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Title: When The World Was OursAuthor: Liz KesslerEdition: KindleRating: 3/5 I’m not sure how to review this book, which follows three friends during the Second World War. Leo, Max, and Elsa live in Vienna, and when the book opens in 1936 they have no idea how the next few years will change their lives and …
Title: LoreAuthor: Alexandra BrackenEdition: KindleRating: 4/5 The gods of ancient Greece walking the streets of Manhattan, a seven-day Hunger-Games style fight to the death, and the descendants of Greek heroes warring against each other to harness the powers of the gods – this book has all the ingredients of a gripping urban fantasy, and I …
Title: Black IceAuthor: Julia BlakeEdition: PaperbackRating: 5/5 Buckle up – this one’s a wild ride! Think you know the story of Snow White? Think again. This adventurous fairytale retelling begins with the attempted murder of Princess Snow, heir to the throne of House White, and builds the drama from there. Instead of seven dwarves, the …
Title: Darkness, Be My FriendAuthor: John MarsdenEdition: PaperbackRating: 5/5 Book Four in the Tomorrow series continues the story of seventeen-year-old Ellie and her friends as they strike back against a foreign invasion of Australia. This time they have help from the New Zealand army, but they quickly learn that their new friends can’t guarantee their …
Title: DeeplightAuthor: Francis HardingeEdition: PaperbackRating: 4/5 Fourteen-year-old orphans Hark and Jelt scrape a living on the streets of Lady’s Crave, one of the islands of The Myriad. Life on the islands used to be dominated by the gods – giant sea monsters who swallowed ships and fought each other in the surrounding waters. But the …
Title: The Night CountryAuthor: Melissa AlbertEdition: PaperbackRating: 4/5 I read The Hazel Wood in 2018, so I’ve been waiting a while to read the sequel. The Hazel Wood is a fascinating urban fantasy, where several of the characters are stories in the fairytale world of the Hinterland, created by the controller of the world, and …
Title: Harrow LakeAuthor: Kat EllisEdition: PaperbackRating: 3/5 I don’t normally read horror, by when I read the first couple of chapters of ‘Harrow Lake’ in the 2019 Penguin Box Set YA sampler, I was hooked. After a brief scene-setting chapter, the story begins with a shocking discovery – the narrator discovers her film-director father stabbed …
Title: Full DisclosureAuthor: Camryn GarrettEdition: PaperbackRating: 3/5 This quiet story of a boy, a girl, and her HIV caught my eye because it offered a positive view of living with the virus. Simone is seventeen. HIV postive from birth, she has learned to take responsibility for her own health, and for the safety of the …
Title: The Poet XAuthor: Elizabeth AcevedoEdition: KindleRating: 4/5 This is a powerful book about finding your voice in a world that wants you to be quiet, and finding your path in a family that expects you obey and conform. The story of a poet discovering the power of her words is written in verse, each …
Title: The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust #2)Author: Philip PullmanEdition: AudiobookRating: 4/5 It’s been a while since I listened to the audiobook of La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust #1), and I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Secret Commonwealth. The ending of La Belle Sauvage tied in neatly with the beginning …
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