August by Bernard Beckett

Title: August
Author: Bernard Beckett

Release Date: 28th February 2011

My Rating: 2/5

Blurb:

Trapped in a car wreck, upside down, bleeding, broken and in pain, Tristan and Grace are staring at death. When dawn breaks, they might be seen from the road and rescued, or not.

They wait, desperately holding onto life, unravelling the sequence of events that brought them together.

Tristan is a philosopher struggling with the question of free will. Grace's life of hardship allows no place for such ideas. But a brief encounter changes their lives, setting them on a collision course with love and death, and each other.

Part philosophical thriller, part love story, August is a compelling novel about will, freedom and what it means to live.

My Review:
August was quite the head-tripper and wasn't at all what I was expecting. It is set in an alternative time where a Holy Council is in control and those who are not worthy, live beyond the city walls. Both Tristan and Grace are originally from inside these walls but as their individual stories unfold, we discover the paths they took which led them to inhabit the outer regions and the circumstances that have led to their paths crossing on this fateful night.

It wasn't until I was well into the book that I realised August is not really aimed at the young adult market, more adult or at the least, upper secondary. Like Genesis, one of Beckett's previous releases, it questions human nature and is a philosophical thriller. It looks at human weakness, free will and probability. I personally struggled with it due to the content as I am not one to ponder philosophy and religion. However, I do enjoy Beckett's style of writing, and am eager to try Jolt and Malcolm and Juliet as they sound a little more up my alley, but unfortunately, August was not for me.

Teachers notes can be found here.
My review of Genesis is here.

Aussie Fiction Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations to the three lucky people who have won one of three signed Aussie YA fiction books!

Isamlq from Sassyreads
has won a copy of Wave Length by AJ Betts

Kai from Amaterasu Reads
has won a copy of Fury by Shirley Marr

Rachel from Crack A Spine Book Reviews
has won a copy of 90 Packets of Instant Noodles by Deb Fitzpatrick

Rachel and Kai, I have emailed you.
Isamlq, I don't have an email address for you so if you could please email me with your postal address I can send out your book. My email address is jwillis87(at)hotmail(dot)com

Thankyou to everyone who entered and stay tuned for another give-away soon!

CBCA 2011 Shortlist Announced!

The shortlist for the 2011 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards were announced this morning.

The nominations for Book of the Year for Older Readers are...

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett
About a Girl by Joanne Horniman
The Life of a Teenage Body Snatcher by Doug MacLeod
The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta
Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood


To view the shortlists for the other categories, click here.
To view the Notables for 2011, click here.

The awards will be announced and presented on Friday 19th August.

Congratulations to all the nominees and Notables. While I have only read three of the six nominees, I sincerely hope that Graffiti Moon takes the award.

Wild Child by Mike Wells

Title: Wild Child
Author: Mike Wells

Release Date: 12th March 2011

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

Briana Fox is the wildest girl in school. She and Kyle have been friends for a long time...almost lovers. When Briana challenges Kyle to a swim across the lake, she's injured in a terrible accident, but also discovers a mysterious substance in an underwater cave. What seems to be a magical yet harmless "power drug" turns out to have unexpected properties. Briana soon becomes dependent on it for her very survival. When two government agents get wind of their discovery, they will stop at nothing to force Kyle and Briana to reveal its source.

My Review:
Wild Child is a short, fantasy story set in America about Kyle and Briana, who discover magical green water in a cave under the cliffs where they are swimming. When government agents become aware of the abnormal water, they make it clear to Kyle that they'll stop at nothing to gain access to it, but as Briana's life hangs in the balance, Kyle is put in an impossible situation.

My only criticisms are that it took me a while to figure out how old Kyle and Briana were. At the beginning, Briana acted rather immature, pressuring Kyle into doing things that were dangerous, and spoke as if she was fourteen or fifteen years old. But, there were small drug and alcohol references as well as sexual innuendo that led me to think maybe she and Kyle were in their twenties. By chapter five they were both acting more their age, which I found out is eighteen, and this carried through to the end of the book.

I personally don't approve that both of them were drinking alcohol while swimming out in the middle of nowhere. It's not the fact that they were underage (in America anyway) but more so that there was no lesson in it. It is so dangerous to swim when drinking and since the story is aimed at young adults and is read by high school students, I felt this small part of the story should have been omitted, as it wouldn't have made a difference to the plot.

That said, it was fast-paced and had me racing to find out how Kyle and Briana would get out of their predicament. It will leave readers choosing sides; do you live for the moment or stop to consider the consequences?

I liked Kyle and his loyalty towards Briana, even though he didn't agree with what she was doing, he was just so grateful that she was alive. I admired him for sticking to his opinions about the water when Briana pestered him to drink it and I liked that he stuck up to his father and the government agents even when they were threatening him.

