The Butterfly Clues
by Kate Ellison
I have been reading far too many young adult dystopian novels - it was time for a change. And here it was. A superb thriller which sucks you in until you can't put it down. I filled up in a few places, and then felt a warmth of happiness and a smile on my face during the romantic parts. I was slightly irritated at the beginning by the main character's obsessive compulsive behaviour - all her little routines, words and actions she had to carry out - but as I continued through the book, it was accepted that was part of her behaviour, part of her coping, and it didn't bother me after that.
While trying to find out her late brother's last whereabouts, Penelope becomes involved in an incident which draws her into the world of Neverland - a place of homelessness, drug addicts, strip joints, and the charming Flynt. Yet Penelope is learning to trust nobody, not even the police. When she is hunted down and threatened by murderers, Penelope resolves to solve the mystery herself - with terrifying results.
A hard-hitting thriller, with language and themes to suit the higher end of teenage - I'd recommend 14/15yrs.
If you like this, try The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant.
Sleuth On Skates
by Clementine Beauvais
This was so funny - I actually laughed out loud in a few places. I just loved the way Sesame talks to her parents, and how exasperated they are with her and her quirkiness. I totally understood the mobile phone situation - the parents don't want Sesame to have a phone because of internet dangers, so they buy her one of those child-friendly phones with 3 main buttons - M for Mum, D for Dad, and a picture of a police car for police emergencies! A while back I had actually considered this for my own daughter!!
Sesame lives in Cambridge, more specifically in the grounds of the university, as her mother is a professor there and her father a parson. She rollerskates everywhere. She is absolutely thrilled when she hears that one of the students has gone missing, because this means she can put her detective skills to the test. But is she getting herself into something a bit too sinister for an 11-yr-old?
Great for 7-10yr olds who enjoy a bit of comedy and mystery rolled into one.
A Monster Callsby Patrick Ness
Wow, what an incredible book. The story is moving, the illustrations are powerful - I can see why it won so many awards. Warning - you will blub at many points whilst reading this book. It's all the more poignant and heartbreaking when you know that the author who started to write the book (and to whom the book is dedicated) - Siobhan Dowd - died of cancer whilst writing it, so Patrick Ness bravely and wonderfully carried on and finished it.
Conor's mother is dying of cancer, but he refuses to accept that her life is due to end and will not let her go. The 'monster' of his dreams (an old yew tree in the churchyard behind their house) comes to life to help him through the pain, anger and acceptance.
Truly exceptional.
Race The Wind
by Lauren St John
This is the sequel to The One Dollar Horse, and it's just as good! Lauren has such a natural ability to bring to life action and feelings, so you really do feel part of the story. She has a detailed knowledge of horse racing and showjumping, and her love for all things horsey comes across on every page. I've already read her Laura Marlin mystery Kentucky Thriller, and she returns to the Kentucky Derby in Race the Wind.
Casey has won at Badminton with her beloved horse Storm, and next stop is the Kentucky Three Day Event. But evil forces are out to block her path. Arrests, blackmail, troubled relationships - can Casey put everything to the back of her mind to become mentally strong to win the hardest horse championship so far? I hope another Casey and Storm story will be along soon - the Burghley Horse Trials beckons!
The Victory Dogs
by Megan Rix
From the author of The Great Escape (see my review) comes another beautiful story set in London during the Second World War.
Jack and Amy are the proud owners of 6-yr old collie Misty. Jack is preparing to go off to fight in the war and asks Amy to look after Misty for him. However, bombs start falling on London and Misty runs off frightened. She is also pregnant, due to give birth any minute. She is knocked over by a car and badly injured, but manages to find a safe hiding place in an underground station, where she befriends a cat called Sheba. The puppies are born and Sheba helps Misty look after them, as Misty's wounds are making her poorly and frail. Will the puppies survive war torn London, and will Amy manage to find them in time?
Yet again, another educational, moving story told with sensitivity and warmth. Megan's next book, The Bomber Dog, is out August 2013.
The Great Escape
by Megan Rix
Set during the start of World War II, the story follows the adventures of Buster (a Jack Russell), Rose (a collie) and Tiger (a ginger tomcat) as they escape the trauma of being put down and start a long journey from London to Devon, in search of their owners - 2 children called Lucy and Robert, who have been sent as evacuees to live with their grandmother.
