I don’t usually review children’s books, but when  I read the premise of Twerp I decided to break the rules.

The story is told from the perspective of Julian Twerski,  a twelve-year-old boy living in New York in 1969. After an undisclosed  incident involving another boy named Danley Dimmel, Julian is suspended  from school and asked by his English teacher to write about the events  leading up to this incident. What follows is a humorous, honest and  touching account of a sixth grade boy trying to get to grips with that  awkward space between childhood and adulthood.

I absolutely loved reading Twerp. I am a thirty something mother who grew up in South  Africa, but when I read Twerp I was a twelve year old from Queens in the 60’s. Julian’s  voice seemed so authentic I had to remind myself it was written by a New York Times columnist in his fifties.

The thing I probably liked most about this book is  all the positive messages it sends to the kids who will read it. It  teaches tolerance and has very strong anti-bullying messages without  being preachy. The characters are flawed; they make mistakes, but in  the end they own up to these mistakes and accept the consequences of  their actions. A lot of adults could learn from this book.

Twerp covers an array of pre-teen experiences and emotions.  From first love to first betrayal. But the main emphasis always is on  friendship and loyalty. It is a warm and funny read, bursting with pre-adolescent  mischief but remains innocent at heart. I hope my son will read this  book one day.

Kids will love the antics of the characters so much  they won’t even realize they are being taught valuable moral lessons.   Well done Mark Goldblatt!

Thank you Netgalley  and Random House Children’s for providing me with a copy of this novel  for review. Twerp will be released  on 28th May 2013 and can be purchased via the links below.

Parallel lives/universes seem to be an “it” thing in 2013 with at least 3 YA releases coming to mind and I for one am not the least bit disappointed because I LOVE the concept of alternative realities and fringe sciences.

Parallel definitely didn’t disappoint either I absolutely loved it and read it over a weekend, it was a really enjoyable book. Just imagine how confused and freaked out you would be if one day you were disappointed with the way life was turning out stuck in Hollywood shooting a movie, then the next day you woke up in a Yale dorm room with absolutely no idea how you could have possibly got there.  This is just the start of the slippery slope for Abby our main character who soon discovers that just the simplest of decisions can have major repercussions in the future.

As the concept of the parallel universes and Abby remembering them is fairly complex there is a lot of science and theoretical conversations in this book between Abby, her best friend Caitlin and her academically gifted but kooky and discredited high school science teacher, and I believe these were really well handled.  While at times you had to read a couple of pages carefully to fully grasp the concept, overall it was done slowly over the course of the book meaning that you weren’t overwhelmed and you really got a good chance to understand why everything was happening especially as you were being given live examples continuously too!

The characters themselves were fun Abby made some stupid decisions at times but these were all decisions I could imagine anyone possibly making in those situations and the great thing about this book is that you get to see how some poor choices can really alter your future.  Abby overall was quite likeable and I enjoyed seeing her in different situations, my only complaint is that she seemed a little too perfect.  For a girl who thinks she is nothing special she managed to act in Hollywood, be a brilliant marathon runner, get into an Ivy League school without really wanting to go and also row competitively that’s a lot of very varied talents. Her 2 besties Caitlin and Tyler were great as well and I really enjoyed the dynamics and blossoming love between them.  Caitlin was just a great character - I loved her and was devastated at one point when a major rift grows between Abby and Caitlin I actually think I got a bit teary!

Sadly what was perhaps lacking in this novel was the relationships.  Both Abby’s have a love interest and both were a little ho hum and though Josh definitely grew on me by the end as his story developed. Michael unfortunately just felt flat and I think possibly needed some more air time to make the reader connect with him.  I’m going to leave it at that as it’s really hard to go into the relationships at all without spoiling some of the wonderful OMG moments at the end and trust me there are some great moments especially at the culmination where Abby has an epiphany which makes her realise it doesn’t matter what choices she makes some things are destiny.

The last part that I think is really worth mentioning is how beautiful the descriptions of Yale are.  I’m not from the US and I don’t really get this whole Ivy League college experience or anything but the descriptions and small tit bits of information given about Yale and North Haven gave me a definite yearning to visit, it truly sounds beautiful, homely - like putting on a nice pair of comfy socks on a cold winters day.

Overall I found this to simply be a great book and providing your willing to read some heavier information dense parts on time travel and parallel universes I believe readers will enjoy it thoroughly!

