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Friday 26 August 2016

Doing stuff & Ideas & Reading

Yep. This is exactly what I've been doing the last few weeks. Doing stuff that most days makes me feel like I haven't actually done much.

See, I'm used to keeping track of my daily word/page count output, so not having the daily figures to back up my progress makes me feel like I haven't achieved much. It's only when I take a step back that I realise I did get quite a bit done.

The ol' brain likes to lie sometimes. :/

And that's why I try not to focus on stats all the time. It's best to just do what needs to be done and keep crossing things off my to-do list. And what's that exactly? Well, lately I've been getting the itch to write more short stories. So there's a bunch of stuff spinning inside my head. And because I've had a bit of trouble concentrating lately--too many ideas make for a cluttered mind--and when I do it's mostly to write/plan/brainstorm novel-sized tales, I've been toying with smaller idea nuggets. Plus I've tried looking up a few short story markets, to see what's out there.

I'm also reasearching agents. Thinking about a bunch of book ideas that require interesting research. Thinking about NaNoWriMo. Find myself in the mood to read odd and whimsical stories that toe the darkness. And I'm excited about the fact RAISING SOME HELL will be published next year and will still feature this perfect cover!

Like always, I've got a lot on my mind. So I want to get out of my head a bit more and get into the cycle I enjoy when it comes to work: a busy production line with a bunch of projects and possibilities.

Besides, I like to keep busy with reading and writing.  It makes me happy. Stops me from getting twitchy. And keeps me (mostly) sane. ;)

Have a great weekend!

MY BEST FRIEND'S EXORCISM by Grady Hendrix


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My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As much as I complain about Rue Morgue magazine being the weakest item in my beloved Horror Block, I've bought several books because they were featured in this mag.

This was one of them.

Since the moment I found out about this book, I wanted to read it. I'm a sucker for demonic possession/exorcism stories. I'm also a sucker for anything 1980's. And this book combines both in the best way possible.

Not to mention that I loved Horrorstör!

Anyway, let's talk about the book...

Abby Rivers and Gretchen Lang met when they were kids. Gretchen was the only kid who attended Abby's rollerskating birthday party, and although things started out shaky, they soon became the best of friends. Being from opposite sides of the economic spectrum never affected their friendship, and they even welcomed two other girls into their group: Margaret and Glee.

One night, while the four are enjoying a lazy time in one of Margaret's family's many houses, they decide to try acid. And a simple experiment soon turns into a nightmare when Gretchen is missing all night. After that night, she's never the same and no matter what Abby does to try and help her struggling friend, she just makes everything worse.

Until the only thing left to do is an exorcism...

O.M.F.G! I loved this. Not just because of what I mentioned above, but because I liked Abby's voice and I was hooked. The tension is amazing. The gore is extreme. The demon is despicable. The possession totally insane. But mostly, I loved the true friendship. No matter how much Gretchen hurts Abby, or how much trouble she gets into while trying to help, Abby never gives up.

She's terrified, but doesn't give up. She's facing the wrong side of the law, but still doesn't give up. She pushes to the very end, and that was selfless and brave and awesome!

All the 1980's references were very well written into the story, and so very familiar. I especially got a kick out of the music, E.T. and My Sweet Audrina. Oh, and the demon mythology is definitely strong in this one. There's mention of a bunch of occult stuff I've researched myself.

And man, I can't write a review without focusing on that super creepy and perfect 80's-style cover. Or the special features added throughout the book.


Monday 22 August 2016

WINK POPPY MIDNIGHT by April Genevieve Tucholke


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My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've wanted to read this book for a while. So when my daughter put in a request with our local library and they got it, I couldn't wait to get stuck into it.

And wow... I loved it! So much.

The writing style is beautiful and wraps around you like a warm blanket. But this blanket isn't comforting. It contains many dark and hidden things, plus lies and stories that make it hard to tell what's true and what's not. There are so many stories within the story that I couldn't help but get swept up in the magic of it all.

Don't get me wrong, though. There might be magical elements to this story, but ultimately it's a contemporary YA story about what happens during one fateful summer.

Told in the alternating POV of two girls--Poppy and Wink--and one boy--Midnight--we get intimate details about each character.

