Review: The Last Chance Hotel by Nicki Thornton

I recently posted my review of THE LAST CHANCE HOTEL by Nicki Thornton on my library's Facebook page:

THE LAST CHANCE HOTEL is the first book in the Seth Seppi series. We meet Seth, who is to all intents and purposes an orphan, working as a kitchen boy/general dogsbody to the Bunn family who run the Hotel. He is bullied mercilessly by their awful daughter Tiffany who is supposedly training to be a chef.

There is a grand event being held at the Hotel and Tiffany tricks Seth into making a dessert which is unsuitable for the main guest so Seth quickly rustles up an alternative and labels it for the main guest’s consumption only.

So when the main guest dies of apparent poisoning after sampling their special dessert, Seth is immediately the main and only suspect.

It is then Seth discovers that his cat, Nightshade, can talk and that magic is real. The main thing going for him is that the main detective doesn’t seem to think that Seth did it. Can Seth clear his name? And what else doesn’t he know about his home and its residents?

With its short chapters this is a quick read, and combines a locked-room-style mystery with Harry Potter-style magic. As well as a death there are a few punch-up scenes during the thrilling finale which might steer this to a slightly older children’s audience eg 9+ years.

THE LAST CHANCE HOTEL won the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition in 2016.

Review: Orion Lost by Alastair Chisholm

I recently posted my review of ORION LOST my library's Facebook page:

ORION LOST by Alastair Chisholm is set on Orion, a colony spaceship leaving Earth and heading for the planet Eos Five, far far away. The story is told from the point of view of Beth who is thirteen. Her mum is an officer aboard the ship and her dad is also employed on the ship, as a farmer. Beth is training to be an officer herself and soon makes friends with her classmates with the exception of Vihaan, the arrogant son of Orion’s Captain, and his bullying friend Arnold.

For the ship to travel the necessary vast distances, every so often it must “Jump”. The Jump requires that everybody’s memories are backed up just prior to them going to “Sleep” and when they “Wake” the memories are restored.

All is going well aboard the ship, Beth is learning and they’ve made several successful Jumps. But then an unexplained shudder through the ship means everyone is put into emergency Sleep.

When Beth is next awake, it is to find that only her and her classmates can be awoken. The ship is way off the flight-plan, there is massive damage and fires are raging. This small crew has to learn to work together to save themselves, their families and the ship itself. They have to face numerous challenges, ranging from space pirates and mysterious aliens, to the ship’s Artificial Intelligence which might be hiding something, as well as their own fears.

ORION LOST is an absorbing read. It is a mystery, a thriller and a science fiction book all in one. There are lots of twists and turns and surprises and Beth is a character you can root for and empathise with. It appears to be a non-series book though I really would love a sequel.

Review: Agent Zaiba Investigates: The Missing Diamonds by Annabelle Sami, illustrated by Daniela Sosa

I recently posted my review of AGENT ZAIBA INVESTIGATES: THE MISSING DIAMONDS on my library's Facebook page:

AGENT ZAIBA INVESTIGATES: THE MISSING DIAMONDS, by Annabelle Sami and illustrated by Daniela Sosa, is the first book in a new series and introduces Zaiba, an aspiring detective, and her two sidekicks: her best friend Poppy and younger (half) brother Ali.

The story all takes place in the Royal Star Hotel where Zaiba’s cousin Sam and fiancé Tanvir are having their Mehndi party.

Zaiba, in the best tradition of her hero Eden Lockett - a successful writer of detective stories based on events in her own life – is tasked with identifying the mysterious celebrity who is staying at the hotel. The female celebrity is staying with a small dog who has an expensively bejewelled collar. When first the dog goes missing and then the collar, it is up to Zaiba and her team to find both, solve the mystery and save the day!

I really enjoyed this book. There’s lots of action and use of initiative. All the characters have their individual strengths though Zaiba is on a bit of a learning curve to take notice of her friends’ suggestions at times. Alongside the text there are full-page and incidental illustrations dotted throughout.

Zaiba gets on well with her step-mum Jessica whom she calls mum but there is a mystery about the loss of her birth mum which I hope is revealed over the series. Zaiba feels close to her mum via the Eden Lockett books which she inherited as her mum had written little notes in the margins.

The second book is out in July and I look forward to it.

