What have I been reading . . . ?
A round up of some books I'd like to share with you
First, I have lots of reviews and lists over on my Bookshop.org page. Do go check it out.
I had a great time speaking at the conference of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups - an organisation devoted to one of those things I am really passionate about - how to get more young people reading.
On my panel were two authors whose latest books I’m excited to share.
Maggie Blue and the White Crow - Anna Goodall
This is the next instalment following Maggie Blue and the Dark World - a dark and gripping fantasy adventure. Here Maggie is finding it tough to return to a normal life. She’s not only discovered a portal through to a terrifying other dimension in her local wood, now shapeshifters are sitting in the trees outside her house and a white crow has arrived that will not leave her side.
But Maggie is resisting any idea that her destiny is to return to the corrupt and broken world she narrowly escaped from before, a world plagued with constant darkness and wrecked with anger and greed.
I love how Anna Goodall’s fiercely dark imagination builds this beautifully written story. Anna Goodall takes us to a vividly portrayed monstrous and brutal world. War rages, evil creatures destroy and murderous moon witches fight bloody battles in this deeply thoughtful, inventive and sophisticated fantasy which contains subtle messages about our own world as Maggie is dragged back into the fight.
Once again humour is provided by everyone’s favourite one-eyed sharp-talking cat Hoagy (gotta love a fantasy with a talking cat!) and we learn more about Maggie’s ominous destiny, her mother’s mental illness, as well as who Maggie can count on as a friends, including the bright spot on the other side of the portal, Oz who can talk to the trees.
It all ramps up into a gripping action adventure and I very much look forward to the final instalment and seeing where Anna’s imagination takes Maggie next!
Fablehouse and its friendly head teacher feels like a children’s home with a difference to Heather who has learned not to get attached to people or places because either she moves on or they do.
But as Heather starts to feel at home, strange things start to happen.
This is one of those incredible books that just has everything! The orphanage lies near a portal and the everyday is about to collide with the magical when the new gang of hastily formed friends, the Roamers, stumble on The Black Knight from King Arthur’s Court, who has landed in Fablehouse from another world.
Fablehouse is being infiltrated and Heather knows it's up to her and the Roamers to decide whether they want and dive into danger and will fight to protect what they have. But first they need to learn how to trust.
Emma Norry really writes from the heart as she weaves history and fantasy. I love how she takes as a starting point post-war abandoned brown babies who feel alienated and unwanted. Yet this is a tale of how new friends become loyal and, in the way traditions of the best children’s literature, become determined to change their lives for the better.
Heather is a likeable character, prickly, yet unstoppable, but also big enough to change her mind and to learn the importance of found family, friends and fighting for what you believe in as she leads the Roamers into a wondrous adventure.
And a crime fiction round-up
I now belong to a crime writers reading group, which is a very enjoyable way to find out all the latest and best reads. After more than seven years very immersed in children’s fiction I am tempted by the idea of writing for adults . . . I have a lot of ideas but realise I have not read a lot of contemporary crime fiction. Now I am now busy making up for lost time!
Here are a few of my latest and best reads that show just how diverse and thriving the crime fiction world is. And room for everyone . . . I hope!
The Three Dahlias – Katy Watson
This was such a treat. I loved the clever idea of this story – a crime convention organised at the country home of Lettice Davenport, the celebrated creator of the 1930’s Dahlia Lively murder mysteries, thus weaving golden age murder mystery tropes very neatly into a story set in the present day.
Three actresses at the heart of the story arrive at the isolated mansion, all have played Dahlia. The convention is also the celebration of newest movie adaptation of Davenport’s books, so of course, the scene is set. Because you can’t have a wonderful, glamorous country house weekend without a murder.
I even love the author’s name – how does a crime writer manage to be called Watson? But this is such a fun, ingenious and charmingly enjoyable read with puzzles aplenty and three amateur sleuths who at first see themselves as rivals.
