Review: When Marnie Was There by Joan G Robinson

I recently posted my review of WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE by Joan G Robinson on my library's Facebook page. 

I confess I hadn’t heard of the 1967 classic WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE by Joan G Robinson until the Studio Ghibli film of the same name was released in 2014. Hearing it was based on a book set in Norfolk I decided to seek it out.

The story is told by Anna, whose age is not specified but seems to be around eleven. She is orphaned at a young age and when her grandmother who was caring for her, also dies she is sent to a children’s home. She is later fostered by a London couple. But Anna doesn’t seem to fit in and is lonely and struggling at school and her health is suffering. In desperation her foster mum sends Anna to stay with friends of hers at the North Norfolk coastal village of Little Overton (modelled on the real-life Burnham Overy Staithe). Anna is immediately drawn to the Marsh House at the end of the creek and imagines who might live there.

Anna spends all her time outside, on the beach, paddling in the creeks and one day sees a young girl having her hair brushed in a window of the Marsh House.

One night, Anna finds a small boat tied up near her house and assumes it has been left for her to visit the Marsh House and she finally gets to meet the young girl, Marnie.

Marnie and Anna spend lots of time together though nobody sees them together and Anna is heard talking to herself. Is Marnie real or imagined?

When Marnie must leave, a new and happier chapter begins for Anna.

This is a very interesting and captivating book which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. The book teases the mystery of who is Marnie: is she real, a figment of Anna’s imagination or even a ghost? It quietly covers themes of loss and loneliness and grief and acceptance in a beautifully realised Norfolk setting.

“A remote, quiet world where there were only boats and birds and water, and an enormous sky.”

Review: Enola Homes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

I recently posted my review of ENOLA HOLMES: THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS by Nancy Springer on my library's Facebook page.

ENOLA HOLMES: THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS by Nancy Springer is the first in a six-book series featuring the hitherto unknown younger sister of famous Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes. First published in the United States in 2006, the recent Netflix film has led to the series being published in paperback in the UK. [NB. The final two books in the series are available as audiobooks via Overdrive/Libby and as CD copies in the library].

Enola and her mother having been living in the country with little to no contact with Enola’s elder brothers Mycroft and Sherlock. Enola is very bright but has not had a conventional education. On Enola’s fourteenth birthday, her mother disappears, without it seems, a trace. Enter the brothers. Shocked by the state of the house and Enola, Mycroft arranges for Enola to attend boarding school.

Enola thinks otherwise and sets off to find her mother, using some clues that her mother left behind for her…alone.

Enola’s journey to London overlaps with a missing person’s case, which she cannot ignore and so lands herself in a lot of danger however she is intelligent enough to save the day.

This is a short book and the first half is Enola escaping her brother’s intentions, and the second half is her escapades in London. It very much sets up the series with Enola becoming not a detective like her brother but a finder of lost things. And there is the ongoing mystery of her mother’s whereabouts.

This is an enjoyable mystery set in the Victorian Era with a humorous, resourceful and quick-witted heroine. Due to some briefly referenced adult themes, it is more of a teenage book than junior fiction.

Also available in the teenage section, is the ‘Young Sherlock’ series by Andrew Lane.

Review: The Highland Falcon Thief by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli

I recently posted my review of THE HIGHLAND FALCON THIEF by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, on my library's Facebook page.

THE HIGHLAND FALCON THIEF by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, is the first in the “Adventures on Trains” series which will number four entries by the end of 2021 and is aimed at readers aged nine-years-old or older.

The Highland Falcon is the name of a steam engine which, on its final commemorative voyage, is doing a lap of the UK, from London and back, with a stop off at Balmoral in Scotland to pick up the (unnamed) prince and princess who will wave from the train as it passes slowly through stations and show off the magnificent Atlas Diamond necklace.

Our hero is eleven-year-old Hal who is, at first reluctantly, joining his travel writer Uncle Nat on this Royal Train. Hal thinks he’s the only child on the train and is disappointed to not be able to play his electronic games. He is a talented artist, however, and settles for sketching. When Hal spots a girl hiding in the out of bounds part of the train, he tracks her down and together they decide to track down the jewel thief who has struck at least once already, and with the priceless Royal jewel coming aboard they know what the thief’s next target will be.

