JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Our Dark Secret by Jenny Quintana

From the author of The Missing Girl, Jenny Quintana’s gripping novel, Our Dark Secret, tells the story of two girls, two deaths and two decades of silence . . .

The crazy girls, they called them – or at least, Elizabeth liked to think they did. As a teenager in the late 1970s, she was clever, overweight and a perfect victim for the bullies. Then Rachel and her family arrived in town and, for Elizabeth, it was as if a light had been switched on. She was drawn to the bright and beautiful Rachel like a moth to a flame.

Rachel had her own reasons for wanting Elizabeth as a friend, and although their relationship was far from equal, Elizabeth would do anything for Rachel.

Then the first body was discovered.

Twenty years on, Elizabeth wants nothing more than to keep the secrets of her teenage years where they belong: in the past. But another body has been found, and she can’t keep running from what happened.

Can she?

Our Dark Secret is a psychological thriller about buried secrets, hidden pasts, and the bond between two girls who are hiding a dark secret.

The story follows a dual timeline and switches between 1978 and 1999, slowly revealing the story behind Elizabeth and Rachel’s friendship. From Elizabeth’s point of view, we understand that in 1978 she was lonely, overweight and in desperate need of friendship and companionship.

When she meets Rachel, she grows obsessive — watching her, following her, and desperately trying to find common ground with her. The two do become friends, over time, but it’s not out of loyalty. It’s out of shared trauma and eventually, a terrible crime that ties them both together forever.

In 1999, Elizabeth is similar to how we knew her before. She’s still overweight, lonely and anxious. She receives a phone call from an old neighbour. A body has been found in her old town, and the police suspect foul play. Elizabeth is terrified.

“People around me narrow their eyes as though I’ve done something terribly wrong. Usually it’s my size that affronts them. Sometimes it’s my clothes: mid-calf skirts and buttoned-up blouses. (I’ve never known how to dress).”

Elizabeth is an unreliable narrator — she lies a lot, twisting the truth to capture the attention of her father. And Rachel feels like a mythical character. We never really feel that we understand her because we only meet her through Elizabeth’s POV. Rachel seems to keep to herself, both in the physical sense and also in the social sense. She functions alone, and she doesn’t need companionship like Elizabeth does.

Elizabeth’s characterisation has the most depth, but she’s also the most flawed character. Her parents split up, her dad runs off with another woman, but Elizabeth only seems to care about herself and her non-existent friendship with Rachel. She’s not a great person, and not one that you’d want to be friends with, but I did enjoy reading about her in the book.

The mysteries within the book are enough to keep you engaged and interested in the story. A body has been found in Elizabeth’s hometown and slowly, we find out how Elizabeth and Rachel are connected to that character. Do I think this is the best crime/thriller novel I’ve read in this past year? No. I thought it was fine, but it wasn’t amazing. This is the kind of book you’d pick up at an airport and read on a flight.

“I was still angry with Melissa — the way she’d insulted me. She was only nine. Who did she think she was? It was bad enough at school when people my own age called me names, and then there was the stuff about Mum. Dad would be furious if he knew Mrs Wright had called her prissy.”

Personally, I felt that the 1999 storyline was unnecessary and didn’t add any value to the story. The majority of the book takes place in 1978 and if anything, the 1999 storyline (when it did happen) just detracted from the tense, fast-paced action of the other timeline.

Recommended for fans of thriller, crime and mystery novels.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Our Dark Secret
Jenny Quintana
February 2020
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Supernova by Marissa Meyer

All’s fair in love and anarchy …

Nova and Adrian are struggling to keep their secret identities concealed while the battle rages on between their alter egos and their allies. But their greatest fears are about to come to life. Secrets, lies and betrayals are revealed as anarchy once again threatens to reclaim Gatlon City.

Supernova is the third and final instalment in Marissa Meyer’s Renegades Trilogy, set within the world of superheroes and super-villains.