Midnight has been in love with Poppy for years, but she constantly uses him. No matter how physical they get there's still a distance between them. Poppy has secretly been love with one of the Bell kids but Leaf never had time for her, and now he's gone. Wink is peculiar and cute, a girl who loves her family but is always lost in a world of fairy tale stories she tries to apply to real life. When Midnight moves away with his dad to an old house across from the Bell farm, he thinks he's getting away from Poppy. But no one gets away from her until she's ready.

This book is enchanting. I loved the weird and fantastical way this story was told. I enjoyed the three POVs a lot! And the small twists are really exciting too.

Yeah. This book is amazing and I will definitely be buying a copy!

Thursday 18 August 2016

MY FAVOURITE MANSON GIRL by Alison Umminger

Anna has had a miserable year. Everything feels wrong with her life. And rather than stay and face the mess, she steals a credit card and books herself a seat on the first flight out of town to Los Angeles, to crash with her sister. But soon after she lands, cold reality soon dawns on her: Hollywood isn't the escape she needs. She is trapped in a town full of lost souls and wannabes, with no friends, no cash and no return ticket.

When she's offered a job researching the murderous Manson girls for a dubious film, she reluctantly accepts - she needs the money. But soon enough, among the fake smiles and glitter-fuelled parties, things turn from strange, to dark, to dangerous . . .

This is not going to be the summer Anna had in mind.


This is a book that I wanted to read since the moment I heard about it. And thanks to Hachette Australia, I received a lovely hardback copy. :)

Anna is a troubled teen. After things get really messy back home and she can't put up with her 'crazy' mother and 'mean' stepmother, she steals her stepmum's credit card and flies to Los Angeles. She just wants to get away from Atlanta, and luckily has an older sister waiting there.

That's when her mother drops a bombshell on them, and tells Anna to stay with her sister (Delia) all summer.

Delia is an actress. She has as many secrets as she tells lies. Yet she seems to have a steady stream of B-grade roles and a nice apartment on the Hollywood Hills. She also has a really nice scriptwriter boyfriend (Dex) and an ex (Roger) who keeps pulling her back into his life with the lure of the next breakthrough project.

Anna's life might suck, but at least she gets paid by Roger to read a bunch of creepy Manson family books. She becomes fascinated and disgusted by the Manson girls, and saddened about the victims. So much it starts freaking her out. She also gets to hang out with Dex on the set of a corny but popular TV show. A show starring the Taylor twins: two hotties around her age.

The longer Anna spends in Tinseltown, the more she realises that this isn't just the city where dreams come true. It's also where they go to die...

Well, this book is heavy on just about everything. But in the best way possible! I loved Anna. She was troubled but, more than that, I think she was misunderstood and ignored by the people who mattered most--her parents. Her divorced parents have their own lives and problems to deal with, and she usually winds up taking the backseat to everyone/everything else.

The parallels between most of the Manson girl origins and her current situation are eerie, but definitely there. I liked how she shared the research information about those crazy lost girls, but it wasn't glorified, and she wasn't obsessed with them in a damaging way.

I also really liked the way she described LA. This wasn't about the glitzy side where famous people are perfect and successful. She saw the darker more realistic side, where writers and actors struggle every single day to stay afloat. Or even manage to have enough jobs lined up, but always remain in the shadows of the Hollywood we all think we know.

There's so much to like in this book! Especially Anna's snarky and honest voice, Delia's fabricated existence, and all the other characters who turn this story into a weird and wonderful experience. I also really liked the writing style.

My Favourite Manson Girl is so much better than I expected. It's an awesome adventure through the darker spaces of a place usually portrayed as fabulous. It's also one girl's summer of discovery and learning more about herself than she ever thought. Not to mention a great family drama! And there's even a touch of very unconventional romance. The focus never sways from Anna's self-discovery and self-acceptance. 

This book might be primarily about Anna, but it's also about girls not wanting to lose themselves even when they get swept up in an uncontrollable swelling tide of expectation and disappointment.

I loved everything about this book.


My Favourite Manson Girl, June 2016, ISBN 9781472150851, Atom

Monday 15 August 2016

Distractions & Updating & Stuff

Last week I blogged about all the things I wanted to do. All the plans I wanted to make. All the ideas I wanted to sort through. But I didn't do even half of what I intended. O.o

Why? Because I found myself distracted by other (still related) things.

