Never Thought I’d End Up Here by Ann Liang

 

Never Thought I’d End Up Here is an uplifting rom-com for teen / young adult readers. 

 

Leah makes a faux-pas at her cousin’s wedding because her mastery of her second language is not as it should be: she wishes the couple a disastrous marriage. Mother and aunt decide something must be done and she is sent on a trip that will not only deepen her knowledge of Chinese culture but will also improve her language skills.

 

And who should be on that trip but her nemesis, Cyrus.  

 

The story is told in first person and Leah teases us a little. We know that she has been expelled from one school but we only find out why about half way through the book. We know that she suddenly quits modelling but are only told why much later. It’s clear that she really dislikes Cyrus but again it is a long time before she actually tells us why. Also a mystery is why exactly she changed so much after she was expelled. All of this keeps us reading.

 

Ann Liang draws her characters well. We grow to love Leah even though we might be a little irritated that she insists on wearing high heels when trainers would have been a much better option. Leah is the main character but we may also become fond of Daisy, Leah’s timid roommate,  Cyrus who is quite complex, the handsome and flirtatious Oliver, Cyrus’s roommate, the strict and slightly stressed teacher, and Leah’s mother and aunt, both of whom are feisty but caring women.

 

There is plenty of plot and a plethora of sub-plots that hurtle towards a very satisfying end as relationships and attitudes change. 

 

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Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Britt Pfeifer wants to prove herself and so sets out on a trekking trip with best friend Korbie. Britt has been dating Korbie’s brother, Calvin but he dumped her just before the school prom.  The trip starts off badly; Britt and Korbie get stuck in a snow storm.  They find shelter in a cabin but they are in even more danger now; two criminals on the run are sheltering there.

All is not as it seems. Britt gradually finds out that the real criminal is neither Shaun nor Mason (whose real name is Jude). Calvin has killed five young women, apparently because of his jealousy of their success.  He has been holed up in family cabin, pretending to have been attending Stanford. Britt also witnesses him killing Shaun.

Calvin’s father had persistently bullied him. We are led to believe that is why he behaves the way that he does.

Calvin attempts to kill himself by hanging but Britt and Jude rescue him in time.  However, he has suffered brain damage.  He will still probably get a life sentence but not in normal jail.

Britt’s friendship with Korbie is ruined.

However, she goes to college, makes some good friends and meets up with Jude again in the summer.

This is a fast-paced novel, with well-drawn characters and a convincing setting.

It is 401 pages long.   

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Alex in Wonderland by Simon James Green

2019

Alex is gay and never been kissed.  He lives with his dad and his dad’s new girlfriend, Kendra, a property developer with exacting domestic standards.  

After a freaky accident, Alex manages to secure a job at the run-down amusement arcade, Wonderland. But the establishment is in trouble; owner Maggie keeps getting final demands for unpaid bills and the bailiffs actually turn up in one scene. There also seems to be some sabotage going on; Maggie also keeps getting threatening letters.

Who is behind it all? A rival from the pier? A local property developer? Could it even be Kendra? Is it an insider? Just as Alex is beginning to get on really well with his new found friends and even embarking on a relationship with Ben, he comes under suspicion as being the insider.  Kendra, though, gives him the proof that he isn’t involved and he manages to persuade his friends that he is innocent.

Alex and his friends try to help Maggie.  They work on relaunching the arcade. However, with the press present at the reopening a fire alarm goes off and the place burns to the ground. They also discover that the doors are locked in the mirror maze and they have to rescue people from inside.

Maggie had been behind with her insurance payments.  However, the council agree to buy the land; she is able to pay off all of her debts and move to Ibiza.  Alex and Ben are back on. Kendra and his dad take a break. Life looks promising again.     

We never do find out, however, who was behind the sabotage.        

There is a lot of humour in the book. The paperback is 387 pages.  

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Igloo by Jennifer Burkinshaw

2022

Nirvana – Niv to friends and family - does not enjoy skiing. Her two mums and her step-brother do. She sneaks away from the pistes and stumbles across an igloo that Jean-Louis has built.  She and Jean Louis become friends and then lovers. She has to initially keep him secret from her family.

Niv is at odds with her two mums.  She wants to join an apprentice scheme and work with wood. She has been forbidden from attending a wood-work group whilst she gets ready for GCSEs.  She wants to work with the wood saved from the oak tree, nick-named Quirky, which had to be felled. Jean-Louis shows her his grandparents’ house where there is a shepherd’s table. She decides to replicate this as a miner’s table for her grandfather’s new cottage.

Jean-Louis has problems too.  His mother has constantly rejected him.   She is not a nice person – she smokes in the restaurant, she fails to stop the ski-lift when Niv almost has an accident and she makes sure that Jean-Louis’ igloo is flattened.

Niv and Jean-Louis rebuild the igloo.

A crisis point comes for both young people at the same time. Niv’s mock GCSEs are a disaster.  Jean- Louis’ mother finally leaves.

Niv steals money and credit card details from her mother and dashes back to see Jean-Louis. Mum comes after her. Niv manages to make her mum understand about what she wants in life and about Jean-Louis.

The final scene is where Niv has finished the table for her grandfather and they are having a celebration in the garage. The doorbell rings; it is Jean-Louis. Niv’s mum has sent for him. We can’t know at this point whether their relationship will last or whether Niv will succeed with her work plans but it looks very optimistic.

The novel is 294 pages long in the paperback edition.            

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I am Thunder by Mohammad Khan

2018

Muzna Saleem is the only child of Pakistani parents.  Her mother and father have high hopes of her becoming a doctor but she wants to be a writer.  Her father loses his job and a cousin takes pity on them.  They move into a flat above the cousin’s Michelin-starred restaurant and her father becomes a waiter.

This offers Muzna an opportunity to reinvent herself as she starts at a new school.   She is still a   serious scholar and gets on well with English teacher and form tutor, Mr Dunthorpe. And she meets Arif Malik.

She becomes convinced by Arif and his brother Jameel that the Islamic faith is the right one but just in time realises that Jameel is a terrorist.  She goes to the police.

Mohammad Khan’s narrative is very convincing.  We really get to know Muzna well and can understand how she almost became radicalized. The issue is complex. Muzna’s teenage rebellion against her parents takes the form of her becoming more religious.

This is truly a bildungsroman. Muzna learns to make her own mind up. It has an upbeat ending: she successfully helps the police to prevent a disaster, she is reconciled with her parents and in the final scene she meets Arif again.  There is every hope that their relationship can continue.           

 

Find your copy here   

Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.