Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Peak: Spy Academy #1 – Jack Heath

    Scholastic Australia February 2024 ISBN: 9781761290473 ISBN-10: 1761290479 Series: Spy Academy RRP: $17.99 Way back in 2005, I went to the ASLA Conference in Canberra. What a fun three days that was: made new friends, fancy-pants dinner at Parliament House, late-night escapade to the casino, my first visit to Jackie French, and listening to the hottest new author…

  • Chasing the Stars: Moonlight Dreamers #4 – Siobhan Curham

    Walker Books Australia November 2023 Imprint:Walker Books ISBN13: 9781529504026 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 Don’t think for one moment, that though this came out in November and I’m not reviewing it till now, that I put it off. In fact, I didn’t receive at the time of its release but only last week (as of…

  • Sense and Second-degree Murder – Tirzah Price

    Harper Collins Australia November 2023 Book #2 Jane Austen Murder Mysteries ISBN: 9780062889850 ISBN 10: 0062889850 Imprint: HarperTeen $19.99 Now that I’ve read this one, I’d really like to get hold of #1 because this is a really top-notch, fresh take on detective stories. Of course, young ladies in Regency England did not pursue business, nor study chemistry…

  • Borderland – Graham Akhurst

    UWA Publishing October 2023 ISBN: 978760802646 RRP: $22.99 This is a really fresh perspective on First Nations YA, and was a hugely enjoyable and gripping read.  Jono and Jenny have known each other all their lives and have just graduated as the inaugural First Nations scholarship students from their private school. Both enrol at Brisbane’s…

  • Alex Rider: Nightshade Revenge #14 – Anthony Horowitz

    Walker Books September 2023 ISBN13:9781529517422 Australia RRP:$17.99 New Zealand RRP:$19.99 My fondness for Alex’ adventures is pretty well-known, and some people may remember my huge excitement with an exchange I had with the boy spy’s creator, Anthony himself, when I did my promo for Alex’ 20th anniversary. Well I remember our collective sadness when we…

  • In times of bushfires and billy buttons – Steven Herrick

    Ford St Publishing October 2023 ISBN: 9781922696366 RRP: $19.95 Ethan’s early years were not the stuff of idyllic wholesome family stories. When both his parents went to jail for fifteen years, as the result of drug-dealing, it was either foster care as a ward of the state or living with his Aunt Helen in another…

  • Eleanor Jones is NOT a Murderer – Amy Doak

    Penguin Australia September 2023 ISBN: 9781761342417 Imprint: Penguin Format: Paperback RRP: $19.99 This is a fantastic new voice in Oz YA, and one that will have your fans of Fleur Ferris, Karen McManus and Holly Jackson very excited. I was feeling a little poorly yesterday, which made for a very good reason to spend a lot of time…

  • Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer – Garth Nix

    Allen & Unwin August 2023 ISBN:9781761068393 Publisher: A&U Children’s Imprint: A & U Children RRP: $32.99 Ummm…….well……..where to start? Don’t get me wrong – I love this! In fact, I love all Garth’s writing, and always have. I had never read any of these stories before so I’m still getting my thoughts sorted, and this…

  • Scar Town Book Launch

    What a terrific way to spend an evening! Catching up with Tristan Bancks after a few years, also seeing Deborah Abela again, for the official Brisbane launch of Scar Town, at Where the Wild Things Are. The Kid came along as well and it was a hugely enjoyable presentation. Isobelle Carmody was also in the…

  • It’s Not Summer Without You – Jenny Han

    Book 2 in the Summer I Turned Pretty Series April 2023 ISBN: 9780241636015 Imprint: Penguin RRP: $19.99 Twelve years after its initial release, the second in Jenny Han’s Summer trilogy is the third of her books to be adapted for the screen, and little wonder as these have been some of the hottest books in the secondary library/young…