Book review: Way Down Dark (The Australia Trilogy #1) by James Smythe

My edition: Paperback, published on 2 July 2015 by Hodder & Stoughton, 288 pages.

Description: There's one truth on Australia: You fight or you die. Usually both.

Seventeen-year-old Chan's ancestors left a dying Earth hundreds of years ago, in search of a new home. They never found one.

The only life that Chan's ever known is one of violence, of fighting. Of trying to survive.

But there might be a way to escape. In order to find it, Chan must head way down into the darkness - a place of buried secrets, long-forgotten lies, and the abandoned bodies of the dead.


Rating:

Star for a Day: Matilda Itinerary

Hotel Direct is currently running a fantastic competition where bloggers have the opportunity to win a brilliant day in London by planning the perfect time out for a current West End character. As an avid reader with somewhat of a sweet tooth, the logical character for me was... Roald Dahl's Matilda!

The day out I have planned for her includes a macaroon making class (day time activity), Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea (pre-show activity), a visit to Matilda the Musical, and finally a trip into wonderland at Alice's Adventure's Underground (post-show activity).

About the itinerary:

Matilda is a sweet little girl, but her parents have mistreated her since the day she was born. So when she meets the lovely Miss Honey at her new school, the young teacher immediately wants to do something nice for her amazingly clever student; she plans a fun Saturday out for the two of them in London!

They start out with a macaroon making class at L'Atelier des Chefs in the morning, which suits both their sweet tooths and is a great way of bonding as they work together to create the beautiful colourful treats.

Having worked up an appetite but wanting to save their scrumptious creations until Monday, to share with the rest of the class, the two head for the Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea at Sanderson London, because Miss Honey knows that Alice in Wonderland is Matilda's very favourite novel (she has read it at least 17 times).


Matilda and Miss Honey enjoying some afternoon tea...
After they have filled their tummies with tea and cake, the two head off to the matinee performance of Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre to watch all their friends sing the amazingly clever songs by Tim Minchin and cheer when they defeat the evil Miss Trunchbull. 

They finish their wonderful day by a tumble into the fantastical Alice's Adventures Underground. It's located in the vaults underneath Waterloo Station, and after the Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea it is the perfect bookish ending to their magical day in London.

Book review: The Good Girls by Sara Shepard

My edition: Paperback, published on 2 July 2015 by Hot Key Books, 288 pages.

Description: Mackenzie, Ava, Caitlin, Julie, and Parker have done some not-so-perfect things.

Even though they all talked about killing rich bully Nolan Hotchkiss, they didn't actually go through with it. It's just a coincidence that Nolan died in exactly the way they planned . . . right?

Except Nolan wasn't the only one they fantasized about killing. When someone else they named dies, the girls wonder if they're being framed.

Or are they about to become the killer's next targets?

Rating:

Book review: Paperweight by Meg Haston

My edition: Paperback, to be published on 2 July 2015 by Hot Key Books, 285 pages.

Description: Struggling to deal with her brother's death and a past she refuses to confront, Stevie knows she has problems. But she's still furious about the fact that she's been packed off to a health clinic, in the middle of nowhere, where mobile phones are banned and communication with the outside world is strictly by permission only.

The regimented and obtrusive nature of the clinic and its staff is torture to the deeply private, obstinate Stevie - and don't even get her started on the other 'inmates'. All she wants is to be left alone...

But as Stevie is about to find out, life is full of surprises. And she will prove herself stronger than she knows - even when her past finally catches her up in the most shocking and brutal way possible.

Rating:

Book review: Only We Know by Simon Packham

My edition: Paperback, published on 4 June 2015 by Piccadilly Press, 229 pages.

Description: What is the secret of Lauren's past?

Lauren's family have moved house very suddenly, and she and her sister Tilda have to go to a new school. Lauren's determined to reinvent herself, but she's panic-stricken when she sees Harry, who she knew a few years ago. Luckily Harry doesn't recognise her, and she knows she has to make sure it stays like that.

Lauren, unlike Tilda, settles in well. She makes friends, is helping to organise the school fashion show, and has boys asking her out. But just as her life finally seems to be looking up she starts receiving macabre packages. When she gets a message: 'Isn't it time your new friends knew all about you?' she has to admit that someone knows her secret. But who - and what should she do?

Rating:

Theatre review: Miss Saigon

I had the profound pleasure of reviewing the 25th anniversary production of Cameron Mackintosh's Miss Saigon when it opened in the West End last year, which was a truly epic introduction to this magnificent show. So when I was offered the opportunity to watch the tremendous musical once more, now with a partly new cast, I of course couldn't say 'no'!

Theatre review: The Liberty Tree at The Cockpit Theatre

©Nick Spratling

Rosa is a call centre worker and after a particularly bad day at work - the new owners have taken away their employees' bonuses and put them on zero-hour contracts, and the one person who protests the new regime is instantly suspended - she goes to bed only to wake up in the Land-of-Do-As-You're-Told; a magical place where she meets a colourful cast of characters while she's following a road to the liberty tree, a legend which can supposedly save them all.

Book review: The Looking Glass House by Vanessa Tait

My edition: Paperback (proof), to be published on 2 July 2015 by Corvus, 298 pages.

Description: Oxford, 1862. As Mary Prickett takes up her post as governess to the daughters of the Dean of Christ Church, she is thrust into a strange new world. Mary is poor and plain and desperate for change but the little girls in her care see and understand far more than their naive new teacher. And there is another problem: Mary does not like children, especially the precocious Alice Liddell.

When Mary meets Charles Dodgson, the Christ Church mathematics tutor, at a party at the Deanery, she wonders if he may be the person to transform her life. Flattered by his attentions, Mary begins to believe that she could be more than just an overlooked, dowdy governess.

One sunny day, as Mary chaperones the Liddells on a punting trip, Mr Dodgson tells the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But Mary is determined to become Mr Dodgson's muse ­ and will turn all the lives around her topsy-turvy in pursuit of her obsession.

Rating:

Book review: My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman

My edition: Hardback, published on 4 June 2015 by Sceptre Books, 320 pages.

Description: Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy. Standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus-crazy. She is also Elsa's best, and only, friend. At night Elsa runs to her grandmother's stories, to the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas. There, everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

So when Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has hurt, it marks the beginning of Elsa's greatest adventure. Her grandmother's letters lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and totally ordinary old crones-but also to the truth about fairytales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

Rating:

Book review: Lost & Found by Brooke Davis

My edition: Paperback (proof), published on 29 January 2015 by Hutchinson, 289 pages.

Description: Millie Bird is a seven-year-old girl who always wears red wellington boots to match her red, curly hair. But one day, Millie’s mum leaves her alone beneath the Ginormous Women’s underwear rack in a department store, and doesn’t come back.

Agatha Pantha is an eighty-two-year-old woman who hasn’t left her home since her husband died. Instead, she fills the silence by yelling at passers-by, watching loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily schedule. Until the day Agatha spies a little girl across the street.

Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven years old and once typed love letters with his fingers on to his wife’s skin. He sits in a nursing home, knowing that somehow he must find a way for life to begin again. In a moment of clarity and joy, he escapes.

Together, Millie, Agatha and Karl set out to find Millie’s mum. Along the way, they will discover that the young can be wise, that old age is not the same as death, and that breaking the rules once in a while might just be the key to a happy life.

Rating: