Content warnings: racism, racial slurs, attempted suicide, drug abuse, colonisation, mentions of domestic violence, mentions of child abuse
4.5 stars
ThContent warnings: racism, racial slurs, attempted suicide, drug abuse, colonisation, mentions of domestic violence, mentions of child abuse
4.5 stars
This was an extremely fast but extremely powerful read. It's a beautifully told story that deals really well with changing family situations and discovering that the adults you respect can be deeply flawed human beings who aren't at all who you thought they were. Darker than I anticipated, but definitely one I'll have to revisit in the future. ...more
Content warnings: homophobia, cheating, dementia, death of a parent
Loved the dual timelines and the generational storyline. Didn't QUITE stick the lanContent warnings: homophobia, cheating, dementia, death of a parent
Loved the dual timelines and the generational storyline. Didn't QUITE stick the landing for me though. Will forever respect Will Kostakis' ability to make me giggle and then rip my heart out two pages later. ...more
Content warnings: death of a parent (in the past), cancer, grief, home invasion, animal cruelty, mentions of animal death (in the past), poisoning
I'veContent warnings: death of a parent (in the past), cancer, grief, home invasion, animal cruelty, mentions of animal death (in the past), poisoning
I've been staring at this book on the shelves at work for NINE YEARS before finally picking it up, and I'm honestly really glad I did. Because this is a contemporary/crime story about a 14 year old girl dealing with emotional drama/grief over her mother's death and the fact that she wakes up one night to find a strange man in her house.
So yeah, it's a little dated now. But I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and I loved the fact that the protagonist is only 14 - there are all too few books with 13-15 year old protagonists. ...more
Content warnings: gun violence, natural disasters, explosions, dystopian government situations, (view spoiler)[death of a parent (hide spoiler)]
I.....Content warnings: gun violence, natural disasters, explosions, dystopian government situations, (view spoiler)[death of a parent (hide spoiler)]
I.......don't know how to feel about this book. I've heard many people raving about it, and it's on the CBCA Older Readers shortlist. But personally? I just found this confusing. Also, why the hell is the publisher pushing it as a romance when that's literally the tiniest of tiny subplots??...more
Content warnings: anxiety attacks, alcohol, homophobia (in the past), drug use, shitty parenting, (view spoiler)[drug use, heart attack/CPR, death of Content warnings: anxiety attacks, alcohol, homophobia (in the past), drug use, shitty parenting, (view spoiler)[drug use, heart attack/CPR, death of a grandparent, grief (hide spoiler)]
I think I anticipated this would be more of a romance than it is because Madden's previous two books are both more romance-centric? And yes, there is a romantic subplot, but it's nowhere near at the centre of the story. And that's absolutely fine! It just threw me because I thought this was going to be a fluffy lil queer romance with occasional feels and instead it was FEELINGS with a side of boys kissing.
I ultimately enjoyed this, but part of me couldn't stop comparing it to Doctor Odyssey, a show that I cannot decide if I enjoy or not. ...more
Content warnings: murder, bushfire, kidnapping, death of a loved one, sex trafficking, forced prostitution, transphobia, dead naming, discussion of adContent warnings: murder, bushfire, kidnapping, death of a loved one, sex trafficking, forced prostitution, transphobia, dead naming, discussion of addiction (in the past)
I am so bummed that this story played out the way it did because the premise? BANGING. I was sold from the moment I read the blurb. Hell, I was sold through the first 50-odd pages of the book. And then the more of the mystery that was revealed, the more I was like ".................no but like wtf".
Between (view spoiler)[the nanny having been sold into sex slavery to clear her employer's gambling debts and the snuff films and the way the story's climax played out, (hide spoiler)] this was just...not at all what I expected it to be.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't BAD. But it definitely didn't give me any desire to pick up the author's other work. ...more
Content warnings: death of a family member, murder, hospitalisation, car accident
This was a fun mystery story that's definitely on the younger end of Content warnings: death of a family member, murder, hospitalisation, car accident
This was a fun mystery story that's definitely on the younger end of YA. And I love that - my 12-14 year old students LOVE murder mysteries, but they're often not quite ready for Holly Jackson or Karen M. McManus. So this will be a good recommendation for them!
