Carnegie Classics on Radio 4

On Thursday at 11.30, Radio 4 will be broadcasting Carnegie Classics:

Anne Fine, OBE and former Children's Laureate, herself a winner of two Carnegie Medals, looks at the UK's most prestigious prize for children's literature. From its inception in 1936, through its trail by media in the 60s to the schools shadowing schemes today, the Carnegie Medal is 'the' award sort-after by children's writers. We talk to authors Melvin Burgess, David Almond and Meg Rosoff about their experiences of winning the award, what it means to them and how it influenced their careers.

Last week The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman won the 2010 CILIP Carnegie Medal.

2010 Shortlist

ANDERSON, LAURIE HALSE - CHAINS
GAIMAN, NEIL - THE GRAVEYARD BOOK my review
GRANT, HELEN - THE VANISHING OF KATHARINA LINDEN my review
HEARN, JULIE - ROWAN THE STRANGE
NESS, PATRICK - THE ASK AND THE ANSWER
PRATCHETT, TERRY - NATION
REEVE, PHILIP - FEVER CRUMB
SEDGWICK, MARCUS - REVOLVER my review

Publishing Deal - Julie Cross

From today's Publishers Lunch email, news of a debut (and the T word gets a mention):

Julie Cross's TEMPEST, the first in a trilogy about a 19-year-old time traveler who witnesses his girlfriend's murder and inadvertently jumps back two years; stuck there, he's recruited by a shadowy government agency run by the man he thought was his father and vows to save his girlfriend no matter the cost, pitched as "Twilight" meets "The Time Traveler's Wife," to Thomas Dunne Books.

Vampire Academy the movie?

PRNewswire is reporting that Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series is to be made into a film:

LOS ANGELES, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Preger Entertainment has acquired the motion picture Rights to Richelle Mead's New York Times best selling book series "Vampire Academy" (Penguin/Razorbill Books).

In its first week of publication, "Spirit Bound", the fifth book in this series, achieved a New York Times and USA Today # 1 bestselling series ranking, while simultaneously debuting as the #1 best seller in Australia and New Zealand.

the press release continues and ends with this news about the sixth book and a spin-off series:

The sixth and final book of the series is scheduled for release in December 2010. Based upon the series worldwide acclaim and success, Penguin/Razorbill has ordered a spin-off series scheduled to begin in 2011, continuing the series into the coming decade.

TimeRiders are a go

Puffin are to publish 9 TimeRiders books by Alex Scarrow - I read this in the latest Bookseller but here it is from the author's mouth (blog):

Hooray! Today, Puffin publicly announced they are going to sign a deal for the remaining books I’ve planned in the the nine-book series! Which is fantastic news as it allows me and them, to ensure the series story arc pans out perfectly! As opposed to not knowing if the series was going to be 5,6,7…etc books long! (Which is the kind of headache TV writers suffer from, when there’s no certainty whether the next season is going to be picked up or not)

Read the whole blog post here.

I reviewed the first in the series here and the second in the series TimeRiders: Day of the Predator is due out on 5 August.

Review: Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (audio book)

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick and read by Daniel Philpott (January 2010, Oakhill Publishing Limited, ISBN: 9781846488320)

First Line: Even the dead tell stories.

Review: Revolver is narrated by Sig Andersson who has been living with his sister, dad and step-mother in Giron (Kiruna) in northern Sweden where his dad works for the mining company in an office job. It is Winter 1910 and bitterly cold and the lake outside is frozen but Sig's dad Einar has inexplicably driven to their home across it even though he'd said never to do so as the ice is thinner in some places. By not following his own advice, he falls through a weak patch into the freezing water below. He manages to get back on to the ice but cannot save himself from hypothermia. It is Sig who finds his father's body and it's Sig who is left with the body when the women-folk go to the town for help. While Sig waits he receives a visitor who will change his life...

Interspersed with the 1910 chapters are chapters from 1899 when the family, at this point Sig's mum is still alive, are stranded in the Alaskan town of Nome. They have gone there to find gold, but there's none to be found and Einar and the family are lucky to survive.

