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Paranormal

The Iron King

The Iron King
Tenth Anniversary Special Edition
The Iron Fey Book One
Written by Julie Kagawa
Paranormal, Young Adult, Romance, Faeries
464 Pages
Published June 15th 2020
Thank you to Harlequin Australia
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★★★★

My name is Meghan Chase.


In less than twenty four hours, I'll be sixteen. Countless stories, songs and poems have been written about this wonderful age, when a girl finds true love and the stars shine for her and the handsome prince carries her off into the sunset.


I don't think it will be that way for me.


Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan Chase's life, ever since her father disappeared when she was six. Ten years later, when her little brother also goes missing, Meghan learns the truth, she is the secret daughter of a mythical faery king and a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she loves, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.


Enter a fantastical world of dangerous faeries, wicked princes and one half human girl who discovers her entire life is a lie. This special edition of The Iron King includes the bonus novella Winter's Passage and an exclusive excerpt from the new Iron Fey book, The Iron Raven.

Meghan Chase is on the threshold of her sixteenth birthday, celebrating the milestone without her father who disappeared ten years ago. Her mother has since remarried and although Meghan cherishes her brother Ethan, her relationship with her stepfather is another story. Luckily she always has her best friend Robbie to depend on when her brother Ethan is captured and taken into the Faery Realm, replaced by a angry, destructive Changling. Of course Meghan's life isn't that simple when she learns that her best friend is actually Robin Goodfellow, a faery who has taken his position of watching over the almost sixteen year old very seriously. Danger is afoot my friends and Meghan is about to discover why you never bargain in the Faery Realm.

Meghan Chase is a wonderful young woman, intelligent and takes the Faery realm in her stride. Whether it's the trauma of her brother being taken or if she's incredibly adaptable, she's a young woman on a mission to retrieve her brother. 

The Faery Realm is an intricate society of segregated communities. Assisted by Grimalkin, an intelligent and machiavellian feline, Meghan discovers that she is the estranged daughter of the Summer Court King, a renowned and esteemed monarch, Meaghan becomes a commodity within the tentative alliance between the Summer and Winter Courts. Prince Ashallayn of the Summer Court is intrigued by Meghan's arrival and reluctantly agrees to assist her across the Nevernever to retrieve her brother in exchange for her freedom once Ethan has been rescued. 


The attraction between Meghan and Prince Ashallayn is smouldering, a Montague and Capulet romance between monarchs destined to reign and carry the burden of their respective kingdoms. Robin Goodfellow and Prince Ashallayn are adversaries, long before the emergence of the estranged Princess. The group dynamic is intensely exhilarating and along with feline companion Grimalkin, journey to find the Iron King who is believed to be holding Ethan.


The communities of the Nevernever are vibrant, intricate and terrifying, living amongst a beautifully imagined landscape of kingdoms, dark forests and antarctic environments. The Iron King is wonderfully atmospheric. The forest of the Nevernever is decaying, displacing many creatures and members of the isolated and ostracised faery communities. The Iron King absorbing the environment is symbolism for our urban cities, deforestation and a reminder of the importance of sustainability and environmentalism. 


The Iron King is a whirlwind adventure, a sizzling romance and an enchanting narrative of family and the ties that bind us.

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The Invisible Life of Addie Larue

contains sensitivities such as suicide, famine, wartime, neglect and emotional abuse. 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V. E. Schwab
Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Adult
560 Pages
Published October 2020
Thank you to New South Books
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★★★★★

When Addie LaRue makes a pact with the devil, she trades her soul for immortality. But there's always a price, the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone.


Addie flees her tiny hometown in 18th Century France, beginning a journey that takes her across the world, learning to live a life where no one remembers her and everything she owns is lost and broken. Existing only as a muse for artists throughout history, she learns to fall in love anew every single day.


Her only companion on this journey is her dark devil with hypnotic green eyes, who visits her each year on the anniversary of their deal. Alone in the world, Addie has no choice but to confront him, to understand him, maybe to beat him.


