Bright Young Things, by Anna Godbersen

Title: Bright Young Things
Author: Anna Godbersen
Series: Bright Young Things Book #1
Genre: Historical Fiction
Location: FIC GOD

Author Anna Godbersen has a gift for writing books set in New York in the eras of the 1920's and 1930's. The era of flappers and country clubs , soirees and burlesque clubs - women singing jazz and opera.


Bright Young Things sets us on a journey from a little town of Union, Ohio to the big bright lights of New York City. In Union, Ohio - two girls Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur want action, adventure and to be rid of their small town life.

Cordelia escaping on her wedding night with best friend in tow , they rush a train to New York City. Once they arrive , its a whirlwind of fun and new experiences and some of those turn out for the best and others cause break-ups. One night when out of the town, Letty and Cordelia have a huge fallout which causes them both to go their own way . Cordelia ends up dining with the rich and wealthy as she finds her long-lost daddy "the infamous" D. Grey , it is here to that she meets Astrid - a socialite and the girlfriend of her new found brother Charlie whereas Letty ends up working in a bar and living her life as one of those barely making it through. When tragedy strikes , will these three girls end up together and everything be the same like nothing had happened or will their be a cloud looming as they both have experienced some new found lessons both good and bad whilst being in New York - definitely not the fairytale they had planned for.

The only downside to the book is that I was hooked by the prologue and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen , only to discover that it was left on a cliffhanger of sorts and now I have to wait and wait for the next book in the series , to find out what happens to Cordelia, Astrid and Letty.

Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips

Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Supernatural - Werewolves
Series: Shiver Book #1
Location: FIC STI



In Shiver we are introduced to two main characters Grace - a human girl who was bitten by a werewolf when she was little and is one of the few that have never changed , as a girl she was saved by the werewolf Sam who plays a huge part in Shiver and is the second of our main characters. Sam is the wolf that visits and protects Grace every winter as in this novel , when the wolves reach a certain temperature it changes them from human form to wolf.


When one of the local school boys and jock's Jack goes missing, the wolves are to blame and the town of Gentry becomes a hunter's paradise as the wolves begin to slowly be killed. When Grace discovers Sam bleeding , she rushes him to care and so in a short time begins their relationship , we read as Grace readily accepts Sam's wolfishness and read about the obstacles that both parties will go through and the extremes they will go to be with each other, the one they love .

When Jack becomes obsessed with a cure and danger strikes for Grace , will it cost a life for the cure and will that life be Grace's or Sam's ?

This is a novel that I am glad that I decided to re-read as I enjoyed it and what extra feature I quite liked was that as the cover for this book was blue , the font colour was also blue rather than the boring ol' everyday black font we see in books nowadays.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater has also been optioned to become a film.

Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips

Torment, Lauren Kate

Title: Torment
Author: Lauren Kate
Series: Fallen Book #2
Location: FIC KAT
Genre: Supernatural - Angels

"The long awaited sequel to Fallen by Lauren Kate"

In Torment , we are presented with the aftershocks of what has happened at the end of Fallen with Luce's friend Penny - the groundskeeper's daughter now dead and the fact that Luce lived past her seventeenth birthday , a birthday that in the past every 17 years she would spontaneously combust and burst into flames ,only to be re-incarnated once again.

 Now inching past her seventeenth birthday, Luce is in trouble since she was supposed to die and not continue living in her current body. With a bounty on her head , we read as arch-enemies Cam and Daniel team up with a truce to take down everyone who comes near Luce and Luce is relocated to a new school called Shorelines and if Luce really wanted to fly under the radar, she's out of luck as Shorelines a school for Nephilims and the story of Luce and Daniel - their centuries of love is a fairtytale that has been passed from generation to generation.

Readers, be prepared for an ending that will leave you wrenching and screaming out for more in Book #3 Passion.

 

Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips

 

Fury, Shirley Marr

Title: Fury
Author: Shirley Marr
Genre: Rendition
Location: FIC MAR

Told from the point of view of the protagonist, Eliza Boans, the novel begins 'My name is Eliza Boans and I am a murderer' and through seamless flashbacks, the circumstances which led to this confession are revealed. The plot centres on Eliza and her two girlfriends who become embroiled in this unfortunate event. Eliza is an angry, rich, private school girl who constantly complains of her life in the affluent, gated community where she lives and attends school. While her personality grates on the reader, she does reveal that her life is far from perfect. She doesn't have a stable home life and is constantly in trouble at school.

