Zinnie is fiercely protective of Sadie and Nell, her sisters. Their home in Old Edinburgh is dark, dirty and underground but Zinnie is proud of it. At least she’s been able to keep her family together. She doesn’t believe the talk in the Close about the ghost.
“Can’t stay down there no more. Not with that spirit abroad. Vicious, she is. Evil.”
Arthur Conan Doyle, who is currently a medical student at the Royal Infirmary, pays Zinnie to do jobs for him. He is currently investigating a mystery that not even the local authorities have been able to solve.
“More subterfuge? How perfectly wonderful!”
I loved Zinnie. She’s headstrong, resilient and intelligent. Her loyalty to her sisters and ingenuity in finding ways to provide for them impressed me. She’s the kind of person you want on your side. I didn’t feel like I got to know Zinnie’s sisters, Sadie and Nell, that well. Although I know facts about each of them, this was really Zinnie’s story.
Along the way, Zinnie meets an explorer and doctor who are both intelligent, independent and female. I really liked the inclusion of women who were very much ahead of their time.
I’m not usually much of a fan of the inclusion of historical figures in fiction so I was initially hesitant when I encountered Arthur Conan Doyle. The author’s historical note at the end of the book helped me correlate some elements of his character with his life. I found the information about Doctor Sophia Jex-Blake particularly interesting, as I hadn’t heard of her before.
With a “terrible, cruel man” with cronies, a tortoise named Algernon, curiosities from around the world and mysteries to solve, including ’the Mystery of the Severed Ears’, this book went in a different direction than I was expecting. The prologue had me anticipating supernatural spookiness; however, the focus was more on solving mysteries and the importance of family and being there for the ones we love.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Zinnie and her sisters live in the murky tunnels beneath Edinburgh’s Old Town. They keep out of the way of the authorities and remain undetected. Until, that is, rumours of a ghost bring unwanted visitors into the caverns they call home. Among them, a young Arthur Conan Doyle, keen to investigate, and MacDuff, the shady owner of Edinburgh’s newest attraction, the House of Wonders.
Caught up in a world of intrigue and adventure, Zinnie seeks answers. But how can she discover what secrets lie in the House of Wonders while also protecting the sisters she holds so dear?
I’m sick of my mother controlling me. She’s hacked into my life for too long, insisting on her ‘It’s my way or the highway’ rules; on me having to follow her timetable, dressing the way she suggests; achieving the New Year’s resolutions she makes for me.
Mubla decides what her daughter’s New Year’s resolution is going to be each year. Fig isn’t allowed to quit or fail, even if she hates the goal her mother has chosen. This year Mubla has signed Fig up for acting lessons. Fig doesn’t want to act and the idea of being on a stage terrifies her.
Fig has had enough of her mother controlling her. She decides to make her own resolution: Fig is going to swim the world! There’s just one catch; she can’t swim. Oh, and she’s scared of swimming. And of plenty of animals that live in the water. And of being alone. And the list goes on.
Speaking of lists, Fig loves making them. She also loves maths. Both will come in handy as she plans her adventure.
“It’s as much about the mental challenge as the physical. All you need is self-belief …”
I was looking forward to following Fig’s adventure around the world and when I learned of her struggles with anxiety I was even more invested in her success. I was keen to watch her learn to manage her anxiety, striving to achieve a goal that scared her. However, the more I got to know Fig the less I liked her. She was selfish and spoilt, and she annoyed me so much. The majority of the time Fig was more concerned with getting caught than with the impact her disappearance would be having on the people who love her.
I’ve disliked the main character in other books and still enjoyed the story though, so my frustration with Fig wouldn’t have been an issue for me if it wasn’t for my inability to suspend my disbelief. I read a lot of children’s and YA books and usually don’t have a problem with this. In this instance though, I think it would have helped if I could have read Fig’s story when I was a child. Unfortunately, adult me kept getting distracted, having trouble believing Fig’s year would have transpired the way it did.
Although her parents are supposedly searching for Fig and there’s a social media campaign to find her, she manages to elude everyone for months when this should not have been the case. Why?
Fig used her mother’s credit card to finance the travel portion of her adventure. Her mother and/or the Police could have easily tracked her every step of the way. Why didn’t her mother advise her credit card company that the charges were fraudulent and cancelled them? Fig couldn’t have continued travelling all over the place if her travel reservations were cancelled. If, as her mother claimed, she knew where Fig was then why didn’t she go and bring her home immediately?
