Book Reviews: YA & MG

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

Perfect Pitch: Book Review

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Perfect Pitch
Alex Hayes
Publication date: August 6th 2019
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

All Dean wants is to escape…

But he can’t leave his younger brother, Ty, in the care of their alcoholic mother. And when their abusive father shows up, Dean has to get Ty out. Which means joining Shri — his best and only friend — in taking a job out of state and breaking the law by stealing his brother away.

Cadi’s life is almost back together after Dean blew it into a million pieces. She’s come to terms with her life as a shape-shifter — well, almost. She’s still trying to wrap her head around the fact that a vicious enemy is out to destroy the remnants of her people.

As if Cadi doesn’t have enough to deal with, Dean’s about to land on her front doorstep, forcing her to decide whether to let him into her secret world or slam the door in his face.

The Chameleon Effect series, starring shape-shifter teens with extraordinary superpowers, is sure to appeal to Young Adult and New Adult readers who enjoy romance with a paranormal twist.

Goodreads / Amazon

MY THOUGHTS:

Today is my stop on the Xpresso Tours release celebrations for Perfect Pitch by Alex Hayes.
Perfect Pitch is the second book in the The Chameleon Effect series. I was lucky enough to be given a copy of both the first and second book to read as part of this tour.
Silken Scales and Perfect Pitch are described as NA/YA Paranormal Romance. It’s definitely a YA Romance, but it’s a Sci-Fi series, which suits me perfectly!

Book one, Silken Scales, has a strong and gripping epilogue. I was hooked pretty quick.
Chapter by chapter the story swaps between two POV leads, Idris & Cadi.
I really enjoyed getting to know them both and felt like I connected to both characters.
It’s revealed very early on that Cadi has telekinetic abilities. She of course gets caught using them and all hell breaks loose. The one positive that comes out of Cadi having to move on to a new town, a new school etc. is that she then meets Idris and the two story-lines converge.

After some twists, turns and an action packed finale, we’ve found out that Idris and Cadi are aliens. They are Livran’s originating from the planet Daizani. They were sent to earth when the were very young to keep them safe – and i’m sure you can appreciate there is so much more to it than that, but as to not spoil it for potential readers I’ll shhhhhh.

Book two alternates between Cadi and Dean (Dean an ex friend, almost boyfriend, who sort of betrayed her and kinda outed her abilities in the first book) and is set about six months after the end of the first.
Cadi actually got on my nerves a bit in this second book. But I loved getting to see inside Dean’s head and getting to meet his little brother TY.
In this book Cadi’s pasts collide. Her past past, cue evil alien’s out to get her and Idris. And her more recent past, cue awkward and jealous moments between Dean and Idris.
The last quarter of the book is an action whirlwind with Dean’s broken family life coming to the front of the story, then all the main characters coming together just in time to kick some bad guy alien butt.

The book’s are not all romance and alien slaying, there are some deeper things dealt with; mental health, alcoholism, and parental abuse come to mind.
The human characters had racial diversity (and of course there was the two different races of aliens), so a BIG YAY for that. But there was no room in the plot for sexual diversity.

All in all I liked both books and I am keen to read the next one to see how Idris and Cadi manage to find the other hiding Livran teens. And I want to see Ty thriving in his new home!

Author Bio:

Alex Hayes wrote her first fiction story when she was twelve. Inspired by her mother’s storytelling, she began work on her first novel, Ice Cracks, at eighteen.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. In her twenties, she moved from Marin County, California to Boston, Massachusetts, where she built a career as an IT professional in database engineering. In 2004, she self-published Ice Cracks, which became a semi-finalist in the 2005 IPPY Awards.