Thank you Edelweiss and HarperTEEN for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. Parallel is released on the 14th May 2013.

I was a bit apprehensive about reading this originally as I had read lots of negative reviews comparing this to both Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy and Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series.  As I actually like both of these authors and the aforementioned books, I figured that chances are I would probably enjoy this one as well!  And I did, while it wasn’t earth shattering and it did read like a mix of other Young Adult books on the market it was still fast paced, entertaining and just plain fun.

The main character Amelie is a demon hunter and mischief maker at her school.  The book starts off explaining that a number of faculty members had died at the hands of a Greymason which is just the first of many introductions into the creatures and mythology of this paranormal world.  On the first day of a new school year Amelie meets a young new instructor who she has instant chemistry with, and together through a series of unfortunate events the 2 of them discover they are at the centre of a prophecy that will have major repercussions on this world.

I quite liked Amelie as a main character, she was tough but fun and full of self confidence.  For all her boundary testing at school she actually loves the idea of being a guardian and it is clear quite early on that she is stronger than she realises.  Through finding out her back story and family past you are also introduced into the world of bonding and what happens when a bonding is rejected and let me tell you, if I was 17 and told I was going to be matched to another student for the rest of my life by the powers that be, I would be much more freaked out than these guys were!

The love interest Jackson was hot!  I really enjoyed him and while this was an instant love type deal the chemistry between the 2 was really well handled it didn’t come across badly like many insta-love couples do.  He definitely started out in the treat her mean, keep her keen camp but I think it was pretty obvious to the reader that there was an underlying reason for that and as the story progresses you find out more about why he keeps Amelie at arms length through most of the book.

The pacing of this book was definitely fast and action packed.  I enjoyed this as it meant that I read the book quickly over a couple of days.  In saying this however there were parts where the plot felt a little jarring and it probably would have come off more polished with more build up.  I found the actually start of the book a bit of a shock as it almost felt like you had missed the introductory chapters and just fallen into the story part way through and the pace seriously just doesn’t stop until the book finishes.

Overall I think this book has probably copped a bit more flak than it deserved and if you are wanting something easy and fast paced to read that is similar to books such as Vampire Academy, City of Bones or the Mythos Academy series then you’ll probably enjoy this one too.

Thank you Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. Prophecy Girl was released on the 28th March 2013.

As the title suggests, this novel consists of a collection  of letters all dealing with some kind of loss. There are three main  couples involved: In Cork (1969), a Russian painter and his novelist  wife who must come to grips with a terminal illness; Perth in 2011 where  a bookstore owner writes to her estranged partner trying to fathom what  went wrong with their relationship; and Bournemouth in 1948 where a  retired doctor writes to his partner who never made it through the war.

These three couples are all vaguely connected through  art, war and parallel imagery. I found this to be quite a clever literary  tool. It makes lives that seem so random suddenly seem part of some  grand plan. All couples have memories involving the artist or artwork  of Paul Klee. I also found the imagery of diving and of watches (time)  to be quite effective.

Dreams are also of a great importance in the novel  and are described vividly. I suppose when love is lost; dreams are sometimes  all you have left.

The novel is beautifully written. It is soulful and  sorrowful. As a reader you can feel the yearning in Walker’s words;  the heartbreak over lost love. There is not really any plot at all –  these are simply a collection of love letters. So I don’t think this  will appeal to the general reading public.

One aspect I didn’t really enjoy was the graphic  sex scene. Please let me state that I am by no means a prude, I appreciate  that sometimes to go into great detail about lovemaking is necessary.  It just seemed so out of place in this novel. There are these beautiful  and lyrical descriptions of love then all of a sudden BANG! (excuse  the pun) and we are into 50 Shades of Grey. I just didn’t think it  fitted into the novel’s gentle themes.

Overall a beautifully written novel without much of  a storyline.

I loved The Immortal Rules and am excited to say that The Eternity Cure is a fantastic, solid sequel.  You pick up from where book 1 leaves off with Allie on her way to rescue Kanin, instead of being led to Kanin she comes across Jackal her blood brother who offers her a proposition she can’t refuse.  Together they look for a cure for the original Red Lung disease before continuing the search for Kanin their sire who may or may not have been driven mad by the insane vampire Sarren who has taken him hostage.

