Love OZ YA

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.

Thanks for visiting sarahfairbairn.com 🙂
Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂
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Stuck On Vacation With Ryan Rupert: YA Review

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Stuck On Vacation With Ryan Rupert (Ryan Rupert #1) by P.S. Malcolm
Genre: Contemporary YA
Publication: June 30th 2016
Publisher: Self-Published
Source: Review copy from Author
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Rating: ✵ ✵ ✵

Aubany Winters’ life soon becomes a nightmare when her Mom gets cancer and has to leave for California with her Dad. Left with her neighbours, the Ruperts, and to her displeasure, their son Ryan, she finds herself forced to tag along on their family vacation to Nula Island. There’s just a few problems, like her fear of the ocean, her and Ryan’s mutual hatred for each other, and the psycho girl who is trying to kill them.

Will Aubany overcome her fears? Will she and Ryan ever stop hating each other? Or will their flaws and disagreements lead them right into the enemy’s hands?

Ryan Rupert is a typical immature rude superfishal teenage douchebag when we first meet him, but it was actually his parents that drove me nuts. They are rather negligent in my opinion. Serisily! Who the heck lets two teenage kids’ room together for six weeks unsupervised. Even once they find out a nut job has been on the loose tormenting their kids, they still leave the teens unsupervised! But hey, maybe i’ll feel different once my eldest reaches seventeen – yeah maybe not.

It was at about the 50% mark I realised I was thinking about the book all wrong. I wasn’t reading a book that was trying to change the world or teach me a lesson. I was reading a book that just wanted to entertain me. I had a Disney movie light bulb moment and really started to enjoy the book and appreciate it for what it was.

This book is like a Disney channel teen movie. Not deep and meaningful. But super cheesy and at times preposterous. It’s light, fluffy, fun and extremely entertaining – if you’re in the right mood.

The stories redeeming qualities: Aubany’s fighting spirit. Aubany’s fear of the ocean and her overcoming it. The murderous twist. The writing being easy to read and the story flowing well. Heck even with the issues my mummy brain had with Ryan and the parental units in the story, I still couldn’t help but enjoy the story.

Stuck On Vacation With Ryan Rupert is a hate to love YA romance set on an island paradise with a murderous twist and I can see myself reading and enjoying the sequel to once it’s released.

Who would like this book: Younger YA readers, as i’m sure they’d love it if their parents abandoned them on an island OR someone fed up with everything having to have a deeper meaning and that is just after a fun read.

Stuck on Vacation with Ryan Rupert is P.S. Malcolm’s self-published debut. Pagan did a guest post on The Adventures of SacaKat a little while back talking about how the story came to be – View the post HERE.

P.S.Malcolm links: Goodreads | Twitter | Website | Amazon | Wattpad

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

November 2018 Bookish Summary

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Total books read in November = 11
Comics/Graphic Novels = 4
#LoveOzYA / #LoveNzYA = 2
the remainder = 5

The Rift by Rachael Craw.
Published November 1st, 2018 by Walker Books Australia [View on Goodreads].
A gripping tale of an isolated island with paranormal secrets [Full Review HERE].

The Dog Who Lost His Bark by Eoin Colfer.
Published November 1st, 2018 by Walker Books [View on Goodreads].
A beautiful story of love, friendship and recovery [Full REVIEW HERE].

All Aces (Circus Hearts, #3) by Ellie Marney.
Published November 1st, 2018 by Bearded Lady Press [View on Goodreads].
An action-packed finale to the #LoveOzYA dark romance trilogy, Circus Hearts [Full Review HERE].

The Coven Heir (The Coven Series Book Two) by Lily Luchesi.
Published October 5th, 2018 by Vamptasy Publishing [View on Goodreads].
A paranormal tale of romance, revenge and necromancy [Full REVIEW HERE].

Hex Hall (Hex Hall #1) by Rachel Hawkins.
Published March 2nd, 2010 by Hyperion Book CH [View on Goodreads].
Witches, Demons and boarding school, oh my! A tale of fitting in, friendship and family secrets.