Alex splits her time between Grand Junction, Colorado and Guanajuato, Mexico. When she isn’t writing, she’s helping her partner, Lee, renovate a 450 year old hacienda. She is mother to one beautiful daughter and many wonderful cats.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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It Sounded Better in My Head: #LoveOZYA Review

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47324659. sy475 It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood
Genre: Contemporary #LoveOzYa
Publication: August 6th, 2019
Publisher: Text Publishing
Source: Review copy from publisher – Thank You
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

When her parents announce their impending separation, Natalie can’t understand why no one is fighting or at least mildly upset. And now that Zach and Lucy, her two best friends, have fallen in love, she’s feeling slightly miffed and decidedly awkward.

Where does she fit in now? And what has happened to the version of her life that played out like a TV show—with just the right amount of banter, pining and meaningful looks?

Nothing is going according to plan.

But then an unexpected romance comes along and shakes things up even further.

It Sounded Better in My Head is a tender, funny and joyful novel about longing, confusion, feeling left out and finding out what really matters.

It Sounded Better in My Head is a new #LoveOzYA Contemporary YA Romance that is adorable, entertaining, relatable and warmed my heart. And while it may be a romance, there is also a heavy focus on friendship – which is always a winner for me.

The story begins: Natalie’s parents are getting divorced, her two best friends are hooking up, she’s just finished high school – Her whole world is changing at a rapid speed and she struggling to keep up.
Cue a kiss from a cute boy, who in her mind is way out of her league, and she is foundering all over the place. Natalie has no idea what the kiss meant. We the reader know right away. But it’s fun watching all the adorable awkwardness of Natalie trying to figure it out.

18-year-old Natalie is an easily likeable protagonist. Natalie spent her early teens with serious skin problems that needed a lot of heavy medication to get under control, thanks to those years she has zero self-esteem, endless anxieties and still sees herself as “gross”.

This is a story that deals with figuring out what to do once high school is over, a story of navigating first loves and how friendships change and grow. It also deals the fallout of parental divorce. The romance is soft and beautiful, and keeps the story feeling light while some heavier things are dealt with.

It sounded better in my head is an adorkable, fast flowing, easy to read, heart-warming story that I can see myself picking up again if I’m in need of a pick me up.

Who would like it: any #LoveOZYA aficionados. Fans of Rainbow Rowell and Jenn Bennett. Lovers of soft and sweet getting-to-know-myself-while-getting-to-know-you romance.

Five out of five.

Nina Kenwood is a writer, who lives in Melbourne. She won the 2018 Text Prize for her debut young adult novel, It Sounded Better in My Head. You can find Nina via Twitter | Instagram | her Website | Goodreads | Amazon | Booktopia.

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Buckley’s Unexpected Adventure: #AusYaBloggers Tour

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45186265. sy475 Buckley’s Unexpected Adventure by Dion Summergreene
Publication: April 12th 2019
Source: Review copy from Dion Summergreene in conjunction with the #AusYABloggers Tour – Thank You
Rating: ✵ ✵ ✵

Buckley, a young, enthusiastic detector dog, was about to clock off from his regular shift at the Brisbane International Airport when he uncovered a shipment of smuggled exotic animals. Discovering that all but one, a chameleon named Ciara, and two turtle eggs, had perished on the long journey, Buckley makes it his mission to track down who is behind the smuggling ring and ensure no more helpless and endangered animals are killed. A fire is ignited within Buckley and he is determined to return Ciara to her home and reunite her with her family. Breaking all of his obedience training whilst battling his usual insecurities and self-doubt, Buckley, Ciara and a charismatic Californian mouse named Bo, set out on an international adventure that propels them from a world of structure and safety into dangerous, risky situations.With fast-pace, witty humour and suspense, Dion Summergreene takes young readers on a crime-fighting adventure like no other to discover an exotic world through the eyes of man’s best friend.

In this new #LoveOzMG title, Buckley the detector dog discovers a crate of smuggled animals. He befriends the only surviving chameleon, this leads to a return smuggling plan of his own. Cue wacky hijinks, plane flights, run ins with other not so friendly animals, police chases, and unintentionally bringing down a major smuggling ring in a Bangkok shipping port.