An absolutely brilliant read, with many facts about the war which will be very educational for the 9-12yr olds. For fans of Michael Morpurgo.
Megan now has another book out with a similar war theme - The Victory Dogs.
Itch
by Simon Mayo
Itchingham loves chemistry and has an unusual collection of all the table of elements - well, nearly all of them. He keeps them in shoeboxes under his bed. He gets some items from a local dealer called Cake. One of the items (arsenic) which he secretly takes into school makes the whole class sick, resulting in the school greenhouse being closed down. Another item he buys off Cake has far deadlier consequences, and Itch finds himself the centre of unwanted attention from the police and some rather unsavoury characters across the world. How can he get rid of this deadly element that is causing such devastation?
A brilliant book for 11+ set in Cornwall. Just released is the sequel Itch Rocks. Check out my review!
Itch Rocks
by Simon Mayo
Wow! This was even better than the first, Itch! The adventures and thrills just kept on coming - a 400 page rollercoaster ride! You feel sorry for poor Itch having to go through so much terror - and pain! Loads more chemistry lessons, which is good for me as I was hopeless at it as a schoolchild. Such an original storyline for this series, I think that's why I enjoy it so much - no dystopia, no wizards, no vampires!
In this second instalment (and surely not the last?!) we find Itch, Chloe and Jack under close protection provided by MI5. Itch had buried Element 126 down a well under an old school in Brighton, but there are bad people around who are desperate to know its whereabouts - desperate enough to kidnap or even kill. The return of a couple of salubrious characters, and a moment's worth of slackness in MI5 protection, mean Itch and the gang find themselves yet again in mortal danger.
Mortal Chaos 'Deep Oblivion'
by Matt Dickinson
The second in the Mortal Chaos series. It follows much the same pattern as the first, but with different characters. A butterfly trapped inside an unfinished high rise office block in Sydney sparks off more disastrous incidents across the world. Not as much as a page turner as the first in the series, because the story pattern is no longer a novelty, but good just the same.
If you like this, also try The Last Minute by Eleanor Updale, reviewed below.
Mockingbird
by Kathryn Erskine
Caitlin suffers from Asperger's. She and her father are trying to come to terms with the loss of Devon, Caitlin's brother, who was killed at a school shooting. They both find a way of getting 'closure'.
Written by a lady who has a sufferer of Asperger's in her family, so can relate closely to it. However, I found I had little empathy for the characters. The father didn't seem to be very close to Caitlin, but that could've been the grieving process. Also, Caitlin has no friends - her classmates think she's a 'weirdo'. Surely she would've made friends during junior school in real life.
If Aspergers or autism interests you in a storyline, then also try The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence, and Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller (reviewed below).
Geek Girl
by Holly Smale
(Review by Megan)
BEST BOOK EVER!!!!!!!
Geek Girl was an amazing - and I mean it - story, with the tale of Harriet Manners as she transforms from a geek into a top viewer model.
Harriet Manners is a geek, and her whole school knows it. Being top in everything makes Harriet be teased, treated like dirt and makes her feel like a polar bear lost in a jungle, but one day on a trip to a shopping centre at school, a fashion agent sees Harriet and takes her away for photographs. In the next few weeks she gets transformed into a model, but has to lie to her best friend, Nat, and her stepmum, Annabel to keep everything in place. When they both find out what is going on, Harriet and her dad are chucked away like a bag of garbage, and Harriet still has a job with the modeling agency, but what will she do?
A gripping book from begining to end with a girls first love and troubling events. The book states for 11+, but I'm 10 and I really enjoyed it, but unfortunately there are a few places in the book were the use of bad language is used.
The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green
Teenagers are going mad for John Green, and having read this book, I can see why.
Hazel has cancer of the lungs. She must carry an oxygen tank on a cart everywhere she goes, and her parents know each day could be her last. She attends a cancer support group and is friends with Isaac who becomes blind with his cancer. One day Isaac brings along his friend, Augustus, whose cancer lost him a leg, and Hazel is smitten. So begins a beautiful relationship - but heartbreakingly short.
