Young Adult
Good Girl, Bad Blood, by Holly Jackson
$11.00
The highly-anticipated and brilliantly crafted crime-thriller sequel to the no.1 debut of 2019, A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER
Pip Fitz-Amobi is not a detective anymore. With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year.
The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her. But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared but the police won't do anything about it.
And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time EVERYONE is listening. But will she find him before it's too late? Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying, Eva Dolan, C L Taylor, We Were Liars and Riverdale
'There is a lot to really enjoy in this story and there is great energy to the writing, as well as some fine characterization' - Peter James, award-winning and no.1 bestselling crime thriller author of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series
I laughed. I cried. And I very much enjoyed attempting to solve the case with Pip (who I now want to be my best friend).... suitable for 13+
Prayer for the Crown Shy, Becky Chambers ( hardback, August 2022)
$22.00
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home. They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe. Becky Chambers's new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?
Book 2 in the 'Monk & Robot' science fiction series. Book 1 was A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Fans of Becky Chambers describe her writing as " a warm hug of a book". She is known for her imaginative world-building and character-driven stories.
Imaginary Friend, by Stephen Chbosky ( paperback Nov 2020)
$13.00
The long awaited next novel from the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's very different - fantasy / creepy but with superb reviews so far....
Leaving your house in the middle of the night. Knowing your mother is doing her best, but she's just as scared as you. IMAGINE...
Starting a new school, making friends. Seeing how happy it makes your mother. Hearing a voice, calling out to you.
IMAGINE... Following the signs, into the woods. Going missing for six days.
Remembering nothing about what happened. IMAGINE... Something that will change everything...and having to save everyone you love.
A fearsome, remarkably ambitious novel that breaks through the boundaries of the genre to become epic - in all the best senses of the word.PAPERBACK FROM END NOV 2020
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas ( paperback Feb 2019)
$11.00
New York Times #1 bestselling teen author of The Hate You Give, Angie Thomas returns with a powerful story about hip hop, freedom of speech - and fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you. Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri's got massive shoes to fill.
But when her first song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, Bri finds herself at the centre of controversy and portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. And with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it - she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.
Friendship Fails of Emma Nash, by Chloe Seager
$11.00
Emma Nash is back....and determined to work out the world of friendships and relationships once and for all (...ish). `Great fun and full of laugh-out-loud moments. Perfect for fans of Holly Bourne.Katy Birchall, author of the It Girl series Now she's in the sixth form, Emma's expecting life to be a breeze but when her best friend Steph suddenly has a boyfriend who she's spending more time with Emma's not sure what to do with herself. So Emma's got a mission in mind: making new friends. Signing up for the school fashion show seems like the perfect opportunity.
Although soon, through a series of mishaps that are absolutely not Emma's fault (well, sort of), her world is teetering on the edge of disaster again. Would going back to creating a life for herself online really be so bad?
I Capture The Castle, by Dodie Smith
$11.00
An absolute classic YA novel from the same Dodie Smith of ‘101 Dalmatians’ fame. The diary of Cassandra Mortmain, her extraordinary family and her crumbling castle home. Loved by teenagers and adults everywhere.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow :Gabrielle Zevin ( Paperback 29 June 2023)
$13.00
This is not a romance, but it is about love. 'One of the best books I've ever read' JOHN GREEN Sam and Sadie meet in a hospital in 1987. Sadie is visiting her sister, Sam is recovering from a car crash.The days and months are long there, but playing together brings joy, escape, fierce competition -- and a special friendship. Then all too soon that time is over, and they must return to their normal lives. When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment.
The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love - creating virtual worlds to delight, challenge and immerse, finding an intimacy in the digital realm that eludes them in their real lives. Their collaborations make them superstars. This is the story of the perfect worlds Sadie and Sam build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money.
Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest, examining identity, creativity and our need to connect.
Skellig, by David Almond
$11.00
Skellig won The Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award when it was first published almost 20 years ago.
It’s powerful and moving, one of those books that you can’t put down.
Everyone should read it, not just teenagers.
Flying Tips for Flightless Birds, by Kelly McCaughrain (paperback)
$11.00
Twins Finch and Birdie Franconi are stars of the flying trapeze. But when Birdie suffers a terrifying accident, Finch must team up with the geeky new kid, Hector Hazzard, to form an all-boys double act and save the family circus school
Recently shortlisted for the Great Reads Award, this debut YA novel is funny, warm hearted and encouraging for anyone who feels they just don’t fit ‘the mould’.