Buckley’s Unexpected Adventure reads like a Pixar movie and I mean that as a compliment.
It’d make a hilarious movie. Think Zootopia, crossed with The Secret Life Of Pets, and Isle Of Dogs.

As an adult I can appreciate all the lessons Dion is trying to fit in about animal cruelty, illegal animal trade, animal facts and general life lessons as part of and in and around the plot. I do wonder if it will make the intended MG audience’s eyes glaze over. If it will be information overload or if they’ll be enthralled by it, soaking it all up with their wonderfully young sponge brains – I hope for the later. And never the less the action sequences are fantastically entertaining and humorous.

The ending is super cute and of course the good guys win and it’s a happily ever for Buckley and his friends.

To check out everyone else’s thoughts on Buckley and follow along on the tour click HERE.

You can find Buckley on Goodreads HERE, Instagram HERE, Facebook HERE.

Buckley’s Unexpected Adventure is available as an eBook or paperback HERE.

Dion Summergreene has worked as an art director and illustrator for the past 20 years, now making his writing debut with Buckley’s Unexpected Adventure being his first published book. Visit www.buckleysadventure.com to learn more.

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

Rogue: #Loveozya Review

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This fantastic #AusYABloggers and #macmillanaus tour that I’m taking part in is to celebrate the release of Rogue the second book in the Hive duology by A.J.Betts, but I read the books back to back. I finished the last page of Hive, made a fresh cup of tea and started reading Rogue, so for me it was one 618-page epic dystopian Australian story. I loved it.

Any of you #LoveOZYA aficionados out there, any of you dooms day and dystopian lovers out there, to you I say; if you haven’t already read Hive, get on it. I recommended you buy/borrow them both and read them back to back as I did.

44787359. sy475 Rogue (Hive #2) by A.J. Betts
Genre: Dystopian #LoveOzYa
Publication: June 25th 2019
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Source: Review copy provided as part of the tour – Thank you
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

There was no going back; there was no choice, anymore. I’d chosen out and this was it: hot-cold, dry-wet, bright-dark and lonely.

Hayley has gone rogue.

She’s left everything she’s ever known – her friends, her bees, her whole world – all because her curiosity was too big to fit within the walls of the underwater home she was forced to flee.

But what is this new world she’s come to? Has Hayley finally found somewhere she can belong?

Or will she have to keep running?

I think you could read Rogue as a standalone, but you’d be going in without already having established a connection with the POV character Hayley and you’d be depriving yourself of Hive.

Now for those you that have read Hive. Any questions left from Hive are answered in Rogue and it all ends well for Hayley. There are some super tense times in between and the journey is one you will be immersed in.

I am now going to attempt to sum up the duology without spoilers.

HIVE: I warmed to Hayley immediately. And I found myself caring about her from the start.

We meet Hayley living what could be described as a cultish life with a few hundred other people in a Beehive like home. A Dystopian world, without any real grasp of when or where they are existing, but they all have this extreme belief in “god”, that causes the inhabitants to never question the world in which they live. Except for Hayley. Hayley always asks questions. Along the course of the first book Hayley makes some new friends/allies who open her mind – this puts her danger… etc etc. Que dramatic ending that makes you need to move onto to Rogue straight way.

ROGUE: Their life. Their world. Their people’s history a fabricated hive of lies.

Hayley is out. Free from the Hive, but not from danger.

Hayley meets new people as she explores this whole other part to the world that she never knew existed. Some people are kind and take her in and help her, not all of them are what they seem, and some are only out to use her for their own gain.

In this book we find out when and where it is; the year 2119, Australia. A hundred years into a terrifyingly possible feeling future.

Up above the water religion has long been outlawed. And there are all sorts of rules about where people can and can’t go. Many species are extinct, including bees and cows.

We find out all about the underwater Vault that Hayley had thought was the whole world, which is located off Australia, down past Tassie, further out and very deep down. With find out why the first people hid down there, what happened to the ones that didn’t and why the one’s that did never came back up.

