A great YA contemporary looking at lesbianism and what it means to be a teen in Australia. I loved reading a lesbian fiction as they are harder to find than male gay fiction. I liked how well rounded the characters were and by the end of the novel, i really missed reading about Ingrid, baby Adelaide and the hi-jinks and drama that Ingrid's band of friends get into.

Sweethearts by Gemma Gilmore was a sweet coming of age story about a girl and her friends. Ingrid is struggling with her sexuality and her best friend is pregnant at 17. Sweethearts was heartwarming and fun. I loved how natural and real Ingrids struggle was. Her friendships with Summer and Jackson were a joy to experience. They had a unique situation but they made the best of it and supported each other. This book surprised me in the best way possible. I loved it.

Ingrid realizes she may not have what it takes to get into a prestigious art school in Australia so she dyes her hair pink. Her new hair color attracts Kat who introduces her to the LGBT clubbing scene. She enjoys partying but becomes confused about who she is and that scares her. Trying to figure things out is all she can think about until she finds out her best friend is pregnant.

As she helps her best friend she discovers who she is and decides to work it into her everyday life.

This book gets an A+ for being LGBT, I absolutely love that the stigma is being let go and many wonderful authors are showing their pride. As a member of the LGBTQ community I absolutely love getting hold of a book that isn't just the usual male-female relationship (although I love those too!).

It's a very fun, quick read and I highly suggested it to anyone that enjoys diversity in their reading.

It was an easy and enjoyable to read. You could feel for all the characters in the book and what they were going through as teenagers in there final year of high school.
There were some wonderful moment between that characters as you see the main character dealing with the fact that she might be gay. While pulling strength from her best friend who is dealing with her own life issues about becoming a single parent at 17. My only issue about the book is that the main character always needs to get drunk while dealing with her inner self. Her friends do call her up on it. But it just seemed to me that high dependency on alcohol wasn't really need for this story.
I would recommend this book and will be looking out for more books written by Gemma Gilmore.

@Netgalley @ninestarpress

Sweethearts by Gemma Gilmore is an adorable novel that discusses some of the most important issues facing teens today. From bullying, to discovering one's sexuality, to teen pregnancy, to finishing high school, this novel doesn't shy away from the hard topics - in fact, it normalises these issues.

Sweethearts is one of the most realistic YA novels I've read in a long time. It features so many important issues and talks about them in a positive light. There's a lot of discussion - especially in Australia - about the importance of university and how your life is most likely over if you don't attend/don't know what you want to do with the rest of your life at the wise-old age of 18.

Gilmore talks about this a lot in the novel through the MC Ingrid. Ingrid is an artist and wants nothing more than to be accepted into RMIT's prestigious art program, and the anxiety and insecurity she feels about university is something all teens can relate to. 

Ingrid was a great protagonist. The entire novel is her journey of self-discovery, with snippets into the life of her best friend, Summer, who discovers she is pregnant in her final year of high school.

Ingrid starts the novel as a self-conscious girl, who bullies the girl she has a crush on. Then she dyes her hair, becomes friends with a girl from art class who takes her to a lesbian club, and Ingrid starts to acknowledge her sexuality, which she had kept smothered down for so long. While I didn't like her at the beginning of the novel - as she is a bully - I really began to empathise with her the more she became her authentic self.

I especially enjoyed reading about Ingrid's romantic relationships and the exploration of her sexuality: while she has a strong crush on a girl called Amber, she and her art class friend, Kat, become 'make-out' buddies (you know the word I mean to use here). I for one was shipping Ingrid with Kat, and didn't like Amber at all, but I really appreciated the way female sexuality was normalised, and, when it comes to queer female sexuality, not fetishised at all. 

I really appreciated the way teen pregnancy was cast in a positive manner - it's the first time I've read about pregnancy like this. While the novel doesn't shy away from acknowledging the difficulties that Summer and her boyfriend will go through, it also shows that their lives aren't over and they can still be happy, still attend uni, and live the lives of normal 18 year olds. She wasn't shunned; her decision to keep the baby was accepted. It's such a hopeful message. 

The writing was at times repetitive, but for the most part it flowed naturally. I link the repetitiveness to the fact that the writing is almost stream-of-conscious-like, from Ingrid's perspective. I was, however, confused by the ending of the novel. I just felt like it was unnecessary and didn't relate much to the story or plot. 

All in all, Sweethearts was a lovely, important debut novel from an Aussie author who has a long career ahead of her. I can't wait to read more from Gemma Gilmore. Definitely get your hands on a copy of this novel when it's published!

3.5 stars

4.5/5 stars.

Sweethearts is just absolutely wonderful. It has LGBT representation which I loved, featuring a lesbian main character which to be honest made it even better, as I feel I don't see much femalexfemale relationships within books. It was so adorably gay and refreshing to read.