Wise Creatures, Deirdre Sullivan (paperback Sept 2023)
$12.00
Deirdre Sullivan owns the space of slightly dark and creepy writings for YA - not to be missed if you like that sort of thing!
I always thought that hauntings began with houses. They don't, of course. It's people, isn't it? They begin with people. If anyone knows what it is to be haunted, it's Daisy. The ghosts of her troubled past are ever present. Daisy has always done her best to shut the ghosts away.
To shut away the wise creatures who used to whisper to her from the walls of the house. To live a normal life. But now, something is humming in the house.
Something dark, and unknown. And it's targeting Nina, her beloved sister. Daisy knows that something is up.
And that the wise creatures, locked away for so long, are back. And this time, who knows what they want?A haunting psychological horror novel from award-winning author Deirdre Sullivan
Brutes, by Dizz Tate ( hardback Feb 2023)
$20.00
A Lynchian reinterpretation of The Virgin Suicides." (Observer)"An astonishing debut that will burrow under your skin." (Sunday Times)
In Falls Landing, Florida - a place built of theme parks, swampy lakes, and scorched bougainvillea flowers - something sinister lurks in the deep. A gang of thirteen-year-old girls obsessively orbit around the local preacher's daughter, Sammy. She is mesmerizing, older, and in love with Eddie.
But suddenly, Sammy goes missing. Where is she? Watching from a distance, they edge ever closer to discovering a dark secret about their fame-hungry town and the cruel cost of a ticket out. What they uncover will continue to haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Through a darkly beautiful and brutally compelling lens, Dizz Tate captures the violence, horrors, and manic joys of girlhood. Brutes is a novel about the seemingly unbreakable bonds in the 'we' of young friendship, and the moment it is broken forever.
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, Danielle Evans ( paperback March 2023)
$13.00
A college student's unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront her feelings of resentment toward her more privileged classmates. A father's misguided attempt to rescue a gift for his adult daughter magnifies all he doesn't know about her. And two teenage girls' flirt with adulthood leads to disastrous consequences.Based in a world where inequality is reality, but where the shifting terrain of adolescence and family are the most complicating forces, Evans' characters are wry, wise and utterly original. Striking in their emotional immediacy, the electrifying, prize-winning stories in Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self offer a fresh perspective on race and class in contemporary America. 'Danielle Evans is funny as hell' - Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine'
Fantastic Vegan Recipes for the Teen Cook (hardback May 2023)
$25.00
With her fresh, friendly voice and easy-to-follow instructions, recipe developer Elaine Skiadas shares helpful vegan cooking tips, tricks and techniques and mouthwatering recipes for showstopping vegan dishes. Elaine's recipes help the modern teen cook be more environmentally-conscious and develop healthy habits while also proving that easy vegan cooking doesn't need to be bland or boring. With just a few simple techniques and a handful of quality ingredients, it's easy as can be to whip up a restaurant-quality meal for your family and friends.Even if you're new to cooking, you can easily make delicious Zucchini Bread Pancakes to fuel your morning or a Spinach Artichoke Quesadilla for a quick lunch or mid afternoon snack. Dinnertime features exciting takes on favorite dishes like Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, Indian Butter Tofu and Butternut Mac and Cheese. No matter your skill level or where you are on your journey with veganism, Elaine is here to make vegan cooking easy, fun and flavourful.
You Could Be So Pretty, Holly Bourne ( paperback October 2023)
$12.00
Uglies meets The Handmaid's Tale for the new YA generation in this mind-blowing novel from bestselling queen of YA Holly Bourne.
BEAUTY COMES AT A PRICE. AND GIRLS MUST PAY.
In Belle and Joni's world there are two options for girls: One, follow the rules of the Doctrine like Belle: apply your Mask, work hard to be crowned at the Ceremony, be a Pretty. Or two, fight the rules like Joni: leave your face bare, work hard to escape to the Education, be an Objectionable. But maybe there is a third option...
Change the rules. Reclaim your power. If you can...
What would you choose? Warning - this novel deals with issues that some readers may find upsetting, including references to pornography and sexual assault.
Immortality: A Love Story, by Dana Schwartz ( paperback October 2023)
$13.00
Hazel Sinnett is alone and half-convinced the events of the year before - the immortality, Beecham's vial - were a figment of her imagination. She doesn't even know if Jack is alive or dead.
All she can really do now is treat patients and maintain Hawthornden Castle as it starts to decay around her. When saving a life leads to her arrest, Hazel seems doomed to rot in prison until a message intervenes: Hazel has been specifically requested to be the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, the sickly granddaughter of King George III. Soon Hazel is dragged into the glamour and romance of a court where everyone has something to hide, especially the enigmatic, brilliant members of a social club known as the Companions to the Death.
As Hazel's work entangles her more and more with the British court, she realizes that her own future as a surgeon isn't the only thing at stake for her. Malicious forces are at work in the monarchy, and Hazel may be the only one capable of setting things right. Praise for Anatomy: A Love Story:'Irreverent, intelligent, and smart.
Dana Schwartz is one of the brightest of the next generation of young writers' Neil Gaiman'
Book 2 continues the story from Book 1; Anatomy, A Love Story
If I Have to be Haunted, Miranda Sun ( hardback Sept 2023)
$20.00
Your first love will always haunt you... The most haunting, heartwarming debut of 2023. Perfect for fans of strong female leads and supernatural stakes in Buffy, with all the sweetness and romance of To All the Boys I've Loved Before.Cara's just trying to stay on top of all her classes, excel at her extracurriculars, and prepare for college - which means not speaking to the dead, an ability she inherited from her grandmother. Ghosts are trouble, and Cara doesn't need to add their problems to her own. But then she stumbles upon the body of Zach - the super popular but very newly dead high school golden boy - in the woods, and guess what? He wants her to resurrect him.
Cue trouble. Miranda Sun's debut touches on the power and conflicts in a mother-daughter love, first romance - and finding your place in the world while honouring your culture. Full of heart, humour and thrills, If I Have to be Haunted will put a spell on you.
The Unknowns, by Shirley-Anne McMillan ( paperback 2017)
$11.00
A teenage story of friendship, and boundaries, and preconceptions. Likeable main characters of Tilly and Brew, it’s edgy but realistic. My 15yo enjoyed this a lot.
Shirley Anne is from Lisburn and this is her second novel.
Tilly is perched at the top of Belfast's largest crane. She likes to climb up high at night in order to feel free from a city which, despite the best PR, is still full of trouble and conflict. Eventually, she comes back down to discover her bike is missing and in its place is a boy named Brew.
Wearing eyeliner and high-heeled boots, he offers her a drink from his flask of coffee before disappearing into the night. The next morning, Tilly's bike is returned, but tucked into the spoke of the wheel is a card with Brew's number on it. As Tilly learns to trust Brew, he leads her into a world she never knew existed - a world of parties in abandoned houses, completing missions that involve break-ins, and risking everything just to help strangers in need; the world of The Unknowns.
What Tilly doesn't anticipate is that they will also make her question everything she was brought up to believe in, and force her to make a choice that will stay with her for the rest of her life. The Unknowns is a story about hope in a city where increasing numbers of young people are struggling to get by, a place where there is no trust in the political system, and where some people still dare to dream.
Innana, Emily Wilson ( paperback August 2023)
$13.00
Stories are sly things...they can be hard to catch and kill. Inanna is an impossibility. The first full Anunnaki born on Earth in Ancient Mesopotamia.Crowned the goddess of love by the twelve immortal Anunnaki who are worshipped across Sumer, she is destined for greatness. But Inanna is born into a time of war. The Anunnaki have split into warring factions, threatening to tear the world apart.
Forced into a marriage to negotiate a peace, she soon realises she has been placed in terrible danger. Gilgamesh, a mortal human son of the Anunnaki, and notorious womaniser, finds himself captured and imprisoned. His captor, King Akka, seeks to distance himself and his people from the gods.
Arrogant and selfish, Gilgamesh is given one final chance to prove himself. Ninshubar, a powerful warrior woman, is cast out of her tribe after an act of kindness. Hunted by her own people, she escapes across the country, searching for acceptance and a new place in the world.