Fig uploaded photos of herself to social media along the way. Yes, her account was set to private some of the time but surely someone could have done a reverse image search, figured out her alias and found her by checking the metadata on her photographs.
This family seem to have the kind of money I could only dream of. The swimming equipment that Fig purchased with a “leftover birthday gift voucher” would be equivalent to my income for about two months. Fig doesn’t understand why her mother won’t trust her when she’s previously given her no reason not to, and I understand wanting to rebel against a controlling parent. However, the amount of money Fig must have stolen from her parents and her disregard for the morality of this decision got under my skin.
I had a particular soft spot for Jago, Fig’s younger brother. I wanted to get to know him better. I don’t know how Fig could leave Jago without really considering how her absence would affect him. I also didn’t think she was a good friend to Stella, who was supposed to be her best friend. I wish I could have spent more time with Sage and Myrtle; they were interesting enough to warrant an entire book dedicated to their lives.
Some scenes were too convenient for me and others quite predictable. It seemed awfully convenient for Fig to be seated next to an open water swimmer on a plane when she needed information and encouragement specific to this. The identity of one of the people who follows Fig on social media seemed obvious to me, yet she didn’t figure out who it was until near the end of her adventure. I expected the reveal about one of the minor characters, which happened late in the book, once the first clue was planted.
I admired Fig’s determination in facing her fears and achieving her goal, despite the anxiety she experienced, but I wanted to give her a good talking to whenever she felt the need to complain while she was doing exactly what she wanted.
I hate sailing! I’m sick of this trip!
I’ve loved all of the other books published by Little Tiger Group as much, or even more, than I expected to, so I’m really disappointed that this one didn’t work for me. If I’d managed to get out of my head early on when I was questioning the practicalities I probably would have been able to just keep swimming. Please read some other reviews before deciding if this is the book for you or not. I hope it’s a five star read for you.
Bubble, bubble, breathe.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Fig Fitzsherbert is good at a lot of things: making lists, playing the piano, advanced mathematics. But it’s never quite enough for her high-flying mother, who every New Year’s Day sets Fig an impossible resolution. So one year, Fig decides to set her own challenge instead: she’s going to swim her way round the world. There’s just one tiny problem … Fig can’t swim. Taking it one length at a time, Fig embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. But with her mother closing in, will she be able to keep her head above water and complete her challenge?
Once upon a time, almost fifty years ago, climate change and deforestation and humans ransacking everything good and beautiful, had driven our planet to breaking point. Nature was dying – plants and trees, animals, birds, insects – new species disappeared every day. But then the ReWilders created the disease.
Juniper is thirteen and her brother, Bear, is six. They aren’t like the other kids in their school. They were born in the Wild and are immune to the disease the ReWilders created.
We came from the Wild and one day we’ll go back there.
I’m a sucker for stories that feature outcasts and these siblings are some of the most loveable outcasts I’ve ever met. Juniper’s love for her brother is fierce. It’s protective. It’s unconditional. It’s the kind of love that wraps you up and keeps you warm because you know that no matter what anyone else thinks about you, this one person will always be there for you.
Their grandmother, Annie Rose, is one of the last Plant Keepers in the city. I absolutely adored Annie Rose! My brain skyrocketed into Fahrenheit 451 level anxiety when I learned this city had banned books that are even tangentially related to nature. I loved Annie Rose even more when I found out she had not only hidden forbidden books in her home, but she’d also fed the Wild to her grandchildren through their pages.
“The books you read when you’re young, they become part of you.”
After spending some time shadowing Juniper and Bear as they navigated the grey of the city, entering the green of the Wild felt wondrous. As Juniper and Bear took in their new landscape, with its colours and textures and sounds, I felt like I was rediscovering my love of nature. I could feel them breathing in cleaner air and seeing animals they’d only ever known via forbidden books coming to life before their eyes.
My heart attached itself to Ghost from the first time I saw them. I’d love to tell you all about Ghost but don’t want to ruin anything for you. Keep a piece of your heart reserved for them though. They deserve it.
This book has been on my radar for months but for a long time I didn’t think this was the right book for me right now. Between the sheer number of climate change news articles I see daily and the fact that huge chunks of Australia have been burning for the past three months, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be spending my escape from reality time thinking about it as well.
It kept nagging at me though, every time I saw positive reviews piling up. It didn’t hurt that it’s published by Little Tiger Group, one of my favourite children and YA publishers. I’m so glad I finally couldn’t help myself because my initial reasons for hesitating were unfounded. Yes, this book does deal with some big issues. Yes, it’s scary because it’s not farfetched; this could become our world if we don’t make some serious changes to the way we treat the planet. But, yes, there’s also so much love and courage and hope infused in this book.