John Green brings his characters to life, he gives them humour to cope with their situation, but at the same time you will find yourself with a lump in your throat as the end closes in.
Also try Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher, and Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler.
The Bunker Diary
by Kevin Brooks
A rather disturbing story with a none-too-happy ending. A homeless teenager busking in London is chloroformed and bundled into a van by a man pretending to be blind. On waking, he finds himself in a damp basement of some sort with six bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a lift. We as the reader are left realising at the same time as him what has happened and what is happening - and very probably what will happen to him. Over the course of the next couple of days, five other people are abandoned in the bunker, and it is the start of psychological games by their abductor to see who will last the longest - if any. Have something happy to hand to read when you've finished this!
Waiting for Gonzo
by Dave Cousins
Marcus Osbourne (Oz) has moved to a new town, a new house, a new school. On his first day he manages to do the worst thing possible - draw a moustache on a photo of 'Psycho Skinner' (Isobel, daughter of local pub owner and also local crook), thus setting off a cycle of events which he hadn't bargained for. Add to this a surprise event within his family (referenced in the title as 'Gonzo') courtesy of Oz's sister, Meg, and we have one rollercoaster of misunderstandings, upsets, friendships broken then repaired, and family dramas. But with enough humour added to make it a comedy drama.
Rated teen for moderate language and teen pregnancy issue.
Colin Fischer
by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz
Colin has Asperger's and as such doesn't have many friends in school as they see him as some sort of freak to taunt. Because of his inability to detect emotion in other people's faces, he carries around a cheat sheet with drawings of faces with different expressions with the emotion written underneath. However, Colin has a great aptitude for maths and deduction of facts. When a gun goes off in the school cafeteria, he immediately becomes like one of his ultimate superheroes, Sherlock Holmes, and processes the evidence and facts to deduce who the real culprit is.
A great story of acceptance, family and friendship. If you like this, you may also like Wonder by R.J. Palacio and The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence.
Struck by Lightning
by Chris Colfer
A very funny story about Carson Phillips, a student at Clover High School, who is desperate to become a journalist, and needs to get some literary work together from the other students as part of his application to his favoured university, Northwestern. Unfortunately, all the other students hate him, so he has to resort to blackmail to get any work out of them. Lots of bad language.
Chris Colfer began his career as an actor, starring as teen Kurt Hummel in the hit series Glee.
Hostage Three
by Nick Lake
Amy is 17, fast approaching her 18th birthday, is a rich kid in a private school, has just finished her exams at school, but immediately fails them (she smokes a cigarette during her final exam). She lost her mother a while back, her dad has since remarried but spends all his time at work, and Amy doesn't get on with her stepmother. When her dad announces they are going on a round-the-world yachting trip, Amy doesn't really want to go. But dad hires a captain, a cook and a third staff member and off they go. The captain prepares the route taking care to avoid the Somali coast, as pirates have been known to linger there to board ships, take hostages, then demand ransom money from the rich yacht owners. Unfortunately, this does then happen. During the terror of the events which unfold, Amy starts to fall in love with Farouz, one of the pirates. How will things fare for the pair? Will Amy and her family survive the hostage situation? Will the ransom get paid? An original story about love and family.
Dash And Lily's Book Of Dares
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
What a great teen novel! (definitely teen - swear words here and there). Lily leaves a red moleskine notebook on a bookshelf in the town's main bookshop. In it is a dare for anyone who reads it. Dash finds the book and decides to follow it up with his own dare in return. So begins a relationship of words, secret messages and dares between two people who have never met each other. The temptation to meet is strong, but will their own versions of each other match up to the real thing?
A must-read for fans of John Green! Also try Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher, and Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson.
The Last Minute
by Eleanor Updale
The story starts 11 minutes after an explosion in an English town, and the next 59 chapters countdown the final 59 seconds before that explosion. It details the last movements of many inhabitants of the town. Several of these characters draw your suspicions, but it's only at the end that you find out if your suspicions may have been correct.
As soon as I started to read it, I thought of Mortal Chaos, how one event sparks off another until it creates a catastrophe. But in this book, you are ticking off a second in all the people's lives. That's a lot of movements of a lot of people, and you need a constant reminder of who all these people are. Because of the short chapters, you are able to whizz through the book, but you also find yourself skimming through most of it because there is too much detail.
