Teenage Fiction for All Ages

Review: The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight by Jenny Valentine (audio book)

2012-02-01T13:55:00.001Z

The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight by Jenny Valentine and read by Joe Van Moyland (4 CDs, 2011, Oakhill Publishing, ISBN: 978-0-85735-925-9)

Note: The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight is being published as The Double in the US on 21 February 2012.

Review: Sixteen-year-old "Chap" who has been living rough in London ends up at a hostel where he is identified as the missing Cassiel Roadnight. Though he looks almost identical, Chap knows he's not Cassiel but what if he became him? A loving family and home would be his, at least for a while until the real Cassiel turns up.

So, Chap claims Cassiel's life and is returned to his sister, brother and mother in a lovely cottage near Hay-on-Wye. How long can Cassiel keep the deception up and what about the effect his deception is having on his new family, in particular his sister and heavily-medicated mum?

Chap thought he was getting the perfect life but it's not long before a darkness appears. What has happened to Cassiel? What Chap discovers could destroy everything he's got and the people he's beginning to care about as well as bringing danger to himself. As Chap learns about Cassiel, we learn about Chap and how he ended up without a name or a family and on the streets.

The story goes full circle with a violent confrontation at the Hay on Fire festival, exactly two years since both Cassiel and Chap disappeared from their respective homes.

The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight is a well-written, absorbing teenage mystery with many twists and turns. It's a tense read, as Chap is always on edge, wondering when his cover will be blown. Despite "stealing" Cassiel's life, Chap is a likeable character with a solid moral compass and well-educated despite his lack of formal schooling. All the characters felt real and are well portrayed by narrator, Joe Van Moyland. The author also looks at alienation from society, not just of teenagers but adults too, as people get lost from the mainstream and the nature of family.

On a personal note, I loved the Hay-on-Wye setting as I'm a regular visitor and could imagine the scenery.

Jenny Valentine doesn't hide the fact that this story was inspired by the classic Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey and I have fond memories of watching the BBC tv series when I was (much) younger with the gorgeous Mark Greenstreet in the lead(s).

Reading Group Theme - Birthdays

2012-01-23T20:43:00.001Z

The children's reading group that I oversee and co-host at the library is in its second year now. After a few meetings the idea of setting just one book wasn't very popular so we have moved to a themed approach. The meetings are now every other Saturday so that's a lot of themes in a year! One suggestion we had was for a Birthday theme and I had to scratch my head a bit for that one. My twitter friends came up with some great suggestions but they weren't available in the library but I persevered with google and amazon and I now have a short list of birthday-themed books that can be readily-(ish) found in the UK:

Sweet 16 by Kate Brian (Teenage)

A Bean Birthday by Betsy Byars

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Glitter Girls by Meg Cabot

Dizzy by Cathy Cassidy

The Sleepover Club (10) - Happy Birthday, Sleepover Club by Fiona Cummings (also included in Sleepover Club Omnibus: No. 4)

The Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean

Party Poppers (Glitter Girls: 5) by Caroline Plaisted

Polly's Absolutely Worst Birthday Ever by Frances Thomas (being reprinted in May 2012)

Caz's Birthday Blues (Party Girls) by Jennie Walters

Some of the dated covers provoked a few giggles! Further suggestions welcomed!

Cover: A Midsummer Tights Dream

2012-01-20T14:31:00.001Z

Great news, here's the cover and blurb for A Midsummer Tights Dream, the sequel to Withering Tights by Louise Rennison. Published 2 February (earlier than I was expecting) myself and the members of my reading group will be delighted to read this. There was much disappointment when the group read it as part of a Wuthering Heights themed selection that the sequel wasn't available there and then.

It's the hotly anticipated sequel to the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, WITHERING TIGHTS -- laugh your tights off as Tallulah Casey and her bonkers mates return for a new term at Dother Hall performing arts college. Boys, snogging and bad acting guaranteed! Yaroooo! Tallulah's triumphant Heathcliff in 'Wuthering Heights' the comedy musical was enough to secure her place at Dother Hall performing arts college for another term. She can't wait to see her pals again, Charlie and the boys from Woolfe Academy and maybe even bad boy Cain! Could the bright lights of Broadway be calling? And for who? Find out in the next Misadventures of Tallulah Casey.

Review: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (audio book)

2012-01-09T10:30:00.002Z

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer and read by Katherine Kellgren (3 CDs, November 2011, Whole Story Audiobooks, ISBN: 978140749 413 5)

Review: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline is the fifth in this series which features Enola Holmes, younger sister to Sherlock. Enola is now fourteen and is living with her elderly and deaf landlady Mrs Tupper, under an assumed name. She has run away from home to avoid being sent to boarding school.

The reader has met the young Mrs Tupper in the prologue where she had accompanied her husband to Scutari (Turkey) during the Crimean War and where subsequently her husband became mortally ill and was tended to by the "Lady with the Lamp", Florence Nightingale.

Thirty years later in London, Mrs Tupper is sent a mysterious note demanding she hand over a message. Mrs Tupper has no notion of what the missive means but the letter-writer does not accept that and kidnaps the old lady and ransacks her home.

Enola, who sees Mrs Tupper as family - in part replacing her own missing mother - must solve the mystery and find Mrs Tupper before any harm befalls her. Her adventure has her mixing with high society and avoiding and outwitting her own brother from time to time.

I really enjoyed The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline which has an independent, clever teenager as its heroine. Written by an American, the language sounds authentically British and is quite sophisticated. The plot is quite complicated - I'm not sure I fully understand the why but the who and what is clear enough and I like how it introduces the reader to the Crimean War and Florence Nightingale which may lead to further reading on those topics. There is an ongoing mystery regarding the disappearance of Enola's mum - is she alive still? I look forward to finding out more. There is an excellent scene near the end where Florence Nightingale explains to Sherlock Holmes the horror of corsets and boarding schools!

It's a shame that the first one in the series available in the UK is the fifth but at least the sixth, The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye, will be out on audio book in February.

Like the author, the narrator is also American but she narrates in an almost flawless English accent, only tripping-up over words like "shone" and "perseverance". Her regional accents are equally well done and her Florence Nightingale is a charm.

More Sherlock Holmes related series for children can be found here.

Free e-book of The Thief by Sophie McKenzie

2012-01-06T08:30:00.001Z

You can now download the pdf or read online, Sophie McKenzie's The Thief which was a 2010 World Book Day special and can only be bought second-hand now (and my library has *1* copy of!).

Read/Download The Thief here.

The Thief is a bonus Medusa Project story, originally written for World Book Day 2010 but no longer available to buy.

The events in this special story take place between The Hostage and The Rescue, but The Thief can be read as a stand-alone story.

The Thief stars the four Medusa teens, Nico, Ketty, Ed and Dylan. Following the explosion that ended The Hostage, the teens are sent to a boot camp in Spain - to learn some discipline, but also for their own protection. On the way there, the group are attacked and forced to carry out a high-risk diamond theft...

Published in January (2012)

2012-01-05T11:17:00.011Z

Here are some of the teenage/YA titles that are being published in the UK in January 2012. I will put a link to this post and previous and subsequent "monthly" lists in my sidebar.

Monthly lists for 2011 can be found here.

I have tried to identify all the British authors which I hope will be useful to those doing Kirsty's British Books Challenge at The Overflowing Library.

Sarah Alderson - Fated (5th, S & S, pb) British Author
Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler - The Future of Us (5th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)
Lindsey Barraclough - Long Lankin (5th, Corgi Childrens, pb) British Author
Tim Bowler - Buried Thunder (5th, OUP, pb) British Author
Patrick Carman - Floors (5th, Chicken House, pb)
PC & Kristin Cast - Lenobia's Vow (29th, ATOM, pb)
Deborah Cooke - Dragon Diaries: Winging It (23rd, Allison & Busby, pb)
Dave Cousins - Fifteen Days Without a Head (5th, OUP, pb) British Author
Julie Cross - Tempest (5th, Macmillan, pb)
Sarah Crossan - The Weight of Water (5th, Bloomsbury, HB)
Vanessa Curtis - Lilah May's Manic Days (5th, Frances Lincoln Childrens Books, pb)
Ellie Daines - Lolly Luck (5th, Andersen Press Ltd, pb) British Author
Christie Daugherty - Night School (5th, ATOM, pb)
Helen Dunmore - The Ingo Chronicles: Stormswept (5th, HarperCollinsChildrensBooks, HB) British Author
Phil Earle - Saving Daisy (5th, Puffin, pb) British Author
Mary Louise Fitzpatrick - Dark Warning (5th, Orion, HB)
Che Golden - The Feral Child (5th, Quercus Publishing Plc, pb)
Paula Guran (ed) - Brave New Love (19th, Robinson, pb)
Cynthia Hand - Hallowed (2nd, Electric Monkey, pb)
Alyxandra Harvey - Stolen Away (5th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Amanda Hocking - Switched (5th, Tor, pb)
Curtis Jobling - Wereworld: Shadow of the Hawk (5th, Puffin, pb) British Author
Allan Frewin Jones - Merion of the Stones (5th, Hodder, pb) British Author
Julie Kagawa - The Iron Knight (6th, MIRA Ink, pb)
Anna Kendall - Crossing Over (5th, Indigo, pb)
Ally Kennen - Bullet Boys (5th, Marion Lloyd, pb) British Author
Trilby Kent - Stones for my Father (19th, Alma, pb) British Author
Nick Lake - In Darkness (5th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, HB) British Author
Sophie McKenzie - Hit Squad (Medusa Project) (5th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb) British Author
Cliff McNish - The Hunting Ground (5th, pb) British Author
John Marsden - The Dead of the Night (5th, Quercus, pb)
Marissa Meyer - Cinder (5th, Puffin, pb)
Stephenie Meyer & Young Kim - Twilight Graphic Novel Part 1 (24th, ATOM, pb)
Antonia Michaelis - The Storyteller (1st, Amulet Books, pb)
Megan Miranda - Fractured (5th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Alyson Noel - Dreamland (5th, Macmillan Children's Books, pb)
Sarah Ockler - Fixing Delilah (19th, Little, Brown Young Readers, pb)
S C Ransom - Scattering like Light (1st, Nosy Crow, pb) British Author
Kathy Reichs - Seizure (5th, Arrow, HB)
Gena Showalter - Twisted (6th, MIRA, pb)
Sarah Silverwood - The Double-Edged Sword (5th, Indigo, pb) British Author
Jennifer E Smith - The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (5th, Headline, HB)
L J Smith - Vampire Diaries: The Ripper (5th, Hodder, pb)
Cate Tiernan - Darkness Falls (5th, Hodder, HB)
Ruth Warburton - A Witch in Winter (5th, Hodder, pb) British Author
Robin Wasserman - The Book of Blood and Shadow (19th, ATOM, pb)
M L Welsh - Heart of Stone (5th, David Fickling Books, HB) British Author
Kiersten White - Supernaturally (5th, HarperCollinsChildrensBooks, pb)
Tim Willocks - Doglands (5th, Anderson, pb) British Author
Chris Wooding - Retribution Falls (5th, Indigo, pb) British Author
Tim Wynne-Jones - Blink & Caution (5th, Walker, pb)
Brenna Yovanoff - Smoulder (5th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)

My Top 5 favourite reads of 2011

2012-01-02T11:14:00.001Z

Here are my 5 favourite reads of 2011. I'm a bit behind with some of my series so it may be that authors from my 2010 list will appear on 2012's. Rachel Hawkins is the only repeat author from 2010 (and I do hope will be on 2012's!)

The stand out read was:

Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me (2011)

Close behind:

Steve Barlow & Steve Skidmore - Goodknyght (audio book - hilarious) (2005)
Rachel Hawkins - Raising Demons (2011)
Mary Hooper - Velvet (2011
Tera Lynn-Childs - Forgive My Fins (2011)

Happy Christmas & a Big Thank You

2011-12-24T16:25:00.001Z

Happy Christmas to the much appreciated readers of this blog. A big thank you to to those who follow my blog and comment on it and also to my guest reviewers who have helped me out this year. I'd also like to thank publishers for their continued support. I wish you all the best for 2012.

Julia Golding's Ringmaster on Kindle

2011-12-16T16:00:00.001Z

As a special Christmas treat, Julia Golding has made the first in the Darcie Lock series, Ringmaster, available on Kindle at the lowest price she can get from Amazon ie 86p/99c.

Blurb: In the heart of Africa trouble is brewing. A chain of events throw one young girl into a world of espionage and danger. One thing's for sure. Life will never be the same again for Darcie Lock. When her father mysteriously goes missing, Darcie sets off on the trail of his captors finding that her government-official father is actually a spy and that her shopaholic mother is also a spook. In a desperate attempt to get their best agents back and the invaluable information that they possess, the secret service have no option but to employ Darcie as their newest recruit. Thrown on a crash course of self-defence, survival skills and gadget training, Darcie must penetrate an international smuggling ring. But will she be able to save her father or will she wilt under the pressure as things hot up under the Kenyan sun? Expats, espionage and the exotic setting of Nairobi - Julia Golding will have you gripped in this rollercoaster ride of an action thriller.

My review is here.

I hadn't realised that the third in the series, Deadlock, is available on Kindle ahead of it's paperback release next March.

Ebook of Darkest Powers Stories

2011-12-12T10:25:00.001Z

I've just noticed that there is a Darkest Powers Bonus Pack ebook available:

Contains three companion stories to the #1 NYT bestselling Darkest Powers trilogy.
Dangerous (prequel to The Summoning) The story of how Derek and Simon came to Lyle House, told from Derek's point-of-view.
Divided (set between The Summoning and The Awakening) Derek and Simon's adventures while separated from Chloe and Rae in the factory. Also told from Derek's point of view.
Disenchanted (overlaps part of The Awakening) Simon and Tori continue their journey after Chloe and Derek are left at the truck stop. Told from Tori's point of view.
Please note: these are stories, not novels. Combined, they equal half the length of a Darkest Powers novel.

It's available as epub and Kindle.

My reviews of The Summoning and The Awakening.

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

2011-12-05T14:01:00.001Z

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (April 2011, Doubleday Childrens, ISBN: 0857530283)

First Line: Every morning I wake up and tell myself this: It's just one day, one twenty-four-hour period to get yourself through.

Notes: Contains spoilers for If I Stay. Whilst reading Where She Went I switched to and from a UK library book and a US e-copy supplied via Netgalley depending on where I was reading.

Review: Where She Went is the sequel to 2009's If I Stay and picks up three years later; it is narrated solely by Adam, the boyfriend to If I Stay's other main character, Mia.

Three years ago Mia left to go to Juilliard to continue her cello-playing career and after a while she dropped Adam from her life. Three years on, Adam is a rock-star, lives with a famous actress but is struggling and most of all he wants to know why Mia left him. He cannot move on. Dreading an upcoming tour with his estranged band members, which he leaves New York for the next day, he stumbles across Mia giving a recital. She spots him in the audience and summons him afterwards. They have one night before going their separate ways to talk about their past.

The structure of the book, in the way in which Mia takes Adam around New York in the late night/early hours of the morning reminded me slightly of Thirteen Reasons Why - such an intense experience for them over a few hours. Along the journey, Mia gets to see what Adam's life has become plus there are flashbacks from Adam as to how they met and other significant occasions.

Despite being one of the few readers who was not wowed by If I Stay I was eagerly awaiting the sequel. I did want to find out what happened next and I enjoyed Where She Went more. I raced through it, intrigued to find out what the two would do and I enjoyed being in the New York atmosphere. Both Adam and Mia's characters start off as unsympathetic but as more is revealed, their situations become more understandable. Nonetheless I don't think Mia behaved very well and Adam seems to have over-reacted. However, if you enjoyed If I Stay you should enjoy this one too and if you haven't read it already, I recommend reading it before reading Where She Went.

Cover: I like the NYC background but I don't like the model's expression.

Published in December (2011)

2011-12-01T13:04:00.001Z

Here are some of the teenage/YA titles that are being published in the UK in December 2011. I will put a link to this post and previous and subsequent "monthly" lists in my sidebar. January's list can be found here, February's here, March's here, April's here, May's here, June's here, July's here, August's here, September's here, October's here and November's here. Title links go to amazon.co.uk. Please let me know of others to add to the list. In general I have not included re-issues and have stuck to UK publishers.

Monthly lists for 2010 can be found here.

I have tried to identify all the British authors which I hope will be useful to those doing the Bookette's excellent British Books Challenge.

Veronica Bennett - Vice & Virtue (1st, Walker, pb) British Author
Francesca Lia Block - The Frenzy (27th, HarperCollins Childrens Book Group, pb)
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game (1 Dec, ATOM, pb)
Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Prince (6th, Walker, pb)
Cat Clarke - Torn (22nd, Quercus Publishing Plc, pb)
Sara Grant - Dark Parties (22nd, Indigo, pb)
Michael Northrop - Trapped (15th, ATOM, pb)

Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

2011-11-28T13:30:00.001Z

If I Stay by Gayle Forman (May 2009, Doubleday, ISBN: 9780385616201)

Update: I wrote this review 2 years ago and never posted it as I seemed to be going against the flow of opinion. I have now read the sequel and will post that review as well shortly.

First Lines:
7:09 am

Everyone thinks it was because of the snow. And in a way, I suppose that's true.

Review: When a smattering of snow brings Oregon to a halt, seventeen-year-old Mia and her family take advantage of the school closures to visit some friends. An incident along the way changes everyone's life and Mia has to decide what to do next. Mia's decision process is interleaved with her narration of her life before that day: details of her family, friends, boyfriend and her music career.

I'm trying to leave the premise vague so as not to give too much away but it's the sort of incident that happens everyday and gets a few lines in the newspaper whereas the implications of it are far-reaching.