The Portal (Tales of Mentara, #1) by Ashley Uzzell.
Published April 13th, 2018 by Ashley Uzzell [View on Goodreads].
A fantastical tale of friendship, nature magic and mysterious new worlds [Full Review HERE].

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses by A. B. Banjo Paterson.
Published April 8th 2016 by Spoken Realms [View on Goodreads].
A collection of 19th century Australian bush poetry that serves as a time capsule for the way we were.

What If? Spider-Man (2018) by Gerry Conway, Diego Olortegui & Patrick Zircher.
Published October 3rd, 2018 by Marvel [View on Goodreads].
The tale of a world where it wasn’t Peter Parker who was bitten by the radioactive spider.

Fence #12 by (Author) C.S. Pacat (Illustrators) Johanna the Mad, Joana Lafuente, Hamlet Machine.
Published November 28th, 2018 by BOOM! [View on Goodreads].
A loveable underdog, competitive fencing, the drama of an all-boys school
= a compelling series.

Batman Damned: Book One by Brian Azzarello & Lee Bermejo.
Published September 19th, 2018 by DC Comics [View on Goodreads].
Batman together with Constantine is my jam! My dark Jam!

Kat: The Legend of Gnawbonia by Nick White.
Published 2017 by Nick White [View on Goodreads].
A whirlwind adventure involving a little cat fighting for her freedom [Full REVIEW HERE].

Conclusion: I feel like I smashed it out of the park this month. I’ve had a few rather low reading months prior. But I felt like I was back in fine form. I had plenty of awesome reads and I managed to get out quite a few reviews, woop woop.

Last month’s summary [HERE].

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

All Aces: YA Review

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All Aces by Ellie Marney
Genre: YA Romance, #LoveOZYA
Publication: November 1st 2018
Publisher: Bearded Lady Press
Source: Review copy from Author – Thank You
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

A teenage contortionist and a young cardsharp risk danger to right a family legacy of injustice.…

Nineteen-year-old contortionist Ren Putri is committed to circus, study and self-discipline – in that order. But after being rescued from a carnival fire by cardsharp Zep Deal, she’s overwhelmed by some highly disorderly thoughts. Zep has a history of trouble, and now he’s been suspected of sabotaging the circus that’s become his whole life. Ren is already coping with family, and keeping secrets of her own – but she can’t resist a mystery. Will Ren’s penchant for solving puzzles bring the case against Zep to rights, or will digging further into the bad blood between rival carnivals only put them both in danger?

Dark YA romance, with a criminal twist – Circus Hearts: Step. Right. Up.

All three books are set in Klatsch’s circus, with the times lines of the characters’ lives continuing from one book until the next. That being said, all books could stand alone, but I think you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t read them all and you may as well do that in order.

I was captivated with this series right from the start. In book one I adored the POV character, Sorsha.
With Fleur as the POV character in the second book it took me a little while longer get into the groove of the story, as I didn’t really like her in the first book, but I got there in the end.
Ren is the POV character of the third book and I liked Ren right from the moment Sorsha met her in book one, so I connected with her voice immediately.

Oh, adorkable Ren. Overthinking, overstressing, hardworking to the point of breaking, world on her shoulders and in desperate need of some good loving, Ren.

And I can’t forget the other star of this instalment – Zeb! Delicious Zep Deal, with his A****** of a father and his dark past. I love me a bad boy who is trying to break free of his past and make good for himself. Zep made a fantastic love interest for Ren.

A connection of sorts sparks up between Ren and Zep rather early in the story. One good dead is returned for another, that then turns into a tentative friendship, that then develops into the two of them partaking in some sneaky and very risking business together, which leads to them falling hard for each other.

Ren learns she has limits and how far she can push them. She learns how to stand up for herself and fight for the things she wants – she also learns what the things she really wants are.

Zep gets the break he deserves and a good woman to help him heal his heart – aww.

Damn, I’ve made this sound like its all mushy romance, but it not. There is plenty of action, punch ups with bad guys, revenge on the circus saboteur, and just more circus life in general!

Yes All Aces has a rather adorable first love romance for Ren, but it also has a you-gotta-fight-for-the-things-you-want vibe going on the whole way through. We also get a conclusion to the circus saboteur storyline that has ran through all three books.

