November/December Short Reviews

I haven’t managed to do too much reading lately – life has been very busy with the approach of Christmas and lots of work. In exciting news, I have managed to get a job for the upcoming school year – I will be working in a school as a teacher-librarian! Just what I was hoping for! 😀 😀 😀

A side-effect of this is that I have been given a pretty long recommended reading list, full of stories that young adults like to read. I had to laugh when I saw that I had already read quite a few of the recommended authors – my enjoyment of YA literature is definitely coming in handy! The best of the recommended YA books I have read so far is definitely Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen. The novel has some great characterisations, and dealt with some sensitive issues in a delicate yet realistic manner. More on the novel below.

Coming up, my reviews of Juliet Marillier’s latest release, Flame of Sevenwaters, and the (auto)biography of John Barrowman, Anything Goes.

Featured this month:

• Contest – Matthew Reilly
• Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight – Nick Earl and Rebecca Sparrow
• Just Listen – Sarah Dessen
• Crow Country – Kate Constable
• The Body in the Fog – Cora Harrison

October Short Reviews

Once I completed my studies for university, I definitely jumped into the deep end of the reading pool – reading 10 novels/novellas/short story collections during the last month. My reading list centred almost exclusively on young adult realistic fiction, with the exception of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, the latest in D.D. Marks’s Olesia Anderson spy thrillers, and Tamora Pierce’s collection of short stories.

Many of the novels I read over the past month were fantastic, and really enjoyed reading them. Two in particular stand out for me: When We Were Two by Australian firefighter Robert Newton, and You Against Me by British actress-turned-author Jenny Downham. Though vastly different, these novels stood out for the brilliance of their construction, the approachability of their characters and storylines that kept me interested the who way through. I really cannot recommend these two novels enough.

Featured this month:

• Double Deals (pt. 1) – D.D. Marks
• When We Were Two – Robert Newton
• The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
• The Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling
• Before I Die – Jenny Downham
• Tortall and Other Lands – Tamora Pierce
• Hate List – Jennifer Brown
• You Against Me – Jenny Downham
• How to Buy a Love of Reading – Tanya Egan Gibson

It’s been awhile… July Short Reviews

Apologies for being AWOL over the last three months or so, real life caught up with me! But hopefully that’s over with… Here are my July short reviews, I should follow up shortly with a review of Anna Karenina (I’ve been reading it since July 24!).

July Short Reviews

Mentioned this month:

• Moment of Truth and Hour of Need by Michael Pryor
• The Free Fellows League by Rebecca Hagan Lee

 

June Short Reviews

It’s strange to look back and realise that my entire reading list for last month was fantasy books. I read a fantastic darker fantasy novel – unlike anything I’d read before, most of a young-adult fantasy series with elements of adventure, steampunk and alternate history, and a series of fantasy books that defy their placement as young-adult novels (more on that later!).

Featured this month:

• Century of Sand – Christopher Ruz

The Graceling Realm series – Kristin Cashore

• Graceling
• Fire
• Bitterblue

The Laws of Magic series – Michael Pryor

• Blaze of Glory
• Heart of Gold
• Word of Honour
• Time of Trial

May Short Reviews

 Featured this month:

• Beauty Sleep – Cameron Dokey
• Snow – Tracy Lynn
• The Crimson Thread – Suzanne Weyn
• Belle – Cameron Dokey
• Wild Orchid – Cameron Dokey
• Golden – Cameron Dokey
• The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis

May was very much a month for young adult fairy tale retellings, some of which I really enjoyed and others of which I was not very fond. It was a small month reading-wise, mostly because of university assignments and far too many social commitments. Add a little bit of Christian philosophising and you have my month in books! Hope you enjoy this month’s reviews!