This was a very cute contemporary LGBT Romance about two girls from very differentbackgrounds. It was a quick read and the the story was well paced and the writing was beautiful. I honestly dont know why this book hasn't become more popular, I believe it deserves more recognition.

I didn't realise this was a f/f love story! What a wonderful surprise that was. I saw a tweet about this book that made me think it might be something I would be interested in and requested this book on a whim. I'm very glad for that decision because Skylarks by Karen Gregory was such an interesting and emotional story. Besides the romantic elements of the story I feel like the political engagement and the discussion of class and wealth to be a really great addition to YA and UKYA.

I received an arc from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The cover drew me into this from the beginning. Can you blame me? It's beautiful.

This book follow Joni, a girl whose family are struggling financially. She meets Annabel, a girl who's the daughter of a right-wing politician. I struggled with liking these two characters, particularly Joni who doesn't like Annabel just because she's posh.

I struggled with enjoying this, I hope to try and read it again when it is published but for now this novel isn't for me.

Yet another book that's been sitting on my Netgalley shelf for over a year because I accidentally requested too many books when I first joined, out of pure excitement.
But alas, I have finished it!

Skylarks was a very cute f/f romance that really delved into not only the main romantic relationship, but also the families involved, as well as the town dynamic.
Joni and Annabelle were so damn cute, and reading about all of Joni's problems in particular really hits you like a ton of bricks. (oof)
Unfortunately, I took about half a month to read this so I ended up feeling a bit more disconnected from it all, however I cannot fault the writing or the characters for this.
Definitely see this as a top f/f and LGBTQIA+ read for Young-Adult fiction!

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

F/F romance over the class divide Skylarks takes many issues and handles them beautifully. Poverty and the cyclic nature of the struggle to keep your head above water, the misconception of poor=lazy rich=happy, the NHS and how important it is (especially to those who live in poverty),It was refreshing to see these issues represented.

The romance between Joni and Annabelle, highlights the disconnect between the classes, and it is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Representation: poverty, f/f romance, sapphic, lesbian main character

Skylarks is pushing back on privilege and the idea that people deserve the poverty they find themselves in.

Skylarks follows Joni as she finds her childhood home at risk of being taken away when a company decides to buy the estate and raise the rent. In the midst of facing probable homelessness, Joni is forced to work with a rich girl and have to face the bitterness of seeing what having all that money can buy you . . . and what it can’t.

There are a lot of things Skylarks gets right.

As someone who has lived in poverty—who still has to regularly face the fact that one financial tumble could put me back there—I can say with great certainty that there is a weight the poverty-stricken must carry that people who have always had money will never understand.

Skylarks does a great job at capturing this. It shows the stark comparison of Joni’s and Annabel’s lives with sensitivity, but without losing any of the truth of the matter.
It also encapsulates the hopelessness of living in poverty.

Everytime you think you’ve got a foot in front of the other, you’re pushed several steps back. To save money, you have to spend money, and to spend money, you have to have money in the first place.

Once you’ve reached the point of poverty, it’s near impossible to become financial stable again. It’s a fact of life. But it’s a fact of life we shouldn’t accept.

I enjoyed the activism and campaigning side of this story but I wish there had been more? And I didn’t particularly like how much the violent side of protesting was frowned upon.

Look, I’m not going to say violence is always the answer, but I also don’t believe that it never is. Let’s be honest; if you look at any great change in history, it happened because people got angry, tired and sick of accepting less than they deserved and fought for more.

People in power can try and brush the effectiveness of violent protesting under the rug all they want but it fucking works and they sure as shit don’t want you to believe it. Sure they might only do negotiating with the peaceful protestors but its the violent ones that pushed them into negotiating in the first place.

I will say that I am glad Gregory showed how easy it is for a peaceful protest to turn into a violent one and that the characters who got washed up in the tide weren’t demonised for it.

Despite all the campaigning and protesting, I did find the pacing of the story a little slow, and a little boring, at times. But this is a generally quiet book so I’m not surprised I struggled with it in that regard.

