A Sudden Light
Written by Garth Stein
Historical Fiction, Paranormal
Published October 1st 2014
400 Pages
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia
In the summer of 1990, fourteen year old Trevor Riddell gets his first glimpse of Riddell House. Built from the spoils of a massive timber fortune, the legendary family mansion is constructed of giant, whole trees, and is set on a huge estate overlooking Puget Sound. Trevor’s bankrupt parents have begun a trial separation, and his father, Jones Riddell, has brought Trevor to Riddell House with a goal: to join forces with his sister, Serena, dispatch Grandpa Samuel, who is flickering in and out of dementia, to a graduated living facility, sell off the house and property for development into 'tract housing for millionaires,' divide up the profits, and live happily ever after.But Trevor soon discovers there’s someone else living in Riddell House: A ghost with an agenda of his own. For while the land holds tremendous value, it is also burdened by the final wishes of the family patriarch, Elijah, who mandated it be allowed to return to untamed forestland as a penance for the millions of trees harvested over the decades by the Riddell Timber company. The ghost will not rest until Elijah’s wish is fulfilled, and Trevor’s willingness to face the past holds the key to his family’s future.
Raging Star
Dustlands Trilogy: Book Three
Written by Moira Young
Book one review: Blood Red Road
Book two review: Rebel Heart
Dystopian, Post Apocalyptic
Published May 13th 2014
344 Pages
When the star reader, Auriel Tai, challenged Saba to seize her destiny and defeat DeMalo and the Tonton, Saba was so confident in her purpose. Then she met DeMalo and he confounded all expectations with his seductive vision of a healed earth, a New Eden. DeMalo and Saba had an intense and passionate encounter, physical, emotional and psychic, that changed her life, and now he wants Saba to join him, in life and work, to create and build a healthy, stable, sustainable world... For the chosen few.
Jack’s choice is clear: to fight DeMalo and try to stop his dangerous New Eden project. Still uncertain, her connection with DeMalo a secret, Saba commits herself to the fight. Joined by her brother Lugh, anxious for the land in New Eden, Saba leads an inexperienced guerilla band against the powerfully charismatic DeMalo, in command of his settlers and the Tonton militia.
What chance do they have? Saba must act. And be willing to pay the price.
Simply fill out the form found here.
Starbound Series Novella
Check out my review for These Broken Stars
Check out my review for These Broken Stars
Written by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Science Fiction, Romance
Published October 8th 2014
109 Pages
Download Free
Add to Goodreads
★★★★Science Fiction, Romance
Published October 8th 2014
109 Pages
Download Free
Add to Goodreads
The breathtaking short story that connects the first two novels in the Starbound trilogy, These Broken Stars and This Shattered World.Tarver still has nightmares about the night, six months before the Icarus crash, when he rescued a group of civilian researchers being held hostage by brutal mercenaries. Now Tarver and Lilac must reconcile his memories of that fateful night with the truth that they uncovered on a mysterious planet after the Icarus crashed.
Tarver is on his way to the research facility, along with fellow soldier Fisk on their routine patrol. Believing that faulty equipment has caused a transmission to be cut short, the two are sent to explore the facility. But what they find is a hostage situation. The mercenaries are holding the resident scientists hostage and tarver finds himself fighting for his life, and those around him he vows to protect.
Alliances will be torn, blood will be shed and Tarver will never be the same again.
Kelly's Thoughts
This Night So Dark follows the story of Tarver, taking place before he found himself on the Icarus, and being stranded with Lilac before disaster struck. He holds the position on the patrol squad, seemingly an easy task as he recovers from his duty on the front lines. As he recalls that night at the facility to Lilac, the reader learns more about LaRoux industries, the technology that fueled the Icarus and why he was a celebrated and decorated hero. It was a superb read.
The second half of this free novella contains the first three chapters of These Broken Stars and This Shattered World, which I'm eagerly awaiting to be released. This Shattered World is the story of Jubilee and Flynn, one a military captain and the other a rebel leader who is holding Lee hostage in the midst of an escalating war. It was three chapters of brilliance. The reader is thrown straight into the action and introuduced to the two new characters, Lee and Flynn, that will take the Starbound series to the next level.
I'm giddy with excitement waiting for it's release.
Conjured
Written by Sarah Beth Durst
Mystery, Urban Fantasy
Published October 1st 2014
384 Pages
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia
Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name, but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access, and there is nothing they won’t say, or do, to her to get her to remember.
At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things, things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed, and she’s lost all short term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her, but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.
Check out my review for Book One
Dystopian, Science Fiction
Published October 1st 2014
288 Pages
Thank you to Allen and Unwin Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★☆
★★★★☆
It was difficult to know when nightmares ended and the waking world began.
Pan is still struggling to distinguish between her dreams and reality. When she wakes in the Infirmary her mind replays the sight of Nate running along the shoreline and the way his body froze and then flopped after he was shot. But her memories hold more questions than answers and she doesn't know who to trust.