There are warnings and parallels to our lives now running through Rogue and I think that makes it feel all the more real when you are reading it.

But that’s okay because the ending makes you smile and your heart hum.

A.J. Betts LINKS: Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

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Devil’s Ballast: YA historical fiction review

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42285280. sy475 Devil’s Ballast by Meg Caddy
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Publication: May 7th, 2019
Publisher: Text Publishing
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
– Thanks Text 🖤
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ANNE Bonny was eighteen when she ran away from her
violent husband, James, into the arms of pirate captain
Calico Jack Rackham. Now she’s ensconced aboard Jack’s
ship Ranger, passing as a cabin boy, and playing her
ruthless part in a crew that is raining down mayhem and
murder on the ships of the Caribbean.

But James Bonny is willing to pay to get his ‘property’
back. And pirate-hunter Captain Barnet is happy to take
his money.

The Ranger’s a fast ship: Anne might just be able
to outrun Barnet. But can she outrun the consequences
of her relationship with Calico Jack?

Action-packed yet nuanced, culturally relevant and
sharp as a cutlass, this new novel by the remarkable
Meg Caddy brings to life one of history’s most fascinating
anti-heroines.

I was over the moon when this book landed in my PO Box and I was itching to get into it immediately. But alas life got in the way and it took me longer to get to her read than I would have liked.

Devil’s Ballast by Meg Caddy is a fictionalised historical YA tale based on the life of female pirate Anne Bonny, that came out on the 7th of may. The story opens with:
“I counted fifteen dead men working the deck of the Kingston.
Well, they weren’t dead yet, but the day was young and I had a full belt of shot.”
Of yeah, that got me excited for a rip roaring story of pirate-y murder and mayhem.

The book is set at the start of Bonny’s pirating career, when she first runs off to sea and subsequently meets Read (Mary Read, another notoriously famous female pirate from yesteryear). The friendship between Bonny and Read was the shining highlight of the book for me and I would love to read a sequel that follows the two creating pirate-y mayhem together.

Anne Bonny is somewhat considered a historical bisexual figure, so I was a little disappointment when her only sexual love interested was a man. I got over it when a friendship started to develop between Bonny and Read. I felt it was their confiding in each other and the mutual respect and friendship that grew, to be what really picked up the pace of the story and had me racing through the pages until the end.

There is no way to historically prove that Bonny was bisexual, where as her relationship with Calico Jack is documented – so you can’t blame Caddy for using him as her love interest – but personally I would like to have seen those bisexual rumours/suspicions explored, even if only a little.

Both in real life and in this book Anne Bonny and Mary Read partook in cross-dressing: Bonny to hide the fact she was a woman and Read to hide the body he’d been born with. With Read being transgender and the kinship between him and Bonny, ultimately I feel like I did get a queer fix with this book. So yay for that.

I think the authors note at the end of the book sums it up. “…it should be noted that almost every account of her life, including this one, is filled with sensationalism, mysteries, inconsistencies, rumour and outright lies. I think she’d like it that way.” I think both Bonny and Read would like it that way 🙂

“Nothing like a stiff drink after a good murder”, Read murmured.
“Just so.” Darling pulled up a chair. “What are we going to do with the bodies?”
“Harbour after dark.”
“A time-honoured tradition,” he agreed.

Conclusion: If you are a lover of pirate filled tales and strong leading female characters, then this is the book for you. If you were hoping to see a bisexual icon taring up the seas taking up a variation of lovers along the way, then this won’t hit the spot. But it’s still a damn good read that I enjoyed. I’m crossing my fingers for a sequel – so I think that in it’s self says enough.

Devil’s Ballast and Meg Caddy links: Goodreads | Text Publishing | Booktopia | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Bookdepository 

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Kindred: #AusQueerYA Review

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43197387Kindred: 12 Queer #LoveOzYA Stories, a #AusQueerYA anthology
Genre: Young Adult, LGBT fiction, Short Stories
Publication: June 1st 2019
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Source: #AusYABloggers #KindredStories tour
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵

What does it mean to be queer? What does it mean to be human? In this powerful #LoveOzYA collection, twelve of Australia’s finest writers from the LGBTQ+ community explore the stories of family, friends, lovers and strangers – the connections that form us.

