***The Tales Compendium blog is currently on hiatus. However you can still following along via the Instagram feed!***

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Title: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
Author: Morgan Matson

Release Date: 4th May 2010

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:
Amy Curry is not looking forward to her summer. Her mother decided to move across the country and now it's Amy's responsibility to get their car from California to Connecticut. The only problem is, since her father died in a car accident, she isn't ready to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger. An old family friend, he also has to make the cross-country trip - and has plenty of baggage of his own. The road home may be unfamiliar - especially with their friendship venturing into uncharted territory - but together, Amy and Roger will figure out how to map their way.

In A Nutshell:
Who doesn't love road trips?! I read the whole thing with a smile on my face and now it has joined my list of 'favourites'. Read this. Now.

My Review:
I absolutely adored Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour. I bought it four years ago when I was in the US and since then have been too scared to read it, fearing it wouldn’t live up to my extremely high expectations (road trip stories are my favourite kind). But right from the first page, I loved it and I’ve always wanted to do a proper US road trip so it all just added to the excitement for me. I read the whole thing with a smile on my face, completely absorbed as Amy and Roger began the pre-planned trip across North America that Amy’s mother had mapped out for them. But before you know it, the virtual strangers throw caution to the wind and choose their own path in an attempt to find their way in life and on the road.

Every road trip needs music so song lyrics and music pop up throughout the book, whether it be singing along to a song, quoting a musician or used as an opening to each chapter. Roger’s playlists are a fixture with him creating a different one for each new detour, and these are shared with us in Amy’s scrapbook (which we get to look at) as she makes notes about the random happenings and useless information she discovers along the way. Eventually, after much begging from Roger, Amy agrees to let him listen to her playlists, which turn out to be filled with songs from various musicals.

Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour is a story full of all the fun stuff in life: spontaneous adventures, mini-marts, deserted roads, root beer and cream soda, skittles and peanut butter cups, new friends, old friends, Twenty Questions, topiary sculptures, southern hospitality, famous explorers, flirty boys, blushing girls, aliases, local cuisine, free clothes, roadside diners, Elvis, hungry bears, ride-on lawn mowers, blossoming friendships, sneaking out and breaking in…

All this awesome, crazy, random stuff helps coax Amy out of her devastated shell and wake Roger up from his heartbroken state as they realize there is so much in life to be excited about and that it doesn’t hurt to let people in.


This book was just so much fun and I really didn’t want it to end! Definitely another one to add to the 'comfort read' pile.

Monday, January 26, 2015

5th Blogoversary and Australia Day Giveaway!


For those of you who have been following updates over the past week, The Tales Compendium has just celebrated its 5th birthday! Pretty cool, huh!?

As mentioned in the Getting To Know posts throughout the week, in which I interviewed the Aussie bloggers behind Reading Wishes, YA Madness, Inkcrush and Alpha Reader, I'm now holding a give-away to celebrate my 5th blogoversary. But because the week was also about celebrating Aussie YA bloggers, I thought why not wait until Australia Day (today!) and do a double giveaway of signed books by Aussie YA authors!

So yes, this is happening! Signed copies of Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield, Zac & Mia by AJ Betts, The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta, Vulture's Gate by Kirsty Murray and Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry are up for grabs. 

Please fill out the form below for your chance to win! Entries close 26th February 2015 and you must be a follower to enter. Extra entries for those who share the giveaway on their blogs or social media.



Friday, January 23, 2015

Getting To Know... Jess from The Tales Compendium

This month marks my five-year blogoversary and there are a number of Aussie bloggers who have been with me from the beginning and others who I have met along the way. While many are no longer blogging, there are still some who are and who continue to keep me enthusiastic about what we do and why we do it. To celebrate five years in the YA blogging community, I thought I would do some little get-to-know-us posts in the lead up to my blog birthday which is today!


Getting To Know Aussie YA Bloggers



Today, it's my turn to answer the questions...

Jess from The Tales Compendium


How long have you been blogging?

5 years today! How time flies when you are having fun. It has been amazing and I'd just like to shout out to all my online book-loving friends, and the authors who chat with us and don't get freaked out by our fan-girling/stalking. And to the publishers who are enthusiastic and open to including book bloggers and recognising the value in what we do. Especially Penguin Teen Australia who have been with me from the very beginning :)

What is your favourite thing about having a book blog?
All the wonderful people I have met over the years. It's so nice to belong to a community that shares my enthusiasm and that is always there to welcome you back if you take a little break. No one understands my YA love like my fellow bloggers :)

What are some of your favourite YA reads?
I have a 'favourites' page here on the blog and the books in my banner are all favourites. But for a quick answer, Where She Went by Gayle Forman, Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen and Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley.