This review is riddled with spoilers, not just for the series thus far but of Supernova. It’s hard to review this critically without being specific on the examples. Only read on if you’ve read Supernova, or if you’re happy being spoiled.

You can read my review of Renegades HERE and my review of Archenemies HERE.

Sitting at 550 pages, Supernova is a beast of a book. The story picks up almost immediately after Archenemies left off — Nova/Nightmare has stolen Ace Anarchy’s helmet, used Agent N to strip Frostbite, Gargoyle and Aftershock of their powers, and witnessed Max Everhart nearly bleed to death after Frostbite unintentionally stabbed him.

Nova is still in doubt over her true objective, and where her true loyalties lie. She’s falling hard for Adrian Everhart, and she’s developed true friendships with the other Renegades. But she owes Ace Anarchy her life, right? She’s a conflicted character, and she remains conflicted for the majority of the book.

“To a lot of prodigy parents, Max would have been seen as a threat long before he was seen as a child worth loving. For months, after, Max had lived with a civilian foster family who cared for him until Hugh and Simon could figure out what to do. From the start, Hugh had felt it was important for him to be kept close.”

The pacing, dialogue and world-building have always been the strengths of the Renegades Trilogy. Marissa Meyer is really skilled at constructing relatable characters who you can’t help but empathise with or sympathise for. There are moments in Supernova where Nova is a bit unlikeable and her actions are unrealistic — like when she tries to convince Ace Anarchy and the rest of the crew that they should just leave Gatlon City and set up camp somewhere else — but for most of the novel, you’re rooting for her.

Both sides of the war — Renegades and Anarchists — are fighting for what they believe is right. And both sides have beliefs and values that the reader could understand. It’s not black and white, and there are moments of the book that are very grey. It’s easy for the characters to lose sight of what’s important, and how to achieve their end goal.

“Nova was eager to put this charade behind her. As soon as she left headquarters with the fake helmet tucked into a plain tote bag, she marched straight for Blackmire Station, one of the defunct stations on the old Gatlon City subway line.”

Structurally, Supernova falls short. Nova’s secret identity as Nightmare is discovered by Adrian and the gang pretty early on. Understandably, he’s pissed. Nova is immediately imprisoned in Cragmoor Penitentiary, where Ace Anarchy and other dangerous villains are held. This is where the book starts to get really good. You think Nova will work out a way to escape. Maybe she’ll break out Ace as well?

But, the resulting plot line is a disappointment. She claims innocence, Adrian is worried he is wrong, and then one of Nova’s allies dons her suit and delivers a cringe-worthy speech to Adrian that Nova has been framed and….Adrian believes them. And thus, Nova is released from prison and all returns to normal.

It’s a soft plot point — it feels like the author wrote herself into a corner and took the easy way out. It also gives the reader whiplash and severe disappointment, because of all the ways the plot could’ve gone, mistaken identity and the classic ‘I was framed’ storyline was the weakest option.

Another weak element of the book are the action/fighting scenes. I felt myself growing bored whenever they came up, perhaps because they were too long and stretched over multiple chapters. Perhaps because the writing wasn’t as tight and polished as it needs to be during a fight scene.

“Dazed, Nova looked down to see one hive with a footprint shoved into its papery shell in the centre of the room. She’d moved so fast, she hadn’t even noticed stepping on it. The bees who had called it home were swarming around, apparently enraged, but they were not the insects that worried her.”

A solid conclusion to an explosive and action-packed series. Even with a few questionable plot points and unrealistic, far-fetched moments, Supernova will please fans of the series.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Supernova
Marissa Meyer
November 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

The mesmerising adult debut from Leigh Bardugo. A tale of power, privilege, dark magic and murder set among the Ivy League elite. Alex Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. A dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved crime – the last thing she wants is to cause trouble. Not when Yale was supposed to be her fresh start. But a free ride to one of the world’s most prestigious universities was bound to come with a catch.