I knew from the blurb that Juniper and Bear would leave the city at some point, yet I still cried when they did, although I’m definitely not tearing up about it now as I’m writing this review. I also didn’t tear up another time later in the book and I most certainly didn’t notice any additional water in my eyes twice during the acknowledgements. That must have been someone else.
I loved the importance of names in this book. Because Juniper’s name related to the Wild and this was a serious no no in this highly controlled environment, she was called June instead when she was at school. The name of the city’s leader was well suited to their description. Although I didn’t even wonder about its name in the beginning, when I finally learned the origin of the name of the valley where Juniper and Bear were born it had such a lovely symmetry to it. I’m going to pay much more attention to the names of people and places during my inevitable reread.
I kept wondering if the reason given to people for Portia Steel’s absence was a cover up for her having succumbed to the disease herself, or maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part. I’m also wondering what became of Annie Rose, Ms Endo and Etienne, and hoping for the best.
Kate Forrester’s cover image was what initially drew me to this book but it’s only now that I’ve finished reading it that I can appreciate all of the details that they included. I’m seeing more of the story in its design the longer I look at it.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Juniper Greene lives in a walled city from which nature has been banished, following the outbreak of a deadly man-made disease many years earlier. While most people seem content to live in such a cage, she and her little brother Bear have always known about their resistance to the disease, and dream of escaping into the wild. To the one place humans have survived outside of cities. To where their mother is.
When scientists discover that the siblings provide the key to fighting the disease, the pair must flee for their lives. As they cross the barren Buffer Zone and journey into the unknown, Juniper and Bear can only guess at the dangers that lie ahead. Nature can be cruel as well as kind … Will they ever find the home they’ve been searching for?
I have always loved girl detective books so when I learned of Zaiba’s existence I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go sleuthing with her. This book is absolutely adorable and even though I’ve only just finished reading about her first case I’m ready to help her solve the next one.
Zaiba is attending her favourite cousin’s pre-wedding Mehndi party at the Royal Star Hotel. Samirah (Sam) will be marrying Tanvir and Zaiba’s family are celebrating together, with food, music and dancing. Zaiba’s best friend, Poppy, is enjoying the fashion and free food and Zaiba’s cousin/nemesis, Mariam, is no doubt scheming up some trouble.
Zaiba longs to be a detective and uses her favourite book, Eden Lockett’s Detective Handbook, as a training manual. Solving mysteries runs in her family; Aunt Fouzia runs the Snow Leopard Detective Agency in Pakistan and was the one who introduced Zaiba to the Eden Lockett mystery books. It isn’t long before Zaiba, Poppy and Zaiba’s younger half-brother, Ali, are investigating their own case.
While I appreciated Zaiba’s determination and attention to detail, it was Ali I wanted to learn more about. Rather than simply being the cliché little brother tagging along on an adventure, Ali holds his own, using his incredible memory for facts and penchant for maths to shine a light on clues that others may overlook.
All good detectives make notes.
I always enjoy searching for clues myself as I read detective stories and I found myself highlighting key words and sentences as I peeked over Zaiba’s shoulder. There are clues which will help readers solve the mystery themselves if they pay attention to the details.
I want to learn more about Aunt Fouzia and Zaiba’s mother during future investigations. Mariam also intrigues me; she has the potential for an interesting character arc, one I hope will see her become an integral part of the team (fingers crossed). I’m keen to discover the true identity of Eden Lockett; I have my suspicions but will keep those to myself for now.
I loved Daniela Sosa’s illustrations and had trouble choosing a favourite, so I’ve chosen two. While this one captures the spirit of adventure and the determination of the trio solving the mystery,
this one reminds me of how much fun I had reading and the book’s positive messages.
You can be anything you want to be.
This book highlights the importance of teamwork and how the support and encouragement of family and friends can give a child the courage they need to follow their dreams and face their fears.
A good agent always ensures the safety of her friends.
There are some fun bonuses at the end of the book, including an extract from one of Eden’s books and some handy tips for detectives in training. I really enjoyed learning more about Mehndi parties and deciphering the coded messages. I’m currently preparing my membership application for the Snow Leopard Detective Agency.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Eleven-year-old Zaiba is obsessed with crime. Her Aunt Fouzia runs a detective agency back in Karachi and has turned Zaiba on to the brilliant Eden Lockett Mysteries. She has every book in the series – and the quilt cover, and the phone case. All she needs now is a crime to solve …
Zaiba is attending a family Mehndi party at The Grand Royal Star Hotel when she hears that the prized Italian Greyhound of a famous actress has gone missing from the star’s suite. With the help of her best friend and her little brother, the amateur sleuth manages to foil the petnapping plot and save the day.