Wild Child is a fast, suspenseful thriller with an ending I never saw coming.

Wild Child is an ebook and can be purchased through Smashwords, Amazon or Amazon UK.
For more information visit the author's website.

90 Packets of Instant Noodles by Deb Fitzpatrick

Title: 90 Packets of Instant Noodles
Author: Deb Fitzpatrick

Release Date: 31st May 2010

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

Joel and Craggs are in it together. They drink booze together, they flirt with petty theft together and, when Craggs turns violent, they face the consequences together too. That’s until Joel’s dad makes a deal with the police. Craggs is off to juvenile detention and Joel to solitary confinement. Ninety days of fending for himself in a remote bush shack with no radio, telephone or fridge.

Miles from anywhere, Joel starts to like his own company, till one day the past tracks him down. Craggs is on his doorstep and he hasn’t changed a bit.

My Review:
90 Packets of Instant Noodles is refreshing story about 16-year old Joel, who has made some bad decisions in life. It is a novel primarily about peer pressure but also about how sometimes, it's not too late to change your ways. Told from Joel's point of view, we see the negative impact having a certain type of friend can have and the difficulty of cutting the ties of friendship. How far do the bonds of mate-ship go? When is it finally time to say 'enough'?

Joel, stuck in an isolated bush shack south of Perth, Western Australia, and comforted only by weekly letters from his girlfriend Bella, rather revealing letters from his dad, and a pesky fox he has christened 'Foxy', is at first miserable and angry at his dad for such an arrangement. He soon realises though, what a blessing the forced isolation is and discovers his own self worth. He realises that his life doesn't have to disappear down the toilet and end up in jail like his friends Craggs and Sull.

Just when he thinks everything is going to be alright though, Craggs shows up and is ready to get back to their old ways, starting with the remote town that has semi-befriended Joel since the start of his three month exile. While the good in Joel had just been buried for a while and he wasn't 'too far gone' , Craggs's time in juvenile detention only made things worse and fuelled the fire burning inside him.

Craggs has no desire to change and wants to drag his friends along for the ride. He needs someone else to be running amok with him because if he's not doing it alone then it has to be ok. How can Joel escape from this kind of friend when he knows how Craggs will lash out? The fear holds him back and that is exactly how Joel ends up in the shack in the first place, when Craggs goes too far and Joel doesn't do anything to stop him. Joel had even developed a stutter over the years because of his unconscious fear and nervousness of Craggs.

I really liked Joel's dad. He is a good guy who really wants to help his son. I like how their relationship gets stronger throughout the book even through the circumstances are not ideal. Same with Bella, she brought out the other side of Joel, the good side, and it was somewhat due to her that Joel wanted to turn his life around.

90 Packets does contain quite a bit of swearing as well as some drug use but aside from this, and the obvious unsavoury behaviour, I think this would be a good text for upper high school students to study. You can find Teachers Notes, courtesy of Fremantle Press, here.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Title: Where She Went
Series: If I Stay Book 2
Author: Gayle Forman

Release Date: 1st April 2011

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

It's been three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life. And there years he's spent wondering why.

When their paths cross again in New York City, Adam and Mia are brought back together for one life-changing night.

Adam finally has the opportunity to ask Mia the questions that have been haunting him. But will a few hours in this magical city be enough to lay their past to rest, for good - or can you really have a second chance at first love?

What I thought of If I Stay:
"This is a beautiful and heart-wrenching story that is not only about love, but also about what makes a family, the meaning of friendship and the magic of music."

My Review:
I'm warning you now, this is going to be a long review because I absolutely loved everything about Where She Went. It picks up three years after Mia awoke from her coma in If I Stay and, unlike If I Stay, Where She Went is entirely from Adam's perspective.

Adam is in pain. After his band became the biggest thing in the music biz, thanks to the songs he wrote about the hurt and confusion he suffered after Mia left, Adam is hounded day and night by reporters and the paparazzi. Everyone wants to know the story behind the music, but Adam and the band aren't talking. Adam just wants to be left in peace. His love of music has dwindled and he floats through life with the aid of prescription drugs and cigarettes to calm his nerves and anxiety. He's lost all connection to everyone around him, including the band and always feels alone, even when he is surrounded by people.

I can't help but think about how, when I was younger, I'd read about the legions of artists who imploded - Morrison, Joplin, Cobain, Hendrix. They disgusted me. They got what they wanted and then what did they do? Drugged themselves to oblivion. Or shot their heads off. What a bunch of assholes.

Well, take a look at yourself now. You're no junkie but you're not much better.

