mouths. I did like the choice to give the parents no reprieve and focus more on the characters cutting ties and focusing on their found family instead as this isn’t something I’ve seen a lot of in other stories despite it ultimately often being the reality for LGBTQIA+ people with unaccepting families.

Towards the end of the book there is a twist involving the character of Clay and I will say that this was something I predicted very early on and I’m in two minds of whether or not I think it was a necessary twist.

I would also have liked an epilogue to give some closure on how their relationship played out. They do have a real whirlwind romance so it would be really interesting to get some insight on how their relationship is months or even years down the line.

Overall, Stolen Kiss is a strong, heart-warming queer romance which is hot and flirtatious from the first chapter and very difficult to put down. It would be the perfect holiday read.

Review: Stateless by Elizabeth Wein*

Title: Stateless
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: War, Antisemitism, Gun Violence, Violence, Suicide, Plane Crash

Rating: ★★★★★

Stateless tells the story of the Circuit Of Nations Olympics Of The Air, Europe’s first youth air race taking place in August 1937. Although this air race is fictional, it pays tribute to the air races during the ‘Golden Age Of Flying’ in the 1920s and 30s. Our protagonist Stella North is seventeen years old and the only female competitor in the race so she is determined to prove her skill as a female pilot. Stella is representing Great Britain although she is technically ‘stateless’ since fleeing her native Russia as a toddler as part of the exiled aristocracy. On the first leg of the race, as she crosses the English Channel, Stella is witness to a horrifying attack when a fellow contestant’s plane is forced out of the air and crash lands. Although the accident is ruled accidental, Stella and the other pilots launch an investigation of their own, trying to determine if it truly was an accident or if it was actually a premeditated attack which leaves them all in danger.

Elizabeth Wein is one of my standout authors of young adult historical fiction so I had high expectations for her latest novel Stateless and it certainly did not disappoint. The fast-paced gripping murder mystery plot is perfectly executed through the captivating storytelling she has become known for and it had me on my toes throughout my entire read. The frequent twists and turns made it nearly impossible to put the book down and even made me audibly gasp at one point.

The narrative is split into multiple parts, each focusing on an individual leg of the race and taking us right across Europe. We’re given a map of the race route at the beginning of the novel and this was such a nice touch; there really is a special place in my heart for books containing maps.

Stateless provides a really interesting commentary on the politics and international relations of Europe during in the inter-war period, particularly at the time where Europe found itself on the brink of another war. The narrative explores the international understanding of what was going on in Germany under Nazi rule, including the rise of antisemitism, the work of the Gestapo and the opening of the first concentration camps. Through the character of Sebastian, the German competitor and a Luftwaffe pilot, we also get an insight into how Nazi Germany used propaganda to deceive the German population as, prior to meeting the other pilots, he has no idea about the German involvement in the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.

As with all novels by Elizabeth Wein, Stateless was clearly meticulously researched and history is seamlessly woven into the story. I particularly liked the little nods to lesser-known historical elements within the story such as Nansen passports and the 1930s Hamburg music scene.

The emotive description of Stella’s experience flying directly over the battlefields of the Great War, where the outline of the trenches remained visible as a reminder of what happened there and how recently, was truly moving. The quote “This broken landscape, these thousands upon thousands of ghosts, were our vivid reminder of what happens when there is no peace.” was particularly brilliant.

The growing friendships and camaraderie between the young pilots was fantastically written. However, one of my biggest gripes with the book is the small detail of the physical description of the Swiss pilot competing in the race. He is described as having “acne-ravaged skin” and that is the extent of the description we really get of his appearance. I’m passionate that acne should not be used as a negative appearance descriptor full stop as people, fictional or otherwise, are more than the appearance of their skin, so this was a disappointing thing to see in the story.

Throughout Stateless we have a beautiful slowburn will they or won’t they romance between Stella and Tony, although it was nice to see this included as a small supporting plot line rather than becoming the sole focus of the story, like romances can in some historical fiction works. It did seem to hint at times towards a love triangle between the two of them and Sebastian but this never went anywhere and I have to admit I was a tad disappointed. I did find myself charmed by the German pilot and I felt it would have added another layer to Stella’s inner conflict surrounding trusting someone who is meant to be the enemy.