This book starts off a little slow and while I liked getting thoroughly re-established into the story as it had been a year since I read The Immortal Rules, it was perhaps a bit too slow for my liking.  Once I got through about 20% however the story really picked up and it was just brilliant.

I loved that it continued its dark gritty themes of morality and ethics and this is further delved into by reintroducing Jackal as a main character in this book.  Jackal, along with showing an alternative way of life for a vampire to what you are used to with Allie and Kanin, also provides some great comic relief with his fantastic wit and sarcasm. I also really loved that you are taken back full circle to New Covington in this story and Allie has to deal with people from her past she never expected to see again.

While in New Covington you get further insight into vampire politics and I think this was a great way of adding further embellishment into the world building that was done so well in book 1.  You also see first hand what the original red lung disease does to a human population and find out more about the mole men who live in the tunnels (ewwwww!).

Allie once again is a fantastic heroine who shows she can be completely unscrupulous when needed but with a constant battling inner monologue of her trying to do the best she can to stay someone she can live with. She is introduced again part way through the story to Zeke her romantic interest from book 1.  Zeke has grown up since we saw him last and like book 1 this romance is a slow smouldering one.  I will admit that I found the romance a little awkward between these two at first however Zeke once again grew on me and I loved some of the agonising, torturous moments and situations that came up for these guys in this book… seriously there is one part that I was so devastated for Allie I was not in anyway expecting how things turned out but again it was a great twist!

The story wraps up with some serious OMG moments and really set up the scene for the third book.  I am devastated that I have to wait another 12 months to find out what happens next because I think this next book is going to be brilliant! If you haven’t read this series I urge you to pick it up now it’s definitely worth it – I only take half a teacup of this rating for the slowish start.

Thank you Netgalley and HarlequinTEEN for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. The Eternity Cure is being released on the 30th April 2013.

I was originally going to put some of my latest favourite YA books up for read but as this blog now has a permanent adult fiction reviewer (YAY!) I decided it was better to keep things a little more open.

The Shower of Books Giveaway hop is hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Books à la Mode and runs from April 24 – 30 2013.

Here is most likely my last bump update taken at 34 weeks pregnant – definitely looking much bigger than my last posted selfie at 20 weeks!!! Photo taken at my maternity and family photo shoot last weekend by the talented Lauren Colsen Photography.

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This Hop is filled with heaps of great prizes you can grab over the next week. Make sure you check out the full list of Giveaways below:

This review will be fairly short as 3 weeks of reading this book and only getting 36% of the way through on my third attempt at starting it, I decided to add this book to my DNF pile.

I have never read any other Lili St Crow books so I’m not sure if it’s just her style of writing but I found it very hard to get into and the actual writing seemed quite complicated and heavy – it wasn’t an easy book to read. The fact that I was over a third of the way through quite a short book yet nothing had actually happened was very disappointing.  While there was some world building and it was quite an involved world that did seem very interesting, there were just tid bits of information on the hierarchical society and the paranormal aspects, nothing really solid was given. I felt like it was all tease and not a lot of substance.

I couldn’t engage with the character of Camille at all and found her quite 2 dimensional.  I got over very quickly that every page focused on the fact that she had a stutter, I understand it was a big part of her life, holding her back, but it got very annoying. I am assuming her two best friends are also fairy tale characters – Ruby and Ellie though I have no idea who they are from the descriptions given though Ellie’s evil step mother was mentioned a lot so I was wondering if it was perhaps Cinderella.

I also didn’t like that a third of the way through the book there was absolutely no resemblance to Snow White the fairy tale except for one nightmare she had, nothing remotely hinted of a retelling at all.

My Goodreads friends list shows that I am definitely in the minority feeling this way about Nameless, many reviewers seemed to enjoy this book and as I said in the introduction I did only make it just over a third of the way through.  I’m sure the book picked up later on I just don’t feel I should have to spend that much time getting into a YA book especially when I have a million other ones that I’m dying to read!

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Books Australia for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. Nameless was released on the 28th March 2013 and can be purchased via the links below.

While fighting the Napoleonic wars in Spain, Nicholas Falcott,, Marquess of Blackdown, suddenly disappears from the battlefield. He wakes to find himself in a hospital in  London, in 2003.

