When Otilla runs away, she travels through a dense forest before coming across a house that looks abandoned. When she knocks on the door, Otilla discovers the house is inhabited after all.
Otilla looked up to where the voice had come from. In a window above the door, she saw a skull looking at her.
By a skull that is haunted by a secret.
I’m not quite sure how Otilla managed to get the fire hot enough for one of its purposes. I want to know why Otilla ran away and need to invent more of a backstory for the skull because my macabre-o-meter needs more juice.
This is a beautiful book. A retelling of a Tyrolean folktale, it’s such an odd little story and I have no idea yet if I will fall in love with it during a reread or if the question marks are going to remain above my head.
What I’m absolutely certain of is that I loved the dance and the masks. I adored the quirky illustrations.
I really enjoyed the author’s note, where they explain how this retelling came about.
Thank you so much to Walker Books for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both? Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit – with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author’s note – The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding.
How to Train Your Dragon was first published in 2003, when I was too old to read children’s books. This twentieth anniversary edition finds me when I’m old enough to appreciate children’s books anew. I may be one of the only people on the planet who has never read How to Train Your Dragon or watched the movies or the TV series. Until now.
I was not a natural at the Heroism business. I had to work at it. This is the story of becoming a Hero the Hard Way.
I don’t know that it’s wise to call a Viking a sweetheart but that’s the first word I think of when I think of secret Dragonwatcher Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third.
Ten and a half year old Hiccup is the son of the Chief of the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans and the tribe is expecting big things from him. Only, Hiccup isn’t like other Vikings.
‘You can’t put Hiccup in charge, sir, he’s USELESS.’
Hiccup is hoping to prove himself useful by passing the Dragon Initiation Programme. Considering the alternative is exile, let’s cheer him on.
First, he’ll need to choose a dragon from thousands of sleeping ones, preferably without waking them all. Then he’ll need to train it. Fortunately for Hiccup, Professor Yobbish’s seminal work, How to Train Your Dragon, is included here in its entirety. That’ll help him out.
Be on the lookout for a Fiendishly Clever Plan and singing supper.
I’m most looking forward to getting to know Fishlegs better, if only because they named their dragon Horrorcow. Toothless, Hiccup’s exceptionally rare dragon, manages to steal the show.
‘I’ve often thought that that book needs a little something extra … I can’t quite put my finger on it…’
‘WORDS,’ said Hiccup. ‘That book needs a lot more words.’
Ask and you shall receive. In this twentieth anniversary edition, more words is exactly what you get. An entire new story even!
In How to Train Your Hogfly, Hiccup needs to train a Hogfly called Hellsbells to prevent a BLOOD FEUD. Hellsbells the lapdragon is just as entertaining as Toothless but for an entirely different reason.
‘That is the most untrainable dragon I have ever seen in my entire life’
No pressure, Hiccup.
The first thing I did when I finished reading this book was buy a signed copy. The second thing I did was order the next five books in the series from the library.
I fell in love with the characters. I looked forward to the next illustration. I laughed. I wished there was a kid in earshot while I was reading so I’d have a legitimate reason to read aloud.
This book is so much fun! I might be twenty years late to the party but I get it now!
For when the world needs a Hero …
… it might as well be YOU.
Thank you so much to Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
‘The world will need a Hero, and it might as well be you …’
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is a smallish Viking with a longish name.
The Hairy Hooligan tribe think he’s totally useless, but Hiccup is about to face his destiny … with one tiny dragon.Can he prove his worth and become a HERO or will he be banished from his tribe for ever?
In celebration of20 years of How to Train Your Dragon, this special commemorative edition features the original – now classic – How to Train Your Dragon story with exclusive content, including some rare Viking material (featuring Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III’s birth certificate!) and a hilarious brand new adventure called How to Train Your Hogfly starring fan favourites as well as exciting new dragons.
Fully illustrated with Cressida Cowell’s artwork, this is a MUST HAVE for anyone who grew up reading and loving How to Train Your Dragon, as well as the perfect introduction for new readers to this beloved, classic series.
“Will you run away with us? And choose your own destiny?”
A group of teenage witches go on a road trip… That’s all I needed to know to pick up this book. I was ready for the bonding that comes from shared experiences and the hope our four witches would meet some interesting people along the way.