Ella is excited to be spending time in the Himalayas with Jack, her famous uncle, during the school holidays. Accompanied by a small film crew, they’re determined to track down the elusive yeti and then share their incredible find with the world.
Tick is a yeti who knows, like all yeti do, to stay far away from humans. Curiosity gets the better of him though and he can’t resist a quick peek at these strange creatures. This decision could have dire consequences, not just for Tick but for every yeti.
“We all make mistakes in life, Tick. It’s how you respond to them that counts”
Although this story is told from both Ella and Tick’s perspectives, and Ella does play a vital role, I will remember this book as Tick’s story. I adored this yeti, from his sweet nature to his “idea flies”, which manage to both cause trouble and help him. Tick’s story proves that we can live beyond our labels.
“If we are not true to ourselves, young yeti, then we are nothing.”
Humans and yeti aren’t the only creatures you’ll find in this book. I was quite partial to a yak called Shaan. I learned of the existence of a bird with the best rainbow of feathers I’ve ever Googled: the Himalayan monal. Then there was Flittermouse, the most adorable bat I’ve ever wanted to befriend.
I loved learning about yeti history and culture. The lighting system in their setts was ingenious – they clap to wake the glow worms! I smiled each time it happened. I especially enjoyed learning the fun, descriptive yeti names, which included “Nosh (she who makes nibbles)” and “Crisp (he baked in the sun)”. I never tired of their varied greetings; my favourites were “Even a tiny star shines in the dark” and “One shall not reach the top of a mountain by sitting on the bottom”.
By thinking outside the box and being open to new ideas, characters in this book learn that just because something has always been done a certain way that doesn’t automatically mean it’s the only (or best) way to do it. When you are brave enough to try something new the results can be amazing, even if it can be scary in the beginning.
There’s an overarching theme of conservation which plays out throughout this story. While the message was clear, I never felt like I was being hit over the head with it. I appreciated Ella having the strength to speak her truth to adults and loved that her voice made a difference. It’s empowering for kids (and anyone, really) to read about characters who stand up for what they believe in.
My main niggle was Jack’s turnaround near the end of the book. While it was inevitable and I’m very glad it happened, he changed his tune too quickly for me to find it believable. Having said that though, I’m not this book’s target audience and doubt I would have quibbled about it had I encountered this book as a child.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
An epic adventure with big feet and an even bigger heart!
Ella is in the Himalayas with her uncle searching for yeti. But what seems like the adventure of a lifetime is cut short when she realises that these secretive creatures might not want to be found.
Tick knows it’s against yeti law to approach humans. So when some arrive on the mountain, why does he find himself peering through the trees to get a closer look?
What Tick doesn’t know is that his actions will set off a series of events that threaten the existence of yeti all over the world. What can he do to make things right? Just when all hope seems lost, help comes in the most unexpected form …
Jude is a musician who’s trying to earn enough money to take care of herself and her father. They live in Baton Noir, a city divided into magical Royalty, Subjects and ordinary Citizens (or Scraps, as the slur goes). If you visit Baton Noir you’re likely to cross paths with Pearls, descendants, witches and vampires, and you may even come across some fairies.
When Ivory Monette, the cajou queen, is murdered, she’s determined to find her killer. Ivory can’t investigate her murder alone (on account of her body being interred in her family crypt at St Clémence Cemetery) so she enlists Jude’s help. Not that Jude consented, or was even consulted, before Ivory’s spirit possessed her.
As she looks deeper into this corrupt world of dark magic, superstitions and curses, where charms can make you beautiful, where swamps are home to alligators and nightmares that bite, and jazz music accompanies you wherever you go, Jude finds herself caught up in a whirlwind (hurricane? 😜) of secrets, lies and ghosts of the past.
I connected with Jude, who is an interesting mix of angry, insecure and resilient. I liked Jude’s best friend, Sharkey, and his grandmother, Mops; I wish they had more page time and hope to get to know them better in the sequel. I empathised with Jude’s self destructive father but also wanted to steer clear of him and I searched the pages for an appropriate curse for Jude’s abusive ex-boyfriend, Leeroy.