Alex has been tasked with monitoring the mysterious activities of Yale’s secret societies – societies that have yielded some of the most famous and influential people in the world. Now there’s a dead girl on campus and Alex seems to be the only person who won’t accept the neat answer the police and campus administration have come up with for her murder.

Because Alex knows the secret societies are far more sinister and extraordinary than anyone ever imagined.

They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living . . .

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo is an adult fantasy novel, and the first in a new series with protagonist Alex Stern.

Alex Stern is recruited to work for the mysterious and secretive Lethe society at Yale simply because she can see ghosts. Her job is to the oversee the other secret societies at the college, and make sure their rituals and practices are above board. When a young girl is murdered on campus grounds, Alex endeavours to uncover who murdered her and why.

The world is original and intriguing — at its core, it’s about a girl who needs to heal from her past. Alex Stern can see ghosts and she’s had some horrible trauma throughout her childhood/teenage years. This book is also about revenge, murder, conspiracy theories, magic, power, and secret societies at Yale university that work with magic.

“If they could find him. If they could somehow bring him home from whatever dark place he’d gone. In less than a week they’d attempt the new-moon rite. Alex didn’t understand the specifics, only that Dean Sandow believed it would work and that, until it did, her job was to make sure that no one asked too many questions about Lethe’s missing golden boy.”

After browsing all of the glowing reviews for this title, I definitely think there’s some sort of disconnect between me and this book. I thought it was…fine. I read it, enjoyed it, and finished it. Did I think it was exceptional? No. Was I underwhelmed after reading all the pre-publication buzz? Yes.

There is a distinct lack of introduction to the world, or credible world-building. Alex Stern has the rare ability to see Grays — ghosts who have yet to move on from their time on earth — and we’re thrown head first into this fantasy world with very little explanation. I had to reread chapters 1 and 2, twice.

The pacing is also incredibly slow throughout the book, and I’m not sure that the plot holds enough tension to justify the slow pacing.

“A cluster of Grays was mulling around by the gym. Alex let her eyes skim over them, landing nowhere, barely focused. A few were local Grays who could always be found in the area, a rower who had drowned off the Florida Keys but who now returned to haunt the training tanks, a heavyset man who had clearly once been a football player.”

Characterisation is a strength of the book — Alex is a high school dropout, drug addict, and her best friend recently died under suspicious circumstances. Her relationship with her mother is fractured, and her grades at Yale so far have been sub par. Her time at Yale helps her understand her gift — to trust it — and over the course of the novel, she grows and matures and comes to understand who she is as a person.

There’s a particularly fantastic moment in the book when Alex gets revenge on a sexist, abusive college boy called Blake — this could well be my favourite plot point in Ninth House. Lips are sealed!

Leigh’s language and prose is another strength in the book — the sentences feel decadent, indulgent, and inviting.

“As Darlington had known they would, the Grays began to appear, drifting through the walls, drawn by blood and hope. When at last the blood tide reached the end of the parchment, the Aurelians each lowered their sleeves, letting them brush the soaked paper.”

You’ve really got to love fantasy to read Ninth House. You’re thrust into a world with very little explanation, and to wade through that and continue on, you need to love the genre. Otherwise, you’ll just leave this book incomplete.

Personally, I thought this was just okay. I liked the twists at the end, and how it opened up for the sequel, but I felt quite let down with the book as a whole.

Recommended for fantasy lovers, 18+. This book is very dark, and deals with mature themes — rape, sexual assault, murder, suicide, drug overdose, self-harm — and is not recommended for children or young adults under the age of 18.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ninth House
Leigh Bardugo
October 2019
Hachette Book Publishers

Rogue (Vault #2) by A.J. Betts

There was no going back; there was no choice, anymore. I’d chosen out and this was it: hot-cold, dry-wet, bright-dark and lonely.

Hayley has gone rogue.

She’s left everything she’s ever known – her friends, her bees, her whole world – because her curiosity was too big to fit within the walls of her underwater home.