And then there's the revolver, which is Einar's prized possession and which makes an appearance in all parts of the story.

Revolver is only three CDs long and yet there is so much packed in. There's not a wasted word and is extremely well plotted - with all that you've heard before, proving crucial to the final resolution. I could see this as a stage play, as much takes place in just one room, albeit a room with a thawing body in it. The Arctic setting is well conveyed and Sig is a likeable, resourceful character. This is a thought-provoking read which, unsurprisingly, was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal 2010.

Daniel Philpott's narration is very enjoyable too with distinct and appropriate voices for all the characters.

Library Loot (54) & review copies

Library

Paper Towns by John Green
Who is the real Margo? Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life - dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. She has disappeared. Q soon learns that there are clues in her disappearance ...and they are for him. Trailing Margo's disconnected path across the USA, the closer Q gets, the less sure he is of who he is looking for.

Crashed by Robin Wasserman
Before the accident, Lia Kahn was happy. Before the accident, Lia Kahn was loved. Lia was a lot of things before...She was normal, alive...and human. But Lia no longer believes in before. Six months after the crash that killed her, six months after being reborn, Lia has finally accepted her new reality. She is a machine, a mech, and she belongs with her own kind. It's a wild and carefree life, without rules and without fear. Because there's nothing to fear when you have nothing left to lose. But when a voice from her past cries out for revenge, everything changes and Lia is forced to choose between her old life and her new one. How many people - mechs and human - is Lia willing to hurt to protect her freedom? And how far is she willing to go to protect the people she loves? In the tradition of Scott Westerfeld comes the second book in this riveting and edgy science fiction novel which raises questions of mortality, technology and morality.

Review

Matched by Ally Condie (Puffin, December)
Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Killer Strangelets by C T Furlong (out now)
The first of three ARCTIC 6 adventures for teenage readers. This adrenaline packed thriller follows the exploits of the fifteen year old Iago, his cousins, Cam, Tara and Renny, and his younger sister, Aretha. Joined by their friend, the bewitching Charlie, they embark on a mission to save Iago's father who has been accidentally kidnapped - by perhaps the maddest of all possible mad scientists.

Publishing Deal - John Barrowman

Interesting news from today's Bookseller:

Michael O’Mara’s children’s imprint Buster Books is to venture into fiction publishing for the first time with a title from “Torchwood” and “Doctor Who” star John Barrowman.

World rights were acquired from Gavin Barker of Gavin Barker Associates for an undisclosed sum to the as-yet-untitled novel.

Buster Books publishing director Philippa Wingate said that “probably another” title would follow and “hopefully many after that”. The first novel, to be aimed at children aged 9-12 years old, is lined up for paperback publication in August 2011.

Barrowman will write the novel with his sister Carole, who also helped him pen autobiographies for the independent, Anything Goes and I Am What I Am (both MoM). The novel will be sci-fi/fantasy, and the plot will follow a 13-year-old twin brother and sister.

BBC Books has also confirmed that Barrowman will also be writing a “Torchwood” tie-in novel, although it is as yet untitled and unscheduled.

Review: Theodore Boone by John Grisham

Theodore Boone by John Grisham (June 2010, Hodder & Stoughton , ISBN: 1444714481)

First Line:
Theodore Boone was an only child and for that reason usually had breakfast alone.

Review: Theodore Boone is the first in a series of young adult novels by best-selling thriller writer John Grisham. Theo Boone is thirteen years old, extremely bright and born into a family of lawyers. He can't decide whether to be a lawyer or a judge when he grows up and is already offering free legal advice to his class-mates.

Theo lives in Strattenburg and a most dramatic trial is about to take place. Pete Duffy is on trial for the murder of his wife at their exclusive gated-community home.

The trial will be a battle of wits between two top lawyers and Theo is desperate to follow it. However not only is he going to be observing the action but he will play a crucial role in the trial's outcome...