Adam is heartbroken and I found it really interesting to experience this from a male's point of view, as most YA's I read where someone is suffering, is from a female perspective. Throughout the book, we are given the opportunity to see back before Mia's accident and see some of Adam's memories, but also what has been happening with him, and how Mia's accident changed his life, up until the point where we meet up with him in New York. I was really pleased to see Forman explore the effect the accident had on Adam because while what happened to Mia was terrible, people often forget or don't even notice the effect an accident can have on those around the victim.

Where She Went is an emotional roller-coaster ride for Adam and I really wanted him to burst out with his feelings of pain and abandonment to Mia as soon as he saw her, but of course then we wouldn't have a story or the anticipation of waiting to find out what was going through Mia's mind when she left. When she does finally relinquish her reasons, everything comes crashing down around Adam and he has to face some truths he has tried to forget. Quite often I found I had a lump in my throat and towards the end I really had to stop myself from letting some tears leak out.

Mia's words rattle something loose in me and suddenly there are tears all over my damn face again. I haven't cried in three years and now this is like the second time in as many days.

"It's my turn to see you through," she whispers, coming back to me and wrapping me in her blanket as I lose my shit all over again. She holds me until I recover my Y chromosome.

I am totally and completely in love. Not only with this masterpiece of a sequel that Gayle Forman has written but also with Adam; oh how I fall for musicians! And yay for young adult novels with older protagonists (Adam and Mia are now twenty-one). Forman has also spoiled us by including lyrics from Adam's songs at the beginning of each chapter. Where She Went surpasses the brilliance of If I Stay, has a place on my all-time favourites list, and is my current favourite contemporary book of the year.

On a personal note, I love that now, having visited America, I get so much more out of a book as my own experiences help enrich the story. When Adam and Mia wander through New York and different places are mentioned, my own memories of those places come flowing back. I love reading books that are set in cities I have visited. I had the same gushy feelings when I read Anna and the French Kiss.

****SPOILER ALERT****
What I say next basically tells you what happens at the end of Where She Went so do not read any further if you don't want the ending spoiled!
*
*
*
I would love to read another book in the life of Adam and Mia and have it called 'What We Did' but I have a feeling Gayle Forman has finished writing Adam and Mia's story. *sigh*

Die For Me by Amy Plum

Title: Die For Me
Series: Revenants Book 1
Author: Amy Plum

Release Date: 10th May 2011

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

Die For Me is the first of three books about Kate, a sixteen-year-old American who moves to Paris after the death of her parents. It introduces a new version of the undead with revenants, beings who are fated to sacrifice themselves over and over again to save others’ lives. Kate finds herself falling for Vincent, who she discovers is not the typical French teenager he appears: he is something else entirely.

My Review:
Words can not describe how much I love Die For Me.

As you can probably tell from the blurb, Vincent is a revenant, but that is all I will say on the matter. I didn't read the blurb properly before reading the book so what Vincent was, came as a surprise and I preferred it that way. What I will say is that revenants are original and as far as I know, they haven't been done in YA fiction before, especially since Amy Plum created much of the mythology herself.

Die For Me could not have been set in a more perfect city. Paris is romantic, magical and has that delicious feeling of something dangerous hiding amongst it's beauty. Amy Plum's writing swallows you up and I could feel myself being transported back to Paris (where I have been twice). You can actually have a look at the locations in Die For Me on Amy's website where she has marked all the places around Paris that Kate, Vincent and the rest of the characters visit, as well as providing her own photos of the locations. Check it out here.

Die For Me has such a wonderful selection of characters; Kate, Georgia, Vincent, Jules, Ambrose, Charlotte, Mamie, Papy, Jean-Baptiste, Gaspard. You can't help but love them. I really liked Kate. She's been through a lot and even though she is broken (and understandably so) she eventually manages to pull herself out of her misery and become a girl who is mentally strong and mature. She's not kick-ass, but she's not wimpy either. She loves books, museums and art and is the opposite of her care-free, extroverted sister Georgia.

"I wanted a heroine who wasn’t dependent on the man she loved. Self-sacrifice is admirable up to a point, but I wanted someone who was independent and smart – not just intellectually but emotionally."

From Amy Plum's website.

Kate isn't the kind of girl who needs a boy to make herself feel good or to be happy, and she doesn't need Vincent to swoop in and take care of her. But he is certainly blush-inducing with his old school charm and romance. Vincent, Jules and Ambrose all made me swoon, but not at the beginning. They all grew on me as Kate got to know them better and we saw more of who they really were rather than the front they put on. They reminded me of Edward, Emmett and Jasper from Twilight in the way they interacted with each other; joking around and being sarcastic, in a brotherly way.

This is an absolutely fantastic debut with a breath-taking cover. While this will be a series, there is no cliff-hanger and Die For Me could survive as a stand alone novel. I can't wait to read what Amy Plum writes next and to once again get lost in Kate and Vincent's world. I am so in love with this book right now. And did I mention there is sword fighting?!

