I love goodreads. I discovered it before blogging and it was and continues to be an awesome way for me to keep tabs on my reading. I have all of my books logged on there and several shelves set up for the various things I am interested in.
I have decided to start a new feature on here about the various shelves I have set up looking at the various titles I have that coming under those categories starting with the first one being Aussie YA.
I love Aussie YA. There's something special about it that I can't quite put my finger on and I crave especially in the summer months. I have many many books on my Aussie YA goodreads shelves so I've decided to focus on just a few I adore.
Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar
Jess Gordon is out for revenge. Last year the jocks from Knights College tried to shame her best friend. This year she and a hand-picked college girl gang are going to get even. The lesson: don't mess with Unity girls. The target: Blondie, a typical Knights stud, arrogant, cold . . . and smart enough to keep up with Jess. A neo-riot grrl with a penchant for fanning the flames meets a rugby-playing sexist pig - sworn enemies or two people who happen to find each other when they're at their most vulnerable? It's all Girl meets Boy, Girl steals from Boy, seduces Boy, ties Boy to a chair and burns Boy's stuff. Just your typical love story. A searingly honest and achingly funny story about love and sex amid the hotbed of university colleges by the award-winning author of Raw Blue.
I loved this book (although I could have just as easily picked Raw Blue for this list). It's fun it's feminist and I loved the main character. It probably falls in that New Adult category being set at college (university) level rather than high school which means some of the content is a bit more adult than YA. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . . Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
I'm assuming this is a book everyone has now read as it was so huge when it came out and then the film was made. I love historical fiction set in a historical time period but isn't necessarily about the big thing that is happening during that time and is actually tells a story of its own.
Pink by Lili Wilkinson
The pink jumper was practically glowing in my grey bedroom. It was like a tiny bit of Dorothy’s Oz in boring old black-and-white Kansas. Pink was for girls. Ava Simpson is trying on a whole new image. Stripping the black dye from her hair, she heads off to the Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence, leaving her uber-cool girlfriend, Chloe, behind. Ava is quickly taken under the wing of perky, popular Alexis who insists that: a) she’s a perfect match for handsome Ethan; and b) she absolutely must audition for the school musical. But while she’s busy trying to fit in — with Chloe, with Alexis and her Pastel friends, even with the misfits in the stage crew — Ava fails to notice that her shiny reinvented life is far more fragile than she imagined. Debut author Wikinson takes a lighthearted but timely and resonant look at a teen's attempts to don a new personality and figure out who she really wants to be.
I read this whilst stuck staying in the smallest sweatiest room ever whilst on a school residential and I think it was the only thing that kept me sane. I loved how it explored LGBT themes and how you change as you grow up and work out who you really are.
Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell
When Riley's Dad gets a new girlfriend, life turns upside down for Riley. She doesn't like Norma and Norma doesn't like her. But it is not until Riley finds herself shipped off to ‘camp' that she realises just how bad things have become. Determined to continue on her path of bad behaviour and general obnoxiousness, Riley Rose is sure that she can turn this ‘spiritual camp' upside down. And when she meets Dylan Luck, recent paraplegic, she thinks she has found a fellow troublemaker. What follows is a very surprising week for Riley. Truths are told and secrets revealed, and sex, cigarettes and booze prove to be a potent cocktail, but in the end Riley has learnt quite a lot about herself, Dylan and exactly why she appeared hell-bent on self-destruction.
Another book I read ages ago. I loved Riley. I loved that she's confident and does whatever she liked as well as being plus sized. All so often in YA characters who carry a bit more weight only have great things happen to them once they lose weight which is such a damaging message for teens. Riley doesn't care and just gets on with her life and being herself regardless.
Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James
Who is Katherine Patterson? It is a question she hopes no one can answer. To erase her past, Katherine has moved to a new city, enrolled in a new school, and even changed her name. She’s done the next best thing to disappearing altogether. Now, wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend. Even more unlikely, Katherine’s new friend is the most popular and magnetic girl in school. Extroverted, gorgeous, flirtatious, and unpredictable, she is everything that Katherine is not and doesn’t want to be: the center of attention. Yet Alice’s enthusiasm is infectious, her candor sometimes unsettling, and Katherine, in spite of her guarded caution, finds herself drawn into Alice’s private circle. But Alice has secrets, too—darker than anyone can begin to imagine. And when she lets her guard down at last, Katherine discovers the darkest of them all. For there will be no escaping the past for Katherine Patterson—only a descent into a trap far more sinister . . . and infinitely more seductive.
I don't remember much about this book except for it was a brilliant suspense thriller, super creepy and kept me guessing all the way through.
.
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him. This is my story. A letter from nowhere. Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.
I suppose this could technically be UKYA too but either way this book is awesome and stands up to rereads. Another book I read ages ago in my earlier days of reading YA and I loved it. utterly fascinating and completely compulsive reading for me.
