It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood

30 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Audiobook, Aussie YA Challenge, Australian Women Writers, Young Adult Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Published: 07 April 2020 (print)/4 Jan 2023 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Flatiron Books/Wavesound from W. F. Howes Ltd
Pages: 272/7 hrs and 19 mins
Narrator: Maddy Withington
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
★   ★   ★ – 3.5 Stars

When her parents announce their impending divorce, Natalie can’t understand why no one is fighting, or at least mildly upset. Then Zach and Lucy, her two best friends, hook up, leaving her feeling slightly miffed and decidedly awkward. She’d always imagined she would end up with Zach one day―in the version of her life that played out like a TV show, with just the right amount of banter, pining, and meaningful looks. Now everything has changed, and nothing is quite making sense. Until an unexpected romance comes along and shakes things up even further.

I always feel a bit bad when I finish a book and my opinion is it was ‘fine’. Perfectly average, decent story and good. Unremarkable but good. Why is that a bad thing? It’s a good book, didn’t need to be amazing or the best thing I’ve ever read. It wasn’t bad. I didn’t hate it. I enjoyed it. Yet I still feel a bit guilty.

There were of course reasons why it’s an average rated book not a highly rated book. In terms of the romance, I felt it comes from nowhere. We aren’t given anything to base it on, Natalie even mentions she’s barely even spoken to Zach’s brother, they hardly acknowledge one another, so the fact he suddenly takes an interest and she reciprocates feelings was a stretch. Also, discovering Alex was only 19 made me feel better, I was thinking he was 20 or 21 so him suddenly having an out of blue interest in Natalie once she’d turned 18 felt weird but we’re all good on that front.

Natalie talks about her body a lot, as well the accompanying anxieties. Because it’s such a key point of the story, I found it hard to believe that someone who has never kissed anyone, has incredible body issues, and spends most of the book talking about her skin insecurities, would let a first kiss go on for as long as it does and be that physically intimate. There are some references down the track about her worries so Kenwood does remember she’s subconscious about it.

There is a good acknowledgment and criticism of societal expectations and people needing a boyfriend (and why not a girlfriend etc) and other out of date ideas which I enjoyed. There are fleeting moments of LGBTQIA+ support but then quickly falls back into the idea that kissing someone is super important and a key experience people need to have around her age. For every step forward there were as many steps back.

One thing that was good was the reminder that even at 18 and 19 these are still teenagers despite being legal adults. There are short tempers, emotional misunderstandings because people are so in their heads, and the nervous and anxious feelings of being around “real adults” and being interrogated can still shrink you down.

Withington is a good narrator. I was never taken out of the story and her expression of the characters was great. Kenwood keeps us in Natalie’s head a lot but we do get to explore the other characters well enough. The unexpected divorce doesn’t come into play as much as you’d think and I did enjoy Natalie’s thought trails as she plans ahead about what she think will happen and is sixteen steps ahead with what she’ll do before anything has even happened. That was fun.

Overall it was…perfectly fine. A good book, decent story. It was different with a main character who had a different set of body issues to contend with, and different anxieties, but Kenwood balances it well so it doesn’t make her intolerable to the reader while still making us understand how debilitating these issues can be.

You can purchase It Sounded Better in My Head via the following

QBD |  Dymocks

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus and Robertson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Love, Creekwood by Becky Albertalli

25 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 2 Stars, Audiobook, LGBTQIA, Novella, Young Adult Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 30 June 2020 (print)/23 July 2020 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Penguin/Penguin Audio
Pages: 128/2 hrs and 47 mins
Narrator: Michael Crouch, James Fouhey, Kate Rudd, Bahni Turpin
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Romance
★   ★ – 2.5 Stars

A gorgeously romantic new novella set in the world of Becky Albertalli’s bestselling and beloved Simonverse novels- Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Upside of Unrequited, and Leah on the Offbeat.

It’s been more than a year since Simon and Blue turned their anonymous online flirtation into an IRL relationship, and just a few months since Abby and Leah’s unforgettable night at senior prom.