Until one day, in a second hand bookshop in Manhattan, Addie meets someone who remembers her. Suddenly thrust back into a real, normal life, Addie realises she can't escape her fate forever.

Adeline Larue leaves her legacy upon the world in glimpses, the twenty three year old woman defined by the constellations bestrewn across her nose. Her life begun at eventide of the seventeenth century in a small riverside community in France. Adeline dreams of the freedoms beyond the confines placed upon young women, choosing adventure, freedom and independence. 


Adeline is betrothed to a widower within the small town, losing his wife and now searching for a woman to care for his four children. Adeline's friends have long since married and created families of their own while Adeline discovered the beauty of her world. On the eve of her arranged marriage, Adeline prays to a higher being for escape, to abscond her small community and chase freedom into the wide unknown. Darkness responds to her distress, bargaining an agreement. Her freedom in exchange for her soul. Lucifer, the handsome stranger with piercing green eyes has granted Adeline with immortality, ensuring only he will remember her. 


The nonlinear narration fluctuates between Adeline's life as a young woman throughout Europe, enduring conflict, wartime, revolutions, lovers both male and female and famine and present New York City. Traversing three hundred years. Adeline is a remarkable young woman, the devastation and heartbreak she's endured throughout the centuries is entirely distressing. A lonely, isolated existence and although Adeline has influenced artists over various generations, no one will remember her beyond her immortalised constellation of freckles. 


The essence of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue is human interaction and the ability to leave our legacy upon the world. Throughout our lives, we imprint on one another and for the immortalised twenty three year old, her imprint remains in the creations of former lovers in galleries all over the world until she happens across Henry Strauss managing a small, independent bookstore in New York City. Henry lives on the fringe of society, preferring his own company although feeling thoroughly alone. 


Twenty eight year old Henry Strauss has endured addiction, loneliness, relationships and heartache, feeling directionless and unmotivated. Identifying as pansexual, both of Henry's long term relationships have ended in heartbreak and a series of unsatisfying sexual encounters followed. Henry's feelings of worthlessness is palpable. He experiences the world profoundly and throughout his narration, we discover the source of Henry's loneliness and distress, until he happens across Adeline. 


Adeline and Henry's relationship is one of companionship rather than a consuming romance, providing one another with a sense of solace and intimacy. They found one another through circumstance and become an aspect of their respective journeys. 


The writing is absolutely immaculate and breathtakingly envisioned. From the desperation of Adeline as a young woman burying her meagre possessions along the riverbank and praying to a higher power to rescue her from the small town monotony, the Seine during the revolution, wartime, Venice and London to present New York City. It's wonderfully atmospheric with a beauty and breadth rarely seen in literature, infatuating and categorically enchanting. 


The Invisible Life of Addie Larue is phenomenal, a masterpiece of modern literature. 

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Rebel Gods

See my review for Monuments

Rebel Gods
Monuments Book Two
Written by Will Kostakis
Fantasy, Adventure, LGBT, Australian
256 Pages
Published August 27th 2019
Thanks to Hachette Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★

Newbie gods Connor, Sally and Locky want to change the world, no biggie. But they're soon drawn into a centuries old conflict that just might destroy the world they're striving to make better. Book two in the Monuments fantasy duology from young adult superstar Will Kostakis.


With the Monuments gone, newbie gods Connor, Sally and Locky must stop the rebel gods from reducing the world to ruin. Trouble is, they don't know how.


While Sally searches for answers and Locky makes plans to change the world, Connor struggles to keep up appearances as an ordinary teenager. But when a rebel god offers them a deal to end the chaos, their lives are turned upside down and they're forced to reckon with the question: who should decide the fate of the world?

