Review: Josephine Angelini – Trial by Fire

Trial by Fire
I Am A Witch and Witches Burn
Josephine Angelini

Lily suffers in her own world because she is allergic to things that no doctor can determine. After a party goes wrong, Lily finds herself literally in a whole different world, fighting for her own life in a different way.

26064760To an extent I felt like I didn’t know Lily, despite having things from her perspective the whole time. She is a crucible I suppose, so being empty is part of it. I did feel like her character progressed though. Rowan on the other hand felt very static, although his attitude to Lily changed. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

This novel is going to keep you off balance the whole time. Lily is never sure what she is doing, and so the reader doesn’t ever get the big picture either. At the same time though, you know that there will be some sort of major confrontation.

Don’t let this title mislead you. It’s referring to the Salem witch trials, which don’t play a major role in the actual timeline of the novel, but were important in the past. Although basically everything could have been important in the past because of the multiple timelines.

Thank goodness I had the next novel in the trilogy waiting for me to read it. There are so many lovely loose ends that need to be cleared up! Yes, the novel circles back and you could consider it finished, but there are so many things still to be discovered.

4 stars from me. I read it breathlessly and couldn’t put it down.

4star

Pan Macmillan | 10 November 2015 | AU $16.99 | Paperback

Review: Sarah Mlynowski – Think Twice

Think Twice
Sarah Mlynowski

After a homeroom goes for flu shots, they develop a group mind, capable of reading people’s minds in just a glance at their unprotected eyes. When the first one of them loses their talent, there is a panic to maintain those that are left. Some people are happy to be free, while others dread it.

28241823This novel’s perspective can be a little off-putting before you get used to it. It’s written as ‘we’, which progressively gets to be a smaller ‘we’ as the book goes on and more of them lose their powers.

I didn’t read the first book in the series, but I think I would have really enjoyed it. ESP? Yes please! This one is as humorous as I would expect the first one to be. Basically they start trying to keep their abilities, and in doing so develop a whole range of side effects!

This is light teenage fiction, and I’d probably recommend it for girls, simply because to me the male characters’ voices seemed to be drowned out by others, particularly Tess and Polly/Pi.

This is another novel I left for too long without reviewing. Luckily I put how many stars I thought it was worth when I originally made this draft, so I must have thought it had some really good points then to give it 4 stars!

4star

 

Review: Wendy Orr – Dragonfly Song

Dragonfly Song
Wendy Orr

A little girl is left under a bush with no voice after raiders take her adoptive family. She is the only one to survive – and so she is relegated to the bottom of society and bullied mercilessly. Her one chance at escape is to take part in the Bull Dancing – but it is a perilous task that no one seems to know how to prepare for.

29866071Nooo! Past me, why did you not write notes on what you enjoyed about this novel? I could have sworn I had some notes sitting in my draft folder. Ah well. I can tell you that this was an excellent example of teenage fiction, and I really enjoyed it.

I snatched this novel from the top of a new pile of bookies that came in, and devoured it. I wanted something light and easy to read and this fit the bill. I curled up on a warm couch and read it in one breathless sitting. I didn’t know what would happen next, and what horrific things would be justified in speaking to a ‘cursed one’.

Something I didn’t enjoy about this novel were the poetry sections. I’m never a fan of poetry anyway, and here, the poetry tried to be good (in fact, it might have been good poetry, I’m not a connoisseur) but for me it distracted from the otherwise beautiful prose of the story.

I’ll be keeping this novel for future generations. I felt that it had real potential as both a teaching tool (bullying is bad), but also a great storyline that didn’t turn out how I expected it to. I’ll be giving this 4 stars, not 5, only because I probably won’t reread it.

4star

Allen & Unwin | 22nd June 2016 | AU$16.99 | Paperback

Review: Andrew Daddo – One Step

One Step
Andrew Daddo

Dylan’s life so far has been pretty uninteresting. He likes girls, he does swim diving and he has a sort of best friend. When his writing is read out in class, and the bully takes it out on him, Dylan’s life could take a turn for the better or the worse.

27803943This novel was particularly pertinent to me when I read it, as I had just shown a group of year 9 students around my university. It’s so easy to be mean to other people without even thinking about it.

There’s so much I want to say about this novel, yet at the same time I don’t want the reader to go into this with any expectations for what the novel ‘should’ explore. Just let me say it should be considered as essential on high school reading lists.