I said this in my reviews for the previous books and I’ll say it again for book three as it still holds true – Fast paced action. Hot romance. Circus life. What more could you want people. Do yourself a favour and check the series out.

Who would like this series: Fans of swoon worthy romance. #LoveOzYA aficionados. Anyone after a captivating and fast paced read.

Ellie’s Links: Amazon AU | Amazon US | Goodreads | Twitter | Website 

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

October 2018 Bookish Summary

/ Riot @ Absidity Art - Sarah Fairbairn / 3 Comments

The start of last month was an emotional one for my entire family. We held our heads high and celebrated our matriarch, my grandmother’s life. She illuminated this earth with her light for 91 years. I will mourn her for the rest of my life. But, I will take the lessons she taught me and try to be the best version of myself I can be.

So as you can imagine October was a pretty crappy month for me and I didn’t have much motivation to do anything. But somehow I did still manage to read some wonderful books.

I decided while reading Stephanie’s September 2018 Recap post [shout out to Stephanie] that I should start doing a summary post each month.
A lot of bloggers do a monthly roundup /recap type posts. I’ve sporadically done it over the years in one form or another. I always read more books than I write up reviews for, and I want to try and shout out more of them. I won’t go into to detail on comics, as some months I smash quite a few single issues and that would make this post too long and a pain in the butt to write. So here we go.

Books read in October: total books read = 9

Comics/ Graphic Novels = 4

#LoveOzYA / #LoveOzMG = 5

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Published August 1st, 2005 by Pan Australia [View on Goodreads].
A contemporary tale of an Aussie Muslim teenage girl battling, then embracing her identity. This is not the first Abdel-Fattah book I’ve read and it won’t be the last.

All the Little Bones (Circus Hearts #1) by Ellie Marney.
Published September 1st, 2018 by Bearded Lady Press [View on Goodreads].
A dark romance that is fast, exciting and so delicious you’ll want more. Oh Ellie Marney I love you. All hail Ellie the queen of young-adult crime-romance mash-ups.

Obsidio (The Illuminae Files #3) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff.
Published March 14th, 2018 by Allen & Unwin [View on Goodreads].
A sci-fi symphony. The Pow-pow-ping-ping-BOOM-hacktastic and thrilling conclusion The Illuminae Files trilogy. Amie & Jay = pure sci-fi awesomeness.

All Fall Down (Circus Hearts #2) by Ellie Marney.
Published October 1st, 2018 by Bearded Lady Press [View on Goodreads].
Ellie Marney at it again with book two in the circus hearts series steaming up my reading space. Bring on book three!!! [Full REVIEW HERE].

The Bogan Mondrian by Steven Herrick.
Published September 3rd, 2018 by University of Qld Press [View on Goodreads].
A contemporary tale of friendship, grief and domestic violence. Steven Herrick is a brilliant storyteller and his books are always deep and meaningful, while being easy to read and entertaining. [Full REVIEW HERE].

Conclusion: Sometimes life is hard. Losing loved ones is always hard. We must make sure each moment counts. Steven Herrick is a gem and Ellie Marney is awesome.

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

The Bogan Mondrian: #LoveOzYA Review

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The Bogan Mondrian by Steven Herrick 
Genre: Contemporary, #LoveOzYA
Publication: September 3rd 2018
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Source: Review copy from UQP – Thank You
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Rating: ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵

‘There are worse things than school.’

Luke sleepwalks through his days wagging school, swimming at the reservoir and eating takeaway pizza.

That is until Charlotte shows up.

Rumour is she got expelled from her city school and her family moved to the Blue Mountains for a fresh start.

But when Luke’s invited to her house, he discovers there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye.

Woop woop! The Bogan Mondrian, another contemporary #LoveOZYA title from Steven Herrick. Whether he is writing a Prose or Verse Novel, he excels at both and is a brilliant storyteller. One of my favourites. SO, as you can imagine I was super excited when I heard he had a new release coming up, and I was over the moon when I got a copy for review from UQP.

I was heartbroken that I didn’t adore The Bogan Mondrian (prose novel) the way I adored The Simple Gift (verse novel) or Slice (prose novel), but I still really liked it and it is still a Herrick masterpiece.

