“Talking To Yourself Can Be Useful. And Writing Means Being Overheard.”

I don’t know why it had to hurt, the way she dialled the world with her little finger.

'Girl Defective' by Simmone Howell 

⭐️ Top 25 Reads of 2021 ⭐️

I’ve had an amazing reading year this year (mostly due to the super-boost I got last January from starting my reread of The Saddle Club) so I wanted to highlight some of the best books I had the pleasure of reading. Feel free to ask me questions about any of these books or you can find my reviews of them by searching the title or author on my blog 😊

I’ve listed the titles below in the order they appear in the collage above (which is no particular order lol) and I’ll mark them with rainbow flags and wheelchair symbols to denote queer and disability rep!

The Other Side of Perfect by Mariko Turk ♿️

Social Queue by Kay Kerr ♿️ #LoveOzYA

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones ♿️

The Boy From the Mish by Gary Lonesborough 🏳️‍🌈 #LoveOzYA

(US release March 2022, also titled “Ready When You Are”)

Stars in Their Eyes by Jessica Walton & Aśka ♿️🏳️‍🌈 #LoveOzYA

Near the Bone by Christina Henry 

Growing Up Disabled in Australia (ed.) by Carly Findlay ♿️🏳️‍🌈

The Monster of Her Age by Danielle Binks 🏳️‍🌈 #LoveOzYA

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh

Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent

The Degenerates by J Albert Mann ♿️🏳️‍🌈

How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi 🏳️‍🌈

Burden Falls by Kat Ellis (also titled “Wicked Little Deeds)

The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa

Stay Another Day by Juno Dawson ♿️🏳️‍🌈

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero 🏳️‍🌈

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare 🏳️‍🌈

Ghost Bird by Lisa Fuller #LoveOzYA

Echo After Echo by AR Capetta 🏳️‍🌈

Girls on the Verge by Sharon Biggs-Waller

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan 🏳️‍🌈

Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron ♿️🏳️‍🌈

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling 🏳️‍🌈

This Is Not A Ghost Story by Andrea Portes

I Kissed A Girl by Jennet Alexander 🏳️‍🌈

I will find you," he whispered in my ear. "I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you---then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest." His voice dropped, nearly to a whisper, and his arms tightened around me. "Lord, ye gave me a rare woman, and God! I loved her well.

'Outlander' by Diana Gabaldon

Sometimes you walk past a pretty girl on the street and there's something beyond beauty in her face, something warm and smart and sensual and inviting, and in the three seconds you have to look at her, you actually fall in love, and in those moments, you can actually know the taste of her kiss, the feel of her skin against yours, the sound of her laugh, how she'll look at you and make you whole. And then she's gone, and in the five seconds afterwards, you mourn her loss with more sadness than you'll ever admit to.

'How to talk to a widower' by Jonathan Tropper'

The last thing he ever said to me was, "Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me crowing."

'Peter Pan' by J.M. Barrie