As their journeys push them closer together, and their fates intertwine, they come to realise that together, they may have the power to change to face of the world forever. The first novel in the stunning Sumerians Trilogy, this is a gorgeous, epic retelling of one of the oldest surviving works of literature
Grapefruit Moon, Shirley McMillan ( paperback August 2023)
$12.00
Wealthy, popular Charlotte and quiet, working class Drew couldn't be more different, but both face a common enemy at Cooke's Academy in the form of the Stewards - an elite group of students whose power to manipulate school culture is feared by pupils and teachers alike. Drew, a newcomer to Cooke's, must navigate the strict codes of masculinity laid down by the Stewards in order to have a hope of moving on to university, while Charlotte dreams of speaking freely about the constraints and abuses of the culture which is propelling her towards a life she's not sure she wants. Through drag art and poetry the unlikely pair follow a dangerous trajectory which will lead them closer to one another and further away from the paths laid out for them.
SMcM is brilliant at talking the language of the 15+, not patronising or didactic, she really 'gets' the age group and her stories are gripping. Not just for the teens either! L
One of Us is Back, Karen McManus ( hardback July 2023)
$20.00
From international bestseller, Karen McManus, comes the explosive third and final thrilling instalment in the acclaimed Bayview series. Life hasn't been easy for the Bayview Crew. First they had to prove they weren't killers.Then a new generation had to outwit a vengeful copycat. Now, it's beginning again. At first the mysterious billboard seems like a bad joke: Time for a new game, Bayview.
But when a member of the crew disappears, it's clear this 'game' just got serious - and no-one understands the rules. Everyone's a target. And now that someone unexpected has returned to Bayview, things are starting to get deadly.
Simon was right about secrets - they all come out in the end. Praise for One of Us is Next:'Given that her high-school-based murder mysteries read like bingeworthy Netflix dramas, it's easy to see why queen of teen crime Karen McManus is a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.
Five Survive, Holly Jackson ( hardback July 2023)
$12.00
THE EXPLOSIVE NEW YA CRIME THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER.
WINNER of the CrimeFest award 2022 for Best Crime Fiction Novel for Young Adults! 'A blisteringly good standalone thriller.'The Observer, YA Books of the Year, 4/12/2022
Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. Spirits are high.
Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident. There's a sniper out there.
He's watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for. As a game of cat-and-mouse plays out, the group desperately tries to get help.
Buried secrets are forced to light and tensions within the group reach deadly levels. Only one thing is for sure. Not everyone will survive the night .
I Must Betray You, Ruth Septys ( paperback Aug 2022)
$11.00
A super book for boys and girls aged 14+
Winner of the Yoto Carnegie Shadowers**' Choice Medal for Writing 2023
Trapped by an evil dictatorship, will Cristian be forced to betray his family or will he risk everything he loves to resist? A powerful, heart-breaking thriller based on real events. Cristian has lived his entire life in the grip of a repressive dictatorship. The country is governed by fear.
When the secret police blackmail him, Cristian has an impossible choice. Save the life of his sick grandfather by informing on his family, or risk his life - and all of theirs - by resisting? At 17, Cristian dreams of being free but doesn't know where to turn. In this climate of constant suspicion, can he trust his best friend, his girlfriend or even his family? Closely based on the real events of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, this is a powerful, heart-breaking thriller from the author of Salt to the Sea, winner of the Carnegie Medal.
** real readers not literary judges!
The Blue Book of Nebo, by Manon Steffan Ros ( paperback Jan 2022)
$12.00
In JUNE 2023 this book won the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing - the first book in translation to win this prestigious award ( originally in Welsh)
Dylan was six when The End came, back in 2018; when the electricity went off for good, and the 'normal' 21st century world he knew disappeared. Now he's 14 and he and his mam have survived in their isolated hilltop house above the village of Nebo in north-west Wales, learning new skills, and returning to old ways of living. Despite their close understanding, the relationship between mother and son changes subtly as Dylan must take on adult responsibilities.
And they each have their own secrets, which emerge as, in turn, they jot down their thoughts and memories in a found notebook - the Blue Book of Nebo. In this prize-winning novel, Manon Steffan Ros not only explores the human capacity to find new strengths when faced with the need to survive, but also questions the structures and norms of the contemporary world.
It's a young adult ( perhaps 14+ ) but also a crossover novel that adults will find fascinating.