Now the Creekwood High crew are first years at different colleges, navigating friendship and romance the way their story began – on email.

I know I can’t complain that a book called Love, Creekwood would be filled with so much romance, but I wasn’t expecting the entire book to be these characters going on and on about how in love they are with each other? Is there no plot? The answer to that is no. There is no plot.

This is the universe from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and even that book, the book of romance and pining, didn’t feel this annoyingly love obsessed. Especially given Simon and Bram are two years into their relationship, there is no reason they should be as distraught at being apart as they are.

These people are a few hours way from one another and they act like they will never see each other again. Which is absurd given how many times they do actually see each other. Some of them are lamenting being separate for three days or two weeks and it is exhausting to try and find a fun plot around the mourning and pining. There is a bit in there about a fun roommate and playing soccer which is never really expanded on but it was something.

I liked the email format, I liked getting snippets of their lives and references to things that have happened or will happen. It succeeds in telling you about their lives outside of the emails and you don’t need full context because the characters are talking to each other in places. The emails aren’t the sole point of information and are fun love letters on the side, even if they do branch into slightly different things as well. Which is sweet, and ties into the Simon origins, I’m just saying a bit more plot would have been nice than an entire book about characters talking about missing touching and smelling one another.

There was a moment of self-awareness when I think it was Leah or Abbey who mention that not seeing your girlfriend for six days is cause for people to bring out the world’s smallest violin and is a classic first world problem; so Albertalli knows the dramatics these people are exhibiting.

I did this as an audiobook which was fun because the multiple different narrators were all those who I’ve heard in other books, a bit of a who’s who in narration. It was quite fun because they are so familiar they reminded me of all the other great books I had heard them in and the different characters they voiced.

I appreciated the audiobook experience but I’d forgotten how rough it can be hearing emails through audio, especially and entire book of them. The downside of social media in books is hearing everyone’s email addresses read out in full every single time, which for group emails was a long wait to get to whatever the email was actually about. When I read books with emails it’s easy to skim and see the to and from, and subject if necessary and get straight into the message. Hearing the fun name at whatever dot com over and over was hard but I understand they can’t chose to abridge that for ease because that goes against what an audiobook is.

For those who loved the original Simon story (which I did to be fair), and the companion Leah on the Offbeat, it is nice to see the next stage of their lives, I’m just a bit bummed it was so focused on the being in love to the point of nothing else side. Even a novella, keeping the lamenting and including a bit more plot would have been nice, but again, goes against the fun of the email format.

You can purchase Love, Creekwood via the following

QBD |  Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler

16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 2 Stars, Audiobook, LGBTQIA, Young Adult Tags: , , , , , , ,

Published: 11 May 2021 (print)/11 May 2021 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Wednesday Books/Macmillan Audio
Pages: 259/6 hrs and 20 mins
Narrator: Natalie Naudus
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
★   ★ – 2.5 Stars

Lara’s had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. He’s tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and he’s talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybe…flirting, even? No, wait, he’s definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Lara’s wanted out of life.

Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.

Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she’s finally got the guy, why can’t she stop thinking about the girl?

I am so glad this is my second Adler book because I have wanted to read her stuff for years and I’m glad I loved the first one because I’d be disappointed if this was my first introduction, though the sliding doors element of Going Bicoastal might have tempted me past this mediocre read. There is no real plot except Larissa having a crisis over her feelings. The benefit is it’s a fast read because I kept waiting for the plot to start and I realised it was already two thirds of the way through and nothing had actually happened yet.

Instead of having a character look on at the popular kids Adler has written this from the inner circle and perspective from those in that group. The characters are exhausting. The effort they go to to be in their friend group is so much more work than friends need to be with a lot more rules. The US American trope of popular kids is on clear display and they are vacuous and shallow. There are some examples where they show some depth, but they are all still shallow and showing compassion within your shallow and entitled group doesn’t hold much sway. Plus they aren’t given a lot of depth so most of them are easily forgettable. It doesn’t do much to break the stereotypes. I feel bad for Larissa even having these people as friends sometimes. It’s always a fascinating study reading these kinds of books. We didn’t have this in my school, we had groups sure, but not the hierarchy these US high school books always contain. It makes it a strange novelty and a tired trope to see it in these books.

