Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

Friday morning. I’m heading down to the break, feeling antsy because I slept in. I’d meant to surf early, but maybe it’s not such a bad thing. Getting there after nine means I’ll miss the pre-work crew. Instead, I’ll join the old boys, students and shift workers who have rearranged their lives to better suit their surfing.

Pages  - 280

Published by Catnip Publishing in August 2012

Goodreads Summary

Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly café. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing … and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.
And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?

******

It’s taken me a few weeks to get my head around writing this review. I was expecting to love this book to pieces. For ages everyone has told me that I must read Raw Blue as it was the best book they have ever read. So I was honestly expecting it to blow my mind. Unfortunately I didn’t get that feeling and still don’t get why everyone loved it so much. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it and I gave it four stars as I felt it was extremely well written, with some heart wrenching characters. Yet it didn’t make me want to keep reading at all times. In fact it had the opposite effect, as the content often made me feel quite depressed and I had to swap over to  read something more lively. Perhaps you have to be in a certain frame of mind, to completely embrace this book.

I found the book a little slow to get into. The first few chapters didn’t feel like they were moving the story on and it took me a while to realise what was going on with Carly; why she acted and reacted the way she did.  I can understand the author wanted to show how Carly interacts with the world, so this pacing issue appears to be on purpose. Carly  had a very promising future and then suddenly she dropped out of her life completely. She was now existing in a robotic fashion, not allowing any of life to filter through to her.

As the book progresses, the people surrounding her begin to crack and pull down the wall she has built up around her. Loosening her hold on her emotion and feelings until the wall is knocked down completely and everything comes gushing out.

I felt angry for Carly. How could her own family and friends not see the change in her? How could they not realise that something was seriously wrong? It took a complete stranger to gain her confidence and  gently lead her out of the dark world she was living in.

Normally in a story like this, you would expect a really hot guy with absolutely no flaws to whip the battered protagonist off her feet; but there is no way you could describe Ryan as flawless. He has a past; a difficult one at that and if Carly really knew the truth to begin with, I would probably have  advised her to run the other way. However, Ryan shows he is mature enough to put his past behind him, intent on straightening his life out and he is prepared to build a life with Carly. He is sweet, gentle and very caring, refusing to let Carly walk away from  the tiny chance of happiness.

The story is very real and hard hitting at times. Issues that are raised will make you feel uncomfortable, but I do feel the author wrote about them in such a way that you didn’t feel overwhelmed by them. The writing feels grey and miserable in parts and you get a real sense of what it’s like for people who suffer with depression. This is very much a character driven plot  where we stand by and watch Carly take tentative steps back into the real world.

The book has a strong surfing theme, which I really enjoyed. I actually learnt quite a bit about surfing while reading it. The descriptions of the surf and the ocean easily transported you to the shores of Australia. Carly is drawn to Ryan through their passion of surfing – it is the bond that ties them together, helping Carly to smash through her past which holds her in a vice like grip.

I think you need to be in a certain frame of mind to get the best out of this book. You need to be prepared to be feel quite low at times as you accompany Carly through her emotional journey. If you enjoy  cross over, gritty and emotionally dark YA, then I would recommend this book to you.

Books I’m Excited About (2)

So I’ve had a bit of a rummage through the books that I’ve received over the last couple of weeks and the following four are the ones I’m extremely excited about.

The Reindeer Girl by Holly Webb

Published by Stripes Publishing on the 1st September.

There is something utterly adorable about this book cover! I just want to stroke it continuously. I am quickly becoming a huge fan of Holly Webb’s and I can’t wait to read this tale which is set just before Christmas. Little Lotta loves to hear the stories her grandmother tells her from her childhood, where she herded reindeers in the snowy North of Norway. Lotta wakes up one night to discover she is in the world of her grandmother’s story!
Just right for Christmas stockings this year!

Published in October by Macmillan Children’s Books

Never doubt the power of Twitter! My interest in this book was piqued by the following hashtag – #thisbookwillsaveyourlife – where everyone  was asked to name a song that would change your life. I went for Sit Down by James and soon I was smitten and intrigued by this book. Being described as a cult read  for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Eleanor and Park, this is the story of Elise Dembowski, who has always been an outsider. Starting a new school, she hopes and fails to change her popularity status but when she comes across a secret warehouse party, she finally becomes the person she dreams of being – by being a DJ.

Sounds so good!

She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

Published by Indigo in October

Love, faith, obsession, coincidence, where will it lead?

The name Marcus Sedgwick is synonymous with a  cracking good read. As his book flits between London and Manhattan, the story explores obsession, trust and coincidence  in this thriller as Laureth Peak searches for her missing father. This is completely different from anything Marcus has written before and I can’t wait to read it.

Confessions of a Wild Child by Jackie Collins

Published by Simon and Schuster in September 2013

I am super excited by this book! I grew up reading Jackie Collins novels and my favourite books were always the ones that involved Lucky Santangelo. So I was over the moon to discover that Jackie Collins had written a prequel about Lucky when she was fifteen years old. So in reality, Jackie Collins has ventured into the world of YA! I can’t wait to find out what Lucky got up to when she was younger.

So those are the books I can’t wait to read. They are presently sitting top of my list. What books are you hoping to read next?

Weirdos vs Quimboids by Natasha Desborough

‘Felix Winters looks so HOT in a tuxedo,’ I whispered. His bum cheeks are like two orbs of wonder.’Could a boy be any more perfect.?’

Published in September 2013 by Catnip Publishing

Pages – 286

Goodreads Summary

Cursed by the initials BUM, saddled with woolly liberal-minded hippies for parents and an UNDYING love for the Proper Real-Time HOT Felix Winters, BLOSSOM UXLEY-MICHAELS is a seething mass of sexual frustration and political confusion. But when she s invited to work on the school radio, Blossom s convinced her status is about to rocket from Weirdo to Winner . .

*****

What a fabulously entertaining, laugh out loud, snigger behind your fingers book!  Right from the first page, I found myself chortling away and ignoring the strange looks from my family.  The comparisons to Georgia Nicholson, are completely accurate. I’d love to see Blossom and Georgia fight it out in a boxing ring.

Unfortunately for Blossom, she is classed as being a bit weird by the other more popular kids in school. Deep down, as many teenagers are, Blossom wants to be one of the popular kids – unlike others,she is convinced she has a sure fire  route to success and brushes away any bitchiness like bits of unwanted fluff. Through her new position on the school  radio station and her very own pop group, Camel Toe, she is determined to finally become popular.

Blossom is such a strong and well written character, she could almost be real. She ignites the book with her views on life, her quirky and unconventional family and her need to meet Josh Raven, a previous student at her school, who is now one of the hottest properties in the music world. She demonstrates in technicoloured detail, that no teenager is weird, they just have different views, opinions and dress sense from others which makes them unique  and original – not weird.

I loved the extra snippets of information that were provided through the story. The Scale of Shame could be printed and posted to each and every teenager, as I could see them all nodding their heads and relating to every single  point. I thought the End of Week Table of Achievement were a brilliant addition, not to mention the desperate letters to Josh’s management team in an attempt to get him to perform at the school dance.