What Aussie YA titles do you love? Are there any I should be adding to my wishlist?
I have decided to start a new feature on here about the various shelves I have set up looking at the various titles I have that coming under those categories starting with the first one being Aussie YA.
I love Aussie YA. There's something special about it that I can't quite put my finger on and I crave especially in the summer months. I have many many books on my Aussie YA goodreads shelves so I've decided to focus on just a few I adore.
Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar
Jess Gordon is out for revenge. Last year the jocks from Knights College tried to shame her best friend. This year she and a hand-picked college girl gang are going to get even. The lesson: don't mess with Unity girls. The target: Blondie, a typical Knights stud, arrogant, cold . . . and smart enough to keep up with Jess. A neo-riot grrl with a penchant for fanning the flames meets a rugby-playing sexist pig - sworn enemies or two people who happen to find each other when they're at their most vulnerable? It's all Girl meets Boy, Girl steals from Boy, seduces Boy, ties Boy to a chair and burns Boy's stuff. Just your typical love story. A searingly honest and achingly funny story about love and sex amid the hotbed of university colleges by the award-winning author of Raw Blue.
I loved this book (although I could have just as easily picked Raw Blue for this list). It's fun it's feminist and I loved the main character. It probably falls in that New Adult category being set at college (university) level rather than high school which means some of the content is a bit more adult than YA. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . . Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
I'm assuming this is a book everyone has now read as it was so huge when it came out and then the film was made. I love historical fiction set in a historical time period but isn't necessarily about the big thing that is happening during that time and is actually tells a story of its own.
Pink by Lili Wilkinson
The pink jumper was practically glowing in my grey bedroom. It was like a tiny bit of Dorothy’s Oz in boring old black-and-white Kansas. Pink was for girls. Ava Simpson is trying on a whole new image. Stripping the black dye from her hair, she heads off to the Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence, leaving her uber-cool girlfriend, Chloe, behind. Ava is quickly taken under the wing of perky, popular Alexis who insists that: a) she’s a perfect match for handsome Ethan; and b) she absolutely must audition for the school musical. But while she’s busy trying to fit in — with Chloe, with Alexis and her Pastel friends, even with the misfits in the stage crew — Ava fails to notice that her shiny reinvented life is far more fragile than she imagined. Debut author Wikinson takes a lighthearted but timely and resonant look at a teen's attempts to don a new personality and figure out who she really wants to be.
I read this whilst stuck staying in the smallest sweatiest room ever whilst on a school residential and I think it was the only thing that kept me sane. I loved how it explored LGBT themes and how you change as you grow up and work out who you really are.
Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell
When Riley's Dad gets a new girlfriend, life turns upside down for Riley. She doesn't like Norma and Norma doesn't like her. But it is not until Riley finds herself shipped off to ‘camp' that she realises just how bad things have become. Determined to continue on her path of bad behaviour and general obnoxiousness, Riley Rose is sure that she can turn this ‘spiritual camp' upside down. And when she meets Dylan Luck, recent paraplegic, she thinks she has found a fellow troublemaker. What follows is a very surprising week for Riley. Truths are told and secrets revealed, and sex, cigarettes and booze prove to be a potent cocktail, but in the end Riley has learnt quite a lot about herself, Dylan and exactly why she appeared hell-bent on self-destruction.
Another book I read ages ago. I loved Riley. I loved that she's confident and does whatever she liked as well as being plus sized. All so often in YA characters who carry a bit more weight only have great things happen to them once they lose weight which is such a damaging message for teens. Riley doesn't care and just gets on with her life and being herself regardless.
Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James
Who is Katherine Patterson? It is a question she hopes no one can answer. To erase her past, Katherine has moved to a new city, enrolled in a new school, and even changed her name. She’s done the next best thing to disappearing altogether. Now, wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend. Even more unlikely, Katherine’s new friend is the most popular and magnetic girl in school. Extroverted, gorgeous, flirtatious, and unpredictable, she is everything that Katherine is not and doesn’t want to be: the center of attention. Yet Alice’s enthusiasm is infectious, her candor sometimes unsettling, and Katherine, in spite of her guarded caution, finds herself drawn into Alice’s private circle. But Alice has secrets, too—darker than anyone can begin to imagine. And when she lets her guard down at last, Katherine discovers the darkest of them all. For there will be no escaping the past for Katherine Patterson—only a descent into a trap far more sinister . . . and infinitely more seductive.
I don't remember much about this book except for it was a brilliant suspense thriller, super creepy and kept me guessing all the way through.
.
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him. This is my story. A letter from nowhere. Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.
I suppose this could technically be UKYA too but either way this book is awesome and stands up to rereads. Another book I read ages ago in my earlier days of reading YA and I loved it. utterly fascinating and completely compulsive reading for me.
What Aussie YA titles do you love? Are there any I should be adding to my wishlist?
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