Young adult

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Reviewed by Chris Dite

Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series – a rollicking mishmash of Battle Royale and America’s Got Talent – sparked endless copycats. But the master herself has returned for this bloody, bold and resolute prequel.

Coriolanus Snow, the future President-we-love-to-hate, is just…

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Burn by Patrick Ness

Reviewed by Angela Crocombe

You never know what you will get with a new Patrick Ness novel, but you can guarantee it will be utterly unique and extraordinarily beautiful. In his latest story, Burn, Ness delves into an alternate 1950s universe where dragons…

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When It Drops by Alex Dyson

Reviewed by Kim Gruschow

Every bedroom music producer dreams of fame and when one of Caleb’s tracks goes viral after being leaked by a pesky sibling, you’d think he’d be totally delighted. Instead, he’s a wreck. The song is an emotional outpouring about a…

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The Book of Chance by Sue Whiting

Reviewed by Kealy Siryj

There is not much that twelve-year-old Chance Callahan is uncertain about. She draws a hard line between true and false, and values honesty over everything else. Chance’s mother has kept detailed diaries of their lives from the moment she was…

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Taking Down Evelyn Tait by Poppy Nwosu

Reviewed by Angela Crocombe

This novel is an engaging comedy of manners set around a blended family and a high-school friendship group. Lottie is a black-clothed heavy metal fan and school troublemaker whose best friend falls in love with her worst enemy, the school…

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How to Grow a Family Tree by Eliza Henry Jones

Reviewed by Natalie Platten

As with P is for Pearl, Eliza Henry-Jones’s latest young adult novel How to Grow a Family Tree tells the story of a seventeen-year-old girl and the emotional struggles brought on by a family in crisis. In her trademark…

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Deep Water by Sarah Epstein

Reviewed by Claire Atherfold

Sarah Epstein, the highly commended author of Small Spaces, has done it again with her new novel Deep Water. Once more we are set the challenge of untwisting a mystery.

Henry Weaver has been missing for three months…

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The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte

Reviewed by Angela Crocombe

The second novel from Melbourne author Astrid Scholte is a thrilling fantasy murder mystery that is impossible to put down. The setting is a post-climate change world which has completely flooded, leaving only a few islands remaining. Many millions died…

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Oasis by Katya de Becerra

Reviewed by Angela Crocombe

Set on an archaeological dig in the desert near Dubai, the second novel from Katya de Becerra is a supernatural thriller that will have you guessing right up until the very last page.

Alife has travelled from Melbourne with four…

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Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

Reviewed by Cindy Morris

Ollie and Will met over the summer holidays at a lake in North Carolina. Summer lovin’ happened so fast. After summer break is over, they go their separate ways. Ollie gets ghosted by Will (or perhaps he’s been abducted by…

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