Book Reviews: YA & MG

Here you’ll find me sharing my thoughts on the Young Adult and Middle Grade books I read.

Weapon: #LoveOzYA Review

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45880884. sy475 Weapon (Whisper #2) by Lynette Noni
Genre: YA, Sci-FI, #LoveOzYa
Publication: November 4th 2019
Publisher: Pantera Press
Source: Review copy from publisher – Thank You
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

The #1 bestselling WHISPER series concludes with WEAPON:

I already knew he was a psychopath. But now?
He’s more dangerous than ever.
And I have less than twenty-four hours to stop him.

After escaping Lengard and finding sanctuary with the Remnants, Alyssa Scott is desperate to save those she left behind ─ and the rest of the world ─ from the power-hungry scientist, Kendall Vanik. But secrets and lies block her at every turn, and soon Lyss is left questioning everything she has ever believed.

When long-lost memories begin to surface and the mysteries of her past continue to grow, Lyss battles to retain her hard-won control. Allies become enemies and enemies become allies, leaving her certain about only two things: when it comes to Speakers, nothing is ever as it seems… and the only person she can trust is herself.

I love Lynette Noni’s writing – That won’t come as a shock to any of you. I loved her Medoran Chronicles and I love this Whisper duology. If you’ve never dived headfirst into a world created by Ms Noni you are doing yourself a disservice.

Noni’s The Medoran Chronicles consists of six books set in a fantastical parallel world (the world building is epic) and are all about friendship and finding inner strength. The Whisper Series is also about friendship, learning how to trust others and yourself and discovering who you really are – well, who Subject 6-8-4 really is and what she’s made of.

The Medoran Chronicles is epic YA fantasy. The Whisper Series is modern day Urban YA sci-fi. Most of The Whisper Series is set in a secret underground facility, but we do get glimpse of real-world Sydney city, the city in which this secret facility lies beneath.

Whisper and Weapon follow the story of Subject 6-8-4, let’s call her Chip for the purpose of this review. We learn about Chip’s past with her and her real name isn’t revealed into really the end of book one.

In Weapon we see Chip away from the secret facility that kept her locked up and tortured her for two and a half years. We see her discover the immense power she can wield. From the start of Whisper I immediately felt drawn to Chip and was rooting for her all the way to the end of Weapon.
Weapon kicks off right where Whisper finished. If you thought Whisper was edge of your seat intense, Weapon is more so. I tore through the pages, needing to discover what happened next! Needing to know what was going to become of Chip and her friends! At one point I was so stressed I almost skipped to the end just to make sure everything was going to end up okay (see I still haven’t forgiven Noni for Niyx in the Medoran Chronicles). But I didn’t sneak a peek and rode the intense roller coaster right to the magnificent end. Thankfully I didn’t lose any favourite characters in this series and I was satisfied with their hope filled endings.

Who would like The Whisper Series: People who love stories about secrets hiding right under their noises, conspiracies and mysterious government testing, side effects causing special abilities to develop in the test subjects children, hidden facilities, power corrupted leaders, and the strength of friendship. Any #LoveOzYa aficionados and Sci-Fi lovers of all ages.

You’ve done it again Lynette Noni, five out of five stars from me for the thrilling conclusion that is Weapon, I can’t wait to see what you write next!

Check out the hashtags #whisperseries #weapon and #speakup to follow along with Pantera Press’s blog tour for Weapon, taking place between November 1 and November 15.

Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂

Beautiful Mess: #LoveOZYA Review

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35157846. sy475 Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian
Genre: Contemporary, Heterosexual romance, Mental Health, #LoveOzYA
Publication: 28th of August 2017
Publisher: Text Publishing
Source: Publisher – Thank You
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Rating: ✵✵✵

Since Ava lost Kelly, things haven’t been going so well. Even before she gets thrown out of school for shouting at the principal, there’s the simmering rage and all the weird destructive choices. The only thing going right for Ava is her job at Magic Kebab.

Which is where she meets Gideon. Skinny, shy, anxious Gideon. A mad poet and collector of vinyl records with an aversion to social media. He lives in his head. She lives in her grief. The only people who can help them move on with their lives are each other.

Enter the lovely Star who read and reviewed Beautiful Mess on my behalf.