While I liked Ivory I didn’t feel she reached her villainous potential and instead found myself drawn to the Phantom’s tragic backstory. André, the Phantom of Moonfleet, became my favourite character. I’m always intrigued by a story’s ‘monster’. I love underdogs and want to do a deep dive into their psychology, history, motivations and personality. While I enjoyed getting to know the man behind the mask, I need more; I’d happily curl up with a book that focused solely on his family’s disturbing history.
Characters are trying to cope with a lot of pain in this book as a result of so many difficult experiences including loss, abuse, poverty, mental health, torture and murder. One of my favourite quotes, which I found both difficult to read and oddly beautiful, was
She found herself sinking down under the weight of an old familiar gloom – that big black octopus of despair, pushing its oily tentacles into her heart, mind and soul, looking for weaknesses to be exploited, cracks it might shatter apart and fears to be dwelt on and agonized over.
I could feel the music echoing off the pages from the first song but the music seemed to fade into the background as Jude became more entrenched in Ivory’s mission. The atmosphere was almost tangible in this book and I’m a sucker for mythology so soaked up every snippet of information I found about the various legba and the magical snakes that allow the cajou queen to interact with them. I’m hoping to read a review written by someone from New Orleans, who can comment on its culture and atmosphere with some credibility; that person is not me.
I adoredCharlotte Says so would have picked up this book anyway but the amazing cover drew me to it before I knew who wrote it or what it was about. I loved the inclusion of some charms in the design and the snakes were a great choice, especially considering their importance to the story. It would have been perfect if the colours of the snakes matched the pythons in the book; Betty is black and Beau is albino.
I found some of the language used in this book problematic and at times downright cringeworthy. Characters’ skin tones were likened to food items, including “chocolate-coloured”, “creamy”, and “peach”. There was also some antiquated mental health terminology, like “madhouse”, “madness”, “lunatic”, and “madmen”.
Even though I found some of the bigger reveals in the book predictable and the potential romance icky (I’m never a fan of age gaps that exceed half a century) I am definitely interested in reading the sequel. Readers who aren’t a fan of info dumps may find some sections tedious; personally, I came away from this book wanting more history, more mythology, more Phantom!
Thank you to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Jude Lomax scrapes a living playing the trumpet on the neon streets of Baton Noir. Then she is invited to play at the funeral of the infamous cajou queen, Ivory Monette. Passing through the cemetery gates, Jude finds herself possessed by the murdered queen’s spirit. And Ivory won’t rest until she’s found the person responsible for her death.
If Jude wants to be rid of the vengeful spirit, she must take a journey deep into the dangerous underbelly of the city, from the swampy depths of the Black Bayou to the velvet opulence of the vampires’ secret jazz clubs. But as Jude untangles Ivory’s web of secrets, she is confronted with a few dark truths from her own past …
One thought was so urgent that it drowned out all the others: she’ll only be two worlds away – will it be enough?
Tess is my kind of heroine. She’s smart, stubborn, determined and a good friend. She conducts scientific experiments in a raincoat that’s seen better days and her lab is otherwise known as the detention room. She has a pet tarantula named Violet and will quite happily ruin brand new clothes by climbing up a chimney. Oh, and she can travel between different realities!
“Could it be true, then, to say that everything which could exist, does exist somewhere? That every choice made creates a ‘branch’ effect, where both outcomes can come to independent fruition, each entirely unknown to the other? It would mean an almost unimaginable abundance of universes, but who is to say such things cannot be true?”
I’m pretty sure I’ve never been emotionally attached to a tarantula before, but Violet somehow spun some web magic over me and I became fiercely protective of her. I also became very fond of Moose the mouse and grinned whenever Hortense the hockey stick was mentioned. I quickly moved from “huh, a pet spider” to “I’m going to boycott this book if Violet and Moose don’t make it to the end alive”.
Then there were the humans. While Tess was a great main character, Wilf and Millie were the ones I wanted to simultaneously adopt and be best friends with. Millie was an absolute sweetheart, while Wilf managed to snag the best lines in the book (most of my smiles, smirks and chuckles came courtesy of her). Of all of the characters they’re the two I desperately need updates about. I’m not greedy; just a book each where their individual stories are the focus would satisfy me. 😜
The settings came to life for me, particularly the chapel and Ackerbee’s. I love Ackerbee’s even more now that I’ve seen photos of the building it was based on, the Lafayette Building in Dublin. I need to live in that attic!