If I Stay has had lots of great reviews and yet it didn't hit the spot for me. I've been trying to work out why. I think it's possibly because it's in a genre that I don't usually read ie family relationships. I prefer plot-driven books and this didn't seem to have much action in it. Though the premise itself is intriguing, most of the book is Mia's life in flashback, which, to me, wasn't particularly interesting and I didn't feel there was much of an ongoing struggle about her decision. I expected the battle to be tougher between the two options. I was also expecting this to have a stronger supernatural angle than it does, which was partly why I was interested in it in the first place. However a lot of people have loved this book, it just wasn't for me.

Cover: I love this cover. I had been itching to read If I Stay because of the cover.

ATOM Blogger Event

2011-11-26T10:44:00.001Z

I went to my second ATOM bloggers party on Wednesday. I remember last year it was bitterly cold but this time it was warm enough to stroll around and take some photos.

This is taken at around 4.30pm from Blackfriars Bridge next to the home of ATOM (Little, Brown).

This is the fab building they work in at 100 Victoria Embankment!!!

The evening began with piles of books laying around for us to help ourselves to as well as sandwiches, cake and drinks. The theme of the night was a "new term" so the lovely ladies had dressed up in school ties and we were given prefect labels with our names on.

Once all were gathered, we were given a presentation on the 2012 list and informed that two authors: C J Daugherty and Sarra Manning were present.

CJ Daugherty explained bit about how the plot of Night School developed: whilst going round some country villages with her husband she spotted a scary school building and asked herself who'd send their children there!

Here's the official blurb on amazon: When everyone is lying, who can you trust? Allie Sheridan's world is falling apart. She hates her school. Her brother has run away from home. And she's just been arrested. Again. This time her parents have finally had enough. They cut her off from her friends and send her away to a boarding school for problem teenagers. But Cimmeria Academy is no ordinary school. It allows no computers or phones. Its students are an odd mixture of the gifted, the tough and the privileged. And then there's the secretive Night School, whose activities other students are forbidden even to watch. When Allie is attacked one night the school begins to seem like a very dangerous place, Allie must learn who she can trust. And what's really going on at Cimmeria Academy.

If that's not enough the back states "The Secret History" for Teens - and The Secret History is one of my favourite books! Night School is published 5 January 2012.

Next up was Michael Northrop's Trapped which is published on 15 December 2011 and was described as "Lord of the Flies"-esque:

Amazon blurb: The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive . . . Scotty and his friends are among the last seven kids at their high school waiting to get picked up that day, and they soon realize that no one is coming for them. Still, it doesn't seem so bad to spend the night at school, especially when Krista and Julie are sleeping just down the hall. But then the power goes out, then the heat. The pipes freeze, and the roof shudders. As the days add up, the snow piles higher, and the empty halls grow colder and darker, the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision . . .

Robin Wasserman's The Book of Blood and Shadow is also published 5 January 2012.

"The Da Vinci Code meets Die for me - in Prague!

Amazon blurb: It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and a boyfriend she adored. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands. Chris was dead. Adriane couldn't speak. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer. Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora's determined to follow the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. But Chris's murder is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.

February brings Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi which is post-apocalyptic but ATOM stresses the key is the love story.

Amazon blurb: Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its protected space, she's never thought to dream of what lay beyond its doors. Perry and his tribe have always struggled to survive on the outside. Though their lives are simple they are increasingly under threat from an unknown - and unhuman - enemy. But when Perry saves Aria after one of these attacks she realizes that she might just be able to survive in the outside after all. And that this one sheltered girl might be the only one that can save ? or destroy ? his people.

In March, Bunheads by Sophie Flack, described as "Black Swan for the teen set" is published. The bottom line is "her first solo or her first love?":

Amazon blurb: On-stage beauty. Backstage drama. As a dancer with the ultra-prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward juggles intense rehearsals, dazzling performances and complicated backstage relationships. Up until now, Hannah has happily devoted her entire life to ballet. But when she meets a handsome musician named Jacob, Hannah's universe begins to change and she must decide if she wants to compete against the other 'bunheads' in the company for a star soloist spot or strike out on her own in the real world. Does she dare give up the gilded confines of the ballet for the freedoms of everyday life?

And in April, 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad, tr. Tara F Chace. Apparently this is very scary, reminiscent of 70s SF and more recently the film Moon.

Amazon blurb; Three teenagers are going on the trip of a lifetime. Only one is coming back. It's been more than forty years since NASA sent the first men to the moon, and to grab some much-needed funding and attention, they decide to launch an historic international lottery in which three lucky teenagers can win a week-long trip to moon base DARLAH 2 - a place that no one but top government officials even knew existed until now. The three winners, Antoine, Midori, and Mia, come from all over the world. But just before the scheduled launch, the teenagers each experience strange, inexplicable events. Little do they know that there was a reason NASA never sent anyone back there until now - a sinister reason. But the countdown has already begun...

ATOM are introducing a new list aimed at 8-12 year olds which is of particular interest to me as I run a reading group for that age at the library.

In March, the first in a trilogy, The Witch of Turlingham Academy by Ellie Boswell is released. ATOM describe the series as "The Worst Witch meets the Chocolate Box Girls".

Amazon blurb: It's not easy being the only day girl at Turlingham boarding school: Sophie misses out on all the midnight feasts and late night gossip. Things take a turn for the worse when a new girl - Katy - shows up and all Sophie hears is Katy, Katy, Katy from her friends. It's like she's put a spell on everyone. Katy's no witch, but there is a witch at Turlingham. Katy comes from a long line of witch hunters whose fate is to stop evil magic once and for all. Sophie is going to help her - anything to get Katy out of her life and get things back to normal. But what she finds out means nothing will ever be normal again!

In April: "Goosebumps for Girls" the Creeper series by P J Night begins with Truth or Dare.

Amazon blurb: During a round of Truth or Dare, Abby Miller confesses her crush on Jake Chilson. The only people who know her secret are her friends at the sleepover - and whoever sent her a text message in the middle of the night warning her to stay away from Jake...or else! But Abby isn't going to stay away from Jake, especially not after he asks her to the school dance. As the night of the dance comes closer, some very creepy things start happening to Abby. Someone definitely wants to keep her away from Jake. Is it a jealous classmate or, as Abby begins to suspect, could it be a ghost?

May and August's offerings looks fun! The Goddess Girls series by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams begins with Athena the Brain, followed by Persephone the Phony, Aphrodite the Beauty and Artemis the Brave: "Because even goddesses need training".

Amazon blurb: Athena has always been above average. She's never quite fit in at Triton Junior High, but who would've guessed that Athena is actually a goddess? Principal Zeus's daughter, to be exact. When she's summoned to Mount Olympus Academy, Athena thinks she might actually fit in for the first time in her life. But in some ways, school on Mount Olympus is not that different from down on Earth, and Athena is going to have to deal with the baddest mean girl in history -- Medusa! Authors Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams put a modern spin on classic myths with the Goddess Girls series. Follow the ins and outs of divine social life at Mount Olympus Academy, where the most privileged godboys and goddessgirls in the Greek pantheon hone their mythical skills.

The final announcement was the Sarra Manning is joing the ATOM list with...Adorkable which is published in May.

Amazon blurb: Jeane Smith is seventeen and has turned her self-styled dorkiness into an art form, a lifestyle choice and a profitable website and consultancy business. She writes a style column for a Japanese teen magazine and came number seven in The Guardian's 30 People Under 30 Who Are Changing The World. And yet, in spite of the accolades, hundreds of Internet friendships and a cool boyfriend, she feels inexplicably lonely, a situation made infinitely worse when Michael Lee, the most mass-market, popular and predictably all-rounded boy at school tells Jeane of his suspicion that Jeane's boyfriend is secretly seeing his girlfriend. Michael and Jeane have NOTHING in common - she is cool and individual; he is the golden boy in an Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt. So why can't she stop talking to him?

I want to read them all! Many thanks to ATOM for the evening, the company, the nibbles and the books!

Read more about the event at the ATOM blog, at The Pewter Wolf (where there's also a giveaway!) at Pretty Books and Cheezyfeet Books.

Lady in Red(Head) - Cover Theme

2011-11-24T09:24:00.002Z

At the ATOM bloggers party last night we were all given a copy of Night School and met the author C J Daugherty. Her book will be out in January. The cover model is very striking and is also the photographer and has appeared on a couple of other recent YA book covers (updated with a fourth cover 28.11.11):

Published in the UK this Week (21st-27th Nov)

2011-11-23T10:36:00.002Z

In alphabetical order by author, here are the new YA releases published in the UK this week (that I know about) - which will you be buying/reading?:

Garrett Carr - Deep Deep Down (24th)
Around a hidden lake in the mountains is a perfect place. The people there live long and contented lives. But not for much longer...Andrew, May and Ewan will destroy everything. Unless the mystery that awaits deep, deep down destroys them first...

Ally Condie - Crossed (24th)
Rules are different outside the Society. Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again. Narrated from both Cassia's and Ky's points of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever...This title is the incredible sequel to acclamied international bestseller, "Matched".

Cathy MacPhail - Out of the Depths (21st)
'I saw my teacher in the queue in the supermarket last Christmas. Miss Baxter. I was surprised to see her. She'd been dead six months.' In Out of the Depths, Cathy MacPhail introduces her latest character, Tyler Lawless, who has an unusual and sometimes scary gift. She is able to see dead people. And sometimes they speak to her, asking for her help. When Tyler moves to a new school she is hoping to make a fresh start. But it is very difficult to make a fresh start when a boy who is supposed to be dead appears in your classroom, and statues in the school seem to come alive and point towards the place where the dead boy, Ben Kincaid, was murdered. Will Tyler be able to assist Ben with his pleas for help, or will she be dismissed as an attention-seeking teller of tall tales? A thrilling and spooky tale from the acclaimed Cathy MacPhail.

Film 2011 & Double Dose of Kristen Stewart

2011-11-17T21:35:00.001Z

Last night's episode of Film 2011 opens with a review of Breaking Dawn I plus some cast interviews and concludes with Kristen Stewart introducing an exclusive clip from Snow White and the Huntsman (though it looks very similar to the official trailer!).

Watch on iPlayer for the next 7 days:

Breaking Dawn - here

Snow White - here.

Published in the UK this Week (14-20th Nov)

2011-11-17T14:09:00.001Z

In alphabetical order by author, here are the new YA releases published in the UK this week (that I know about) - which will you be buying/reading?:

Kiki Hamilton - The Faerie Ring (14th)
The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood - Tiki's blood. Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched - and protected - by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen's son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist. Prince, pauper, and thief - all must work together to secure the treaty...

Robison Wells - Variant (20th)
Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life. He was wrong. Now he s trapped in a school thats surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive. Where breaking the rules equals death. But when Benson stumbles upon the school s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape his only real hope for survival may be impossible.

Costa Children's Book Award 2011 - shortlist

2011-11-15T21:03:00.003Z

The shortlists for the Costa Book Awards 2011 has been announced today. The four contenders for the Children's Book Award are:

Flip by Martyn Bedford (Walker Books)
The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Walker Books)
Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans (Doubleday)
Blood Red Road by Moira Young (Marion Lloyd Books)

Read more about the books and authors here (pdf). The winner will be announced on 4 January 2012.

Awards News

2011-11-14T09:17:00.002Z

Lots of winners, shortlists, and longlists seem to have been announced recently.

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize

Winner:
Return to Ribblestrop, by Andy Mulligan (Simon & Schuster, £6.99). Age: 10+

Also shortlisted:
My Name Is Mina, by David Almond (Hodder, £6.99). Age: 9+
Moon Pie, by Simon Mason (David Fickling, £10.99). Age: 10+
Twilight Robbery, by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan, £6.99). Age: 11+

Voting is now open for the Red House Children's Book Awards

Older Readers Shortlist:

Grace by Morris Gleitzman
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness & Siobhan Dowd
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

And the nominations for the 2012 CILIP Carnegie Medal have been announced:

Almond, David My Name is Mina
Barraclough, Lindsey Long Lankin
Bedford, Martyn Flip
Blackman, Malorie Boys Don't Cry
Bowler, Tim Buried Thunder
Boyne, John Noah Barleywater Runs Away
Brahmachari, Sita Artichoke Hearts
Bruton, Catherine We Can Be Heroes
Collins, B.R Tyme's End
Condie, Ally Matched
Crossley-Holland, Kevin Bracelet of Bones
David, Keren Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery
Deary, Terry Put Out The Light
Diterlizzi, Tony The Search for Wondla
Dogar, Sharon Annexed
Doherty, Berlie Treason
Donnelly, Jennifer Revolution
Downham, Jenny You Against Me
Earle, Phil Being Billy
Eastham, Ruth The Memory Cage
Evans, Lissa Small Change for Stuart
Fine, Anne The Devil Walks
Forward, Toby Dragonborn
Gibbons, Alan An Act of Love
Grant, Helen Wish Me Dead
Halahmy, Miriam Hidden
Hardinge, Frances Twilight Robbery
Hartnett, Sonya The Midnight Zoo
Ibbotson, Eva One Dog and His Boy
Kennen, Ally Quarry
LaFleur, Suzanne Eight Keys
Lewis, Ali Everybody Jam
Lewis, Gill Sky Hawk
Mason, Simon Moon Pie
McCaughrean, Geraldine Pull out all the Stops
McKay, Hilary Caddy's World
Mitchelhill, Barbara Run Rabbit Run
Morpurgo, Michael Shadow
Mulligan, Andy Trash
Ness, Patrick A Monster Calls
Peet, Mal Life : an Exploded Diagram
Perera, Anna The Glass Collector
Pitcher, Annabel My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece
Priestley, Chris The Dead of Winter
Rai, Bali Killing Honour
Revis, Beth Across the Universe
Rooney, Rachel The Language of Cat
Rosoff, Meg There is no Dog
Saunders, Kate Magicalamity
Sepetys, Ruta Between Shades of Gray
Stephens, John The Emerald Atlas
Young, Moira Blood Red Road

The shortlist will be announced in late March 2012.

Publishing Deals - Gratton, Elston

2011-11-10T14:22:00.002Z

From yesterday's Publishers Lunch Weekly, details of two new publishing deals:

Tessa Gratton's WEIGHT OF STARS, and two more books in her SONGS OF NEW ASGARD series, an alternate history of a USA founded on the tenets of Norse religions, in which two teens take a road trip to find a missing god and encounter small-town zealots, trickster gods, and sadistic field trolls, as they discover who they are to each other and who they want to be, to Random House, for publication starting in Summer 2013.

Ashley Elston's THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING, about a girl who, desperate to escape the Witness Protection program and discover what really happened the day that ruined her family's lives, breaks her minders' ultimate rule by falling for a boy and embarking with him on a perilous journey to outwit both cops and criminals, to Disney-Hyperion Children's, in a two-book deal, for publication in Winter 2013.

Published in the UK this Week (7-13th Nov)

2011-11-09T13:23:00.001Z

In alphabetical order by author, here are the new YA releases published in the UK this week (that I know about) - which will you be buying/reading?:

Jasper Fforde - The Song of the Quarkbeast: A Last Dragonslayer Novel (10th)
A long time ago magic faded away, leaving behind only yo-yos, the extremely useful compass-pointing-to-North enchantment and the spell that keep bicycles from falling over. Things are about to change. Magical power is on the rise and King Snodd IV of Hereford has realised that he who controls magic controls almost anything. One person stands between Snodd and his plans for power and riches beyond the wildest dreams of avarice. Meet Jennifer Strange, sixteen-year-old acting manager of Kazam, the employment agency for sorcerers and soothsayers. With only one functioning wizard and her faithful assistant 'Tiger' Prawns, Jennifer must use every ounce of ingenuity to derail King Snodd's plans. It may involve a trip on a magic carpet at the speed of sound to the Troll Wall, the mysterious Transient Moose, and a powerless sorceress named Once Magnificent Boo. But one thing is certain: Jennifer Strange will not relinquish the noble powers of magic to big business and commerce without a fight.

Colleen Houck - Tiger's Voyage (10th)
With the head-to-head battle against the villainous Lokesh behind her, Kelsey confronts a new heartbreak: in the wake of his traumatic experience, her beloved Ren no longer remembers who she is. As the trio continues their quest by challenging five cunning and duplicitous dragons, Ren and Kishan once more vie for her affections - leaving Kelsey more confused than ever. Fraught with danger, filled with magic, and packed with romance, Tiger's Voyage brings Kelsey and her two tiger princes one step closer to breaking the curse.

Mark Kurlansky - Battle Fatigue (7th)
Growing up in the years following World War II, Joel Bloom always played soldiers with his friends. But by the time he's eighteen, the Vietnam War is in full swing, and it's not as simple as the war games he played when he was a child. Old enough to be drafted, Joel loves his country, but he knows that fighting in an unjust war isn't something he can do. After trying and failing to be a conscientious objector he leaves for Canada - a decision that will help him avoid the physical conflict of the war, but will create another inside of him that will take much longer to resolve. An insightful and compelling novel that explores one boy's struggle to understand himself and the harsh realities of life during wartime.

Caragh M O'Brien - Birthmarked: Prized (10th)
Having escaped from the corrupt Enclave, Gaia ventures into the wasteland with her baby sister, Maya, hoping to find a settlement that's rumoured to lie in the Dead Forest. After days of travelling, Gaia is close to death when Peter, a ranger from the mysterious village of Sylum, finds her and takes her back with him. Gaia soon realises that Sylum has as many strict laws as the Enclave she fled from, but when Maya is taken from her by the ruthless village leader, the Matrarc, Gaia is forced to stay and submit to their strict social code, or risk losing her sister forever. But Sylum is in trouble. The population is falling and the amount of women dwindling dramatically, and with a deadly fever affecting striking down anyone who tries to leave, the future is bleak for the village. Desperate to escape with her sister, Gaia is determined to uncover the secrets of the village, whatever it takes. And when Leon is captured too, Gaia is faced with another tough choice between the boy who captured her heart in the Enclave, and Peter, for whom she can't deny her growing feelings. But when the decisions you make affect the lives of everyone around you, how can you be sure you're making the right choices?