Bad Influence, by Tamsin Winter ( paperback June 2023)
$11.00
"A beautiful, relevant story of courage, strength, and not letting other people decide who you are." Kate Weston. Amelia Bright wants to be the best at everything. But when it comes to popularity, she is dead last. No matter what she tries, she can't shake her reputation as a maggoty nobody.When she meets cute new boy Evan, Amelia wonders if he can help her lose her loser status. And in a moment of hope, she agrees to something she quickly regrets - something that goes viral at school. Now she's not just called "maggot", she's a "bad influence" - and worse.
But Amelia's determined not to let one mistake define her...she's so much more than the image everyone sees online. A powerfully real and funny new story from the rising queen of teen, about first kisses, learning to be true to yourself and how one click can last for ever...
Fairy Tale, Stephen King ( paperback June 2023)
$13.00
WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER...
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But when Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. When Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe - inside the shed is a portal to another world.
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher - for their world or ours.
How Far We’ve Come, Joyce Efia Harmer ( hardback May 2023)
$20.00
From debut author, Joyce Efia Harmer, comes a ground-breaking YA story of friendship and freedom that crosses continents and centuries, in a timeslip novel exploring the legacy of slavery.
Sometime, me love to dream that me is a human, a proper one, like them white folks is. Enslaved on a plantation in Barbados, Obah dreams of freedom.
As talk of rebellion bubbles up around her in the Big House, she imagines escape. Meeting a strange boy who's not quite of this world, she decides to put her trust in him. But Jacob is from the twenty-first century.
Desperate to give Obah a better life, he takes her back with him. At first it seems like dreams really do come true - until the cracks begin to show and Obah sees that freedom comes at an unimaginable cost . .
. Both hopeful and devastating, this powerful novel about equality, how far we've come, and how far we still have to go introduces an extraordinary new literary voice.
Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno- Garcia ( paperback 2020)
$13.00
Inspired by Mexican folklore, Gods of Jade and Shadow is a magical, wildly imaginative coming-of-age tale for fans of Katherine Arden, Naomi Novik and Helene Wecker. The Jazz Age is in full swing, but it's passing Casiopea Tun by.She's too busy scrubbing floors in her wealthy grandfather's house to do anything more than dream of a life far from her dusty, small town in southern Mexico. A life she could call her own. This dream is impossible, distant as the stars - until the day Casiopea opens a curious chest in her grandfather's room and accidentally frees an ancient Mayan god of death.
He offers her a deal: if Casiopea helps him recover his throne from his treacherous brother, he will grant her whatever she desires. Success will make her every dream come true, but failure will see her lost, for ever. In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed only with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey, from the jungles of Yucatan to the bright lights of Mexico City and deep into the darkness of Xibalba, the Mayan underworld.
Imogen, Obviously , by Becky Albertalli ( paperback May 2023)
$12.00
The sensational new novel from Becky Albertalli, best-selling author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Imogen may be hopelessly heterosexual, but she's got the World's Greatest Ally title locked down. And when she visits her best friend, Lili, at college who is newly-out, newly-graduated, and newly thriving, with a cool new squad of queer college friends, no one knows that Imogen's a raging hetero - not even Lili's best friend, Tessa.Of course, the more time Imogen spends with chaotic, freckle-faced Tessa, the more she starts to wonder if her truth was ever all that straight to begin with... With an irresistible cast of characters, hugely funny and empathetic writing, and all of Becky Albertalli's trademark warmth and wit, Imogen, Obviously beautifully explores the nuances of sexuality, identity, and friendship - perfect for fans of Alice Oseman and Adam Silvera.
Annie Lumsden, The Girl From the Sea ( paperback April 2023)
$11.00
A magical story about finding your identity from one of the most acclaimed storytellers of his generation, richly illustrated in full colour by an internationally renowned artist. My mother says that all things can be turned to tales. I thought she meant tales like fish tails, but I was wrong.She meant tales like this, tales that are stories. But this tale of mine is very like a fish tail too... Annie has never been like the other girls.
Her mam tried sending her to school when she was small, but Annie couldn't seem to make words or numbers stick. She prefers instead to be swimming in the sea, or sunbathing on the shore at Stupor Beach, her head full of tales. She should have been a fish, her mam always tells her, and Annie knows the truth of it.