Thrash really wants the Gift of Sight. Her mother wants Thrash to have the Gift of Glamour. This is a problem for Thrash because, in this matriarchal society, mothers get to choose which Gift their children receive. What’s a girl to do?!
Well, if you’re Thrash, this is the perfect opportunity to go on a road trip with three witches from school she barely knows. They’re on a mission to liberate the Gifts they want. They didn’t expect things to spiral this much out of control.
I was entirely on board with learning how magic works in Thrash’s world. I thought some bonding time between myself and the girls was inevitable but didn’t connect with any of the characters. There were also fewer scenes involving Thrash, Saki, Em and Cresca bonding and more with a bunch of people chasing them across the Thirteen States than I expected.
This is marketed as a body positive novel and there are some elements of that. This was offset for me by many of the characters having significant struggles with their bodies, though, including those who use magic to change their appearance.
While this was an entertaining read, I wasn’t captivated by it like I’d hoped. I’m left with quite a few unanswered questions, the most pressing of which is, did Takoda survive?
I definitely need a magical bottomless trunk to store all of my books.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sword & Rose Press for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Sixteen year old Thrash doesn’t enchant eyeliner over her lids or clear her acne with magic. She is plus-size, but she doesn’t hate what she sees in the mirror – that’s the realm of her mother, Osmarra, a slim and elegant Glamour witch. When Thrash unexpectedly breaks a mirror with her mind, she discovers she has a knack for magic and will receive one of the three sanctioned Gifts: Glamour, Growth, or Sight. The only problem is that mothers choose the Gifts, and Osmarra is convinced that the Gift of Glamour will fix her daughter’s looks.
When Thrash fails to persuade Osmarra to accept her as she is, a trio of cool witches who call themselves The Lunes offer her an out. Their leader, fiery and charismatic Cresca, recruits Thrash for a road trip to New Salem University, where the girls plan to steal their own Gifts. As Thrash crosses the magical Thirteen States of America, Osmarra hot on her heels, she discovers bewitched diners, haunted tourist traps, and a secret about the Gifts that will change the Thirteen States forever.
In a society that fetishises youth, the prospect of ageing is, at best, daunting. At worst, it’s terrifying. Verging on superstition, society clings to the belief that if we can deny and conceal ageing by focusing solely on youth, relegating the aged to live behind closed doors (often literally), then we can deny ageing itself.
It’s all too easy to put off difficult conversations. In this book, clinical psychologist Melissa Levi makes a really good case for having conversations about ageing early and often.
This book covers what Melissa calls the three trajectories of ageing: successful ageing, normal ageing and compromised ageing. Along the way, she demystifies common reversible and chronic conditions and their treatments, highlighting that even when a condition is not treatable, there are still ways you can manage it.
I found the chapter about carers particularly helpful. Despite rounding out the book discussing the Grim Reaper, this book is surprisingly hopeful. A lot of time is spent providing information and encouraging you to have conversations with your loved ones to ensure older people are given the choices and dignity they deserve.
While readers beginning to think about ageing will find plenty of information, the stories of older people and their families were what I most looked forward to. It’s one thing to read suggestions for managing a condition but being a fly on the wall when people are applying these to their lives makes them feel more doable.
Every so often, I was reminded that I was reading a book written by a clinical psychologist. After telling a loved one you have concerns, the author invites the reader to ask questions, one of which was ‘How does this information align with your experience of how things are going?’ I don’t think I’ve ever heard a sentence like this from anyone other than a psychologist. Thankfully, the majority of the book is written in a down to earth, relatable way.
I lost count of the number of times I was referred to a specific page on the author’s website. Sometimes this is so you can access downloadable versions of information covered in the book, including checklists. Other times, though, such as in the case of sleep hygiene strategies, the only way for you to access this information is to visit the author’s website. I didn’t want to have to consistently stop reading to visit a website. I wanted the book to contain all of the information, as appendices if necessary.
When I visited the author’s website, I discovered that some of the promised information hasn’t been uploaded yet. Granted, the book was published less than two weeks before I read it but after having been annoyed by how many times I was referred to it, I expected the website to be a fount of supplemental knowledge.
There’s an index so you can easily find information about a specific topic and a list of resources (primarily Australian) you can contact for further information or support. The summaries at the end of the chapters are very helpful. I wish I’d had the opportunity to meet Melissa’s Zaida.