I can’t tell you how much I love that ‘home’ in this book doesn’t consist of buildings and ‘family’ doesn’t require you to share DNA with people. Tess’ home is with those who love her, including Miss Ackerbee, Rebecca, Wilf and all of the other girls at Ackerbee’s Home for Lost and Foundlings, and Violet, of course.
If I’d read this book as a kid I would have loved that it didn’t talk down to me. While there were some wonderful analogies that made complex ideas easier to understand (my favourite image was sheets of paper illustrating parallel universes), it never felt like anything was overly simplistic. I definitely would have gotten my science geek on after reading this.
Sara Mulvanny’s cover artwork and Sophie Bransby’s design drew me to this book in the first place and now that I’ve finished reading I can appreciate all of the elements that were included. I also liked the web at the beginning of each chapter; it was simple but effective.
Eensy weensy nitpick: I wasn’t overly sure why Moose could travel between realities when Tess had to leave Violet behind each time she went to Thomas’ world. Maybe I missed something though. Also, unlike Moose, Violet never seemed to eat.
While The Star-Spun Web works as a standalone there are enough loose ends to warrant a sequel. I can imagine what’s next for some of my favourite characters but I’d much prefer to hear Sinéad O’Hart telling me all about them. I need to see Tess reunite with her father, visit other realities, relearn how to move between realities without needing the Star-spinner and foil Mackintosh and Mrs Thistleton’s dastardly plan.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book and for introducing me to a new (to me) author. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to add Sinéad’s debut, The Eye of the North, to my wish list.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
With her passion for scientific experimentation and her pet tarantula Violet, Tess de Sousa is no ordinary orphan. When a stranger shows up at Ackerbee’s Home for Lost and Foundlings, claiming to be a distant relative come to adopt her, Tess hopes to find some answers to her mysterious origins. But as she adjusts to her new life at Roedeer Lodge, it becomes clear that Norton F. Cleat knows more about Tess – and the strange star-shaped device left with her when she was abandoned as a baby – than he’s letting on. And when Tess discovers that the Starspinner is the gateway between her world and a parallel world in which war rages, she realises she may be the key to a terrible plan. A plan she must stop at all costs …
It begins with 30 students, 3 teachers, some ski instructors, and a variety of townsfolk. It ends with … less. A lot less.
Charlie is one of the sixth-form students on a ski trip in Austria. As an outcast, the jocks, geeks and princesses all ignore him, but Charlie doesn’t care. In fact, Charlie doesn’t really care about anything these days.
It was one of the girls that found the blood.
When a snowstorm severs all contact with anyone outside the village the students discover they’re not alone on the mountain, and that’s when the fun really begins in this adrenaline packed massacre. The pages of this book are drenched in blood and I couldn’t wait to see if my favourites would survive, or be recognisable through the blood spatter, at the end.
I loved Charlie and Hanna, both damaged by life, and would have happily used Tara as a human shield. Tara was one of those characters that I love to hate and I kept hoping she’d meet a gruesome end. A fair amount of the characters in this book were clichés but I don’t mind that in a horror book, just as I don’t need to have an emotional connection with a bunch of people that are likely to be slaughtered any minute anyway.
After everything it took to get there (including my favourite description, “entrails dangling like spaghetti”) I would have liked the final action sequence to have lasted a bit longer. It felt too quick and easy, given the horrors the survivors have experienced up to that point.
I love Stripes’ Red Eye series and am at the point where I know I want to read a Red Eye book before I even read the blurb. I wish they’d been available when I was a teenager. I really enjoyed this debut and am interested in reading whatever this author comes up with next.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
‘She sat us all down and told us a story. About things that lived in the woods. Things that only came out at night.’
For Charlie, a school ski trip is the perfect escape from his unhappy home life. Until a storm blows in and the resort town is cut off from the rest of the world. Trapped on the mountain, the students wait for the blizzards to pass, along with mysterious ski guide Hanna.
But as night falls and the town’s long buried secrets begin to surface, the storm is the least of their problems …
Wait! What? Outlive?! You won’t see Jeff Probst’s cheeky smile or hear his cheerful jibes at contestants in this game of Survivor! In this game the stakes are high and so are the potential rewards.
10 teams! 5 people per team! 3 days! £1 million each to the winning team!
When Lizzie finds details online about Iron Teen, hosted by multibillionaire Marcus Gold, founder of Gold Foundation, she eagerly tells her friends Ben, Grady, Carmen and Will about this exciting opportunity. The five have previously completed the Duke of Edinburgh together so they’re confident they have a good chance of winning Iron Teen and taking home the cash.