Then a stranger who comes to town is struck by the beauty and the wonder of her, and Annie Lumsden realizes that perhaps she really is half a creature from the sea.
Things I wanted to Say, Monica Murphy ( paperback March 2023)
$13.00
Whit Lancaster is the cold, heartless and devastatingly handsome bad boy at Lancaster Prep.
Beautiful Summer Savage has no time for Whit. But his intense gaze traps her under a spell. Fills her with a longing she doesn't understand.
When Whit gets into trouble one night, Summer invites him in. Tends to his wounds. Lets her guard down, just for a moment .
. . Which is when Whit takes off in the dead of night.
Taking her journal with him. Now he holds all her darkest secrets, threatening to expose her to the entire school. So Summer strikes a deal with Whit.
A deal that leaves her at his mercy behind closed doors . . .
But what if he's at hers?
# booktok romance # not for kids !
Happyhead , Josh Silver ( paperback March 2023)
$12.00
We are in an epidemic. An epidemic of unhappiness. ...Friends, here is the good news: HappyHead has the answer. When Seb is offered a place on a radical retreat designed to solve the national crisis of teenage unhappiness, he is determined to change how people see him and make his parents proud. But as he finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Finn, Seb starts to question the true nature of the challenges they must undergo.
The deeper into the programme the boys get, the more disturbing the assessments become, until it's clear there may be no escape... The first in a thrilling, thought-provoking new series for fans of They Both Die at the End and Squid Game
The First Move, Jenny Ireland ( paperback April 2023)
$12.00
For 13+ and adults like me who enjoy a good YA read!
Juliet believes girls like her - girls with arthritis - don't get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends' social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn't just 'the girl with crutches'.
Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape. Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn't want him to be anyway - he always acts like he's cooler than everyone else.
Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . .
Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep, Philip Reeve ( paperback, Sept 2021)
$11.00
It was always at sundown they were seen. In that twilight hour, when the walls between the worlds grew thin, strange things might slip through the cracks. Sometimes then, so the stories went, enchanted islands would appear in the empty ocean to the west of Wildsea.When Utterly Dark was a baby, she was washed up on the shores of the Autumn Isles and taken in by the Watcher of Wildsea. But everything changes when her guardian suddenly drowns. Now who will keep the Watch, and make sure Wildsea stays safe from the strange forces teeming in the deep ocean around them?A magical new story from the bestselling and prize-winning author of Mortal Engines.
Wahala, Nikki May ( paperback from Jan 2023)
$12.00
SEX AND THE CITY with a killer edge for fans of QUEENIE, EXPECTATION and MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLERS
Ronke, Simi, Boo are three mixed-race friends living in London.
They have the gift of two cultures, Nigerian and English. Not all of them choose to see it that way. Everyday racism has never held them back, but now in their thirties, they question their future.
Ronke wants a husband (he must be Nigerian); Boo enjoys (correction: endures) stay-at-home motherhood; while Simi, full of fashion career dreams, rolls her eyes as her boss refers to her urban vibe yet again. When Isobel, a lethally glamorous friend from their past arrives in town, she is determined to fix their futures for them. Cracks in their friendship begin to appear, and it is soon obvious Isobel is not sorting but wrecking.
When she is driven to a terrible act, the women are forced to reckon with a crime in their past that may just have repeated itself. Explosive, hilarious and wildly entertaining, this razor-sharp tale of love, race and family will have you laughing, crying and gasping in horror. Fearlessly political about class, colourism and clothes, the spellbinding Wahala is for anyone who has ever cherished friendship, in all its forms.
The Things We Do To Our Friends, Heather Darwent ( hardback Jan 2023)
$20.00
The Things We Do To Our Friends: A deliciously dark, intoxicating, compulsive tale of feminist revenge, toxic friendships, and deadly secrets
Clare arrives at the University of Edinburgh with a secret. This is her chance for a blank slate: to find the right people and reinvent herself.
And then she meets Tabitha. Tabitha is charismatic, beautiful and intimidatingly wealthy. Soon Clare is sucked into her enigmatic circle of friends and their dizzying world of champagne on rooftops and summers in France.
Her new life has begun. Then Tabitha reveals the little project they're working on, a project they need Clare's help with. It's reckless, possibly perilous and might finally allow Clare to become who she was meant to be...