There were some good moments. I enjoyed the stuff with Jasmine, it felt like the only time Larissa was her real self, less performative, which was possibly the point even though it’s never addressed. I did enjoy the casualness of Larissa’s bisexuality. It wasn’t an issue, dealing with it wasn’t the plot (technically), and it was an established thing. I do like it when diverse books can have a character have an identity but not make the entire plot about that identity.

It felt like a novella despite being a full length book, and could easily have been cut down to a short story. No plot would be lost since there isn’t any and with a tighter story it could have been a lot more enjoyable.

You can purchase Cool for the Summer via the following

Booktopia

 Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

I Don’t by Clementine Ford

22 Aug 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, Audiobook, Australian Women Writers, Non Fiction, Top Five List Tags: , , , , , , ,

Published: 31 October 2023 (print)/7 November 2023 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Allen and Unwin/W. F. Howes Ltd.
Pages: 370/9 hrs and 5 mins
Narrator: Clementine Ford
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Non Fiction
★   ★   ★   ★   ★ – 5 Stars

Incendiary feminist and bestselling author Clementine Ford presents the inarguable case against marriage for the modern woman. Provocative, controversial and above all, compellingly and persuasively argued.

“I want this book to end marriages. But more importantly, I want it to prevent marriages. Women are allowed to aspire to more than what we’ve been told we should want in order to be happy. Let yourself have a bigger dream than becoming the supporting role in someone else’s story.

Why, when there is so much evidence of the detrimental, suffocating impact marriage has on women’s lives, does the myth of marital bliss still prevail? If the feminist project has been so successful, why do so many women still believe that our value is intrinsically tied to being chosen by a man?”

In her most incendiary and controversial book to date, Clementine Ford exposes the lies used to sell marriage to women to keep them in service to men and male power. From the roots of marriage as a form of property transaction to the wedding industrial complex, Clementine Ford explains how capitalist patriarchal structures need women to believe in marriage in order to maintain control over women’s agency, ambitions and freedom.

I Don’t presents an inarguable case against marriage for modern women. With the incisive attention to detail and razor-sharp wit that characterises her work, Ford dissects the patriarchal history of marriage; the insidious, centuries-long marketing campaign pop culture has conducted in marriage’s favour; the illusion of feminist ‘choice’ in regard to taking men’s names; and the physical and social cost that comes with motherhood. 

But most importantly, Clementine Ford shows us what a different kind of world could look like for women if we were allowed to be truly free. 

I wasn’t sure I’d be interested in this book despite my love of Ford’s other books, but I adored it. The history of marriage and the role it’s played in society, women’s lives, and how it has changed over the years was fascinating. I loved the quotes that could have been from this decade but were from centuries ago. Women have always had strong opinions and thoughts about their lives and marriage and I loved being able to see that people have always been people.

I have seen the hate Ford gets from certain people both in the public eye and not, and while this blurb makes it sound like it’s a call for every woman to suddenly up and leave their partner in the middle of the night it isn’t that at all.

What Ford’s done is written a fantastic book looking at the history of marriage and how it has been used over the centuries to claim women as property, to control and subdue them, and, despite all the years of growth and change, there are still a lot of negative things that come from marriage even in the twenty first century.

The binding ties of marriage are different to the concept of being in a relationship and Ford has nothing against being with someone, but a lot of her book goes through the history of marriage, its evolution, and how it is still rooted in those misogynistic ways of the early incarnations. Not to mention how it wasn’t that long ago women still didn’t have full financial autonomy, security over their children, or safety in being able to leave abuse.