When she forms an unlikely alliance with Jen to try to make sense of everyone's haunting similar memories and the conflicting information about The School, she finds herself with unexpected enemies.
Pan and Jen are determined to seek the truth, no matter what rules they must break or how terrible the danger they face. But can they even trust each other?
Intuition. Secrets. Truth. Courage. Action. Survival.
Pandora Jones now finds herself back at The School, the teen community where they are prepared to ensure humanity survives in the new world. A virus spread across the globe, humanity falling victim to the flu like symptoms. Bodies lined the streets as the virus spread throughout communities, with teen survivors taken to a former military barracks now housing The School. But Pandora has seen outside the walled compound and knows that The School isn't what it seems.
Pandora needs proof and enlists the help of her hardened and snarky team mate Jen. The two girls devise a plan to explore the village on the other side of the compound. What the girls discover could change their lives forever. When they return to The School, the rumours are rife. Pandora is painted as a delusional teen, with her new sidekick supposedly along for the thrill ride. Their team is in ruins, and the two girls find that sneaking around and keeping secrets has only segregated them from the group. They need to escape, but with the compound on lock down and the girls being watched, will they make it past the wall to see what's left of the world? Their lives might just depend on it.
Unlike Admission, Deception doesn't focus on romance but rather exploring new friendships and alliances. There is also the inclusion of a new character, who is bound to spark a few interests, quite literally. After the group returned from their deadly expedition, I assumed that the experience would have strengthened the group, but I was surprised that it seemed to divide the alliance and the girls keeping their reconnaissance mission a secret from the others certainly didn't help. I thoroughly enjoyed Admission, but was able to completely immerse myself in Deception and it kept me enthralled throughout.
I'm so excited seeing the direction Australian Young Adult is headed, no longer is it subjected to contemporaries but now we have incredible post apocalyptic and dystopians with Barry Jonsberg leading the charge. His style of writing is incredibly laid back, simplistic and allows reader to fully immerse themselves in the storyline without large blocks of mindless information or purple prose. I loved Deception, it was an intelligent read and once again Jonsberg leaves the reader on a tenterhooks with another cliffhanger, even more explosive that the last. Book three in the Pandora Jones series, Reckoning, is no doubt going to be epic.
Pandora Jones: Deception completely surprised me, it was engaging, enthralling and took me on a thrill ride while exploring new friendships and alliances. It focuses on Pandora and Jen, two girls who formally held a strong dislike for one another and now a friendship is on the verge of blooming. Jennifer has quickly become my favourite character, she's incredibly tough, sassy and sarcastic. In Deception, we see her befriend Pandora for the sake of the adventure of exploring outside the compound, but she begins to allow Pandora to see her softer side, that is just as resilient. I really enjoyed reading the banter between both characters and their friendship blossoming.Kelly's Thoughts
Unlike Admission, Deception doesn't focus on romance but rather exploring new friendships and alliances. There is also the inclusion of a new character, who is bound to spark a few interests, quite literally. After the group returned from their deadly expedition, I assumed that the experience would have strengthened the group, but I was surprised that it seemed to divide the alliance and the girls keeping their reconnaissance mission a secret from the others certainly didn't help. I thoroughly enjoyed Admission, but was able to completely immerse myself in Deception and it kept me enthralled throughout.
I'm so excited seeing the direction Australian Young Adult is headed, no longer is it subjected to contemporaries but now we have incredible post apocalyptic and dystopians with Barry Jonsberg leading the charge. His style of writing is incredibly laid back, simplistic and allows reader to fully immerse themselves in the storyline without large blocks of mindless information or purple prose. I loved Deception, it was an intelligent read and once again Jonsberg leaves the reader on a tenterhooks with another cliffhanger, even more explosive that the last. Book three in the Pandora Jones series, Reckoning, is no doubt going to be epic.
State of Grace
Written by Hilary Badger
Utopian, Science Fiction
Published October 1st 2014
336 Pages
Thank you to Hardie Grant Egmont
Ever since she was created, Wren has lived in an idyllic garden with her friends. Wren's deity Dot ensures the trees are laden with fruit and the water in the lagoon is crystal clear. Wren and her friends have everything they could possibly need right there, in Dot's Paradise.
If only Wren could stop the strange, disturbing visions she's started having. Do these visions make her less worthy of Dot's love? And what does Blaze, the most beautiful and mysterious of Dot's creations, know about what's going on in Wren's head?
Wren is desperate to feel Dot's love, just like everyone else. But that's harder than ever when a creation she's never met before arrives in the garden. He claims to be from outside and brings with him words and ideas that make Wren's brain hurt.
And as she deals with this disturbing knowledge, Wren confronts a horrific secret from her past. Now she must decide whether to return to the comforting delusion of faith or fight for the right to face the very ugly truth.
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