On the verge of adulthood and with dreams of university, starting a business or helping out their struggling family at the forefront of their minds, the five friends decide that this opportunity is too good to miss.
Furnished with their initial instructions and backpacks filled to the brim with supplies (I’m looking at you here, Grady), they think they have everything they need to complete the unknown challenges awaiting them on Aikenhead, Gold’s private island. They’re confident that between them they have the brains, brawn and endurance required to succeed.
In this game teams need to race around the island to find locked boxes that contain the coordinates to the next location, clues to solve the puzzle that will grant them access to the next locked box and a geocache box. They will need to take whatever is in each geocache box and replace it with something “of equal or greater value at each checkpoint.”
The winning team will be the ones with the quickest time who bring all of their collected items with them to the final checkpoint. Lizzie’s team are excited for a challenging but fun adventure that has the potential to set them up financially so they can live their dreams.
Once on the island our five adventurers learn that the game is not what they expected. The terrain can be treacherous and there’s no one to help them other than their teammates. Oh, and the other teams are hunting their fellow competitors for body parts. There will be no escape until the game is over because the crossing between the island and the safety of the real world is only raised every three days.
The characters, action, pacing, gore and backstories combined made for a book I didn’t want to put down. While there was plenty of action and at times I felt breathless when I realised I’d held my breath during a scene, there were also times of connection between the teammates as well as suspense as the characters and myself waited for the next horror to unfold. I’ve read plenty of books with gore in them so the descriptions here were certainly not the most graphic or gross that I’ve come across, but in terms of a young adult book it would rate quite high on the ‘Eww!’ meter.
The characters’ personalities and voices were distinct and memorable. I loved Grady’s wacky conspiracy theories. I enjoyed Car’s sassy remarks and Lizzie’s enthusiasm. Ben’s sensitivity was so sweet, as was his not so secret love for Lizzie. Will’s character was particularly interesting and while Grady was my favourite character, Will came a close second.
I particularly loved the exploration of the relationship between the two brothers, Ben and Will. The flashback scenes of their childhood experiences added a depth to a story that could easily have simply become a gore-fest. I didn’t expect the sensitivity of the portrayal of the mental illness within their family.
Through flashbacks and their current circumstances the dynamics of this family is examined. We not only get to witness the effects that mental illness has on each individual; we also see its impact on the relationships between family members. I definitely understood and empathised with the protector role.
What delighted me above all was that I was surprised by both characters and events at the end. I was surprised by certain actions of two characters and the actions of a third, while I saw it coming, had me rethinking whether I still liked them or not. Usually young adult books, while entertaining, are generally fairly predictable. I had some ideas of where the plot was heading but I not only didn’t guess the end, it was also better than anything I’d come up with myself.
Another unexpected bonus was that this story got me to thinking about what I’d do if I was in any one of the character’s places. Black and white moral questions greyed for some characters and in most situations I could understand where they were coming from. I loved the questions this book made me consider for myself:
What would I be willing to do to win £1 million?
What sacrifices would I be willing to make?
How much is my integrity worth to me?
Would £1 million cover the therapy bills I’d need to pay if I compromised my morals enough that I did what I had to in order to win?
Is there a point of no return where the end justifies the means and what type of person is willing to cross this line?
If you hurt me, does that then entitle me to take revenge on you?
I had just one unanswered question at the end of this book and while it’s possible I missed the explanation, it is bugging me. Why was team 10 disqualified?
I need to go find some more of Bryony Pearce’s novels. If this novel is any indication of her talent her back catalogue is going to be making its way to my Kindle fairly soon.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book. I knew from having already read Charlotte Says that I was interested in reading more Red Eye books. Now I’m convinced I need to read them all!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
When reclusive millionaire Marcus Gold announces that he’s going to be staging an “Iron Teen” competition on his private island in the Outer Hebrides, teenagers Ben, Lizzie, Will, Grady and Carmen sign up – the prize is £1 million pounds … each. But when the competition begins, the group begin to regret their decision. Other teams are hunting their competitors and attacking them for body parts. Can the friends stick together under such extreme pressure to survive? When lives are at stake, you find out who you can really trust …
A Red Eye horror novel for teens, this gripping YA thriller story is full of fast-paced action.
Suspend all disbelief and take a ride back to the early 1900’s where we meet Jemima, a 17 year old girl who takes a position as assistant mistress at Dunvegan School for Girls, an industrial school for girls who haven’t committed crimes but have nowhere else to go, located on the Isle of Skye. Jemima herself is desperately trying to escape her tragic past at Whiteladies. So, no happy family stories here.
