young adult

13 Days of Midnight by Leo Hunt

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When I was a kid there weren’t many books about ghosts available for my age.  As a 12/13 year old I wasn’t ready for Stephen King and there weren’t many other scary books to choose from.  Thankfully there are more and more ghost stories for kids and teens being published and it’s always good to read a different and exciting take on ghosts.  Leo Hunt gives readers a good helping of ghosts in his new book, 13 Days of Midnight, about Luke and the 8 murderous ghosts he inherits.

Sixteen year old Luke Manchett has a pretty ordinary life living in a small northern town with his Mum. Until one day, a letter informs him that his celebrity ghost-hunter Dad is dead and Luke is the sole heir. But this is no ordinary inheritance – Luke finds himself in charge of eight horrendous ghosts, his Host, with his life and that of his Mum, loyal dog Ham and new friend Elza all in terrible danger. It’s up to Luke to open the Book of Eight and find a way to stop the Host destroying everything at Hallowe’en. Even if it means stepping into Darkside…

13 Days of Midnight is a deliciously dark, creepy read that will make you want to keep the light on at night.  It’s a genuinely scary story that creeped me out in several places. Much like making a deal with the Devil, you don’t get quite what you expected with this book.  Just when you think the story is taking off in one direction Leo pulls you in a completely different direction and he certainly keeps you on your toes.

Leo introduces us to some seriously creepy ghosts in 13 Days of Midnight!  Luke inherits his Host of eight ghosts from his father – the Vassal, the Shepherd, the Judge, the Heretic, the Fury, the Oracle, the Prisoner and the Innocent.  As Luke has just inherited them he doesn’t know how to control them, so they are trying to break free.  They’re violent and unpredictable, and even though they can’t kill Luke, they find other ways to hurt him and the ones he loves.  There were moments in the book when each of them sent a shiver down my spine but I think the one that scared me the most was the Prisoner with his shears.

The splatter on the front cover boldly claims that ‘If you like Skulduggery Pleasant read this!’ and I totally agree with this.  Leo has a great mix of spookiness and humour that will appeal to fans of Derek Landy.  Whether you are looking for the book to fill the whole that the Skulduggery series has left behind or you just want a really good scare grab a copy of 13 Days of Midnight now.  Leo leaves us with a sense of impending doom at the end of the book.  You know that something big and scary is coming, but what that is I have no idea.  I can’t wait for the sequel, 8 Rivers of Shadow coming in 2016!

Beware – Seriously Spooky Month is here!

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I love spooky books for kids and teens!  If it’s got ghosts, witches, vampires (non-sparkly ones), zombies or anything supernatural I’ll read it.  So I’ve decided to dedicate a whole month to spooky stories.

Throughout Seriously Spooky Month in October I’m highlighting my favourite spooky and scary books for kids of all ages, from picture books right through to YA.  I’m also very excited to have some wonderful guest posts from authors and illustrators who create spooky books for kids, including Barry Hutchison, Chris Priestly, Gareth P. Jones, R.L. Stedman, Sue Copsey and James Foley.

Scare your socks off this October and join me for some Seriously Spooky reads!

Win a copy of The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

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Patrick Ness’ latest book, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, is beautiful, funny and moving.  It’s definitely one of my favourite books of 2015 and one that will stick with me for a long time.  Patrick Ness just seems to be getting better and better.  You can read my review of The Rest of Us Just Liver Here on the blog.

Thanks to everyone who entered!  The winners are Helen, Lynley, Stephanie, Margaret and Aimee. Happy reading 🙂

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

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So many young adult novels are about ‘the chosen ones,’ those teens who are special and they’re going to change their world for the better.  What if you’re not ‘the chosen one’ though? What if you just have to live your life when everything around you is falling apart?  Patrick Ness asks this question in his latest book, The Rest of Us Just Live Here.  Patrick Ness is my favourite author and I know to expect something different (and amazing) every time he writes a new book.  He’s one of those authors who always tries something new.  As soon as I started reading The Rest of Us Just Live Here I knew I had a very special book in my hands.