Coming to terms with their newfound Godly status, friends Sally, Connor and his totally dreamy boyfriend Locky are determined to find the estranged Rebel Gods before they wreak havoc upon the world. What's the point of being a God if you can't change the world for the better? When Locky decides to spread joy on the lawn of the local parish, turning their grass into the rainbow flag in opposition to their queerphobic agenda, he's suddenly thrust into the spotlight and making their task of keeping their Godly duties on the down low even harder. Sydney is awash with speculation, could the Gods really walk among the people? For Connor and Locky, it's no easy task dating a God but now with his newfound rockstar slash miracle status, Locky may have inadvertently placed their lives in even more danger, despite the threat of the two dangerous sisters living in the otherworld that threaten life as we know it.


Adventure is afoot my friends as Connor begins to accept the fate thrust upon him, a God that will never age, never able to stay in one place any longer than a few years or risk exposure and of course, telling his dear mother. The other light of his life. Although the Monuments duology is steeped in modern mythology and moments of hilarity, the heart of the narrative is friendship and finding our way into the world. Although generations of teens aren't supernatural godly beings, it's still entirely relatable. Teens invoking change and being the change they want to see within the world. 


Rebel Gods explores the deeply queerphobic aspects of religion, those condoning intolerance and prejudice under the guise of religious ideology. Locky challenges the local parish, exposing himself in the process and although the Monuments series explores the urban fantasy narrative of Sydney, the characters are exposed to societal and community issues. It provides a realism beyond world ending scenarios and one of my favourite aspects of the series, besides the brilliant and entirely likeable characters. 


A brilliant conclusion to the duology from one of Australia's most loved authors. 

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A Guide to Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children

The Conference of the Birds
Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Book Five
Written by Ransom Riggs
Fantasy, Paranormal, Time Travel
Published January 21st 2020
336 Pages
Thank you to Penguin Teen Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★
Do you trust me?

An instant bestseller, A Map of Days launched readers into the previously unexplored world of American peculiars, one bursting with new questions, new allies, and new adversaries.

Now, with enemies behind him and the unknown ahead, Jacob Portman's story continues as he takes a brave leap forward into The Conference of the Birds, the next instalment of the beloved, bestselling Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series.
Welcome to the world of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children. To celebrate the release of The Conference of the Birds, the fifth installment in Ransom Riggs' delightfully peculiar series, I'll guide you through the world of Peculiardom.
Jacob Portman and Peculiardom
Sixteen year old Jacob Portman is Peculiar. Growing up in the small coastal town of Englewood, Jacob was captivated by his grandfather and his fantastical tales of the Peculiar Children. When his grandfather Abraham Portman was slain by a monster, Jacob carries the tales of his grandfather to Wales and the orphanage where his grandfather was raised, the derelict stately house an entrance to Cairnholm, an island of yesteryear and the home to Miss Peregrine and her Peculiar Children.

Jacob is the series protagonist and discovers he inherited the ability of seeing Hollowghasts, the monster who fatally wounded his grandfather. Throughout the series Jacob is introduced to the world of Peculiardom, communities of those with extraordinary abilities hidden in Loops from a particular moment in time. Those bound to a Loop cannot enter the modern world without ageing rapidly. The Peculiar gene is recessive and although is inherited, bypasses a generation. Jacob inheriting his ability from his grandfather.

The Peculiar Children
The Peculiar Children are unequivocally delightful. Emma Bloom is a pyrokinetic. Enoch O'Connor a necromancer. Millard Nullings is invisible. Horace Somnusson experiences prophetic dreams. Olive Elephanta's peculiarity is levitation. Fiona Frauenfeld is a Peculiar horticulturist, enduring selective mutism and traumatic stress disorder among many other children who inhabit the Peculiar world. The children and adolescents are guided under the tutelage of an Ymbryne, women who can manipulate time and are dedicated guardians of the children. The children guided by Miss Peregrine, experience the traumatic the bombing of Cairnholm each day, once the bombing decimating their home occurs, the Loop is reset only to endure the same day over and over again.