Beautiful Mess is a messy book. It deals with heavy topics such as suicide, self-harm, and mental health. It is by no means a completely sad book, but it definitely has its sad parts.

One of the two main characters, Ava, has just recently lost her best friend, Kelly, to suicide. Life has been hard for her ever since. She’s angry, she’s sad, she’s hurting, and everyone around her keeps telling her that she’ll be able to ‘move on’ after time. But right now, it doesn’t feel like she’ll ever stop hurting.

The second main character, Gideon, is a poet, and also an anxious person by nature. He has a fair amount of anxiety, and depression, and has been on medication since he stopped self-harming at 13 years old. He still has his ups and down, as any person does, but he feels like he’s got a proper handle on things.

Ava and Gideon meet via Ava’s job at Magic Kebab, when Gideon is hired after his therapist helping him find a job.

The pair are unlikely – Gideon too nervous to talk to Ava, who told the entire school to “get fucked” during an assembly after Kelly’s death. And Ava has no idea who Gideon is, as they had never interacted before his first shift.

Ava finds Gideon interesting, and Gideon is fascinated with Ava. But because they have no way to chat outside of work as Gideon has a self-imposed no phone/internet thing going on, they start to write each other letters to get to know each other more.

As time goes on, their feelings develop into romantic, and sexual ones, and they become closer than ever.

But all of that aside, both of them know that they can’t “fix” each other, that there needs to be work on both of their parts if they’re ever going to be able to function properly as people in the wake of their overwhelming grief.

My thoughts:

I liked that this book didn’t shy away from the heavier side of mental health issues. From Kelly’s suicide, and how she just needed to “end her pain” to Gideon’s self-harming and what led him to start.

These are the things that teenagers will think about, and hopefully, coupled with the resources in the back of the book, anyone who reads this book, can know that they are not alone, and they can seek help.

There were parts of the story I didn’t like, but that was a me thing, and there were parts that hit really close to home for me, but I do think that anyone who has any mental health issues, or who knows of anyone who does, will probably find this book helpful in knowing that they’re not alone.

And I think the most important take from this book is that you can’t just fix someone else’s issues and problems. It has to be something they want to do, but it also has to be done with professional help and support.

You can find Star at her Book Blog, Twitter and Instagram.
Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂

SLAY: YA Review

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Hachette Australia, together with the #AusYABloggers are celebrating the release of SLAY by Brittney Morris. On tour, you will find Aussie bloggers, reviewers and Instagrammers sharing their thoughts on SLAY, beginning on October 28th and running until November 1st 2019. AND TODAY IS MY STOP ON THE TOUR.

SLAY by Brittney Morris
Published by Hachette Australia
ISBN 9781444951721
Published October 9th 2019
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RRP $17.99 AUD

We are different ages, genders, tribes, tongues, and traditions… But tonight we all SLAY.

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a college student, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online role-playing card game, SLAY.

No one knows Kiera is the game developer – not even her boyfriend, Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs.

With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she’s created. But can she protect SLAY without losing herself?

I loved SLAY. It is the kind of book that’s so engrossing you can’t put it down. The placing and the plot are phenomenal.

This is a book celebrating Black power and Black pride. This is a book about finding a safe space to be 100% yourself. This is a book about the good and the bad of online gaming. This is a book of a girl growing into a proud, brave and strong black women despite our modern society.

I loved the celebration of black history in this book. I loved the incite it will give non-gamers into what it feels like to immerse yourself fully into an online world. I loved being on this sometimes-nerve-racking journey with Kiera and Claire.

The POV alternates between game developer Kiera, game moderator Claire, with a few chapters sprinkled in from SLAY players. I loved the chapters from game players, but especially Jaylen’s, it really built out the whole SLAY experience. I wanted to jump into the pages and hug Jaylen, then give her a safe place to live were she could be a her and be the Queen she is in on the inside.

For three years Kiera has made and maintained a safe online space for Black gamers, but she has kept it a secret from the people in her life, each for different reasons. The secret catches up with her when everything she’s created comes under fire after a tragic event causes the mass population (white assholes) find out about the game and their exclusion. Nothing is over exaggerated in this book, as a white person I read it and thought, yep that’s how all those white males who never had to want for anything in their life would react and F*** you they deserve a safe place away from you assholes.