Review: The Blizzard Challenge by Bear Grylls

I recently posted my review of Bear Grylls' THE BLIZZARD CHALLENGE on my library's Facebook page:

THE BLIZZARD CHALLENGE is the first in the Bear Grylls Adventures series aimed at younger children.

In this first book we meet Olly who has been sent off to an adventure camp with his friend Jack. Jack loves this type of thing but Olly would rather be at home with his tv and creature comforts.

The boys are teamed up with Omar, who doesn’t think much of Olly and his impatient attitude soon has Olly deciding to wander off and leave his team to get on without him. Olly is then given a compass by a girl. The compass seems to have a fifth direction though he cannot read it.

Omar is not happy with Olly for abandoning him and Jack, and there’s a tense atmosphere in their tent. As Olly is trying to sleep, a cold wind blows through the tent and when Olly goes to close the door tighter he finds himself in the snowy mountains with a man called Bear.

Bear and Olly must team up and get away from the approaching storm. They will only survive as a team. During his adventure with Bear, Olly will learn some survival lessons and also how he can push himself to do better and how we are stronger together.

This is a short book with quite simple language with more difficult words explained by Bear eg hypothermia, and it shows the benefits of team-work whilst telling an adventure-filled story. It includes illustrations, provided by Emma McCann. The target audience is around 6+.

Free Ebook: The New Girl

As you may have seen Amazon are offering a number of free ebooks for children/young people at the moment. I recently spotted that Cathy Cole's first Heartside Bay book, The New Girl, was included in the freebies.

I reviewed books one and two here.

Download The New Girl here.

Review: Kat Wolfe Investigates by Lauren St John

I recently posted my review of Lauren St John's Kat Wolfe Investgates on my library's Facebook page:

KAT WOLFE INVESTIGATES, the first in a new series from Lauren St John, won CrimeFest’s, Best Crime Novel for Children (8-12) last year. And I loved it too.

After an unpleasant incident in their London home, Kat's mum, a veterinary surgeon, and Kat relocate to a slightly mysterious job in an idyllic Dorset sea-side town called Bluebell Bay. One of the conditions is that they take on the previous owner's cat, which is no ordinary British Domestic Shorthair... Plus Dr Wolfe has to be able to treat monkeys at the local sanctuary.

As it's the school holidays Kat is soon running her own small business – pet sitter for hire, and meets a temporarily housebound American girl of her own age (12) who has been thrown and badly injured by the very horse that Kat is to look after. Kat also offers to look after a parrot whose Paraguayan owner is returning home for a while. This latter job is what instigates an involving adventure with international implications.

This is a very rich book, with quite a complicated storyline. I don't want to say anything more about the plot but it is I think, quite an unusual story for this age group. Kat is a great animal-whisperer and not surprisingly her and her mum are vegan. She has a good heart and those around her respond to it. This book beams with good messages, has an exciting story and is quite funny as well.

Where Have I Been?

As you may have noticed, I've not posted anything for a long time. A couple of life changes have meant that I currently have less time to spend blogging and both my blogs have suffered though I have kept the Euro Crime one ticking over.

I do still work in a library and I do still co-oversee the children's/teenage reading group.

I'm not sure when or if I'll get back to my YA reading in large quantities like I used to. Most of my reading time is spent on Scandinavian crime fiction for the Petrona Award which was set up to remember a dear friend who died in 2012.

At the moment I am disbanding my (somewhat dated) YA tbr by distributing my finished review copies to the library and proofs to my reading group.

Thank you to any readers of this blog and publishers who have sent me books in the past. I am trying to continue the good work with library users even though I am unable to blog.

LLAP
Karen

Free Ebooks - The Sky is Everywhere & Popping the Cherry

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson is currently free at Kobo and UK Kindle.

and Popping the Cherry by Aurelia B Rowl is also free at Kobo and UK Kindle.

Review: Heartside Bay 1 & 2 by Cathy Cole

The New Girl by Cathy Cole (February 2014, Scholastic, ISBN: 1407140469);
The Trouble With Love by Cathy Cole (February 2014, Scholastic, ISBN: 1407140477)

The New Girl is the first book in the (currently) twelve-book Heartside Bay series. Heartside Bay is a small sea-side town full of romance and fifteen-year-old Lila and her family have moved there from London as Lila has been in trouble and the family want a fresh start.

Staring a new school is daunting but Lila is soon befriended by Polly and catches the eye of football-star Ollie. On the other hand she soon makes an enemy of Eve, the richest and nastiest girl in the school who has always wanted to date Ollie.