The ending! The ending killed me. It happened so suddenly without warning. Looking back over the storyline, I don’t think I saw it coming – and I think that is what Daddo is trying to convey. HIgh school is hard, and bullying is bad, and sometimes things just don’t turn out how you expect.

4 stars from me. Students should be reading this in early high school and start thinking about how their actions offend others.

4star

Penguin Random House Australia | June 2016 | AU$19.99 | Paperback

Review: Randa Abdel-Fattah – When Michael met Mina

When Michael met Mina
Randa Abdel-Fattah

The first time Michael sees Mina, they’re on opposing sides of a march against refugees coming into Australia. The second time, they’re in class together, and Mina is using her strong wit in defence of herself and her people.

29753111Considering that there are some situations that could potentially be huge, the writing is sensitive, nuanced, and realistic. It’s just as good as, and perhaps better than, this author’s other novels (I have reviewed 10 Things I Hate About Me).

I love the depiction of Michael and his parents. Things that would have blown up out of proportion in some other fictional families were simply dealt with here. It’s a novel of middle-ground, and realising what it is you stand for.

This is where what people look like doesn’t even enter into the readers head. I couldn’t have cared less what the two protagonists looked like, I wanted to know about everything that was going on inside their head.

Early into reading this novel, I took note of the cute little way that the headings within the book telling you which character was speaking matched the ones on the front cover. So cute! So teenage appropriate! Something to get those reluctant teenage readers in and caring about good things.

The more I think about this novel, the more convinced I am of its awesomeness. I’m not going to reread it, but I think it’s fantastic enough to deserve 5 stars anyway.

5star

Review: Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen – Sight Unseen

Sight Unseen
Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen

Kendra is a successful FBI crime solver, despite her best efforts to stay out of it and focus on her music therapy students. When old crimes she has solved begin to be bloodily reenacted, she has to return to dealing with murder that is too close for comfort.

Screen Shot 2016-07-13 at 1.40.49 PMKendra deals with crimes that would make  a squeamish person nervous in a way that makes you think she has no feelings. In this novel though, you start to see her coming apart at the seams, and what her family and friends need to do to let her recover. I want Kendra to be happy, but I also want her to do more awesome things!

This is a thriller that you will feel comfortable reading by yourself. There aren’t too many cases where Kendra is on her own and the reader would be scared to read it at night! That’s not to say there is an tension or drama – there’s lots of it.

I feel certain that most crimes aren’t dealt with in this way, and that serial killers don’t go in for a particular detective quite so badly, but I loved reading about it anyway. We don’t have the death sentence in Australia – and it seems like it isn’t that effective anyway! There are always people who think that they won’t be caught (and some never are).

Oh Kendra. You can’t protect everyone, no matter how hard you try. You seriously should check to make sure your students are ok though – this is the second time they have come into danger because of you. I don’t know how to feel about that. Maybe you should work anonymously? You know enough about disguises to make it work.

This was an ebook I accepted because I had loved the first in the series so much (Close Your Eyes). There’s going to be two more books with Kendra in them, and I’m hoping that I will see copies of those too. It is a real shame that these are only ebooks, but they are worth picking up anyway.

 

4star

Macmillan Australia | August 2016 | $9.99 AU | ebook

Review: Kathleen Jowitt – Speak Its Name

Speak Its Name
Kathleen Jowitt

Lydia is part of the Christian Fellowship, the strictest and least forgiving of the Christian societies on her college campus. While she enjoys leading others into the words of God, Lydia is often left feeling like she has missed something from her own readings of the scripture – how can she be feeling these things towards other people if the Bible says it is wrong? This is a novel of how Lydia finds herself, and in doing so, can help others too.

29850310I’m having a problem with some of these honeymoon romance periods novels at the moment. The sad truth is that many relationships won’t survive past the 2 year biological imperative. This novel is more important than that though, it’s about coming out in a place where you think everyone will be hostile.

For me, the ending didn’t entirely ring true. I’m not sure how dependant she was on her parents and other people, but noone seemed to have job. Oh wait, I’ve just realised this is set in the UK, so that means that the college rules are different. Anyway, aren’t jobs essential to university students?

I appreciated the reference to bisexuals not being really recognised in the queer community. Jowitt puts it nicely when she says that Colette could have fallen off one side of the fence or the other!

Surprisingly I’m going to be releasing this 4 star novel into the wild. Not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because I think it offers a unique entry into being queer in a Christian community, and I think it can help many people in their journey towards being comfortable with themselves.

