Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Friday Barnes 11: Last Chance – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia Oh Friday, you just get betterer and betterer! Readers will remember my anecdote of the dismay felt by my coterie of Friday fans, when the ‘last’ in the (original) series was announced, and was confirmed by my (then) recent conversation with Rachel over afternoon tea. Subsequently – and by then in a different…

  • Seven Days- Fleur Ferris

    Penguin Australia May 2022 ISBN: 9781761043352 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $16.99 I really do love a good countdown action/adventure and Fleur Ferris has brought her masterful manipulation of tension into a fantastic new narrative for middle school readers. In similar fashion to her hugely successful and popular suspenseful stories for YA kiddos, this one follows a cracking pace from…

  • We Were Wolves – Jason Cockcroft

    Walker Books Australia June 2021 ISBN: 9781839130571Imprint: Andersen PressAustralian RRP: $26.99New Zealand RRP: $28.99 There are some seriously fabulous YA books coming out of the UK recently – and I’m not trying to take anything away from our local authors at all – it’s just that every single UK title I’ve read, probably in the…

  • The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde

    Hachette Australia AUG 9, 2001 | 9780340733561 | RRP $19.99 Earlier in the year I reviewed what I have said was my read of the year – The Constant Rabbit – and while I knew of Jasper Fforde and the huge impact he’s made along with the rave reviews particularly from my Welsh friend, that book was my introduction…

  • Wreck – Fleur Ferris PLUS Q&A with Fleur

    Penguin Random House 9780143784319 July 3, 2017 Random House Australia Children’s RRP: $19.99   Bad things happen. Fight to make them right. Or let it wreck your life.   Once again Fleur Ferris has delivered a gripping and tension filled narrative which will have readers impatient to turn each page. Tamara Bennett is about to…

  • The Fall – Tristan Bancks

    9780143783053 May 29, 2017 Random House Australia Children’s RRP $16.99   Well, after much impatient anticipation I could just say ‘WOW’! But that’s hardly the review this new action-packed novel deserves so I shall continue. Tristan has a superlative ability to write everyday all-too-human imperfect characters and transform them into inspirational heroes. Sam has never…

  • Zeroes – Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti

        ISBN:97819252665 Publisher:Allen & Unwin Imprint:A & U Children Pub Date:October 2015 Page Extent:496 RRP $19.99   When three highly respected authors collaborate on a novel, you might expect something extraordinary and Zeroes delivers just that. This is a slam-dunk in-your-face novel that brings something quite out of the box to readers. Meet six…