The dedication for this book reads “To everyone who has ever had to minimize who you are to be palatable to those who aren’t like you”. And the last line in the author’s acknowledges reads “To the Black gamers out there hungry for more heroes who look like us, I wrote this for you. #SLAY” I think these two sentences tell you all you really need to know about this fantastic read.

I say it all the time when I’m talking about queer books, everybody deserves to see themselves represented on the page, and that goes for on the screen also. I think this book perfectly gets that message across from an inside perspective. This book is never preachy, but it is real, and the message comes through loud and clear.

I loved this book and I think everybody should read it.

Side note: The whole time I was reading this book I was thinking what a fantastic movie this would make, fingers crossed it makes the jump like THUG and the world gets an equally awesome movie adaptation.

“Kings and queens, you know the drill. We are here first and foremost to celebrate Black excellence in all its forms, from all parts of the globe. We are different ages, genders, tribes, tongues, and traditions. But tonight, we are all Black. And tonight, we all SLAY.”

To follow along on the tour head on over to the AusYABloggers blog tour master post HERE, it has all the links to all the tour hosts.

Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂

The Peacock Detectives: #LoveOZMG Review

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39092329. sy475 The Peacock Detectives by Carly Nugent
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, #LoveOzMG
Publication: 1st of June 2018
Publisher: Text Publishing
Source: Publisher – Thank You
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵

The last time William Shakespeare and Virginia went missing Cassie found them sitting on a coiled hose behind the fire station, and Dad called her ‘Cassie Andersen, Peacock Detective’. So this time she knows what to do—she’ll look for clues and track them down. But the clues lead her in an unexpected direction and Cassie finds herself investigating a confusing mystery about her family.

Enter the lovely Star who read and reviewed The Peacock Detectives on my behalf.

Cassie Anderson is a writer. She is also a Peacock Detective. The first time her neighbour’s peacocks went missing, she was the one to find them. So when they went missing again, naturally, her neighbours sought out her help to find them again.

While doing Very Important Detective Work, Cassie also is writing a story for her Dad, who is also a writer, and he teaches English Literature at the high school portion of their local school.

Because Cassie’s Dad is a writer, she knows lots of things about writing, words, how to tell stories, and just what is needed in them to make them interesting.

Throughout the book, there are descriptions and definitions of facts about stories, and writing, and what a good story needs. Though she still doesn’t know about Themes in books (and can’t seem to find them herself), Cassie writes an incredible story, to be gifted to her dad for Christmas.

Cassie has her Notebook for Noticing on her at all times, and she writes down everything she notices. She notices that her dad has been having more of Those Days – the days where he can’t do anything except stare at a blank wall. And she notices that her Mum is different to. From stopping working at the library, to moving out entirely, Cassie has to adjust to all of these rapid life changes.

Her sister, Diana, is also changing a lot. She’s fourteen going on fifteen, and doesn’t seem to have a lot of time for Cassie, and would much rather spend her time learning about Buddhism and meditating. Cassie makes it a goal to find out exactly what Buddhism is so she can understand it, and her sister better.

And then there is her beloved Grandpa, who is suddenly hospitalised and she isn’t allowed to see him Like That, but also she wants to do is make sure that he hasn’t changed into a monster, or vampire, or any other horrible thing that her brain has conjured up.

This book is rather sweet, but it definitely pulled on my heartstrings. I felt for Cassie, who is eleven going on twelve, being told that she’s too young to understand what is going on with the adults in her life, and why she is being kept in the dark.

Cassie notices a lot of things going on with a lot of people. Cassie’s plate is rather full with things – from her friend Jonas, to her enemy Rhea, and continually searching for the peacocks. She finds herself navigating life as an eleven year old kept in the dark from Adult Things, and just what it means to be a writer.

This story was poignant, and had me wishing I could reach into the book and give Cassie a massive hug and give her some much deserved love.

Because this is a middle grade story, I think those around the 10 and 11 year age mark will really benefit from it. There are lots of definitions for words in here, some that reminded me exactly what they were, too, and it will probably be very relatable to other children whose parents may have split up, or maybe have a grandparent who has needed to go into hospital for a long period of time.

Even if you are an adult, like me, I still recommend this completely heart-warming book.