After spending some time on the Isle of Skye at the beginning of 1910 setting up the story we then travel seamlessly back and forth between there and Whiteladies where we gradually learn more about the past 18 months, Jemima’s past and reasons she wants to start over. Jemima was an interesting, complex character who longed to be the girl she was before Whiteladies yet knowing her physical and emotional scarring had changed her irrevocably.
Jemima begins work for Miss Grayson, the evil woman who should be fitted with a device that gives her an electric shock when she gets within 200 metres of a child, otherwise known in this story as the schoolmistress. This is a school where little things like light in the form of candles are rationed and punishments are doled out in abundance and recorded for posterity in The Punishment Book. Punishments may include wearing the imbecile’s cap while sitting in the stupid corner, being made to go without meals and heating, and being sent to Solitary where you may well freeze to death.
Needless to say, Miss Grayson wasn’t exactly my favourite character and throughout the book I determined her appropriate punishment would be for me to lock her in Solitary to enjoy some quality time with Annabelle, who I would have previously arranged to loan indefinitely from Lorraine and Ed Warren. While on the subject of punishments, I think Redwing may have benefited from a new friendship with Chucky.
Now that you know which characters’ names and offences should be inked into The Punishment Book for perpetuity, allow me tell you about my favourite character, Estella. Besides having the coolest name of anyone in the book which translates appropriately as star, Estella is a strong willed little girl who, despite having a history of not being believed no matter what she says, defiantly tells her truth regardless of the consequences. And believe me, for Estella there are always consequences. I definitely had a soft spot for her and would’ve adopted her in a heartbeat.
Henry was going to be my second favourite character as he was so sweet and loyal and loving, but he ended up annoying me because no one is that perfect. So, my actual second favourite character/s? The super creepy evil dolls, all named Frozen Charlotte with the exception of the lone male known as Frozen Charlie. Interestingly enough I don’t remember Charlie being psychotic but the poor guy was surrounded by some seriously unbalanced female dolls.
If you’re like me, by the halfway point, reading “Charlotte says…” will fill you with equal parts dread and morbidly fascinated anticipation that mirrors hearing Chucky’s “Wanna play?”. I loved the supernatural aspects of this book, dabbling in mediumship, automatic writing, séances, ghosts, possession and, of course, creepy dolls. I enjoyed the slow reveal of Jemima’s past and the reason why she doesn’t remember what happened the night of the fire at Whiteladies.
I spent a lot of the middle of the book arguing with myself about Jemima’s actions and lack of action – “Why doesn’t she just – she’s only 17. She’s just a kid! But couldn’t she just – remember her past. But what if she told – I told you! She’s a traumatised 17 year old! Just shut up and enjoy the book!”
I don’t usually find books creepy these days. I’ll get to the end and think to myself, ‘You think that’s scary? Come and sleep a night in my nightmares!’ Yet Charlotte Says was delightfully creepy, best read at night when the house is silent and you can hear the creaks from the house settling and the wind rustling through the trees. This book comes with a fairly significant death toll and some really disturbing and detailed descriptions of actual and fantasised about violence against animals.
I’m not usually that into books that linger in the early 20th century. Sure, I’m happy to time travel there on my way to another time period, but Alex Bell is such a talented writer that I would have happily signed up to stay longer on the Isle of Skye reading by rationed greasy, stinky, animal fat candlelight.
Having not read Frozen Charlotte first like I probably should have as it got buried under my towering TBR pile and temporarily forgotten about until I heard about Charlotte Says, I now have the excitement of knowing I get to read about what happens next with the benefit of knowing the backstory. I can’t wait!
Thank you to NetGalley, Little Tiger Group, Stripes Publishing, and a special thank you to Charlie for the opportunity to read this book. “Charlotte says you need to read this book!”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The much-anticipated prequel to the bestselling Frozen Charlotte, a Zoella Book Club title in Autumn 2016.
Following the death of her mother in a terrible fire, Jemima flees to the remote Isle of Skye, to take up a job at a school for girls. There she finds herself tormented by the mystery of what really happened that night.
Then Jemima receives a box of Frozen Charlotte dolls from a mystery sender and she begins to remember – a séance with the dolls, a violent argument with her step-father and the inferno that destroyed their home. And when it seems that the dolls are triggering a series of accidents at the school, Jemima realizes she must stop the demonic spirits possessing the dolls – whatever it takes.
Schizanthus Nerd 