#AusYABloggers

As Fast As I Can: #LoveOzMG Review

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Today is my tour stop on the UQP and #AusYABloggers review tour celebrating the release of Australian Author Penny Tangey’s new book As Fas As I Can.

As Fast As I Can by Penny Tangey
Genre: Contemporary, #LoveOzMG
Publication: March 31st, 2020
Publisher: UQP
Add to Goodreads
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

From CBCA-shortlisted author Penny Tangey comes this funny, heartfelt novel about ten-year-old Vivian and her quest to one day become an Olympic middle-distance runner. Dealing with themes around chronic illness, persistence and acceptance.

One girl. One dream. A few hurdles.

Ten-year-old Vivian is determined to win a medal at the Olympic Games one day. Problem is, she hasn’t found a sport she’s any good at yet. But everyone says if you work hard enough you can achieve anything, right? So when Vivian discovers she has a talent for cross country running, finally, her Olympic dream might actually come true.

But then a family illness is uncovered and all of Vivian’s plans begin to unravel. Can she keep her dream alive? Or will she be stopped in her tracks?

A funny, heartfelt novel about resilience, acceptance and dreaming big.

Oh wow, this book brought back memories of primary school athletes’ carnivals, Heathy Harold visits, and the excitement of learning about the Olympics for the first time. But don’t worry, you do not need to be into sports or follow the Olympics to enjoy this story. Even though I’m not a big sports fan in general and being that the only sports I will actually sit down and watch involve motors, wheels, and insane speeds – I still really enjoyed this book.

As Fast As I Can is the tale of Vivian Hassler, a young girl whose Olympic dreams are shattered by a life-altering doctor’s diagnosis. We follow the POV character Vivian through the ups of finally feeling like her dreams are achievable, to the downs of having to learn to deal and live with chronic illness.
Even though sad things happen, this is not a sad book – It is a heartwarming book. Vivian Hassler is a bright, charismatic, and energetic girl, who was easy to like and easy to connect with.

I do wish this book would have had an epilogue. I am not a big fan of open endings, they feel unfinished to me, but hey, some people love them. The ending points in the direction of Vivian accepting her illness. But I would have loved an epilogue showing her enjoying new hobbies and just generally being happy.  Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed the book, 4/5 stars, and I intend to look into Penny’s other books. I just would have liked to see her finding a new passion, not just realizing she needs to, as she is only just starting to come to terms with her diagnosis when the story ends.

I love the variety of Aussie Middle-Grade titles coming out these days! For the intended audience, this book will teach kids empathy, family and friendship dynamics, how to handle disappointment, the importance of hobbies, and how there is more than one way to live out your dreams. For me as an adult, I may not have learned anything new, but it was still a captivating read that I am so happy to see exists and one that I intend to share with my boys.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Penny Tangey writes humorous books for young people. Penny studied Arts/Science at Melbourne University majoring in Chemistry and Indonesian. While at university Penny performed stand-up comedy, including in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Penny now works as a researcher for television quiz shows Hard Quiz and The Chase, but is still terrible at trivia.

Penny’s latest book As fast As I Can, is her fourth book published by University of Queensland Press. Her three previous novels being; Loving Richard Feynman, Clara in Washington, and Stay Well Soon.

You can find Penny at her website HERE and on Twitter HERE.

Follow along on the tour HERE.

Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂
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The Year the Maps Changed: Review

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The Year the Maps Changed by Rachel Hennessy
Genre: Contemporary #LoveOzMG
Publication: April 28th 2020
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Source: Review copy from publisher as part of #AusYABloggers tour – Thank You
Add to Goodreads
Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

I was eleven when everything started and twelve by the end. But that’s another way maps lie, because it felt like the distance travelled was a whole lot further than that.

Sorrento, Victoria – 1999
Fred’s family is a mess. Fred’s mother died when she was six and she’s been raised by her Pop and adoptive father, Luca, ever since. But now Pop is at the Rye Rehabilitation Centre recovering from a fall; Luca’s girlfriend, Anika, has moved in; and Fred’s just found out that Anika and Luca are having a baby of their own. More and more it feels like a land-grab for family and Fred is the one being left off the map.

But even as the world feels like it’s spinning out of control, a crisis from the other side of it comes crashing in. When 400 Kosovar-Albanian refugees arrive in the middle of the night to be housed at one of Australia’s ‘safe havens’ on an isolated headland not far from Sorrento, their fate becomes intertwined with the lives of Fred and her family, as she navigates one extraordinary year that will change them all.

The Year The Maps Changed is a story of love and family, a story of grief and finding home.