Which author/s are on your auto-buy list?
Gayle Forman, Cath Crowley, and Stephanie Perkins

What is your favourite book to re-read?
Harry Potter :) But since we are talking YA then it would be Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

Where is your favourite place to read?
At home on the couch or my bed with a blanket and a cup of tea.

Which book do you swear you will finally read in 2015?
I'm going to finally read the 2nd and 3rd book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy

What is your preferred genre?
Contemporary :)

What has been your favourite blogging or book event/experience?
This is really hard because I have been to a lot of book events and met a lot of my favourite authors but the Reading Matters Conference held by the Centre for Youth Literature in Melbourne was amazing. I'll be attending again this year and can't wait!

What is your favourite book to film adaptation?
I was pretty happy with Tomorrow When the War Began... and Harry Potter. Also, I was super surprised how much I loved Mockingjay considering I didn't particularly like the book.

Which book would you like to see become a film?
I'm always scared the books will get ruined by turning them into films (just look at what they did to Vampire Academy, City of Bones, Beautiful Creatures! Oh the horror!) but I am looking forward to Melina Marchetta's screenplay of On The Jellicoe Road. I have complete trust that it will be amazing. It would also be nice if they could do the rest of the Tomorrow series. There was a rumour it could become a TV show but that seems to have fizzled out :(

Favourite new Aussie blog you have discovered in the last year or two?
I'm sorry to say I haven't really discovered anyone new. I haven't had much time to browse blogs over the last couple of years so have just been sticking with those I know. I would love to hear about the new wave of Aussie YA bloggers so shout out to me in the comments!

And now for some non-book related fun...

What are some of your favourite TV shows (current or ended)?
I'm a bit of a TV junkie so I have quite a few favourites! Currently screening includes Criminal Minds, NCIS, Scorpion, The Night Shift, Rizzoli and Isles, Chicago PD and Chicago Fire.
Those that have ended could be a very long list but for now I'll say Veronica Mars, Buffy, Gilmore Girls, The Newsroom, Friends, Dark Angel...

How about all-time favourite movies?
Easy A, Pitch Perfect, Love Actually, Still Crazy, Die Hard, Remember the Titans

If you could visit anywhere in the world, either for the first time or a return visit, where would you go?
I am obsessed with travelling and have done quite a lot of it. My favourite place to visit is Paris and I flirt with the idea of moving there almost every day. If I can stop myself from going back to Paris again then I would love to go to Canada and see the Northern Lights.

If you were an animal, what would you want to be?
I'm going to say a giraffe because I think they are awesome. And they are tall and I am not :)

And the all-important question, what is your favourite ice-cream flavour?
I'm pretty happy with cookie dough ice-cream but lately I've been obsessed with vanilla custard gelato from a new place near my house.


Where can you be found?
Blog: The Tales Compendium (You are here now!)
Instagram: jwillis_87
Website: Jessica Willis




Thank you to everyone who has commented, shared, entered giveaways and fan-girled with me over the last five years. You guys rock. Check back on Monday the 26th Jan for a special Blogoversary/Australia Day Giveaway :)

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Getting To Know... Danielle from Alpha Reader

This month marks my five-year blogoversary and there are a number of Aussie bloggers who have been with me from the beginning and others who I have met along the way. While many are no longer blogging, there are still some who are and who continue to keep me enthusiastic about what we do and why we do it. To celebrate five years in the YA blogging community, I thought I would do some little get-to-know-us posts in the lead up to my blog birthday on 23rd January 2015.

I hope you enjoy getting to know some of my favourite Aussie YA bloggers and me :)

Danielle from Alpha Reader

How long have you been blogging? 
Since August 2009 … oh my gosh, I am so old! I think ‘6’ in blogging years is more like 36.

What is your favourite thing about having a book blog? 
I call my blog my “solo book club” and that’s what I love about it – that I have a little corner of the internet where I get to declare something awesome and basically jump up and down and saying “thissssss!” Also, I’d be lying if I didn’t say receiving advance copies of books ...    

What are some of your favourite YA reads? 
Oh, gosh – for a full list I have a ‘favourites’ page but I’ll be good and say; 'The Piper's Son' by Melina Marchetta, 'Graffiti Moon' by Cath Crowley, 'Playing Beatie Bow' by Ruth Park, 'Please Ignore Vera Dietz' by A.S. King, 'The First Part Last' by Angela Johnson, 'Walk Two Moons' by Sharon Creech, and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee.