The New Girl follows the interactions between the three plus a fourth – Rhi an old friend/ex-friend of Lila's from her past.

In The Trouble With Love, the second book in the series, the point of view changes from Lila to Polly. Polly is a transplanted American who struggles with anxiety issues and has a crush on Ollie. In this book she meets a new boy and her absent father enters her life with an amazing offer. Polly has some decisions to make.

This is a lovely clean-teen series which is a British version of the high school dramas we see on the tv a lot. The books are quick reads and the point of view rotates between the main members of the group. And it's set in an idyllic sea-side town, what's not to like?

Publishing Deal - Veronica Roth

Very exciting news today - HarperCollins have signed two books by Veronica Roth. Scant details so far but here's what the Bookseller knows:

HarperCollins has acquired two new titles by bestselling YA author Veronica Roth.

Katherine Tegen, vice president and publisher of her eponymous imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books in the US, acquired the world English rights from Joanna Volpe of New Leaf Literary. In the UK, the books will be published by HarperCollins Children’s Books UK.

The first book is yet untitled and will be published in 2017. It tells the story of a boy who forms an unlikely alliance with an enemy, and how they help each other attain what they most desire. The sequel will follow in 2018.

Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass (June 2012, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, ISBN: 0007466692)

The Selection is the first book in the series and is set in a dystopian America now called Illea. Society is now structured into castes with One being the Royal Family and Eight being the lowest worker. America Singer is a Five and is in love with Aspen, a Six.

It is tradition for the princes of the Royal Family to choose a bride via the Selection process – where one girl from each of the 35 provinces is sent to the palace and the numbers decrease until the Prince finds his mate.

At the beginning of the book, the letters have gone out to all young women eligible for the Selection which includes America. She does not want to enter as she is in love with Aspen and wants to marry him despite it being a downgrade in status. He, however, persuades her to enter anyway and when they break-up due to his pride she is grateful for the opportunity to get away when she is chosen for the Selection.

Prince Maxon is the young man looking for a bride and is not as stuffy and as arrogant as America fears and indeed they strike up a friendship. America makes it clear she has no feelings for him however she cannot control his...

As the Selection process progresses America gets to learn more about the state of the country and experiences two Rebel advances on the palace. And when an old acquaintance joins the palace staff, she becomes confused about why she is at the palace and what she should do about her growing feelings for Maxon.

The Selection wasn't what I was expecting – I was worried about it being all catty and nasty with all those girls competing, however there is only one spiteful girl with the rest bonding together – as even the girls who don't get chosen get a permanent increase in caste and other benefits. In fact not a great deal happens in The Selection, it very much sets the scene for the next books, and I hope these contain plot threads about the state of the country and how Illea can be improved, in addition to America's love life. Nonetheless it was an enjoyable read and there is a lot of potential for a more dramatic continuation of the series.

The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015 longlist

The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015 longlist was announced this week.

From the press release:

The books longlisted for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal are:

My Brother's Shadow by Tom Avery (Andersen Press)

Us Minus Mum by Heather Butler (Little Brown, Young Readers)

When Mr. Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan (Bloomsbury)

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)

The Company of Ghosts by Berlie Doherty (Andersen Press)

The Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss (Simon & Schuster Children's Books)

Tinder by Sally Gardner (author) and David Roberts (illustrator) (Orion Children's Books)

Monkey and Me by David Gilman (Templar)

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Children's Books)

The Fastest Boy in the World by Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan Children's Books)

Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman (Walker Books)

Scarlet Ibis by Gill Lewis (Oxford University Press)

The Middle of Nowhere by Geraldine McCaughrean (Usborne Books)

Hello Darkness by Anthony McGowan (Walker Books)

More Than This by Patrick Ness (Walker Books)

Close Your Pretty Eyes by Sally Nicholls (Marion Lloyd Books)

Trouble by Non Pratt (Walker Books)

Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff (Penguin Books)

Smart: a Mysterious Crime, a Different Detective by Kim Slater (Macmillan Children's Books)

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (Electric Monkey)

The shortlist for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015 will be announced on Tuesday 17th March, with the winner being announced on Monday 22nd June at a special event at the British Library.

Publishing Deal - Jennifer Donnelly

This sounds fab!