I enjoyed Theodore Boone. Theo is a likeable character who is not afraid to hand over the tricky problems to the adults, whilst keeping his promises to his confidants. This is quite a cozy almost idealistic read - Theo's family is liberal and help out in the community, Theo travels everywhere by bike, all the Courthouse staff love him and rather than being bullied at school his expertise is sought. The plot is quite straightforward but holds the interest nonetheless. The writing is quite simple and seems to be aimed at younger teens eg Theo explains mortgages at one point. There is a slight overuse of the term 'pecking' in relation to keyboards!

Readers will pick up plenty of knowledge about US law and may even be inspired to a legal career. Theo and his family are the characters most explored but I hope that Theo's friend April features more in the next book - as yes there is a sequel, which I'm glad about as there are many questions left unanswered at the end.

NB. This book is being produced in both adult and YA editions.

Publishing Deals - Hawkins & Miles

A couple more upcoming paranormal titles, in today's Publishers Lunch Weekly email:

Author of HEX HALL Rachel Hawkins's REBEL BELLE, about a high school Miss Popularity whose world changes when a funny thing happens on the way to the (Homecoming) coronation: she's recruited into the Paladins, a supernatural sect of bodyguards sworn to protect those who will play an important role in the future, and charged with saving her archnemesis even if it means sacrificing her place as queen bee, to Disney-Hyperion, in a three-book deal.


Debut author Elizabeth Miles's paranormal suspense trilogy, FURY, about three beautiful and vengeful teen sisters who exact karmic justice in a small town in Maine -- and the one girl who might have the power to stop them, to Simon Pulse, at auction, in a three-book deal.

My Origami Yoda

I recently reviewed The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger. At the back of the book comes instructions on making a simple origami yoda and as this year's Summer Reading Challenge is the "Space Hop" I thought I would test drive making my own Yoda with a view to incorporating it in the summer activities programme. Origami Yoda is flanked by Easter egg boxes of Yoda and Chewbacca downloaded from the Star Wars website:

Library Loot (53) & review copies

Library

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
Doctor Who: Apollo 23 by Justin Richards
Star Crossed: Aries Rising by Bonnie Hearn Hill

Review

Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James (out 1 July from Faber)
The Dream Thief by Catherine Webb (out 1 July from ATOM)
Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld (out 1 July from ATOM)

Trailer Thursday - Killer Strangelets

Killer Strangelets is the first in the ARCTIC 6 trilogy by C T Furlong and came out on 1 June from independent publisher Inside Pocket.

The first of three ARCTIC 6 adventures for teenage readers. This adrenaline packed thriller follows the exploits of the fifteen year old Iago, his cousins, Cam, Tara and Renny, and his younger sister, Aretha. Joined by their friend, the bewitching Charlie, they embark on a mission to save Iago's father who has been accidentally kidnapped - by perhaps the maddest of all possible mad scientists.

'How can I, Iago Johnson, a) know anything about the fate of the universe and, b) be in any kind of position to change it..? I am not a superhero, I'm not a genius. I'm not even very good at science... `

Forced to take action, the A.R.C.T.I.C. 6 embark on their first mission!

The intended kidnap victim: not Iago's father but his uncle, Jonas, a scientist involved with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project at CERN - the European Centre for Nuclear Research in Switzerland, where he has been testing Big-Bang theory.

An Old Nemesis: Katherina Kreng has used the LHC to create matter-annihilating particles - the Killer Strangelets - which could gobble up the planet!

The Solution: an emergency shutdown device hidden somewhere inside the long LHC tunnel, deep beneath the Swiss mountains.

The Problem: Only Jonas knows where it is, and he can't get to it!

Watch the trailer, below:

Review: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger (Mar 2010, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. , ISBN: 0810984253)

First Line:
The big question: Is Origami Yoda real?

Review: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda is a series of short chapters narrated by class-mates of sixth-grader Tommy which he has gathered together to decide if Origami Yoda, a paper finger-puppet on the finger of 'loser' Dwight, is using the Force to answer questions posed by Tommy's class-mates, or whether Dwight is supplying the advice himself.