Metawars - Fight for the Future
by Jeff Norton
It's unfortunate that I read this one after Insignia because so many of the details are the same. Jonah lives in the real world but, like all the other people, he plugs himself into a virtual world where everything is nice and pleasant. That is, until a war starts brewing between the Guardians and the Millenials. The latter want to take over the virtual world and rule it with one governor, whereas the Guardians would rather have a notion of 'free rule' where everybody governs. Both Jonah's parents have been killed as a consequence of the war, so he teams up with his dad's best friend from RAF days, Axel, and his daughter, Sam, to help save the virtual world - the Metasphere - from the clutches of Matthew Granger and his cronies.
This is the first in a four-part Metawars saga.
Insignia
by S.J. Kincaid
This has the makings of a good story, but it takes ages for anything of substance to actually happen, and the book was far too long - 400 pages. The blurb on the back of the book says it is about virtual reality wars in the sky, so I was expecting a lot of war action, but it was rather lacking. It basically follows the story of a teenager who is picked because of his skills on virtual reality games (he even attends a virtual reality school because he moves around so much with his dad), and he is recruited into a school where the pupils are trained to become fighters in the virtual war that is taking place. They all have implants put into their brains so they can be hooked up and programs downloaded into them to speed up the learning process. It seems this young boy has a very rare talent for accessing high security programs using his mind and brain, and can bypass firewalls to get to information. A lot of technical and computer speak abounds! Shame the book wasn't halved!
This is the first in a trilogy. The second, Vortex, is out July 2nd 2013.
Summertime of the Dead
by Gregory Hughes
Very violent - at times gruesomely so - the story is set in Japan. Yukio's best friends - the twins Miko and Hiroshi - have committed suicide because they have brought dishonour upon their family by becoming involved (unwillingly) in a Mafia gang. Yukio vows to get revenge and trains hard in his Samurai sword fighting. What starts out as revenge turns into a mad frenzy of cold-blooded murder - of both goodies and baddies. Yukio is slowly being consumed by evil. His young cousin, who he calls the Lump, sees beauty in everything and can sense the badness building in him. She manages to calm him with her simplistic views of the world, and for a while he desists in his evil attacks. Soon the Lump has to return home though, and the evil returns to Yukio. Needless to say, he is soon caught and arrested and committed to a prison hospital for the insane.
I started out not liking the writing - the author has an annoying love of exclamation marks. But it is obvious he loves Japan, its people and its culture (especially Samurai sword fighting!) The last couple of chapters are very moving - everyone that Yukio has known in his life has died and he wonders whether if he had not done some things, they would still be alive now.
Gregory Hughes is also the author of Unhooking the Moon, which won the Booktrust Teenage Prize in 2010.
A World Between Us
by Lydia Syson
This felt more like an easy-read adult novel than a teenage one. I'm not sure this would be a commercial success in the teenage market. (The cover is very old-fashioned and rather awful which may not help.) That said, I quite enjoyed the story. It is London 1936, and Felix is a trainee nurse living with her mum and brother Neville, whose best friend George is in love with Felix, of which she is at first totally unaware. Felix gets caught up in a march of supporters of the Spanish Republicans - it is the start of the Spanish Civil War. She bumps into Nat, who is off to Spain as a Brigader, planning to help fight against the Spanish rebels. They instantly fall for each other, and once he has left she decides to do the same, and escapes to Spain to help in the army hospitals. However, George finds out where she has gone, and he too follows her out there to serve. Felix has to decide whether to follow her head or her heart, and one near-death experience almost helps her decide.
At Yellow Lake
by Jane McLoughlin
A good suspense thriller which peters out and disappoints slightly at the end.
Etta, Jonah and Peter are all brought together at Yellow Lake cabin via various means and ways. Etta has been kidnapped by her mum's drug-dealing boyfriend. She escapes from the car after nearly colliding with Peter, a British boy who's hitchhiking to Yellow Lake to bury a lock of his mother's hair who has died from cancer, and who actually owned the cabin he's headed for. They come across Jonah, a young lad who's trying to 'find' his Red Indian heritage, and who has built himself a wigwam, forages for food and for healing plants, dresses in a loin cloth, and prays to his American Indian predecessors. He is camping out in woods next to the cabin. The three find themselves barricaded in the cabin, with murderous drug dealers trying to get in. Will they get out alive?