From The Bookseller:

Hot Key Books has acquired a new standalone fiction title from Carnegie Medal winning author Jennifer Donnelly in a six-figure pre-empt deal.

Junior editor at Hot Key Books, Naomi Colthurst, struck a deal for UK and Commonwealth rights to These Shallow Graves [] These Shallow Graves is described as “a return to the style of A Gathering Light, with a thrilling plot that is part murder mystery and part historical romance”.

The book centres on Josephine Montfort, a girl from one of New York’s oldest, most respected, and wealthiest families. Jo’s future looks set for marriage she has other dreams and desires that make her long for a more meaningful and exciting life as an investigative journalist like her heroine Nellie Bly. However, when her father is found dead in his study after an alleged accident, her life becomes far more exciting than she would wish.

Colthurst said: “These Shallow Graves is everything a historical novel for young adults should be – Jennifer deftly illustrates an exciting and dangerous time for New York whilst keeping her characters and story wonderfully vivid and completely relatable for a modern audience. Jo is a fantastic heroine who I know will inspire a whole new generation of Jennifer’s readers to be brave and question the status quo, in just the same way Mattie from A Gathering Light inspired me.”

Hot Key will publish These Shallow Graves simultaneously in hardback with Delacorte in the US in October 2015.

Free ebook: The Selection by Kiera Cass

Kiera Cass's The Selection is currently* free on UK Kindle and Kobo.

Thirty-five beautiful girls. Thirty-five beautiful rivals…

It’s the chance of a lifetime and 17-year-old America Singer should feel lucky. She has been chosen for The Selection, a reality TV lottery in which the special few compete for gorgeous Prince Maxon’s love.

Swept up in a world of elaborate gowns, glittering jewels and decadent feasts, America is living a new and glamorous life. And the prince takes a special interest in her, much to the outrage of the others.

Rivalry within The Selection is fierce and not all of the girls are prepared to play by the rules. But what they don’t know is that America has a secret – one which could throw the whole competition… and change her life forever.

*Update 21.1.15: Not free any more.

Two Instances of Prufrock

T S Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", commonly known as "Prufrock" has popped up twice in my reading recently. I hadn't come across it before, having studied no poetry except for Chaucer at school - that I can remember at least.

The first time I noticed it, I didn't realise it was "famous" - and it was on the cover of Ally Condie's Atlantia:

Human Voices Wake Us,

And We Drown

however I'm currently about halfway through The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and lead female character Hazel has been  quoting the whole poem and when she used the lines mentioned above I got googling.

So I've learnt something. Plus I knew Val McDermid had borrowed the title The Mermaids Singing from Eliot but I hadn't realised it was this poem.

The Age of Miracles (Redux)

Karen Thompson Walker's fabulous The Age of Miracles has just been re-released as a Young Adult Edition by Simon & Schuster:

I first read The Age of Miracles when it came out in 2012 and I loved it. It still haunts me and I really look forward to Ms Walker's next book.

The accompanying paperwork to my copy suggests 14+ as a guideline - though the protagonist Julia is around eleven. In my review I felt that the book would appeal to older readers ie adults more than teenagers, so I'm eager to have feedback from younger readers.

I shall be popping a copy on my upcoming 'Crossover Fiction' display at work (library).

My original review is here.

Favourite Read of 2014

My favourite read of 2014, across all the genres I read - crime, SF and YA - and the only one to get a 5 star rating on Good Reads was ... Divergent by Veronica Roth.

I absolutely adored this book and yet it took the film coming out to nudge me to read it. I watched the DVD and didn't want it to end. I immediately read the Free Four knife-throwing scene then hunted out my copy of Divergent the book. Though there are some differences I think the film captured the book very well and the casting was good (more on this in a moment). Of course once I'd finished Divergent I had to immediately read Insurgent and similarly then Allegiant and finally Four.

Tris alone narrates the first two books however Allegiant is split between Tris and Four and unfortunately this didn't work for me at all. The voices were similar and Four becomes a weaker character and this is where Theo James as Four will have a lot of work to do to carry it off. In the Divergent film he (is and) seems older and wiser than Tris and yet the roles become reversed in Allegiant.

For me the series went from 5 (Divergent)  to 4 (Insurgent) to 3 (Allegiant) stars - nonetheless I'm glad to have read it and wonder what Ms Roth will write next.