Christopher Paolini - Inheritance (8th)
Not so very long ago, Eragon - Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider - was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now, the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders. Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances. The Rider and his dragon have come farther than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaesia? And if so, at what cost? Featuring spectacular artwork by cult artist John Jude Palencar, this stunning book brings the bestselling "Inheritance" cycle to a breathtaking conclusion.

L J Smith - Vampire Diaries: Phantom (10th)
Since meeting vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert has been to hell and back. Now that she and her friends have saved their hometown from a demonic spirit, everything can finally go back to normal. But Elena should know better than anyone that Fell's Church will never be normal. In PHANTOM, a dangerous new other-worldly threat sets its sights on Elena. And this time she can only count on one Salvatore brother to protect her.

Published in the UK this Week (31st Oct - 6th Nov)

2011-11-03T09:36:00.002Z

In alphabetical order by author, here are the new YA releases published in the UK this week (that I know about), lots today - which will you be buying/reading?:

Helen Bailey - Knowing Me, Knowing You (3rd)
Chantelle 'Channy' Allen is just about enduring her slightly bored teenage existence - trying not to die of embarrassment every time her parents' Abba tribute band peform a cringing medley of hits in front of all her friends...But then Channy finds out something that turns her world upside down; something that makes perfect sense, but at the same time seems utterly ridiculous. Something that Channy is intent on investigating - despite the distraction of gorgeous French exchange student Antoine. Channy's about to learn a valuable life lesson: sometimes CURIOSITY is a dangerous thing...

Rachel Caine - Last Breath (1st)
INCLUDES A BRAND NEW AND EXCLUSIVE MORGANVILLE SHORT STORY Claire Danvers is concerned when three vampires vanish from Morganville without a trace. The last person seen with them is someone new to town - a mysterious individual named Magnus. Claire is convinced creepy Magnus isn't human ...but is he a vampire, or something else entirely? Claire's hunt for answers leads her to solving another mystery that's long been puzzling her: why do vampires live so far out in a sunny desert when they're sensitive to sunlight? The answer has nothing to do with sunlight, but with water - and an ancient enemy who has finally found a way to invade the vampires' landlocked community. Vampires aren't the top predator on earth. There's something worse that preys on them ...something much worse. Which means if Claire, and Morganville, want to live, they will have to fight on to the last breath ...

Cinda Williams Chima - The Dragon Heir (3rd)
For centuries, wizards have avoided making war on each other for fear of waking the legendary dragon that sleeps at Raven's Ghyll. But it is a new age. The patriarch Nicodemus Snowbeard is rapidly failing. The Wizard Houses of the Red and White Rose have united against Claude D'Orsay, Master of Games and keeper of the Dragonhold, and a moment when he and and his sadistic son Devereaux seem poised to seize control of all of the magical guilds. But then everything changes ...Jason Haley has been trying to be part of the action for months: he wants to help, but no one seems prepared to let him in. Seph is monitoring the defensive walls. Jack and Ellen are training their ghost army, even his Anaweir friends are doing their bit to help. Only Jason seems to be left out - until he stumbles across a powerful talisman, called the Dragonheart, hidden away in a cave. It seems to sing to Jason, its power calling to him. Perhaps, finally, he's going to be able to help. The final battle is coming, and the magical community of Trinity is about to risk the destruction of everything they care about in order to remain free. The outcome is balanced on a knife edge, and the slightest advantage could turn the tide. If Jason can help, if the moody and mysterious Madison Moss can be persuaded to join the Weirguilds before it's too late, and if the friends who make Trinity a place worth fighting for remain true ...

Deborah Cooke - Flying Blind (31st)
I will shift shape and I will cast dreams and I will be everything that I am forecast to be. I am the Wyvern. And I will claim my birthright, right here and now. Zoe Sorensson is a perfectly normal teenage girl. That's the problem. She's always been told she's destined for great things - she is a dragon shape shifter, a Pyr, and the only female one of her kind. But Zoe's powers are AWOL, so she's sent to Pyr boot camp. Zoe quickly realizes that she has to master her powers yesterday, because the Pyr are in danger and boot camp is a trap. The Mages want to eliminate all shifters and the Pyr are next in line -unless Zoe and her friends can work together and save their own kind.

Sally Gardner - The Double Shadow (3rd)
Arnold Ruben has created a memory machine, a utopia housed in a picture palace, where the happiest memories replay forever, a haven in which he and his precious daughter can shelter from the war-clouds gathering over 1937 Britain. But on the day of her seventeenth birthday Amaryllis leaves Warlock Hall and the world she has known and wakes to find herself in a desolate and disturbing place. Something has gone terribly wrong with her father's plan. Against the tense backdrop of the second World War Sally Gardner explores families and what binds them, fathers and daughters, past histories, passions and cruelty, love and devastation in a novel rich in character and beautifully crafted.

Joanne Harris - Runelight (3rd)
The squabbling Norse gods and goddesses of Runemarks are back! And there's a feisty new heroine on the scene: Maggie, a girl the same age as Maddy but brought up a world apart - literally, in World's End, the focus of the Order in which Maddy was raised. Now the Order is destroyed, Chaos is filling the vacuum left behind...and is breaching the everyday world. A chilling prophecy from the Oracle. A conflict between two girls. And with just twelve days to stave off the Apocalypse, carnage is about to be unleashed ...

Mia James - By Midnight (3rd)
April Dunne is not impressed. She's had to move from Edinburgh to Highgate, London, with her parents. She's left her friends - and her entire life - behind. She has to start at a new school and, worst of all, now she's stuck in a creepy old dump of a house which doesn't even have proper mobile phone reception. Ravenwood, her new school, is a prestigious academy for gifted (financially or academically) students - and the only place her parents could find her a place, in the middle of term, in the middle of London, on incredibly short notice. So she's stuck with the super-rich, and the super-smart ...and trying to fit in when the rest of the students seem to be more glamorous, smarter, or more talented than she is, is more than tough. It's intimidating and isolating, even when she finds a friend in the conspiracy-theorist Caro Jackson - and perhaps finds something more than friendship in the gorgeous, mysterious Gabriel Swift. But there's more going on at Ravenwood than meets the eye. Practical jokes on new students are normal, but when Gabriel saves her from ...something ...in Highgate Cemetery, and then she discovers that a murder took place just yards away from where she had been standing, April has to wonder if something more sinister is going on. ..and whether or not she's going to live through it ...

Eden Maguire - Twisted Heart (3rd)
'We will all rise,' Zoran warned while all around him burned. 'There will be other times, other places - a million other willing souls!' With a heart twisted by the lust for new lovers to destroy, new souls to connquer and a desire for revenge against Tania, the Dark Angel can take any shape, inhabit any body. He will lie low until the time is right. The battle against the Dark Angel isn't over.

Antonia Michaelis - Dragons of Darkness (1st)
This is the fantastical tale of the invisible prince Jumar who sets out to free his country, Nepal, from rebels, intertwined with the story of Christopher, a shy boy from Germany who is magically transported there to search for his brother, apparently kidnapped by the same rebels. Together, Jumar and Christopher begin a dangerous journey through the wilderness of Nepal that turns into a journey of initiation. Fighting the beautiful but deadly dragons that beset the country, the two boys learn that in order to change the world they need to change themselves first.

Samantha Rendle - House of Vampires (31st)
An exciting new twist on a popular teen theme: vampires! Fourteen year-old Pete wakes up in a mansion with no idea who he is and no memories. He discovers he's one of a rebel group called the Hunters - vampires with a conscience. Pete and his friends are soon mixed up in a dangerous battle between good and evil.

Barbara Spencer - Time Breaking (1st)
Fifteen-year-old Molly is gauche and awkwardly tall, a great disappointment to her parents who only have time for their careers. Constantly at loggerheads because Molly is determined to become a swimmer, the family go to stay in a 17th century manor house now used as a religious retreat. Inadvertently, Molly triggers a time-chute and reappears in 1648, at the end of the Civil War, to find she has taken the place of Molly Hampton, the eldest daughter in a Puritan family. After suffering a beating, an entire morning spent in chapel, a smelly privy, a muddy farmyard, and cold water to wash in, Molly labels the seventeenth century "barbaric" and is hell-bent on escaping back to her own life. But the manor house belongs to Sir Richard Blaisdale, a Royalist family, and is barred to her. Forced to continue with the charade, Molly meets Richard, supposedly her best friend, only to find herself falling in love with him. Gradually, Molly begins to change her mind believing that she can stay and take Molly Hampton's place, little realising that danger and disaster lie in wait for her...

Allison van Diepen - The Vampire Stalker (3rd)
What if the characters in a vampire novel left their world - and came into yours? Amy is in love with someone who doesn't exist: Alexander Banks, the dashing hero in a popular series of vampire novels. Then one night, Amy meets a boy who bears an eerie resemblance to Alexander. In fact, he is Alexander, who has escaped from the pages of the book.

Jill Wolfson - Cold Hands, Warm Heart (3rd)
The lives of two teenage girls become literally connected after 14-year-old Amanda unexpectedly dies during a gymnastics meet and Dani receives Amanda's heart. Fourteen-year-old Amanda is a competitive gymnast, sleek-muscled and in perfect health. Fifteen-year-old Dani was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body; she's been in and out of hospital all her life. The two girls don't know each other - and never will. Yet their lives are about to collide. Amanda suffers a haematoma - a blood clot - during a gymnastics competition, and dies. The donation of her heart means renewed life for Dani and several other donor recipients.

Published in November (2011)

2011-11-01T09:45:00.006Z

Here are some of the teenage/YA titles that are being published in the UK in November 2011. I will put a link to this post and previous and subsequent "monthly" lists in my sidebar. January's list can be found here, February's here, March's here, April's here, May's here, June's here, July's here, August's here, September's here and October's here. Title links go to amazon.co.uk. Please let me know of others to add to the list. In general I have not included re-issues and have stuck to UK publishers.

Monthly lists for 2010 can be found here.

I have tried to identify all the British authors which I hope will be useful to those doing the Bookette's excellent British Books Challenge.

Helen Bailey - Knowing Me, Knowing You (3rd, Hodder Children's Books, pb) British Author
Rachel Caine - Last Breath (1st, Allison & Busby, pb)
V Campbell - Viking Gold (1st, Fledgling Press, pb) British Author
Anna Carey - Eve (5th, HarperCollins, pb)
Garrett Carr - Deep Deep Down (24th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)
Cinda Williams Chima - The Dragon Heir (3rd, Indigo, pb)
Allie Condie - Crossed (24th, Puffin, pb)
Jasper Fforde - The Song of the Quarkbeast: A Last Dragonslayer Novel (10th, Hodder & Stoughton, HB) British Author
Sally Gardner - The Double Shadow (3rd, Indigo, HB) British Author
Kiki Hamilton - The Faerie Ring (14th, TOR, HB)
Joanne Harris - Runelight (3rd, Doubleday Childrens, HB) British Author
Colleen Houck - Tiger's Voyage (10th, Hodder & Stoughton, pb)
Mia James - By Midnight (3rd, Indigo, pb) British Author
Mark Kurlansky - Battle Fatigue (7th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Cathy MacPhail - Out of the Depths (21st, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb) British Author
Eden Maguire - Twisted Heart (3rd, Hodder Children's Books, pb) British Author
Antonia Michaelis - Dragons of Darkness (1st, Amulet Books, pb)
Caragh M O'Brien - Birthmarked: Prized (10th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)
Christopher Paolini - Inheritance (8th, Doubleday Childrens, HB)
L J Smith - Vampire Diaries: Phantom (10th, Hodder Children's Books, pb)
Barbara Spencer - Time Breaking (1st, Matador, pb) British Author
Allison van Diepen - The Vampire Stalker (3rd, Scholastic, pb)
Robison Wells - Variant (20th, HarperCollins, pb)
Jill Wolfson - Cold Hands, Warm Heart (3rd, Walker, pb)

Review: Velvet by Mary Hooper

2011-10-31T15:24:00.001Z

Velvet by Mary Hooper (September 2011, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, ISBN: 0747599211)

Review: Velvet is the latest historical novel from Mary Hooper and is set at the beginning of the 20th century. The eponymous young lady at the heart of the novel, the independent Velvet (born Kitty) is struggling to keep herself afloat financially. She is about to lose her job at the laundry but her boss gives her one more chance in a more specialist part of the business - looking after individual clients' laundry. In this way Velvet gets to do the personal laundry of one Madame Savoya, a medium of some renown and eventually Velvet ends up as a live-in maid to Madame along with the handsome chauffeur/assistant George.

Velvet's story is inter-cut with a third-person point of view, narrating the various one-to one meetings that Madame and George have with bereaved customers who want a longer chat with their dead loved ones than the general seances can provide.

It becomes obvious to the reader how much truth lies behind Madame's skill and the tension is created by the watching and waiting for Velvet to catch up with the reader.

I thoroughly enjoyed Velvet. It tells of a fascinating time when Spiritualism was all the rage and Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, a famous believer and debunker of fakes, makes an appearance. Velvet is a believable if naive character and you are rooting for her to do the right thing(s). I love how historical novels painlessly teach the reader something and Velvet is no exception, with for example - a visit to a baby-farm which was horrendously portrayed and yet I understand that the author has toned it down somewhat for the YA market.

Velvet is a real page-turner and I flew through it. If like me, you are a bit wary of historical fiction, I'd strongly recommend giving Velvet a go and let it put any prejudices you may have had in the dustbin!

Library Loot (2.20-21) & Review Copy, Won & Bought

2011-10-30T08:13:00.001Z

A fairly quiet two weeks for review books but some great books from the library:

Review

Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck (10 Nov, Hodder & Stoughton)
With the head-to-head battle against the villainous Lokesh behind her, Kelsey confronts a new heartbreak: in the wake of his traumatic experience, her beloved Ren no longer remembers who she is. As the trio continues their quest by challenging five cunning and duplicitous dragons, Ren and Kishan once more vie for her affections - leaving Kelsey more confused than ever.

Fraught with danger, filled with magic, and packed with romance, Tiger's Voyage brings Kelsey and her two tiger princes one step closer to breaking the curse.

Won - with thanks, from Lyrical Reviews

The Crimson Shard by Teresa Flavin (out now, Templar)
This sequel to The Blackhope Enigma is imbued with alchemy and intrigue. During what seems like an ordinary museum visit, tour guide Throgmorton lures Sunni and Blaise through a painted doorway into eighteenth-century London. When Throgmorton demands secret information from the pair about their Blackhope escapades, they attempt to flee, encountering body snatchers, art thieves and forgers in this gripping time-travel adventure.

Bought

Miss Understanding: My Summer on the Shelf by Lara Fox (out now, Hodder Childrens)
After a stint as the school agony aunt, Anya's forthcoming summer as an intern at a London publishing house comes as a breath of fresh air. It'll take her mind off Al - her AWOL boyfriend - at least, and maybe she'll get tips on how to be a writer, too. But it's clear that Anya's role is senior dogsbody - and involves reading terrible stories, listening to her colleague's Katie's domestic woes, and taking on a nightmarish teenage author, who is about five years late delivering his next 'best selling novel'. It's not quite the gltiz and glamour Miss Understanding thought it would be, but it does have its plus points: Delicious Seth Hodges being one of them...Anya is torn between the swarve Seth, the notorious waste of time The Boy, her lost boyfriend Al, not to mention the intriguing teenage writer Casper...So many boys, so little time. Another fresh, original and witty journey through Miss Understanding's life...

Library

Abandon by Meg Cabot
Last year, Pierce died - just for a moment. And when she was in the space between life and death, she met John: tall dark and terrifying, it’s his job to usher souls from one realm to the next.

There’s a fierce attraction between them, but Pierce knows that if she allows herself to fall for John she will be doomed to a life of shadows and loneliness in the underworld. But now things are getting dangerous for her, and her only hope is to do exactly what John says . . .

Mortal Kiss by Alice Moss
How much would you sacrifice for just one kiss . . .

When smouldering Finn and sexy Lucas arrive in Winter Mill, life starts to get very complicated for Faye McCarron.

But two boys battling for her heart is just the start. Soon there's a dead body in the woods, a motorcycle gang on the prowl, and the snow just won't stop falling. Something evil is at work, and only Faye and best friend Liz can stop it. As Hallowe'en draws near they must uncover the dark and sinister secret . . . before it's too late.

Love paranormal romance, werewolves and ethereal spirits? Then this book is for you!

POD by Stephen Wallenfeld
PODs - strange alien spheres hover menacingly in the sky, zapping anyone who ventures outside. Will is 15 and stuck in his house with his OCD dad. They're running out of food...Megs is 12, alone and trapped in a multi-storey carpark. The hotel next door is under the control of dangerous security staff, but Megs has something they want, and they'll do anything to get it...When the aliens invade, the real enemy becomes humanity itself. What would you do to survive?

Published in the UK this Week (24th - 30th Oct)

2011-10-27T14:34:00.001+01:00

In alphabetical order by author, here are the new YA releases published in the UK this week (that I know about), lots today - which will you be buying/reading?:

PC & Kristin Cast - Destined (Amazon says 25/10 whereas Waterstones says 8/11)
The latest instalment from the ever-scandalous House of Night sees Zoey and Stevie Rae trying to restore some order to their complex lives. But is that ever possible in the dark world of the House of Night vampyres?

Leigh Fallon - The Carrier of the Mark (27th)
Bewitching debut teen fiction from Inkpop sensation -- dark magic, prophecies and irresistible romance collide in this beguiling read. When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. She makes close friends with the girls in her class, her relationship with her dad is better than ever, and she finds herself inexplicably drawn to gorgeous, mysterious Adam DeRis. Adam is cold and aloof at first, but when Megan finally breaks down the icy barrier between them, she is amazed by the intensity of their connection. Then Adam reveals a secret about the magical destiny that will shape both of their lives but also threatens to tear them apart!

Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie - Crusade: The Damned (27th)
The Salamancan hunters are at war, and Jenn Leitner, the newly appointed Hunter, must lead the Salamancan hunters into battle against the Cursed Ones. But tensions are running high, and heated arguments threaten to fracture the group, especially after the hunters discovered that Jenn's sister, Heather, has been converted. Struggling to balance leadership and being the Hunter with her desire for revenge against the vampire who converted her sister, Jenn tries hard to over come any personal vendettas as she prepares for battle. But with her beloved Antonio spending every waking moment with her newly-turned vampire sister, and the rest of her team fighting among themselves, Jenn finds her inner strength and trust wavering. And as the Cursed Ones and other sinister powers continue to rage war against humanity, Jenn will learn, along with the rest of the Salamancan hunters, that it is always darkest before dawn...

Robin Jarvis - Tales from the Wyrd Museum 2: The Raven's Knot (27th)
Timely reissue of the classic fantasy trilogy by Robin Jarvis, following on from the landmark publication of DANCING JAX, his first novel in a decade. In a grimy alley in the East End of London stands the Wyrd Museum, cared for by the strange Webster sisters -- the scene of even stranger events. Brought out of the past, elfin-like Edie Dorkins must now help the Websters to protect their age-old secret. For outside the museum's enchanted walls, a nightmarish army is gathering in the mystical town of Glastonbury, bent on destroying the sisters and their ancient power once and for all! Revisit the chilling, fantastical world of the Wyrd Museum in this sequel to The Woven Path.

Rebecca Lim - Mercy: Muse (27th)
An angel searching for answers, for her destiny! In the third MERCY paranormal romance, Mercy wakes in a new unknown host, her love for Ryan and Luc burning stronger than ever. But who will she make the ultimate sacrifice for? There's something very wrong with me. When I wake up, I could be anyone! Mercy is thrust into the excessive world of fashion when she awakes in the body of a troubled Russian supermodel, Irina: bitchy, hot-tempered and known to be dabbling in things she shouldn't, Irina is on the verge of a very public breakdown. Against the glamorous background of opulent Milan, Mercy continues her increasingly desperate search for Ryan to lead her back to her immortal lover, Luc. But this time Mercy is aware that her memories and powers are growing ever stronger -- and she begins to doubt Luc as The Eight reveal more of her mysterious past. Are Luc's desires as selfless as her own or does he want her for a more terrifying purpose? The grand scale celestial battle for Mercy's soul builds to an incredible stormy crescendo as archangels and demons clash in a cataclysmic showdown that not all will survive!

Jessica Martinez - Virtuosity (27th)
Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen's whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn't just hot ...what if Jeremy is better than her? Carmen knows that dating Jeremy can't end well, but she just can't stay away. Nobody else understands her - and riles her up - like he does. Still, she can't trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to perform and what started as a quick fix has become a hungry addiction. But now Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she's told, doing what's expected. And, as Carmen starts to open up to Jeremy, she realises that sometimes being on top just means you have a long way to fall...

James Phelan - Quarantine: Alone (27th)
Jesse has survived the chasers. He's survived the roving bands of humans. And he might even have started to make some new friends. But the quarantine period is up. The army is coming in. And Jesse's about to learn that the real test of survival has only just begun.

Kathy Reichs - Virals (27th)
Fourteen-year-old Tory Brennan is as fascinated by bones and dead bodies as her famous aunt, acclaimed forensic anthropologist, Tempe Brennan. However living on a secluded island off Charleston in South Carolina there is not much opportunity to put her knowledge to the test. Until her and her ragbag group of technophile friends stumble across a shallow grave containing the remains of a girl who has been missing for over thirty years. The question is, did whoever was responsible for the girl's death have anything to do with the sick puppy they rescued from a secret laboratory on the same island? With the cold-case murder suddenly hot, Tory realises that they are involved in something fatally dangerous. But events take a turn for the bizarre when they escape some would-be attackers by using physical powers more akin to a dog than a human...Could the puppy hold the key not only to the murder, but also the strange changes that are taking place in their bodies?

Lili St Crow - Strange Angels: Reckoning (27th)
Nobody expected Dru Anderson to survive this long. Not Graves. Not Christophe. Not even Dru herself. She's battled killer zombies, jealous djamphirs, and bloodthirsty suckers straight out of her worst nightmares. But now that Dru has bloomed into a full-fledged svetocha - rare, beautiful, and toxic to all vampires - the worst is yet to come. Because getting out alive is going to cost more than she's ever imagined. And in the end, is survival really worth the sacrifice?

Review: Conspiracy 365: December by Gabrielle Lord

2011-10-25T20:00:00.002+01:00

Conspiracy 365: December by Gabrielle Lord (December 2010, Hodder Children's Books, ISBN: 0340996552)

Notes: I've previously reviewed January, June, August and October and November

Review: December is the final part in the twelve-book series which began with January. It's a slightly longer book than its predecessors and is an exciting and worthy finale to the tale of Cal Ormond.

Cal has been on the run for twelve months. His task was to a) stay alive and b) solve the mystery of the Ormonds ie find the Ormond Singularity with the help of the Ormond Jewel and Ormond Riddle. The latter two objects have been in and out of his possession for most of the year but finally he has them, and with his two friends, Winter and Boges, they make good progress in solving the mystery.

Having been in Australia for the previous 11 months, the story ends in Ireland where it had begun with Cal's Dad before he became ill and died.

You could read December as a stand-alone but it would be more satisfying to have read some, or all of the earlier books. I was pleased with the resolution to the mysteries and surprised by many of the twists. December was a strong entry in a series which was a little uneven: some months were better than others with the story not moving on in some and a tendency towards some repetition; Cal does seems to have an unfeasibly large number of handy skills plus quite a bit of luck at times, nonetheless I'm glad I read all twelve.

Initially I felt sad that the series had ended as I would like to have read more about Cal and his friends but it seems I may have my wish as I discovered that a 13th book is on the way, called Revenge according to the Conspiracy 365 website.

Virago to launch YA list in 2013

2011-10-24T14:31:00.003+01:00

From today's Bookseller:

Virago Modern Classics will launch a young adult list, with four books by Rumer Godden to be among its titles after the publisher acquired rights in 15 of her works.
[] "She is an incredible writer, and what is really special about her, particularly when one considers the era she was writing in, is what a contemporary sensibility she had; in her novels set in India especially, wherever her characters are from and whatever culture they belong to, their points of view are portrayed with sympathy and understanding."
Virago will begin publishing her titles in 2013, the same year the YA list launches.

You can read about Rumer Godden at her Literary Trust website.

Published in the UK this Week (17th - 23rd Oct)

2011-10-20T08:43:00.001+01:00

In alphabetical order by author, here are the new YA releases published in the UK this week (that I know about), which will you be buying/reading?:

Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl -Beautiful Chaos (18th)
Ethan Wate is in love with a caster girl. When he looks at Lena, it's like there's no one else in the world. But Ethan is mortal, and on her seventeenth birthday Lena made a choice that changed everything. The girl Ethan loves has broken the world with the supernatural powers she is struggling to control ...Now, if they are to fix the chaos Lena has caused, one of them must make a terrible sacrifice. Sometimes there isn't just one answer. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending. This is the third instalment of the spellbinding love story that began with "Beautiful Creatures".

Julie Kagawa - The Iron Queen (21st)
In less than twenty four hours, I'll be seventeen. Although, technically, I won't actually be turning seventeen. I've been in the Nevernever too long. When you're in Faery, you don't age. So while a year has passed in the real world, agewise I'm probably only a few days older than when I went in. In real life, I've changed so much I don't even recognize myself. My name is Meghan Chase. I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it. This time, there will be no turning back.

Maggie Stiefvater - The Scorpio Races (19th)
Every November, the Scorpio Races are run beneath the chalk cliffs of Skarmouth. Thousands gather to watch the horses and the sea that washes the blood from the sand. The mounts are capaill uisce: savage water horses. There are no horses more beautiful, more fearless, more deadly. To race them can be suicide but the danger is irresistible.

Rachel Vincent - My Soul to Steal (21st)
SOMETIMES DREAMS DO COME TRUE...AND THAT'S THE LAST THING KAYLEE NEEDS Working things out with Nash - her maybe boyfriend - is hard for Kaylee. She's already coping with being a teenage banshee. Worse, Nash's gorgeous ex-girlfriend just transferred to their school. Sabine's no ordinary girl. She's a mara, a real-life walking nightmare. Draining people's energy through their darkest dreams sustains Sabine...and makes her Kaylee's top suspect in a cluster of super-creepy deaths. To win back Nash, Kaylee's determined to unearth the truth. But Sabine knows the deathly secrets of Kaylee's subconscious - and she's not afraid to use them to get whatever and whoever she wants...

Aim High web series

2011-10-19T11:52:00.001+01:00

The first two episodes of the online series, Aim High starring Jackson Rathbone (Twlight) are now available to watch - but not internationally just yet (possibly in 2012) - at Cambio. There is also a Facebook page with links to interviews and where you can get involved. From the press release:

AIM HIGH is the story of a young man leading a double life -- juggling his studies by day and serving as a government agent by night. This series chronicles the life of Nick Green (Jackson Rathbone), a junior who's just starting a new school year as one of the country's 64 highly trained teenage operatives. When he's not handling international spies, Nick is dreaming of Amanda Miles (Aimee Teegarden), the most popular girl in school, who's cool, intelligent and very alluring.

AIM HIGH is the first “social series” which allows Cambio and Facebook users to become part of the show through seamlessly integrating their Facebook profile information - including photos, text and friends – by simply opting into the application on the show’s Facebook page!

Review: Gone by Lisa McMann

2011-10-18T18:52:00.001+01:00

Gone by Lisa McMann (November 2010, Simon & Schuster Children's Books, ISBN: 0857070401)

Notes: Review contains some spoilers for Wake and Fade.

Review: Gone is the final part of the trilogy which began with Wake and carried on with Fade. Based on the information she received in Fade, lead character Janie has to make a decision which boils down to: leave everyone behind and live in isolation so she cannot enter anyone's dreams or stay with Cabel whom she loves and become crippled and blind in not many years time.

At the beginning of Gone, Janie is on vacation with Cabel and his family. They are recovering from the repercussions of the events in Fade but Janie is suddenly and urgently called home when her best friend leaves her voice-mail messages saying that Janie's alcoholic mum has had to go to hospital.

Things aren't quite what they seem though and it's not Janie's mum who is ill but a stranger to Janie but one who ultimately, will reveal the right path that Janie should follow.

There's no investigation as such like in Fade, this time it's all about Janie and what she can and should do about her life. It's a sad tale, whatever Janie chooses, but Janie will make the best of her choice and it's also probably best that readers leave the story where we do, whilst Janie is young. This has been an interesting trilogy with an unusual "gift" for a main character; each book has had a different theme and in Gone, Janie finally gets to shake off some of the burdens she should not have been carrying. If you've not read this series yet, do start with Wake so you can follow Janie's character arc. I loved the writing style of these books, present tense with frequent paragraphs of almost free verse at times, it's so immediate and pulls you in just like the dreams suck Janie in.

I liked Ms McMann's Cryer's Cross/The Missing as well and look forward to her next YA novel.

Baby's Got Blue Eyes...(cover theme)

2011-10-17T14:24:00.003+01:00

I've just finished Gone by Lisa McMann, review coming soon and I can't wait to read Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday!

Are these the same model?

Post title comes from: Blue Eyes by Elton John

Library Loot (2.18-19), review copies

2011-10-16T09:43:00.001+01:00

These are all review books this week. The only library books I took out were adult books.

Review

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick (out now, Simon & Schuster)
Footloose by Rudy Josephs (out now, Bloomsbury)
Fins are Forever by Tera Lynn-Childs (Apr. 2012, Templar) :)))
Arcadia Awakens by Kai Meyer (Mar. 2012, Templar)
The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley (out now, Bloomsbury)
The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg (Feb. 2012, Puffin)
Advent Trilogy 1 by James Treadwell (Feb. 2012, Hodder & Stoughton)
My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent (21 Oct, MIRA Ink)

Angel Fire Blog Tour: L.A. Weatherly on Love Triangles

2011-10-13T09:00:00.001+01:00

I'm very pleased to welcome L A Weatherly to Teenage Fiction For All Ages today as part of her Angel Fire Blog Tour. Angel Fire is the sequel to the very well-received Angel.

Synopsis
Only Willow has the power to defeat the malevolent Church of Angels - and they will stop at nothing to destroy her. However, Willow is not alone. She is with Alex, a trained Angel Killer - and her one true love. Together, they must train a new generation of Angel Killers. But as a half-angel, Willow can't help feeling like an outcast, even with Alex by her side. So when a handsome stranger with a tortured past arrives at the AK camp, Willow finds herself inextricably drawn to him.

You can find out more about the series at the Angel website and on twitter: @Angel_Book and now over to L A:

Love Triangles

What’s the appeal of love triangles?
From an author’s point of view, the answer’s simple: once a fictional couple confesses their love for each other and feels secure in that love, such as Willow and Alex at the end of Angel, you then have to find other challenges for them to overcome. Much as I adore both Willow and Alex, an entire novel of them happily proclaiming their love to each other would be pretty boring to write – and even worse to read! So bringing in the character of Seb as another romantic interest was a great way to add tension and drive. (Also, Seb can be very persuasive. Once he’d made his presence known to me, there was no way he was not going to be in the story.)

I think that’s why readers enjoy love triangles so much, too. Though logically they might hate the idea of anything threatening Alex and Willow’s romance, deep down that’s exactly what they do want: to experience the delicious agony of things not working out, and then the catharsis of a satisfying payoff. (I won’t give away any spoilers, but I think readers will be happy with how things work out in Angel Fire!) And of course, there’s the added appeal of being able to imagine yourself as Willow, with two gorgeous boys in love with you.

Though I was aware of all that while writing Angel Fire, I also wanted to keep things very real, and not avoid difficult or painful situations. While I loved the Twilight series, for instance, there never really seemed much doubt to me that Bella would end up with Edward. In Angel Fire, I wanted to push things further; to genuinely challenge Willow and Alex’s love with a character Willow is both attracted to and has deep feelings for – and who, in many ways, is absolutely perfect for her. Both Willow and Alex – and Seb, come to that – go through the emotional wringer in Angel Fire; their love is tested in ways they never even imagined.

I loved writing Angel Fire, though as always I became very emotionally involved in the story myself, so that it was a relief to write that final, cathartic scene! I won’t say too much yet about how things might go on to develop in book three, Angel Fever …except to say that I rather imagine we haven’t seen the last of the love triangle yet.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy reading Angel Fire as much as I did writing it – and I’ll look forward to hearing whether you’re Team Alex or Team Seb! ;).

Many thanks to L A and Usborne

The previous stop on the tour was at Daisy Chain Book Reviews and don't miss the next stop on Tuesday at Bookbabblers.

Waiting on Wednesday - Girl About Time

2011-10-12T09:44:00.001+01:00

Having recently done a time-travel theme with my children's reading group, I'm looking forward to this one which is aimed more at girls - supplementing the more boys-oriented TimeRiders and Jack Christie Adventures.

Girl About Time by Kerstin Gier will be published in April 2012 by Chicken House.

Every family has secrets. But what do you do if you find out that you are the family secret?

That’s what happens to Gwen when she finds herself unbelievably transported from out on the town to turn-of-the-century London. It’s enough to make any girl dizzy!

Then she discovers that she’s not the only time-traveller in the world. She’s stuck between the centuries with a gorgeous boy called Gideon and pursued by a sinister secret society determined to change the past. It gives a whole new meaning to dating.

A funny, thrilling and romantic time-travelling adventure series for girls starring a heroine as determined as Doctor Who.

Written by bestselling German author, Kerstin Gier, the book has sold more than 100,000 copies in Germany (published as Rubinrot).

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

Review: It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

2011-10-11T13:39:00.003+01:00

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han (May 2011, Puffin, ISBN: 0141330554)

Notes: Review will contain some spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Review: This is the sequel to The Summer I Turned Pretty and is set the following summer. Belly (short for Isobel) is spending her first summer at home rather than at the beach house in Cousins where she has spent every summer before with her mum and brother and family friend Susannah and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.

Things have changed and Susannah is dead and Belly and Conrad's sort-of relationship has broken-up. Everyone is grief-stricken and matters come to ahead when Conrad disappears from summer-school. Jeremiah asks Belly to help him find Conrad and their journey takes them to the beach house.

Over a weekend, Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah's relationships with each other will change. Family truths will be spoken and a new way forward decided upon.

For me I found this a sad book to read: pervaded with the loss of a loved one, the loss of love and the loss of childhood. I felt sorry for Belly and how she felt about Conrad and the unhappiness it was bringing her. The present day dilemma is threaded with flashbacks and sometimes these were from the point of view of Jeremiah and included Belly's arrival at the beach house last year. I wonder if Conrad will "speak" in the final part of the trilogy. As before, this was a fast read; I was entranced. The book ends with a tantalising teaser for Belly's future but I have no idea of the identity of the "him" mentioned in it. I don't know whether I can wait 196 days for the UK edition of We'll Always Have Summer, I may have to splash out on the already available US version.

Published in the UK this Week (10th - 16th Oct)

2011-10-10T20:17:00.005+01:00

In alphabetical order by author, here are the new YA releases published in the UK this week (that I know about), which will you be buying/reading?:

Cathy Brett - Verity Fibbs (13th)
Reality can never quite compare with the online world of Demon Streets for Verity. There she gets to learn new demon fighting skills and have fun. In reality she goes to school to learn useless skills and her fashion designer mother, Saffron Fibbs, is operating punishment by chores (for a small boy related misdemeanor). As ethical is the new black when it comes to fashion, Verity's mum's recycled fashion venture is the hottest thing ever and she has to go to New York to publicize it giving Verity three days of total freedom! But someone else is just as keen to see Saffron Fibbs leave home and when V and her friends find themselves on the wrong side of a very unethical enemy it seems that her online gaming skills might be the only thing between her and a very real Game Over...