I want to see more of Blossom in the future – I really hope she isn’t going to be a one hit wonder and explodes back on the scene in future escapades.

Stargirl Academy: Ava's Sparkling Spell by Vivian French

The café underneath our flat is called Café Blush, and it's run by Little Val and Tallulah Sweet. It's the prettiest café for miles and miles; inside it's a lovely rose pink, and there are flowery pictures on all the walls. Little Val and Tallulah often stop me when I'm running past the door to give me a huge chunk of the most delicious cake or a carton of yummy soup. We're really good friends. They're much younger than Mum, so they're like the big sisters I've always wanted and I tell them everything – well, almost everything. I've never told them about Stargirl Academy. I'm sure they could keep a secret, but I had to promise faithfully that I wouldn't tell anyone, and a Stargirl always keeps her promise.

Published in July 2013 by Walker Books

Pages - 129

Summary From Walker Books

Ava's leading the fourth Stargirl mission and she wants to help her friends at Café Blush. But with the tricky Sparkling Spell to master, she'll need a lot of support from Team Starlight…

*******

Review by Liss Norton

I really enjoyed this book, the fourth in the Stargirl Academy series. The series is quite formulaic but, despite this, each story is different enough to be of interest to the target market, girls of seven and over. In this story, Ava and her academy friends set out to help Little Val and Tallulah who run Café Blush and who are being put out of business by an unscrupulous couple and their dislikeable teenage sons. The ending is very satisfying and left me thinking: Ha! Serves them right! 

The book is generously illustrated with line drawings every two or three pages, and the cover is a bright orangey-pink with plenty of shiny silver stars to attract young readers. If I had to choose just one book of the series to read, this is the one I'd pick.

Childhood Daze with Lucy Christopher

As part of the Killing Woods blog tour, I am pleased to welcome Lucy Christopher onto the blog to tell us all about her Childhood Daze.

By the time I was nine years old, I had already lived in three countries (one of them twice) and in seven houses. My mother and new stepfather were moving from a small town in South Wales to Australia, where I had lived previously with my parents when I was a few months old.  I did not want to go. I remember feeling awkward and disjointed, cowering in the hot sun of an Australian summer playground. I remember photographs taken of me by my new teachers on my first school camp: I am standing to one side of a group of grinning blonde girls, my body hunched over and uncomfortable in front of thick Australian bushland. These photographs have been lost in the many house moves my mother and I have done since, but I can remember the sentiment they portrayed to me. They are sad images of a lost child in an unfamiliar landscape.

Perhaps due to a kindly school librarian, or because of a deeper subconscious urge to fit in, during those first years I read a lot of Australian stories. I raced through Mitchell’s The Silver Brumby series (1958 – 2003), Turner’s Seven Little Australians (1894), Gibbs’ Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (1918), and the adventure books of Southall such as Josh (1971) and Ash Road (1966). I absolutely adored Marsden’s powerful Tomorrow When the War Began series (1993 – 1999). In hindsight, I see that these are all texts very much concerned with Australian land. Texts where young people either take refuge in a wild space, or battle against it.

I’m convinced that this early reading helped to shape who I would later become as a writer: a writer absolutely committed to portraying strong, evocative and realistic wild settings. There is no doubt that my early reading helped shaped me as a writer of Stolen (my first novel, set in the Australian outback) in particular – a book where the setting is key for helping to portray the novel’s central questioning about ideas of freedom and entrapment.

The Killing Woods, also, was undoubtedly influenced by novels I read early on. I remember being rather affected by the portrayal of the woods in Lewis’ Narnia series: where the woods are portrayed as simultaneously cold and menacing and yet also life-giving and golden: a place where Aslan is killed yet also resurrected. My parents read me The Lord of the Rings shortly before I started high school: the scary Mirkwood Forest and the beautifully peaceful woods in Galadriel’s forest made me even more intrigued as to the power of woods in fiction. I hope that within The Killing Woods, my woods function as a setting both scary and beautiful, life giving and yet dangerous.

Without my early reading, I’m sure I wouldn’t be a writer. I certainly wouldn’t be a writer for teenagers, or a writer so concerned with portrayals of wild place.  Books saved me as a young person: they helped me to fit in, and they helped me to learn about the new world I had moved to.  It is beautifully cyclical that they have now become my career.

The Killing Woods is published by Chicken House in October. To read our review, please click here.

To find out more about Lucy Christopher:

Website / Facebook / Twitter

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross

“Perfect, just perfect,” says the stout man.  He scrutinizes me, his suit pinching across his rotund torso, and I assume that this is Monsieur Durandeau, but he doesn’t introduce himself. Instead, he walks around me in a circle as I stand still and awkward in the middle of the sitting room.  A faint perfume lingers in the air.  

Perfect: no one has ever described me like that before.

*  *  *

Published by Hot Key Books in September 2013

336 pages

Summary

When sixteen-year-old Maude runs away to Paris, her romantic dreams vanish as quickly as her savings. Increasingly desperate for money, she answers a mysterious advert: 'Young Women Wanted for Undemanding Work. Apply In Person To The Durandeau Agency.' But the work is very strange indeed. Maude discovers she is to be a repoussoir - an ugly young woman hired by Parisian socialites to enhance their beauty. Maude is humiliated - but faced with destitution, what choice does she have? Quickly (and secretly) selected as the perfect companion for the Countess Dubern's daughter Isabelle, Maude is thrown into a decadent world full of parties, glamour and astonishing cruelty. Maude finds that academic Isabelle is equally disenchanted with the Parisian social scene, and the girls form a tight bond. But when bohemian artist Paul and the handsome Duke d'Avaray are introduced into the girls' lives, their friendship will be tested to its limits. The girls are about to discover the true meaning of being beautiful...

*****

Reviewed by Caroline Hodges

I chose this book for review based on the unusual promise of an ‘ugly’ heroine and the late 1800’s Parisian setting.  It sure sounded like not your typical YA novel and I was pleasantly correct.

Ross’s debut drops us into Maude’s life as she’s just starting out in Paris.  Desperate for a job she signs up with a ‘repoussoir’ agency – where wealthy women hire an ugly companion to amplify their own beauty!  On her first commission, Maude is paired with debutante Isabelle and tasked by her over-bearing mother to do all she can to secure a wealthy husband for her reluctant daughter... but all without Isabelle knowing Maude is a hired repossoir.  Inevitably Maude and Isabelle’s friendship flourishes and Maude finds herself torn between her new found friendship and the objectives of her job.    

It’s very apparent how well-researched the novel has been; allowing us to experience a historical Paris with extremes of wealth and poverty.  Through Maude we know the chapped fingers of a laundress and then the glorious beauty of the rooms and outfits of the upper class.  We also discover just how strong public opinion was against the building of the Eiffel Tower at the time, something I had never expected or even thought about.  

Ross’s heroine is also well crafted and believable.  She is somehow likeable even when she is caught up in the wealth around her and begins to shun her friends.  Somehow you know she will be true to herself and Isabelle.  I found it refreshing that the novel is not an unrealistic rags to riches tale; something I was expecting to be the case.  Instead the moral of the story focuses on beauty, but in all its forms, particularly friendship and courage.  