Things of course do not go to plan, and Hal has to be very brave to save the day and later reveal the culprit in a classic “get all the suspects together in the dining room” denouement.

From its striking foiled cover to the high-quality drawings inside, this is a very attractive book and it is complemented by an exciting and informative story. Readers will pick up some history of the railway whilst trying to solve the puzzle of who is stealing and where are the stolen goods being hidden? The solution to the latter should appeal to the target audience!

THE HIGHLAND FALCON THIEF has unsurprisingly won several awards including the ‘2020 Books Are My Bag readers awards’ for Children’s Fiction.

Review: The Last Chance Hotel by Nicki Thornton

I recently posted my review of THE LAST CHANCE HOTEL by Nicki Thornton on my library's Facebook page:

THE LAST CHANCE HOTEL is the first book in the Seth Seppi series. We meet Seth, who is to all intents and purposes an orphan, working as a kitchen boy/general dogsbody to the Bunn family who run the Hotel. He is bullied mercilessly by their awful daughter Tiffany who is supposedly training to be a chef.

There is a grand event being held at the Hotel and Tiffany tricks Seth into making a dessert which is unsuitable for the main guest so Seth quickly rustles up an alternative and labels it for the main guest’s consumption only.

So when the main guest dies of apparent poisoning after sampling their special dessert, Seth is immediately the main and only suspect.

It is then Seth discovers that his cat, Nightshade, can talk and that magic is real. The main thing going for him is that the main detective doesn’t seem to think that Seth did it. Can Seth clear his name? And what else doesn’t he know about his home and its residents?

With its short chapters this is a quick read, and combines a locked-room-style mystery with Harry Potter-style magic. As well as a death there are a few punch-up scenes during the thrilling finale which might steer this to a slightly older children’s audience eg 9+ years.

THE LAST CHANCE HOTEL won the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition in 2016.

Review: Orion Lost by Alastair Chisholm

I recently posted my review of ORION LOST my library's Facebook page:

ORION LOST by Alastair Chisholm is set on Orion, a colony spaceship leaving Earth and heading for the planet Eos Five, far far away. The story is told from the point of view of Beth who is thirteen. Her mum is an officer aboard the ship and her dad is also employed on the ship, as a farmer. Beth is training to be an officer herself and soon makes friends with her classmates with the exception of Vihaan, the arrogant son of Orion’s Captain, and his bullying friend Arnold.

For the ship to travel the necessary vast distances, every so often it must “Jump”. The Jump requires that everybody’s memories are backed up just prior to them going to “Sleep” and when they “Wake” the memories are restored.

All is going well aboard the ship, Beth is learning and they’ve made several successful Jumps. But then an unexplained shudder through the ship means everyone is put into emergency Sleep.

When Beth is next awake, it is to find that only her and her classmates can be awoken. The ship is way off the flight-plan, there is massive damage and fires are raging. This small crew has to learn to work together to save themselves, their families and the ship itself. They have to face numerous challenges, ranging from space pirates and mysterious aliens, to the ship’s Artificial Intelligence which might be hiding something, as well as their own fears.

ORION LOST is an absorbing read. It is a mystery, a thriller and a science fiction book all in one. There are lots of twists and turns and surprises and Beth is a character you can root for and empathise with. It appears to be a non-series book though I really would love a sequel.

Review: Agent Zaiba Investigates: The Missing Diamonds by Annabelle Sami, illustrated by Daniela Sosa

I recently posted my review of AGENT ZAIBA INVESTIGATES: THE MISSING DIAMONDS on my library's Facebook page:

AGENT ZAIBA INVESTIGATES: THE MISSING DIAMONDS, by Annabelle Sami and illustrated by Daniela Sosa, is the first book in a new series and introduces Zaiba, an aspiring detective, and her two sidekicks: her best friend Poppy and younger (half) brother Ali.

The story all takes place in the Royal Star Hotel where Zaiba’s cousin Sam and fiancé Tanvir are having their Mehndi party.

Zaiba, in the best tradition of her hero Eden Lockett - a successful writer of detective stories based on events in her own life – is tasked with identifying the mysterious celebrity who is staying at the hotel. The female celebrity is staying with a small dog who has an expensively bejewelled collar. When first the dog goes missing and then the collar, it is up to Zaiba and her team to find both, solve the mystery and save the day!