The reader questions the reliability of the narrator as Eliza hesitates to reveal the truth and appears unremorseful. The social worker who is hired to draw out her confession conveniently has the Greek goddesses, the Furies, on the cover of his writing journal. The reader is left trying to piece together the clues until the end.

The novel addresses the issues of jealousy, popularity, class and justice. There is opportunity for readers to make connections to classics and mythology, but predominantly it deals with teenage angst and peer pressure. The language is conversational and accessible for teenagers; however it deals sexual abuse so would be more suitable for older readers.

Fury is dark but veers away from the readily available vampire genres of late. From a local Perth author, Fury will be picked off the shelves by teenage girls who love these 'guessing game' dramas.
 
Novel : Thriller. Age14+. Fury provides an entertaining contemporary slant on Greek mythology.
 
Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips
 

Immortal Beloved, Cate Tiernan

Title: Immortal Beloved
Author: Cate Tiernan
Location: FIC TIE
Series: Immortal Book#1
Genre: Supernatural -Immortals


 
Natasya aka Nasty knows that for her and others there is no end in sight , she is an immortal . Not a Vampire but just somebody with the magik to stay immortal for the rest of their lives. To the outside world she looks 18 and can sometimes push 21 -only just though. But the truth remains inside of her that she is in fact 460 years old.


After a night on the town with her immortal best friends especially Indy, whom they have both been there for each other for years .Nasty witnesses an act of bad magik when her friend Indy breaks the back of a rude cab driver and thinks nothing of it.

Scared that she is just wasting away and that her life as an immortal has not amounted to much, she packs up her bag and runs as far away from her current life as possible. She ends up on the working farm of an old immortal friend she met 80 years ago River.

Here, Nasty starts to regain her life and memories back and soon her purpose for living as well . Unfortunately the peace and quiet won't last for long as somebody is trying to kill her and won't stop until she is dead.

Now Nasty along with River and Reyn whom she can't help but fall in love with even though his horrible past is connected to hers , must try and stop whatever evil force is rising up for Natasya.

An awesome fast paced novel that intertwines all the main characters history from the times they began to become immortal to the present time .

Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Author: Seth Grahame-Smith & Jane Austen
Location: FIC GRA
Series: Quirky Classics
Genre: Supernatural- Zombies

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains".

The book takes place in the same setting as Pride and Prejudice with the same storyline and characters , just with a little bit extra Zombies or as they are called in PP&Z - the cause of turning into a zombie "the strange plague" is taking over England and the victims are called "unmentionables or dreadfuls" aka Zombies to us more civilised and un PC people.

As the plague starts to take over England, all the daughters of British families are putting aside their piano lessons and needlework and taking up in mastering the deadly arts. This is no different for the Bennett Family especially for Elizabeth who proves to outsmart all her sisters in not only the art of wielding her dagger and killing those damn Zombies but also with her quick wit and sharp tongue.


We then watch as Elizabeth is introduced to Mr Darcy , of course it is not a boring ball like the one in the original novel as it is soon disturbed by a band of Zombies smashing through the windows onto the ballroom floor. Now as the two get together we watch that no matter how many bands of ninjas, flesh-eating zombies and disapproving aunties can stop the true love that they have for each other.


Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is in process of being made into a film - release date is unconfirmed, at this stage Natalie Portman is rumoured to play Elizabeth Bennett.


A prequel of sorts has been written and released called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies : Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith. This can be found in the library under FIC HOC.


Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2012

The winners of the 2012 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards have been announced.

We are pleased to promote the books we already have in our collection, plus some still on order.

NZ Post Children's Book of the Year: Nice Day for a War, by Matt Elliott

Children's Choice Award: The Cat's Pyjamas, by Catherine Foreman

Best First Book Award: Super Finn, by Leonie Agnew

Picture Book category: Rahui, by Chris Szekely (Maori & English versions)

Honour Award: Shaolin Burning, by Ant Sang

Non-Fiction category: Nice Day for a War, by Matt Elliott

Honour Award: Digging Up the Past, by David Veart

Junior Fiction category: Super Finn by Leonie Agnew

Honour Award: The Travelling Restaurant, by Barbara Else

Young Adult Fiction category: Calling the Gods, by Jack Lasenby

Honour Award: The Bridge, by Jane Higgins



The Dark Divine , by Bree Despain

Title: The Dark Divine
Author: Bree Despain
Series: Divine Series
Location: FIC DES
Genre:  Werewolves