One aspect of the narrative I didn’t enjoy was the repeated use of chapter changes mid-way through a conversation between characters. There seemed to be very little point to this and it broke the flow of the dialogue. I did also grow incredibly tired of hearing the phrase “hell’s bells” but I do appreciate that it was a commonly used phrase during the early twentieth century.

The ending of the story does open up to a potential sequel and I think it would be really interesting to return to the characters later down the line, particularly during the Second World War. I for one don’t feel ready to part with any of the characters from Stateless so would welcome a second novel with open arms.

Overall, Stateless is a powerful and incredibly gripping piece of historical fiction which has truly cemented Elizabeth Wein’s reign as queen of young adult historical fiction. It really has potential to be the best historical fiction book of 2023.

Review: Your Dream For Me by Alison Schaffir*

Title: Your Dream For Me
Author: Alison Schaffir
Genre: Young Adult Romance

Trigger warnings: Sexual Assault

Rating: ★★

Your Dream For Me tells the story of seventeen-year-old Scarlett who dreams of becoming a renowned fashion designer. One day, whilst exploring the costume room of her school’s drama department, she meets Nathaniel, the new kid at school who is a very talented actor, and instantly falls for him. With Nathaniel’s encouragement she decides to get involved back-stage at the school’s play to learn more about theatre costuming and get to spend more time with Nathaniel. But Nathaniel’s scene partner Tina is trying to steal him away from Scarlett and a distressing event causes her best friend Macie – and then Nathaniel – to distance themselves from her.

I’ll preface the review by saying that I wanted to love the book. As a big theatre fan I really liked the idea of a theatre-based romance between someone working on-stage and someone working off-stage but unfortunately it just wasn’t executed well and fell really flat for me. Although Your Dream For Me is a YA novel, it largely felt more suitable for a younger audience, potentially as a transitional read between the middle grade and YA genres. Largely I think this is down to the characters as not only do they lack any real depth and have very little character development during the story but they also really lack maturity. Our protagonist Scarlett had a very immature voice which would have been more fitting in a 13/14 year old character than a 17 year old. She had very dramatic spiralling reactions to things that could have been resolved through simple communication and honestly just didn’t seem mature enough to have a relationship, despite the romance being a major plot point.

Unfortunately, not only is Scarlett immature but she is also quite unlikeable. She felt very self-centred and naïve and I struggled to understand why the other characters thought she was so superior to everyone else. Scarlett is also very disillusioned about the world around her as although she has big ambitions of going to a world-renowned fashion school to train as a fashion designer, she doesn’t seem to be doing anything to work towards it. She seemed very disillusioned that a good GPA, fashionable dress sense and a Saturday job in a clothes shop would give her any chance of getting in to such a prestigious school when she lacked basic fashion designing skills such as sewing. On a similar note, Scarlett also seems to really lack any kind of drive. She is desperate for a sewing machine but the second she gets one she decides it’s too hard to learn and she’ll have to wait until someone else teaches her. You’d expect a character with such high ambition to have the drive to teach herself through books or YouTube tutorials but this just isn’t the case. And then we’re then expected to believe that she could fashion a high-quality prom dress in a mere matter of weeks, after a single sewing lesson? Even the most gifted of dressmakers would have struggled with that.

The character of Nathaniel did charm me from his very first appearance and I think his character is one of the highlights of the story, which makes it disappointing that we see so little of him despite him being the main love interest. I also liked the character of Gavin and thought it a shame that we saw so little of him, particularly as he seemed to be only used as a sounding board by Scarlett rather than as the good friend he had the potential to be.

I did find the speed that Scarlett fell for Nathaniel very unrealistic and superficial as she is practically besotted with the boy after a mere 5 minute interaction where they don’t even swap names let alone any real details about each other. Fans of the insta-love trope might enjoy it for this reason but it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t buy into their chemistry and although I appreciate that teenage crushes can be quite intense, this just seemed beyond anything you’d actually see in real life and therefore made it difficult to root for the relationship.