Gemma Halliday - Deadly Cool (11th)
First I find out that my boyfriend is cheating on me. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And now he’s depending on me to clear his name. Seriously?

As much as I wouldn’t mind watching him squirm, I know that he’s innocent. So I’m brushing off my previously untapped detective skills and getting down to business. But I keep tripping over dead bodies and I’m still no closer to figuring out who did it. And what’s worse: all signs seem to point to me as the killer’s next victim.

I really need to pick a better boyfriend next time.

Stephenie Meyer & Young Kim - Twilight: Graphic Novel Volume 2 (11th)
Having uncovered the dark secret of her enigmatic classmate, Edward Cullen, Bella Swan embraces her feelings for him, trusting Edward to keep her safe despite the risks. When a rival clan of vampires makes its way into Forks, though, the danger to Bella has never been more real. Will she make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people dearest to her?

James Patterson - Witch & Wizard: Fire (13th)
Whit and Wisty Allgood have sacrificed everything to lead the Resistance against the merciless totalitarian regime that governs their world. Its supreme leader, The One Who Is The One, has banned everything they hold dear: books, music, art, and imagination. But the growing strength of the siblings' magic hasn't been enough to stop The One's evil rampage, and now he's executed the only family they had left. Wisty knows that the time has finally come for her to face The One. But her fight and her fire only channel more power to this already formidable being. How can she and Whit possibly prepare for their imminent showdown with the ruthless villain who devastated their world - before he can become truly all-powerful? In this stunning third instalment of the epic "Witch & Wizard" series, the stakes have never been higher - and the consequences will change everything.

Review: The Donut Diaries of Dermot Milligan as told by Anthony McGowan

2011-10-04T16:10:00.002+01:00

The Donut Diaries of Dermot Milligan as told by Anthony McGowan (August 2011, Corgi Childrens, ISBN: 0552564370)

Review: This is the first instalment of eleven-year-old Dermot Milligan's Donut Diaries. Dermot is rather partial to the cakes with the less fattening centre, so much so that he's been sent to a nutritionist (à la Gillian McKeith). If he doesn't reduce his donut intake and lose some weight then he will be sent, humiliatingly, to "Camp Fatso". To help him, he is advised to keep a diary to explore his feelings. Which turns out to be a good thing for the reader as Dermot engagingly relates a catalogue of mishaps, resulting from his own nervousness as well as more seriously from bullying, plus details of the new dietary regime he's supposed to be following.

Dermot has just started a new, posher, school so not only has he got to make friends but also avoid being teased. However he is picked on within minutes by a boy he nicknames the "Floppy-haired kid" who will become his nemesis throughout this book and beyond (I imagine).

The Donut Diaries had me giggling away, though do be aware it contains gross-out humour in parts especially as Dermot has to give a very special sample to the nutritionist later on so she can see what he's been eating... It also touches on all the problems of joining a new school and mixing old and new friends and coping with an embarrassing (to Dermot) family.

This is a diary which focuses more on words than pictures but there are plenty of illustrations by David Tazzyman, including a daily donut count.

The suggested reading age on the back is 9+, and the sequel, which I'm looking forward to, Revenge is Sweet, is due out in January 2012.

Publishing Deal - Curtis Jobling

2011-10-03T19:36:00.002+01:00

The third and fourth volumes in Curtis Jobling's Wereworld series will be published in the US. From today's Booktrade:

Penguin has acquired US rights to Curtis Jobling's WEREWORLD books 3 & 4 from Puffin UK in a major deal.
Puffin acquired World rights from John Jarrold at John Jarrold Literary Agency.
'Curtis and I are both delighted about this deal,' said John Jarrold. 'Considering that Penguin US only published the first volume this month and still have the second awaiting publication, to acquire the third and fourth books in the series in a major deal this early shows huge enthusiasm and commitment.'
WEREWORLD follows the story of Drew, a shepherd's son, as he comes of age and discovers he's the last of the long line of Werewolves, and rightful (yet reluctant) ruler of the land of Lyssia, where shape-shifting 'Werelords' reign. Drew is chased across the Seven Realms by the agents of the king, encountering an ever-expanding cast of both benign and fearsome Werelords along the way. The first two volumes in the epic fantasy series are already published by Puffin UK, with two more to follow in 2012.

Library Loot (2.15-17), review copies & bought

2011-10-02T08:22:00.001+01:00

I haven't done a Library Loot post for a few weeks due to absences, planned and unexpected. I'm sure I've missed some but here's most of it. I did get to the recent events for Mary Hooper (Bloomsbury) and Joss Stirling (OUP) and Dave Cousins (OUP).

Review

Pure by Julianna Baggott (2 Feb 2012, Headline - white cover doesn't show up!)
Verity Fibbs by Cathy Brett (13th Oct, Headline)
Fifteen Days Without a head by Dave Cousins (Jan 2012, OUP)
The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan (5 Jan 2012, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson (Jan 2012, OUP)
Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon (27th Oct, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks)
The Fever and the Flame: "At the Sign of the Sugared Plum" , "Petals in the Ashes" bindup (out now, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
Velvet by Mary Hooper (out now, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
The Thirteenth Horseman by Barry Hutchins (1 Mar 2012, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks)
In Darkness by Nick Lake (5 Jan 2012, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
Fracture by Megan Miranda (5 Jan 2012, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
This is not Forgiveness by Celia Rees (2 Feb 2012, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling (out now, OUP)
Angel Fire by L A Weatherly (out now, Usborne)

Library

Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson
We Can Be Heroes by Catherine Bruton
The Time Spell by Judi Curtin
(Didn't come in time for my reading group's theme of time-travel but I hope to use it in a Titanic theme when the library has a few more copies.)
Wither by Lauren Destefano
Emerald by Karen Wallace

Bought

Outside In by Maria V Snyder

Published in October (2011)

2011-10-01T09:44:00.008+01:00

Here are some of the teenage/YA titles that are being published in the UK in October 2011. I will put a link to this post and previous and subsequent "monthly" lists in my sidebar. January's list can be found here, February's here, March's here, April's here, May's here, June's here, July's here, August's here and September's here . Title links go to amazon.co.uk. Please let me know of others to add to the list. In general I have not included re-issues and have stuck to UK publishers.

Monthly lists for 2010 can be found here.

I have tried to identify all the British authors which I hope will be useful to those doing the Bookette's excellent British Books Challenge.

David Almond - My Name is Mina (6th, Hodder Children's Books, HB) British Author
Cathy Brett - Verity Fibbs (13th, Headline, pb) British Author
Kevin Brooks - Naked (6th, Puffin, pb) British Author
~~Garrett Carr - Deep Deep Down (27th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)~~ moved to 24 Nov 2011
PC & Kristin Cast - Awakened (25h, ATOM, pb)
PC & Kristin Cast - Destined (25th, ATOM, HB)
H M Castor - VII (1st, Templar, HB) British Author
Cinda Williams Chima - The Wizard Heir (6th, Indigo, pb)
Deborah Cooke - Flying Blind (31st, Allison & Busby, pb)
Kate Costelloe - Natalie's Bridesmaid Blues (6th, Hodder Children's Books, pb) British Author
Melissa de la Cruz - Lost in Time (6th, ATOM, pb)
John Dickinson - Muddle and Win (6th, David Fickling Books, HB) British Author
Jennifer Donnelly - Revolution (3rd, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Leigh Fallon - Carrier of the Mark (27th, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, pb)
Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - Beautiful Chaos (18th, Puffin, pb)
Gemma Halliday - Deadly Cool (11th, HarperCollins, pb)
Alyxandra Harvey - Bleeding Hearts (3rd, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie - Crusade: the Damned (27th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)
Robin Jarvis - Tales from the Wyrd Museum (2) - The Raven's Knot (27th, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, pb) British Author
Julie Kagawa - The Iron Queen (21st, MIRA Ink, pb)
Andrew Lane - Fire Storm (7th, Macmillan Children's Books, HB) British Author
Rebecca Lim - Mercy: Muse (27th, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, pb)
Mark Lowery - Socks are Not Enough (6th, Scholastic, pb) British Author
Jessica Martinez - Virtuosity (27th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Book, pb)
Stephenie Meyer & Young Kim - Twilight: Graphic Novel Volume 2 (11th, ATOM, HB)
Kenneth Oppel - This Dark Endeavour (6th, David Fickling Books, HB)
Panama Oxridge - Thyme Running Out (1st, Inside Pocket Publishing Ltd, HB) British Author
James Patterson - Witch & Wizard: Fire (13th, Arrow, HB)
Jackson Pearce - Sweetly (6th, Hodder Children's Books, HB)
James Phelan - Quarantine: Alone (27th, ATOM, pb)
Chris Priestly - The Dead of Winter (3rd, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb) British Author
Philip Reeve - Scrivener's Moon (6th, Marion Lloyd Books, pb)
Kathy Reichs - Virals (27th, Arrow, pb)
Ilkka Remes - Hot Porperty on the North Sea (6th, Andersen, pb)
Samantha Rendle - House of Vampires (31st, SilverWood Books, pb) British Author
James Riordan - Blood Runner (6th, Frances Lincoln Children's Books, pb) British Author
Amy Kathleen Ryan - Glow (7th, Macmillan Children's Books, pb)
Lili St Crow - Reckoning (27th, Quercus Publishing Pl, pb)
Simon Scarrow - Gladiator (6th, Puffin, pb) British Author
Marcus Sedgwick - Diamonds & Doom (6th, Orion Childrens, HB) British Author
Marcus Sedgwick - Vampires & Volts (6th, Orion Childrens, pb) British Author
Marcus Sedgwick - Midwinterblood (6th, Indigo, HB) British Author
Jessica Shirvington - Embrace (6th, Orchard, pb)
Maggie Stiefvater - The Scorpio Races (19th, Scholastic, pb)
Helen Stringer - The Midnight Gate (7th, Macmillan Children's Books, pb) British Author
Rachel Vincent - My Soul to Steal (21st, MIRA Ink, pb)
L A Weatherly - Angel Fire (1st, Usborne Publishing Ltd, pb)
Isla Whitcroft - The Cate Carlisle Files: Deep Water (1st, Piccadilly, pb) British Author

Review: The Black Banner by Helen Hart

2011-09-30T13:10:00.002+01:00

The Black Banner by Helen Hart (June 2011, SilverWood Books, ISBN: 1906236461)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: The Black Banner follows the nautical adventures of Billy Baxter and friends as they journey from England to the Caribbean in search of their fortunes. Billy has a secret. His real name is Becky, not Billy, and "he" is a girl. A girl dressed up as a boy and working as a deckhand on a merchant ship bound for pastures new. Becky has run away from drunken old Ma and her unpleasant friends, from the cold and damp room they lived in and from the dirt and poverty that were threatening to swamp her.

Becky lives in almost constant fear of being discovered – but then finds out there is something worse than living with Ma – being attacked by pirates! Becky, or Billy, survives the attack, joins the fearsome band of blade-swinging buccaneers and finds her life changing yet again. She has some pretty cool experiences as she learns to fight and survive and then plunders her way around the Caribbean with her fellow pirates, filling her sea-chest with gold along the way.

Filled with excitement and adventure, The Black Banner is written in the first person, by Becky herself, in the form of her private journal, and is brimming with her bravery, determination and hope for the future. She makes some great friends on her travels, including other women pirates, but also comes face to face with the potential dangers that pirates face every day, when the legal system doubles its efforts to crack down on the threats facing honest merchants at sea.

What an awesome, heart-warming tale!

Very highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Read a Melissa Marr short story online

2011-09-29T19:27:00.001+01:00

HarperTeen has made Melissa Marr's short story, Merely Mortal, in the recently published Enthralled anthology available to read online, for a limited time-period at their website.

Synopsis for Enthralled from amazon.co.uk:

A collection of fourteen original teen paranormal short stories from some of today’s bestselling YA talent, united with the common theme of road trips, and edited by bestselling authors Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong.

Contributors include:
Melissa Marr
Kelley Armstrong
Claudia Gray
Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (NYT Bestselling authors of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, Little, Brown)
Rachel Caine (NYT bestselling author of Morganville Vampire series, Penguin)
Carrie Ryan (NYT Bestselling author of THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH, Delacourt)
Jessica Verday (NYT bestselling author of THE HAUNTED and THE HOLLOW, S&S)
Rachel Vincent (bestselling adult mass market author and Harlequin YA author)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes (RAISED BY WOLVES, Egmont)
Jerri Smith-Ready (bestselling adult mass market author w/ YA debut, SHADE, S&S)
Sarah Rees Brennan (THE DEMON’S LEXICON, THE DEMON’S CONVENANT, S&S)
Kimberley Derting (debut: THE BODY FINDER, 2010 HCCB)
Jackson Pearce (SISTERS RED–Little Brown, AS YOU WISH–HCCB)
Ally Condie (debut: MATCHED, 11/2010 Dutton)

Blog Tour: Jeyn Roberts Guest Post

2011-09-27T09:00:00.001+01:00

I'm very pleased to welcome Jeyn Roberts, author of the newly released Dark Inside, to Teenage Fiction For All Ages where she is guest posting about Teenage/YA thrillers she's enjoyed reading. Firstly, here are details of her book and the trailer:

Synopsis
Moments after several huge earthquakes shake every continent on Earth, something strange starts happening to some people. Michael can only watch in horror as an incidence of road rage so extreme it ends in two deaths unfolds before his eyes; Clementine finds herself being hunted through the small town she has lived in all her life, by people she has known all her life; and Mason is attacked with a baseball bat by a random stranger. An inner rage has been released and some people cannot fight it. For those who can, life becomes an ongoing battle to survive - at any cost! Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen - now it's our turn!

Trailer

You can follow Jeyn on Twitter, @JeynRoberts, and her website is here and you can read an extract from Dark Inside at My Kinda Book.

And now over to Jeyn:

Hi everyone! I’m Jeyn Roberts and I’m the author of Dark Inside.

I love horror stories. Love them, love them, love them! I’ve always been crazy about them. When I was younger I used to watch with a pillow in my arms so I could cover my eyes when the scary parts came. They gave me nightmares as a child and as a teenager it became a little easier to fall asleep at night. That’s when I started reading everything I could find in the horror section of the library and book store.

So I’ve been asked to talk about some of the books I loved reading as a teen and some of the books I’ve enjoyed reading today. I must admit, when I was a teen, there wasn’t the amazing variety of YA books that are now on the shelves. I spent a good part of my teen years reading Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Poppy Z Brite. What can I say? I really loved the horror. Stephen King’s Pet Sematary and It horrified and thrilled me beyond belief. The Teen books I loved and read to death were anything by Christopher Pike, The Band by Carmen Adams, and if you can ever find it, I highly recommend The Stranger by Caroline B Cooney.

Lately there’s been a great surge in thriller YA novels and I swear, my book shelf is starting to sag in the middle. I just finished reading Blood Red Road by Moira Young and I was completely blown away by it. I also loved Across the Universe by Beth Revis, and I’m currently reading the Demon Trapper series by Jana Oliver. Speaking of series, I really enjoyed Gone, Vampire Academy and I can’t wait to pick up Charlie Higson’s new book.

With thanks to Jeyn Roberts and Macmillan Children's Books.

The next stop on the tour is So Little Time For Books.

Vampire Knits Anyone?

2011-09-26T18:50:00.003+01:00

I'm away from home at the moment and have been looking through my mum's knitting magazines. One of which recently featured Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller (which has been out a year I now realise). Here's the blurb:

From Twilight mania to Vampire Diaries, never have the undead been so adored. Vampire Knits is the first collection of knitting projects for dreamy, mysterious vampires and the fans who love them. These appealing and easy-to-knit projects range from cool sweaters to cosy pulse protectors, a fang sweater to blood bottle cozies. Gloves inspired by Twilight's Bella Swann, blood red jewellery and a beautiful diary cover are just a few of the timeless items crafty vampire fans have been clamouring for. The projects are fun to make and evoke the spirit of beloved undead characters. The book includes sections with names such as Protect Me!, Just Bitten, Vampire Style and Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf. Affordable, fun and well-designed, this book is an easy purchase.

You can read more about some of the projects and their designers at the Vampire Knits blog.

Plus, see the contents list and the pattern for the Tourniquet Scarf at Scribd,

Review: Pretty Twisted by Gina Blaxill

2011-09-22T16:55:00.001+01:00

Pretty Twisted by Gina Blaxill (May 2011, Macmillan Children's Books, ISBN: 0330533274)

Notes: The following review is written by Milly aged ten and a half, she is the daughter of one of my Euro Crime reviewers, and I'm very pleased that Milly will be writing more reviews for Teenage Fiction For All Ages in the future.

Review: Jonathan’s in love with Freya. So when Freya goes missing at the same time as local girls are found killed, Jonathan fears the worst. He asks for the help of his internet buddy, Ros, in finding Freya. Ros has a secret crush on Jonathan and is happy to help him out.

This book starts with a question: ‘How did we get ourselves into this mess?’ You’re gripped rightaway, wanting to find out what the mess is and how they got into it, and how they’ll get out.

Jonathan and Ros take turns to tell the story. They’re both great, but Ros has an especially good story as there’s lots going on in her life. Like the day she goes with her sister and best friend into a stranger’s house where men try and tempt the girls to stay. It’s really threatening and scary.

Jonathan’s story is pretty scary too. He’s a police suspect in Freya’s disappearance and has to find out what happened to her, to try and clear his name. He’s very frightened for Freya, because of the two murdered girls found floating in the Thames. The image of the dead girls is very vivid and sticks in your mind as you read the book.