Whilst I found the novel quite compulsive reading, I found the relationship between musician Paul and Maude a little unrewarding by the end of the book.  There were some really nice moments between them but they were oddly diminished by Maude’s apparent similar reaction to nearly any male she comes across whilst experiencing the Paris ‘season’.  So by the end, I felt that any relationship with Paul would have had the feeling of her ‘settling’ for him rather than any true interest which I think was not Ross’s intention.  I also found the end in general a bit idealistic though it’s hard to tell you why without spoiling anything... but let’s just say every woman and their dog suddenly has decidedly modern ideas on their profession!

Overall though, I liked the book.  The historical side of it is exceptional and the ‘repossoir’ theme unusual.  Ross has a pleasant style of writing and the first person perspective worked well and still manages to give us a good grasp on other characters perceptions of Maude as she goes through her decidedly selfish stage.  Also, I just adore the cover!  Hot Key Books have done a stunner!

Little White Lies by Katie Dale

Sweat trickles down the back of my neck as I check the computer clock for the millionth time. ‘Hurry up!’

‘Patience, Titch,’ Kenny chides. ‘You can’t rush genius!’ He winks, his eyes the only part of his face visible through his balaclava.

Pages – 373

Published by Simon  and Schuster in August 2013

Book Summary

The first time Lou meets tall, dark, and handsome Christian, she knows he's hiding something. Why does he clam up every time she asks about his past? Why doesn't he have any family photos and why does he dye his blond hair black?
Then suddenly his terrible secret is unveiled to the world - and it seems everything he's ever told Lou is a lie. Can what the media are saying about him really be true? Should Lou trust him? Or is she in terrible danger? But Christian isn't the only one keeping secrets. For what if their chance meeting was no accident at all ...?
As lie follows lie, nothing is as it seems, and soon Lou finds herself ensnared in a web of deceit, her loyalties torn, her emotions in tatters as she faces a heart-wrenching dilemma: should she shatter the lives of those she holds dearest, or betray the guy who, against all odds, she's fallen in love with?

Full of family secrets, surprising twists and unexpected revelations, Katie Dale's second novel will have readers on the edge of their seats.

*******

After reading this book, I can see why Katie Dale’s writing came so highly recommended to me. This book the tightest plot I’ve ever read. Nothing is  wasted – every conversation, every action and every expression used are essential to the plot of the book. It’s one of those books that on finishing reading it, you find yourself wanting to pick to pieces to work out how the author made it so utterly brilliant.

The characters have interesting twists to them. No one is what they seem. Everyone has hidden secrets and excellent masks to hide behind.  The author shows that nothing in  life can be categorised as black or white. Society has been created from a kaleidoscope of colour. The author has displayed clearly that the human race are far from perfect. Yet these characters are accepting of the flaws of others. They love each other at their best, but are also accepting of each other at their worse.

I loved the friendship between Christian and Lou.They had so much stacked up against them. There is a line in the final chapter that really broke me and had me tears. It was a simple sentence made up of just four words and yet it just summed up the relationship between these two characters and really moved me.

As the story unfolds little by little, you find out snippets about each character that you are surprised to discover. The author keeps you on your toes right till the last page. I couldn’t put this book down. I had to find out the truth and searched through the pages for the answers I so desperately needed.

The subject matter of this book is extremely topical and shows intriguing glimpses of issues that have hit the headlines in recent years. Due to the well hidden nature of the plot, I can’t divulge any of them in this review.

This is a strong, compelling tale that makes you think. A fast paced, thrilling rollercoaster of emotions.  A book I will be shouting about from the rooftops.

Stargirl Academy: Madison's Starry Spell by Vivian French

Last Monday afternoon, Izzy and I had the worst row ever. We used to get on really well, but just recently we've been fighting loads. Ever since she went to her new school, she thinks she's SO grown-up, and she can't be bothered with me. We never cuddle up on the sofa any more, and we never go shopping together. I used to love it when we did that – we used to giggle all the time, and come back with all sorts of rubbishy things that we both adored. But not now.

Pages – 128

Published in July 2013

Summary From Walker Books

Madison is delighted to be back at Stargirl Academy! But when the Golden Wand points to her and she must choose the next mission, she finds that helping people is not as easy as she thought…

Review by Liss Norton

This is the second book in the Stargirl Academy series about trainee fairy godmothers - or stargirls, as they're called nowadays! The story is about Madison, one of the six Stargirl Academy friends, who has to pick somebody to help when the Golden Wand points at her. She and the rest of Team Starlight use their magic to try to help her sister's friend, Di. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that it's not Di, but Madison's sister Izzy who needs help after all. The stargirls rise to their new challenge, although there are some hairy moments before they sort everything out.

The story moves along at a good pace and the plot and characters kept me interested to the end of the book. I particularly enjoyed reading about the girls learning to do the solidifying spell that played a memorable part later in the story. The characters, especially the academy teachers, are well-drawn, there are line drawings every couple of pages and the cover is fab, with lots of shiny stars. A good read for girly-girls aged seven and over. 

The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock

A scar of lightning flashed in the sky. With a final savage roar, the weird clouds opened.

Swollen drops began to streak past the window pane in strange colours, red and black and silvery grey. The water here must be filthy, Pen thought.

A dull reddish fragment of something thunked into the window and skittered away. Pen stared at the trail of dusty mortar it left, and then realised, it wasn’t raining water…

It was raining masonry.

464 pages

Published August 2013by Jo Fletcher Books (an imprint of Quercus Publishing) 

Summary from Jo Fletcher books 

Pen’s life is all about secrets: the secret of the city’s spirits, deities and monsters her best friend Beth discovered, living just beyond the notice of modern Londoners; the secret of how she got the intricate scars that disfigure her so cruelly – and the most closely guarded secret of all: Parva, her mirror-sister, forged from her reflections in a school bathroom mirror. Pen’s reflected twin is the only girl who really understands her.

Then Parva is abducted and Pen makes a terrible bargain for the means to track her down. In London-Under-Glass looks are currency, and Pen’s scars make her a rare and valuable commodity. But some in the reflected city will do anything to keep Pen from the secret of what happened to the sister who shared her face.

*****

Reviewed by K. M. Lockwood

This sequel to The City’s Son shows a similar leaping inventiveness to the first in the Skyscraper Throne trilogy. It features strong female characters and almost literally holds up a mirror to our own society’s attitudes on beauty and celebrity.

Whilst it helps if you have read The City’s Son, this story is self-contained. You need to be on the ball reading it, though. There’s total immersion in the world of this urban fantasy and it’s down to you to work things out as you go along.

It is particularly fast-paced towards the end, and although the imagination of the first book is still there, I’d say there’s an even better grasp of plot this time. It will suit fluent readers from secondary school upwards who engage with fantasy in a contemporary city setting.

Many will appreciate the touch of romance amongst all the dramatic events – it is delicately and tenderly done. It’s only right to point out that there some fairly horrific scenes and appropriate swearing to go with that. It’s not for kindergarten.

