Showing posts with label Australian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian. Show all posts
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Review: Good Oil by Laura Buzo
Release Date: August, 2010 Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Genre: Realistic/Contemporary Fiction
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 300
Challenge: Aussie YA Reading Challenge
Source: Bought
Blurb (from allenandunwin.com)
'Miss Amelia Hayes, welcome to The Land of Dreams
From the moment 15-year-old Amelia begins work on the checkout at Woolworths she is sunk, gone, lost...head-over-heels in love with Chris. Chris is the funny, charming man-about-Woolies, but he's 21, and the six-year difference in their ages may as well be 100.
Chris and Amelia talk about everything from Second Wave Feminism to Great Expectations and Alien but will he ever look at her in the way she wants him to? And if he does, will it be everything she hopes?
The Quickie Review
Laura Buzo has woven a beautiful story of first love and growing up all set around the aptly named Land of Dreams (Chris’ name for Woolworths or Woolies as it’s so fondly named by the Aussie public, which is a large supermarket chain in Australia
Good Oil engross you from page one with two utterly complex yet relatable characters, the shy, smart Amelia and the boisterous, fun loving Chris, both of who I adored. It’s cute, it’s bittersweet and it’s 'a little bit heartbreaking' but it’s also beautifully honest and well worth reading. Laura Buzo has made a definite impact on me and, fingers crossed, the Aussie YA literary world as well, I hope she has many more books to come.
The Full Blown Review
15 year old Amelia works at Woolworths or as her favourite fellow worker Chris calls it ‘The Land of Dreams’ and it is indeed ‘The Land of Dreams’ for Amelia who soon develops her first all consuming crush on her 21 year old co-worker which quickly and unexpectedly turns into her first love (her realization or ‘ah-ha’ moment that she’s in love with Chris happens sitting on the couch watching TV with her little sister). Unfortunately for Amelia Chris, at first, doesn’t even remotely think of Amelia that way. Both Amelia and Chris see something in each other and their friendship develops over the course of the novel, however will Chris ever be able to overcome the 6 year age gap between them to see Amelia as she wants to be seen in his eyes?
Good Oil is told in dual narratives between 15 year old Amelia and 21 year old Chris through his diary entries, I loved how we got both of their perspectives about their relationship and also what each one was feeling and how they interpreted each other at the time. I guess what amazed me with this book was that the Amelia and Chris were so well developed and real that I could relate to both of them, which often isn’t the case in many novels, I mean one sure but both, not usually.
I loved Amelia she had this childish innocence to her that we all used to have, some more than others. Reading through Amelia’s narrative gave me flash backs to my teen years, trying to navigate through the murky waters of high school whilst also trying to understand where you fit into the overall picture world. Heck I was Amelia, I was frustrated with my parents on many an occasion, just like Amelia I hated my mothers smoking with a passion always making a point that it annoyed the crap out of me and yet she still continued with it, I was dealing with pushy and loud school boys going to and from school (only I got this privilege not only on a bus but a tram and train as well), I went to a girls school that had defined social hierarchies and it’s safe to say I was not in the ‘popular’ group, the only teenage boy contact I had was with my brother who it must be said barely tolerated me, one of my best friends abruptly (like literally overnight) went gaga for boys and suddenly I was in this place feeling alone and left out of it all, ah yes the teen years, lot of angst, I remember it well.
I also understood where Chris was coming from, he’s in his last year of an arts degree and what the heck is he going to do? I could totally understood his reasons for doing an honours year because that was me 2 years ago, I mean for me finishing uni and finding a job was just too unthinkable, especially because I did a degree with not too many great job prospects so what did I go and do? A masters degree, problem solved, but this didn’t really solve anything as I finish this year and once again I’m at the crossroads Chris was at, what am I going to do when I finish? Which BTW, just like Chris, annoys the crap out of me when people ask me that question, I don’t know what I’m going to do but it will come to me eventually people! Sorry about that little rant anyway where was I oh yes Chris. What I also really love was how whilst he at first appears to the reader as this really chipper, happy go lucky guy from Amelia’s observations we learn from Chris' perspective that he feels like he’s alone, just like Amelia, and his life is a mess. It appears to Chris that everyone seems to be moving on with their lives post uni whilst he’s stuck in the same place doing the same things watching everyone passing him bye. He’s also trying to deal with his growing feelings for ‘the youngster’ which he sees as inappropriate because of their age gap even though Chris can really talk to Amelia and she makes him really think and question his previous notions of whatever subject they’re talking about. Chris also made some mistakes that annoyed me no end, there was one particular incident, why Chris, why I was asking myself but that’s what people do, they make mistakes and that’s what makes a character real. So I guess what I loved about Chris was how Laura so clearly conveyed his feelings of despair and hopelessness he had for his life, it was so well written that I really understood where he was coming from because I’ve been there and what do you know I seem to be back there again, eek!