But how much is an extraordinary life worth if others have to pay?An intoxicating feminist page-turner with shades of The Secret History and Promising Young Woman, this novel will take you on a journey from Edinburgh's dazzling spires to the dripping staircases and dark alleyways of its underbelly.
Paperback from January 2024.
If We Were Villains, M L Rio ( paperback 2017)
$12.00
The 2023 Booktok obsession!
A vivid and immersive story of obsession perfect for fans of dark academia and Donna Tartt's The Secret HistoryOliver Marks has just served ten years for the murder of one of his closest friends - a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened ten years ago.
As a young actor studying Shakespeare at an elite arts conservatory, Oliver noticed that his talented classmates seem to play the same roles onstage and off - villain, hero, tyrant, temptress - though Oliver felt doomed to always be a secondary character in someone else's story. But when the teachers change up the casting, a good-natured rivalry turns ugly, and the plays spill dangerously over into life. When tragedy strikes, one of the seven friends is found dead.
The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.
This Book Kills, Ravena Guron ( paperback Jan 2023)
$12.00
For fans of Holly Jackson and Karen M McManus." The Observer"An awesome book, full of mystery, friendship and sass. ***** " The Sun"Fun, twisty and insightful...will keep you on the edge of your seat." Adiba Jaigirdar, YA Book Prize winning author of Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating"I'll make it clear from the start: I did not kill Hugh Henry Van Boren. I didn't even help.Well, not intentionally." When Hugh Henry Van Boren, one of the most popular and richest kids in Jess Choudhary's school, is found dead, the student body is left reeling and wondering who the murderer could be... Jess, a student under strict instructions to keep her record clean or risk losing her scholarship, finds herself at the centre of the investigation when it's revealed that Hugh died in the exact same way as a character in a short story she wrote. And then Jess receives an anonymous text thanking her for the inspiration.
With time running out, Jess knows if she doesn't solve this mystery she'll finally have something in common with Hugh Henry. She'll be dead too.
Influential, Amara Sage ( paperback Jan 2023)
$12.00
Almond Brown has no friends in real life . . .but 3.5 million followers online. A heart-felt, whip-smart deep dive into what it would really be like to be internet famous at 17: a cautionary tale for our time from a writer who has grown up with social media. Almond is forced into the spotlight when she was just a perfectly filtered bump: her mum has been documenting their family through social media since before she was born.
And her family enjoy all the rewards that come from that level of influence. Only, it's not the life Almond would have chosen for herself, and being on a platform all the time has made her anxious and insecure. When the darkest side of the internet begins to haunt her, Almond feels like she's going to lose everything .
. . If only she could see that she has a real-life, too, full of friends and family who love her, and that it could save her.
Send Nudes, Saba Sams ( paperback Jan 2023)
$13.00
In ten dazzling stories, Saba Sams dives into the world of girlhood and immerses us in its contradictions and complexities: growing up too quickly, yet not quickly enough; taking possession of what one can, while being taken possession of; succumbing to societal pressure but also orchestrating that pressure. These young women are feral yet attentive, fierce yet vulnerable, exploited yet exploitative. Threading between clubs at closing time, pub toilets, drenched music festivals and beach holidays, these unforgettable short stories deftly chart the treacherous terrain of growing up - of intense friendships, of ambivalent mothers, of uneasily blended families, and of learning to truly live in your own body.
With striking wit, originality and tenderness, Send Nudes celebrates the small victories in a world that tries to claim each young woman as its own. _____________________________________________________________________'A roiling, raw, gut-punch of a debut collection, best read in one sitting ... I sat motionless for about half an hour after reading them; I can't wait to see what she writes next' PANDORA SYKES'A seriously impressive debut.
We Are All Constellations, Amy Beashel ( paperback October 2022)
$12.00
A heartbreaking but hope-filled tale about the stories we tell ourselves to survive... You are strong. You are brave.You are not alone. Seventeen-year-old Iris is happy. She's fearless, she's strong.
She is everything but a girl who lost her mum. But Iris's dad and step-mum have been keeping a secret. One big enough to unravel her.
Only the magnetic Orla can provide an escape, until things get...complicated. As Iris questions who she is, it becomes clear she can't run away from grief. What happens when someone who has never faced up to the darkness lets it in?