Winifred (Fred, Freddo, Winnie) lost her mum when she was only Six and since then it is always just been Fred, Her Pop and her adoptive father Luca – Until Luca’s new girlfriend and her ten-year-old son Sam comes to live with them. Fred does not cope with the change very well but keeps all her emotions bottled inside. When Luca & Anika announce they are having a baby, it makes Fred feel left out and lost – it makes her feel that there is no room left for her.

The story follows POV character Fred as she comes to terms with her new family and learns about the refugees coming to her little part of the world and how unfair life can be. The story starts with Fred being 11 years old, but by the end she has turned 12, with the story being set out over the year of 1999. I was 12 in 1999! and have vague memories of the Kosovo Albanians being taken to Point Nepean and other places in Australia. It gave the story this extreme depth, the true events mixed in with Danielle Binks fantastic story telling.

The whole way through while Fred is coming to terms with her new family, there is the refugee storyline unfolding – which I do not want to talk too much about and spoil the story. BUT I will say that two people Fred knows very well end up in trouble for helping an escaped refugee that Fred develops a special friendship with.

POV Fred is a smart, kind and caring girl who gets a little lost but manages to emotionally find her way home to the people she loves and embrace her new bigger family life. It is impossible not to fall for Fred and her family. I loved seeing, or rather feeling, Fred mature and grow into a beautiful little lady throughout the course of this story. It was really touching watching Sam and Fred slowly growing closer and developing a real brother and sister bond. But my favourite part of the story had me crying! When Fred comes to the realisation that Anika loves her and that is okay to love Anika back, that loving Anika like a mum, was not going to mean she would forget her mum or love her mum any less. Oh how my heart exploded with love.

This was a truly touching story that will stay with me and one I intend to share with my boys when they are a little older. Bravo Binks!!!!!

About The Author: Danielle Binks is a Mornington Peninsula-based author and literary agent. Her debut book ‘The Year the Maps Changed’ is out with Hachette on April 28 – a historic-fiction novel for 10-14 year-olds, set in 1999 it deals with the events of ‘Operation Safe Haven’ and Australia’s biggest humanitarian exercise to-date.

Connect with Danielle: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

FOLLOW THE TOUR HERE.

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

February Reading Round up

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Reads this month: Candy Hearts, The heart of Space, Runaways: that was yesterday, The Witch Boy, The Hidden Witch, Mindful Parenting, The Boys of Summer, Panic and Frenzy.

Fave Feb read: The Witch Boy and The Hidden Which by Molly Knox Ostertag. I am loving this cute n’ queer witchtastic MG graphic novel series and am keen to get my hands on the third book.

 

Challenge Reads:

#AusYABloggers Fun In The Sun prompt: #LoveOzYA book, The Boys of Summer by C.J. Duggan.

#TBRtrim20 New: The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag.

#TBRtrim20 Old: The Boys of Summer by C.J. Duggan.

Reviews Written:

Candy Hearts by Erin McLellan | ★ 4/5 | Queer, Erotic Romance | VIEW.

The Heart of Space by Cendrine Marrouat | ★ 3/5 | Poetry | VIEW.

There is still time to jump on board with the challenges I’m doing this year > > >

Reading Challenge One: If you are after an easy, fun, social and super chill reading challenge for next year, then take a look at the #AusYABloggers 2020 Reading Challenge There are prizes up for grabs and you only have to read a book a month, that fits that months theme to qualify.

Reading Challenge Two: If you want to slash your TBR and are an Instagram user then #TBRtrim20 could be for you. This one also has prizes up for grabs and you can totally do both challenges at the same time, I will be! Even doing both you are only committing yourself to read a minimum of three books a month – obviously, you can read MORE if you are able/want to.

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

January Reading Round up

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Reads this month: Rocky to the Rescue, Ninja Kid 1, The Cursed Key, Marie Claire, Nils: The Tree of Life, Ghost Revelations, Chosen by the Alpha, Ninja Kid 2, Frankie, Enshrine.

Challenge Reads:

#AusYABloggers New Beginnings Prompt:  #LoveOzMG book, Ninja Kid #1 (from nerd to ninja) by Anh Do. Ninja Kid gives as; a boy with new Ninja powers, a forest full of deadly giant spiders, and a school trip no one will forget. It’s a fun and exciting read, with the underlying message of believing in yourself, practice makes perfect and that anything is possible – all valuable messages for both young and old.

#TBRtrim20 New: Why yes I am doubling up, bite me, I’m a busy mum with two little boys who works full time, I gotta catch a break somewhere. And it was a Christmas purchase so it totally counts. Ninja Kid #1 (from nerd to ninja) by Anh Do.