Every time I planned to do one thing, it led to another. I'd fallen behind on updating my files and photos. So instead of moving forward, I wound up catching up. I tidied up my (YA WIP inspiration) cluttered desktop. I uploaded and sorted three months worth of photos. Yep. That's right. I was so behind. Then I made the last (few) changes my YA novel needed, and took care of an unexpected opportunity.

There was a lot of admin I needed to sort through too. And I finished reading one very awesome book and DNFd another.

Not to mention that I spent most of the week catching up on the washing (because it rained the week before) and took care of all the other day-to-day stuff that needs doing. It's never ending. And time slipped away too quickly.

Anyway. That was last week.

If I want to get serious about crossing the last bits off my to-do list, this week has to be more structured. I'm going have to set daily goals so I can get everything done. I don't have any actual deadlines, but self-imposed goals always keep me moving.

Right now my head is cluttered with a jumble of ideas and thoughts. If I get everything down on paper and make an actual plan to tackle all the things at different times, then I might actually be able to accomplish stuff. Maybe. LOL.

By concentrating on what I want to achieve each day, I can then reward myself with reading. Because, you know, the reading never stops. :P

I find winter makes me a little sluggish. Not just physically but also mentally. The cold weather and shorter days can become a drag and time slips away before I get everything done. The good thing is that spring is almost here, so I want to concentrate on getting motivated and tackling all the stuff I want to do.

So, wish me luck.

Have a great week!

Sunday 14 August 2016

THE MEMORY BOOK by Lara Avery

Samantha McCoy has it all mapped out. First she's going to win the national debating championship, then she's going to move to New York and become a human rights lawyer.

But when Sam discovers that a rare disease is going to take away her memory, the future she'd planned so perfectly is derailed before its started.

Realising that her life won't wait to be lived, Sam sets out on a summer of firsts.

The first party.

The first rebellion.

The first friendship.

The last love.


This book caught my eye a few months ago, and thanks to Hachette Australia I was lucky enough to receive a review copy. BTW, isn't the cover totally awesome? I'm a fan of sticky notes, so I love what they did. Very creative.

Anyway, let's talk about this amazing book.

Samantha McCoy is a studious eighteen year old with a bright future. She's about to become valedictorian, has been accepted into NYU and kicks butt on the debate team. Sammie always does the right thing, has spent the last four years studying like a fiend, and is determined to become a human rights lawyer. She pretty much has everything figured out.

Until a disease gets in the way. Niemann-Pick is rare, but once diagnosed moves quickly.

Now Sammie's memory is threatened, which pretty much means all of her plans are at risk. She's determined to keep living her life with her family and looks forward to finishing what's left of high school. When she forgets what she's doing in the middle of the national debate championship, she not only realises that she's really not okay, but also ruins the one friendship she's really got.

Accepting that her brain and body could fail her at any moment makes life a scarier concept. It also forces her to step away from the books and actually live. Especially since she's finally caught the eye of her longtime crush. Spending time with Stuart is even better than she imagined, and if she doesn't tell him what's going on, Sammie might lose him too.

With so much to lose, Sammie decides to enjoy life to the fullest. And when she does, she reconnects with a childhood friend. She also learns a lot about herself along the way. Now only this cruel disease can stop her...

Wow. OMG. This book is a lot of things. Cute and clever. Wonderful and sad. Unique and intriguing. Amazing and devastating. Powerful and heartbreaking. Fun and interesting. Yeah, I could keep going but I'm sure you get the picture. For every positive, there's a negative waiting.

Told in the form of a .doc file on Sammie's laptop, she writes to Future Sam so she won't forget everything that's important. It's also an effective way of taking the reader along for the ride, to share her highs and lows as they happen. And to really understand how this awful disease is stealing her mind.

The Memory Book is a very emotional story, and Sammie's voice hooked me in right away. It's one girl's fight to remain herself while her body intends to strip everything away from her. It's a very well written book about strength, pain and never giving up. About overcoming life's obstacles and rolling with the punches even if they keep coming. But most of all, it's a beautiful story that worms its way into your heart and tears you apart.

And that ending... :(

I seriously loved this book. Even if it made me cry.

The Memory Book, July 2016, ISBN 9781784299248, Quercus Children's Books

Thursday 11 August 2016

NIGHT SHIFT by Charlaine Harris


Welcome to Midnight, Texas. 