It is also evident Laura knows her literature with sprinklings of references from The Great Gatsby to Great Expectations and The Catcher in the Rye Temple of Doom
I knew throughout the book that logically there was only one possible ending and whilst both Amelia and Chris did connect intellectually the age gap between the two was simply too big, Amelia still has a lot of growing up to do and more to experience of the world, Chris on the other hand also has a lot of growing up to do but his is different from Amelia’s because they are in completely different stages in their lives. I’ve read the word bittersweet to describe the ending and I’m of the same opinion, it is bittersweet but there is the eternal flame of hope left for the two which for me is hopefully *crosses fingers and toes* a follow up to this book, I would sell my soul for a sequel, dramatic much, me?
To be quite frank I have fallen head over heels for this book, just like Amelia did for Chris!
Rating
5 out of 5
There’s Another Book?!?
So I’m not sure if there is going to be a sequel to Good Oil (one can only hope there will be, oh please, please) but there is good news as Laura is signed to Allen & Unwin to write two young adult novels, so there is definitely another YA novel in Laura’s future! [Source]
Goodies
About the Author
Laura Buzo was born and grew up in Sydney Sydney Sydney
Buy the Book
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Review: Mercy by Rebecca Lim
Release Date: November 1, 2010 (Australia)/May 17, 2011 (US)Publisher: Angus & Robertson [imprint of HarperCollins] (Australia)/Hyperion (US)
Genre: Angels
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 280
Challenge: N/A
Source: HarperCollins Australia
Blurb (from harpercollins.com.au)
Mercy ′wakes′ on a school bus bound for Paradise, a small town where everyone knows everyone else′s business -- or thinks they do. But they will never guess the secret Mercy is hiding ....
As an angel exiled from heaven and doomed to return repeatedly to Earth, Mercy is never sure whose life and body she will share each time. And her mind is filled with the desperate pleas of her beloved, Luc, who can only approach her in her dreams.
In Paradise , Mercy meets Ryan, whose sister was kidnapped two years ago and is now presumed dead. When another girl disappears, Mercy and Ryan know they must act before time runs out. But a host of angels are out for Mercy′s blood and they won′t rest until they find her and punish her -- for a crime she doesn′t remember committing …
An electric combination of angels, mystery and romance, Mercy is the first book in a major new series.
The Quickie Review
Mercy mixes an intriguing romance with a suspenseful mystery in which Mercy, our heroine, attempts to not only discover the fate of a missing girl but also more about herself, specifically who she is exactly and why she’s been exiled from heaven and forced to return repeatedly to Earth. With utterly beautiful descriptive prose and a unique take on the angel genre, Mercy by Rebecca Lim definitely stands out from the pack of other angel themed books that are currently available.
The Full Blown Review
Mercy has no memory of why she’s forced to return repeatedly to Earth inhabiting a human females’ body for a period of time which differs for each individual. Mercy has no idea how long she will stay ‘borrowing’ a body and when she will leave that body, which isn’t by choice, it just suddenly happens and Mercy wakes up in another’s body with a vague recollection of who she inhabited previously but no information on whose body she is ‘borrowing’ now. Whist she may not understand what’s going on her dreams always come back to the illusive and intriguing Luc, an angel who tells Mercy she must not give up and continue to search for him all the while she must also look out for his eight brothers who will destroy Mercy if they find her. Now Mercy has woken up in another’s body once again, Carmen a teenager with an exceptional singing ability, and it is in this newest body she has borrowed that Mercy may just get some answers to the questions she so desperately wants to know. In the process of getting closer to answering her questions Mercy also may help a family grieving the disappearance of their daughter by attempting to solve the mystery of her disappearance, however as Mercy gets closer to the truth her life just may be in jeopardy, someone sinister is lurking around the town of Paradise and she’ll have to watch her back.
What is it about angel books at the moment, is it me or there seems to be so many coming out at the moment? I have read so many in the previous couple of months that I find I am now quite picky with which angel themed books I like and what I don’t like. That said however I am happy to alleviate all your fears and tell you all that Mercy is one angel novel I definitely enjoyed (I just finished another I did not).