The conflict which leads to Nathaniel ghosting Scarlett was a little bit ridiculous (although no more ridiculous than Scarlett’s responses to it) and I struggled with the instant-reprieve the main antagonist Tina had after simply apologising. It made the drama feel even more superficial and I would have considered not finishing the book had it not been so close to the end. The ending of the story is incredibly frustrating and I think the less said about it the better but overall I think it’s testament to the lack of maturity we see in Scarlett.

I am keen to highlight some of the strengths of the book through and I think the representation of a strong female friendship through Scarlett and Macie is one of them. But unfortunately this doesn’t last the duration of the story as they start to clash with each other after Macie is sexually assaulted (which is a major potential trigger all prospective readers need to be aware of). Scarlett is initially very supportive of her friend but I grew very quickly frustrated by Scarlett’s lack of empathy to how the trauma of the assault was affecting her friend. In one of the chapters, she starts going on about how everyone is leaving her and it’s all very woe is me, completely disregarding how her friend is feeling and why she might be distancing herself away. This all further demonstrated a real lack of maturity in Scarlett which only made her even more unlikeable.

I did really like Macie and I thought the exploration of Macie’s assault and the effect it had on her was really interesting and well executed. So much so, that I think the character was wasted as a supporting character and would have made a much more interesting protagonist than Scarlett. I would have loved a narrative focused on Macie and how she begins to recover from the trauma of the assault, with a potential friends to lovers romance between her and Liam. Overall, I think that would have made a much stronger story than what we got from Scarlett and Nathaniel.

Overall, I think Your Dream For Me would be a good read for a younger YA audience who may be oblivious to the issues with characterisation and plot and simply be able to enjoy it as a cute high school romance.

Review: A Missing Connection by Dani McLean*

Title: A Missing Connection
Author: Dani McLean
Genre: Romance Novella

Trigger warnings: Sexually explicit scenes

Rating: ★★★★

A Missing Connection is the latest fun and flirty romance novella from Dani McLean. It’s the third instalment of her ‘Movie Magic Novella’ series but all of the novellas can be read as standalone stories and this was my first venture into both the series and the author.

The book tells the story of Beau – the extremely wealthy sole heir to his father’s business empire – and April – a woman working in STEM who comes from a large family background. They both feel in a rut in their lives, particularly when it comes to dating, but one day they realise they can speak telepathically to one another. As months go by of them speaking to each other day and night, they really open up to each other and build an anonymous relationship of flirtation, encouragement and deep understanding (with quite a lot of dirty talk thrown in for good measure).

This beautifully crafted love story is short and sweet but really packs a punch. It’s really nice to see a love story where they connect on an emotional level first and their instant chemistry was perfect. A Missing Connection is a real cutesy romance and although it has all of the inner-workings of a cheesy hallmark movie, it also has some fantastically written spicy scenes and the bathtub seen was HOT!

I was hesitant that the length of the story would limit my opportunity to build a connection with the characters but this was not a problem at all as Dani McLean writes such fantastic characters and achieves such depth to them despite a limited wordcount. Both April and Beau are such wonderful, loveable characters with impeccable banter that it was quite hard to work out which one of them I fancied more.

Although it’s only a novella, the story manages to go beyond the romance and also looks at the inner-workings of both April and Beau’s families. I would have a liked a little more exploration of Beau’s relationship with his father as it was resolved a little too cleanly for my liking but I do appreciate that we were limited on page space.

I fell in love with the setting (particularly the market) and the descriptions of the vibrant community. The scene where they finally met for the first time had me beaming from ear to ear and I really enjoyed the epilogue and the quick insight it gave into how their lives and relationship had progressed after meeting in person.

I would advise going into this book not expecting any explanation for the fantastical telepathic connection element. But, despite not being an avid reader of the fantasy genre, this didn’t really bother me and I just enjoyed the magic element of the romance, interpreting the telepathic link to be the universe’s way of connecting soulmates.

A Missing Connection is perfect for anyone who’s after a quick charming love story with a bit of spice and a whole lot of heart.

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