Ketchup Clouds
by Annabel Pitcher
From the author of the very sad but great My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, this is another tear-jerker - I loved it. It was moving, and true to life when describing teenage relationships. I just loved Aaron's character and, with everyone else who reads this, wished that 'Zoe'/Alice would confess her mistake and be with him from the beginning.
'Zoe' is telling her story in the format of letters to a prisoner on Death Row in Texas, partly because she feels the same guilt as him - he has murdered his wife and a neighbour in a fit of jealous rage, and she has caused a terrible accident due to her feelings for two brothers. It's about letting go of your guilt and moving on with your life.
Definitely teenage for bad language.
If you like this, you'll also like The Fault in our Stars by John Green, Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.
This book has recently won the Waterstones Childrens Book Prize 2013, and deservedly so!
Trash
by Andy Mulligan
Raphael lives in a slum and works on a rubbish tip, rifling through daily trash to find anything worth keeping or selling. One day he and his friend Gardo find a bag, inside which is money, ID, a key, and a letter and map. The letter is addressed to someone in prison, and when googled, the photo ID belongs to a man who the police are after. The boys find themselves mixed up in a case of government fraud, murder and police pay-offs. Will they discover the truth before they are killed?
A great book detailing not just the adventure but also life for the boys living in boxes or underground with rats, and the inescapable work of rubbish rifling for the rest of their life. Makes you feel so lucky to be living in a civilised western society.
Andy Mulligan is also the author of the great Ribblestrop series for 9-12, set in a school for a colourful bunch of characters!
Why We Broke Up
by Daniel Handler
Probably better known as his pseudonym Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler turns his hand to something more emotional and teenagey. I loved this book - I wanted to read it again once I'd finished it. Min Green starts dating Ed Slatterton, the very popular basketball player at school, infamous for his dating of girls. However, their relationship comes to a hurtful end and Min boxes up all her mementos of their time together ready to give them back to him. This book is a series of letters to Ed explaining each memento and why they now mean nothing to her, and it is in this way that we the reader find out how their relationship had progressed but then come to its sudden painful end. Brilliant. One for fans of John Green (see my review of one of Green's books - The Fault in our Stars). Also, if you like this try Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, and Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and 3/4
by Sue Townsend
I first read this at about age 13, and re-reading it now I realise a) how much of the story I'd forgotten, and b)how much I'd probably not understood at the time!
Adrian's mother has an affair and leaves his dad, whose world falls apart - not helped when he loses his job and has to sign on. All this is happening to a pubescent 13 year old, who is keen on literature, poetry and love. In other words, an angst-ridden teenage intellectual. The book was originally written for adults and you can see why - both subtly funny and dark.
VIII
by H.M. Castor
A superb book about Henry VIII, from childhood to death. We learn about his father's disappointment with him, and of how his father favoured Henry's older brother Arthur. However, Arthur died and Henry became King. We learn of his love of jousting, of yearning to go into battle, but also of his inner demons, his ghostly visions, his insecurities and suspicions of everyone close - including his wives and his closest mentor. He was never to have a surviving son that he constantly yearned, yet saw a strength in his daughter Elizabeth that was not in his other daughter Mary.
I did not want this book to end! I'm very excited to read on the author's website www.hmcastor.com that she is writing a sequel to VIII about his two daughters Elizabeth and Mary. Can't wait!
Second Chance Summer
by Morgan Matson
By the author of Amy and Roger's Epic Detour (fantastic book), this story follows Taylor and her family as they travel to their summer house in Lake Phoenix, Pennysylvania. It's a summer of high emotions - Taylor's father has cancer and he knows this is the last summer they'll be spending together. Also, the last time the family were at the summer house (5 years ago), Taylor had fallen for Henry but it had ended badly, and she'd fallen out with her best friend there, Lucy. So she comes ready to face the past, and to face the future without her dad.
