BLOG TOUR: First Day of My Life by Lisa Williamson

Hello, fellow bookworms! Today I'm excited to be taking part in the blog tour for The First Day of My Life by Lisa Williamson. 

Pages: 375
Format: Hardback

Publisher: David Fickling Books
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: January 7th 2021

Buy the Book: Book Depository

There are three sides to every story... It's GCSE results day. Frankie's best friend, Jojo, is missing. A baby has been stolen. And more than one person has been lying. Frankie's determined to find out the truth and her ex-boyfriend Ram is the only person who can help her. But they're both in for a shock... EVERYTHING is about to change.

This story is told in three parts, from the perspective of Frankie, her best friend Jojo, and then her ex-boyfriend Ram. Jojo has been distant, and Frankie is determined to get to the bottom of it, but the theory she has in mind couldn’t be further from the truth. 

First Day of My Life begins in the present, when Frankie is picking up her GCSE results, but we get to go back and see how the whole story unfolded for the other characters. It managed to capture my attention super quickly, and I flew through it in just a few days. The element of mystery in the first half regarding the missing baby had me questioning whether everything was what it seemed. 

It’s no secret that I absolutely adore stories that focus on friendship. Friends can be some of the most powerful relationships in a person’s life, and those we make during our childhood and teen years can help shape us for the future. We get to see that the bond between Frankie and Jojo is one that gets tested and strained over the course of the book, but is strong enough to overcome even the biggest obstacles. 

 

With the characters being so different from each other, despite how close they are, it makes for a more unique reading experience during each switch in narration. It was especially interesting to get Ram’s perspective because whilst he’s connected to both girls, he’s still outside of their close-knit friendship.  

• Addictive reading. Once I got started, I couldn’t put the book down! The element of mystery that revolves around finding out each character’s backstory kept me reading until I found out more.  

• Relatable. There will be so many readers who can see a part of themselves in one of these characters. It brings up important conversations about family and friends, education and the future.  

• UKYA. I just feel so at home between the pages of UKYA books, and it’s so important that we support them.  

There are plenty of little threads that weave together perfectly before the end of this story, leaving me satisfying with how everything was wrapped up. I ended up reading this during one of the most difficult weeks of my life, and it provided the little dose of escapism that I needed, so I’m grateful that I got the chance to pick this up!

Royal Rating:

Be sure to check out the fabulous blogs taking part in the rest of the tour:

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Looking Back on 2020

2020, huh? You don’t need me to recap how truly awful this year has been. We’ve had Covid in the news every single day for the whole year, and we all know how bad the situation is. Instead, I’m going to talk about my own bookish year and also explain why I’ve been so quiet for the past couple of months. 

TW: I’m going to be mentioning illness and the death of a loved one in this post. 

If you follow me on Twitter, then you might already know why I haven’t been posting much for a while. In November, my dad was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, the type that typically doesn’t show symptoms until it’s far too late to treat. A matter of weeks later, on December 12th, he passed away in hospital. I don’t want to talk too much about it right now because it’s still very raw, but it has completely turned my world upside down. 

My dad was only 57. He had to spend in final birthday in hospital, alone because of restrictions. I’m devastated, I’m angry, and it’s happened so quickly that I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. I’ve been finding comfort in books over the past couple of weeks and it’s helping to provide a much-needed distraction, but I don’t know how much blogging I’ll be doing over the next few months whilst I adjust to this new chapter in my life. My dad was my biggest supporter in everything I did, and I know I’m going to struggle without him, but I’m trying my best to keep doing the things I love because I know that’s what he’d want for me. 

Despite all of the hard times this year, I feel like I’ve achieved a lot in terms of reading. For the first time since 2016, I hit my reading goal. It wasn’t a huge goal, but I reached it. This year, I stopped putting pressure on myself to read certain books, to wish I had the latest releases, and instead focused on picking up books that have been sitting on my shelves for quite some time. I finally ticked some long-standing books off the TBR list, like The Cruel Prince and Vicious. I actively sought out more black authors and Own Voices stories. I discovered some wonderful UKYA gems, like Heartbreak Boys and Loveless. I delved into more genres and styles that I tend not to read as much of. 

Looking back at the goals I set for myself in 2020, the major one was to redesign my blog and make it more mobile-friendly. After years of trying and failing, I finally managed to create a design I love. It was a learning curve with a lot of frustration included, but I’m so happy with the result, and proud that I can tick this one off the list. 

Over on my booktube channel, I got back to video-making and managed to film some videos I’ve been meaning to tackle for a while. I finally posted a bookshelf tour after five years! I’m beyond proud of the content I created, despite everything that was going on in my life. 

In terms of 2021, I think this might be a year in which I don’t set myself specific goals to achieve. The past year has been so brutal that I’d rather just take each day as it comes. All I want is to discover exciting new stories and discuss them with other readers. I’d love to connect with fellow bloggers because I often feel quite lonely on my little corner of the internet, so feel free to drop me a message on Twitter any time. Other than that, I’m just going to let things be. 

What I hope for is that 2021 is kinder to us all. If you’ve lost someone or something over the past year, I’m so very sorry. I hope that the stories you read manage to give you some comfort and hope. 

What have been your top bookish moments from 2020?

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