#TBRtrim20 Old: I originally planned to read Shadows of the realm because it is the oldest book on my Goodreads TBR. But as I’ve got all three books sitting on the shelf, I knew if I read it and loved it, i’d want to head straight into the next two. So, It will have to wait until I have the time to dedicate to all of the books in the trilogy.

So, to pick another old read I was browsing the early end of my TBR Goodreads shelves, just focusing on books I owned and see if any of them grabbed my attention and I couldn’t for the life of me remember how I came to have a copy of Chosen by the Alpha (The Shadow Pack Rules #1) by Michele Bardsley. I figured that was a good enough reason to read it.

Reviews written:

★ 4/5 | NA, Romance, Urban Fantasy | The Cursed Key (The Cursed Key Trilogy #1) by Miranda Brock & Rebecca Hamilton | VIEW.
★ 4/5 | Adult, Reverse Harem, Urban Fantasy | Ghost Revelations (Ghost Dud #1) by Aspen Black | VIEW.
★ 2/5 | Graphic Novel, Fantasy | The Tree of Life by Jérôme Hamon | VIEW.
★ 4/5 | YA, Fantasy, Romance | Enshrine by Kay Bennson | VIEW.

There is still plenty of time to jump on board with the challenges I’m doing this year > > >

Reading Challenge One: If you are after a easy, fun, social and super chill reading challenge for next year, then take a look at the #AusYABloggers 2020 Reading Challenge There are prizes up for grabs and you only have to read a book a month, that fits that months theme to qualify.

Reading Challenge Two: If you want to slash your TBR and are an Instagram user then #TBRtrim20 could be for you. This one also has prizes up for grabs and you can totally do both challenges at the same time, I will be! Even doing both you are only committing yourself to reading a minimum of three books a month – obviously you can read MORE if you are able/want to.

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

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

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Where has this year gone!! I read a lot of good books this year, partook in lots of book tours, both as a participant and helping run them with the #AusYABloggers. But I also had a lot of moments where I just wanted to give up on this review blog gig. My reading goals for next year, in an attempt to make my way out of this funk and save myself from burn out, is to read less review copies and focus on the books that I’ve purchased over the years because I wanted to read them and then never got the time to.

I accomplished some of the things I had intended to in 2019, but there were three major things I never got to.  1) Lose weight. I’m currently on prescribed pain meds, anti-inflammatory meds and anti-depressants, all as a way to try and help me live with my Arthritis. I would like to get down to as low of a weight as is healthy for my height-age ratio, to try and help ease the strain on my joints. But lets be real, I’ve been trying to lose weight my entire life. So don’t hold your breath for me.  2) Creating a back catalog of my reviews. Currently if you go into the review catalog of this blog I only have this years listed – argh so many old reviews to go through.  3) I never got around to re-editing and submitting a manuscript I had been working on in previous years. So those are my first priority (after my kids and the Camp Quality FunX4) for me in 2020. I will be helping to run (and take part in) two reading challenges, which I believe will help me accomplish my reading goals for next year.

Reading Challenge One: If you are after a easy, fun, social and super chill reading challenge for next year, then take a look at the #AusYABloggers 2020 Reading Challenge There are prizes up for grabs and you only have to read a book a month, that fits that months theme to qualify.

The themes are:
January – New Beginnings
February – Fun in the sun
March – Lost and Found
April – Spookalicious
May – After Dark
June – Coming Out
July – Indigenous Voices
August – Tropes-ahoy
September – Awesome Anthologies
October – Mental Health
November – Glorious Graphics
December – Happy Holidays

Find out more HERE

Reading Challenge Two: If you want to slash your TBR and are an Instagram user then #TBRtrim20 could be for you. This one also has prizes up for grabs and you can totally do both challenges at the same time, I will be! Even doing both you are only committing yourself to reading a minimum of three books a month – obviously you can read MORE if you are able/want to.

I’m really not sure how to wrap this post up – I hope you all have a fantastic festive season and happy new year. I’ve still got one or two more reviews to put up before the 31st. This isn’t suppose to be goodbye from me for the year (hehehe we’ll see). I’m just doing this post now, in case I get too busy with the silly season to do it later.

XOXO Sarah 🙂

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
Add to Goodreads
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 🙂

77saturday – Beneath the Night

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#77saturday is a blog feature / meme the #AusYABloggers do every Saturday.

The Rules:

  1. Pick up a Book (your current read, or the closest book to you, or your next read, etc.)
  2. Turn to page 77 (or 77% if you are using an e-reader)
  3. Find a Snippet, Sentence or Paragraph you like.
  4. Share it on your blog or Twitter or Instagram and link back to the @AusYABloggers and use the hashtag #77Saturday

 

Today’s Book

31328041. sy475 Beneath the Night (The Cities Below #3) by Jen Colly
Released: April 25th 2017 by Lyrical Press
View on Goodreads

Sometimes survival means surrendering everything . . .

