• Book Reviews,  M,  Mackay, Asia

    Killing It Book Review

    Killing It by Asia Mackay From Goodreads: Every working mum has had to face it. The guilt-fuelled, anxiety-filled first day back in the office after maternity leave. But this working mum is one of a kind. Meet Alexis Tyler. An elite covert agent within Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Her first project back is a high-stakes hit of global significance and the old boys network of government espionage is far from ready for the return of an operational mother. But woe betide anyone who ever tells Alexis Tyler ‘you can’t’. She will have it all. Or she’ll die trying . . . And yes, she damn well will be home for bath time. …

  • Book Reviews,  H,  Harrington, Lisa

    The Goodbye Girls Book Review

    The Goodbye Girls by Lisa Harrington. From Goodreads: The students at Lizzie’s high school are notoriously terrible at breakups. Forget awkward conversations—they’re dumping each other via text. Inspired by the terrible breakups around her, sixteen-year-old Lizzie, strapped for cash and itching to go on the school’s band trip to NYC, teams up with her best friend, Willa, to create a genius business: personalized gift baskets—breakup baskets—sent from dumper to dumpee. The Goodbye Girls operate in secret, and business is booming. But it’s not long before someone begins sabotaging The Goodbye Girls, sending impossibly cruel baskets to seemingly random targets, undermining everything Lizzie and Willa have built and jeopardizing their anonymity. Soon family,…

  • B,  Banghart, Tracey,  Book Reviews

    Grace and Fury Book Review

    Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart From Goodreads: In a world where women have no rights, sisters Serina and Nomi Tessaro face two very different fates: one in the palace, the other in prison. Serina has been groomed her whole life to become a Grace – someone to stand by the heir to the throne as a shining, subjugated example of the perfect woman. But when her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, catches the heir’s eye, it’s Serina who takes the fall for the dangerous secret that Nomi has been hiding. Now trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one way to save Serina: surrender to her role…

  • Book Reviews,  V,  Various Authors

    Floored Book Review

      Floored by Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson and Eleanor Wood. From Goodreads: When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn’t that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he’s the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn’t match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn’t as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognizes him; Kaitlyn, who’s…

  • Book Reviews,  D,  Danforth, Emily M.

    The Miseducation of Cameron Post Book Review

    The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth From Goodreads: When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl. But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone, and Cam becomes an expert at both. Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the…

  • Book Reviews,  N,  Novik, Naomi

    Spinning Silver Book Review

        Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik From Goodreads: Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders… but her father isn’t a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife’s dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty–until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers’ pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed–and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold. But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it’s…

  • Book Reviews,  K,  Klehfoth, Elizabeth

    All These Beautiful Strangers Book Review

      All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth From Goodreads: In the last day of summer, Grace Fairchild, the beautiful young wife of real estate mogul Allister Calloway, vanished from the family’s lake house without a trace, leaving behind her seven-year old daughter, Charlie, and a slew of unanswered questions. Years later, seventeen-year-old Charlie still struggles with the dark legacy of her family name and the mystery surrounding her mother. Determined to finally let go of the past, she throws herself into life at Knollwood, the prestigious New Englandschool she attends. Charlie quickly becomes friends with Knollwood’s “it” crowd. Charlie has also been tapped by the A’s—the school’s elite secret society well…

  • Book Reviews,  H,  Harcourt, Maggie

    Theatrical Book Review

    Theatrical by Maggie Harcourt From Goodreads: Hope dreams of working backstage in a theatre, and she’s determined to make it without the help of her famous costume designer mum. So when she lands an internship on a major production, she tells no one. But with a stroppy Hollywood star and his hot young understudy upstaging Hope’s focus, she’s soon struggling to keep her cool… and her secret.  Gorgeously fresh, funny and commercial YA romance from the author of Unconventional, and The Last Summer of Us. This was one of those books that made me hover by the front door, waiting for the postman to deliver it. Unconventional was one of my favourite YA reads…

  • B,  Book Reviews,  Bowling, Nicholas

    Witchborn Book Review

    Witchborn by Nicholas Bowling Synopsis: The year is 1577. Queen Elizabeth I is struggling to prevent the scheming Mary Queen of Scots from stealing her throne, despite her rival being imprisoned in the Tower of London. But Alyce, on the run after her mother is brutally killed by witch hunters led by the nefarious Matthew Hopkins, is not aware of the political forces gathering around her. Soon, she is embroiled in a secret battle between two rival queens which will alter the fate of England, and Alyce is forced to confront the dark magic running through her own veins. This book came to me as an ARC in a book box…

  • Book Reviews,  V,  Vinesse, Cecilia

    The Summer of Us Book Review

    The Summer of Us by Cecilia Vinesse Five friends. Five European cities. Ten days. And a messy, complicated, can-this-really-be-happening love story or two…  Since the moment they met, best friends Aubrey and Rae have been planning their inter-railing trip around Europe. With graduation just behind them, it ought to be the perfect summer to go on a last adventure together before university. But things are more complicated at eighteen than they were at ten. Accompanying Aubrey and Rae are other friends, each one carrying baggage they can’t put in a suitcase. First there’s Jonah, Aubrey’s popular and dashing boyfriend, and his best friend Gabe, who Audrey may have accidentally kissed. And then…