Adding a complication is that Origami Yoda's advice is usually wise but sometimes contradicts what Dwight appears to think.

Tommy's friends Harvey and Kellen add their thoughts and drawings to Tommy's casebook along the way.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda is a charming book, which made me laugh out loud at times. The Star Wars references and drawings are very appealing, as is the main character, Tommy. The different stories do come together at the end and the reader can make their own mind up about Yoda's powers. This is a beautifully designed book which covers some life messages about tolerance and honesty in a gentle way. It reminded me a little of the 1980s He-Man cartoon series in which each episode ended with a moral message. The book also shows you how to make a simple Yoda of your own (which I haven't tried yet!). (The instructions are also on the Origami Yoda website.)

Read The Spook's Apprentice - online

Joseph Delaney's The Spook's Apprentice is being made available to read online for free, but in instalments rather than all in one go:

"From 4th June to 18th July 2010, you can read The Spook’s Apprentice online, for free. The first spine-chilling instalment will be available to read until Friday 25th June. Check back then for the 2nd instalment, if you dare…"

Read part one here.

Synopsis: This is a terrifying series about a young boy training to be an exorcist. Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant and many apprentices have failed before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the County, the horror begins.

Publishing Deal - Anne Cassidy

Being a crime fiction fan, I'm very excited about this announcement in today's BookTrade:

Bloomsbury Children's Books has acquired The Murder Notebooks, a series of crime thrillers by Anne Cassidy, renowned teen novelist and author of the award-winning Looking for JJ. The deal .. is a joint acquisition by Bloomsbury UK and Bloomsbury USA for world English language rights. With publication throughout 2011 and 2012, it will be backed up by a strong marketing and publicity campaign.

[Bloomsbury] says 'Murder Notebooks is an incredibly stylish series of crime thriller novels that promises to have every reader compulsively turning the pages as quickly as they can read them! We are thrilled and very proud to welcome the renowned Anne Cassidy to the Bloomsbury YA list.'

Publishing Deal - Lindsey Barraclough

This one passed me by last week. I'm particularly interested as it's set in East Anglia (where I'm from). From BookTrade:

RHCB is delighted to announce that Annie Eaton, Fiction Publisher at RHCB, has acquired a standalone novel from debut author Lindsey Barraclough; LONG LANKIN. The deal which is for World rights and includes translation, film and TV, was done direct by the author.

LONG LANKIN is a haunting story for young adults about two sisters sent to live with their eccentric aunt in 1950s rural East Anglia. The older child discovers that the village is hiding dreadful secrets, and that a centuries old mystery involving witchcraft, child snatching and murder threatens her younger sister's life when a terrifying presence is awakened in the churchyard.

LONG LANKIN will be published in hardback in spring 2011.

Giveaway: The Sky is Everywhere (UK)

I was recently part of a blog tour of extracts from Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere. Thanks to Walker, I now have a prize to offer of

a t-shirt, a copy of The Sky is Everywhere and some post-it notes

The competition is open to UK residents only and will close on 28th June. You don't have to be a follower to enter but I don't mind if you do :)

Please complete the form below to enter:



All details will be deleted once the winner has been contacted.

Library Loot (52)

Quite a quiet week this week, giving me a bit of time to catch-up. I'm getting hooked on the Conspiracy 365 series, I'm on my 3rd one in a row:

Library

Theodore Boone by John Grisham
Conspiracy 365: April by Gabrielle Lord
Conspiracy 365: May by Gabrielle Lord

Publishing Deal - Libba Bray (UK)

I mentioned this new series from Libba Bray a couple of months ago but it's now been announced in The Bookseller that Atom will be publishing it in the UK:

Stephenie Meyer’s imprint Atom has made a major acquisition in a four-book deal for a new super­natural young adult series set in Jazz age New York.

Samantha Smith, editorial director, bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to The Diviners by Libba Bray.