I really enjoyed this book. There’s lots of action and use of initiative. All the characters have their individual strengths though Zaiba is on a bit of a learning curve to take notice of her friends’ suggestions at times. Alongside the text there are full-page and incidental illustrations dotted throughout.

Zaiba gets on well with her step-mum Jessica whom she calls mum but there is a mystery about the loss of her birth mum which I hope is revealed over the series. Zaiba feels close to her mum via the Eden Lockett books which she inherited as her mum had written little notes in the margins.

The second book is out in July and I look forward to it.

Review: The Blizzard Challenge by Bear Grylls

I recently posted my review of Bear Grylls' THE BLIZZARD CHALLENGE on my library's Facebook page:

THE BLIZZARD CHALLENGE is the first in the Bear Grylls Adventures series aimed at younger children.

In this first book we meet Olly who has been sent off to an adventure camp with his friend Jack. Jack loves this type of thing but Olly would rather be at home with his tv and creature comforts.

The boys are teamed up with Omar, who doesn’t think much of Olly and his impatient attitude soon has Olly deciding to wander off and leave his team to get on without him. Olly is then given a compass by a girl. The compass seems to have a fifth direction though he cannot read it.

Omar is not happy with Olly for abandoning him and Jack, and there’s a tense atmosphere in their tent. As Olly is trying to sleep, a cold wind blows through the tent and when Olly goes to close the door tighter he finds himself in the snowy mountains with a man called Bear.

Bear and Olly must team up and get away from the approaching storm. They will only survive as a team. During his adventure with Bear, Olly will learn some survival lessons and also how he can push himself to do better and how we are stronger together.

This is a short book with quite simple language with more difficult words explained by Bear eg hypothermia, and it shows the benefits of team-work whilst telling an adventure-filled story. It includes illustrations, provided by Emma McCann. The target audience is around 6+.

Review: Kat Wolfe Investigates by Lauren St John

I recently posted my review of Lauren St John's Kat Wolfe Investgates on my library's Facebook page:

KAT WOLFE INVESTIGATES, the first in a new series from Lauren St John, won CrimeFest’s, Best Crime Novel for Children (8-12) last year. And I loved it too.

After an unpleasant incident in their London home, Kat's mum, a veterinary surgeon, and Kat relocate to a slightly mysterious job in an idyllic Dorset sea-side town called Bluebell Bay. One of the conditions is that they take on the previous owner's cat, which is no ordinary British Domestic Shorthair... Plus Dr Wolfe has to be able to treat monkeys at the local sanctuary.

As it's the school holidays Kat is soon running her own small business – pet sitter for hire, and meets a temporarily housebound American girl of her own age (12) who has been thrown and badly injured by the very horse that Kat is to look after. Kat also offers to look after a parrot whose Paraguayan owner is returning home for a while. This latter job is what instigates an involving adventure with international implications.

This is a very rich book, with quite a complicated storyline. I don't want to say anything more about the plot but it is I think, quite an unusual story for this age group. Kat is a great animal-whisperer and not surprisingly her and her mum are vegan. She has a good heart and those around her respond to it. This book beams with good messages, has an exciting story and is quite funny as well.

Review: Heartside Bay 1 & 2 by Cathy Cole

The New Girl by Cathy Cole (February 2014, Scholastic, ISBN: 1407140469);
The Trouble With Love by Cathy Cole (February 2014, Scholastic, ISBN: 1407140477)

The New Girl is the first book in the (currently) twelve-book Heartside Bay series. Heartside Bay is a small sea-side town full of romance and fifteen-year-old Lila and her family have moved there from London as Lila has been in trouble and the family want a fresh start.

Staring a new school is daunting but Lila is soon befriended by Polly and catches the eye of football-star Ollie. On the other hand she soon makes an enemy of Eve, the richest and nastiest girl in the school who has always wanted to date Ollie.

The New Girl follows the interactions between the three plus a fourth – Rhi an old friend/ex-friend of Lila's from her past.