Skylark is a great examination of what it’s like to live in poverty and have to fight every step of your life in order to just survive, but it might not be for you if you’re looking for something with more bite.

I really enjoyed this book! I’ve read a lot of LGBT+ YA, but I thought this was refreshing for introducing a class element to it - almost all of the LGBT+ voices out there are from privileged backgrounds, and it was really interesting to see something different. The romance itself was just gorgeous! We’ll be talking about this book at our next LGBT+ book club so I can’t wait to see what people think!

The conversation about poverty and grassroots political activism, made this book incredibly special. Too often we read about characters where money is of no concern to them. Becky Albertali's 'Leah on the Offbeat' touches on this a bit, but nowhere near as much as 'Skylarks', and as a student who has had to be very money conscious the last three years while doing my degree, in particular, I loved that Joni had these 'adult' concerns, because the reality is that teens care/need to about money.

Such a good book. Rugs on your heart strings and really makes you think. This book will stick with you long before the day is done. Definitely worth giving it a go. Incredible.

I found this one hard to get through unfortunately; I can't really put my finger on why and I'm disappointed because I love to support UKYA talent and F/F romance as well. I did feature this in the May newsletter as a new release though as I was sure many other people would enjoy it

*I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Karen Gregory always does a really good job of giving a sense of place- right from the opening you get this distinctly English vibe that's such a refreshing change from the typical American YA we always get. Additionally she writes about people from low socio-economic backgrounds which also goes against the usual upper middle class backgrounds of the majority of YA heroines. And in England where class is still such a huge part of society it's great to get something that sounds authentic instead of a hard-luck story.
The activism aspects of this story was really interesting but it felt like it was fighting the other storyline of two young gay girls and their from the other side of the tracks romance.

Keen to see what's next from the author.

Sometimes you just need a good contemporary YA in your life. There’s nothing quite like a realistic dip into life to bring you back down to earth, cleanse your soul and maybe even make you have a little cry.
My heart ached for Joni, it’s not easy being a teenager and falling in love but under her complicated circumstances things are particularly hard. She faces a tough time dealing with being on the poverty line and in a lot of ways she has to grow up fast. But Joni is lucky to have a loving accepting family. Then there’s Annabel who seems to have it all, money, security, good education. But is money really everything when you have to constantly put on a show for the families good name.

When their worlds collide you desperately want that happy ending, but life isn’t always so straightforward and things aren’t always easy, it takes a lot of work from both side. Will love be enough? A well written heartfelt novel about love against all the odds.

This is a heartbreakingly important narrative of a poor girl falling in love with a rich girl. The differing stations are made clear straight away as we meet Joni's family quietly celebrating her younger brother's birthday and looking woefully out of place in the restaurant they've chosen.

This divide is only further expounded on when Joni meets Annabel in the library where she works. Annabel's father has donated a large sum to the library to keep it open, and Annabel is volunteering there, ostensibly because it will look good on her university application.

The two of them form a kind of enemies to lovers kind of trope, yet there is so much more going on around them. Joni struggles with Annabel seeing her family and her poverty, missing for a good long part of the story how envious Annabel is of the closeness that the family share, something that she doesn't see in her own household, despite their wealth.

This is a slice of life story rather than a novel with a strict romance arc. Both Joni and Annabel grow and change throughout the course of the novel, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are able to find each other at the end of it. The story does end with hope, though, which is a nice thing to see after all the fighting Joni and her family go through.

It is so rare to see lesbian relationships in YA fiction so this was a treat and beautifully written. I loved the kind of Romeo and Juliet vibe that Joni and Annabel had going on, though their relationship was very sweet in some moments I can understand why it may not work long-term.

The story was shockingly real and worryingly plausible. I know that feeling of having to scrape your last pennies together for loo roll, it's demoralising and you do feel weird and maybe defensive around people with money. Thankfully for me that's currently the past but things can change so quickly. At the same time I did also feel bad for Annabel with her having parents that cared more about her achievements then her feelings.