Herrick’s stories always deal with heavy issues, but leave you with a feeling of hope. I think that’s why I didn’t love this one as much. It didn’t leave me as heart-warmed as all the others have. But within a story dealing with domestic violence, I guess that was always going to be the case. I wanted a more severe punishment for the perpetrator of the domestic violence (and animal murder). I felt he got off lightly. But that is the real world, and this is a contemporary novel. They don’t get locked up when they should. They continue to roam free.

Herrick writes his male leads with such heart and compassion. He writes his teenage boys behaving the way I want my boys to behave once they hit their teens, loving and respectful. Yeah most of them muck up at school, so what, they are always loving and respectful to the women in their lives and their elders. The world needs more men like Steven Herrick. The world needs more books like The Bogan Mondrian shining a light on the way boys/men should behave. And the best part is, the kids wouldn’t even realise that Herrick’s characters are teaching them good morals and values because his stories are so compelling and entertaining.

The Bogan Mondrian deals with friendship, grief and domestic violence. It follows 17-year-old Luke as he grieves the loss of his father to cancer and struggles to figure out how to help a friend in need. Luke is a fantastic character and I warmed to him immediately.

Thank you, Steven Herrick, please keep writing more books. You make the world a little bit better place each time.

Trigger warnings. Domestic Violence, Animal Abuse.

 

Herrick’s Links: Twitter | Goodreads | Website | Blog | Facebook | UQP
Amazon AU | Amazon US | Bookdepository | Booktopia

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

All Fall Down: #LoveOzYA Review

/ Riot @ Absidity Art - Sarah Fairbairn / 6 Comments

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All Fall Down (Circus Hearts #2)
by Ellie Marney
Genre: Contemporary, #LoveOZYA
Publication: October 1st 2018
Publisher: Bearded Lady Press
Source: Review copy from Author
Thank you Ellie
Add to Goodreads
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

A ringmaster’s daughter and a bearded lady’s son join forces to stop a saboteur…

Nineteen-year-old Fleur Klatsch is loyal to her trapeze team and her ringmaster father, dedicated to the circus, and tough on everyone around her. After a series of accidents at Klatsch’s Karnival, Fleur is left holding the ball: she’s running the carnival, trying to stop a saboteur, and taking care of her dad. She doesn’t need anyone’s help, least of all Eugenia Deloren’s son, Marco, who’s been trying to break out of show life since the moment he was born into it. All Marco needs to do is get Klatsch’s back on its feet so he can leave. But after one fateful kiss with Fleur, will he really want to? And will Fleur and Marco figure out who’s trying to kill the show before someone kills them…

Dark YA romance with a criminal twist – Circus Hearts: Step. Right. Up.

I was captivated with book one, All the Little Bones, from the first sentence up until the last. I adored the protagonist, Sorsha, and didn’t want the story to end. So, obviously I was super excited when the opportunity to read and review book two came along and I jumped at it.

The first book is told from the POV of Sorsha and tracks her journey to the circus, her struggles to forget her past and fit in at the circus the second book is wholly set in. Fleur the POV in this, the second book, is a secondary character in the first one and I really didn’t like her…
My residual ill feelings towards Fleur made it hard for me to get into the story at first. But once I got to know Fleur, it was all good, GAME ON.

The second book has a thrilling Circus saboteur who-done-it feeling. With a friends to lovers type smouldering romance weaved through. And also a slight coming of age kind of vibe.

With Fleur’s father injured and in hospital thanks to the saboteur, Fleur must run the circus, figure out who the saboteur is and what on earth is going on between her and Marco. Thankfully she has some great side characters to help her along the way. Sorsha’s still there in the background with her muscle man, Colm and Genie and Mitch are wonderful. Oh, and I can’t forget Marco, glorious Marco. Marco lights up book two like petrol on bonfire.

Who would like this book: Fans of swoon worthy romance. #LoveOzYA aficionados. Anyone after a captivating and fast paced read.

I think All Fall Down could stand on its own. But then you would be depriving yourself of meeting Sorsha and Colm, and trust me, that’s not something you want to do.