At Midnight's local pawnshop, weapons are flying off the shelves-only to be used in sudden and dramatic suicides right at the main crossroads in town. 

Who better to figure out why blood is being spilled than the vampire Lemuel, who, while translating mysterious texts, discovers what makes Midnight the town it is. There's a reason why witches and werewolves, killers and psychics, have been drawn to this place. 

And now they must come together to stop the bloodshed in the heart of Midnight. For if all hell breaks loose-which just might happen-it will put the secretive town on the map, where no one wants it to be...


I really enjoyed Midnight Crossroad and Day Shift, so I was super excited about reading the final book in the Midnight, Texas trilogy.

Midnight is a very small town located in Texas. The residents aren't like other people. They're all used to seeing strange things, supernatural creatures and even weirder situations. However, when seemingly random people start showing up in Midnight to buy weapons from the local pawnshop or 'witchy' store and kill themselves at the crossroads, even they realise something awful is on the horizon.

The local vampire, Lemuel is convinced something evil lurks beneath the crossroads and he's got an ancient text that might just reveal the information needed. But it's in an obscure language he doesn't fully understand, and the translation is slow. Finding another vampire able to do the task faster sounds like a great idea, but is filled with more danger than expected. 

Meanwhile, his partner Olivia is dealing with past demons that refuse to leave her alone. Bobo is unintentionally ruining a good friendship and the possibility of love. Manfred somehow becomes the designated resident trying to stop the suicides. Diederik is now a young man eager to learn more about his heritage. His father Quinn has returned to Midnight and has his eye on someone local. Joe and Chuy are still helpful and ready to protect when needed. The Rev is, well, the Rev. The Reed family is under suspicion. And there's a new resident working the Gas N Go. A mysterious man who might just have some of the answers they need to defeat an evil threat.

And Fiji? She's got a lot on her plate. Dealing with her estranged and deadbeat sister, trying to accept that Bobo is never going to see her as more than a friend, using her magic whenever needed, and hearing a voice whispering inside her head. Being a witch puts her in the middle of what's happening to Midnight, and she might be the one who has to sacrifice the most in order to stop whatever is trying to surface...

I loved this book! I loved this trilogy! It was fun and full of mystery, intrigue and danger. The way supernatural creatures are sprinkled into an otherwise mundane town works very well in the Midnight, Texas trilogy. And of course, I always get a kick out of the array of characters taken from the Sookie Stackhouse, Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Harper Connelly and Lily Bard Mystery series. It's awesome to see how well they all fit together and with the new characters.

Night Shift is a very satisfying end to a wonderful trilogy. It's full of secrets and a mystery that reveals a very unexpected dark threat. There's something really simple--yet magical--about the way Charlaine Harris tells a story. Everyone seems so ordinary and appear to lead such average lives, but as the story moves along, they all break out and shine in their own way. I've always loved that about her writing. 

I'm happy with this trilogy, but also sad to see it end. BUT, I especially can't wait to see what's next for this awesome author. :)


Night Shift, May 2016, ISBN 9780575092938, Gollancz

Tuesday 9 August 2016

Thoughts & Ideas & Stuff

I know it's technically Tuesday, but this pic is still relevant. :)

You might have noticed that I've been MIA for a while, but there's been a lot of stuff going on. I kept thinking about popping over, but then ran out of time. LOL. There's just not enough time in the day! :/

Anyway, the last few weeks have included a lot of adulting. The financial year is over so we filed our taxes and followed up all the other stuff involved with that. Not to mention that we finally had a plumber come over to fix our leaky shower taps, which led to what seemed to be more problems. Until a few tests revealed what appears to be a simpler issue. Phew!

Last week was awful: rainy and cold. So I wasn't feeling the best. I spent the week going through some of my TBR pile and dreaming about ideas.

I managed to read two library books (one I really enjoyed, the other was okay), two review books (one I loved, the other I didn't) and also ended up skimming/DNFing two review books because I just couldn't get into them. That happens sometimes.

The dreaming/thinking about story ideas is something that has carried into this week. My head is full of snippets and images and characters and situations that I look forward to (hopefully) turning into stories. The problem is that everything keeps swirling around inside my mind and wants to be written at the same time. But of course, I can't do that...