You can find Star at her Book Blog, Twitter and Instagram.
Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂

Magic Harbor: Review & Giveaway

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Magic Harbor
Kristen L. Jackson
(Keeper of the Watch, #2)
Publication date: October 10th 2019
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

When Alyx Eris convinced him to become a keeper of the watch, Chase Walker knew he gained the ability to traverse the twelve dimensions.

He knew there were others—the hunters—who would do anything to put an end to the watches’ existence.

He knew his status as a keeper was completely binding until his nineteenth birthday.

Most importantly, he knew he’d be spending the year by Alyx’s side.

What he didn’t know was that in this dimension resides a ruling mage that poses more of a threat than the hunters ever could.

He didn’t know that magic-born hybrid beasts lurk in every corner of the surrounding forests.

And he didn’t know that nothing—and no one—is what it seems in the mystical world of Dimension 8.

Magic Harbor kicks of with a really strong start that had me hooked. The book was action packed and fast paced throughout – never was their a dull moment, but never did anything seem too rushed. I certainly didn’t feel that starting at book two hindered my enjoyment or understanding in anyway.

I loved the premise – Twelve parallel worlds, the existence of which remained hidden from most people within those dimensions. The keepers being granted the ability to jump to a new dimension each month of their eighteenth year, visiting all twelve by the end of it. Of course they have tasks their are suppose to carry out in each dimension, defeat the hunters and find the last Keeper. But after their year is complete, so long as they survive it, they can then pick a dimension to live out the rest of their lives in.

This book is set in the 8th dimension, with the previous book being set in the 7th dimension. Early on in the story the keepers, Chase and Alyx, get separated. The story bonces around between Chase and Alyz, and later on the POV’s of some other characters that we meet along the way. Sometimes swapping multiple POV’s can get confusing, but this story and the writing flowed well and I never once found myself muddled. I especially liked getting visit the past through Liz’s memories as it rounded out the characters and the world building.

This book is filled with action, adventure, magical beasts and waring dark mages. The story is about consequences, dimension jumping magic, the bonds of family and friendship and doing what you feel is right.

I really enjoyed reading this book and am keen to see what happens in book three and the 9th dimension.

Author Bio: Kristen L. Jackson been a teacher for over twenty years, and lives in Reading, Pennsylvania with her husband, two grown sons, and three large-breed dogs. Books inspire her. From children’s picture books to adult literature in all genres, she has loved reading all her life. Becoming a published author has been her dream come true, and she loves to share her stories with readers of all ages. Sign up on her website to follow her blog to stay up to date on what she’s working on now! Kristen loves writing, reading, and spending time with her family and dogs at their cabin in the Poconos…her favorite place to escape and write!

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Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
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Small Spaces: #LoveOZYA Review

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36242050. sy475 Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein
Genre: Thriller, #LoveOzYa
Publication: August 1st, 2019
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Source: Publisher – Thank You
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

Tash Carmody has been traumatised since childhood, when she witnessed her gruesome imaginary friend Sparrow lure young Mallory Fisher away from a carnival. At the time nobody believed Tash, and she has since come to accept that Sparrow wasn’t real. Now fifteen and mute, Mallory’s never spoken about the week she went missing.

As disturbing memories resurface, Tash starts to see Sparrow again. And she realises Mallory is the key to unlocking the truth about a dark secret connecting them. Does Sparrow exist after all? Or is Tash more dangerous to others than she thinks?

Enter the lovely Star who read and reviewed Small Spaces on my behalf.

Small Spaces is a book that I found would stay with me for a long time after I finished reading it. If I had to do something, I found myself thinking about when I could pick it up again. I thought about it constantly, and wondered what was going to happen next in the story.

The book had me hooked from the start. I was intrigued about Sparrow and just exactly what was going on with them.

Tash Carmody, the main character, was an interesting character to read about. She has had obvious childhood trauma when she witnesses her friend Mallory Fisher be lured away by her imaginary friend, Sparrow. But surely that can’t be? An imaginary friend can’t actually lure away a little girl from a carnival. After the incident, and after Mallory is found, the Fishers move away to never be heard from again.

Tash spends years trying to get past the memory, but it all comes rushing back when the Fishers move back to town several years later.
At the same time, Tash starts seeing Sparrow again.