As the story is told by two people, both boys and girls can enjoy it. The dialogue between Jonathan and Ros on the internet is particularly good. The book has great descriptions of London and some awesome action sequences, such as the night Jonathan is stuck in London and chased by a biker gang through the neon-lit streets.

Dark, adult themes and some strong language, but all in all it’s an awesome read with cool stuff happening all the way through. A sequel would be really good, especially if there’s more Ros in it.

Milly aged 10 1/2

Blog Tour: Helen Moss Guest Post

2011-09-21T08:35:00.002+01:00

Earlier this year I ran a week of "young crime solver posts" and included in this was a review of The Mystery of the Whistling Caves by Helen Moss and I subsequently voted her the new Enid Blyton :).

I'm now very pleased to welcome Helen to Teenage Fiction For All Ages and she has kindly written a guest post on safety in fiction:

Don’t Forget your Life Jacket!

When I first showed a shiny new hot-off-the-press copy of The Mystery of the Whistling Caves to my mum, her first comment (after saying well done, that’s wonderful) was ‘Shouldn’t they have their life jackets on?’

With the utmost restraint and maturity, I managed to suppress an eye-roll. Isn’t that just what a Mum would say!

I should know! I say it to my boys every day. Well, not exactly that, because we live miles from the sea and the only body of water they encounter on a daily basis is a large puddle on the drive. But I’m forever reciting the land-lubbers’ equivalent; don’t forget your bike helmet/shin pads/gumshield/bullet proof vest (okay, I made that last one up, but you get my point?)

Sometimes I feel like a One Woman Health and Safety Inspection.

So, when writing an adventure series featuring twelve and thirteen year old heroes, I knew I had to be careful not to wrap the characters in cotton wool. After all, they are fictional and their raison d’etre is to have adventures.

An adventure book without heaps of peril would be about as exciting as reading those one of those swimming pool warning signs (No running, no jumping, no laughing, no splashing, no petting - until the age of eight, I thought that last one meant you weren’t allowed to take your cat in with you!)

J K Rowling is famously quoted as saying “I’m not writing to make anyone’s children feel safe.” I agree. Of course, it’s more straightforward when the book is set in a fantasy world. When you’re single-handedly fighting off six dragons and a giant serpent with nothing but the sword of doom, no one’s going to worry about elbow-pads. Especially when broken bones can be fixed with a healing potion or magic spell.

Adventure Island is not a fantasy world, so it’s important that the young heroes aren’t seen as doing things that are totally reckless or irresponsible. On the other hand, it’s not gritty realism either. It’s clearly a fictional island, and although the characters are (I hope) identifiable as believable people in believable situations, there is an element of "suspended disbelief". For a start, if there were really that many serious crimes per head of the population in one summer, surely the government would have declared a state of emergency by now? I’m sure that even the youngest readers understand this is not real life, but are happy to go along with it for the sake of a good adventure.

So I didn’t dwell on life jackets and bike helmets. They were left unmentioned so that readers could imagine the characters wearing them if they wanted. However, in one of the later books (which I’m currently writing) I have made a point of mentioning bike helmets when the friends cycle into the busy town on the mainland, rather than the quiet moorland roads of the island, and also life jackets when they have to venture into dangerous rocks in their rowing boat.

Other than that, I’ve come up with a couple of guidelines I try to follow in the safety/peril stakes (in conjunction with my wonderful editor at Orion, Amber Caraveo. We’ve had many a long discussion on the life jacket issue!)

The young heroes never deliberately walk into a dangerous situation without a very good reason. However, if it’s necessary to save someone from danger or avert disaster, they don’t shy away. So, when the vanishing skeleton is dashing into the disused tin mine to blow it up, the boys follow to try to stop her. When a film star is dangling from a cliff, about to plunge to certain death, Jack rescues her with ropes (making sure he has a safety line attached!). When Drift, the dog, runs under the fence of the old quarry, the friends go in after him.

Danger can also arise through situations beyond their control. In The Mystery of the Whistling Caves, Emily knows how long they have in the caves before the tide rises and cuts off the exit – and the friends are very careful to make sure that they can get out in time; they’re not to know that a violent storm would make the sea levels rise higher than usual.

One thing I do insist on – as a Mum and as an author - is that both my real and fictional kids always let someone know where they are going. Emily and Scott roam Castle Key island, but they do say where they’re going (it’s not spelled out every time, of course; that would get a bit boring. But there’s a reminder now and then.) So for example, in The Mystery of the Missing Masterpiece, Emily creeps out into the night to follow a suspect, but she leaves her parents a note to say that she is taking the dog out for a few minutes’ walk.

This lesson came home to me as a child when I copied an idea I’d seen, not in a book, but on a TV programme called, Why don’t you switch off the TV and do something more useful instead? I’m sure anyone over a certain age will remember it well!

The brilliant idea was to take a Random Walk. Go out of your front door, and at every choice point, flip a coin to turn left or right and see where you end up! I longed to try this out and finally bullied my friend, Jackie, into joining me.

I think we must have lost track of time. I don’t remember much about where we ended up. Only a lot of relieved-slash-furious recriminations from my Mum when she eventually found us in a wood far from home – this was well before the era of mobile phones, of course. What were you thinking! Wherever have you been? It’s dark! You could have been killed!

I probably said something flippant at the time, (accompanied by an eye-roll, of course!) like; “Oh yeah, killed? What by? A rogue badger?” (we lived in the middle of the countryside.) But deep down, I must have got the message that it hadn’t been one of my better ideas.

For the next few weeks my mum was suddenly very keen to let me stay at home and watch telly all day though!

Many thanks to Helen and Orion Childrens.

There are currently six books available in the Adventure Island series (with four more planned for 2012). You can read about them at the official Adventure Island website which includes a map of Castle Key Island and blogs from the main characters.

Helen Moss's own website is here.

The blog tour began on 19th at Book Angel Booktopia and day two was at Serendipity Reviews.

Blog Tour: Joss Stirling Guest Post

2011-09-20T08:26:00.001+01:00

To celebrate the eagerly awaited release of Stealing Phoenix, sequel to one of my favourite reads of last year, Finding Sky, author Joss Stirling is on "tour". Today she stops by Teenage Fiction For All Ages and writes about "The Savant Olympics"

Synopsis
What do you do when your soulmate turns out to be a thief? Steal her, of course. Phoenix was raised within the Community, a gang of thieves with paranormal powers, under the control of a harsh master known as the Seer. The notion that there's a soulmate out there for every person with a paranormal gift is mere myth in Phoenix's world. That is until the Seer gives Phoenix the details of her next target, Yves Benedict. He's more than just her next victim, he is her destiny. To be together, Phoenix must break away from the Community but resistance against the Seer puts them both in mortal danger. Phoenix has never trusted anyone before, now it's time to trust Yves with her life.

Trailer

The Savant Olympics

As you might know by now, Stealing Phoenix starts off explosively at the new site for the 2012 Olympics. This got me wondering what kind of Olympics the Savants could hold. They would have an unfair advantage over the rest of us – Zed for example would know exactly where you were going to put the ball in any of those disciplines – football, tennis, hockey etc etc. But if they were playing others like them they could expand the Olympic disciplines in weird and wonderful directions.

So let’s imagine my seven Benedicts limbering up at the start of their competition (please I get to design the strip!).

Trace – he is the one who knows where things have been by touch. This would lend itself to a Round the World in Eighty objects race. The contestants would have to follow the path from artifact to artifact, with each clue leading to the next. A marathon for trackers.

Uriel – he sees the past. This is a tricky gift to turn into an Olympic sport as it sounds more useful for Time Team. Perhaps the guys in his discipline could be each given a ruin (Colosseum, Parthenon, etc.) and have to rebuild it (resources unlimited) exactly as it was on the day it was first opened.

Victor – he in many ways has the scariest power of all the brothers as it involves meddling in the minds of others. I suppose he could enter into a competition to run the most perfect opening ceremony. Watching the Beijing one, you had to wonder if there wasn’t some kind of mind control going on! I’ve got a feeling the London one is going to be less smooth…

Will - I have a soft spot for this guy, everyone’s best mate, tuned for danger. I think we could run a great event for him, like a kind of Capture the Flag where the contestants have to evade ‘the enemy’ to gain the prize. Set him down in the wilderness and let him show what he is made of! Bear Grylls, eat your heart out!

Xav – we already know that Xav rocks at downhill slalom so he could enter the real Olympics without cheating. His healing skills would make him a must as your team therapist.

Yves – so much potential here! How about long distance lighting of the Olympic torch? Or blow up the archery butts rather than shoot them? If we are thinking large, how about a strong of mountaintop beacons just like in The Return of the King, but lit by Savants from afar?

Zed – he can do a little bit of everything but I think he would enjoy a really difficult motorcycle course with random accidents waiting to happen. Those with foreknowledge would have to use it to avoid coming to disaster. Mario Carts, move over!

Many thanks to Joss and Oxford University Press.

The next stop on the tour is at Daisy Chain Book Reviews.

The previous stop was at Serendipity Reviews.

Follow Joss on twitter: @jossstirling and her website is here.

Blog Tour: Mary Hooper - Guest Post, Extract & Giveaway

2011-09-16T08:54:00.002+01:00

Today is the final day of Mary Hooper's Blog Tour for her stunning new book, Velvet and Mary has kindly written a guest post about her Fantasy Dinner Party Guests:

Fantasy Dinner Party
(five people, living, dead or fictional that you would invite and why)

Do people still have dinner parties? I would probably have an Indian takeaway then we can all gather around the foil dishes and I wouldn’t have to worry about all that cooking.

Elvis Presley. He was my number one crush when I was fourteen. I had 120 photographs of him on my wall and I used to kiss every one of them before I went to bed. When I saw a trailer of TWILIGHT the other day I realised why girls had gone mad over Robert Pattison: he looks just like a twenty year old Elvis. Only not quite as gorgeous.

Heathcliff. I can’t see him fitting into a dinner party, or helping the other guests to a spoonful of Bombay pickle, and he’s a bit of a bad-boy cliché, but when he was invented by Charlotte Bronte he wasn’t a cliché at all. He’d hate everyone at the party and brood a lot, and when he left early we could all talk about him.

Jo Brand. I love Jo. I love her dry wit and her deadpan delivery, I love that she doesn’t care. I think I could be best friends with her. I don’t think she’d get on with Philip Larkin as a person, however, so I’m looking forward to a lively debate over the Tikka Masala.

Paul Whitehouse. Okay, I know he’s been around a while now, but he’s still my favourite comic. So versatile – the list of “characters” he has played or invented is endless. And nothing is funnier, or more poignant, than Ted and Ralph. It’s one of those rare pieces that make you laugh and cry at the same time.

Philip Larkin. Witty, erudite and a bit of a dark horse (impassive behind his glasses, but what about all those women he had on the quiet?) his poems linger in my mind like no others. From the endlessly debated and read-at- weddings, An Arundel Tomb, to the simple truth of This be the Verse to an eight-line poem about Myxomatosis which can reduce me (an ardent lover of rabbits) to tears, Larkin has a poem to cover it. Perhaps he’d care to immortalise my dinner party in a few well-chosen words...

Thanks very much Mary and Bloomsbury for allowing Teenage Fiction For All Ages to take part in the tour.

You can find out more about Mary Hooper at her website.
You can check out the earlier stops on the tour via her Facebook page

Scroll down to read an extract from Velvet and to enter the giveaway to win 8 of Mary's books.

Synopsis
Velvet is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry is scalding, back-breaking work and Velvet is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Velvet is noticed by Madame Savoya, a famed medium, who asks Velvet to come to work for her. Velvet is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Velvet realises that Madame Savoya is not all that she says she is, and Velvet's very life is in danger ...A romantic and thrillingly exciting new novel from an acclaimed and much loved historical writer for teens.

Trailer

Extract
Velvet by Mary Hooper - chapter one.

Giveaway

Thanks to Bloomsbury, I have one set of: At the Sign of the Sugared Plum, Petals in the Ashes, The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose, At The House of the Magician, By Royal Command, The Betrayal, Fallen Grace and Velvet to giveaway.

The giveaway is open to UK entrants only and the closing date is 20 September 2011. To enter please complete the form below.

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Review: Kidnap in the Caribbean by Lauren St John

2011-09-13T17:14:00.001+01:00

Kidnap in the Caribbean by Lauren St John (July 2011, Orion Childrens ISBN 1444000217)

Review: Kidnap in the Caribbean is the sequel to the award-winning Dead Man's Cove and both feature the plucky and forthright eleven-year-old Laura Marlin, an orphan recently taken in by a long-lost uncle who lives in St Ives, Cornwall. Laura's uncle is an ex-detective and the talent seems to run in the family.

This time round, the story isn't set in St Ives but much further afield when Laura wins the holiday of a lifetime when she buys a raffle ticket from a street vendor. An all-expenses paid cruise to Antigua in the Caribbean, a holiday villa there and return flights. Her uncle is not keen at first but soon has a surprising change of heart. Laura's best friend Tariq and her 3-legged husky Skye are at the docks to see the pair off but events conspire and Tariq and Skye find themselves trapped aboard the ship. Luckily Laura's room has twin beds. With her uncle incapacitated on the journey Laura and Tariq entertain themselves - and there's lots to do. They, reluctantly at first, add another boy to their circle - Jimmy who is a bit of a pest- but they will be glad they did.

A few strange events occur on-board the ship but that's nothing to when Laura's uncle disappears and when the boat docks in Antigua, Laura and Tariq have to use their wits and rely on the kindness of strangers to get Laura's uncle back and keep themselves out of the clutches of the villains.

Kidnap in the Caribbean is an exciting adventure with two resourceful young leads (and a very intelligent dog!). Tariq is coming out of his shell but is still a quiet character. Part of the story is set on the island of Montserrat and I was pleased to learn more about the island and its volcano. There is an underlying environmental theme to the plot and there are notes at the back informing the reader about the state of the oceans and some of its inhabitants. Anything that makes the reader think about the state of the planet, is fine by me.

This is a entertaining series starring an independent and intelligent girl who is given free reign by her trusting guardian and makes good use of it.

Sadly the next book's not out until August 2012.

Posters Ahoy

2011-09-12T20:48:00.003+01:00

First off I spotted Day of Vengeance getting the big promo treatment in WH Smith's poster (you can read author Johnny O'Brien's recent guest post here)

and then at my local train station, this glorious poster of Abandon by Meg Cabot which I haven't got yet but am looking forward to:

Library Loot (2.14), review copies, bought & won

2011-09-11T10:37:00.002+01:00

Here's what's arrived at home this week,

Library

Torchwood: First Born by James Goss
Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt
Perfectly Reflected by S C Ransom

Bought

Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen
Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston—and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear. All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive….

Won

A Tangle of Magicks by Stephanie Burgis
The Truth About Celia Frost by Paula Rawsthorne

Review

Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger (out now, Amulet Books)
This is the hilarious, clever and much-anticipated follow-up to the breakout hit, "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda". Tom is an exciting new voice in middle grade fiction. His spot-on portrayals of secondary school and the dynamics that exist between kids are realistic and humorous. He's definitely a rising author to watch. This is the fantastic book for boys and reluctant readers especially. "Publishers Weekly" said Tom's writing included 'spot-on boy banter', "100 Scope Notes" called Yoda 'reluctant reader platinum', and "Fuse Number 8" said, 'It's been a while since I found a book that can truly be called genderless (in that it has wide appeal across the board)'. "Lucasfilm" is enthusiastically back on board with us for the second book. It includes instructions for making your own original origami Darth Vader. Darth Vader is the most popular "Star Wars" character, their 'Mickey Mouse' according to Lucas.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (3 Oct, Bloomsbury)
Andi lives in New York and is dealing with the emotional turmoil of her younger brother's accidental death. Alex lives in Paris and is a companion to the dauphin, the young son of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI, during the violent days of the French Revolution. When Andi is sent to Paris to get her out of the trouble she's so easily enveloped by in New York, their two stories collide, and Andi finds a way to reconcile herself not only to her past but also to her future. This is a heart-wrenchingly beautiful, evocative portrait of lives torn apart by grief and mended by love.

Mister Creecher by Chris Priestly (3 Oct, Bloomsbury)
Billy is a street urchin, pickpocket and petty thief. Mister Creecher is a monstrous giant of a man who terrifies all he meets. Their relationship begins as pure convenience. But a bond swiftly develops between these two misfits as their bloody journey takes them ever northwards on the trail of their target ...Victor Frankenstein. Friendship, trust and betrayal combine to form a dangerous liaison in this moving and frightening new book from Chris Priestley.

Blog Tour: Johnny O'Brien

2011-09-08T08:49:00.002+01:00

To celebrate the release of the third of the time-travelling Jack Christie Adventures, Day of Vengeance, and a stunning new cover-look for the series, author Johnny O'Brien is stopping by today to talk about his writing process and research.

My reviews of:
Day of the Assassins
Day of Deliverance
Day of Vengeance (review coming soon)

Read more about the Jack Christie Adventures at the Templar website and on Facebook and follow the tour here.

Over to Johnny:

I write mainly at weekends, as I have a day job where I work for a range of sinister global corporations. We have an old higgledy-piggledy farmhouse with very low beams and the floor is uneven so I am usually writing at an angle – which probably explains a lot! The room I write in is cold in winter and cold in summer – but there are great views – including of a field outside with our eleven sheep – I wouldn’t say I draw inspiration from them – but it is strangely relaxing watching them.

When it comes to research, there is no beating visiting the real places – whether Hampton Court, King’s College Cambridge or the Eiffel Tower. In Day of Deliverance, Jack and Angus climb up one of the towers on the College and then hide in the gap above the fan vaulted ceiling and the roof – you wouldn’t know these little things unless you had been there or talked to people who know about it. Sometimes in research, however, you do have to resort to good old fashioned books. The next Jack Christie Adventure takes place in China and I have actually been to China but unfortunately so much has so profoundly changed that a lot has to be gleaned from books and this is really hard. I try and make things accurate, but sometimes things are just not known and so you just kind of have to make your best guess.