Even without the captivating chapters about power dynamics, household labour imbalance, and the societal expectations engrained in us from a young age, the insight into the wedding industry is fascinating. Ford delves deep at how they prey on people whose dream day can be exploited with price hikes, unnecessary frivolity, and how so often a huge party is just as acceptable compared to the pomp and circumstance of dresses, flowers, and sermons about obeying.

There isn’t a sole focus on the female perspective of marriage, and the analysis of the marriage equality debate was considerate and well judged. This is as much a look at the system and history of marriage as it is a call for readers to think critically about their choices and why they want to do this. If you go into marriage with your eyes open you can go in knowing what to expect. But Ford asks readers to decide if it’s something they actually want to do, or if it is something that think they have to do, are expected to do, will fill incomplete and unfilled if they don’t do, or if they will be thought of as lesser if they don’t. These issues are what she explores beautifully and with statistics behind her and a wealth of data I loved how accessible and eye opening this book made me, especially when I already thought I knew so much.

You can purchase I Don’t via the following

QBD |  Dymocks | Booktopia

 Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Not Here to Make Friends (#3) by Jodi McAllister

19 Aug 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Australian Women Writers, Fiction, Romance Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 3 January 2024 (print)/2 January 2024 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster Australia
Pages: 400/9 hrs and 35 mins
Narrator: Matty Morris, Aileen Huynh
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Romance
★   ★   ★   ★ – 4 Stars

Murray O’Connell is standing on the greatest precipice of his career. As showrunner of the reality dating show Marry Me, Juliet, Murray is determined to make this season a success.

Nothing and nobody will stand in his way.

Except perhaps Lily Fireball, the network’s choice for this season’s villain. Lily has classic reality TV appeal: She’s feisty, dramatic, and never backs down from a fight. She also happens to be Murray’s estranged best friend and former co-showrunner.

What was once a perfectly planned season turns to chaos as the two battle for control. Working in reality television, they’re used to drama, secrets, and romance. But what happens when suddenly they’re at the center of the storyline?

I love this series. This is the third version of this story but while there is a whole other side being explored, there’s obvious overlaps and seeing that cross over with what I’ve read in books one and two are great nods to the other points of view while also being a fresh new story on its own. Lily has intrigued me from the very beginning. I have been dying through two books to know Lily’s story. Now I finally have it.

It is amazing to see how easily people can be produced. It’s come up before, not in the reality TV space, but how people can be manipulated or at least be used to gain information or make people reveal more than they normally would. We all know about the editing to get the best TV, it’s something we’ve seen it in the past two books and now we finally have the answers.

Murray has suffered a lot as a result of this and I love how his rushed, tired, and frantic existence is captured in his narration. You can see how run off his feet he is, something that we’d seen briefly in the other books but it’s fun to see the poor man suffer at the whims of these characters who aren’t doing the story they originally planned on.

It isn’t all heart-warming and sunshine, nor a revisit to scenes and plots we’ve read before. Seeing behind the scenes of reality TV has never been my cup of tea. I don’t actually like seeing how manipulative producers and editing can be. Now McAlister has given us the perspective of those behind the scenes it’s hard to see the enjoyment in these shows. Where previous books showed how the characters could defy the chosen narrative and make their own paths, it’s hard seeing how those less fortunate can’t escape being manipulated by what makes “good TV”.

Having said that, it’s still great. It’s interesting because a few chapters in you know where it’s going, you’ve also read the other books so one side you’ve seen already. Yet McAlister has still makes these characters intriguing enough, their dynamic engaging enough, that you need to see how they both react to what happens in this story.

Despite being on the dodgy side of ethics, Murray and Lily do know they aren’t the best people. Coercing people into their narratives and staging things to get the outcomes they want are things they know aren’t good, but they know they are good at them as well.

The replay of scenes we’ve read before never feel repetitive and it’s a good reminder of what’s happened and the different points of view and how those events came to be. Reading the three books gives a perfect view of every angle of the story. The final story being the behind the scenes manipulations, puppetry, and wrap up of the mysteries of the previous books is perfect.

You can purchase Not Here to Make Friends via the following

QBD |  Booktopia

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

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