The publisher described it as “a wonderfully-drawn tale” with a “fierce yet vulnerable” heroine and a cast of characters with “prophetic abilities” and a “super­natural evil that threatens them all”.

Smith said it would be Atom’s big launch for 2012 with a major print and online marketing campaign ahead of publication in the autumn. The series will be published concurrently by Little, Brown Young Readers in the US.

Bray added “I’ve been dying to write something about 1920s New York City for some time. Fusing it with one of my other great loves, the supernatural, just makes it that much more fun to take on.”

Free e-book of Winter's Passage by Julie Kagawa

Julie Kagawa's Winter's Passage novella can be downloaded in several formats for free from Enter the Faery World.

Winter's Passage takes place between The Iron King and The Iron Daughter:

... and follows Meghan and Ash on their perilous journey deep into the heart of Winter.

Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl...until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck-Meghan's best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon-who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey.

Yet Meghan and Ash's detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter-a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat....

Read The Poison Diaries - online

HarperTeen has made The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood available to read online, in full, for a limited time-period at their website.

The book is already available in the UK and will be available to buy on 20 July in the US.

Synopsis:

In the right dose, everything is a poison. Even love . . .

Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle, with little company apart from the plants in her garden. Her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants: that even the most innocent-looking weed can cure -- or kill.

When Jessamine begins to fall in love with a mysterious boy who claims to communicate with plants, she is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined . . .

Trailer Thursday - Fat Vampire

Continuing a run of vampire posts this week, here's the unusual trailer for Adam Rex's Fat Vampire which is out on the 27 July in the US from HarperTeen.


Doug Lee is undead quite by accident—attacked by a desperate vampire, he finds himself cursed with being fat and fifteen forever. When he has no luck finding some goth chick with a vampire fetish, he resorts to sucking the blood of cows under cover of the night. But it's just not the same.

Then he meets the new Indian exchange student and falls for her—hard. Yeah, he wants to bite her, but he also wants to prove himself to her. But like the laws of life, love, and high school, the laws of vampire existence are complicated—it's not as easy as studying Dracula. Especially when the star of Vampire Hunters is hot on your trail in an attempt to boost ratings. . . .

Searing, hilarious, and always unexpected, Fat Vampire is a satirical tour de force from one of the most original writers of fiction today.

Watch the trailer, below:

The Vampire Diaries - DVD release dates

Season 1 of The Vampire Diaries will be available to buy on DVD on 23 August in the UK. The online price is around £27.

The US release date is 31 August.

Will you be buying the DVD?

Read Bree Tanner - online

You can read Stephenie Meyer's The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner for free on Breetanner.com, for a limited period:
"This site will be live from noon EST on June 7th until midnight EST on July 5th. Please keep in mind that you can only read the book here – you won’t be able to download it to your e-reader or phone. And you can’t print it out.

Some of my fellow UK bloggers have bought and reviewed it already, giving it the thumbs up:

Wondrous Reads
Empire of Books
The Crooked Shelf.

Review: Vampire Diaries The Return: Nightfall by L J Smith

Vampire Diaries The Return: Nightfall by L J Smith (Mar 2010, Hodder Children's Books, ISBN: 1444900633)

First Lines:
Ste-fan?
Elena was frustrated. She couldn't make the mind-word come out the way she wanted.

Review: My reviews of the first four books in the Vampire Diaries can be found here. This review may contain spoilers of these earlier books.

Though published 18 years after the first book in the series, The Awakening, the events in Nightfall take place a week after the ending of The Reunion. The gang's all here: Stefan and Damon, Elena, Meredith, Bonnie and Matt. Elena is alive again but at least to start with she's not quite human: she cannot speak and floats! Elena's former close friend Caroline is also not quite herself and Elena and Bonnie's psychic tendencies can sense something dark inside and even Damon is not immune and starts acting even more careless of human life than usual.

It seems something awful has been drawn to Fell's Church with the ultimate aim of destroying the town. When Stefan disappears it's up to Elena and her friends to rescue the town (again) - and where does Damon stand - is he friend or foe?