Fast paced action. Hot romance. Circus life. What more could you want people. Do yourself a favour and check the series out.

Bring on book three and the POV of Ren!!!

Ellie’s Links: Amazon AU | Amazon US | Goodreads | Twitter | Website 

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

The Girl Who Fell: #LoveOzYA Review

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36985967The Girl Who Fell (The Chess Raven Chronicles #1) by Violet Grace
Publication: September 3rd 2018
Publisher: Nero (an imprint of Black Inc.)
Source: Review copy from Publisher
– Thank you Nero
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


[Add To Goodreads]

The first book in a thrilling fantasy series about a girl who learns to embrace her inner power.

Chess Raven is a hacker who has grown up with nothing and no one. Her parents died when she was three and her foster care situation turned out badly – very badly. But on her sixteenth birthday, her life is turned upside down.

Chess learns her mother was Queen of the Fae and her father was a brilliant physicist. The unique blend of her mother’s fairy blood and her father’s humanity gives Chess – and Chess alone – the ability to unlock a mysterious vessel that will unleash unimagined powers – with devastating consequences. Thrown into a new world where nothing is at it seems, Chess must work out who to trust as vying forces race to control her. Or kill her.

Reunited with her childhood friend Tom Williams, an enigmatic shape-shifting unicorn, Chess discovers love for the first time and is prepared to risk her life for it. But first she must learn to overcome a fear of her own power and stop waiting for other people to save her. She is the one she’s been waiting for.

Chess is an orphan with no real knowledge of her parents. She spends her childhood a victim of a set of foul foster parents. The daughter of a brilliant human physicist and a rebellious Fae queen, Chess grows up not knowing of the royal Fae blood hiding in her veins or her ability to tap into it.

On Chess’s sixteen birthday she is attacked by what I can only describe as Zombie Fairies and that is when the story really begins. What comes next is a whirlwind adventure of Chess finding out about who she is, who she can and can’t trust, learning to harness her Fae abilities and getting to know a spunky unicorn shifter.

The world building is detailed and really had that whole Urban Fantasy thing going for it.

I got a mutant marvel x-man meets disney princess vibe from Chess (which i liked) and I did find myself connecting with, and liking her chararter.

For the most part this book feels like it’s aimed at the younger side of the YA market, but that in no way means that older readers won’t enjoy it.

Conclusion: It is a simple, fast and fun read. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the second book, in which the blurb intrigues me even more than the first.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Fae, Parallel Realms, Rags to Riches fairy tales and Unicorn soldiers.

Violet GraceAbout the author

Violet Grace is the pen name of wife-and-husband writing team Kasey Edwards and Christopher Scanlon. Kasey is an author and columnist and Christopher is an academic and social commentator. They live in Melbourne with their two daughters.

Chess Raven Links: Nero | Instagram | Website | Goodreads |

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

Bookish Babble: Quotes Collection Part Eight

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I laughed out loud the first time I read the above two sentences. I’d never really thought about it. What does happen after they ride of into the sunset?

I read Steph Bowe’s Night Swimming back in May 2017. It is an LGBT friendly, adorable #LoveOzYA feel good romp about growing up, first love, true friendship, finding your inner strength and place in the world and finding the courage to move forward. It’s well worth a look.

33128455Night Swimming by Steph Bowe

Published April 3rd 2017
by Text Publishing

[Add to Goodreads]

Imagine being the only two seventeen-year-olds in a small town. That’s life for Kirby Arrow—named after the most dissenting judge in Australia’s history—and her best friend Clancy Lee, would-be musical star.

Clancy wants nothing more than to leave town and head for the big smoke, but Kirby is worried: her family has a history of leaving. She hasn’t heard from her father since he left when she was a baby. Shouldn’t she stay to help her mother with the goat’s-milk soap-making business, look after her grandfather who suffers from dementia, be an apprentice carpenter to old Mr Pool? And how could she leave her pet goat, Stanley, her dog Maude, and her cat Marianne?

