Shauna's Great Expectations by Kathleen Loughnan

Shauna's Great Expectations

Author: Kathleen Loughnan

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Release date: 6 May 2019

Pages: 320 pages

R.R.P: $19.99

Shauna is I'm her final year at an elite private school and her great expectations. She holds an Indigenous scholarship and is determined to be the first member of her family to go to university, no matter what. The year is off to an excellent start, and she and her friends are dreaming big about life after school and a trip to Paris.

But suddenly she's faced with a choice that threatens to throw all her plans into disarray. As pressure builds from every corner of the world, Shauna wonders what she'll have to sacrifice to keep hold of her dreams... Can she fulfil her own promise and still keep her promises to others? Will all her expectations be ripped away?

My Review

Thoughts on the book:                  Contains Spoilers

Shauna's Great Expectations is the new book Kathleen Loughnanand centres around Shauna. Shauna is an Indigenous student who has been bucking the mould that is placed upon her race for most of her life. She is currently attending an elite private school where they have made an Indigenous scholarship available for one new year 7 student a year, however most of the students who recieve the scholarship tend to barely make it through the first year. Shauna is determined to finish her final year and become the first person in her family to attend university and be someone that Indigenous people can look up to. Everything is going smoothly until a one night stand changes everything but Shauna is determined to not give up on her dream. Can Shauna really have it all or will this be her downfall and ruin everything?

A massive thank you to the team at Allen and Unwin for sending me a copy of Shauna's Great Expectations and to AusYa Bloggers for holding the Instagram tour for the book the other month. This book was a real suprise read for me and I found that I really adored it and found that I could really identify with what Shauna was dealing with and how she was feeling. I myself was also a teen mum but unlike Shauna who is in her final year of school I had literally just finished school when I found out I was pregnant. I gave up university and the normal things that 18-20 year olds do and I was changing nappies and preparing bottles instead of going out clubbing and partying the night away but I wouldn't change it for the world because I have my three beautiful children. 

I felt Shauna's Great Expectations was a very true account of what it is like for a teen to be pregnant and the emotional and difficult decisions that you have to face when this happens. Shauna is an amazing role model and makes her choices with dignity and when she is struggling she finds the people who will back her up and help her make the best decisions. I found the slow burn romance between Shauna and Nathan to truly represent what some young people have to go through and I loved that they worked hard to become the best parents for their daughter. Nathan was just so sweet and is written as someone who one day I hope my boys can take after if this were to ever happen to them.

Shauna's Great Expectations was a surprising addition to my top 5 books of 2019 but a very deserving one. Everyone should definitely go out and buy a copy and you most certainly won't be disappointed.

Rating: 5/5