What if you weren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you were like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend might just be the God of mountain lions.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here blew me away!  It is an incredibly beautiful, funny and moving novel.  The premise of this book, that not everyone is the chosen one, works so well.  There are two parallel stories happening – the story of the Indie kids and their battle with the Court of the Immortals (which plays out in the chapter headings), and the story of Mikey and his friends who aren’t the chosen ones.  Mikey, his sister Mel, and his friends just want to go to the prom and graduate without their school being blown up again.  All of the strange events that happen in their town seem to involve the Indie kids, who have names like Finn, Satchel and Kerouac. Their town has seen soul-sucking ghosts and vampires (amongst other ‘beings’) but the ordinary kids like Mikey and Jared are never part of that story.  They just want to live their lives the best way they can.  I love how we, as readers, know what is going on with the Indie kids and their battle with the Court of the Immortals, but Mikey and his friends and family don’t have a clue.  It’s very clever storytelling!

I love the characters in The Rest of Us Just Live Here.  They all have their own problems or are ‘messed-up’ in some way.  Mikey has anxiety issues that come and go.  When he gets especially anxious he gets himself stuck in loops, where he has to count things or wash his hands over and over again.  His friends are all going their separate ways after high school and he worries that he’ll get stuck in a loop and not be able to get out of it. Mikey’s sister, Mel, starved herself to death with anorexia and died for 3-4 minutes.  She’s on an eating plan but Mikey still worries about her.  Mikey’s friend, Jared, has problems of a different nature.  Jared is a god of cats so he has cats (both small and large) following him and a special gift that he uses to help his friends.  Even though they’re slightly messed-up they still count themselves lucky that they’re not one of the Indie kids.  This is a book that makes you feel that it’s OK just to be you, no matter how messed-up you are.  I love the way that the story ends and the decision that Mikey finally makes.

One of my favourite quotes in the book not only sums up the story perfectly, but also catpures teenage life:

‘Not everyone has to be the Chosen One.  Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world.  Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing the things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly.  All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.’

Patrick Ness is an author that can’t do anything wrong in my eyes.  I’m constantly amazed by his incredible writing and I can’t wait to read what he writes next.  Drop everything and read this amazing book!

Win a double pass to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the movie directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon based on the young adult book by Jesse Andrews is out in cinemas now.  I think it looks great and I can’t wait to see it.

This is the funniest book you’ll ever read about death.

It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.

This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.

To celebrate the release of the movie Allen and Unwin have kindly given me 2 double passes to give away.

Thanks to everyone who entered. The winners are Megan and Eibhlin and Saoirse.

If you haven’t seen the trailer for the movie check it out here:

Demon Road by Derek Landy

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Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant series is my all-time favourite series.  I love the wit, the humour, the characters and the supernatural spookiness.  It was sad to say goodbye to the characters that I loved and the world that Derek had created but I was excited to see what Derek would write next.  Derek announced his new Demon Road series a while ago and I’ve been champing at the bit to get my hands on a copy.  The wonderful people at HarperCollins NZ sent me an early copy and I gobbled it up.  Demon Road doesn’t disappoint and it’s every bit as wonderful as Derek’s Skulduggery series.

Amber Lamont is a normal sixteen-year-old. Smart but insecure, she spends most of her time online, where she can avoid her beautiful, aloof parents and their weird friends.

But when a shocking encounter reveals a horrifying secret, Amber is forced to go on the run. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers and red-skinned, horned demons – Amber hurtles from one threat to the next, revealing the terror woven into the very fabric of her life. As her parents close in behind her, Amber’s only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be.

Demon Road is a deliciously dark, gory, witty, totally gripping book that will make you cringe one minute and laugh out loud the next.  I absolutely loved this book and I couldn’t have imagined a more worthy successor to Skulduggery Pleasant!  It is a completely new story but you can imagine it existing in Skulduggery’s world.  Derek’s wit and brilliant dialogue are still here.  Some of the conversations between his characters are hilarious!

Derek takes readers down an even darker path (or road) than his previous books. I love the darkness of the story and I wanted to keep reading to see what sort of monsters the characters would meet next. There are some seriously shady characters in this book and people get killed in increasingly gruesome ways.  Derek’s gory descriptions are superb and really make you cringe.  He has a real gift for gore and death scenes.  I personally think Demon Road is aimed at an older audience than the Skulduggery series, so consider this if you are buying it for a school library.