The Maze Runner Prequel Announced

In today's Booktrade, James Dashner is to write a prequel to The Maze Runner:

Chicken House Publishing Ltd. will publish the fifth novel in James Dashner's #1 New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series, which has sold 7 million copies worldwide, as announced today by publisher Barry Cunningham.

THE FEVER CODE reveals the time directly before The Maze Runner and will tell the story of how Thomas, Teresa and the Gladers found themselves trapped in the Maze and how it was created. Dashner's The Maze Runnner movie will be released in cinemas in the UK on 10th October. It opened last month in the USA at #1 at the box office.

The second movie based on the series, entitled Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, is scheduled to release on 18th September 2015.

'From the very beginning, I've always wanted to write a prequel about Thomas, Teresa, Newt, Minho, Alby and all the Gladers that leads up to the very moment Thomas enters the Box. There are so many things hinted at that will be fun to reveal in depth. For years, fans have made it abundantly and enthusiastically clear that they want the same thing, so now seems like the perfect time to give readers the story of how the Maze began.' JAMES DASHNER

Read the whole article here

News: Egmont USA & 2 Publishing Deals for Hot Key Books

Some more YA news from Friday's Booktrade: Egmont USA is up for sale, and details of two publishing deals by Hot Key Books:

Norse fantasy and dark psychological thrills abound in two exciting debut acquisitions for Hot Key Books: BIRDY by writer Jess Vallance, and THE YELLING STONES by twenty-six-year-old historian Oskar Jensen.

BIRDY is a troubling and deliciously dark thriller about the all-consuming friendship between two teenage girls. Vallance works as a freelance writer and has written articles on everything from business accounting to embalming a body. Hot Key acquired BIRDY in a two book deal.

In a very different genre is Oskar Jensen's Nordic fantasy THE YELLING STONES. Set in the Danish court of Jelling, Astrid, a Viking princess, and Leif, a brave poet, must unravel the mysteries of their ancient land in order to protect it from a dangerous force. Rich in historical detail, THE YELLING STONES echoes Rosemary Sutcliffe's classic storytelling and Rick Riordan's sense of adventure. Jensen's Danish heritage inspired him to write THE YELLING STONES. He has spent the past seven years at Oxford, reading three successive degrees in History, and is now a post-doctoral researcher in the Music Department of King's College London.

Oskar Jensen says: "I wrote The Yelling Stones because of two stones I once saw standing in a Danish graveyard. This is a world of beauty and of poetry, magic and death all mixed together. It's a world that really existed, and it thrills me to the core that I get to share it."

THE YELLING STONES will be published in paperback in April 2015, with BIRDY following in paperback in July 2015.

Read the whole article here.

Publishing Deals - Lauren Blakely and Lyla Payne

Bloomsbury Spark has given publishing deals to Lauren Blakely and Lyla Payne. From today's Booktrade:

Bloomsbury is thrilled to announce the acquisition of two novels and two novellas for the Bloomsbury Spark imprint from bestselling authors Lauren Blakely and Lyla Payne.

Daisy Whitney, writing as Lauren Blakely, will publish two projects with Bloomsbury Spark in 2015: 21 Kisses, a New Adult novel coming in Spring 2015, and an untitled crossover novella with a holiday theme, coming in Autumn 2015. Both books will be part of the new Wrapped Up in Love series that is a spinoff of Lauren Blakely's successful Caught Up in Love series. Her self-published October release, Stars In Their Eyes, kicks off the new series that will continue with Bloomsbury Spark's 21 Kisses.

Whitney has written several critically-acclaimed, award-winning young adult novels, including The Mockingbirds, The Rivals, When You Were Here, Starry Nights, and The Fire Artist. As Lauren Blakely, she has had five New York Times bestsellers and eight USA Today bestsellers. 21 Kisses is the perfect book to unite her young adult and adult readerships, featuring a tantalizing forbidden love and full of intense family drama.

Trisha Leigh, writing as Lyla Payne, will also publish two upcoming projects with Bloomsbury Spark: The Historians, a young adult novel coming in Spring 2015, in which a seventeen-year-old girl travels back in time to document important events to prevent them from being repeated, and Mistletoe and Mr. Right, a Christmas New Adult novella, coming in December 2014.

Leigh is the author of the young adult series The Last Year and The Cavy Files. As Lyla Payne, she is the USA Today bestselling author of New Adult novels, including Broken at Love, By Referral Only, Be My Downfall, Staying on Top, and the Lowcountry Ghost Story series.