This inclusive and intersectional #OwnVoices anthology for teen readers features work from writers of diverse genders, sexualities and identities, including writers who identify as First Nations, people of colour or disabled. With short stories by bestsellers, award winners and newcomers to young adult fiction including Jax Jacki Brown, Claire G Coleman, Michael Earp, Alison Evans, Erin Gough, Benjamin Law, Omar Sakr, Christos Tsiolkas, Ellen van Neerven, Marlee Jane Ward, Jen Wilde and Nevo Zisin.

Includes a foreword by anthology editor Michael Earp, resources for queer teens, contributor bios and information about the #LoveOzYA movement.

I was super excited when I first heard about Kindred. It’s always fantastic seeing queer fiction make it’s way out into the world. Even better when it’s a Aussie anthology with a diverse range of #OwnVoices authors. I was over the moon when Micheal Earp and Walker Books excepted our (the other #AusYaBloggers & readers group mods and I) pitch for hosting a queer only tour.

I made my way down to the Sydney Writers Festival’s YA day at Parramatta’s Riverside Theater buzzing with excitement to attend the Kindred panel.  Hearing Micheal talk about how Kindred came to be and hearing some of the authors talk about their writing, only made me more excited to see the book in our tour participants hands. It’s now day five of the tour and it’s my stop.

This is the first anthology I’ve read that swaps genre. Anthology’s always have a theme, be it first kisses, summer holidays, landing on new planet etc. and in Kindred case, being Queer. I’ve only ever read anthologies where the stories are all sci-fi or contemporary romances etc.
When I first heard of Kindred I thought/assumed it was going to be a series of contemporary short stories where the authors fictionalised a positive queer experience for the benefit of teen readers new/struggling with their queerness. You know, to give them hope, and so they could see themselves represented etc. I guess really, this is what I had hoped Kindred would be.
Never the less the moving around of genres didn’t really bother me (most were contemporary anyways) as I do try to read a little of all genres for variety. I LOVED the variety of own voices rep! So ****ing awesome to see! It makes my heart sing!

BUUUUUT, Trigger warnings – homophobia, death of loved one, ableism, depression, racism, transphobia, pedophilia. Yeah it gets heavy folks. But life is heavy. Okay, I get that. But a story can get heavy and hard and dark, then still end up leaving you filled with light and hope and love. As far as positive examples for teens, I think Kindred may have missed the mark – but you’ll have to ask a teens option on that. I wanted happy queer stories to combat the ugly of the real world. But that’s what I wanted. I still think this is a brilliant and much needed collection and I hope it opens the door to more queer collections.

RATS by Marlee Jane Ward. F/F romance. I found this story a little odd. A semi futuristic world. Homeless teens know as rats. Some insta-love with a trouble seeking open air ”babe” and a “rat” tunnel dweller. Mostly I liked it.

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, BREAK GLASS by Erin Gough. Questioning protagonist, f/f romance. A sweet and heartwarming contemporary story with a magical realism twist. I found it a delight to read.

BITTER DRAUGHT by Michael Earp. M/M relationship.  Two young men, a sick little sister and a journey to see a witch to get a cure. I enjoyed it for the most part, but it had a sad ending. Why Micheal, why.

I LIKE YOUR ROTATION by Jax Jacki Brown. Lesbian wheelchair-using protagonist and love interest. Super sweet self discovery story focusing on the intersection of disability and identity, exploring friendship and sexuality. I really enjoyed it and would have loved to be able to have kept reading.

SWEET by Claire G. Coleman. POC non-binary protagonist. This one left me feeling really unsettled. It was a swap around story where the oppressed became the oppressors. It just felt harsh and bitter. And I worry it might be harmful to some younger readers.