In The Trouble With Love, the second book in the series, the point of view changes from Lila to Polly. Polly is a transplanted American who struggles with anxiety issues and has a crush on Ollie. In this book she meets a new boy and her absent father enters her life with an amazing offer. Polly has some decisions to make.

This is a lovely clean-teen series which is a British version of the high school dramas we see on the tv a lot. The books are quick reads and the point of view rotates between the main members of the group. And it's set in an idyllic sea-side town, what's not to like?

Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass (June 2012, HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, ISBN: 0007466692)

The Selection is the first book in the series and is set in a dystopian America now called Illea. Society is now structured into castes with One being the Royal Family and Eight being the lowest worker. America Singer is a Five and is in love with Aspen, a Six.

It is tradition for the princes of the Royal Family to choose a bride via the Selection process – where one girl from each of the 35 provinces is sent to the palace and the numbers decrease until the Prince finds his mate.

At the beginning of the book, the letters have gone out to all young women eligible for the Selection which includes America. She does not want to enter as she is in love with Aspen and wants to marry him despite it being a downgrade in status. He, however, persuades her to enter anyway and when they break-up due to his pride she is grateful for the opportunity to get away when she is chosen for the Selection.

Prince Maxon is the young man looking for a bride and is not as stuffy and as arrogant as America fears and indeed they strike up a friendship. America makes it clear she has no feelings for him however she cannot control his...

As the Selection process progresses America gets to learn more about the state of the country and experiences two Rebel advances on the palace. And when an old acquaintance joins the palace staff, she becomes confused about why she is at the palace and what she should do about her growing feelings for Maxon.

The Selection wasn't what I was expecting – I was worried about it being all catty and nasty with all those girls competing, however there is only one spiteful girl with the rest bonding together – as even the girls who don't get chosen get a permanent increase in caste and other benefits. In fact not a great deal happens in The Selection, it very much sets the scene for the next books, and I hope these contain plot threads about the state of the country and how Illea can be improved, in addition to America's love life. Nonetheless it was an enjoyable read and there is a lot of potential for a more dramatic continuation of the series.

Review: The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick (July 2014, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, ISBN: 1471123227)

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, based on the YouTube series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is every bit as delightful as the original.

The Bennet family is somewhat smaller that Austen's but there's lots going on with Jane, Lizzie and Lydia.

Due to financial constraints, Mrs Bennet is keen to have her older daughters married off and out of the house – not necessarily in that order – so when the wealthy Bing Lee rents a posh house in Netherfield, Mrs Bennet schemes to get her daughters in front of him. Meanwhile Lizzie is in grad school and as part of her studies she has decided to document her personal life on video, with the help of her best friend Charlotte. As the diaries become popular, Lizzie's younger sister Lydia begins to do her own.

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet follows the same path as Pride and Prejudice – introducing Darcy, Mr Collins, George Wickham, Catherine de Bourgh and documents the happy times and the pain these characters cause either by mistake or deliberately, all the while set in the modern-day world with Lizzie and Darcy both involved in creating Internet content. The sisters go from living at home and dependent on their family to being able to leave the nest and have successful careers.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet. Despite being based on a classic story it is very modern (including references to pregnancy-scares and sex-tapes) with lots of twists on the original. Being a diary format, it means you'll think “I'll just read one more chapter” and before you know it you've reached the end! I haven't seen the YouTube series (yet) but that didn't affect my enthusiasm for the book.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (Jan. 2014, Usborne Publishing Ltd, ISBN: 140957993X)

I remember all the praise Anna and the French Kiss received when it was first published – 2010 in the US – and as it now has a UK release I was able to finally read it myself.

I too thoroughly enjoyed it and am pleased that the second and third books, Lola and the Boy Next Door and Isla and the Happily Ever After, in this (what I understand to be) loosely linked trilogy, are also now available in the UK!

Seventeen-year-old Anna Oliphant, from Atlanta, has been sent by her rich, writer, father to finish her education in an American School in Paris. She speaks Spanish but no French and doesn't know a soul. Fortunately she is soon being looked after by her neighbour Mer, who introduces Anna to her friends, including the gorgeous Etienne St Clair, he of the equally gorgeous English accent.

Anna is smitten by St Clair (as everyone calls him) but he has a girlfriend and she has a tentative relationship brewing back at home nonetheless the pair become almost inseparable.. as best friends.