The next stage is actually putting pen to paper. I find that I write a structure which is maybe about ten pages long which sets out what happens in each of the chapters. By then though I find myself losing patience and I want to get on with it, so I usually start with a chapter that is easy and fun to write – like a good action scene. What I find though is that as you work through the book things change – sometimes quite profoundly and you just can’t work out every detail before you start. Also the act of actually writing stimulates new ideas and pathways which sometimes replace the original ideas. One problem with all this is the time travel theme which can introduce horrible logical dilemmas and structural issues which can mean you have to go back and start again. And of course that’s all before the editor gets hold of it!

If I am not in the mood to write, sometimes I will go through the previous chapter that I wrote and edit that and that kind of gets you into the swing of things and then I’m ready to break new ground. So I edit as I go along, but once finished, the book will need three or so full read throughs and edits by me before I submit it to the publisher. Even when I go back and read the finished books now there is stuff that I want to change – it’s all quite painful! I have to say though, a good editor is absolutely invaluable and you have to accept that once they get hold of the book, they will make suggested changes and there will be re-work. This can be a challenging process – but it invariably ends in a much better book.

Many thanks to Johnny and Templar for arranging this.

Review: Day of Deliverance by Johnny O'Brien

2011-09-07T07:48:00.001+01:00

Day of Deliverance by Johnny O'Brien (January 2011, Templar Publishing, ISBN: 1848770979)

Review: This is the second in the Jack Christie series which currently numbers three and follows on from Day of the Assassins.

At the beginning of the book, there is a brief recap of Jack's adventures so far ie his father has created a time-machine and is a "revisionist", someone who wants to go back in time and change the past to improve the present. Jack and his friend Angus have been recruited by VIGIL who want to prevent any such meddling in time.

In Day of Deliverance, VIGIL has been tipped off by Jack's father that Jack's former history teacher Pendelshape has decided to go back to Elizabethan times and change the course of history, significantly. Jack's dad is now on the run from both sides...

Jack and Angus are sent back to 1587 to find out more and to prevent the Revisionists from succeeding, and along the way they witness the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots, are betrayed by Christopher Marlowe and have lunch with William Shakespeare as well as being captured and recaptured by Spanish and Revisionist factions. Their mission turns out to be not only to save Queen Elizabeth I's life but also to prevent the Spanish Armada from winning the war!

I really enjoyed Day of Deliverance. I have a fondness for this period and I like all the details about daily life, such as drinking ale rather than water as well as the grander back-drop. The story clips along, and includes plenty of action from night-climbing in Cambridge to desperate horse-rides from pursuers. The boys make friends whilst they're there, in the shape of some actors (Players) who provide valuable assistance in sticky situations. We get to know Jack and Angus a bit more; Jack is the brains and Angus the muscle, and they complement each other well. As with the previous book, there is supplementary material in the form of photos of paintings, sketches, maps and some notes on the people and events covered.

As well as entertainment, Day of Deliverance provides a painless and enjoyable history lesson and I look forward to reading the next book, Day of Vengeance.

Though this series may appeal more to boys as the leads are 15 and 17-year-old males, this instalment could be of interest to girls who enjoy the Elizabethan Lady Grace Mysteries (in the second one, Betrayal, Lady Grace also ends up on Francis Drake's ship but not during the Armada!).

Blog Tour: Kate Harrison

2011-09-06T07:34:00.002+01:00

Orion have launched their Indigo imprint of YA titles and one of the first ones is Soul Beach by Kate Harrison. I have been drooling over this one since I first heard about it and it's as good as I'd hoped.

As part of the Soul Beach tour, Kate Harrison has written a guest post on crime fiction - a topic dear to my heart.

First, here's the blurb for the first book in the Soul Beach trilogy, parts 2 and three are scheduled for July 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Synopsis:
When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again - and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love ...But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centred around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.

Secondly, here's the trailer:

and third, there is an extract (and more) on the Soul Beach website.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS…

The moody beachfront cover of Soul Beach suggests dark plots and extreme danger.

But when I was writing my first thriller, my influences were a little less scary than the image suggests. Without realising it at the time, I was following in the footsteps of Enid Blyton. Or the giant paw prints of Scooby Doo...

Because in Soul Beach, the young aren’t just the victims – they fight back.

Children – young girls in particular – appear all the time in crime fiction, meeting more than their fair share of grisly ends. It’s easy to see why they’re tempting for a novelist: an attack on innocence is shocking and suggests genuine evil. And in this generation, more than ever before, children are protected and monitored, constantly made aware of stranger danger. When adult protection fails, it’s everyone’s worst nightmare.

In contrast, the ranks of the investigators are dominated by detectives wrinklier than a Sharpei dog. That’s why when I had the idea for Soul Beach, I wanted my teenage heroine to take action, rather than be a passive victim. And I’ve realised I can trace that desire back to my own childhood reading and viewing.

When I was growing up in the seventies and eighties, it felt different: we really could disappear for hours without our parents panicking. And that was the case in books, too. Enid Blyton’s rather stuffy heroes spent their free time uncovering derring-do as Secret Sevens or Famous Fives. Scooby and his teen chums specialised in uncovering supernatural goings on that always turned out to be smoke and mirrors. I was never a big Nancy Drew fan, but she was a player, too. Back then, kids got their hands dirty.

In Soul Beach, my own hands are far from clean when it comes to killing off the young. Everyone on my paradise shore is young, beautiful – and dead. But my earthbound heroine, 16-year-old Alice, takes control of their fates and her own.

Making this happen wasn’t easy. Most teenagers complain about the restrictions placed upon them– and I knew that Alice’s parents, devastated by the murder of her elder sister, would be so anxious that they wouldn’t let her out of their sight. So how could I give her an active role in solving Meggie’s murder? Plenty of authors kill off awkward parents, or send them abroad, but that seemed too easy to me.

My solution tapped into another thing parents often fear – the internet. Alice seems safe in her bedroom – but with every click, she’s putting herself in danger. The online world draws her in, and it’s unclear if anyone is controlling her. Yet the internet also offers her answers, as she investigates why people end up on the Beach and why her sister lost her life.

Thriller or investigative elements in YA books seem to be on the increase.... and with that, there’s less passivity in our heroes and heroines. From the sleuthing efforts of Christopher in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, to Todd’s determination to find out what lies beyond Prentisstown in Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy, the young are determined to find out the reality beyond the world adults try to show them.

OK, it’s a darker world than Blyton’s. But as Alice faces her fears to find out who killed her sister, I think Scooby’s tail would be wagging furiously in support.

Many thanks to Kate and Indigo for arranging this.

You can read about all Indigo's titles on their website.

Review: Day of the Assassins by Johnny O'Brien

2011-09-05T20:11:00.003+01:00

Day of the Assassins by Johnny O'Brien (June 2009, Templar Publishing, ISBN: 1840116730)

Review: This is the first in the Jack Christie series which currently numbers three.

Fifteen-year-old Jack live with his mum in Scotland and along with his best friend Angus, attends a new, small school. Jack and Angus's favourite computer game is Point of Departure set in World War One. On Jack's birthday, the friends discover a secret room adjacent to the cellar where they spend their game-playing time and in it they find historical artefacts and books and equipment. It was Jack's father's workshop before he mysteriously left the family. Jack hasn't seen his dad for years but receives a birthday present every year.

When Jack and Angus show one of the historical artefacts to their history teacher Mr Pendelshape they could not have expected what would happen next...

The boys are taken to another secret workshop, in the school, where Mr Pendelshape explains why Jack's father is AWOL - because he has perfected a time-travel machine and wants to change the past. When the boys and the teacher are attacked by those who want to prevent any meddling in time, Jack is able to escape via a time-machine into 1914. And so begins a chase across time and Europe. Which side will Jack choose, his father's or his father's enemies?

Jack makes friends along the way as he travels to Sarajevo to prevent or assist in the pivotal moment of history which caused the First World War - the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

I did find Day of the Assassins a little slow to get going as it takes about 50 pages (of the 200) for the adventure to begin but once it did and Jack went back in time I was hooked. As well as being exciting and tense, Day of the Assassins offers a historical context to the war and offers the moral dilemma - would you save millions of lives in the past if you could, irrespective of the consequences on the here and now? I particularly liked the inclusion of photographs of some of the key players from the past and a map and time-line of the war. Jack and Angus are likeable characters and I look forward to reading more of their adventures and seeing if Jack ever meets his father.

The book cover will probably appeal to boys more than girls with its bullet holes though I hope girls will pick it up; it's a very easy way to learn new facts. There are some deaths, of people the boys meet, and the vocabulary appeared quite sophisticated (to me), so even though my library shelves this in 9-12s I would pitch it at slightly older readers than that.

My Life as a Book 2011

2011-09-05T10:11:00.002+01:00

As started by Pop Culture Nerd, my life as a book 2011:

One time at band/summer camp, I: [found a] Girl, Missing (Sophie McKenzie)

Weekends at my house are: [spent on the] Soul Beach (Kate Harrison)

My neighbour is: Raising Demons (Rachel Hawkins)

My boss is: David (Mary Hoffman)

My ex was: Torment (Lauren Kate)

My superhero secret identity is: Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)

You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry because: [we may] Clash (Colin Mulhern)

I’d win a gold medal in: [er I've] Forgotten (Cat Patrick)

I’d pay good money for: [Doctor Who:] The Jade Pyramid (Martin Day)

If I were president, I would: [be the target of an] Assassin (Grace Cavendish)

When I don’t have good books, I: [go on] The Hunt (Amy Meredith)

Loud talkers at the movies should be: [turned] Inside Out (Maria V Snyder)

My crime fiction version is on my Euro Crime blog.

Library Loot (2.12-2.13), review copies & bought

2011-09-04T09:21:00.001+01:00

Two weeks' worth here.

Library

Rip Tide by Kat Falls

Traitor's Kiss by Pauline Francis

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Dark Heart Rising by Lee Monroe

Bought

The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood

Review

Lies by Michael Grant (5th Sep, Egmont Books Ltd)

Soul Beach by Kate Harrison (out now, Indigo)

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith (Jan 2012, Headline) & goodies!

Between by Jessica Warman (3rd Oct, Egmont Books Ltd)

The Other Life by Susann Winnacker (Feb 2012, Usborne)

From AudioGo:

Blood Ransom by Sophie McKenzie (Audio Book) (out now)

Doctor Who: Serpent Crest: Tsar Wars by Paul Magrs (Audio Book) (8th Sep)

Doctor Who: Blackout by Oli Smith (Audio Book) (8th Sep)

Publishing Deal - Dawn Porter

2011-09-02T10:44:00.001+01:00

News of a two-book deal for Dawn Porter, from Book Trade:

Hodder Children's Books are pleased to announce the acquisition of two teen titles from celebrity broadcast and print journalist Dawn Porter.

Based on Dawn Porter's own adolescence growing up on Guernsey, these are epic stories of an intense female friendship between two schoolgirls, at a crucial age; when platonic love can rival romantic love in the passion, jealousy, joy and betrayal it inspires and the lifelong bonds that are forged between girls.

Hodder Children's YA Publisher, Emily Thomas says: 'We are thrilled to be publishing what we know will be a thoroughly compelling and epic story highlighting the power of female friendship. Dawn is a fabulous role model for teenage girls; her exploration of important subjects such as body image and breast awareness, as well as her great work in raising money for connected charities, gives her a powerful and refreshing point of difference in the world of media celebrity publishing.'

Free Derek Landy Short Stories (e-books)

2011-09-02T07:45:00.002+01:00

Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant short stories, Gold, Babies and the Brothers Muldoon and The Lost Art of World Domination are currently available for free as a UK Kindle or from iTunes, (no epub versions as far as I know).

From Derek Landy's blog: The Lost Art of World Domination takes place after Skulduggery Pleasant, and Gold, Babies and the Brothers Muldoon takes place after Playing With Fire. The other short stories will be released over the next few months.

These stories should shortly be available on skulduggerypleasant.co.uk.

Gold Babies and the Brothers Muldoon:
UK Kindle NB 49p though supposed to be free
iTunes

Midnight. Valkyrie Cain approaches an old, ramshackle church to make a delicate deal with a trio of ugly, hairy goblins. To her absolute non-surprise, the goblins have no intention of honouring that deal- but not to worry. Skulduggery Pleasant is standing by to deliver a surprise of their own. Things, however, don’t go exactly according to plan. Not least because the goblins have a sister. A very big, very strong sister. Who might just have a TINY crush on one of our heroes…

The Lost Art of World Domination
UK Kindle
iTunes

A shot of Skulduggery action for free. It isn’t easy to take over the world. First you need the scheme. Then you need the muscle. Then you need to come up with a system for ruling six billion people and keeping them from revolting. It takes a certain kind of man to take over the world. Scaramouch Van Dreg, however, is not that man. But he has one thing going for him. He has his arch enemy, Skulduggery Pleasant, chained up in his dungeon, and the only person who is coming to save him is the skeleton detective’s 13 year old sidekick. What could possibly go wrong?

Published in September (2011)

2011-09-01T09:08:00.002+01:00

Here are some of the teenage/YA titles that are being published in the UK in September 2011. I will put a link to this post and previous and subsequent "monthly" lists in my sidebar. January's list can be found here, February's here, March's here, April's here, May's here, June's here, July's here and August's here. Title links go to amazon.co.uk. Please let me know of others to add to the list. In general I have not included re-issues and have stuck to UK publishers.

Monthly lists for 2010 can be found here.

I have tried to identify all the British authors which I hope will be useful to those doing the Bookette's excellent British Books Challenge.

Anthology - Haunted (1st, Andersen, pb)
David Almond - The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean (1st, Puffin, pb) British Author
Ian Beck - Hidden Kingdom (??. OUP, pb) British Author
Ilsa J Bick - Ashes (29th, Quercus Publishing Plc, pb)
Judy Blume - Here's to you, Rachel Robinson (2nd, Macmillan Children's Books, pb)
John Boyne - Noah Barleywater Runs Away (1st, David Fickling Books, pb)
Heather Brewer - The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Twelfth Grade Kills (1st, Puffin, pb)
Melvin Burgess - Kill All Enemies (1st, Puffin, pb) UK
Meg Cabot - Abandon (1st, Macmillan Children's Books, pb)
Aimee Carter - The Goddess Test (16th, MIRA Ink, pb)
Ally Carter - Heist Society (1st, Orchard, pb)
Lauren Child - Ruby Redfort (29th, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, HB) British Author
Tera Lynn Childs - Sweet Venom (6th, HarperCollins, HB)
Cinda Williams Chima - The Warrior Heir (1st, Indigo, pb)
Harlan Coben - Shelter (15th, Indigo, HB)
Yvonne Collins & Sandy Rideout - Love Inc (26th, ALLISON & BUSBY, pb)
Jo Cotterill - Ice Dreams (1st, Red Fox, pb) British Author
Joseph Delaney - Spooks: I Am Grimalkin (1st, Bodley Head, HB) British Author
Chris d'Lacey - Fire World (1st, Orchard, pb) British Author
Roddy Doyle - Wilderness (1st, Marion Lloyd Books, pb)
Paul Dowswell - Sektion 20 (5th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb) British Author
Hilary Duff - Devoted (29th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, HB)
Fiona Dunbar - Fire and Roses (1st, Orchard, pb) British Author
Jasper Fforde - The Last Dragonslayer (15th, Hodder & Stoughton, pb) British Author
Becca Fitzpatrick - Silence (29th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, HB)
Anna Godbersen - Beautiful Days (1st, Puffin, pb)
K M Grant - Hartslove (1st, Quercus, pb) British Author
Michael Grant - Lies (5th, Egmont, pb)
Lia Habel - Dearly Departed (29th, Doubleday Childrens, pb)
Andrew Hammond - Crypt: The Gallows Curse (1st, Headline, pb) British Author
Kate Harrison - Soul Beach (1st, Indigo, pb) British Author
Charlie Higson - The Fear (15th, Puffin, HB) British Author
Will Hill - Department 19 (1st, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, pb) British Author
Mary Hooper - Velvet (5th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb) British Author
Kathryn James - Mist (1st, Hodder Children's Books, pb) British Author
Mia James - Darkness Falls (29th, Indigo, HB) British Author
Maureen Johnson - Shades of London (1) - The Name of the Star (29th, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, pb)
Allan Frewin Jones - Govannon's Destiny (1st, Hodder Children's Books, pb) British Author
Carrie Jones & Steven E Wedel - After Obsession (5th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Derek Landy - Death Bringer (1st, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, HB)
Kirsty McKay - Undead (1st, Chicken House, pb) British Author
Sophie McKenzie - Sister, Missing (15th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, HB) British Author
Jonathan Maberry - Dust & Decay (29th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)
Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong (eds) - Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions (1st, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, pb)
Elizabeth Miles - Fury (1st, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, HB)
Lee Nichols - Betrayal (5th, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, pb)
Panama Oxridge - Justin Thyme (1st, Inside Pocket Publishing Ltd, pb) British Author
Annabel Pitcher - My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (29th, Indigo, pb) British Author
Kirsten Reed - The Ice Age (5th, Picador, pb)
Kieran Scott - He's So Not Worth it (1st, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)
Darren Shan - The Saga of Larten Crepsley (3) - Palace of the Damned (29th, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, HB)
Darren Shan - The Saga of Larten Crepsley (2) - Ocean of Blood (29th, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, pb)
Sara Shepard - Never Have I Ever (29th, Harper, pb)
Malaika Rose Stanley - Skin Deep (1st, Tamarind, pb) British Author
Joss Stirling - Stealing Phoenix (1st, OUP, pb) British Author
Cate Tiernan - Immortal Beloved (1st, Hodder Paperbacks, pb)
Jessica Verday - The Hidden (1st, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)
Sarah Webb - Ask Amy Green: Love and Other Drama-Ramas (1st, Walker, pb)
Scott Westerfeld - Goliath (29th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, HB)
Deborah White - Wickedness (1st, Templar, pb) British Author
K J Wignall - Blood (5th, Egmont, pb) British Author
Maryrose Wood - Poison Diaries: Nightshade (1st, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, pb) British Author
Rick Yancey - The Monstrumologist: The Isle of Blood (29th, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, pb)

Recent Publishing Deals

2011-08-31T07:44:00.004+01:00

Here's news of some publishing deals from Publishers Lunch Weekly:

Children's: Middle grade
NYT bestselling author of THE MISSING and SHADOW CHILDREN series Margaret Peterson Haddix's untitled new series, the next series about a group of children raised in exile from their violent society returning "home" for the first time, to Simon & Schuster Children's, in a three-book deal, for publication in Summer 2015, 2016, 2017.