I found the concept of Mercy to be both intriguing and also quite novel. I particularly liked the idea of suddenly waking up in another individual’s body with no idea whose body you are inhabiting and having to quickly adapt to your new situation. Lim managed conveyed Mercy’s adaption to her new ‘borrowed’ human life in Carmen’s body beautifully. Mercy has to act as a detective trying to piece together Carmen’s life, for instance, who are her friends and why is she in Paradise at all, whilst also trying not to alert ‘her’ friends and teachers that there’s something wrong. What struck me while reading Mercy was that as a reader I never thought of Carmen and Mercy as the same person even though they inhabit the same body as Mercy’s voice was so detached from Carmen’s body and life, they were always separate entities, never joined.
The first couple of chapters of the book definitely drew me in, however I found that towards the middle there was a lull in proceedings but things happily did pick up towards the climatic and suspenseful ending. I especially loved the first chapter which introduces the reader to Lim’s beautifully written prose, there is just something about that first chapter that I love, it draws me in every time I read it.
“There’s something very wrong with me. I can’t remember who I am or how old I am, or even how I got here. All I know is that when I wake up, I could be any age and anyone, all over again. It is always this way. If I get comfortable, I will wake one morning and everything around me will have shifted overnight. All I knew? I know no longer. And all I had? Vanished in an instant. There’s nothing I can keep with me that will stay.” - page 1
Mercy was an interesting protagonist principally due to the fact that her voice was written with such clarity and her thoughts were conveyed in such a way that I really felt for her situation and wanted to know why this had happened to her. Her voice also conveyed the fact that she was much older than her ‘borrowed’ teenage body. I found Mercy to be a confident character, who knew how to stand up for herself and Carmen, who wasn’t very good at standing up for herself. Throughout the book we have Luc telling Mercy (through her dreams) not to trust his ‘brothers’ which I went along with up until we meet one of these ‘brothers’, Uri, who in once encounter made me question my assumptions I had made about Luc, can Mercy really trust him or is Uri spinning a lie to her?
“Luc wants you for his own. He cannot be trusted. Do not allow past feeling to interfere with your judgment. Do not fall to him or all will be lost. You may not know it, will not necessarily thank us, but it has always been for you, always” - page 193
This encounter with Uri has me thinking that there will definitely be more interesting revelations to be revealed not only about Mercy but Luc and his ‘brothers’ in the next installment of the series.
Whilst Mercy is trying to come to terms with her existence she is also attempting to help Ryan find his sister Lauren who disappeared and is believed by most (except for Ryan) to be dead. Ryan is haunted by his sister’s disappearance, dropping out of school to continually follow up leads, his whole life is about finding his sister there is nothing else. He’s convinced she’s still alive as he can still ‘feel’ her presence, Lim’s reasoning for this is that both Ryan and Lauren have this kind of twin telepathy going on. Totally random thought but I just have to say I’m a twin (I have a brother) and unfortunately I have no pseudo telepathy going on, dang I’m upset I want me some telepathy! But I digress, back to the review, at first Ryan was quite hostile to Carmen/Mercy though Mercy can definitely hold her own and soon they both develop a kind of trust in each other. Their relationship however was really just limited to investigating his sister’s disappearance together, but they do bond together over it. I felt that there was no real romance between the two of them at all until towards the very end when it’s evident that they both care for each other very much. In fact there’s not much romance in the book, I do have the feeling that Mercy is in love with Luc but they only have very fleeting encounters with each other. So if you’re a real romance lover and pick Mercy up solely for the romance aspect you may be disappointed.
I found the ending to be extremely suspenseful even though I already had a pretty good idea about who the mystery abductor was (and my suspicions were proved correct). The final couple of pages were bitter sweet, I was sad for both Mercy and Ryan, all I can say is I hope we meet up with Ryan again, so bring on the sequel, I’ll definitely be reading it!
Thanks to Trish over at HarperCollins Australia
Rating
4 out of 5
There’s Another Book?!?
Yes there are two more books in the series (that I know of there could be more planned) the first of which is titled Exile and will be released sometime in April 2011 for all you Australian readers, sorry internationals I’m not sure when it will be released overseas.
Here’s what Rebecca has to say about it ….
“Mercy’s memory begins to regenerate and so do her extraordinary powers. She learns who has been punishing her and how it is done. But most importantly, she finds out why …”
I love how Mercy’s going to start remembering more about her past life, this should make for some very interesting reading, also isn’t the cover just stunning, I love it!
The third book in the series is titled Muse but that’s all I know at this stage and once again another gorgeous cover.
Goodies
* Mercy Trailer
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Review: Fury by Shirley Marr
It’s been awhile since I’ve reviewed a book, nearly two weeks I think, but fear not I am back I handed in all my assignments and now I have two weeks off uni to just to read and catch up on reviews, yay.