LIGHT BULB by Nevo Zisin. Non-binary protagonist. Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Dark and deep. I wholeheartedly loved it. It spoke to the darkness in my soul. My Jam! Maybe you’d class the story as horror? But to me there was nothing horrific about it. Please Nevo write more fiction!!!

WAITING by Jen Wilde. Autistic bisexual protagonist. Contemporary tale dealing with toxic friendships. A story with a happy ending! The protagonist finds people she feels comfortable being herself with. True friends in the making. And brownie points to Jen for the Brooklyn 99, Stephanie Beatriz nods!

LAURA NYRO AT THE WEDDING by Christos Tsiolkas. M/M relationship. No, just no. Totally inappropriate for a teen anthology! – The story is not even YA and the side subject matter (student/teacher relationship). I just…no. No.

EACH CITY by Ellen van Neerven. POC protagonist, f/f relationship. I found the story to have an abrupt unresolved ending. Didn’t feel like the story got to finish, felt like it was only just beginning and I want the rest. This just left me feeling empty and unsettled. Ellen, did she make it home? I need/want to know how it all played out.

AN ARAB WEREWOLF IN LONDON by Omar Sakr. Muslim gay protagonist, Muslim m/m love interest. Without the werewolf element this could have been a smoking hot m/m contemporary. But I really liked it as it was. I’ve got Omar’s These Wild Houses sitting on my shelf to read, but i’d also love to read more fiction like this from Omar!!

STORMLINES by Allison Evans. Non-binary protagonist. A heartwarming story about finding somewhere that feels like home.

QUESTIONS TO ASK STRAIGHT RELATIVES by Benjamin Law. Chinese/Australian gay protagonist, background m/m relationship. More personal essay then short story. But I loved it and felt it was the perfect way to finish of a queer anthology.

 Follow along with the tour here > > The AusYABloggers Tour Schedule

Purchase Links: Angus and Robinson, Booktopia, Amazon Australia, Fishpond, The Book Depository

 

If you purchase the book from The Little Bookroom you can have it signed By Michael Earp. All you have to do is mention in the order notes that you followed the Kindred Tour and would like your copy signed by Michael.

For people looking to find a bookshop near them: Find A Bookshop.

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Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂

The Little Wave: #LoveOZMG Review

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44282630The Little Wave by Pip Harry
Genre: Middle Grade Verse Novel
Publication: May 7th 2019
Publisher: UQP Books
Source: Review copy from publisher – Thank You
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

When a Manly school sets out to bring a country class to the city for a beach visit, three very different kids find each other and themselves.

Noah is fearless in the surf. Being at the beach makes him feel free. So where does his courage go when his best mate pushes him around?

Lottie loves collecting facts about bugs, but she wishes her dad would stop filling their lonely house with junk. She doesn’t know what to do about it.

Jack wants to be a cricket star, but first he has to get to school and look after his little sister. Especially if he wants to go on the class trip and see the ocean for the first time.

The Little Wave was is a delightful Middle Grade verse novel. The POV switches between there year five students, Noah and Lottie from the beachy inner Sydney suburb of Manly, to Jack from the beach-less more rural town of Mullin.

Three different kids dealing with different things.

Noah is being bullied by the boy who is supposed to be his best friend and he doesn’t know what to do about it.

Lottie is on the outside at school, with no friends other than the insects she spends her time studying. And for the most part Lottie feels she has no father either as he has been emotionally absent since the death of her mother.

Jack’s woes are more socioeconomic and at one point in the story he and his sister are sleeping on the floor at his aunties place.

The Little Wave deals with grief, bullying, navigating new friendships and the struggles of low-SES families. Ultimately it is a book about the healing power of friendship and even though the book deals with some heavy things, it is an immensely enjoyable read.

Pip Harry has done a remarkable job putting so much story and heart into so few words.

The Little wave is well worth the read. Regardless of your age it will leave you with a smile on your face and warmth in your heart.