Over the course of the school year, St Clair helps Anna become more independent and she helps him cope with his difficult family situation. But will they end up together or is this mutual friendship enough?

Who can resist a (possible) romance/coming of age story set in Paris? Anna is someone you can relate too as she stumbles her way through the first few weeks, embarrassed by her lack of French language, and I loved her film references/comments – she wants to be a film critic. St Clair is lovely but also a bit frustrating and that is what makes him a bit different from a standard gorgeous boy character, he is cautious and is also not six-foot plus tall, and makes jokes about his lack of height.

I read the ebook version which also includes a deleted scene, and an extract from Lola.

Review: True Fire by Gary Meehan

True Fire by Gary Meehan (April 2014, Quercus, ISBN: 1782069135)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read  her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: This book is simply glorious! A wonderful adventure and a real fight of good against bad, TRUE FIRE is the first in an exciting new YA trilogy and tells the story of Megan, who loses her home and her family when she is only 16. Not knowing where she can turn for help, or even who to trust, as things are not always as they seem, Megan sets out to discover why her village was destroyed around her and to also rescue her twin sister from her kidnappers. What she finds out casts a shadow on everything she has ever known and believed in. Her society’s priests and revered religion might not be the truth after all. And what about the dreaded witches? They came and destroyed the land once before, burning everything and killing millions of people. Now the witches are on the move again and the land is heading towards more bloodshed. Megan must learn to be brave in order to survive. She must also learn how to use her sword to defend herself, and others, as she finds out exactly why she is at the centre of what will turn out to be the worst war that her land has ever known.

As well as being a gripping story, TRUE FIRE is about an ordinary girl. Although the story is about witches, there are no magic powers in the air. Megan has to use her wits and guts, not spells and second sight, to keep herself alive. She is scared and unsure of what to do, as well as devastated by the violent death of her grandfather. The reader is able to identify with Megan and you end up willing her along, cheering when she manages to use her sword properly and being really relieved when she escapes from the foe.

If you like reading adventures that have ordinary people as the heroes then you are going to love this story. The ending is dramatic as well as bitter sweet. I can’t wait for the release of the second book in the trilogy so that I can find out what happens next!

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: Lawless by Jeffrey Salane

Lawless by Jeffrey Salane (May 2013, Piccadilly Press, ISBN: 1848123213)

Twelve-year-old M Freeman has been home-schooled up until now but is then sent on an interview to the secretive Lawless school. She passes the interview and is immediately thrown into a new life. She barely has time to say goodbye to her mum (her father having died in a plane accident) and home before being whisked away in a limousine with her “guardian”, a teenager called Zara.

The journey to the Lawless School is very eventful and introduces M to the concept of the Fulbrights – a group opposed to Lawless and who attack the pupils at every opportunity.

After a headlining-grabbing few days, M settles down to learn along with her small group of friends. But Lawless is not just a private school, it's a private school for offspring of criminals who want to keep the family business going. This is all news to M but she soon feels at home and wants to learn about her mysterious father who is well known at Lawless.

Thus begins a twisty adventure tale with M not knowing whom she can trust, including Zara and one of the teachers - Miss Watts - who had been close to M's father. The school setting gets left behind as M runs her first heist - in Europe – and it's action all the way, the ending leaving you wanting more.

Lawless is billed as book one so I hope there's a sequel as there are many loose ends*. M is a resourceful, clever main character – perhaps too clever for her years – and the villains a bit megalomaniacal, but this was a fun read and with no bad language or even romance this is a suitable read for younger teens and below.

*breaking news - Justice is out in April 2014.

Review: A Double Helping of the Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger

The Secret of the Fortune Wookie by Tom Angleberger (Sep. 2012, Amulet Books, ISBN: 1419705172) &
The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett by Tom Angleberger (Sep. 2013, Amulet Books, ISBN: 1419710451)

Review: After finishing a very downbeat Scandinavian crime novel I decided I needed something light and funny to read and fortunately I had The Secret of the Fortune Wookie and The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett, books three and four in the Origami Yoda series in my library book tbr.

As with the previous two, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Back they take the form of case files ie lots of short chapters from different pupils at McQuarrie Middle School collated by Tommy and annotated/doodled on by Harvey and Kellen.