I don't know how I feel about the hints of romance in the story, and I definitely guessed a couple of the twists well before they happened. But on the whole? This was a lot of fun....more
Content warnings: alcoholism, car accident, blood, racism, bullying, emotional abuse, sexual assault, toxic relationship
Okay, so on the one hand? ThisContent warnings: alcoholism, car accident, blood, racism, bullying, emotional abuse, sexual assault, toxic relationship
Okay, so on the one hand? This is an extremely important book about a kid struggling with a new town and a new living arrangement and the realisation that her mother is an alcoholic. On the other hand, there were far too many things going on in this story and I don't feel like there was much in the way of emotional depth??
IDK. Maybe it's just me being picky, but this somehow felt too long and too short all at the same time. ...more
A sweet contemporary romance set in Adelaide. Could definitelContent warnings: toxic workplace, toxic management, mental health, mentions of fertility
A sweet contemporary romance set in Adelaide. Could definitely relate to a lot of the school related stuff. I did find that the Taylor Swift and Sarah J Maas references were a TAD too much for my liking and may date the book into the future, but overall? I had a good time with this....more
Content warnings: death of a parent, grief, pregnancy, alcohol
3.5 stars
I've loved Kenwood's YA books so I was really excited to see what she'd do withContent warnings: death of a parent, grief, pregnancy, alcohol
3.5 stars
I've loved Kenwood's YA books so I was really excited to see what she'd do with an adult romance. And, like, I liked it? But at the same time, the messiness that works in a YA book because of the nature of the characters was less charming with a character in her 30s.
Essentially, this started out really well and I was hooked. And then somewhere along the way, the pacing became...strange. I'm still not sure, two and a bit months later, if I liked the protagonist or not. And the ending was rushed. Womp. ...more
Content warnings: grief, death of a parent (in the past), homophobia, internalised homophobia, vomit, alcohol abuse
I love Lonesborough's books and thiContent warnings: grief, death of a parent (in the past), homophobia, internalised homophobia, vomit, alcohol abuse
I love Lonesborough's books and this one was no exception. I still think The Boy From the Mish is my favourite, but this is a close second. I loved the complexity of the characters and the dynamics between them. I really liked how much grief plays into the story, and how the family dynamics weave into the friendships and the romance. All in all, this was delightful....more
Did I only read this because it's set in Tasmania? Yes. Did I have a delightful time reading it despite the factContent warnings: homophobia, bushfire
Did I only read this because it's set in Tasmania? Yes. Did I have a delightful time reading it despite the fact that butterflies TERRIFY me for inexplicable and irrational reasons? Yes. Will I read the sequel? That remains to be seen. ...more
I knew nothing about this incident (or, for the most part, the wartime downfall of the Menzies government) prContent warnings: plane crash, death, war
I knew nothing about this incident (or, for the most part, the wartime downfall of the Menzies government) prior to reading this book. And while it was an interesting story about a significant air disaster in Australia's history, I'm not ENTIRELY convinced that the crash and the deaths that it resulted in were solely responsible for the Menzies government's fall, especially given that Menzies himself buggered off to England for several months in the lead up to the election.
Still, it was an interesting insight into an aspect of Australia's wartime history that I knew little about. ...more
Content warnings: murder, death, cheating, mentions of incarceration
A compelling YA murder mystery that I had a fabulous time with. The characters werContent warnings: murder, death, cheating, mentions of incarceration
A compelling YA murder mystery that I had a fabulous time with. The characters were great, I loved the romance that develops over the course of the story, and I really enjoyed that it's set in rural Australia in an impoverished area because that's a side of Australia that's represented all too infrequently. ...more
Content warnings: blood, discussions of covid-19 lockdown
Look, I wanted to like this. I did. But if I had to read one more page about how hard lockdowContent warnings: blood, discussions of covid-19 lockdown
Look, I wanted to like this. I did. But if I had to read one more page about how hard lockdown was in FUCKING PERTH, THE CAPITAL OF THE STATE THAT CUT ITSELF OFF FROM THE REST OF THE COUNTRY SO THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO HAVE ANY MORE LOCKDOWNS, I was going to yeet the book out the window.