Pip Harry: Goodreads | Twitter | Website | Instagram | Booktopia | Amazon

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River Stone: #LoveOZYA Review

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44296482River Stone by Rachel Hennessy
Genre: Dystopian #LoveOzYa
Publication: May 1st 2019
Publisher: MidnightSun Publishing
Source: Review copy from publisher – Thank You
Add to Goodreads
Rating: ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵

We are not special. We are just survivors.

Pandora wants so much more than what her village can provide. When disaster comes to the River People, Pan has the opportunity to become their saviour and escape her inevitable pairing with life-long friend Matthew. She wants to make her own choices. Deep in her soul, she believes there is something more out there, beyond the boundaries, especially since she encountered the hunter of the Mountain People.

A story of confused love, difficult friendships and clumsy attempts at heroism, Pan’s fight for her village’s survival will bring her into contact with a whole new world, where the truth about the past will have terrifying reverberations for her people’s future survival.

River Stone by Aussie author Rachel Hennessy is the first book in a new dystopian trilogy. River Stone has a fresh and unique feel that drew me in right from the start and kept me hooked until the last page.

The protagonist Pan grows up not really knowing anything of the past, as it is too painful for most of the village elders to talk about – her mother especially.

River Stone is set on our earth in what could be our not too distant future. In the years before Pan’s birth Earth has been nearly destroyed; mass animal extinction, land becoming barren and unfarmable, people with wealth turning their backs on the rest of the world and the collapse of modern civilization as we know it.

The story mostly follows Pan as she undertakes a journey. A journey that I can’t really say much about without giving away the plot of the book. Hmmmm. Just know the journey tests Pan’s abilities to adapt and learn fast. It teaches her a lot about the world outside her village and she sees things that she never even knew existed.

The other part of the story is told through letters that Pan’s mum writes to her while she is on her journey. In these letters Pan’s mum writes of all the things she could never bring herself to talk to her daughter about. The letters allow us to gain the backstory of the world Pan is living in. In the letters Zaana tells her daughter who she was before the burning days and how she came to be with the River People. I especially enjoyed the letters, they allowed us to get to know Pan’s mother and understand why the River People behaved the way the did – which is almost cult like at times.

River Stone never becomes preachy, but there is a real lesson in there – one of the dangers of greed and environmental complacency.

River Stone is a story of survival, of adapting, of friendship, of being human, and of being a teenager living in the shadow of expectation.

I really enjoyed River Stone and am excited to see how the River People’s story continues in the next book.

‘A fantastic story for our times. Thilling. Chilling.’ – Seann Williams

‘An intelligent dystopian drama that is as addictive as it is thought provoking.’ – Winnie Salamon

Rachel Hennessy Links: Goodreads | Twitter | Website | MidnightSun Publishing

Booktopia | Amazon AU | Amazon US 

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Lost in L.A: #LoveOzYA Review

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Lost in LA (The Bikini Collective #2) by Kate McMahon
Genre: Contemporary
Publication: February 28th 2019
Publisher: Self-Published
Source: Review copy from Author
Thank you Kate
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

Three friends discover, surfing just got serious.

Pack your bags, the Bikini Collective girls are California bound to compete in their very first overseas surfing event. The LA sun is shining, Santa Monica’s shops are bursting with bargains and the point break is pumping. It should be happy days, right? Wrong! Mel has her party pants on and is ready to ravage this Hollywood scene, but her best friend and wingwoman, Jaspa, is welded to the hip of her new boyfriend. If Jaspa wants to be the Mayor of Lame Town, Mel figures she’ll just have to find someone else to get into trouble with. Swept along by the local celebrity brat pack, Mel finds herself on a wild ride that soon lands her in deep water, and she is way out of her depth. Will Mel be kicked off the World Junior Tour already? This is an adventure to rival any rogue set, so hold your breath and dive down deep … and pray you pop back up again!