Murder, blackmail, clues inevitably follow and the three rival Dahlias put aside their personal and professional differences to do what they have learned from playing Dahlia and solve the murder. A proper slice of perfect golden age inspired murder mystery.
Dangerous unhealthy obsession, addiction, fame, fortune, toxic families – Erin Kelly’s twisty thriller The Skeleton Key has it all in this tense, complex, multi-layered story.
Erin Kelly often takes an unusual world as her starting point for stories and here she takes the brilliantly unusual setting based around an illustrated children’s book that’s a real-life treasure hunt. Obsessive fans are desperate to be the ones to solve the puzzles an win jewelled prizes – a hunt that has been going on for decades.
The main action surrounds the impact that such high profile success has on two families involved - the author and his oldest friend.
Lives lived under this pressure are compellingly drawn along with an impressively complex plot.
The notoriety of the book brings the media attention some members of the family crave, but also tensions. The plot see-saws, perhaps slightly unevenly in places, as the reader is witness to monstrous egos laid bare, toxic relationships bubbling for years and finally erupting and skeletons tumbling out of cupboards.
As well as an intriguing set-up, well-drawn characters are a key strength of this story of two intertwined families alive with jealousies and hidden passions; egotistical artists desperate to not only stay relevant, but come out on top.
The whole thing is a heady sensation – much as the idea of being the one to unearth a jewelled bone worth a fortune and buried under the ground for half a century.
There is so much to admire about this homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie’s bestselling book!). Set on a Cornish island where a family who don’t like each other are trapped. With such a gothic and dramatic backdrop we are ready for the action - ready for an overnight murder spree.
The characters are all well-constructed and odious, so you can sit back and enjoy the fun as they all get killed in different imaginative ways.
Action unfolds in different time periods. There are multiple reveals very close to the end which left my bookgroup reeling a little as we all had views on which bits of the many secrets worked, which we had worked out and some had us scratching our heads. But such good fun we were mostly able to suspend our disbelief. A gothic tour de force.
I try to read a good mix of books, mostly new, so here are a couple more, the first is YA (or young adult fiction) and finally I will leave you with a historical children’s adventure if I can tempt you with a few more reviews . . .
Love you to death – gina blaxill
This is a creepy, twisty thriller, which starts out with a murder but ends up being about something else just as dark!
It’s a brilliantly told page-turner which focuses on dangerous obsession, of being stalked, and how love can be misinterpreted, and also how police are pretty reluctant to do very much until something bad happens.
This is such a cleverly plotted twisty story. The main character, Mia, has managed to surround herself with some very creepy men! Gina Blaxill does a deft job of making you believe any of them could be the one secretly obsessed with her – and possibly responsible for the death of a girl who looked just like her.
Mia searches for the truth, increasingly afraid someone very close to her is wearing a mask. Plus inside, she cannot help but feel partly responsible for the actions of her stalker - has she somehow made someone behave like this and led to a death?
This is such a great thriller. It strongly highlights issues about guilt and victims feeling responsible for the actions of people who stalk them. Strong, clever and compelling stuff for teen readers.
Wendington Jones and the Missing Tree – Daniel Dockery
When tragedy strikes Wendington Jones discovers her explorer mother has left clues about the last quest she was on – to locate the mythical tree of life that can bring back the dead.
So begins a chase that will take Wendington on an epic adventure involving a long, eventful sea voyage on the SS Pembroke and peppered with imaginative chase scenes on horses, lifeboats and small planes.
Wendington’s adventure is energetic and fun, packed full of bullets and swordfights, codes and conundrums, skulduggery, spying and sabotage. Wendington is a tough survivor, a heroine who stares down peril and double-crosses at every turn without ever losing heart.
This gripping, action-packed story will appeal to those who loved Enola Holmes or Katherine Woodfine’s Taylor and Rose adventures and is full of period peril and twists aplenty.
Phew! If you read all the way to the end - thank you! I will make my reviews part of a regular round up.
And if you want to read any of them and support me - I get a small commission if you buy books using my link to Bookshop.org which also has more of my lists and reviews.