I really enjoyed Nightfall. It's great to have Damon back..I mean Elena. Damon is the character you cannot predict and that's a lot of the excitement. Sensibly, level-headed but not terribly exciting Stefan is written out for half of the book. Elena is a more likeable character than in the first series and Meredith is equally strong as before, though Bonnie is perhaps more of a scaredy-cat than I remembered and it's Elena whose character develops most through this book. The gang has some nasty enemies this time and there are a few scenes of mild torture, which along with more overt sexual references than in the first series, make this possibly aimed at a slightly older audience than before.

Nightfall is set in the current day, with references to mobile phones (no more summoning spells) and the internet. There are a lot of dead signal areas in Fell's Church though. The story feels smoothly continued from before, the writing is better - though there are a few scenes and repeated phrases which are squirm inducing - and I feel it contains a lot more humour in it, especially from Damon. Despite a complicated, sometimes confusing plot, it did seem to drag a little in the middle (it is 471 pages) but has a gripping final fifty pages. I can't wait to read Shadow Souls.

(I am watching the tv series and even though my copy hasn't got the tv actors on the front I couldn't help but picture Damon and Stefan, and Matt as they are in the show. Not so for Elena as she is golden haired in the book and dark on the screen.)

Library Loot (51), a purchase & 2 review copies

Library

L-R

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
Waves by Sharon Dogar
Shadows by Amy Meredith
Shadow Souls by L J Smith
Diary of a Wimpy Vampire by Tim Collins
Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman
Rogue by Mark Walden
Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani

Bought

Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita

Review Copies


I an Number Four by Pittacus Lore (Puffin, Aug 2010)
In the beginning we were nine. We left when we were very young, almost too young to remember. Almost. And now . . . Three are gone. We are here to keep our race alive, which was almost entirely obliterated. We’re just trying to survive. Six are left. But we are hunted, and the hunters won’t stop until they’ve killed us all. They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. I am Number Four. I know that I am next.

The Radleys by Matt Haig (Canongate Books Ltd, July)
Meet the Radleys: Peter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in an English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secret. From one of Britain's finest young novelists comes a razor-sharp unpicking of adulthood and family life. In this moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of one unusual family, The Radleys asks what we grow into when we grow up, and explores what we gain - and lose - when we deny our appetites.

Read Pretty Little Liars: Killer - online

I recently posted about being able to read Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars 1 online and in full. Well HarperTeen are making book 6, Killer available in the same way for a short period of time.

Read it here.

Review: Pretty Bad Things by C J Skuse

Pretty Bad Things by C J Skuse (March 2010, Chicken House, ISBN: 1906427259)

First Lines:

Paisley

School counselor's office, Immaculate Conception Academy, Lodi, New Jersey

Simpson fumbled getting the tape into the VCR. She was all, Which button is it?

Review: Pretty Bad Things is the story of twins, Beau and Paisley Argent. When they were six they came home from school to find their mother dead. They then went to find their dad but got lost in the nearby woods and weren't found for three days. When they were, they were nicknamed the Wonder Twins. Their dad, struggling to make ends meet and wanting a better life for his family turned to crime and was caught. The twins were then left in the care of their maternal grandmother, former soap-star,Virginia. Virginia got the twins on talk-shows and even doing commercials and the money poured in. Unfortunately the twins didn't see any of it. Ten years later, Paisley is expelled from her fifth boarding-school for bad behaviour and Beau is a nervous, bookish young man who is constantly bullied.

To make things right, Paisley believes they must find their dad whose last known address is near Las Vegas and so the twins set off in spectacular style to find their dad. But it's not as easy as they thought it would be and they decide to turn to a life of crime to get what they want.

Pretty Bad Things is a noir-ish tale of failed parents and guardians whose impact on their two charges has left them both damaged, in different ways. Paisley is the strong one, who will do whatever it takes whereas Beau will follow her lead. Through the time they spend together, a time that takes their thoughts back to their childhood, the relationship changes but the bond remains the same. The twins take the reader on a tour of a vividly realised Las Vegas - both casinos and sweet shops - before family members reappear and a final showdown paves the way for the twins' future.