One of my favourite things about Derek’s books has always been his characters.  While the names of the characters don’t stand out as much in Demon Road, Derek has created some very memorable and interesting characters.  There is Milo (Amber’s chauffeur and bodyguard with a mysterious past), Glen (the weirdo from Ireland whose days are numbered),with some witches, vampires and undead serial killers thrown in for good measure.  My absolute favourite character is Glen, who always seems to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and just has the worst luck.  It’s Glen who provides some of the funniest moments in Demon Road.  The main character, Amber, isn’t too far removed from Stephanie in the Skulduggery series.  She’s tough and can kick butt when she needs to, and she really grew on me as I followed her journey.

Readers who are already fans of Derek Landy will love Demon Road, but this book is certain to introduce a new legion of fans to his writing.  I want to put Demon Road in to the hands of as many adult horror fans as I can as well, because I’m sure they’ll find something to love in this book too.

Thank you Derek Landy for giving your loyal fans a new series to get obsessed with!  I certainly can’t wait to read the next book when it’s released early next year.

Win a signed copy of Stray by Rachael Craw

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Rachael Craw’s addictive sequel to Spark, Stray, was released yesterday and I had the pleasure of helping Rachael to launch it in Christchurch last night.  It was a great launch with heaps of Spark fans! You can read my review of Stray here on the blog.

Thanks to Walker Books Australia I have 5 copies of Stray to give away, and thanks to Rachael they are all signed.  To get in the draw to win a signed copy of Stray just email bestfriendsrbooks@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Stray’, along with your name and address.

Competition closes Wednesday 9 September (NZ only).

Stray by Rachael Craw

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Rachael’s Spark Trilogy takes us in to a world of genetically engineered humans and the sinister organisation that rules their lives.  In Spark, Rachael introduced us to Evie, an ordinary teenage girl, whose life changes dramatically when her mutant DNA is sparked.  Evie is overtaken by the urge to protect her best friend Kitty.  We learn that she is a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, and bound by her DNA to defend Kitty from the Stray.  Evie develops special abilities that help her to carry out her role, including increased speed, strength and attractiveness.  These abilities are only heightened by Jamie, Kitty’s striking brother.  Spark follows Evie as she hones her abilities in the hope that she is ready when the time comes to defend Kitty and take out the Stray.  Rachael reveals tantalising details about the sinister Affinity Project and its aims, but it is not until book two, Stray, that we discover more about them and the people behind the organisation.

1447372344232It’s hard to remember hating anything as much as I hate Affinity; a bone-deep loathing for the faceless unknown and the concrete walls of my own DNA. Evie is a Shield: designed to kill in order to protect, and the Affinity Project have finally come for her. But Evie isn’t ready for the sinister organisation to take control of her life, her body, her mind. She isn’t ready to follow their rules about who may live and who must die – not when it condemns the innocent. She has one option: risk losing everything and everyone – including Jamie – and run.

Spark and Stray are incredibly addictive stories!  I got totally swept up in the stories and had to read every second that I could so that I could find out what happened.  As a librarian and a huge book lover I read so many great books but there are only a few that really stand out, and Rachael’s books certainly have for me.

The second books in a trilogy often lack something and can seem like they’re just filling in time before the dramatic conclusion.  Stray, however, is an epic sequel!  Rachael had me hanging on for dear life on this roller-coaster ride.  The action is almost non-stop, with Rachael giving you the chance to catch your breath briefly (with a touch of comedic relief), before racing ahead again.  Spark was full of plenty heart-stopping moments but Stray takes it up a notch.  There were times when I couldn’t take the suspense.  It’s this feeling that just keeps you reading so you can know the answers.  It was the science fiction aspect of the story that grabbed me with Spark and we delve more in to the shady world of genetic engineering in Stray.  Rachael takes us inside the Affinity Project and we meet the men and women of questionable ethics that are behind the organisation.

It’s not only the action of the story that I love about Rachael’s books, but also the characters.  You know that when you can both love and hate a character that they’re very real.  While a lot of Rachael’s readers are swooning over Jamie, I myself have a crush on Evie.  Evie is quite simply HOT!  I’m sure Rachael puts Evie in a Lara Croft costume just for her male readers.  Looks aside, there are times that I marvel at Evie’s actions and times that I want to shake her by the shoulders in frustration.  Evie’s relationships change quite dramatically in Stray, and not just with Jamie.  Rachael also introduces us to some great new characters who are part of the Affinity Project, including Knox and Tesla.