She’s understandably confused, and all of the old memories of Sparrow, and no one believing her that he was real, comes back to her. She has no idea what to do, or how to begin to process it, but one thing she does know is that Mallory, who is mute, is the key to finding out exactly what went on that night Mallory was abducted.

Small Spaces had me on the edge of my seat, and not only did I doubt Tash, but I doubted everyone around her.

This book was thrilling, a bit creepy, and explored having an imaginary friend in ways that I had never thought of, or experienced, before.

This was an absolutely enthralling read for me.

You can find Star at her Book Blog, Twitter and Instagram.
Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂

The Man In The Water: #LoveOZYA Review

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47239279The Man in the Water by David Burton
Genre: Mystery #LoveOzYa
Publication: October 1st 2019
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Source: #AusYaBloggers Tour
– Thank You AusYaBloggers & UQP
Add to Goodreads
Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

On the first day of year 10, Shaun sees a dead body.

When 16-year-old Shaun discovers a dead body in the lake of a quiet mining town in outback Queensland, he immediately reports it to the police. But when he returns to the site with the constable, the body is gone.

Now his mum and the authorities question whether he saw a body at all.

Determined to show the town the truth, Shaun and his best friend, Will, open their own investigation. But what they discover is far more sinister than a mining mishap or a murder, and reveals a darkness below the surface of their small mining town.

The story kicks into action immediately with POV character Shaun finding a dead body floating in the lake. He runs (literally) to the cop shop for help, but by the time a Copper comes back with him to the lake the body is gone, and Shaun looks like a liar.

Only Shaun’s best mate Will believes him and together they mount their own investigation. The fast who-done-it pace pushes you through the story, rapidly flipping to the pages to find out the who”s, whats, whens, and hows.

After some sleuthing, interfering and putting themselves in danger the boys do ultimately catch the “bad guys”, but it doesn’t exactly go down how you think it will.

On the surface this is a fun, captivating, page-turning who-done-it mystery. But it really does highlight the darker human casually side of the mining industry, of small mining towns, of the working conditions /quality of live /mental health dangers of such a money hungry industry.

The town the year ten students Shaun and Will call home grew into existence because of and revolves around coal mining. Will’s dad was a coal miner who’s declining physical health thanks to his job’s poor conditions lead to the decline of his mental health, and later suicide. And then there is the man in the water and all the people involved in that – which for spoiler reasons I obviously won’t go into.

So while this is a fantastic who-done-it romp, with a relativity happy ending for the two boys we grow to care for, that I absolutely enjoyed reading – it does tell some hard truths – but it’s done in a way I think kids will absorb without releasing it.

This story is a must read for any and all #LoveOZYA aficionados and who-done-it mystery aficionados.

 

Follow along the rest of the #themaninthewatertour via the hashtag on IG and Twitter or head on over to the tours master post HERE for links to all the participants.
Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂

Nemesis: YA f/f Review

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NemesisTourBannerNemNemesis by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge
(Circuit Fae, #4)
Published by: Monster House Books
Publication date: March 26th 2019
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
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 “I found the writing to be on par with Queen [Sarah J. ] Maas and Elise Kova; I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy read that steps out of the box and makes a name for itself.” – FairestSkyeBooks

What would you do if your beloved girlfriend suddenly became your worst enemy?

That dilemma’s all too real for Syl Skye, the last princess of the fair Fae. Even though Syl is all things sun and Summer, she’s drawn to her polar opposite, Rouen Rivoche, the dark Fae princess-assassin of the Winter Court.

They should be mortal enemies, but they’re best friends. Girlfriends. In love.

That is, until Roue falls under a dark spell that makes her forget all about Syl, their lives and their love. Now Roue rules Dark Faerie as a cruel and cold Queen. A Circuit Fae who can harness the killing magic in technology, she wants nothing more than to destroy Syl and her fair Fae people.

But when an old enemy brings both Faerie realms to the brink of destruction, only their queens, Syl and Rouen, can save the day—and only if they can put their differences aside for two seconds and team up.

With the clock’s ticking on Syl and Roue’s relationship—not to mention all of Faerie—will Rouen remember the love she and Syl once shared, or is she destined to be Syl’s nemesis forever?

