Girl Heart Girl

Title: Girl Heart Girl
Author: Lucy Sutcliffe
Published: June 2016
Rating: 6/10

Hey guys, its Lydia here!!
Sorry it's been quite a while since I last posted on the blog, I've been so busy lately, with things going on at school and then I was volunteering for a few days, anyway since then I've finish reading Girl Heart Girl and I'm still reading Testament of Youth along with Extraordinary Means.
This book I found was rather similar to the last book I read, Finding Audrey, as its about a young girl/woman finding herself and discovering new things, with Finding Audrey it was overcoming her anxiety, with Girl Heart Girl it was a girl finding herself through her sexuality.

Like my other reviews I'm going to split up the negative and positive views of the novel.

Starting with the positives. Overall it was an enjoyable read, as I think there aren't enough books and novels about lesbian relationships, this one is the first one I've come across in the YA section of my local book shop. The progressiveness of the story was brilliant, Sutcliffe started the story from when she was young, telling the reader how from a little girl Lucy (the narrator) felt that she was different, introduced and foreshadowed what was later to come very nicely.
 The whole book was written in the style of a memoir, which was intriguing as it memories from the author Lucy Sutcliffe herself.
 The progress of her finding Kaelyn (Lucy's girlfriend) was very sweet and lifelike, as some romance themed YA novels aren't realistic, its almost as if they find their true love or soul mate straight away. Whereas Sutcliffe's book shows how she struggled with relationships and love, because she was unsure about her sexuality, then when she's around seventeen she realises she's a lesbian. It was lovely how Kaelyn and Lucy posted all their videos they made together on Youtube, again it makes the novels more realistic and modern.
The book left a good feel after finishing, it was heartfelt, personal and real.


This novel I would say is mainly aimed at thirteen to fourteen year olds and upwards, as the language is quite simplistic and easy to read. Its quite funny really because I keep on picking up books that are too young for me, and half way through I realise that I kind need something more adulty. It doesn't matter too much, but I think publishers should really have the age group of the book on the back with the synopsis.
Now, what I didn't like was that none of the characters where described, not even Lucy or Kaelyn themselves! This made it really difficult to picture what they all looked like, this would be something crucial to include in a story, it is all linked to how reader imagines the world that characters live in.
There wasn't enough confrontation with how her friends and family felt about her new profound sexuality, even though its the 21st century there are millions of people who have homophobic views, however it is a memoir so Sutcliffe may not have been faced with any homophobic confrontation that lead to violence or abuse. Again this is from the perspective of a older viewer, so this might have been inappropriate for the age group of the book if it was included. I would have liked to see more aspects of the book where Lucy and Kaelyn were alone, where they built the foundation of their relationship, this is the lovey-dovy romance reader coming through in my reviews, but yes it would have been interesting to see how a relationship, which started from emails and social media developing into a face to face connection.
That's it from me now.
 Hope you enjoyed this review, please leave some comments or email us on any suggestions on some books to read. We want to hear your opinions!
P.S Shani has a book tube channel. So go follow Shanireads to find out more of what she's been reading!