He soon discovers that he is not alone in this predicament. There are other time travellers and a governing organization called The Guild. The Guild helps these travellers adjust to their new surroundings and provide them with the knowledge and means to start a new life.

For ten years Nick happily accepts the two million dollar annual salary The Guild provides its members and lives a very comfortable life in New York. He does not question the number one time traveller’s law: there is no return. That is, until he receives a summons that commands him to return to his old life, and to help prevent a rogue organization from destroying the future.

In 1815 Julia Percy bids a tearful goodbye to her dying grandfather; the eccentric Earl of Darchester. She is left alone to face her cruel cousin and protect her grandfather’s powerful secret. She is about to discover that his secret is about to become her own.

As the two stories begin to intertwine we learn that time has no set rules; it can be manipulated; sometimes with disastrous consequences.

This is not a serious novel and is not likely to win any awards. However, it is light and entertaining and a great escape from the daily grind. I enjoyed the concept and execution of the story. Time travel always brings so many possibilities; it is interesting to see Ridway’s interpretation.

The characters are likable and the dialogue sparkling and witty in a rom-com- period-drama kind of way.

My only real problem with it was that it felt a bit long. It was drawn out in the beginning and then seemed rushed towards the end. There is also no real resolution, which to me suggests a sequel is in the works.

Worth a read, but don’t expect to be gob smacked.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. The River of No Return will be released on 23rd April 2013 and can be purchased via the links below.

What would make a woman with a successful career, a happy family and a devoted husband leave it all behind to start a new life?

Emily Coleman is running away. She leaves Manchester with nothing but a small suitcase and a little money. Her family receives no explanation. In fact they do not know where in the world she is. On the same day, Cat Brown arrives in London with nothing but a small suitcase, a little money and a big secret.

Slowly, Emily transforms her life and identity until she really becomes Cat Brown. But how easy is it to forget your past? Does running away make what you left behind any easier to accept?

One Step Too Far is a compelling read. I had to discover the reason behind Emily’s escape. Was I disappointed? No, I might have done the same in her situation. But I do think some readers may find her actions unforgivable and selfish.

The narrative structure of the novel is quite fragmented, and I found this literary technique a bit jarring in the beginning of the book. However, once I became accustomed to switching between 1st and 3rd person narrative, I found it to be quite a clever tool. Emily’s voice is in 1st person, while the other character’s points of views are always in 3rd person.

While I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters, I didn’t detest them either. Emily’s housemates in London in particular are a quirky, interesting bunch and her aptly named saviour, Angel, while misguided, has a certain lovable quality about her. My only quarrel with the characterisation is poor Caroline, Emily’s wayward twin sister. Without spoiling the ending, let’s just say her story ended a bit too abruptly and without any sensitivity.

One Step Too Far will keep you guessing and will ultimately pose the question: what would I do if I were in Emily’s shoes?

Thank you Netgalley and Kirk Parolles for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. One Step Too Far will be released on 15th April 2013 and can be purchased via the links below.

This was a great follow up sequel by Brodi Ashton!  It had been a little over a year since I first read Everneath and I only had a vague recollection of what happened.  Thankfully Ashton masterfully gave you all the background information from Everneath in the first few chapters of Everbound - you never sat there wondering what on earth was going on, and instead just felt like you were slipping back into a favourite pair of shoes.

The story continues directly from where Everneath leaves off and this book is quite action packed, definitely different from book 1 and I really did like it.  While I missed having more Jack time as I loved the relationship between Nikki and Jack, you still get beautiful flashbacks into their relationship and find out how they fell in love and got together.

What this book does give you is heaps of background and world building of the Everneath which mythology fans will love.  The majority of the book is set down there as Nikki and Cole try to free Jack from the Feed and you are introduced to some interesting Everliving characters along the way.  Cole starts to grow on you as the story progresses and you actually start to realise that he really does care deeply for Nikki.  While I thought this book would set up an epic love triangle the way Hallowed pulled off, I don’t think you can call this threesome a love triangle by any definition. It is just so clear that Nikki and Jack are soul mates and that is never going to change.

Just as I thought things had wrapped up quite neatly and I had a clear idea of where this finale was taking us BAM we are left with an epic cliffhanger that I just did not see coming. Now I am hanging for book 3 and can’t believe I’ll have to wait another 12 months give or take

Read my review of Book 1: Everneath here.