Nemesis is the fourth book in The Circuit Fae series, and it piqued my interest when it came up on an expresso tour with the tag line “What would you do if your beloved girlfriend became your worst enemy”. It has a synopsis speaking of dark spells, princess assassins and Faerie realms, IT’S QUEER and the tour blurb stated that it could be read as a standalone – how could I not sign up!

Yes, I did read it as a standalone and I did enjoy it. But the whole time I was wishing I’d got to see these two teenage Fae queens come together and fall in love despite one being a dark Fae and one being light, given they were meant to be enemies and all that.  In this book they’ve already fallen for each other and have now been ripped apart by the scheming dark forces hell bent on their and both the mortal and Faerie realms destruction.

“I’ve felt every month, every day, every second I’ve been without Rouen Rivoche, the rightful Queen of the dark Fae. My mortal enemy.
We defied the odds -and the ancient war between our Faerie Counts- by falling in love. Now, every breath without her hurts. It’s all I can do to stand here, captive to my mortal life.”

The POV alternates chapter per chapter between Syl Skye, Queen of the fair Fae and Rouen Rivoche, Queen of the dark Fae. The “bad guy” is a real evil bitch, so hey, at least it’s powerful woman all round! Nemesis is a clean and quick read, with fast pacing and plenty of action.

While I felt a missing connection to the story, jumping in at book four, what reading nemesis has done is make me want to go back to the beginning of the series and kick of meeting Syl and Rouen as they meet each other.

A series that features Queer Fae queens, magic and mayhem, multiverses collapsing and colliding, action packed battles, love triumphing overall – How could you not be into that.

Capture.FAE

Syl and Rouen’s adventures continue in: EIDOLON, book 5 of The Circuit Fae.

For the full CIRCUIT FAE experience, start with: MORIBUND, book 1 of The Circuit Fae.

Author Genevieve Iseult Eldredge writes angsty urban fantasy YA romance – where girls who are mortal enemies kick butt, take names, and fall in love against all odds – Find out more about her via her Twitter, Website, Facebook, Amazon and Goodreads.

Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂

 

My Father’s Shadow: #LoveOzYA Review

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46163179. sy475 My Father’s Shadow by Jannali Jones
Genre: Thriller, #LoveOzYa
Publication: August 1st, 2019
Publisher: Magabala Books
Source: Review copy from publisher – Thank You
Add to Goodreads
Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

Kaya is completing her Higher School Certificate when she is woken in the middle of the night by her mother. They are to pack immediately and go to their holiday home in the Blue Mountains. Her father is ‘not coming back’. He has been involved in a court case to give evidence against some dangerous criminals.

Months later, they are still in hiding and the mysteries are multiplying. Kaya is not sure who to trust: her mother’s new friend, the policeman or her new friend, Eric, from the local store. She is also recovering from memory loss caused by PTSD after a chilling encounter with the criminals. She is seeing a psychologist in an attempt to recall the evidence she might have to give in a forthcoming trial.

Her best friend, Jemma, has gone overseas and Kaya is trying to make sense of what is really happening. Jannali Jones has crafted a thrilling story which stays on the edge right to the end.

My Father’s Shadow is the kind of book you just can’t put down – it was so hard to rip myself a way from. The constant uneasy vibe that Jannali Jones has created with her magnificent writing propels you forward and keeps you right on the edge of your seat.

An intense prologue kicks the book off showing us the night that POV Kaya and her mother go into hiding. This is a fast pace book that doesn’t let up for the whole 217 pages, but never feels rushed. I commend Ms Jones for fitting so much story into so few pages.

Kaya suffers from memory loss caused by PTSD after an encounter with the criminals her father was trying to gather evidence on. Throughout the book she slowly gets her memories back, which we witness through flash backs, it’s a brilliant mechanism for ramping up the unease and tension – As are the two particular characters that you spend most of the book wondering; are they goodies or baddies.

The budding friendship with Eric was a lovely bit of light in the darkness that had become Kaya life and provides some balance in the story.

I would have loved an epilogue showing Kaya safe and happy, seeing what becomes of Eric and with the “bad guys” being brought to justice – but the ending does hint at this, so I’ll just happily daydream about it.