In the first book we saw the three friends – Jaspa, Mel and Carolyn – competing in Australia, while learning how to navigate staying friends and competing against each other. The second book sees the girls head to Malibu to attend their first World Junior Tour as part of the Australian team. The first book focuses more around Jaspa, her awkward adorableness and her relationship with her brother. This book was all up in Mel’s head as she learns how to tell who her real friends are and learns to appreciate the things she has in life.

Hollywood baby! Mel gets caught up in the glitz and glamour and of wanting something more. She gets herself in a sticky situation that sees her nearly lose the things/people she cares about the most.

Lost in L.A. is full of all the things I loved from the first book. Fast and furious surfing action scenes that are written so descriptively you feel like you are out on the wave. It’s full of girl power; friends sticking up for each other and woman banding together to make the sport/world better for the next generation.

Lost in L.A. is a short and sweet ride, one that could probably be read as a standalone, but then you would be depriving yourself of book one and building a deeper connection to the characters.

Who would like this book: This is a clean book with a 15 year old POV. This book is perfect for the younger YA readers, even a high-level MG reader and hey I enjoyed it as an adult. I applauded Kate for managing to create an exciting series that doesn’t use sex, violence, or OTT romance to make it captivating. So many of the YA books coming out these days feature 17/19-year-olds doing things that 13/14-years-olds just cannot relate to, this is a perfect in-between.

I sincerely look forward to the next installment of the Bikini Collective and following these girls’ journeys onwards and upwards.

Kate McMahon: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

View my review of book one HERE.

Thanks for visiting The Adventures of SacaKat.
Until next time, enjoy your shelves :-).

Dig by A.S. King: YA Review

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43447523Dig by A.S. King
Genre: Contemporary YA, Magical Realism
Publication: April 2nd 2019
Publisher: Text Publishing
Source: Review copy from publisher – Thank you Text.
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Rating: ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵

The Shoveler, the Freak, CanIHelpYou?, Loretta the Flea-Circus Ring Mistress, and First-Class Malcolm. These are the five teenagers lost in the Hemmings family’s maze of tangled secrets. Only a generation removed from being simple Pennsylvania potato farmers, Gottfried and Marla Hemmings managed to trade digging spuds for developing subdivisions and now sit atop a seven-figure bank account, wealth they’ve declined to pass on to their adult children or their teenage grand children.

“Because we want them to thrive,” Marla always says.

What does thriving look like? Like carrying a snow shovel everywhere. Like selling pot at the Arby’s drive-thru window. Like a first class ticket to Jamiaca between cancer treatments. Like a flea-circus in a doublewide. Like the GPS coordinates to a mound of dirt in a New Jersey forest.

As the rot just beneath the surface of the Hemmings precious white suburban respectability begins to spread, the far flung grand children gradually find their ways back to each other, just in time to uncover the terrible cost of maintaining the family name.

I finished reading Dig by A.S.King the other day and I still can’t figure out what I want to say about it.

I part hated it (some of the characters are truly disturbing and examples of the worst parts of humanity) and I part loved it (there were three characters I connected with and the last quarter of the book made up for the first three quarters).

It is skillfully written and tackles some dark stuff. I feel like it’s the kind of novel that should be read and dissected in a high school English class. King is a phenomenal writer and isn’t afraid to get dark with it.

The story jumps between six characters, with each short chapter alternating the POV. The jumps never get confusing, it is rest-bite from the not-likable to the likable characters. It created a balance and pushed the story along.

This is not a light read, it tackles: terminal illness, poverty, physical & sexual abuse, parental neglect, racism, white privilege and the danger of family legacy.

Dig is Intense and at times it gets real dark! It’ll make you uncomfortable, and if it doesn’t, there is something wrong with you. But the journey that is reading this book is worth it in the end.

Dig is a story about the way our actions tunnel down and affect those around us, generation after generation. A story about digging our way out from under our past and moving forward to better future.

A.S. King: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Thanks for visiting The Adventures of SacaKat.
Until next time, enjoy your shelves :-).