4star

Review: Tim Johnston – Descent

Descent
Tim Johnston

Caitlin and Sean go for an early morning run, yet only Sean returns. Years on, nothing has changed and her family is continuing to rip apart at the seams. The locals have given up the search, but her father remains looking for closure.

Johnston_DESCENT_pbkcvr_rev.inddWhat I liked about this novel were the wide range of characters included. It felt like you were really getting entwined in the communities. They weren’t just one-dimensional characters brought in to further the story, it felt like they actually contributed to the lives of the family.

What I didn’t like about this novel was the pace. I started reading the novel, and didn’t get past ‘The Life Before’. I picked it up again and got about half way through. I just couldn’t get myself moving! That might have had something to do with the style of writing, particularly of Sean’s character.

This one of the better abduction novels I’ve read lately, although I wouldn’t classify it as a thriller the same way I would Babydoll. Far, far better than the last good day of the year, and better than The Leaving.

There’s a set of discussion questions in the back, which I appreciated. The one that resonated with me was the fact that Caitlin got into the car with her abductor, and whether I would have done the same thing. I considered that she had no way to know that this man was going to hurt her, so it was reasonable. If it was the only way she thought she had of getting help it’s what I would have done too. Maybe. All these abduction novels are setting me on edge!

I’m finding it hard to give this novel a star rating. It took a long time for me to be enthralled. I could give it 4 stars, because its so much better than the other offerings, but then again it didn’t grab me as hard as it should have. Rather, let’s give it 3.5 stars.

3star

Review: Hollie Overton – Baby doll

Baby doll
Hollie Overton

Lily was stolen away from her life at age 16. 2 years later, she gave birth to a baby girl in captivity and named her in honour of the biggest thing she missed – the sky. Now her captor has left the door open, and she is free – to flee, but not necessarily safe yet.

26889278Here the multiple perspectives worked quite well, but not flawlessly. I could have done without some in favour of some more from Lily’s captor. I imagine that he would have been the hardest character to write, as he needed to be realistic and yet creepily absent at the same time. He reminded me of Breaking Butterflies.

The abuse scenes aren’t that bad, per se, but still will be triggering for someone who may have been in an abusive relationship. The manipulative lying, the barren comments, all of it is horrifying with the knowledge that in real life, people do this, and not all of them are caught.

I’m feeling a bit weak in my heart at the moment, so I didn’t want anything too scary. I haven’t read ‘Fear is the Rider’ yet because I’ve been terrified of it! This was fine, even though I worried that there wouldn’t be a ‘happy ending’. I think the ending was more realistic than anything else. I wish you luck Abby and Lily, getting your lives back.

Oh my goodness. This was haunting. I couldn’t put it down. I HAD to keep reading. For that reason, I’ll forgive some other ills and give it 4 stars.

4star

Review: JM Peace – The Twisted Knot

The Twisted Knot
JM Peace

Sammi is on desk duty, unable to face going into the field after her abduction by a killer two years ago. When she is faced by a mob of people demanding that a pedophile is caught by police, she finds the courage to start active work again on a case which is as twisted as any you will have read about.

9781743538678It’s nice to see a crime novel where I can follow where some of the places are (ie. Australian). To think that crime used to be one of the genres that I turned down to review as a matter of course! I was selling them short by only imagining old-time detective novels.

I wasn’t sure why we were constantly reminded of Sammi making sure her gun didn’t catch on anything. Was it because the author wanted us to see this as something important to her as a plot device? Sammi developed nicely as a character, and I was certainly kept enthralled and up past my bed time.

Pedophiles are some of the most disgusting people on the planet, and I can’t think of a biological imperative for why it might be ok. Consenting adults people, consenting adults only. There is likely a psychological issue, as there was in this novel, and you can do more reading about it if you are interested. Remember that not all pedophiles act on their desires, just like some gay people never admit that they are gay.

I didn’t realise there was a ‘first book’, where Sammi is the one who is being investigated. This novel was a true stand alone though. In the back, it suggests other novels like itself, which I also enjoyed.

Ooh, this one was good. I really enjoyed this crime novel that wasn’t a thriller! I could stay up late to read its satisfying conclusion, but not be too scared to sleep. I’m giving this one 4 stars.

4star

Pan Macmillan | 28th June 2016 | $29.99 | Paperback