Katy Birchall is currently an Editorial Assistant at Country Life magazine. 'The It Girl' is her first book in a new series about schoolgirl Anna, her labrador Dog, and her dad. It is being marketed as 'clean teen', and for being ideal for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison. Seeing as my daughter loves the former and I love the latter, I was keen to give it a go!
Anna's parents are divorced, but are still good friends. Her dad is a journalist and has fallen in love with a famous actress, Helena, who he had to interview. Helena also happens to have a daughter Marianne, who is a socialite and an It Girl, so Helena and Anna's dad are keen for the girls to get along. Will the girls manage to become friends? What will Anna's school friends think of her joining the celebrity world?
On the whole, I rather enjoyed it. It was really funny, and it just so happens that, like Anna, my daughter also loves the Marvel characters (she knows them through all the films though, rather than the graphic novels) and Star Wars, and we also have a yellow labrador who is rather mad. I liked Anna's friends Jess, Danny and Connor, but of course none of us likes a show-off meany bad girl, of which there are many in one's life during school days, and of which there are a couple in this book. This was the part of the story which I thought let it down slightly. It was very predictable where the story was going and what was going to happen - so many school stories focus so much on the bully or the nasty girl. The book just seemed to lose its originality and its humour for quite a few pages.
However, I'd definitely read the next in the series (due out 2016), as I'd love to read more about the wonderful, funny Anna and what happens next in her rather mad world!
Last year, Non Pratt (if the text copyright page is anything to go by, then her real name is Leonie Parish) published her debut novel, 'Trouble', about a 15-yr-old schoolgirl who becomes pregnant. As you can see from my review, I enjoyed Trouble, so I was looking forward to reading Non's second novel. I was rather disappointed. It's just basically full of bad language and sexual references - two 16-yr-old girls going to a weekend festival with a box of condoms, one of the girls already sexually active, the other a virgin. I guess I should've seen it coming. I find it quite depressing that teenagers will actually want to read this (because they will), and I don't know whether it's for the reason that it's just a book of dialogue with no literary content at all, or whether it's because this this stuff actually happens in real life. Teenage girls (and boys) think nothing of sleeping around, just giving away their bodies to the first person who shows interest.
'Trouble' was longlisted and shortlisted for many awards, but sadly I don't think 'Remix' is in the same league. Sorry Non.
This book is being marketed as a 'companion' to Kate's previous novel, the award winning 'Life After Life'. It follows the story of Teddy, Ursula's younger brother, as he grows up, and joins Bomber Command during WW2, and then follows him through a life after the war, the 'afterward', a life he never thought he'd witness.
I really loved 'Life After Life', and so thought I'd feel the same about 'A God in Ruins', but I must admit that by about half way through, I felt myself 'plodding' through it, and feeling some chapters as a bit of a chore. I found myself getting a little fed up with the backward and forward in time, and even though the main story of Teddy is of his years in service, I hate to admit that at times I skimmed through those passages. I much preferred reading about his home life, his family, the awfully unkind Viola, and of course the wise words of Ursula.
This is not to say I disliked it, I would like to think that anyone who read 'Life After Life' should read this, it's just that I felt my thoughts wandering, and my eyes flicking to how many pages I had left! But I still loved Teddy, and it was lovely to read more about his parents and siblings.
'Half Wild' is book two in the Half Bad trilogy (my review of book one can be found here). I read 'Half Bad' about a year and a half ago, and was worried that I wouldn't remember all the details, but luckily Sally Green has a canny way of updating the reader on all that has happened in the first couple of chapters of 'Half Wild'.
It's going to be difficult to talk about the book without giving away spoilers, but there are a few things I can say - it's as brilliant as the first; you won't want to put it down; you still don't know who to trust; you'll have to wait until March 2016 for the final book in the trilogy (that's the worst bit).