I FLEW through this book, honestly, I didn't put it down once and read it in one sitting in around 90 minutes? It was so easy to read, I loved the characters and the relationships within this book. The characters were so realistic and made you fall in love with them instantly.

There was so many great moments in this book, funny quotes included which made me laugh out loud. I did cry a little tiny bit at some point throughout, not gonna say why but I will admit to the fact as I truly cared for the characters immensely. It did kind of remind me of Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda in ways throughout the book - which of course is a complement as I ADORED that book.

My only slight negative about this book - which is why it didn't make it to the 5 star - is I felt the ending was kind of rushed. I felt like Gemma could've added a few more pages on and end things a little better.

I truly recommend you pick this one up. I will definitely be looking out for more books by Gemma Gilmore.

"We question each other's reality; we make each other look into things just that little bit deeper."

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This definitely did not go the way I expected it to, but I'm actually okay with it. Almost coming to terms with this.

Long story short, this book is about a girl named Ingrid, a high school senior who refuses to acknowledge that she may actually be a lesbian. It's something that's hard for anyone to admit, especially if they have always been hiding their true selves from the rest of the world, so I understand that. It's the way she lashes out that confused me though. The object of her obsession - yes, an actual obsession if we read it correctly - is a girl at her school named Amber, who just so happens to be a really amazing singer. It's at the point where Ingrid knows Amber's YouTube upload schedule and will be the first person to watch her video and leave a rude ass comment for Amber to see. That part didn't make sense to me, but Ingrid ends up explaining it later on. Why is she so rude to Amber when she can't get enough of her? Ingrid's two best friends, Summer and Jackson, even try to call her out on it, and try to get her to accept that she may very well be into girls.

But she constantly punishes herself for having such thoughts. She refuses to identify as a lesbian, even when she finds herself at a gay club full of beautiful women that she is so clearly attracted to. The thing that makes her finally admit it is seeing her best friend Summer be brave in finding out that she's pregnant, and her actions to make sure that she keeps her unborn baby healthy and safe. Seeing her friend show strength made her want to do the same, and Ingrid's life starts to change.

I think the main character flaw that Ingrid possessed was her using alcohol to deal with her problems. It was like she was an addict, and maybe she really was. Anytime that she would start to battle against herself, she would resort to getting wasted, going to Cloud Nine to drink her problems away and dance to lose herself in the music. The dancing I get. I sometimes do the same, but the constant drinking wasn't healthy, and her friends told her that as well.

"I feel like you're relying on the alcohol."

It wasn't good for her, and she needed to come up with some other method of dealing with her problems, her rejections, anything else that she ended up overthinking about that caused her to freak out.

There were also times where I would think that the book would have a happy ending or at least a happy outcome that everyone was waiting to hear about, and then it would be completely different. It was like life. Nothing ever went the way we think it will be, but we have to keep going.

This wasn't the typical book that I would read, but I appreciated it. I liked that the people in Ingrid's life didn't shun her for finally accepting her sexuality, or push her to make a decision when she was struggling with it. They were happy for her no matter what, and they just wanted her to be true to herself. It was good, it was the way I would expect anyone to be if they had a loved one struggling to come to terms with their sexuality. I appreciated it so much, that I feel like it influenced my rating to be what it is. I liked this book, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Sweethearts is adorably gay and wonderful! I enjoyed every page of it and (if I ever get the time) would love to read it again someday. Or rather, I would like to read more books by Gemma Gilmore! Her writing is incredibly fluid and her characters are realistic and relatable. I found this novel very original and I sense in it a YA hit. There is just so much love, so many delightful and insightful quotes, and great messages galore. I felt a deep connection to the themes of self-discovery and insecurity; though this is fiction, it is one of those stories that leaves me hopeful for a future.

On top of all the profundity, Sweethearts is also FUNNY. I laughed out loud or read quotes to my mom or sister a couple of times. I really see success, not only for this book but for Gilmore as well.

I did come across a few typos, words that needed to be added or taken out, but hopefully those get snatched up in a final edit.

Sweethearts is the first book I've read from this author and also my very first f/f read. I absolutely loved it! You have a group of high school teenagers who are learning to cope with and deal with life changing decisions. Those issues are what made these characters relatable and interesting. I enjoyed all of the characters; Ingrid, Summer, Jackson, Kat, Leon and Amber. I love that these characters made mistakes and had flaws but they did the best they could in the situations they were in. The ending was sweet and the story and friendships came full circle. I definitely look forward to reading more books from this author.

Wow, this novel took me for a ride! At first I thought it was going to be just another teenage novel, pregnancy, friend drama and underage drinking, but it was sooo much more than that.
Ingrid's journey of self discovery is inspiring and so real. Gilmore has created characters that don't seem ficticious at all, they seem as real as my friends and family. This is Aussie writing at its best, as an Australian myself, I loved every aspect of this novel. The writing is fluid and allows the reader time to digest the big things in the scene while still giving enough interesting information for the book to continue without rambling.
A great summer read!