There were a couple of niggles though, Joni just assumes Annabel is gay because of the whole kissing girls thing, bisexual is again forgotten as an option, especially as the pair didn't discuss past relationships, how they realised etc at all. Also personally I would have preferred that it didn't end the way it did. It felt too much like fan-service, not every ending has to be happy in that sense.

Actual rating 4.5

I loved this, it was refreshing and deeply political all at once. This is a book not only about love but also about poverty, wealth and how they interact along with the importance of living for yourself and not just to be what others may expect from you.

Joni's POV was brilliant, we saw so many problems through her eyes and she was a genuinely likeable character too (most of the time). I don't think I've often read about really poor characters and I loved the way Gregory made this integral part of the story exactly the right amount of heartwarming and heartbreaking. Joni and her family were brilliant and genuinely so 'rich in love' it broke my heart to see their struggles- so many people live day to day like this that I really wish there was more of it in YA fiction.

I also enjoyed Joni's frustration at Annabelle's wealth and her (very realistic) misunderstanding that money must equal some form of happiness. Annabelle's story hit me hard (I'm somewhere in the middle of both of the characters financially) but her desperation for a family who really loved her for who she is was really well explored and beautifully dealt with. This along with Joni's confusion and the sometimes excessive arguments they have about what money really means to everyone were so important to the story.

I love a political book and this really is one, there is discussion about the way the government is treating the NHS and how important it is to all of us, but especially the poorer among us, and how poverty is treated in schools as well as the staggering rich/poor divide. All of these issues were handled beautifully. Nothing was heavy handed but the book makes a really powerful, positive political impact on the reader.

I've knocked half a star off because so much of the conflict between Joni and Annabelle near the beginning of the book felt really contrived and was just due to a lack of communication, which is one of my least favourite things about YA in particular. Examples include their argument in front of the library and Joni's initial attitude towards Annabelle's friends which was never acceptable to me.

This book started off super cute but I just found it dragged a little bit at the end. Straight away I knew <spoiler>what the 'bailiff' at the door was there for.</spoiler> And I was still pleased for it.
I think it just took me that little bit too long to read. I loved the cuteness of the relationship, and also the deeper aspects to the story. I actually though that <spoiler>Annabel and Joni wouldn't get back together, which also surprised me but also made it feel real, because something life doesn't turn out well, but then those last two pages just threw that out the window :/ They'll still have the issues of Annabel's parents and her friends to deal with. Who knows if they'll actually work out. Sometimes love isn't enough.</spoiler>
I liked the protest side of the story, it wasn't just a romance story. There was a plot. I'm glad I read this book, a cute filler :)

This was a cute female female romance. The writing style was good and made it easy to read. I liked the family dynamics with Joni and her family. This was also extenuated when comparing to Annabel's family. I liked this, as it showed that money doesn't mean everything. I did really enjoy it for most part, but found the end a little lacking. I think this was because it was like the romance and the housing protest weren't coinciding, it was just one of the other. I felt like this made the ending not as organic. I did love the incorporation of the Skylark birds and thought that it was a great title for the book.

This book wasn't what I was expecting. Based on the blurb, I was expecting a cute lesbian love story with a hint of forbidden love, but that only made up about 10% of the book. The rest revolved around Joni's family's money problems and their fight not to be evicted. The story posed some important points about class and society, but it felt as though it was written by someone who hates the upper middle class and that tainted the characterization of Annabel, who seemed like a caricature of a posh person and was a bit cringey to read. I would have liked to see more of the relationship itself as it didn't really live up to the marketing. While the politics was interesting, it wasn't what I signed up for.

This book is honestly beautiful! It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time, and I loved every bit of it, like, really, really awesome and sweet and heartwarming and thoughtful and fun. This is an absolutely charming contemporary sapphic romance, and I really hope there's much more stuff like this in future.