Die For Me has earned it's place on my All-Time Favourite's list.

Thankyou to NetGalley for this review copy. I will certainly be buying my own hard copy once it has been released.

The Wolf Letters by Will Schaefer

Title: The Wolf Letters
Author: Will Schaefer

Release Date: 1st May 2011

Genre: Adult Historical Thriller

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Southern England, August 1936. An artefact from the dark ages – a wolf carved in jet – is stolen from the archaeology department of St Matthew’s College. A man is murdered in an antique store.

Historian George Haye translates two eighth-century documents for the investigating police, and is very soon nearly murdered himself. What is it about the documents? Aren’t they just letters from one Englishman to another? And why does the wolf from St Matthew’s seem to be at the black heart of all the evil that unfolds around him?

Haye is desperate. He must find the letters which lead him to the wolf, or he will die.

But Haye will find something else. Something he could never have imagined – something long forgotten, something terrifying …

My Review:
As you can probably already tell, The Wolf Letters is very different to what I usually review. Aside from YA, I love a good thriller and when I was presented with The Wolf Letters, I couldn't pass up the chance of reading it, especially since it comes from a debut Perth author.

Now I am not much for historical reads. The book is set in both the 8th century and also England in 1936, and so you may think my reading it is a little strange, but despite its time period, I found myself ploughing through the novel. While I did find the first couple of chapters a little slow, I think this may have been due to getting my head around the time period and that the story was only just beginning.

And what a mystery it is. Our hero, George Haye is pulled into a chilling, century old mystery that involves 8th century letters, a jet wolf, unexplainable murders committed by unlikely suspects and a connection to the occult that he never would have believed a day earlier.

Haye is a genuinely nice guy, who is 'recruited' by Detective Sergeant Aage Nielsen to translate letters between Ohthere, an 8th century solider-priest, and Bishop Ecgwulf, detailing Ohthere's exile from England and his subsequent journey through Europe and the mysterious jet wolf which is causing so much trouble in 1936. As more letters surface and strange events continue to arise, Haye and Nielsen travel to Wales in search of answers, unsure of who to trust, with shocking and devastating consequences.

The biggest compliment I can probably pay The Wolf Letters is that I am someone who does not read historical fiction, and have never really been a fan of learning about it in the first place. But, I read this book in less than two days and thoroughly enjoyed it.

While I haven't read Dan Brown's books (my act of rebellion on the book industry), I have seen the films and in my opinion, if you liked his books, you will like this.

So if historical is not your thing but suspense, mystery and intrigue is, this may still be one of you. And if historical fiction is your cup of tea, then you have found a gem.

A fantastic debut.

For more information or to purchase a copy, head to the website.

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

Title: Prom and Prejudice
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg

Release Date: 1st March 2011

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Everyone is obsessed with the prom. Everyone except scholarship student Lizzie Bennett, who isn't interested in designer dresses or expensive shoes, even if her best friend Jane is - especially now that hottie Charles Bingley is back from London.

Will Darcy, on the other hand, is a pompous jerk. Lizzie assumes he dislikes her because she is a scholarship student - so why is she drawn to him anyway? Will Lizzie's pride and Will's prejudice keep them apart, or will there be a prom date after all?

My Review:
I love reading Elizabeth Eulberg. Her books make me happy. Prom and Prejudice has proved she wasn't a one-hit-wonder with her awesome debut The Lonely Hearts Club.

Prom and Prejudice is funny, witty, and sometimes fluffy, with great characters who react honestly and how you can imagine you might have in the same situation. There is the age-old class/status war between Lizzie and the snobby rich kids at Longbourn and Pemberley Academy and the consequences of assumptions, misunderstandings, misinterpretation that occur in the teenage world of love and lust. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. There is danger from an unexpected source, anger, pain, distress, lies and the ever present risk of being emotionally hurt.

While Prom and Prejudice is a modern retelling of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, you in no way have to read the original as this one is a story in it's own right. I haven't read Pride and Prejudice because I am not a fan of historical fiction (don't try and talk me into it, I'm not budging). I know a lot of people who have read both versions- some loving them both and some only loving the original or the retelling. From my point of view, reading it without bias, or influence, I loved it.

Bernard Beckett Give-Away Winners!

Congratulations to the two winners of my Bernard Beckett Give-Away! Using random.org, the winners are...

Nic from Irresistible Reads has won a signed copy of August

Mummazappa from The Book Nerd Club has won a signed copy of Genesis

Both have been contacted by email.

Thankyou to everyone who entered and don't forget you can still enter the Aussie Fiction Give-Away to win one of three signed books by Perth authors. It's international so anyone can enter. Click on the image below to enter.