Rachael’s books are young adult sci-fi at its best and they can stand proud beside the likes of Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner. Rachael’s fan base will grow hugely with the release of Stray, and like me they will be desperate to read the conclusion of the trilogy when Shield is released next year.  Get your hands on a copy now.

I Can’t Wait For…Another Day by David Levithan

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David Levithan is one of those authors whose books I always pick up (I don’t always get round to reading them).  I love his writing style and his books stand out as being quite different.  Every Day is one of my absolute favourite books.  It’s one of those few books that has had a real affect on me and has stuck with me. In Every Day, A is in a different body each day, so it has to get used to being a different person (on the outside) and acting like that person. You can read my very gushing review here on the blog.

Another Day is a companion novel to Every Day and tells the story from Rhiannon’s point of view.  I know it will be very different from Every Day but I’m curious to see the story from Rhiannon’s perspective.

Another Day is published by Text Publishing and is available in Australia and NZ now.

Another Day

Bestselling author David Levithan (co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) tells Rhiannon’s side of the story as she seeks to discover the truth about love and how it can change you.

Every day is the same for Rhiannon. She has accepted her life, convinced herself that she deserves her distant, temperamental boyfriend, Justin. She’s even established guidelines by which to live: Don’t be too needy. Avoid upsetting him. Never get your hopes up.

But one morning everything changes. Justin wants to be with her for the first time, and they share a perfect day—a perfect day Justin doesn’t remember the next morning.

Confused, depressed and desperate for another great day, Rhiannon starts questioning everything. Until a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that day with—the one who made her feel like a real person—wasn’t Justin at all.

My Most Anticipated September Kids & YA Releases from Allen and Unwin

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Flip Flap Jungle by Axel Scheffler

What do you get if you cross an monkey with a armodillo? Why, that would be a Monkadillo! And a Leopard with a Frog? That would be a Leopog, of course! With its sturdy, split pages and spiral binding, 121 possible combinations, silly names and animal noises to make you giggle, this hilarious rhyming flip-flap book in a fun format is perfect for pre-schoolers.

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The Mystery of the Haunted Farm by Elys Dolan

The three little pigs are the best guys for the job, a specialist team of Ghosthunters equipped with the latest in ghost-hunting gadgets. But when the Phantom Finder 5000 fails to recognise any paranormal activity AT ALL, the pigs realise all is not quite as it seems. . . and there’s certainly something suspicious about the mysterious chicken coup up on the hill . . . could that be a werepuppy?

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This Broken Wondrous World by Jon Skovron

A year ago, Boy, the son of Frankenstein’s monster, had never even met a human. Now he’s living with his human ‘family’, the descendants of Dr Frankenstein, in Switzerland. That is, until the maniacal genius Dr Moreau, long ago banished to a remote island for his crimes against humanity, asks for his aid.

Moreau wants Boy to join his army of animal/human hybrid creatures and help him overthrow human society. Boy must choose: side with the twisted doctor and save his fellow monsters, or try to defend the humans who run the planet?

Boy will do anything to save this broken, wondrous world from the war that threatens to split it in two. But how much will he have to give up? And is the world worth saving?

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Concentr8 by William Sutcliffe

In a future London, Concentr8 is a prescription drug intended to help kids with ADD. Soon every troubled teen is on it. It makes sense, doesn’t it? Keep the undesirable elements in line. Keep people like us safe from people like them. What’s good for society is good for everyone. Troy, Femi, Lee, Karen and Blaze have been taking Concentr8 as long as they can remember. They’re not exactly a gang, but Blaze is their leader, and Troy has always been his quiet, watchful sidekick – the only one Blaze really trusts. They’re not looking for trouble, but one hot summer day, when riots break out across the city, they find it. What makes five kids pick a man seemingly at random – a nobody, he works in the housing department, doesn’t even have a good phone – hold a knife to his side, take him to a warehouse and chain him to a radiator? They’ve got a hostage, but don’t really know what they want, or why they’ve done it. And across the course of five tense days, with a journalist, a floppy-haired mayor, a police negotiator, and the sinister face of the pharmaceutical industry, they – and we – begin to understand why.