A great easy read - recommended.
The Night Sky in my Head
by Sarah Hammond
Mikey is 14 and due to an accident which we are not at first told about has a learning difficulty and behavioural problems. The only friend he has is his dog, Timmer, who is constantly by his side. His dad is in prison. Mikey has the ability of being in a particular location and seeing into the past to see what happened there. In this way he slowly pieces together what happened to his dad, why he ended up in prison, why he has escaped now, what happened to a tramp found dead in the river and what happened to himself - why does he have a scar down the back of his head, and why does he keep having headaches?
As the back of the book says, a cross between Skellig and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, but definitely not as good as either - a bit darker and more depressing!
What I Saw and How I Lied
by Judy Blundell
A post war American romance novel, full of first love, jealousy and a mysterious accidental death. I read it in one sitting and loved it.
Black Heart Blue
by Louisa Reid
Deeply disturbing, harrowing, dark, there is no let up to the pain in this story of child abuse in a vicarage. The story is told 'Before' and 'After' by twins Hephzi and Rebecca. 'Before' is narrated by Hephzi, 'After' by Rebecca, the event being the tragic and lonely death of Hephzi. 'The Mother' and 'The Father' - as Rebecca refers to them - are cold, cruel and heartless to their daughters. The girls are abused mentally, physically and verbally, and they only have each other as comfort. Hephzi tries to break free by falling in love with Craig at college, but misunderstandings, cruel words and an act of love put an end to this brief ray of sunshine that had broken into her world of darkness. This book will stay with you long after finishing it.
The Radleys
by Matt Haig
The Radleys are seemingly a normal family in an affluent area of England. Father is a doctor, mother also an ex-medical student, children Clara and Rowan both teenage schoolchildren. However, there are things about them that are rather odd - the children are very pale, always sitting in the shade and always tired during the day, and the parents only socialise during the night. The parents have a secret which they have kept from their children - until the day Clara is attacked on her way home from a party and she ends up killing him - by sucking his blood. The Radleys are vampires, and the few days after the incident are filled with getting over the shock of the revelation, being chased by the police, angry parents, and a brother-in-law infatuated with the wife, determined to have her as his own.
It truly makes you think there could be vampires living in your street....
Matt Haig's new book for adults, The Humans, is out 9th May 2013. He is also the author of brilliant books for 9-12yrs - To Be a Cat and the Shadow Forest series.
Tom-All-Alone's
by Lynn Shepherd
The name of the book is the name given to a graveyard where people can have their loved ones buried cheaply, or in the case of those dead who have no family or friends, chucked in one on top of the other. One of the first scenes in the book takes place here, but it is bodies of babies that are unearthed. The place is London 1850, and here begins a brilliantly written murder mystery, led by ex-detective Charles Maddox. He is led into a world of bribery, corruption, prostitution and murder. Will he himself come out of this unscathed? The murders are gruesome but the storytelling gripping.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson
Wow, what a tome of a book! Very detailed, very political, quite long (387 pages!), but quite enjoyable. I got quite irritated at times with his form of conversations - indirect rather than direct speech. A fascinating alternative history lesson too!
Allan Karlsson is in an old people's home approaching his 100th birthday. The home plan to throw him a party, but Allan doesn't plan to be part of it, so he climbs out of his ground floor flat window and starts on quite an adventure - unwittingly a life of crime - and finds himself wanted for murder (but completely innocent). The chapters alternate between his centenarian self, and his colourful and eventful life from birth to the present day - how he managed to meet the most powerful people in the world and be part of the most important world changing events (sometimes being the cause of them). You grow fond of Allan's character as he seems both politically innocent, naive and ignorant, but astute and aware at the same time.
The Borrower
by Rebecca Makkai
Lucy is a librarian in Missouri, and 10-yr old Ian Drake is a regular visitor and borrower. His parents start to disagree with his (and Lucy's) choice of reading material. Lucy then discovers that they have enrolled Ian in anti-gay classes (not that he is, just to make sure he won't be). Ian wants to run away, and he starts out on his plan by spending the night (unnoticed) in the library. Lucy finds herself part of his plan when she discovers him there the next morning, and drives him out of town, not knowing where they're going. So begins a journey of lies but also of finding oneself, and discovering an awareness of other people's feelings. At what point, if at all, should Lucy convince Ian that he must return home to his overbearing parents?