With the absence of Dwight and his Origami Yoda it's Sara's turn to dispense Jedi wisdom via her Fortune Wookie and the case file is, is the Wookie as good as Yoda? Also what is happening with Dwight? He's at a new school and has had a personality transplant to a “normal” person but is he happy? And will he come back to McQuarrie after he's served his suspension?

In Jabba, rather than one finger puppet, many required are they, as the gang, form the origami rebel alliance to bring down the evil empire of FunTime, a new and tedious learning programme brought in to improve their test scores which has replaced all their non-academic modules such as drama and robot making. Each of the contributors to the case file has their own origami figure puppet – Tommy has Foldy-Wan Kenobi – and all must recruit more of their fellow pupils to the cause.

I really enjoyed these two books, they make me smile. I now feel I'm getting to know the individuals – Sara, Tommy, Kellen, Harvey, Dwight and more who contribute to the case files. I love the Star Wars theme and there are lots of clever doodles in the margin. The gang have to face a serious problem in Jabba and it's not resolved yet; I'll have to wait until next year's Princess Labelmaker to the Rescue to find out if they succeed.

Also available is Art2-D2's Guide to Folding and Doodling which shows you how to make many of the origami finger puppets and doodles and much more. It also comes with some coloured sheets of paper in it.

Review: Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian (February 2013, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, ISBN: 1471116883)

Burn for Burn is the first book in a new trilogy from Jenny Han co-writing with Siobhan Vivian set on Jar Island. The chapters alternate between three girls: Lillia, rich who is BFF to Rennie; Kat, not so rich and ostracised by lies told by Rennie and Mary who returns to the island after a few years absence. All three girls have been hurt, Lillia by a boy, Kat by Rennie and Mary by the star quarterback. When they are accidentally thrown together an idea sparks and Kat decides to act on it. Lilia and Mary don't need much persuading and they meet in secret to plan the ultimate revenge on their three enemies...

As with the Summer I Turned Pretty

trilogy (by Jenny Han) I absolutely flew through Burn for Burn. I could appreciate that the girls wanted revenge but they do get more than they bargained for resulting in an ending which leaves the reader desperate to get Fire for Fire. I hoped that one assumption they'd made would turn out to be false and, really, how far should the girls go to right a wrong? Initially I found the chapters from Mary's point of view the least interesting of the three (and her experiences the most painful to read) but it looks like she's more than she seems...

The sequel Fire for Fire has recently been released in the UK.

NB. As the characters are around eighteen, there is some adult content.

[Burn for Burn can be read online at Pulseit until 6 October 2013.]

Review: Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones

Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones (July 2013, Orchard Books, ISBN: 1408327546)

Dead Jealous is the first book in the Poppy Sinclair thriller series and is set in the Lake District. Poppy is sixteen and has come with her mum and step-dad Jonathan to an alternative/new-age festival on the shores of Scariswater where her mum and Jonathan are to have a handfasting ceremony. They are regular attendees to the annual festival but of late Poppy doesn't believe in the pagan ways.

Poppy is in love with her best-friend Michael but he has a girlfriend and to protect herself, Poppy has been turning away from him. At the festival she meets the gorgeous, slightly older, Tariq – can he take her mind off Michael?

On the first night Poppy seeking seclusion climbs a hill and meets Beth. Beth is looking for a girl she's in love with – Maya – who hasn't been seen since last year's event. Though Poppy and Beth only meet briefly, they connect and so when Poppy discovers Beth's dead body in the lake she knows it was murder. The police think it's an accident and despite Poppy's assertion that it wasn't, do very little. So it's up to Poppy, with occasional help from Michael, to get to the bottom of things.

One of my favourite adult crime series is Martin Edwards's Lake District mysteries so I was very much looking forward to Dead Jealous and I wasn't disappointed. Good use is made of the setting – both the countryside with its erratic mobile phone signal reception, and the new age festival including tarot reading and sweat tents. Poppy is haunted by Beth and Maya – possibly in more than just a manner of speaking as it's left to the reader to choose whether there's something supernatural going on or whether it's just that Poppy is under a lot of strain. As Poppy works through the mysteries she also resolves some personal issues. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel, Dead Silent, which is set in another of my favourite places (Cambridge) and is out in February 2014.