I don’t want to say too much and risk spoiling the story for others, so I will just say that – My Father’s Shadow is an outstanding #ownvoices #loveozya debut. It is nail bitingly, edge of your seat brilliant!! A must read for all #loveozya aficionados and crime/mystery/thriller buffs.

Jannali Jones Links: Twitter | Website | Magabala Books | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram

The Ritual: YA Review

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45451152. sy475 The Ritual (Tales of Mentara #2) by Ashley Uzzell
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publication: May 17th 2019
Publisher: Self-Published
Source: Review copy from Author – Thank You
Add to Goodreads
Rating: ✵✵✵

Five children stranded in a strange world continue their adventures in the land known as Mentara. Twelve-year-old Charlotte feels the weight of her mistake in bringing her friends here. The local tribe of children who call themselves The Orphans are in a constantly warring state with a neighboring tribe, The Bomen. Drawn into this fight because of her magical abilities, Charlotte struggles to keep her friends safe while defending a group of strangers she is starting to see as family.

Tomas, the leader of The Orphans, is drawn to the kind and motherly Lena, impressed by the strong and intelligent Fred, and bewildered by the ever-moody Charlotte. He has his own personal issues to deal with while he prepares for a ritual that will change his status in the eyes of his people forever. But is this path he has chosen, this future he has worked and planned for what he really wants? Is it too late to change his mind and explore these newfound feelings of wanderlust?

After a prologue that drips with future devastation, chapter one picks up right where the first book let off – the orphan Tara tribe about to head into battle with the raiding Boman tribe.

I had the same likes and dislikes with this book as the first one in the series [ Book 1’s review HERE ]. The dislikes mainly just came down to the characters ages. I’ve been pondering on it. Trying to figure out why it irks me so. Don’t get me wrong, the book has a lot of good qualities: it has good world building, I really like the world Ashley has created, I liked the plot, I love the magic abilities Ashley has created for Charlotte (one of the main POV characters) and there has been character development.

I’ve been thinking about the things Harry Potter gets up to in the first two books when he is the same age as Ashley’s characters. I’ve been thinking about everything Amal goes through in Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed.
I’m not saying kids aged 9-13 aren’t capable of doing the things Ashley has them doing, because they can. Children are snatched away from their parents and taught to fight young in some counties. A 12-year-old can be in charge of all their younger siblings and essentially run the household, it happens in some countries – so I’m not sure exactly sure what my problem is.
I just found the characters being so young didn’t fit. Being in the characters heads as a reader, they felt older to me, more like 15-19 than 9-13. But that might just be me.

Honorable mentions that Ashley gets brownie points for:
Charlotte getting her period and a whole chapter being devoted to girls’ things, and girls coming together over this shared and inevitable experience.
One of the young POV male characters having realisation that women are equal and should be treated as such!
The books whole undertone of equality and acceptance.

This the second book of the series lets us get to know the inhabitants of Mantara a little better, spend more time in lush wilderness, witness Charlotte and Tomas infuriate each other repeatedly, and see the children assimilate to their new home even more.

The Ritual is a quick book to read at only 147 pages. Frustratingly the book ends abruptly on a doozy of a cliff-hanger and you are left desperate to know what happens next – I think Ashley was being cheeky and did this purpose so us readers would be hanging out for the next book – sneaky and cheeky.

All in all, The Ritual is a good sequel to The Portal and has set up further expected events for the third book. 

39836110The Portal (Tales of Mentara Book 1) by Ashley Uzzell

Five children find themselves stuck in a beautiful jungle on a strange planet. But all is not as peaceful as it first appears.

Twelve-year-old Charlotte has been different all her life. It isn’t just that her father left when she was a child, or her mother ignores her. What really makes her an outsider is the fact that she has strange abilities that she can’t explain and struggles to control. Everything changes in the summer of 1993 when she feels drawn to a certain spot outside of town. Unfortunately, she isn’t alone when things go sideways.

When the children realize they are definitely not on Earth anymore, they have to learn not only how to fend for themselves, but how to get along. The problem is, even Charlotte has no idea how to get off the alien planet. And, perhaps, she doesn’t want to.
It doesn’t take long for the five to realize they aren’t alone in this strange land and that life here is more dangerous than they could have imagined.

My Rating: ✵✵✵✵ – Check out my review of book one HERE.

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