So what I really need to do is to write everything down. As well as come up with some sort of writing plan. Yep. That's gotta happen, and I'm actually looking forward to it. :D

I also plan to write a synopsis for my 1980's YA novel and finalise all the files, pics, etc. My daughter actually read it and gave me some cool feedback. She enjoyed it--was shocked by some of what happened, liked the characters, and even shed a few tears. As her mum, I don't like making her sad, but as a writer, it was quite a reaction! I'm glad my little book made such an emotional impact.

Yeah, wicked writer, right? ;)

We also binged on STRANGER THINGS, which was an amazing show filled with fantastic characters, creepy situations and totally captured the 80's. Oh, and we finished the final season of PENNY DREADFUL. Such a bittersweet ending to a complex and brilliantly dark show. Loved it! Loved both of them.

Well, that's about it.

I better go and do some of that stuff I mentioned above...

Saturday 6 August 2016

BLACK by Fleur Ferris


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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I borrowed this book from the library because I'd been hearing some really good things about it on Twitter. As soon as I started, I was hooked!

Ebony Marshall lives in a small town called Dainsfield. Most people call her Black. Oh, and she's not exactly popular because most of her friends end up dying. So people say she's cursed, and she stays away from friendships. When someone actually asks her to the formal and he ends up in the hospital, even she starts to wonder if she is.

But at the heart of her 'curse' are some shady figures who will do whatever it takes to make sure that Black's possessed status is brought to an end. No matter what.

Like I said above, I was instantly hooked. I loved Black's voice, attitude and plight. The more I got to know her, the more I liked her and hoped that she would make it out of the horrible ordeal unscathed.

The writing is nice, the story great, and the characters interesting. I enjoyed this book. A lot. The only thing I didn't enjoy were the last three chapters. They felt a bit rushed, almost like they didn't fit with the rest of the book. I don't know what it was, but they threw me out of a narrative that I'd been totally engrossed by until Chapter Twenty-Six.

I know that sounds weird, but it's just a shame because other than that, I really enjoyed Black's story. :)



Friday 5 August 2016

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London's West End on 30th July 2016. 

 It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children. 

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.



Okay. Let me start by saying that I absolutely adored the Harry Potter series, so I was curious about this latest installment.

Harry Potter is all grown up and working for the Ministry of Magic. He's married to Ginny Weasley and they have three great kids. Well, one of them isn't so great. Albus is a bit of a troubled kid. He resents his father, is a total brat and becomes obsessed with changing the past. His best friend is Scorpius, who happens to be Draco Malfoy's son. Actually, this friendship is probably the most positive thing about Albus.

Messing around with the past is dangerous, and things are certainly going to get bad before they get better. So Harry, his son and a bunch of familiar faces have to come to terms with a darkness they have already defeated...

Um. Okay. I'm really torn about this. I started this story with so much enthusiasm. I was excited, ready to see where this would lead and hoped it would feel like a Harry story with a new twist. But the more I read, the more I realised that wasn't going to happen. My interest started to fade, until I realised what the problem was. This story wasn't necessary. Seriously, it wasn't.

My biggest gripes are Albus and the revisiting of past events. I couldn't stand Albus. He was snotty and arrogant, so full of himself. He went beyond being a difficult teenager and became annoying. And the past should have been left in the past, because that particular facet of the story turned a fresh idea into a very formulaic, predictable fan-fictionesque experience. (BTW, I'm pretty sure there's probably way better HP fanfic out there.)

I did enjoy catching up with familiar characters, liked the different format, and adored Scorpius. He was so cute and kind, such a shining star in a story that continued to dull.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is an interesting concept, but it didn't feel like a Harry Potter story. It just didn't work for me. I think this will probably work better in the way it was supposed to be experienced: as a play. There is definitely something vital lost in translation.

In the end, this book looks lovely but it didn't captivate me in the same way as the original series. Instead, it felt like a poor quality carbon copy of the original books.