Lord Navarre Casteel wakes from a long sleep to find the vampire city he rules forever changed and his future in the hands of a mysterious beauty who offers her life for his. Fiery-haired Cat survives his feeding, fueling Navarre’s body and mind—as well as his suspicion that she is one of the Forbidden—a lethal mix of vampire and human blood. Yet that doesn’t stop the throb of Navarre’s desire, the feeling that she is destined to be his mate, to hell with consequences. . . .

A solitary fighter sworn to protect the children in her charge, Cat never expects to feel so much for Navarre in the face of his savage feeding. Which is why his offer of protection is nearly her undoing. For how can she let down her guard when she has always walked alone? But Cat has never faced an enemy like the one she faces now, never felt such a powerful need to surrender to the force of love.

The 77: “It Felt good to let her legs stretch, her arms pump. Her lungs burned, the cold air kissing her cheeks and cooling her fevered skin. The exertion and change in temperature cleared her mind, helped her focus.”

My Thoughts

Beneath the Night – I first got this book as a review copy a few years ago. At the time I couldn’t get into it, so I put it into the try again later pile. Most of the time when I can’t get into a read, it’s because of things I’ve got on and not the read itself. So this is me FINALLLLLLY getting back to trying again AND i’m enjoying it this time around! So stay turned for a review..

The #AusYABloggers Seventy-Seven Saturday was inspired by The Friday 56 by Freda’s Voice.

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

77saturday – Magic Harbor

/ Riot @ Absidity Art - Sarah Fairbairn / 3 Comments

#77saturday is a blog feature / meme the #AusYABloggers do every Saturday.

The Rules:

  1. Pick up a Book (your current read, or the closest book to you, or your next read, etc.)
  2. Turn to page 77 (or 77% if you are using an e-reader)
  3. Find a Snippet, Sentence or Paragraph you like.
  4. Share it on your blog or Twitter or Instagram and link back to the @AusYABloggers and use the hashtag #77Saturday

 

Today’s Book

46141781Magic Harbor (Keeper of the Watch #2) by Kristen L. Jackson
Released: October 10th 2019 by Black Rose Writing
View on Goodreads

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.

The 77: “I wonder what that thing was? Not a wolf, exactly. I was thinking coyote because of its size, but its features were wrong. The snout was too blocky. Maybe some kind of a dog?”

“It doesn’t matter, its gone. Now, we can get on with finding our way out of here.”

Chase nodded. “We ought to find shelter before night fall.” His eyes scanned the area. “You hear anything?” She shook her head.

My Thoughts

I’m reading Magic Harbor as I’m part of a Blog Tour for it on Wednesday (16/10). My plan is to get it read and have my review drafted up by the end of the weekend. The book had a really strong beginning and I’m into the jumping between dimensions. I’m keen to get back into it – so bye for now.

The #AusYABloggers Seventy-Seven Saturday was inspired by The Friday 56 by Freda’s Voice.

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

77saturday – Whisper

/ Riot @ Absidity Art - Sarah Fairbairn / 6 Comments

#77saturday is a blog feature / meme the #AusYABloggers do every Saturday.

The Rules:

  1. Pick up a Book (your current read, or the closest book to you, or your next read, etc.)
  2. Turn to page 77 (or 77% if you are using an e-reader)
  3. Find a Snippet, Sentence or Paragraph you like.
  4. Share it on your blog or Twitter or Instagram and link back to the @AusYABloggers and use the hashtag #77Saturday

 

Today’s Book

36356854. sy475 Whisper (Whisper #1) by Lynette Noni
Released: May 1st 2018 by Pantera Press
View on Goodreads

“Lengard is a secret government facility for extraordinary people,” they told me.

I believed them. That was my mistake.

There isn’t anyone else in the world like me.

I’m different. I’m an anomaly. I’m a monster.

For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four — ‘Jane Doe’ — has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word.

As Jane’s resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new — and unexpectedly kind — evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot … and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.

The 77: “I’m amazed to be witnessing something so normal. Something I haven’t experienced in so long. My heart hurts as memories try to flood my mind, but I stay in the moment and enjoy the beauty of what is unfolding around me.”

My Thoughts

I’m reading Whisper in preparation for it’s squeal, Weapon, coming out on the 4th November – Supper exciting! I have no other thoughts for now other than – Shhhhh i’m reading – bye for now.

The #AusYABloggers Seventy-Seven Saturday was inspired by The Friday 56 by Freda’s Voice.

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 🙂