TEN THINGS WE DID (AND PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE) and "Magic in Manhattan" author, Sarah Mlynowski's WHATEVER AFTER, about a girl and her little brother who fall into fairy tales, mess them up, and help the characters find new happy endings, to Scholastic, in a four-book deal, for hardcover publication starting in summer of 2012.

Children's: Young Adult
Debut author Lanie Bross's FATES, the story of an Executor sent to earth to bring about human destinies, who finds herself unaccountably experiencing human emotions, leading to an epic romance set across multiple worlds, to Delacorte, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal.

Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt's RAGS & BONES, an anthology of short stories retelling classic tales by contributors including Neil Gaiman, Lev Grossman, Kelley Armstrong, and Carrie Ryan, to Little, Brown Children's, for publication in Fall 2013.

Review: Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham

2011-08-30T13:38:00.002+01:00

Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham (June 2011, Hodder & Stoughton , ISBN: 9781444736939)

Review: The Abduction is the sequel to the variably received Theodore Boone, from veteran crime writer John Grisham, which introduced the eponymous thirteen-year-old lawyer in training.

The first book left rather a lot of unanswered questions and unfortunately they aren't resolved in this book but look to be picked up in the third; rather The Abduction deals with the disappearance of Theo's friend April who vanished overnight from her home with no sign of broken entry.

When the police hear that a distant cousin of hers, whom she has been writing to, has escaped prison and returned to April's town of Strattenburg, they immediately begin a manhunt. At the same time Theo and his friends carry out their own search.

There will be some tense and sad times ahead before Theo cracks the case ahead of the police.

There's not much to the plot so I can't say any more than that. I didn't enjoy The Abduction as much as Theodore Boone unfortunately. Not a lot happens and there isn't much development of the scenario of the family, the estranged brother/uncle, and April's not in it much at all. For me it was a pleasant diversion but not a book I couldn't put down. There was one scene, which I can't reveal, that I felt rang false and if the bods from CSI or Dr Brennan from Bones had been around then the story could have moved a little quicker.

As an experience crime fiction reader (and tv viewer) this didn't really grab me but I'd love to hear from younger readers about what they thought of it. I will read the next book as I'm expecting that to be more courtroom based than this was.

NB. As before, there are both adult and YA editions.

Recent Publishing Deals - Woolston, Rigg, Whitman, Quinn

2011-08-25T09:03:00.002+01:00

A few publishing deals from yesterday's Publishers Lunch Weekly:

Author of Morris Award winner THE FREAK OBSERVER, Blythe Woolston's BLACK HELICOPTERS, about a girl raised to be a weapon who straps on a vest of explosives and sets out to kill and be killed until her plan goes wrong, to Candlewick, in a pre-empt, in a two book deal, for publication in Spring 2013
Author of the NYT bestseller MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN Ransom Riggs's untitled sequel, continuing the story of the children on the remote Welsh island, incorporating a new set of vintage photographs to guide the story, to Quirk Books.
Sylvia Whitman's MILK OF BIRDS, following two teenage girls - one living in Washington, D.C., and the other in Sudan - who are dramatically changed by swapping letters with one another over the course of a year; based on a volunteer experience the author had with Women for Women International, to Atheneum.

Kate Karyus Quinn's debut ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE, about a girl who wakes up wandering the roads of Oklahoma knowing that she is occupying another girl's body -- and that she has killed the girl whose body she is in -- who then returns to the girl's parents in upstate New York to uncover who she really is, and who else she has killed, to Harper Teen.

Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

2011-08-22T15:18:00.002+01:00

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (June 2010, Puffin, ISBN: 0141330532)

Review: I bought this ages ago and I've been wanting to read it for so long but I was slightly scared to in case it didn't live up to my high expectations but finally I have and it mostly did.

Isabel, with the unfortunate nickname of Belly, goes every summer with her mum and brother to stay at the beach house with her mum's best friend Susannah and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.

Belly is almost sixteen and is blossoming in a physical way now, and Conrad and Jeremiah seem to notice, though they have always treated her as a sister before. Belly has had a crush on Conrad since she was ten but seems no nearer getting him to like her back.

This is probably the last summer before everything changes - college, football school etc - as the boys are all a little bit older than Belly. She wants it to be a perfect summer. Over the course of the summer, Belly meets a boy and relations come to a head cordially with Jeremiah and dramatically with Conrad. However what Belly doesn't realise is that there are other things going on, until she finally gets it, that it's not all about her.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a quick read and not just because it's told in shortish chapters, but because you just want to find out what happens next. The story didn't go the way I was expecting ie with it all being set in the present summer, but rather was interspersed with flashback to earlier summers, such as one when Belly's best friend stayed for a week and how that unexpectedly upset their friendship. We get to see Belly at growing up over the summers and how what she thinks is true, such as how she believes her mum to be, is not the case at all. I did find Belly slightly annoying at times, due to her immaturity, and I could have done with a bit more Conrad as he's very much a moody character in the background unlike his easy-going brother who has a larger role. At the end of the 'perfect' summer, the book turns slightly more sombre, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next in the sequel, It's Not Summer Without You.

Library Loot (2.11), review copies & bought

2011-08-21T08:39:00.002+01:00

Here's what I've picked up this week:

Library

Girl Parts by John Cusick
"Hello, David. My name is Rose. It's a pleasure to meet you. We are now entering minute two of our friendship. According to my Intimacy Clock, a handshake is now appropriate." DAVID is a rich kid, with a million friends, online and off. CHARLIE is a loner, disconnected from the high school world around him. Neither of them feels close to anybody. Until they meet... ROSE: part girl, part robot, and ALL a boy could want. But can a robotic girl really change the lives of two teenage boys? Before they know it, Rose is teaching David and Charlie how to feel human again.

Kidnap in the Caribbean by Lauren St John
Laura cannot contain her excitement when she wins a trip to the Caribbean for herself and her uncle, Calvin Redfern, especially when her best friend, Tariq, and her three-legged husky, Skye, accidentally find themselves on board too. But when they dock at Antigua, they discover that Calvin Redfern has vanished, and Laura and Tariq are about to be kidnapped by the fearsome Straight A gang. Dramatic escapes, an erupting volcano and a race against time to stop the deadly undercover 'Marine Concern' make Laura's second adventure every bit as exciting as the first.

Bought

When it Happens by Susane Colasanti
Reminiscent of the movie Say Anything, a debut novel for all those searching for The One!

Sara and Tobey couldn'’t be more different. She is focused on getting into her first-choice college; he wants to win Battle of the Bands. Sara'’s other goal is to find true love, so when Dave, a popular jock, asks her out, she'’s thrilled. But then there'’s Tobey. His amazing blue eyes and quirky wit always creep into her thoughts. It just so happens that one of Tobey'’s goals is also to make Sara fall in love with him. Told in alternating points of view, Sara and Tobey'’s real connection will have everyone rooting for them from the minute they meet!

Review

The Haunting of Charity Delafield by Ian Beck (3 Nov, Bodley Head)
A magical, enchanting tale, with stunning illustrations that will transport you into another world.

Flame-haired Charity Delafield has grown up in a vast, isolated house - most of which she is forbidden to explore - with her fiercely strict father. With only her kindly nurse, Rose, and her cat Mr Tompkins for company, she knows very little of the outside world - or of her own family's shadowy past. What she does know is that she is NEVER to go outside unsupervised. And she is NEVER to over-excite herself, because of the mysterious 'condition' that she has been told she suffers from.

But Charity has a secret. All her life, she has had the same strange dream - a dream of a dark corridor, hidden somewhere in the house. Then, one day, Charity stumbles across the corridor. It leads to a door . . . and suddenly she realises things are not quite what they seem.

The Adventures of the New Cut Gang by Philip Pullman (1 Sep, David Fickling Book)

For the first time in one volume, two action-packed thrillers from one of our best-known authors, about a motley group of urchins forming THE NEW CUT GANG, solving crimes in late Victorian London.

Thunderbolt, Benny, Bridie and Sharky Bob are a mixed bunch of vagabonds and urchins who come together to form the New Cut Gang in two comic tales of stolen silver, skulduggery and desperadoes.

Fake coins are turning up all over Lambeth and the finger of suspicion is pointing at Thunderbolt's dad - could he really be the forger? The crime-busting New Cut Gang come to the rescue!

And when just two clues - a blob of wax and a Swedish match - are discovered at the scene of a break-in, the children find themselves on the trail of an extremely cunning criminal.

Set in late Victorian London, these two action-packed thrillers have now been put together in a single volume - with new illustrations throughout from Horrible Histories illustrator, Martin Brown.

The Poison Diaries: Nightshade by Maryrose Wood (1 Sep, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks)
A dark, gothic tale of romance… and murder.

The latest book in the grippingly dark series, The Poison Diaries.

Our heroine, Jessamine, has lost her faith in the men she loved, and her innocence as well. She turns to the dark side and plots to kill her father, using his own poisons, before becoming an assassin, a poisoner for hire. Can she recover from her heartache and reunite with her true love, Weed? Find out in this thrilling story where poisons, darkness and horror are a part of everyday life, and love is the only cure.

Not shown - a download of the audio book of All These Things That I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin; Macmillan Young Listeners; Unabridged edition (September 6, 2011)
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Review: Wuthering Hearts by Kay Woodward

2011-08-16T13:32:00.001+01:00

Wuthering Hearts by Kay Woodward (July 2011, Andersen, ISBN: 1849392994)

Review: Fourteen-year-old Emily Sparrow lives in a small Yorkshire town near the Brontes home of Haworth. She wants to be an actress and is desperate to star in this year's school production. But she is horrified to hear that it is to be Wuthering Heights.

Robert McBride has just joined the school and is tall, dark, handsome and very moody and Emily is smitten. But what is his problem? When circumstances lead to him moving into her home temporarily she gets to know "charming Robert" but still meets the grumpy version at school.

When both of them are cast in the play it seems that there's an opportunity for the two to rehearse together and so get to know each other and Emily, hopes, time for him to fall for her.

Things don't go as planned, however, and there are both tears and laughter before the two understand each other better.

Wuthering Hearts is a charming romance tale which touches on a couple of serious issues along the way. Emily is a lively, believable and funny narrator who I wanted to be not so quick to blame herself all the time for the misunderstandings with Robert. She has an adorable Auntie O acting as a mum substitute, dispensing wise advice. I loved the trips out in the wild moors and the visit to Haworth, which are both brought vividly to life.

Wuthering Hearts is a short and snappy read which should leave you wanting to read both Emily Bronte's original classic and Kay Woodward's previous book, Jane Airhead, and is suitable for younger teenagers (and older!) and any slightly younger children who like reading about a romance.

Popular Names in YA

2011-08-15T20:28:00.001+01:00

A colleague of mine has been looking at baby names for her nephew, not that she hopes to have much say in the matter, but I jokingly said that the popular names at the moment are Daniel and Luke if YA fiction is anything to go by. So here is a very unscientific poll of popular names based on the books I've read and reviewed on this blog:

Cam

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Fallen series by Lauren Kate

Daniel

Dark Divine series by Bree Despain
Fallen series by Lauren Kate

Grace

Dark Divine series by Bree Despain
Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater

Luke

Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison
Dark Touch series by Amy Meredith
Forgotten by Cat Patrick

Sam

Gone series by Michael Grant
Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater

Are there any other names which seem to be popular at the moment?

Library Loot (2.10), review copies, prize & bought

2011-08-14T09:46:00.001+01:00

I couldn't resist including Foxy in the picture, he looks somewhat bemused!

Library

The Midnight Palace by Carlow Ruiz Zafon (audio book)
The book begins with a chase through the streets of Calcutta in May 1916. Lieutenant Peake pauses for breath outside the ruins of the Jheeter's Gate station knowing that he only has a few hours to live. Inside his overcoat he is sheltering two newborn babies - twins, a boy and a girl. Pursued by his would-be assassins, Peake runs at full tilt to the house of Aryami Bose, to whom he entrusts the children. In 1932 we meet the boy, Ben, and his group of friends the night before they are due to leave St Patricks orphanage. They have formed a secret club, The Chowbar Society, that meets each week at midnight in the old ruin they have christened The Midnight Palace. Their final meeting is due that evening but then Aryami Bose turns up at the orphanage with Sheere, Ben's sister, and tells them the story of the parents they never knew. Their father was an engineer and writer who died in tragic circumstances at the inauguration of Jheeter's Gate station. But as the novel unfolds, there is more to this story than meets the eye and they are lured by a shadowy figure from the past into a final showdown in the ruins.

Review

Naked by Kevin Brooks (6 Oct, Puffin)
London, 1976: a summer of chaos, punk, love . . . and the boy they called Billy the Kid.

It was the summer of so many things. Heat and violence, love and hate, heaven and hell. It was the time I met William Bonney - the boy from Belfast known as Billy the Kid.

I've kept William's secrets for a long time, but now things have changed and I have to tell the truth. But I can't begin until I've told you about Curtis Ray. Hip, cool, rebellious Curtis Ray. Without Curtis, there wouldn't be a story to tell.

It's the story of our band, of life and death . . . and everything in between.

This characteristically gripping novel from award-winning author Kevin Brooks will rock you to the core.

Velvet by Mary Hooper (5 Sep, Bloomsbury)
Velvet is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry is scalding, back-breaking work and Velvet is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Velvet is noticed by Madame Savoya, a famed medium, who asks Velvet to come to work for her. Velvet is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Velvet realises that Madame Savoya is not all that she says she is, and Velvet's very life is in danger ...A romantic and thrillingly exciting new novel from an acclaimed and much loved historical writer for teens

Betrayal by Lee Nichols (5 Sep, Bloomsbury) (sequel to Deception)
Emma Vaile is the most powerful ghostkeeper in centuries. Which is great when she's battling the wraith-master Neos, but terrible when she's flirting with fellow ghostkeeper (and love interest) Bennett. When ghostkeepers fall in love, the weaker one loses all power, and that's something Bennett is not willing to accept. Heartbroken and alone, Emma tries to lose herself in school. A new team of ghostkeepers has arrived - one a snarky teen boy, the other a visiting scholar - and Emma finds solace in training for the battle against Neos. But as the team grows stronger, they are threatened by an unknown force. As chilling and page-turning as Deception, this sequel will grab readers and hold them to the last page. No one is safe from suspicion as Emma closes in on the traitor.

After Obsession by Carrie Jones & Steven E Wedel (5 Sep, Bloomsbury) (I've enjoyed the first two "Need" books by Carrie Jones)
Aimee and Alan have unusual pasts and secrets they prefer to keep hidden. Aimee's deceased mother struggled with mental illness and hallucinations, and Aimee thinks it could be hereditary. After all, she sees a shadowy river man where there isn't one. And then there was that time she and her best friend Courtney tried to conjure a spirit with a Ouija board ...Alan is Courtney's cousin. His family moved to Maine when Courtney's father went missing. It's not just Alan's dark good looks that make him attractive. He is also totally in touch with a kind of spiritual mysticism from his Native American heritage. And it's not long before Aimee has broken up with her boyfriend ...But it's not Aimee or Alan who is truly haunted - it's Courtney. In a desperate plea to find her father, Courtney invites a demonic presence into her life. Together, Aimee and Alan must exorcise the ghost, before it devours Courtney - and everything around her.

Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts (2 Sep, Macmillan)

Moments after several huge earthquakes shake every continent on Earth, something strange starts happening to some people. Michael can only watch in horror as an incidence of road rage so extreme it ends in two deaths unfolds before his eyes; Clementine finds herself being hunted through the small town she has lived in all her life, by people she has known all her life; and Mason is attacked with a baseball bat by a random stranger. An inner rage has been released and some people cannot fight it. For those who can, life becomes an ongoing battle to survive - at any cost!

Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen - now it's our turn!

Won

The Donut Diaries of Dermot Milligan by Anthony McGowan, illustrated by David Tazzyman
A British Diary of a Wimpy Kid, featuring Dermot, an overweight eleven-year-old. Hilariously funny and insightful.

Dermot Milligan’s got problems. He’s overweight and hooked on donuts. He has a pushy, over-achieving mother, and a father who spends all his time hiding in the loo. His sisters, Ruby and Ella (known as Rubella) attack him relentlessly from the opposite directions of Chav and Goth. And now, he's being sent to a nutritionist, Doctor Morlock, who looks like a Dementor from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

This diary is Doc Morlock's idea. Not only does Dermot have to write down how many donuts he eats, but also - and this is the really rubbish part - he has to talk about HIS FEELINGS! But things are about to get even worse - he's being separated from his friends and sent to St Michael’s, a posh school where he just knows he's going to stick out like a sore thumb. A sore thumb with a weight problem . . .

Bought (not shown)

Dark Angel by Eden Maguire (Again I've read and enjoyed the first two in her other series, The Beautiful Dead)
Tania's heart belongs to Orlando. Nothing can rip them apart.

Until the seduction begins in a flurry of glamour and magic, music and parties all orchestrated by the mysterious and mesmerising Zoran, an iconic rock star who has retired to a remote ranch in the nearby mountains.

And there Tania meets the dark side.

Can she resist temptation?