I’ve got reviews for Matched, Mockingjay and Return to Paradise coming up in the next week or so plus two author interviews one with Fiona Wood who wrote Six Impossible Things and the other with Kirsty Eagar author of Saltwater Vampires. I’ll also have a giveaway coming up next week so keep your eyes peeled! I hope you guys all have a great weekend, now for the review, enjoy.
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Review: Fury by Shirley Marr
Release Date: May 1, 2010
Publisher: Black Dog Books
Genre: Contemporary/Realistic Fiction
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 277
Source: Bought
Blurb (from Goodreads)
Let me tell you my story.
Not just the facts I know you want to hear.
If I’m going to tell you my story,
I’m telling it my way.
Strap yourself in...
Eliza Boans has everything.
A big house.
A great education.
A bright future.
So why is she sitting in a police station confessing to murder?
Not just the facts I know you want to hear.
If I’m going to tell you my story,
I’m telling it my way.
Strap yourself in...
Eliza Boans has everything.
A big house.
A great education.
A bright future.
So why is she sitting in a police station confessing to murder?
The Quickie Review
Impressive debut novel with murder, intrigue and a dose of bitchiness for good measure.
The Full Blown Review
Fury begins with our protagonist Eliza Boans telling us readers she is a murderer in the first sentence, yes the first sentence, amazing, if this doesn’t draw you in I don’t know what will.
“My name is Eliza Boans and I am a murder” - Page 1.
Now your probably asking what’s going to transpire in the rest of the book if you know what’s already happened, well we don’t know who she murdered or why she did it, so what follows is Eliza recounting her story, in flashbacks, of the events leading up to the murder and boy strap yourself in for a riveting ride.
Oh Eliza Boans you are a right old bitch, I couldn’t stand you at all for most of the book and yet I couldn’t put your story down, I needed to know what you were going to do next, your story was utterly compelling. So basically as you can tell I did not like the lead protagonist too much, she was terrible she had no remorse for what she did in any way. I definitely give Shirley props for writing a character who is not very likeable I mean how many books have you read like that, I for one haven’t read many at all and when I do I tend to not like the book which didn’t happen here.
Through the first couple of chapters of the book I found myself disliking Eliza more and more, on the surface here was a girl with everything she could possibly want yet she was so angry for no real reason I could determine. Then slowly as I read more and more I began to understand her a bit better that said at the end of the book I still wasn’t loving her but I didn’t dislike her as much. Whilst to someone looking in it would seem Eliza had everything, living in a huge house in an exclusive gated community, money, expensive clothes, but these are all material possessions, Eliza’s family life was basically non existent her father was absent as was her mother whose idea of making school lunch was to leave $20 in the fridge, there was no love in that house at all. One of Eliza’s redeeming qualities was her love of her friends - who were Eliza’s real family - particularly Lexi who went through something no one should go though. This incident is the driving force behind the murder so finally when the time came to reveal who was murdered I understood why Eliza did it, I mean it doesn’t justify her actions, murder is never a solution to anything no matter what happens, but from her point of view I can see why she did it.
I just have to say that the first chapter would have to be one of my all time favourite first chapters in a novel I have ever read, I was instantly drawn in, I wanted to know who Eliza murdered, but first we had to go through the events that lead up to the murder which was just as compelling as the actual chapter which described the act itself.
As the book is told from the point of view of Eliza I was never sure how believable her account of the murder and the events that lead up to it were, was she telling the truth or not? I guess we’ll never know, some things are best left to the imagination and it’s left up to the reader to decide. I’m still not sure and I read Fury nearly two weeks ago.
Out of all the characters I liked Neil, Eliza’s childhood friend, the best, he was a bit of an enigma to me, there was definitely something about him that I liked though. I don’t want to give anything away but there was this sudden bit of information we’re given that just floored me, I wasn’t expecting that at all, and I found myself really feeling sorry for Neil when I probably shouldn’t.
I also have to mention how much I loved Shirley’s writing, the way Shirley crafted Eliza’s voice was simply fabulous. I especially loved Eliza’s sarcasm I’m a huge fan of sarcasm, as my parents can attest, so anything with sarcasm always leaves me wanting more.
Basically fury is a gripping psychological read with an unlikable protagonist who is strangely compelling. I highly recommend it.
The Good
* The first sentence, amazing!
* Shirley having the chutzpah (I love that word) to write a character that was pretty unlikable
* The narrative being told in flash backs
The Not So Good
* I actually can’t think of anything
Rating
4 out of 5
Cover Notes
I just love the cover, it is so beautiful. For anyone who is interested Shirley has written a post about the rejected Fury covers with piccies, so simply click HERE to view some of the rejected cover designs. I have to say I’m glad they used the cover they did.
Goodies
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