The surrealism and wider implications of the story give The Glass Republic a hint of Les Miserables through the Looking Glass. It’s none the worse for politics blended with the downright weird, if that appeals to you. It will be very interesting to read what Tom Pollock does to complete the trilogy in ‘Our Lady of the Streets’.

The Biscuit Witch by Deborah Smith

“‘Biscuit Witches,’ Mama called them. She’d heard the old Appalachian term as a girl. She’d inherited that talent. My mother could cast spells on total strangers simply by setting a plate of her biscuits in front of them.”

Published by Bell Bridge Books in May 2013

Pages – 130

Goodreads Summary

Welcome back to the Crossroads Cove where new loves, old feuds, and poignant mysteries will challenge siblings Tal, Gabby, and Gus MacBride to fight for the home they lost and to discover just how important their family once was, and still is, to the proud people of the Appalachian highlands. Tallulah MacBride hasn’t been back to North Carolina since their parents’ tragic deaths, twenty years ago. But now, Tal heads to cousin Delta Whittlespoon’s famous Crossroads Café in the mountains above Asheville, hoping to find a safe hiding place for her young daughter, Eve. What she finds is Cousin Delta gone, the café in a biscuit crisis, and a Scotsman, who refuses to believe she’s passing through instead of “running from.” He believes she needs a knight in shining flannel.When a pair of sinister private eyes show up, Tal’s troubles are just beginning. For Tal’s brother and sister—Gabby, the Pickle Queen, and Gus, the Kitchen Charmer—the next part of the journey will lead down forgotten roads and into beautiful but haunted legacies.

******
AAARRRGGGHHH!

This book makes me crazy! Never have I loved and hated a book more and been left so desperate for the next one.

This book is oozing with Southern hospitality in the style of authors such as Fannie Flagg and Beth Hoffman.  I found myself desperate to visit the Crossroads Cafe which would definitely give the Whistlestop Cafe a run for it’s money. I fell in love with the quirky, yet vibrant characters who could easily have stepped out of Northern Exposure. The MacBride’s have dug their way into my heart and I can’t wait to find out what happens to Tal’s brother and sister in the future publications.

However I had a couple of really big issues with this book.

Firstly there was far too much information dumped in the first couple of chapters. I really didn’t need to know so much about the characters so soon into the story, especially characters who were barely featured in the story. I can understand that this book is a connected to another and the author wanted to tell us all about the characters, other readers might have already met, but it was too much for me.

Secondly, I actually felt the story could’ve started further in. There is an extremely hilarious incident with a grizzly bear in the car eating cupcakes and I’m convinced the book should’ve started there.

Lastly, it took me far too long to work out who was actually telling the story. I didn’t realise the POV was alternating between Tal and the Scottish Doctor until a quarter of the way through the book.

Having whinged and moaned about all that – I really really did love this story when I got into it. It was descriptive to the point where you mouth watered every time they mentioned food. It was exciting and fast paced at times as Tal confronts her past, to create a new future. And it was full of warmth – family and friendship bonds that no one could ever break, leaving you feeling happy and content by the end of the book.

This is the kind of book that you want to read snuggled up on the sofa in winter.

The Elites by Natasha Ngan

There is a rumour that the Elites don’t bleed.

As the boy stand in the corner of the small, shadowy room, his whole body trembling, he thinks, If only I could be an Elite. Clenching and unclenching his hands, he tries to stop the shaking. An Elite wouldn’t feel anything, he thinks. Then: But I will feel it all.

Published by Hot Key Books on the 5th September 2013

Pages - 368

Goodreads  Summary

Hundreds of years into the future, wars, riots, resource crises and rising sea-levels have destroyed the old civilisations. Only one city has survived: Neo-Babel, a city full of cultures – and racial tension.
Fifteen-year-old Silver is an Elite, a citizen of Neo-Babel chosen to guard the city due to her superior DNA. She’d never dream of leaving – but then she fails to prevent the assassination of Neo Babel’s president, setting off a chain of events more shocking and devastating than she could ever have imagined. Forced to flee the city with her best friend Butterfly (a boy with genetically-enhanced wings), Silver will have to fight to find her family, uncover the truth about Neo-Babel and come to terms with her complicated feelings for Butterfly.

******

I feel like I’ve been waiting to read this book for such a long time. Natasha Ngan has been on my radar for quite some time and  I was intrigued about this YA fantasy novel that dealt with such adult topics as politics, class segregation and rebellion. I was impressed with how the author managed to make a political situation, so action packed and fast paced.

The author has created an intricate and highly detailed world which must have taken a long time to evolve. The world felt real, yet you knew it was really imaginary – if that makes sense. The writing is beautiful – such a strong descriptive voice that breathes life into this world. I could easily imagine what this world would look like.

The book is told in third person, but from three different viewpoints in short tightly packed chapters. There were a couple of times where I found myself getting slightly confused as to whose viewpoint I was reading, especially as the first part of the story is mainly Silver’s, but I soon worked this out. The story shows the contrasting lives between the Elite and the children living in the slums of Neo-Babel, which really works well.

I loved the relationship between Butterfly and Silver.  They had known each other all their lives and were only just beginning to realise how they felt. As the romance gently blossomed, it was good to see that it didn’t take centre stage to the main plot revolving around finding out why Silver’s parents disappeared and where they went. In fact, it made an interesting minor plot line.

On the whole a beautifully written debut with stunning imagery and an action packed ending.

Student Bodies by Sean Cummings

Mum is grumpy and it has to do with my newfound romantic life. Ugh.

I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen when you’re dating someone you’ve known since you were little. I mean,I’d actually seen Marcus Guffman in his Spider-Man underpants when he was eight – that was the same year he gave me chickenpox.

Published by Strange Chemistry in September 2013

Pages – 304

Goodreads Summary

Whoever said being a teenage witch would be easy? For fifteen-year-old Julie Richardson and the city’s resident protector from supernatural evil, the Left Hand Path doesn't give a damn if you've found true love for the first time in your life. There’s someone lurking the halls of Crescent Ridge High School with enough malice to unleash an epidemic of Soul Worms – supernatural larvae that feed on the very fabric of a victim’s humanity.
After witnessing the death of one of the most popular kids at school, Julie and über genius boyfriend Marcus are in a race against time to find out who is behind the attacks. All the evidence points to a horrifying plot at the City Weir during the Winter Solstice; the place where icy waters of the Bow River and a thunderous spillway will mean the deaths of more than a hundred of Julie’s classmates.
If she has any hope of saving their lives, she’ll need a little help from a coven of white witches and an Aboriginal mage whose snarky attitude is matched only by her magical prowess.

******

This book smashes the whole concept of Second Book Syndrome to smithereens! I really enjoyed the first book, Poltergeeks, but I really think Sean Cummings has taken Student Bodies to a whole new level. This book actually kicks butt!