I just don't understand why the whole story deals with looking back instead of forward. We already know what happened in the past, and tampering with it isn't a good thing. :/


Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One & Two (Special Rehearsal Edition), July 2016, ISBN 9780751565355, Little, Brown

Wednesday 3 August 2016

THE LAST GOOD DAY OF THE YEAR by Jessica Warman

The Last Good Day of the Year
In the early hours of New Year's Day, seven-year-old Samantha and her next door neighbor, Remy, watched as a man broke into Sam's home and lifted her younger sister, Turtle, from her sleeping bag, taking her away forever. Remy and Sam, too afraid to intervene at the time, later identified the man as Sam's sister Gretchen's much older ex-boyfriend, Steven, who is sent to prison for Turtle's murder. 

Ten years later, Sam's shattered family returns to her childhood home in an effort to heal. As long-buried memories begin to surface, Sam wonders if she and Remy accurately registered everything they saw. The more they re-examine the events of that fateful night, the more questions they discover about what really happened to Turtle. 


I received this book from Bloomsbury Australia and didn't know anything about it. But the cover looked creepy, I really enjoyed Between and I love a good thriller.

Samantha lives in Pennsylvania with her parents and two sisters. Gretchen is older and Turtle is younger. She also has a best friend called Remy, who happens to live next door. Most of the families on the street know each other and are busy celebrating New Year's Eve when disaster strikes.

In the early hours of New Year's Day 1986, Samantha, Remy and Turtle were sleeping in the basement while their parents partied the night away upstairs. This was also the night when something terrible happened. Turtle was taken by a man wearing a Santa outfit.

The worst thing was that both Sam and Remy were awake when it happened. They saw the man but were too scared to move or scream, so they didn't make a sound. Even when they eventually got the courage to run upstairs to tell their parents, they were still scared and confused.

Turtle was gone, vanished. She was taken and never found. Not after searching for her everywhere. Not even after both Sam and Remy pointed a finger at Gretchen's older boyfriend. Steve went to jail, even though he insisted he didn't take Turtle.

Ten years later, Sam and her family have come back to live in the house where all of their lives were ruined forever. Remy is all grown up but detached. Gretchen has mysteriously returned to help an old friend. Sam's mother has a new little girl to take care of. And Sam? Well, she's now starting to remember things. Details and situations that made no sense as a kid, start to become clearer as a teenager. And she starts to wonder just how reliable her memories are, or how many she misread. But is that enough to find out exactly what happened to Turtle?

As soon as I started reading this book, I was pretty much hooked. At first, I just wanted to find out what happened to little Turtle that cold winter's night. But instead, I became engrossed in what happened to the ones left behind. The family who never got the answers they needed. The girl who feels guilty for what happened to the little sister she used to ignore. Even the family of the man accused of hurting Turtle.

Told in the POV of Sam while in 1986 and then 1996, there's also some transcripts and excerpts taken from Forty-Eight Minutes of Doubt, a true crime book written by the author Davis Gordon about the events. As it all unfolds on the page several things become clear: the initial investigation was botched by the local police and kids aren't always the most reliable witnesses.

The Last Good Day of the Year is an intriguing and fascinating page-turner of a story. It kept me guessing all the way through, and the pieces even helped a theory form in my own mind. The conclusion is both shocking and devastating. But even more than that, it's the really sad story of what child abduction does to a family. How it tears each individual into unrecognisable pieces while simultaneously destroying families and communities. And the not knowing makes it all that much worse. Makes the pain impossible to run away from.

This book wasn't just entertaining, it was a fictional study of the horrible situations that some people go through in real life. Although that gives it an edge of discomfort, it also makes it a great book!


The Last Good Day of the Year, July 2016, ISBN 9780802736635, Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Monday 1 August 2016

MOTH GIRLS by Anne Cassidy


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My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I actually found out about this book on Goodreads. And since I like a good thriller and really enjoyed The Murder Notebooks by Anne Cassidy, I was happy when I found a copy in the local library.

It's been five years since Mandy's two friends--Petra and Tina--went into a dilapidated house and never came out. The girls have been missing since, and Mandy has been hounded by guilt. She's even imagined seeing one of them.

As she starts to think about it more and now can't stay away from the site of their disappearance, she soon finds out the sinister truth about what really happened to the Moth Girls.

This story started out well enough, drew me right in. But it didn't take long for me to start pulling away from Mandy. I just couldn't get into her voice. Luckily, there's another POV and it's a really short book, otherwise I would've put it aside.

This was just okay for me. It's well written and reveals an interesting mystery, but is missing the tense, creepy factor that usually hooks me in. :/

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