Very americanised, I must admit I only enjoyed about the last half.
The Absolutist
by John Boyne
Written by the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, this is another war story, but this time the First World War. Tristan Sadler feels he has something wrong with him because he has different feelings from other men. He commits an act which finds him cut off from his family and best friend. He lies about his age and enters the Army at age 17, with the last words his father uttered to him ringing in his ears - "I hope you get shot by the Germans". He befriends Will and they form a very close bond, but Will's feelings towards Tristan and the war itself change, with devastating results. We discover the events as Tristan tells them to Will's sister after the war has ended.
Another emotional story from John Boyne about the dramatic and life-changing events of the time, both for the servicemen and civilians.
Mr Briggs' Hat
by Kate Colquhoun
Having loved Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, I was looking forward to reading this one and it didn't disappoint. Mixing facts of the case with photographs, historical facts about the railways, Victorian society, the judicial system, capital punishment and much more, this book about Britain's first railway murder is trully engrossing. Beware - do not look at the photos and captions in the middle of the book before finishing the story!
The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year
by Sue Townsend
Eva Beaver - mother of super intelligent teenage twins Brian Jnr and Brianny and wife of astronomer Professor Brian Beaver (also philanderer) - has had enough of everyday life and organising everyone else's life. She wants peace, quiet, rest and avoidance of people's emotional problems. One day she gets into bed fully clothed and doesn't leave for a year. Food is brought to her by her exasperated family and friends, her children disown her, her husband's lover moves in, she gains notoriety, and members of the public start camping out on the pavement outside her house. It all starts to get Eva down and she slowly starts to break down and refuses contact with everybody. It's only the close friendship of a local artist and DIY man which finally saves her in the end.
Humorous, sad, upsetting, truthful - everything you'd expect from a Townsend novel.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer
Oskar's father died in the 9/11 World Trade Centre disaster, when Oskar was 7. Two years later, he finds a key in a vase in his dad's closet and he ventures out to find the lock it fits - somewhere in the whole of New York. As well as the details of his search and the characters he meets along the way, we also learn about Oskar's Grandma and her heartbreaking relationship with Grandpa, who as a boy had survived the Dresden bombings.
It's a sad but wonderful and sometimes humorous account of death, mourning, love, survival, new friendships, and how the search for the truth can reveal more surprises than you expect.
The Sense of an Ending
by Julian Barnes
I was really looking forward to reading this as I absolutely loved Arthur and George. But I was a little disappointed. After reading so many teenage novels, this adult one appeared very pretentious. But perhaps it's just mature writing for the intellectuals! Much philosophising, debating every event in life, contemplating the meaning of life itself, our role in it, our memories of our life, and how our memories are not always to be believed. The story follows Tony, his schoolfriend Adrian, and mutual lover Veronica. Shocks abound, secrets uncovered. Not bad really.
The Lifeboat
by Charlotte Rogan
It is 1914, two years after the sinking of the Titanic, and a mystery explosion sinks the cruise liner The Empress Alexandra. Lifeboats are lowered, brimming to over-capacity with survivors. Grace Winter is separated from her husband, Henry, and finds herself in one of the lifeboats. So begins a diary of events told from the viewpoint of Grace in a letter to her solicitor while she is in prison, for a crime we are not fully aware of but can guess from the start. The book explains quite well the huge rollercoaster of emotions one must go through if you're floating at sea with little food or water, wondering if you're ever to be rescued. The physical and mental changes are well described, and you find yourself at one with Grace while she deliberates the meaning of survival, guilt, innocence and justice.
Unravelling
by Elizabeth Norris
A rather badly written book peppered with bad language, and very disjointed. However, amongst this awfulness is the start of a good thriller. Janell Tenner, 17, is hit by a truck and killed, but brought back to life by Ben. Her father is an FBI agent and is working on a case where unidentified victims are discovered with radiation burns. So begins a story of alternate universes, portals, murders, love and friendships. Slightly over-the-top but tiny bits of good thriller writing.
The second in the series, Unbreakable, is out 6th June 2013.