I learned that the losses that often come with age (loss of health, memory, friends, roles, independence) was not the loss of joy, the loss of quality of life, or the loss of one’s inextinguishable will to live.
Thank you so much to Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Do you get the sense that something’s just not quite right with Mum, Grandpa or yourself?
Does your family avoid having the big conversations about ageing?
Are you confused and overwhelmed?
You are not alone.
With over a decade of experience specialising in older people’s mental health and dementia in Australia, clinical psychologist Melissa Levi has helped more than a thousand older people, and their families, navigate the ageing journey. While every family’s story is unique, Melissa has come to know that we all share common fears and questions about ageing – the same questions that her own family had when her grandfather was diagnosed with dementia.
In We Need to Talk About Ageing, Melissa encourages us to understand that while getting older is inevitable, the experience doesn’t need to be overwhelming, or clouded with uncertainty or confusion. Melissa provides expert information on what to expect as you get older, how to identify symptoms of common medical and psychiatric conditions in later life, and, most importantly, what you can do and where to go for help.
Melissa also shares practical strategies, tips and discussion prompts, so you and your family are equipped to have the big conversations about ageing and are empowered to plan for the future. This book will help you to clarify your options, find your way through the aged-care maze, make informed, values-aligned decisions, and ultimately experience greater meaning, joy and connection.
‘It’s like Cleftwater’s got ringed about by badness – by ill luck,’ she said. ‘And at its middle is you.’
Dedicated to the women who “fell victim to the 1645-7 East Anglian witch-hunt”, this was never going to be a light read. I’m not generally drawn to historical fiction but can’t help myself where witches are concerned, probably because if I’d been born in the wrong century, it’s very likely I would have been burned at the stake.
Master Makepeace, “with his great knowledge of witches”, is on his way to Cleftwater. This is really bad news for the women of the coastal village. Having “gathered considerable evidence of their Devilish work”, Master Makepeace quickly stirs up a witch-hunt. Loyalties are tested and accusations are made.
Martha, mute since childhood, is caught in the middle. Trusted by her community as a midwife and healer, Martha is now tasked with searching the bodies of the accused for telltale signs of witchcraft.
When? When would they come for her? If they came, what then? Nothing then. She would be less than nothing. Disowned, stateless. Worse than that: she would be reinvented, made monstrous; every one of her misdeeds and defects – real or imagined – magnified a thousandfold.
God help her then. God help them all. All the taken women.
I could practically smell Cleftwater as I followed Martha but, try as I might, I didn’t form a connection with any of the characters so when the stakes were raised (not literally), I didn’t feel the danger. It was as though I was watching from a safe distance rather than being in the thick of it. The poppet’s role was not as integral to the story as I had hoped and the resistance was quieter.
I expect those who read a lot more historical fiction than I do will appreciate the research that has gone into making this story as accurate as possible. My expectations and reality were never destined to meet, though. Martha’s story was never going to fire me up like Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches did. In hindsight, it was unfair of me to expect it to.
Thank you so much to Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
East Anglia, 1645. Martha Hallybread, a midwife, healer and servant, has lived for more than four decades in her beloved coastal village of Cleftwater. Everyone knows Martha, but no one has ever heard her speak.
One morning, the peaceful atmosphere is violently shattered and Martha becomes a silent witness to a witch hunt. As a trusted member of the community, she is enlisted to search the bodies of the accused women. But whilst Martha wants to help her friends, she also harbours a dark secret.
In desperation, she revives a witching doll that she inherited from her mother, in the hope that it will bring protection. But the doll’s true powers are unknowable, the tide is turning, and time is running out …
A spellbinding and intoxicating novel inspired by true events, The Witching Tide breathes new life into history whilst holding up a mirror to the world we live in now. A story of loyalty and betrayal, fear and obsession, the impact of misogyny and the power of resistance, it is a magnificent debut from a striking new voice.
“Sooner or later you’re going to get what’s coming to you.”
Introduce me to a group of dysfunctional teenagers that go somewhere and all but one return because someone’s no longer breathing and now everyone else is a suspect, and I’m a happy camper. Add some social issue soup to the mix and I’ll be hooked. It doesn’t matter how many books along these lines I read; I just keep coming back for more.