I LOVE JULIE! She has an amazing, original voice, brimming with sassiness and attitude. It’s like listening to a gobby teenager talking to you; she has some of the best snarky one liners I’ve ever read.  It’s easy to believe that she is a normal teenager with magical powers. Another favourite character of mine is Betty the dog. Though I’m not very happy about events that occurred in the novel concerning this character…

The humour in this book mixes seamlessly with the darker aspects of the story. The author can switch from one to the other without even have to crack his knuckles.  I’d love to see Sean Cummings write a full on comical escapade, because I know it will have me falling off my seat with laughter.

This book has a strong theme of bullying  in it, especially focusing on the effects of cyber bullying, which fills our newspapers on a day to day basis. The author has managed to display the full effects of the  intensity of  the internet age, where the kids of today can never escape from the bullying that plagues them at school.

I loved the involvement of the Inuits in this story and how shamanism walks hand in hand with witch craft. I found these intertwined created a magically explosive story. The story involves some vibrant new characters who really added depth to the plot.

This book is even faster in pace than its predecessor, with a punch in the gut ending, that left me breathless. Tackling difficult current teenage issues, while cloaked in urban fantasy. A cracking good read.  I can’t wait to find out what happens in the final book!

Waiting on Wednesday– Dead Silent by Sharon Jones

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, started by Jill at Breaking The Spine, highlighting future book releases everyone is waiting on!

Dead Silent by Sharon Jones

Published by Orchard Books in February 2014

I loved Sharon’s debut novel! Poppy has already settled herself into my favourite characters category and I can’t wait to see what she gets up to in her next adventure.

Goodreads Summary

When Poppy Sinclair and her boyfriend visit snowy Cambridge, she doesn't expect to discover the body of a student - arms outstretched in the act of smearing bloody angel wings on the chapel's floor.
Suddenly, Poppy is faced with the possibility that the one closest to her heart might be the one committing the most malicious of crimes.
Dodging porters and police, dreading what she might find, Poppy follows the clues left by a murderer bent on revenge...
Long-hidden secrets are chillingly revealed, an avenging angel seeks forgiveness and red-hot vengeance must be quelled in the amazing new Poppy Sinclair thriller.

The Sacred River by Wendy Wallace

‘Oh, Lord, what is that?’

     Louisa, out in the fog with a pair of scissors, explored the soft obstruction with the toe of her show.  A rag, she decided.  A cloth dropped by Rosina from a window, back in the summer.  Stooping to pick it up, feeling for it on the brick path, she gasped.  The thing was warm under her fingertips.  She crouched down and peered though the vapour at a yellow beak, jet plumage around a glassy eye.  It was a blackbird.  Newly, beautifully, dead.

     The fog was sour on her tongue.  It tasted of iron and smoke mixed with a primeval dampness, made her eyes water and her cheeks sting.  Enveloped in the yellow cloud, Louisa could make out nothing.  Her own garden might have been a limitless place stretching to eternity in all directions or it might have shrunk to the very spot where she stood.

     All over London, birds had been dropping from the sky – thudding on to the leather roofs of carriages, falling down chimneys and splashing into lakes in the great parks under the gaze of statues.  Everyone said that they were an omen although there was no agreement on its meaning.  Louisa wouldn’t allow this one to be an omen.  She would rid them of it.

     Pulling on a glove from her pocket, she made herself pick up the bird.  It was light for its size, all feather and quill and claw.  Balancing it on her palm, she made her way along the path to the wall at the end of the garden and stretched out her arm to toss the corpse into the mews.  As she did so, she felt a scrabble of claws, sudden and intimate against her wrist.  The creature lurched, unfurled its wings like a black umbrella and vanished into the morning.

Published by Simon & Schuster on 1st August 2013

400 pages

Book Summary

The Egyptians had written their magic for the dead.  But Harriet wanted assistance now.  It was life she longed for…

Harriet Heron’s life is almost over before it has even begun.  At just twenty-three years of age, she is an invalid, over-protected and reclusive.  Before it is too late, she must escape the fog of Victorian London for a place where she can breathe.

Together with her devoted mother, Louisa, her God-fearing aunt, Yael, and a book of her own spells inspired by the Book of the Dead, Harriet travels to a land where the air is tinged with rose and gold and for the first time begins to experience what it is to live.  But a chance meeting on the voyage to Alexandria results in a dangerous friendship as Louisa’s long-buried past returns, in the form of someone determined to destroy her by preying upon her daughter.

As Harried journey towards a destiny no one could have foresee, her aunt Yael is caught up in an Egypt on the brink of revolt and her mother must confront the spectres of her own youth.

*****
Reviewed by Georgina Tranter

This is Wendy Wallace’s second book in a trilogy of Victorian novels.   Focusing on three very different women, she weaves an intricate tale of life, love and strength starting in London and culminating in Egypt.  The principal character is Louisa.  Suffering to breathe in the fog-filled air of London, she longs for change and begs her doctor to recommend that she go to Egypt, county of her dreams.  As this is the Victorian era, of course she cannot travel alone, so to accompany her are her mother and her aunt.  Both are very different people but agree to go with Louisa.

On the boat to Alexandria, we meet a whole host of characters who are to feature again later on in the story; newlyweds Mr and Mrs Cox, the dashing artist Eyre Soane and upon departure, a mysterious man with a piano.  Aunt Yael decides that she will not journey down the Nile with her sister-in-law and niece, so remains in Alexandria to do God’s work, leaving Harriet and Louisa to travel alone to Luxor.  

Wendy Wallace entwines the lives of these three very different women into this tale of discovery.  All three find a new purpose and sense of life outside the rigidity of their environment in Victorian London.  This is a tale of being able to escape from the binds that tie you, of being able to breathe fully and to take chances and risks that you may never have imagined before.  It is also a reminder that the past can sometimes come back to haunt you, with horrendous consequences.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, set in the beautiful country of Egypt which Wendy Wallace depicts so distinctly.  I liked the way that she manages to separate the stories of the three women, yet at the same time, keep them together.  I’m looking forward to the next chapter!

Secret Serendipity Seven with Katie Dale

As part of the Little White Lies blog tour, I’m really pleased to welcome Katie Dale onto the blog to tell us seven well kept secrets about herself and the book.

Gorgeous Christian is a mystery. Why does he dye his hair, clam up whenever Lou asks about his past, and have no family photos? 

But when Christian’s secret is publicly revealed, Lou finds herself in terrible danger – and keeping secrets of her own… 

As lie follows lie, nothing is as it seems, and soon Lou finds herself ensnared in a web of deceit, her loyalties torn, her emotions in tatters as she faces a heart-wrenching dilemma: should she shatter the lives of those she holds dearest, or betray the guy who, against all odds, she's fallen in love with? 

LITTLE WHITE LIES by Katie Dale

Published by Simon & Schuster UK August 2013

*******

1) I have quite a quirky writing method…

I don’t necessarily start writing at the beginning of the book, but instead start writing from the moment or scene in the story which is clearest or most compelling/exciting in my head. So I actually started writing LITTLE WHITE LIES from halfway through! This works well as a method of avoiding writer’s block – I just skip to the next part of the story I’m most interested in – but can often cause me problems too, as it leaves lots of gaps to stitch up at the end!