Which author/s are on your auto-buy list? 
Melina Marchetta, A.S. King, Fiona Wood, Sharon Creech, Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell, Stephanie Perkins, Gabrielle Williams, Kirsty Eagar, Laura Buzo, Ellie Marney, Vikki Wakefield, Morris Gleitzman, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Holly Black, Maggie Stiefvater, Trish Doller, Courtney Summers, E. Lockhart, Marcus Sedgwick … and those are just the YA authors ;)

What is your favourite book to re-read? 
Re-reading is like going home to me, so it’s a toss-up between ‘The Piper’s Son’ by Melina Marchetta and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. I recently fell in love with ‘The Piper’s Son’ audiobook (read by Michael Finney – who I imagine is a dreamboat and I want to marry him) and that opened up a whole new re-read for me.

Where is your favourite place to read? 
On the train – I get a lot of reading done on the morning and evening commutes, and most of the time I don’t even care that it involves me crying/laughing/muttering-to-characters-on-the-page in public.

Which book do you swear you will finally read in 2015? 
‘The Raven Cycle’ series by Maggie Stiefvater. I know I’ll love it, and I’m convinced I haven’t yet because I was attempting to read ‘The Raven Boys’ as an ebook – I have this theory that some stories just need to be read via the gravitas of flesh-and-bones books, so I’ve bought ‘The Raven Boys’, ‘The Dream Thieves’ and ‘Blue Lily, Lily Blue’ in paperback/hardback and I want to read them one right after the other.

What is your preferred genre? 
Contemporary. It’s my lodestone. And if it’s contemporary-with-a-touch-of-surrealism (à la: A.S. King, Andrew Smith or Marchetta’s On The Jellicoe Road) then I’m totally there.

What has been your favourite blogging or book event/experience? 
Oh, Reading Matters 2013 for sure! It’s a biannual conference hosted by the Centre for Youth Literature: a “leading youth literature conference for professionals and youth literature enthusiasts. Gather to discuss big issues, explore YA trends and celebrate new and established young adult writers.” But basically it’s just putting a whole lot of people who love YA in a room with some amazing authors talking about YA and BOOM! – magic. Meeting Libba Bray and getting to hear her speak was a (hilarious) highlight. Consequently Reading Matters 2015 is happening and I’m totally going to be there, with bells on.

What is your favourite book to film adaptation? 
The 1993 adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. I would have been six when that film came out, but it’s just stuck with me – I love it to this day and don’t think anyone can beat Kate Maberly as Mary Lennox.

Which book would you like to see become a film? 
Because I’ve had the pleasure of listening to Melina Marchetta speak about the adaptation process, I’m going to say On The Jellicoe Road – I remember at the 2012 Melbourne Writers Festival she put a script page up on the big screen and it just sounded incredible and I’ve been dying for the film to come out ever since.

Favourite new Aussie blog you have discovered in the last year or two? 
It’s been around for a while now I think, but I only discovered Steph Bowe’s blog about two years ago and it’s great. Steph Bowe being the insanely talented Australian young adult author who’s also a young adult http://www.stephbowe.com/ she does interviews and reviews, funny confessionals and deep ponderings.

And now for some non-book related fun...

What are some of your favourite TV shows (current or ended)? 
Right now I’m obsessed with Outlander, which is the TV adaptation of one of my all-time favourite adult series by Diana Gabaldon. It’s incredible, and by far one of the truest adaptations I’ve ever seen … also if you’re not familiar just Google ‘Sam Heughan’ and thank me later.

I shall be forever loyal to Dawson’s Creek (Pacey!). But if I could only watch one TV show for the rest of my life it’d have to be Veronica Mars. Notable mentions also go to Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joan of Arcadia, Daria, Band of Brothers, Orange is the New Black, Dance Academy and Friday Night Lights.

How about all-time favourite movies? 
Stand By Me, A League of Their Own, To Kill a Mockingbird (Gregory Peck – hubba, hubba!), Walk the Line, Moonlight Mile, The Breakfast Club, Saved!, Heathers, Now and Then, and The Long, Long Trailer (all hail Lucille Ball!)  

If you could visit anywhere in the world, either for the first time or a return visit, where would you go? 
I’m dying to see Istanbul! I swear, I’ve had They Might Be Giants’ song “Istanbul was Constantinople” stuck in my head for two years now and I’m convinced the only way to exorcize it will be to visit Istanbul in all its exotic glory. Also: I really love Turkish delight.

If you were an animal, what would you want to be? 

Grizzly Bear, because hibernating sounds awesome.

And the all-important question, what is your favourite ice-cream flavour? 
It’s a toss-up between mint-choc-chip and anything with caramel drizzled on top.

Where can you be found?
Blog: Alpha Reader 
Twitter: @danielle_binks
Website: Danielle Binks
Instagram: dbinks  

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Getting To Know... Nomes from Inkcrush

This month marks my five-year blogoversary and there are a number of Aussie bloggers who have been with me from the beginning and others who I have met along the way. While many are no longer blogging, there are still some who are and who continue to keep me enthusiastic about what we do and why we do it. To celebrate five years in the YA blogging community, I thought I would do some little get-to-know-us posts in the lead up to my blog birthday on 23rd January 2015.