Savana and Jesse are neighbours who’ve known one another for years. They’re friends and there is absolutely some chemistry between them so when Jesse asked her to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse, the senior class’ summer break party spot, of course she was going to go.
She didn’t expect to see someone fall out of a fourth storey window when she got there. She definitely didn’t plan on getting caught up in a murder investigation. But here we are.
I have a horrible feeling this is just the beginning.
Supplementing the narrative, which is told by Savana and Jesse, are transcripts of an audio file, interviews and text messages, as well as an email and news article.
This was a quick, entertaining read. I guessed the who but not the why.
I don’t know what it is about books like these. They feel like a guilty pleasure. I don’t expect to stop reading them anytime soon, though.
“Don’t assume you know the whole story.”
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Six friends. Five suspects. One murder.
Savana Caruso and Jesse Melo have known each other since they were kids, so when Jesse asks Savana to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse in the middle of the night, she doesn’t hesitate. But before Savana can find Jesse, she bears witness to a horrifying murder, standing helpless on the ground as a mysterious figure is pushed out of the fourth floor of the warehouse.
Six teens were there that night, and five of them are now potential suspects. With the police circling, Savana knows what will happen if the wrong person is charged, but someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the truth from coming to light.
Best friends Donna, Rae and Kat skipped school on Wednesday afternoon to traipse through the woods. Two of them returned on Saturday. One is still missing.
Donna Ramirez is a wannabe rebel. Her mother, who left when Donna was 9, now has a new family. Donna has an older brother, Jay. She lives with her father, Hector, who is fluent in Dad jokes.
Donna doesn’t remember what happened in the woods.
Tammie-Rae (Rae) Hooper is a preppy church girl and star of the athletics team. She lives with her parents and her brother, Brandon. Her parents have a list of “Forbidden Demonic Things”. It’s a long list.
They love you so long as you stay their good girl.
Rae returned from the woods screaming.
Their sweat glands have been on overdrive since they returned and they’re mighty peckish.
“Remember what we promised each other?”
Wallflower nerd Katherine (Kat) Larkin recently began wearing oversized men’s flannel shirts. She’s smart and loves Nancy Drew books.
Kat is still missing.
The story is told by each of the girls as well as Marybeth Larkin, Kat’s mother. Through them, you meet some of Little Hope’s townsfolk, including town boogeyman, Ronnie Gaskins, who murdered his parents when he was a child.
I flew through this book. I wasn’t a fan of the amount of times I read about how much weight one character had gained and the size of another’s breasts but there was a lot to love. The 90’s pop culture nostalgia. The mystery of what happened to the girls during the missing time. The squishy body horror. The newspaper articles and zine pages. Snooping in Kat’s diary. The fact that I was hooked the entire time.
If they didn’t live in a small town, Donna, Rae and Kat may not have ever become friends. If it wasn’t for newspaper club, they probably would have remained acquaintances. They reminded me of the intensity of teenage friendships: the shared experiences and the bonds that feel unbreakable.
I’m a teensy bit obsessed with the prayer to Scully, “our lady of The X-Files”.
Favourite no context quote:
“I will be the Batman of toilets.”
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Three girls went into the woods. Only two came back, covered in blood and with no memory of what happened. Or did they?
Being fifteen is tough, tougher when you live in a boring-ass small town like Little Hope, California (population 8,302) in 1996. Donna, Rae and Kat keep each other sane with the fervour of teen girl friendships, zine-making and some amateur sleuthing into the town’s most enduring mysteries: a lost gold mine, and why little Ronnie Gaskins burned his parents alive a decade ago.
Their hunt will lead them to a hidden cave from which only two of them return alive. Donna the troublemaker can’t remember anything. Rae seems to be trying to escape her memories of what happened, while her close-minded religious family presses her for answers. And Kat? Sweet, wannabe writer Kat who rebelled against her mom’s beauty pageant dreams by getting fat? She’s missing. Dead. Or terribly traumatised, out there in the woods, alone.
As the police circle and Kat’s frantic mother Marybeth starts doing some investigating of her own, Rae and Donna will have to return to the cave where they discover a secret so shattering that no-one who encounters it will ever be the same.