For Grace Divine , her family have always been the Pastor's of the church and the ones to set a good example, three years ago something changed though and from that day on her family had changed. Three years ago, a close family friend and the crush of Grace's - Daniel disappeared and from that day on - her family never mentioned his name.
Now three-nearly-four years later Daniel has re-appeared and this time he really needs every bit of help he can get as Daniel has hidden a dark secret - he is in fact half an Urbat aka Hell Hound. Desperate for the tables to be turned and to be cured, he seeks out Pastor Divine's help- it is only then that he realises that in order for the cure to even slightly work fingers crossed , it needs to be carried out by somebody who can love him for who he truly is .. that somebody is Grace Divine.
However Grace's older brother Jude is hiding a dark secret of his own - he was bitten and infected by Daniel and is starting to show signs of becoming an hell-hound. Will Jude let Grace save him or will he choose a road of no return and will he take Grace and Daniel with him.
This was one of the best Werewolves/Hell Hounds reads I've read in a wee while as I tend to prefer Vampires over Werewolves.
The sequel is to be released in Dec/Jan 2010/2011 titled The Lost Saint: A Dark Divine Novel.

Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips
 

Annexed, Sharon Dogar

Title: Annexed
Author: Sharon Dogar
Location: FIC DOG
Genre: Historical

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we think of World War II and the family that hid in the attic , we automatically think of Anne Frank's family but in fact there were two families hidden , the Franks and the Van Pels. Annexed tells the story of the war and what it was like living in the annexe from Peter Van Pel's point of view. 

At the start of the novel the story focuses on Peter's girlfriend and Margot's friend Liese and we read about how one night Peter snuck out to see Liese and watched from the shadows the Gestapo and MP's take her away in their vehicles. 

The book then fast forwards to the day the Van Pels moved into the Annexe along with Anne Frank's family. Reading the book it seems like there was a level of superiority between the Franks and the Van Pels with Peter's family being the lesser. 

We watch over the course of the novel the relationship between Peter and Anne transition from a hate to a love and we read as the pressure of the war and how hard it was to stay hidden from trouble. For Peter Van Pel he was Anne Frank's first and only love as we all know the story of how she died at the age of fifteen . For anyone who has read Anne Frank's diary we know it ended August 4th 1944 , however Annexed takes us beyond that date chronicling Peter's life and experiences as he continues to live past the betrayal and Nazi death camps.
Peter lived until he was 18 and died somewhere between April 11th - May 1945.
Sharon Dogar's Annexed is a wonderful mixture of fact woven into fiction to give it an historically accurate feel.
This is one book that every teen studying World War II and the Holocaust should add to their reading lists.                                                      

 

Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips

The Other Countess, by Eve Edwards

Title: The Other Countess
Author: Eve Edwards
Location: FIC EDW
Genre: Historical

                 

"Romance, Deception And Destiny"

The Other Countess is a book that will have girls and even young women swooning over as we travel back in time to the year 1582, the location: England.
The Other Countess is a tale somewhat similiar to Romeo and Juliet , Kate and Leopold. It is a story that is somewhat passed on as a common plot especially in the day and age of Kings, Queens, Earls and Ladies.
William Lacey is coming up to the age of marriage , as an Earl that is on the downfall due to his father's unwise decisions and choices , he must marry a wealthy women in order to restore his families name and reputation among the royals .
Enter Jane , she is in the running to be married to William - she has everything the title , the money and the looks and all the right upbringing. Though for William his heart is not in it as he longs for someone else - Ellie aka Lady Eleanor Rodriguez of San Jaime. She is just like William , in possession of a title that won't mean much to anyone especially not anyone wanting wealth and all the riches in the world. What she lacks in wealth, she makes up for in spirit as her wittiness and feisty attitude captures the hearts of many in the Queen's Elite Court .
Will , Will make the right choice in whom he marries or will he follow his head and rules over his heart ?

The sequel is to come out on February 3rd 2011 , and is titled "The Queen's Lady".

I loved this book as after watching the most amazing DVD "Letters to Juliet" . I am in love with the theme of Romeo and Juliet and Lost/Forbidden Love.

 Review written and recommended by Paula Phillips