Review: Games Untold - Short Stories - An Inheritance Games Collection - Jennifer Lynn Barnes - November 2024 I've been a Jennifer Lynn Barnes fan for longer than I care to admit it all started back in the early 2000s when I picked up Tattoo and was completely swept away. Since then I've devoured everything she's written, but it's The Inheritance Games universe that truly has my heart. And honestly? Choosing a favourite Hawthorne brother is impossible. Xander's humour has me snorting with laughter, Nash's old-fashioned gentlemanly ways make me swoon, Grayson's fierce loyalty makes me feel so safe, and Jameson oh, Jameson with those romantic gestures and that deliciously mysterious streak. They each hold a little piece of my reader's heart. So when I took  Games Untold off my bookshelf  for the Readers Retreat I attended in Taupo last weekend, I knew exactly how I'd be spending my downtime. Curled up, cup of tea in hand, utterly lost in the Hawthorne...

Review: Wild Dreamers - Margarita Engle - April 2024 Some books arrive in your life like a whisper on the wind—and Wild Dreamers was one of those for me. I received this beautiful hardback as a birthday Bookstagram gift (thank you to my lovely bookish friends—you know who you are!), and while it wasn’t the easiest read, it left me with a quiet sense of wonder. Written in verse by the ever-poetic Margarita Engle, Wild Dreamers tells the story of Ana and Leandro—two teens with heavy pasts and hopeful hearts. Ana lives out of a car with her mother after her father’s militant actions land him on the FBI’s most wanted list. Leandro battles anxiety after fleeing Cuba on a raft. Their paths cross one moonlit night in a California wilderness park, and from that moment, their connection blooms—both scientific and magical. I’ll admit, the verse format took me a while to settle into. It’s not my usual cup of tea, and I found myself rereading lines to catch the rhythm and meaning. But once I let g...

The Story Behind Dear Hero   How do two college friends end up writing a book together? The answer is sillier than you think! Way back in ye olden days (the summer of 2018) Hope Bolinger and I were just two interns working for a literary agency, nerding out about the MCU, and spending too much time on what was then Twitter. I thought it would be funny if I created a Twitter account for a supervillain and imagined what they might tweet about. Instead of #justgirlythings, what if a villain tweeted about their latest villainous activity with #justvillainthings? I tweeted out my quips to a moderately entertained audience, until who should appear but…a superhero account, vowing to defeat my villain account! It didn’t take me long to realize the superhero was, in fact, Hope. We had a fun time with our parody accounts, and it got us thinking—what if we wrote a book about Gen Z superheroes in the age of social media? And even better, what if they met on a nemesis pairing app,...

Almost Infamous Sarah Ainslee Publication date: May 20th 2025 Genres: Coming of Age, Contemporary, New Adult, Young Adult Jenny Han meets Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR in this humorous and heartfelt coming-of-age novel from the author of That Wasn’t in the Script. What do you do when your dad’s a legendary rockstar, but you’re the only one who knows it? For seventeen-year-old Emmy Harper, the answer’s simple: pretend he doesn’t exist. After all, Nick Addison, frontman of the iconic rock band Mayfair, bailed before she was even born. Emmy’s summer plans are set until her mom drops a bomb: Nick wants to meet her. The catch? She has to spend two weeks on tour with Mayfair—incognito. After two decades of fame, scandals, and tabloid drama, he suddenly wants to get involved? Hard pass. Turns out, Emmy doesn’t have a choice. Now stuck on the road with a bunch of rockstars, Emmy’s world is flipped upside down. Alongside the charming drummer’s son, Sullivan, she uncovers truths about Nick’s...

Review: Legendary - Book #2 Caraval Series - Stephanie Garber - May 2018 I was in two minds with this book as I found Caraval such a dark and intense ride and a bit of a mindf*ck read and it was refreshing to read after finishing her Once Upon a Broken Heart series which was very light and fluffy and fairytale-like.  So when I heard that this one was more intense than Caraval, I was excited but then I read it and I felt let down as this one was lighter than the first and felt more fairytale-like and gave me Once Upon a Broken Heart feels. In Legendary, the second Caraval games are about to start and the girls Tella and Scarlett have been invited to Elantine for the new games. Tella is determined to win as she has been given a deal from "a friend" - win and get Legend's real name and her mum will be set free. During the games, Tella ends up accidentally engaged to Jacks who we all know from the Once Upon a Broken Heart series. Now for me, this is where the book went downhi...

Dr. Z and Matty Take Telegraph Ari Rosenschein Publication date: May 7th 2024 Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult It’s the late ’90s—the final days before smartphones and the internet changed the teenage landscape forever. Zack and his mother have moved from Tempe to Berkeley for a fresh start, leaving behind Zack’s father after a painful divorce. A natural athlete, Zack makes the water polo team which equals social acceptance at his new school. Yet he’s more drawn to Matthias, a rebellious skater on the fringes, who introduces him to punk rock, record stores, and the legendary Telegraph Avenue. As their friendship intensifies, Matthias’s behavior reminds Zack of his absent dad, driving a wedge between him and his mother. Complicating matters is Zaylee, a senior who boosts Zack’s confidence but makes him question his new buddy, Matthias. Faced with all these changes, Zack learns that when life gets messy, he might have to become his own best friend. Dr. Z and Matty Take Telegr...

Cemetery Songs Julie Gilbert Publication date: December 15th 2020 Genres: Young Adult Fiction Poignant and uplifting, Cemetery Songs is a compelling YA about a girl, a ghost, and the graveyard that sends them both on a journey of self-acceptance. When Polly Stone’s birthmother dies, she feels lost and adrift. How do you mourn someone you never knew? Even the dead, whose final thoughts Polly can hear, offer no advice. Instead Polly fails her classes, alienates her friends, gets fired from her summer job, and accidentally sets fire to the high school. At a loss, Polly’s parents ground her and insist she volunteer at the local archives. The dusty boxes are boring, but Polly is intrigued by her assignment: mapping an abandoned Black settlement on the edge of town. At the very least, it gives her time to examine her confused feelings for Billy Meyer, a former classmate who is also blackmailing her. Amid weedy tombstones, Polly and Billy encounter the charming ghost of Harrison ...