2) LITTLE WHITE LIES started life as SECOND CHANCE

In fact, the first synopsis I wrote for my publishers is pretty much unrecognizable compared to the final book! But as it was the second novel in a two-book deal, and we were working to a deadline and pre-set publication date, we all wanted to be sure we were on the same page with the story and where it was going as, unlike SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE which went through 40 pages of edits(!) there wouldn’t be a lot of time for major changes at the edit stage. 

Having said that, due to my quirky writing method, although everything went well to begin with, and I got to the end of the book fairly quickly for me – when I went back to the beginning to write the first half I found it really tricky, as there were all these secrets to hide. Consequently, I ended up rewriting the first eight chapters several times over, ultimately changing the setting from a summer writing course in a small Yorkshire village to Sheffield university, adding the character of Kenny, changing my main character’s name from Sasha to Lucy then finally to Lou, and changing Jazz’s name to Vix because I liked the name Jazz so much I want to save it for a main character in a future book!

3) My Mum is also a children’s writer 

Making up stories must be in my genes. When my mum, Elizabeth Dale was pregnant with me she started writing – and hasn’t stopped since! Whether magazine stories, picture books, or mystery series, Mum’s always writing – she’s had over 1600 stories published all over the world – which made it seem like a normal thing to do. I blame her for my being a writer, and she blames me!

4) My first publication was at age 8. 

So, having a mum who wrote all the time, I started making up stories from a young age too – and my first publication was a somewhat macabre poem entitled The Fate Of The School Hamster which was included in the Cadbury’s anthology of Children’s Poetry. 

5) I know the inside of a Travelodge like the back of my hand without research 

In my other life as an actress, I once spent a summer on an outdoor Shakespeare tour and every night we’d stay in a different Travelodge. They’re all pretty much identical inside, so every morning I’d wake up and have absolutely no idea whereabouts in the country I was! I got pretty fed up of Travelodges! But in a way the familiarity was kind of nice, too.

6) Like Lou, I also went to boarding school. 

My dad’s a biology teacher at a boarding-school (where boys outnumbered girls 5 to 1!) so after I won a scholarship I went there for sixth form college as a day girl. Like Lou, I found it both wonderful and frustrating – there are no secrets at a boarding-school as gossip spreads like wildfire! 

7) The Flying Pig pub really exists!

Although it’s not actually in Sheffield, and I didn’t realize it existed until after I’d finished writing LITTLE WHITE LIES. I based the pub in my book on another pub I went to whilst at uni, THE PORTER BROOK, although I shifted its position up a hill where I lived as a student. But now I live in Cambridge, and the other day on the bus I use all the time I passed a pub called THE FLYING PIG and nearly laughed out loud – I must have seen it dozens of times and the name must have entered my head subliminally and I named my pub after it unintentionally! It’s not the first time this has happened!

KATIE DALE

An actress as well as an author, Katie loves nothing more than creating characters - both on page and onstage. She kept her parents happy by getting a “proper degree” in English Literature at Sheffield University, before finally going to drama school, then whilst she was on a belated gap year travelling through South-East Asia she found out she’d been chosen as a winner of the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices competition with the her first novel, the emotional rollercoaster SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE, which launched her writing career, and is now published all over the world. LITTLE WHITE LIES, her second novel, has just as many twists and turns, but is more of a thriller...

Website: katiedaleuk.blogspot.com

Twitter: @katiedaleuk

The Returned by Jason Mott

Harold opened the door that day to find a dark-skinned man in a well-cut suit smiling at him. At first he thought of reaching for his shotgun, but then he remembered that Lucille had made him sell it years ago on account of an incident involving a traveling preacher and an argument having to do with hunting dogs.

Published in August by Harlequin MIRA

Pages – 352

Book Summary

Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time ... Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep—flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.
All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he's their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the centre of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

*****

The concept behind this story blew my mind. Imagine what would happen if the  dead started turning up on the doorsteps of their loved ones as though they never left. Mind boggling isn’t it! Before embarking on the journey through this tale, I tried to imagine how I would feel if my relatives turned up – would I accept them as though they never left or push them away because they couldn’t possibly be the same person?  A difficult thought to settle for anyone. Intrigued by these questions I dived into this book. I loved the contrasting reactions from different people as the dead returned, looking just as they did when they died.

The book centres on an older couple, Harold and Lucille, who find their son returned to them who died in accident many years ago. Grieving for most of their married life and tired with time and age, they now have their beloved son back to look after. Each of them deals with this dramatic change to their lives in different ways.

As more and more of the dead appear through the world, their little town panics and the government move in to control the arrivals, by actually capturing them and keeping them imprisoned. I found that aspect of the story extremely sad and hard to read. I can understand how people would panic – this is unknown territory – what if the dead end up outnumbering the living? Yet to see them caged like animals reminded me of  the concentration camps in WWII and it really did upset me.

As the book progresses, the situation with the returned goes out of control, to such an extent that an unofficial war erupts between the previously dead and the unliving, resulting in a rather sad ending.

I can’t deny this book was well written, but unfortunately it left me with more questions than answers. I wanted to know what had made the dead return and I felt that was glossed over. My brain couldn’t cope with the lack of explanation and that spoilt it a little for me.

I understand that this book was looking specifically at a family’s reactions at dealing with this situation, but at times I had to skim over their story. For a long period of the book, events seemed slow to move on and I found the plot dragging a little. It felt like something was missing – almost as if the plot was actually happening behind the scenes. This book might have worked better if their had been a dual story with another Returned person, rather than snippets about some of them.

On the whole this story is an excellent idea, with a brilliant setup and beautiful prose, but if you are going to create such a daunting idea that smashes existing spiritual and scientific beliefs then you have to come up with some plausible theories as to why the events happened.

Books I’m Excited About!

I’ve been dithering about this for some time now. I do get a lot of review books and I know how lucky I am.  I honestly can’t thank the publishers enough for always believing in me, even when there are times I  fall desperately behind. Anyway I no longer feel comfortable displaying them all in a letterbox or mail box post. I love looking at other people’s and I won’t stop doing that, but I realised I don’t personally want to write a post like that any more.

So what’s the alternative.?

Well I thought I’d start a regular post showcasing  a selection of the books that I’ve received that I’m really excited about. I will pick out four books at a time and talk about these exciting new additions to my library and tell you why I can’t wait to read them.

So here is my very first Books I’m Excited About post!

Frost Hollow Hall by Emma Carroll is published by Faber and Faber in October. If I’m honest, the cover blew me way first. It reminds me of old fashioned Christmas cards you sometimes get and it had me drooling. When I read the synopsis I knew I had to read it. Set during the Winter of 1881, Tilly falls through the ice of the frozen lake while skating. Very near to death, she meets a strange spirit who desperately needs her help.

Doesn’t it sound awesome? Just the kind of book you need for a  cold winter’s night.

A Foot In The Grave by Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski is republished by Jonathan Cape in October.