I hope you enjoy getting to know some of my favourite Aussie YA bloggers and me :)

Nomes from Inkcrush

How long have you been blogging?
Since April 2010 ~ 5 years this year :)

What is your favourite thing about having a book blog?
1. When I fall in love with a book I love to give a massive shout out and hope that it falls into more readers hands (who then, in turn, also fall in love with it). Also, I have somewhere to let the book love and anticipation explode all over the place :)
2. The best thing that has come from my blog is making some really close friends & getting to chat to some truly brilliant authors.

What are some of your favourite YA reads?
Seriously? Haha. I find it so hard to smash all my faves down. I am going to break it down a little to fave author, fave standalone, three recent hidden gem faves and three fave series...

Favourite ever author: Jaclyn Moriarty. Best recommendation for trying her out is 'Feeling Sorry for Celia' or 'Finding Cassie Crazy' (published as 'The Year of Secret Assignments' in the US).
Fave standalone: On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Three recent new faves that are hidden gems:
All The Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry
The Vanishing Moment by Margaret Wild
Holier Than Thou by Laura Buzo

Three recent series I love: 
Paula Weston's Aussie YA angel series. Starting with 'Shadows'
Laini Taylor's series starting with 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone'
Jaclyn Moriarty's Colours of Madeleine starting with 'A Corner of White'

Which author/s are on your auto-buy list?
Aussie authors: Jaclyn Moriarty, Melina Marchetta, Laura Buzo
International authors: Elizabeth Scott, Kasie West, Lisa Shroeder (all major comfort reads)
Adult Authors: Liane Moriarty

What is your favourite book to re-read?
I reread The Tomorrow When the War Began series every couple of years and it always feels like visiting old friends. Always has the same unputdownable vibe going on. Always takes me back to my teen years when I first fell in love with the series.

Where is your favourite place to read?
Definitely shut away (from everything) in my bedroom. Love whipping the curtains open, curling up on my bed and sinking into a good book (even better if it's pouring rain outside)

Which book do you swear you will finally read in 2015?
I pretty much want to tear through the remaining books in my physical TBR pile (I have about 10 just languishing on my shelves). The one that has sat there the longest is The Night Circus. So many mixed reviews for that, shining all-time-fave 5 stars and DNFs ~ some say it's brilliant and imaginative and romantic, others say it's too descriptive and the plot ambles on too slowly. Not sure which category I will fall into. 

What is your preferred genre?
Contemporary YA all the way. But, weirdly, lately, I have found new fave reads that are fantasy (Juliet Marillier) and my most recent fave read of 2015 is a fairy tale retelling ~ Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge. It does not look like a "me book" at all so I was so surprised to be captured by it and couldn't put it down.

What is your favourite book to film adaptation?
Anne of Green Gables, man, I was so addicted to watching those movies when I was growing up. It was like our quarterly holiday/rainy Saturday ritual (My mum, sister and I). Gil and Anne-with-an-e, and Matthew and Marilla. The books are brilliant, too, of course :)

And now for some non-book related fun...

What are some of your favourite TV shows (current or ended)?
I don't know that I have all time fave shows. Most shows I get into to have something to watch and then once it's done I move on. But here's some I have really enjoyed watching: Round the Twist, Veronica Mars, The Tudors, Battlestar Gallactica, Caprica, Broadchurch, Firefly, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who (okay, mainly the David Tennant Years, haha). I recently watched Season One of Awkward and it was really fun ~ so let me know if it's worth keeping on going with that...

How about all-time favourite movies?
Argh, so hard! I mainly have nostalgic childhood/teen faves, and then movies I think are brilliant at the time, but never really revisit: Star Wars IV, V & VI, Indiana Jones trilogy, The Parent Trap & The Trouble with Angels (I adored Hayley Mills), Swiss Family Robinson, Braveheart, Moon, Before Sunset and Before Sunrise. Love watching a good sci-fi (actually, even the bad scifis can be fun to watch!) Also love some Aussie movies (Two Hands with Heath Ledger is a definite fave)

If you could visit anywhere in the world, either for the first time or a return visit, where would you go?
Scotland! I went there in 2014 and fell in love. Dying to go back now (and I would add Ireland in on the trip). The Highlands were breathtaking and the people (and Scottish accents!) were just awesome. My mum is Scottish and her five sisters and all their families still live there (in the same town). 

And the all-important question, what is your favourite ice-cream flavour?
More of a gelato fan ~ you can never go wrong with macadamia gelato :)

Where can you be found?
Blog: inkcrush
Twitter: NomesR
Goodreads: Nomes

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