A New Chapter: Children's Fiction Gets Its Booker Moment The literary world just delivered news that made my bookish heart skip a beat—starting in 2027, there will be a Children's Fiction Booker Prize Award. As someone who haunts the shelves of thrillers by night and devours stories across every genre, this announcement feels like long-overdue validation for a category that's shaped who I am as a reader. Why This Matters For too long, children's literature has been the unsung hero of publishing. We celebrate adult fiction with prestigious awards, glowing reviews, and serious literary criticism. But children's books? They're often dismissed as "just for kids," as if crafting a story that resonates with young minds is somehow less challenging or less worthy of acclaim. The truth is, children's fiction does something remarkable: it tackles complex themes—loss, identity, belonging, injustice—with clarity, creativity, and courage. These books don...

Review: Funny Story - Emily Henry - April 2024 This book I got an ARC from Penguin RandomHouse NZ and it had been sitting on my bookshelf for a month as I wanted to read it but I was, to be honest - scared. I had been so excited to read her previous book Happy Place as people had raved about Emily Henry and then when I read it, it was an average read. It was good but I didn't get the hype around it, so when Funny Story came to me, I was reluctant as I didn't want to find myself hating it or struggling to read it. Last week, I finally put on my big girl panties and took them to work with me and WOWZA, I was immediately hooked with Funny Story. It was so good that I even found myself telling others about it and reading parts to my partner. I think for me though, the main story itself is pretty average and one that has been told in the past but what made this amazing for me was the characters of Daphne and Miles themselves. They both had this air of genuineness about them, even th...

  Review: New Point - Book #1 The Point Series - Olivia Luck - September 2014 One of my favourite things about reviewing is that you have the chance to discover new authors and hidden gems in the indie world and one of those hidden gems is New Point by Olivia Luck. This book was awesome and I loved it so much.  Ever since I was younger, I have enjoyed reading books where almost like the witness protection programme , the characters go somewhere to start new and hide the secrets of their past and of course it all comes back in full-force which does tell us that no matter what we cannot run from our pasts, we must always confront them. In New Point, we meet Zoe who nine months ago was a survivor in a school shooting when Clinton Smith came into the school library she was working at and held a gun to her. She talked him out of it and he was arrested , now nine months later Zoe is still on track to get her life back and has just moved to the small beach community...

    Synopsis: UnWritten - Chelsea M. Cameron - June 2014 Blair Walton isn't your average tattooed children's librarian. She's also one half of bestselling romance author, Scarlet Rose. Along with her bff Raine, she spends her nights writing books so steamy, she's afraid they would shock her Southern conservative grandmother to death, if she knew about them. Blair and Raine keep their smut peddling ways a secret from everyone, including family. On deadline for their latest book and out of ideas, Raine suggests (demands) that Blair find a guy and "do some research." It just so happens that Blair has a guy that's ready and willing. Declan Bennet has all the qualifications: He's British, looks fabulous in a suit and gets bonus points for being a single dad. But what started out as a research project quickly turns into something much more. Someone else is writing this love story and Blair has completely lost control. B...