In Map of Days and The Conference of the Birds, Noor Pradesh is uncontacted, a young woman who can manipulate light. Miss Peregrine's children are established Peculiar and although they resemble children and adolescents, the Peculiar children have resided within Cairnholm for close to a century, except Jacob and Noor, the latter coveted by the organised syndicates of New York City.

Miss Peregrine and the Ymbrynes
The Ymbrynes are responsible for the care and guidance of Peculiar children, they can manipulate time and metamorphose into feathered friends of the Peculiar, hence the names Miss Peregrine, Miss Avocet, Miss Finch and Miss Rhen. Although common and revered throughout Europe, in The Conference of the Birds we learn that American Ymbrynes are an exceptional incidence, the Ymbrynes pursued and slain by humans, Hollowghasts and Wights, former Hollowghasts who have transformed and the antagonists of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children. Miss Peregrine is leader of the Council of Ymbrynes, founding a home for Peculiar children on the small island of Cairnholm, Wales.

Villains
Wights disguise themselves as neighbours, relatives and educators, observing Peculiar children alongside the devolved Wights, the Hollowghasts. Caul Bentham is a Wight, sustained by consuming Peculiars and amassing an alliance of extremists and the only Wight known to retain his Peculiar abilities, the brother of Miss Peregrine also transforming into a Peregrine Falcon. Hollowghasts are only visible to Librarian Peculiars such as Jacob Portman and his grandfather.

The Conference of the Birds
Journeying to New York City, Jacob Portman is resolved to retrieve Noor Pradesh, an uncontacted Peculiar forsaken to the New York City syndicate and charlatan Leo Burnham. Discovering that Noor is one of seven Peculiars of an ancient prophecy foreseeing doomsday for Peculiardom.  Noor is imperative and when Jacob is entrusted to delivering Noor to a mysterious location, to an associate of Jacob's grandfather who can shelter the young woman against the Wight onslaught and Leo Burnham's henchmen.

An uprising against the Ymbrynes is fermenting, Peculiars frustrated with their secrecy and totalitarian leadership. The Council of Ymbrynes are aiding in the negotiations of a treaty in New York City as a young Peculiar is captured, the Wights escape the Devil's Acre penitentiary bringing to fruition The Prophecy of the Seven, when the prisons are blown to dust and chaos reigns.

The Conference of the Birds is a magnificent installment of the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series and foreword to a remarkable finale of this endearing and fantastical series. A whimsical narrative of the curious and wonderful. Lyrically beautiful and immersive.
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Rules For Vanishing

Rules for Vanishing
Written by Kate Alice Marshall
Mystery, Paranormal, Horror
400 Pages
Published October 1st 2019
Thank you to Walker Books Australia
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Once a year, a road appears in the forest. And at the end of it, the ghost of Lucy Gallows beckons. Lucy’s game isn’t for the faint of heart. If you win, you escape with your life. But if you lose...

Sara’s sister disappeared one year ago and only Sara knows where she is. Becca went to find the ghost of Lucy Gallows and is trapped on her road. In the sleepy town of Briar Glen, Lucy’s road is nothing more than local lore. But Sara knows it’s real, and she’s going to find it. When Sara and her skeptical friends meet in the forest to search for Becca, the mysterious road unfurls before them. All they have to do is walk down it. But the path to Lucy is not of this world, and it has its own rules. Every mistake summons new horrors. Vengeful spirits and broken, angry creatures are waiting for them to slip, and no one is guaranteed safe passage. The only certainty is this: the road has a toll and it will be paid. Sara knows that if she steps onto the road, she might not come back. But Becca needs her. And Lucy is waiting.
Briar Glen is synonymous with the the name Lucy Gallows, a young woman that wandered into the forest and never returned. Her last known whereabouts was on a road to nowhere, being lead by an unknown male assailant. Throughout the years the fable may have interchanged but the instructions remain the same, find a partner, find a key, find the road.