I am fascinated by this book. When Jan Pienkwoski began a haunting series of paintings he asked Joan Aiken to compose acompanying stories, the result was this book. I love ghost stories and I really don’t read enough short stories. I like the idea of dipping in and out of this book and it’s given me an idea for another feature. I can’t wait to tuck into this book.

These two books count as one choice! Right? My blog post, my idea, my rules!

The Complete Short Stories – Volume 1 and 2 by Roald Dahl. All of Roald Dahl’s short stories published together for the first time EVER. These books were published on the 12th September and I am super excited to receive them. I grew up watching the Tales of the Unexpected which showcased Roald Dahl’s darker side, so I can’t wait to dive into these dark and creepy tales – just in time for Halloween!

Shine by Candy Gourlay was published in September 2013 by Random House.

Candy is one of the members of SCBWI members I look up to. Her first novel won  a couple of awards as well as being nominated for many more. I missed out on her first novel Tall Story, but I fully intend to read this one. The following blurb has really caught my attention.

This is not a ghost story even though there are plenty of ghosts in it. And it's not a horror story though some people might be horrified. It's not a monster story either, even though there is a monster in it and that monster happens to be me.

Now you want to read it too, don’t you??

Well that’s the first ever Books I’m Excited About post. Come back soon for some more book drooling.

Dot by Araminta Hall

They were playing a game of hide and seek, as they so often did.  Some people might have seen it as a lack of imagination , but as both Dot and Mavis displayed so much imagination in later life, it seems more likely a fact of  circumstance.  Druith is after all miles from anywhere, sunk in a low, damp Welsh valley, and Dot’s house suggested itself to hide and seek in a multitude of ways.  Not that two ten-year-old girls were aware of any of this.  They didn’t even find Dot’s house strange: it was still nothing more than a marker in their childhood landscape, and the fact that the floors tipped, cupboard doors opened into secret passages and a concealed turret sprouted out of the side of the house washed over them.  The only thing they were beginning to find amusing were the plates with Dot’s grandmother inexplicably chose to hang on the walls.  ‘What next?’ they’d whisper to each other.  ‘Will we be eating off paintings?’  Although one glance at the heavy oils of permanently displeased relatives and windswept landscape made this seen very unlikely.

Published by Harper Collins  on 23rd May 2013

288 pages

Book Summary

In a higgledy-piggledy house situated in a sleepy Welsh village, two girls play hide and seek within its maze of tunnels and range of turrets.

Squeezed under her mother’s bed, Dot’s hand brushes against a long-forgotten photography of a man, his hair blowing in the breeze.  Dot stares so long at the photograph the image begins to disintegrate before her eyes, leaving her with just one thought: ‘it’s him.’

*****

Reviewed by Georgina Tranter

Unlike her first novel Everything and Nothing Araminta Hall has moved away from the crime/thriller genre and written a novel about families and relationships and the twists and turns of life that can undoubtedly change not only your life but those around you.

Focusing on three generations of women, Dot is a well written novel encompassing a whole host of characters.  I liked that fact that there were no real secondary characters in the book; everyone had a chapter where they got the opportunity to explain themselves.  What begins with two school friends playing hide and seek, turns into something much more complex.  

Dot’s father leaves her on her second birthday.  But who is he, and why did he leave?  Her mother rarely leaves the house they share with their grandmother, and she isn’t telling Dot anything.  Why do both Dot and Mavis both have the same red hair?  And later on, why do the girls’ plans for university both take a dramatic turn?  Araminta Hall weaves together a fantastic tale of two families who on the outside appear to have nothing in common but as the story progresses, you realise that appearances are not what they seem.

Having loved Everything and Nothing, I was eager to read Araminta Hall’s second novel.  There is no comparison.  Whilst I have loved reading both, they are of completely different genres, which, is an amazing feat for a new author to accomplish.  With a whole host of complex characters, and twists and turns to keep you reading, Dot is an enjoyable novel of ordinary people and what how the events around us can shape who we ultimately become.

The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

Saturday Night. August. 

Emily

Something was draped across Dad’s outstretched arms.

A deer? A fawn that was injured? It was sprawled and

long-legged, something that had been caught in a

poacher’s trap maybe. A mistake. So this is where Dad had

been all this time, in the woods and cutting this creature

free... 

...I tried to pick out the shape of the deer’s

body, but it was all wrong. The legs weren’t long enough,

neither was its neck. I took a step towards them. And that’s

when it made sense: the shape.

It wasn’t a deer Dad was carrying. It was a girl.

 

To be published by Chicken House in October 2013

359 pages in paperback review copy

Summary from Chicken House

Emily’s dad is accused of murdering a teenage girl. Emily is sure he is innocent, but what happened that night in the woods behind their house where she used to play as a child?  Determined to find out, she seeks out Damon Hillary, the enigmatic boyfriend of the murdered girl. He also knows these woods. Maybe they could help each other. But he’s got secrets of his own about games that are played in the dark.

*******

Reviewed by K. M. Lockwood

The cover of this new thriller by the award–winning author Lucy Christopher shows a young woman isolated in a moonlit wood. It has the look of an adult suspense novel: the tag line reads ‘Dangerous games are played at night...’

It certainly isn’t a comfortable read but like the picture on the front, although full of dramatic tension, there are touches of poetic beauty too. It is intended for the older teen reader but many adult readers would find the psychological story gripping.

It isn’t so much of a whodunnit as a whoknewit . The story is told from two distinct viewpoints and it takes a long and tortuous path till these converge. Like a really effective radio drama, you get right inside the two main character’s heads. Not only is there the mystery of what actually happened that night, but you get to engage with the effect of it all on Emily and Damon.

The ideal reader will not be put off by threats of violence, hints of sexual tension or by swearing. (I should point it out all of these are entirely valid in context.) They will enjoy a degree of uncertainty through almost the entire plot and be fascinated by the changing emotions and thoughts of the two young adults involved. They may well pick up on some deeper undercurrents and questions about society raised by the book.

It’s a dark and compelling read that will completely absorb its intended audience. 

An Interview with Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre

To celebrate the publication of Oliver and the Seawigs, I’m so pleased to welcome the book’s author, Philip Reeve and illustrator, Sarah McIntyre onto  the blog.

How did the working partnership between you both come about?

PR: We met at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010. Sarah was doing a drawing a day on her blog at that time, and I thought that sounded like a good idea, since I'd rather let my drawing lapse since I became a full-time writer. So I came home to Devon and started drawing landscapes, and we talked a lot online about drawing and stories, and became the best of friends. 

SM: The most interesting bit was when winter set in, and he kept going out on the moor and drawing. And I thought, if he’s braving the cold of Dartmoor to draw, I can at least manage to get to Greenwich Park. So I nearly froze my fingers off more than a few times, trying to keep up with him.

PR: At first I never imagined we'd work together, because our styles and outlooks are so different, but it was such fun inventing stories and throwing mad ideas to-and-fro that it just became inevitable.

 What came first – the storyline or some of the pictures?

PR: We came up with the idea together, and Sarah did some drawings of the main characters, which I referred to while I was writing.  But lots of the ideas in the story are Sarah's, and sometimes when I got stuck I'd just ask her what she wanted to draw!