Add in a largely unlikeable protagonist and the fact that I genuinely didn't give a shit about whether the kids pulled a song together in time and the fact that (view spoiler)[this fucking girl has been entering this competition for YEARS and yet has never worked out that the closing time is 5pm AEST and not 5pm AWST???? (hide spoiler)]? This was not for me. ...more
This......was odd. I've read and loved Terra Nullius and The Old Lie in the past, and yet there was just something about this one that had me putting off reading it. I couldn't articulate why, but every time I picked it up, I'd open it to page 1 and then put it back on the shelf again.
Anyway, I'm glad I finally read it but I don't think it will have the longer term impact on me that Coleman's previous books have had. It's dystopian rather than sci-fi, and it doesn't weave Aboriginal history into the future the way her previous books did. And don't get me wrong, it's still a powerful story. But at times I found Christine such an utterly unlikeable protagonist that I could only read small chunks of the story at a time.
Ultimately, the ideas were intriguing but I don't think those ideas were quite as developed as I would have liked them to be. ...more
Content warnings: death, murder, death of a child, death of a friend, blood, addiction, (view spoiler)[child abuse (hide spoiler)]
3.75 stars
This, in aContent warnings: death, murder, death of a child, death of a friend, blood, addiction, (view spoiler)[child abuse (hide spoiler)]
3.75 stars
This, in a lot of ways, reminded me of The Dry - a man returns to the small Victorian country town he grew up in because of reasons, the past comes back to haunt him and his friends, and the story plays out in a split narration between the present and the past.
So there was something strangely familiar about this story, despite the differences between the two premises. And for the most part, I enjoyed the twists and turns here, and the story was definitely compelling.
But at the same time, the whole hike-down-the-train-tracks-and-make-sure-there's-time-before-a-train-comes situation got extremely repetitive and that kind of hindered my enjoyment of the story, you know? ...more
I bought this when it came out and then put off reading it for over a year forContent warnings: mental health, panic attacks, alcohol, biphobia, vomit
I bought this when it came out and then put off reading it for over a year for literally no reason. It took me a little while to get into it, but the story of distant sisters struggling to find their place in the world was a compelling one and I ended up devouring this.
Wilde's voice shines on the page, and I loved the late December in a coastal town setting. I did find that I was more drawn to Scarlett's story than to Cinnamon's - perhaps because Cinnamon's a more prickly character?? - but on the whole this was compelling and I overrelated to the characters and their stories more times than I care to mention. ...more
Content warnings: colonialism, genocide, massacres of Indigenous communities, death of a loved one, incarceration, racism, racial slurs
I absolutely adContent warnings: colonialism, genocide, massacres of Indigenous communities, death of a loved one, incarceration, racism, racial slurs
I absolutely adored Heiss' last book, so when I saw she was writing another historical fiction book set in 19th century Australia with a romance at the heart of it, I was SOLD. And, for the most part, I enjoyed this - as much as one can enjoy the subject matters dealt with in the course of the story.
The characters were painted with care and depth and love, and I really enjoyed the juxtaposition between the Wiradyuri characters and their fight to keep their land free of British control and the Irish convicts seeing their own fight reflected therein.
That being said, this covered a longer period of time than I anticipated and as a result the pacing sometimes felt like it jumped more than I expected it would. And I found the ending extremely abrupt. Perhaps not unexpected, but I turned the page expecting at least one or two more chapters and instead found myself reading an author's note. So. Yeah. I'm really glad I read it and it's a very powerful book. But at the same time, it wasn't what I expected it to be....more
Content warnings: hospitalisation, gaslighting, death of a friend, near drowning, lying, cheating, drugging, kidnapping, attempted murder, mental healContent warnings: hospitalisation, gaslighting, death of a friend, near drowning, lying, cheating, drugging, kidnapping, attempted murder, mental health
2.5 stars
This is one of those Australian YA books that isn't really YA but falls there by default because new adult was never a thing here. It's a group of friends who go off to university and the way that their lives are complicated when one of the group dies.
And, like, it was kind of compelling but also some of the twists were so stinking obvious that I saw them the second they turned up on the page, and then I had to suffer through another 300-odd pages of the story to get to the reveal.
So yeah. I've read worse books. But this still wasn't good. ...more
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