On the eve of the anniversary of Lucy Gallow's disappearance, Sara Donoghue's adoptive sister Rebecca was lured into the fated fable, whispered conversations and a notebook left behind, evidence she planned to find fifteen year old Lucy. Sara has maintained hope that Sara is still alive, the police labelling the adolescent as a difficult young woman who disappeared with Zachary Kent, a young man she barely knew.

Although Rebecca was adopted as an infant, Sara Donoghue and sister Rebecca shared an everlasting friendship. Rebecca was the center of their universe, a group of friends who dissolved shortly after her disappearance, Sara has endured depression and isolation. Her journey to find her sister is harrowing, captivating and a breathtaking paranormal thriller that will captivate the imagination of readers until the final page.

Find a partner. Find a key. Find the road.

Atmospheric and haunting, Rules for Vanishing is told from the perspective of Sara Donoghue through a series of interviews, transcripts, eyewitness accounts and photographic evidence while Sara recollects her journey upon the once believed to be mythological road. The legend of Lucy Gallows has been idolised by the teens of Briar Glen since her disappearance, speculation that her brother killed her and left her to ruin on the forest floor the logical conclusion. What happened to Lucy has always been a mystery but those who believe in Lucy's story can hear the young woman calling for help, including Becca, according to her sister Sara. Sara refuses to accept that she ran away with her new boyfriend when Becca and Sara's best friend were clearly attracted to one another, only Anthony didn't believe in the local legend which left Becca to find someone who was willing to follow her onto the road.

Although Sara's self isolated after Becca's disappearance, her former group of mutual friends have come along for the ride. Disbelieving in the supernatural, I don't think anyone expected to have stumbled upon the road, now finding themselves in a strange and eerie purgatory between worlds, where darkness is no friend of the weary traveller and you must follow the rules to survive. Take a partner, hold their hand and under no circumstances should you leave the road. What ensues is a creepy as hell storyline that left me jumping at shadows and reading long into the night. Despite my better judgement and skyrocketing anxiety.

The travellers are a motley crew of characters, all varying degrees of unreliable so as a reader it's difficult to establish what's real and what has been created by the trauma of the situation or outright untruths. Regardless, it makes for a fascinating narrative that blends a contemporary storyline with urban legend, infused with paranormal elements and everything in between. Reminiscent of the Blair Witch Project and Small Spaces by Australian author Sarah Epstein.

My favourite element of Rules for Vanishing was the ability to surprise readers. By now we've all read enough paranormal to fill a warehouse, this is one book that needs to be celebrated for being unique and creating the mystery and intrigue to captivate even the toughest of readers, not to mention creep us the hell out.

You know what, just read it. The element of surprise is all in the discovery of the urban legend and those who seek answers. Just a word of warning to leave the light on, Lucy seems to dwell in the dark.
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Daughter of Lies and Ruin

See my review for A Curse of Ash and Embers here
Daughter of Lies and Ruin
The Witches of Blackbone Book Two
Written by Jo Spurrier
Paranormal, Witches, #LoveOZYA
352 Pages
Published September 24th 2019
Add to Goodreads
★★★★
If they didn't want to get turned into beasts and used to fuel a ritual, they shouldn't have attacked a witch. That's all there is to it.

There's something strange brewing in this tinder dry forest, a girl with a sword and a secret, a troupe of vicious bandits vanished without a trace, beasts that don't belong and a witch with a macabre plan.

Elodie hasn't been learning witchcraft for long, but she knows enough to be worried, and the fact that her mentor Aleida wants to pack up and leave in short order isn't helping to settle her nerves.