Pretty Bad Things was not was I was expecting, I found it quite dark in tone and potential readers should be aware it contains strong language, violence, attempted rape and other sexual content. Incidentally, the author is British but to my eyes at least, this reads as if written by an American.

Published in June (UK)

Here are some of the titles that are published in the UK in June. I will put a link to this post and previous and subsequent "monthly" lists in my sidebar. Title links go to amazon.co.uk. Feel free to let me know of others to add to the list.

A list of titles published in January can be found here, February's titles are here, March's list is here, April's is here and finally, May's.

Michael Gerard Bauer - Don't Call Me Ishmael (30th, TickTock Books, pb)
Ian Beck - Samurai (1st, Barrington Stoke, pb)
Judy Blundell - What I Saw and How I Lied (7th, Scholastic, pb)
Jessica Brady - The Karma Club (30th, TickTock Books, pb)
Melvin Burgess - Nicholas Dane (3rd, Puffin, pb)
Cristy Burne - Takeshita Demons (3rd, Frances Lincoln Children's Books, pb)
Meg Cabot - Being Nikki (4th, Children's Books, pb)
Isobelle Carmody - Obernewtyn (7th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Gillian Cross - Tightrope (3rd, OUP Oxford, pb)
Jim Eldridge - Black Ops: Jungle Kill (4th, Egmont Books Ltd, pb)
Candy Gourlay - Tall Story (3rd, David Fickling Books, HB)
John Grisham - Theodore Boone (3rd, Hodder & Stoughton; Children's ed edition, HB) review
Nick Hale - Sudden Death (4th, Egmont Books Ltd, pb)
Jenny Han - The Summer I Turned Pretty (3rd, Puffin, pb)
Frances Hardinge - Gullstruck Island (4th, Macmillan Children's Books, pb)
Charlie Higson - The Enemy (3rd, Puffin, pb) review
Mary Hooper - Fallen Grace (7th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Ross Kemp - Ganglands: Russia (3rd, Puffin, pb)
Anna Kendall - Crossing Over (24th, Gollancz, HB)
Andrew Lane - Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud (4th, Macmillan Children's Books, pb)
Sue Limb - Girl 16: Five Star Fiasco (7th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Gabrielle Lord - 265: June (3rd, Hodder Children's Books, pb)
James Lovegrove - Five Lords of Pain 3: Lord of Tears (1st, Barrington Stoke, pb)
Maureen McCarthy - Somebody's Crying (1st, Allen & Unwin, pb)
Geraldine McCaughrean - The Death Defying Pepper Roux (3rd, OUP Oxford, pb)
Samantha Mackintosh - Kisses for Lula (4th, Egmont Books Ltd, pb) UK debut
Stephenie Meyer - The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (5th, Atom, HB)
Sarah Miller - The Other Girl (7th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Sarah Mlynowski - Gimme a Call (3rd, Orchard, pb)
Katy Moran - Spirit Hunter (7th, Walker, pb)
Jandy Nelson - The Sky is Everywhere (7th, Walker, HB)
Jackson Pearce - Sisters Red (3rd, Hodder Children's Books, HB)
E E Richardson - Black Bones (1st, Barrington Stoke, pb)
Meg Rosoff - The Bride's Farewell (3rd, Puffin, pb)
Louis Sachar - The Cardturner (1st, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, HB)
Michael P Spradlin - The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail (30th, TickTock Books, pb)
Linda Strachan - Dead Boy Talking (15th, Strident Publishing Limited, pb)
G P Taylor - Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools (3rd, Faber and Faber, pb)
Alan Temperley - Scar Hill (28th, Luath Press Ltd, pb)
Cecily von Ziegesar - Classic: An It Girl Novel (10th, Headline, pb)
Rachel Ward - Numbers 2: the Chaos (7th, Chicken House, pb)
Tim Wynne-Jones - The Uninvited (7th, Walker, pb)