So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room … the last word in the title. It’s offensive. It’s awful. I hate it.
If I hadn’t told someone that yes, I was absolutely going to read a Jonas Jonasson book, my journey with this book would have ended as soon as I read that word. Because more than a year has passed since I made my bookish commitment, I moved on to reading the blurb and it intrigued me. It’s a shame, really, because I expect a lot of people won’t make it past the title.
If you do manage to put blinders on every time you come across that word, this is actually a fun read. The characters are quirky, there’s a road trip in an RV with a super fancy kitchen and there are wrongs to put right because the world is ending.
Everything felt right.
At which point nothing went as planned. It rarely does.
Johan, who the offensive word refers to, believes that’s what he is because his brother has called him that his entire life. Johan is not book smart but he’s a genius when it comes to combining ingredients in unique and apparently delectable way. I would very much like to sample his mango bread. Johan has also memorised a bunch of American movies.
Petra is convinced the sky is falling. Literally. And very soon. She has the calculations to prove it.
‘Who’s going to what now?’
‘The atmosphere. It will fall flat to the ground and the temperature will drop to 273.15 degrees below freezing. In a split second.’
‘Where?’
‘Everywhere.’
‘Indoors as well?’
Besides being a doomsday prophet, Petra is also a very big fan of flowcharts.
At 75, retired manufacturess Agnes’ hair is more violet than it used to be. Her alter ego, ‘Travelling Eklund’, has seen much more of the world than she has, although that’s about to change.
This is a book with grappa decisions, an endangered bird and unfinished cheese business. A bunch of famous people have parts to play, including Obrama, which, even though it very much looks like it, is not a typo.
Our road trip takes us to multiple countries and the impact of this found family is felt worldwide, even as they paint themselves into so many corners you begin to wonder how they can ever get out of them.
Ultimately, this book encourages you to live your life while you have the chance because you never know when a prophet’s calculations are going to be correct.
‘Isn’t now the time to embrace the world? With what little time you have left.’
Although I still hate the title, I enjoyed spending time with this unlikely trio.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and 4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Sweden, late summer of 2011. Self-taught astrophysicist Petra has calculated that the atmosphere will collapse on the 21st of September that year, around 21.20 to be more precise, bringing about the end of times.
Armed with this terrible knowledge, Petra meets Johan and Agnes, a widow of 75 who has made bank living a double life on social media as a young influencer. Together, the trio race through Europe as they plan to make the most out of the time they have left, in more ways than one.
But of course, things rarely go to plan, even the end of the world…
I’m pretty sure I think about Wally more times each day than the average adult. I blame the colleague who saw my first heat pack around my neck and helpfully pointed out that its red and white stripes reminded them of Wally. Naturally we christened my heat pack Wally immediately.
My original Wally is long gone and I have yet to find a red and white striped replacement. That hasn’t stopped every heat pack since then, regardless of colour, being called Wally. No one who knows me even refers to it as a heat pack anymore, which makes misplacing it a lot less frustrating.
“Where’s Wally?”
Here, we join Wally, Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, Woof and dastardly Odlaw in nine days out: 🐶 Doggy Day Care 🤠 The Wild, Wild West Theme Park 🐴 The Parade 🎨 The Art Gallery 🥪 A Spot of Lunch 🎵 The Musical Extravaganza 🦖 A Dino Day Out 🎥 Knights, Camera, Action! 🪩 Disco Fever
I particularly enjoyed attending the Jurassic Games.
My only quibble is with the book’s binding. I love that the scenes are large, covering two pages each. Because the spine doesn’t allow you to completely flatten the pages, though, it can be difficult to colour the middle of each scene.
At the end of the book, there’s a list of items to search for. And stickers to colour! Make sure to be on the lookout for Wally’s ice cream cone as you colour your way through the scenes. 🍦
Fun fact: Wally is also known as Waldo. Odlaw’s name makes more sense when you discover that as the “Anti-Waldo”, his name is Waldo spelled backwards.
Thank you so much to Walker Books for the hours of fun.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Pack your colouring pens and pencils for some super-exciting outings with Wally. Get ready to transform black-and-white scenes into dazzling kaleidoscopic destinations – the days out of your dreams! There are all sorts of things to search for and a page of stickers to colour in, too. Enjoy!
Schizanthus Nerd 