Elodie just hopes to get everyone out of this mess unharmed, but it's looking more unlikely with every passing hour. And when the strange witch's ire falls on her, Aleida's wrath sparks a fire that threatens to scorch the earth itself.
Elodie Blackbone is an apprentice sorceress, bygone is the young woman denied an education and labouring on her family farm, now disciplined in the artistry of witchcraft under the guidance of Aleida Blackbone. The two new companions have departed the Black Oak Cottage in Lilsfield and travelling the dusty, lonely roads when ambushed by a band of roadside bandits ransacking the wares and treasures of stagecoaches and travelling merchants.

Elodie is no longer the naive young woman summoned to the Black Oak Cottage and although she's wisened to the world of sorcery and alchemy, the young apprentice is continuously experimenting with her newfound abilities under Aleida's guidance. Elodie has the ability to inhabit the body of wildlife and birds, often soaring high about the landscape and observing their journey from the skies. Unlike Aleida, Elodie also has the ability to walk between worlds, opening a fissure and guided by an ethereal sprite.

Aleida slayed Gyssha Blackbone and the protege has now become the mentor, albeit cursed by her predecessor. Weakened by the fissure opening to the otherworld, Aleida and Elodie depart the cottage, along the journey they meet the stoic and resolute Kara, being held at the local abbey since her father disappeared. Armed with her sword, Kara has enlisted the aid of local bandits to escape and is searching for her father, an outlaw masquerading as a mercenary while throughout the arduous, backbreaking landscape, an otherworldly disturbance is gathering. Men have become monsters, manipulated by a mage taking shelter in the desolate mountains.

Kara is an interesting character, surly and unapologetically ambitious. Kara has been unwillingly taken into the care of the abbey, devising her escape to find her father as the arrival of Aleida and Elodie provides the opportunity to disappear under the cover of darkness. Although her father is an outlaw, Kara remembers her father for his kindness, a gentle father and loyal friend and after Elodie's insistence, Aleida reluctantly agrees to assist the young brusque woman. The conflict and intensity within Elodie and Aleida's tentative friendship emanates from Kara and their conflicting opinions. Elodie's humble beginnings have resurfaced as a humanitarian crusade, playing the role of saviour especially where Kara is concerned. She constantly undermines Aleida, questioning her judgement and expertise. It's frustrating but an important learning moment for Elodie, it also brought out a compassionate and gentleness from Aleida who masks her emotions.

The subtle attraction between Elodie and Kara is enchanting, although it seems to impair Elodie's judgement and her ability to make rational decisions. Given her interest in Kian in A Curse of Ash and Embers, Elodie may identify as being bisexual. Friendship and sisterhood are the central focus of the Witches of Blackbone series, independent women in an environment where women are chaperoned by men, often dominated by men and their significance determined by men. Capable women with the ability to slain grown men, those who share a quiet resilience, who encourage and endure. The sisterhood who are reclaiming their sovereignty.

Simply magical. 
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Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town

May contain mild spoilers for Gap Year in Ghost Town. See my review here
Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town
Ghost Town Book Two
Written by Michael Pryor
Paranormal, Ghosts, #LoveOZYA
Published July 2019
320 Pages
Thanks to Allen and Unwin Australia
$19.99
Add to Goodreads
★★★★☆
So, how's my gap year going? Is it giving me a taste of the ghost hunting business or is it just dumping me into situations where I could end up dead, or worse?

Lingerers. Moaners. Thugs. Weepers. So many ghosts. Not enough graveyard shifts in a night.

When an extreme ghost plague descends on the city, Anton and Rani must work overtime to keep the city safe and to find the source of the new aggressive ghost outbreak. And it amps up to another level after ghost hunters become the hunted.

Anton and Rani will need all their wits and wiles about them if they are to manage the ghost influx, get to the truth about the Elsewhere and navigate the night with all their limbs intact.
When eighteen year old Anton Marin decided to spend the year contemplating whether or not to carry the Marin family legacy, meandering the streets of Melbourne at night in an age old tradition of easing the passage of spirits into Elsewhere with his new colleague and friend Rani Cross. A Former Londoner and member of the Company of The Righteous. Weepers, Moaners, Lingerers and ghosts who manifest as Ragers haunt the abandoned streets and landmarks of Melbourne but although of late, have become malevolent and menacing and soon the ghost hunting partnership is overwhelmed by their assignments.