But two things happen that change everything for Kirby. She finds an article in the newspaper about her father, and Iris arrives in town. Iris is beautiful, wears crazy clothes, plays the mandolin, and seems perfect, really, thinks Kirby. Clancy has his heart set on winning over Iris. Trouble is Kirby is also falling in love with Iris…

Ocean Rules: #LoveOZYA Review

/ Riot @ Absidity Art - Sarah Fairbairn / 4 Comments

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Ocean Rules (The Bikini Collective #1) by Kate McMahon.
Published February 22nd 2018 by Kate McMahon.
I received a copy in exchange for an honest review – Thank You.

Three friends discover, surfing just got serious.

What does it take to be the best, and what does that even mean anyway?

Fifteen-year-old Jaspa Ryder is on the crest of qualifying to join surfing’s prestigious World Junior Tour along with her best friends, Mel and Carolyn. But as the girls soon discover, the ride to stardom doesn’t come easy. Jaspa’s head and heart are in battle – she isn’t sure she wants to be a professional surfer, which, given her incredible talent, infuriates everyone, especially her envious brother. Who will qualify for the tour? Will Jaspa’s friendships survive the pressure of competition? Sometimes in life, you just have to jump to your feet, take off, and hope you don’t wipe out.

“Inspiring. Blue Crush for a new generation. My 13-year-old daughter read it in a day… and then went surfing.” – Sean Doherty, journalist/author.

“A book that gets to the heart of surfing friendships and competition. A must-read for all young ocean lovers.” – Layne Beachley, seven-time world champion surfer.

“I felt utterly invested in Jaspa, Mel and Carolyn’s surfing journey; can we be friends?” – Stephanie Gilmore, six-time world champion surfer.

My Thoughts: While this was a cute and quick read for adult me, I think there are some beautiful messages in there for the teens. The story touches on; the Stress of competition and meeting expectations, the complexity of friends competing against each other, the power of social media (both negative and positive), sibling rivalry and dealing with disappointment.

There is a dash of boy drama in there, but just a dash. The message of the importance of girls supporting and empowering each other, of standing up for themselves together, shines through.

There is a Surf Speak Glossary at the back. I didn’t find it necessary while reading. The writing was easy and pleasant to read, and the story flowed well. I never felt like the surf speak was unobvious, but I enjoyed reading through the glossary at the end anyways.

The reference to Gosford skirts made me laugh out loud. And seeing Newcastle being called Newy made me smile. It’s such a quintessential Novocastrian thing to call it that. Wanna catch the train into Newy, go to the beach and have a perv – yep, words from my teenagerhood *hangs head in shame* In my defence I was happy to prev on either the guys or girl surfers. In all honesty I was super jealous. I’ve always lacked any kind of coordination and they always made it look so effortless and cool gliding through the waves. Ah damn, in all honesty, I was in a Gosford skirt, bahahaha good times. Oops sorry got lost down memory lane there for a moment *blinks repeatedly while slightly shaking head*. -Gosford skirt description at the end, in case you were wondering.

And of course, the power, the danger, the beauty, and sheer awesomeness of the ocean. You can tell McMahon’s a surfer. The way she described riding the waves made you feel like you were out there with Jaspa, Mel and Carolyn.

The ending is rather cheeky, it leaves the reader guessing and in my own experience, looking forward to the second book of the series.

“The Bikini Collective – a girl’s-eye view of surfing”. Fantastic YA debut McMahon!!

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, sitting and outdoorKate McMahon has spent the past twenty-years surfing waves all over the world. In 2001 she landed her dream-job and got started on her professional writing career with SurfGIRL magazine. From there she was mentored by several prominent publications, and began working for women’s magazines, and editing teen and tween titles. Since 2006, she’s been at the ABC as editor of magazines, including: the triple j Annual, Mr. Men, Dance Academy, Giggle and Hoot, Octonauts, and many more. She currently lives just one hundred steps from the sand at Narrabeen on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Ocean Rules is her first book, and she’s currently working on other books in the series.

LINKS: Goodreads | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Sarah SAYS: Gosford Skirt = A super short skirt.
Urban Dictionary SAYS: Gosford skirt = Used to describe a very short skirt. Slang from NSW, Australia. Mainly used in Sydney? Gosford is a regional city/town in NSW that is just south of a town called “The Entrance”. Therefore, a Gosford skirt is one which is “close to The Entrance”.

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