Pop!
by Catherine Bruton
Elfie, Jimmy and Agnes enter a local talent contest in Liverpool - Elfie and Agnes do the singing while Jimmy looks after Elfie's baby brother, Alfie. However, each of their parents know nothing of this - they all play a different part in the local union strike. The talent contest causes rifts in families and friendships, torn communities but ultimately a truly bonding experience.
Catherine's first book was We Can Be Heroes, which is definitely my favourite of the two.
The Case of the Good-Looking Corpse
by Caroline Lawrence
The follow-up to The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes, P.K. Pinkerton has set up a detective agency and his first case is the murder of Sally, one of the 'saloon girls'. P.K. battles with enemies old and new, and has the help of friends old and new to help solve the mystery.
I just love this series set in the Wild West of the 1860s.
Someone Else's Life
by Katie Dale
Overly long and overly complicated! Rosie and Holly were swapped at birth, so were brought up by the wrong parents. But then Rosie finds her real parents, but then one of them turns out to be not her parent, then Holly goes out for revenge on Rosie, Rosie loses her boyfriend, then gets him back again, then the same happens with Holly.....aarghh! Too much!
This Is Not Forgiveness
by Celia Rees
Nothing like other books I've read of hers (Sovay is a brilliant historical fiction novel for teens), this is a disturbing story of a teenage girl, Caro, who gets mixed up and deeply involved in marches, riots and finally terrorist plots. Her partner in crime is Rob, ex-army, injured in Afghanistan by a bomb, now deeply mentally affected with post-traumatic stress syndrome. Caught up in the middle is Rob's younger brother, the innocent Jamie, who has fallen in love with Caro, without realising what type of person she is.
The element of guns runs through the book - Caro's father shot himself following a spate of depression from losing his job; her stepfather has a gun licence, owns and keeps many guns in the house, and has taught Caro how to shoot (for game only); Rob and Jamie's father, also in the Army, shot himself; their Grandpa, again ex-Army, also has a violent past and owns guns, but is now in a home suffering from Alzheimer's. So from the beginning, when we know that Rob and another has died in an incident which has affected the whole community, there is an underlying sense of unease, and you're waiting for the inevitable to happen.
A slow and confusing start, but improves.
The Other Life
by Susanne Winnacker
There has been a rabies outbreak in Los Angeles and the government's militia have advised the public to spend the next 4 years in confinement in their bunkers, with regular updates over radio. Sherry and her family have run out of food, and contact has been lost with the outer world. Sherry and her father decide to exit the bunker and find food, but instead of finding food they find the Weepers - rabies infected humans with puss oozing from their eyes. The father is taken away to a weeper's nest, and Sherry finds help in the form of Jacob and other survivors who have taken refuge in a big villa - the Safe Haven. It slowly emerges that the area the survivors live in is actually fenced off from the rest of the country, and the military have no intention of letting those survivors - or the weepers - through back to humanity.
A good story - first in a series - a bit too fluffy when the romance is described. Jacob and Sherry seem to quickly form a relationship before they even know much about each other. But they are both sharing an existence of fear, and worry whether they'll survive another attack from the weepers.
Falling Fast
by Sophie McKenzie
From the author of the Girl, Missing series and the Medusa Project series - both brilliant.
River is 16 and a true romantic. She wants to find THE ONE, she wants to fall head over heels in love and never fall out of it. She auditions for the role of Juliet in an inter-school production of Romeo and Juliet, but due to a bit of a fluster, ends up with the role of the nurse. The fluster comes in the role of Romeo - Flynn, a brooding, fiery, serious moody teenager from the local boys school. River is hooked - he has to be THE ONE. Then he falls for her. But he's hiding many secrets - his father was an abusive alcoholic who his mother threw out the house. They now live in a tiny flat with his two sisters, and Flynn tries to protect them all. A huge job for a teenager with multiple jobs, school work, a play and a violent past. Can River cope with his behaviour? Is this what she wanted from her dreamy ideal of her one first and true love?
I read this in a day. A great teenage love story, describing all the emotions a teenage girl would go through on falling in love for the first time. Not for readers under 12 - very powerful language and descriptive scenes only for 13+.