NB. As Poppy is sixteen, there are some references to sex, some F-words and there are some drug mentions as well (plus a few dead bodies!).

Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee (May 2013, Hodder Paperbacks, ISBN: 144477851X)

The world is in chaos. Angels have destroyed civilisation as we know it and Penryn is living with her mentally ill mum and disabled sister Paige in a shady apartment block in Silicon Valley. One night they are about to make their escape to the country and are on the streets when several angels swoop down and have a fight amongst themselves. One angel is heavily outnumbered and is punished by having his wings cut off. When the victorious angels leave, one of them swoops up Penryn's sister and flies away with her. Penryn offers to help the de-winged angel, Raffe, get his wings reattached in return for him helping her to get her sister back. Angelfall tells of Penryn and Raffe's journey to get to the angels' headquarters, and what they see and who they meet along the way.

Angelfall is a compulsive read and you really feel that you are in this apocalyptic world. The relationship between Penryn and Raffe is a difficult one as, though he looks like a god he is one of the race that has burnt her world; and she is one of the despised humans. They have to help each other to achieve their respective goals but is that the only reason they get on quite well? With their antagonistic banter, Penryn and Raffe make an appealing pair of strong characters in a broken world.

Susan Ee's Angelfall has been an internet phenomenon and I was a little anxious about whether it would live up to the hype but it does in spades. I can't wait for the sequel, World After.

NB. I'm not sure whether Angelfall is YA (seventeen-year-old-protagonist) or adult (where it's shelved in my library) but it does contain a couple of unpleasant scenes, one involving children.

Review: The Taming of the Tights by Louise Rennison.

The Taming of the Tights by Louise Rennison (July 2013, HarperCollins Children's Books, ISBN: 0007323921)

The Taming of the Tights is the third book in the Tallulah Casey series. Tallulah, Irish, is now fifteen and is back at Yorkshire's Dother Hall for a third term of learning the craft of performance. She has her own band of friends – the Tree Sisters – and a couple of suitors, sort of. Plus she has a crush on the brother of her friend Ruby.

The storyline in the series has become increasingly about boys rather than performing, with the Tree Sisters all having or obtaining boyfriends with Tallulah increasingly confused by the intentions of Charlie, who apparently has a girlfriend back home and the bad-boy of the moor, Cain.

Tallulah has to suffer the hatred of Dother Hall's head and the embarrassment of acting as the back-end of a horse and the very odd but affectionate replacement family she boards with. As Tallulah invents her own Lulu-Luuuve List she has to decide who and what she ultimately wants.

The Taming of the Tights is a romp and is very funny. I raced through it straight after reading A Midsummer Tight's Dream and hope that there will be more in the series. I love the setting, the banter between the girls, the down-to-earth young Ruby and of course the elusive Cain (with his hidden depths...) and Tallulah is a great narrator and a good and loyal friend. The series covers things that teenage girls might worry about – especially the art of kissing!

The two previous books are reviewed: #1 Withering Tights (by me) and #2 A Midsummer Tights Dream (by Milly).

Review: Everbound by Brodi Ashton

Everbound by Brodi Ashton (August 2013, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, ISBN: 0857074636)

Notes: Everbound is the second part of a trilogy so there will be spoilers below for the first book, Everneath.

Review: If you haven't read Everneath I think enough information is imparted so that you won't be lost in Everbound.

Nikki Beckett has only escaped the Tunnels of the Everneath - and a future of being sucked dry of energy - because her boyfriend Jack sacrificed himself. Her only hope of saving him is Cole, the Everliving who loves her and wants her to be Queen of the Everneath.

After some blackmailing he agrees to help her and they and another Everliving, Max, enter the Everneath in a quest to rescue Jack which involves many perils along the way and a humdinger of a finale!

What I particularly liked about Everbound is that through the narrative device chosen by the author we get to see how Jack and Nik become a couple and also more about Cole. The author keeps you swinging with your feelings for Cole, one minute bad guy, one minute possible friend. I raced through Everneath and wish I didn't have to wait until 2014 (Jan (US), Feb (UK)) for Evertrue.