SM: The Sea Monkeys came about because of an advert I’d seen in comics as a child, offering a family of sea monkeys if you’d send them a dollar. There was a little drawing of a happy underwater family – strangely humanoid – and I knew the sea monkeys couldn’t possibly be actual little people for only a dollar. So they started in our book with that advertising image, became part of our text, then I drew them as something slightly different.

I understand there are plans for further books in the series,  can you tell us anything about that yet?

PR: We've signed a contract for four books, and I hope there will be many more! They won't be a series in the usual sense, though: each one will be a new story, with new characters. The second is a space adventure, set aboard an enormous spaceship where everyone is asleep in suspended animation except for one girl who wakes up, and has to deal with various problems that arise, including cheeky aliens and... well, it's called Cakes In Space.

SM: We didn’t want to to tie ourselves down to one set of characters; we’re looking forward to playing around with entirely new ideas each time. And we like cakes, and space.

Your working partnership has been compared to Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’s – how does that make you feel?

PR: McIntyre is a lot taller than Quentin Blake...

SM: Reeve isn’t quite as grumpy as Roald Dahl.

What projects are you working on individually at the moment?

SM: I’ve just finished a picture book with Scholastic that I’ve written myself, called There’s a Shark in the Bath and I’m working on another picture book with David O’Connell at the moment. I’m also the artist for next year’s Summer Reading Challenge, so I have a few posters and stickers and things to prepare for that. I’m trying to keep the downloadable activity sheets on my website up to date with each book and suddenly I’m getting requests from some of our foreign Seawigs publishers (Dutch, Turkish) to hand-letter the sheets in different languages

PR: I'm just finishing the third novel in my Goblins series, which will be published by Scholastic.

 

Oliver and the Seawigs is published by Oxford University Press. Check out K.M. Lockwood’s review here.

To find out more about Philip Reeve:

Website / Tumblr / Twitter / Facebook

To find out more about Sarah McIntyre:

Website / Twitter

Split Second by Sophie McKenzie

I glanced at my phone. It was almost three p.m.

Three p.m. was when the bomb would go off.

Published by Simon and Schuster in September 2013

Pages - 356

Bound together by the devastating consequences of a terrorist attack on a London market, teenagers Charlotte (Charlie) and Nat appear at first to have much in common. But, as Charlie gets closer to Nat and his family, she begins to wonder if perhaps he knows more about the attack than he has let on. Split Second is an action-packed thriller that shifts between the perspectives of its two main characters as their courage and their loyalties are tested to the limit.

*****

Only one word to describe this book – EXPLOSIVE!

From the very first couple of sentences you are hit by an almighty panic, catapulting you through the story to find out why one of you main characters is frantically searching for a bomb. This book has been glued to my hands for the past couple of days as I nervously jumped between the dual narratives of Charlie and Nat as one moment in time alters their live for ever, as well as tying them together for eternity.

I loved the way the relationship developed between Nat and Charlie. I was also really pleased to discover that Charlie stood out as the stronger character of the two; she was more focused and in control of her emotions than Nat, who was more likely to suffer with doubts. I wondered if that was because Charlie had suffered a lot more than Nat, making him a little more wary, where as Charlie had a score to settle.

The plot keeps you on your toes through the book. It’s actually like being on a high speed train, heading to an unknown and dangerous destination. You think you are going to take one route and then the author switches tracks. The writing is sharp and tight. Each chapter often not more than a couple of pages long,but grabbing your attention and pushing you further into the story.

I think Sophie McKenzie has done an excellent job of creating a realistic story of what could happen in our country – it almost had an eerie premonistic feel to it, in the same way George Orwell’s  1984 did. A gritty, thrilling and fast paced novel that makes you worried about the future – I just hope our country has the sense to pull back before we end up living like this.

Twisting the Myths, from Werewolves to Mermen by Suzanne Johnson

To celebrate the publication of Elysian Fields, the third instalment of Sentinel of New Orleans series, I am pleased to welcome the lovely author, Suzanne Johnson on the blog to talk about twisting the myths.

I remember hearing the term loup-garou not long after moving to Louisiana. It’s French for “werewolf,” of course, and Louisiana was a French colony not once, but twice. So the legends of the loup-garou (also called “rougarou” or “roux-ga-roux”) date back to the land’s settlement.

My Sentinels of New Orleans series is heavily tied to South Louisiana culture, so I’ve had fun playing around with some of the local legends as well as giving local spins to paranormal species. 

My loup-garou, aka the Garou, are werewolves that are believed to be cursed, and the curse can spread virally (i.e., one does not want to even be scratched by a Garou). They shun the pack structure of werewolves, can shift at will, and have notoriously poor self-control—as my heroine DJ learns all too well in the newest book, Elysian Fields.

Coastal Louisiana has more water than land, so it made sense to me that the water species—nymphs, naiads and merfolk—would have a presence there. But the idea of mermaids sunning themselves on the rocky shoreline didn’t appeal to me; they needed a Louisiana flair. So in the Sentinels series, merfolk are aquatic shape shifters that can shift fully into big fish or partially into classic mer form. They’re born, not made, so one doesn’t have to fear a fish bite! They’re also mostly of Acadian descent, or as they’re now called, Cajuns. They mainstream well with unsuspecting humans and often work in the commercial fishing industry (which seems a bit cannibalistic now that I think about it). 

Finally, in a way to honour the rich history of New Orleans, the series features the Historical Undead—famous (albeit deceased) humans given immortality in the world Beyond through the magic of human memory. The more they’re remembered, the stronger they become until someone like the early 19th-century pirate Jean Lafitte can stay in the modern world indefinitely...and does. It’s also allowed me to bring back famous New Orleanians such as jazz great Louis Armstrong and voodoo priestess Marie Laveau. 

In the process of twisting the myths, I hope to honour a city and a culture and share the place I call home.

Elysian Fields was published on the 15th of August by Headline.

Book Summary

An undead serial killer comes for DJ in this thrilling third instalment of Suzanne Johnson’s Sentinels of New Orleans series
The mer feud has been settled, but life in South Louisiana still has more twists and turns than the muddy Mississippi.
New Orleanians are under attack from a copycat killer mimicking the crimes of a 1918 serial murderer known as the Axeman of New Orleans. Thanks to a tip from the undead pirate Jean Lafitte, DJ Jaco knows the attacks aren’t random—an unknown necromancer has resurrected the original Axeman of New Orleans, and his ultimate target is a certain blonde wizard. Namely, DJ.
Combatting an undead serial killer as troubles pile up around her isn’t easy. Jake Warin’s loup-garou nature is spiralling downward, enigmatic neighbour Quince Randolph is acting weirder than ever, the Elders are insisting on lessons in elven magic from the world’s most annoying wizard, and former partner Alex Warin just turned up on DJ’s to-do list. Not to mention big manoeuvres are afoot in the halls of preternatural power.
Suddenly, moving to the Beyond as Jean Lafitte’s pirate wench could be DJ’s best option.

If you haven’t even started this series, then here are the first two books for you to find and read.

To find out more about Suzanne Johnson:

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