Clearly something is amiss in old Melbourne town but thankfully Anton and Rani are on the case. Their friendship is so incredibly lovely, platonic and it's so refreshing to see a male female friendship with no prospect of romance within young adult literature. Incidentally, Rani and Anton's childhood friend Rebecca are in a relationship, now living together while Rebecca attends university and volunteering in the Marin family archives in her spare time. I loved the gentle female romance, the moments of tenderness were beautiful and although their group dynamic has now changed, they all remain steadfast friends.

As the ghosts become increasingly aggressive, we're introduced to Kirsten and Jamie, hailing from the Ghost Hunting Order of Scotland. With their brogue accents and appreciation for malarkey and mayhem, the sibling ghost hunters are always up for an adventure but what they didn't anticipate was the emergence of the Ragged Sisters, an archaic ritualistic faction capturing ghost hunters to sacrifice. What ensues is a headache of mammoth proportions as the veil between our world and Elsewhere begins to thin.

Darker than its predecessor, Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town amplifies the adventure and upheaval, blended with an intriguing mystery. Spirits are engulfing Melbourne in an epidemic, attaching themselves to their human host and draining their vitality, resulting in a spate of unexplained hospitalisations. The emergence of the Ragged Sisters is disturbing and a subtle warning of scenes that depict torture and death, as some readers may find these distressing.

I absolutely love the Ghost Town series, it's hilariously entertaining and written with an incredible wittiness and charisma. Michael Pryor's writing absolutely shines! From the suburbs to our historical buildings and lane ways of Melbourne, it's a wonderful celebration of Melbourne and all her glory. Simply magnificent.
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Broken Things

Broken Things
Written by Lauren Oliver
Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal
416 Pages
Published October 18th 2018
Thank you to Hachette Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★☆
It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods.

Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly.
The only thing is, they didn’t do it.

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago, no matter how monstrous.
The nonlinear narrative accompanies Mia and Brynn, known as The Monsters of Brickhouse Lane, as they investigate potential suspects in the ritualistic death of their friend Summer. Summer Marks is a foster child, her mother a substance abuser, her only possession a novel acquired from her maternal mother. The Way Into Lovelorn is a fantasy novel written by Georgia Wells and despite being published, the novel is incomplete. A point of contention for Summer, inspired to create her own The Way Into Lovelorn sequel.

Although barely adolescent, Mia Ferguson, Brynn McNally and neighbour and suspect Owen Waldmann were ostracised by the community despite being acquitted of her death. Mia was unrolled from school and tutored privately, Owen migrated to Scotland to complete his education while Brynn endured the abuse and aggression of her peers, unafforded the privilege of a private education. Brynn escaped her torment by entering rehabilitation for substance abuse, providing positive samples to remain within the counsellors care, her relationship with her mother and sister fractured.

Mia is returning to Twin Lakes on the eve of the anniversary of Summer's death to help her mother, a hoarder since the tragic incident that finds solace within her abundance of possessions. As Mia's mother enters counselling, Brynn is released from rehabilitation and for the first time in five years, the two former friends reunite to investigate Summer's murder.

The narrative centres on Summer and her interaction with Mia and Brynn as teens, their adoration of The Way Into Lovelorn and the importance of the fictional sequel the three friends created. It explores the motives behind the killing, from her relationship with Owen at Mia's expense, her manipulation of Brynn and her feelings for Summer and her character development from child to a manipulative and often malicious young woman.

Although I've enjoyed Lauren Oliver's novels in the past, Broken Things is considerably her break out novel. The nonlinear narrative is well paced, a blend of mystery and suspense as the storyline adds upon layers of intrigue. Very much a classical whodunit novel that readers will thoroughly enjoy. 
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