At the beginning of 'Half Wild' we find Nathan at a cave, a meeting place he'd arranged with Gabriel to meet with him if all turned bad. He's been there nearly a month, and still no Gabriel. The last Nathan can remember is fighting with Hunters, Gabriel trying to provide a distraction so Nathan could escape, the Fairborn knife being taken from him, and his close friend Annalise being taken by Mercury and put into a death-like sleep. So, Nathan wants to track down Mercury, save Annalise and find Gabriel. Of course a million other things happen. What about Marcus, Nathan's father? The last we heard of him in book one was when he gave Nathan his 3 gifts, but he didn't want to hang around because he'd heard the only reason Mercury will give up Annalise to Nathan is if he brings her the head or heart of Marcus. So, Nathan also wants to track down his father.
Nathan gets help from unexpected places, but of course he has to provide something in return. He soon finds himself with a lot of blood on his hands, and in a situation that he has known would come, but which he prayed wouldn't. With a war between the Council and the Black and White Witches escalating, Nathan has to juggle love, family and his Half Wild gift to stay alive.
Absolutely brilliant.
It's quite common for big movies with big-name actors to be based on a bestselling book, but in this instance it's the opposite. At the moment, there is a film out 'Big Game' starring Samuel L. Jackson, written by Jalmari Helander and Petri Jokiranta, and directed by Jalmari Helander. Barry Cunningham, from publishers Chicken House, approached children's author Dan Smith ('My Friend the Enemy', 'My Brother's Secret') and asked if he could bring the characters to life on the page. Well, what a brilliant job he's done. I couldn't put the book down - I read it in a day. It's full of adrenalin-fuelled action and adventure, you're hardly allowed to stop and draw breath. The characters are thrown from one near-death experience to another.
The story is set in Finland. It is the eve of Oskari's 13th birthday, and following tradition he has to spend one night and one day alone in the forests surrounding Mount Akka with just a bow and arrow and an emergency fire kit and a few small essentials. At the end of that time he must emerge from the forest with his prize. When his father was his age, he came out carrying a bear's head. However, the villagers don't seem to have much faith in Oskari's ability to hunt and kill anything. Oskari is soon to find out that the forest contains things more frightening than bears and elks, and he and all the villagers will discover he has more courage and heroism than anyone would have imagined.
A brilliant adventure for ages 11+.
Oh my goodness, I love Lauren St John's writing so much. I've been a huge fan since her White Giraffe series (**newsflash** there will be a new title in that series 'Operation Rhino' due out August 2015) , which was then followed by the brilliant Laura Marlin series, then the excellent One Dollar Horse series, and now there is this 'The Glory'. All I can say is that her writing is as superb as ever. I read this book in a day, it was so engrossing. Lauren has this excellent ability of describing places in such beautiful detail that you want to get straight on a plane to visit it. This happened after I'd read 'Rendezvous in Russia'. I'd always wanted to go to Russia, and after reading this I said to my daughter 'Right, we're off'. We visited St Petersburg and I was just so excited I didn't care that it rained the whole week, and I didn't care that I had to spend a week's wages to buy a ballet ticket - it was all worth it. It was beautiful.
So, now Colorado is my next port of call. I followed the trail of The Glory (a fictional month-long, 1200 mile horse and rider endurance race, with a $250,000 prize) in one of my guidebooks on the USA, and the places just sound amazing. I want to to go horseriding, I want to buy a cowboy hat, I want to go to that cafe in Boulder, I want to experience the spectacular scenery and surroundings, I want to camp out under the stars (without the rattlesnakes).
Thank you Lauren for enriching my literary and travelling life!
Robin Stevens has become another of my favourite authors. This is only her second book (the first was book one in the Wells & Wong series 'Murder Most Unladylike') and it's even better than the first.
We follow Hazel and Daisy in the school holidays where they're staying at Daisy's house with her family to celebrate her birthday. However, everyone is acting very suspiciously and when one of the party falls dead after drinking a cup of tea, thoughts turn to murder and everyone is a suspect. Who better to investigate than the young detective duo Wells & Wong?
A delicious and delightful pageturner of a read. Unputdownable!