But what is this new world she’s come to? Has Hayley finally found somewhere she can belong? Or will she have to keep running?

Rogue is the second and final book in the Vault series by Australian author A.J. Betts. Vault is a dystopian YA series about a young girl — Hayley — who lives in an enclosed vault with a large community and her curiosity leads her to the discovery that they’re in fact living underwater.

Rogue picks up exactly where Hive left off — Hayley travels up in the pod and arrives on land. She has no idea where she is, or even what this place is. Over the course of the novel, you find out why Hayley’s community was living underwater and what happened to those people who were left on land and where they are now.

“Time behaved differently in this world. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with it. There were no coloured grow lights to signal when to eat, work, rest or sleep. There were no morning meetings to allocate jobs. No bath-time rituals. No prayers, and though I still felt the impulse, I wasn’t sure what to pray for here.”

There were so many possibilities for where this book could go, but I just feel like nothing much happened. This is a really short book and I stand by my original thought that Hive and Rogue should just be one book, but with two parts.

Hayley travels a lot in the book, and it’s kind of boring. Sure, she meets people and they build a family together and there are hurdles she has to overcome and danger she must avoid, and information about the land and the people that she has to learn really quickly. But ultimately, I finished this book quite disappointed at the lack of plot. The final 50 pages has a lot going on but by then, it felt too late. I think this book is let down by its structure and its plot, which is a shame because A.J Betts is a really talented writer and I freaking loved Hive.

“I tried to recall what Will had said about the first generation, and why they went down. They had a problem, you understand? Was it a famine that had caused our ancestors to flee the terrestrial world?”

Rogue explores many themes, including climate change and asylum seeking. The book is mainly set in Tasmania, which is now called Terrafirma. Terrafirma is essentially a prison for drifters — this setting feels really relevant in 2019 and there is a terrifyingly strong connection between Terrafirma in Rogue, and Manus and Nauru in Australia.

Hayley’s characterisation is a strength in the book — she’s thrust into a new world that she has no knowledge of and she’s forced to adapt to her surroundings. She’s resilient and she trusts her instincts, and she is incredibly courageous.

“I’d once resented Will for his freedom. I’d envied his privilege, as the son, to wander unquestioned through the houses, and I often imagined the things I would do, if I were him. I would go to the kitchen for no reason but to smell the nutmeg and touch the polished copper pots.”

The Vault series is recommended for young adult readers, aged 12+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rogue (Vault #2)
A.J. Betts
July 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toon

Angie has always wanted to travel, but at twenty-seven she has barely even stepped outside the Australian mining town where she was born. Instead, she discovers the world through stories told to her by passing travellers, dreaming that one day she’ll see it all for herself.

When her grandmother passes away, leaving Angie with no remaining family, she is ready to start her own adventures. Then she finds a letter revealing the address of the father she never knew, and realises instantly where her journey must begin: Italy.

As Angie sets out to find the truth – about her family, her past and who she really is – will mysterious and reckless Italian Alessandro help guide the way?

If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toon is a contemporary romance novel about a young girl’s desire to connect with her biological father, and travel the world.

Angie has been taking care of her grandparents for most of her life — she’s 27 years old and has never left her home town of Coober Pedy, in rural South Australia. She’s desperate to travel and see the world, but she’s also eager to find out more about her biological father. Her mother died shortly after giving birth to Angie, and her grandparents claim not to know any information about his identity. When Angie uncovers a letter with more information into her mother’s past, Angie is able to track down her father — Giulio — in Italy.

“He doesn’t really ask me much about myself, but he’s happy to talk and I do my best to listen. I hear about the time the mayor came into his restaurant, and another occasion when he met with the Pope, along with countless other anecdotes.”

The story itself will appeal to anyone who is a huge fan of romance novels, but for me, I didn’t overly enjoy the book. The story moves so fast in the beginning, that I never really felt connected to Angie’s character.

I never felt drawn to her or her motives — I felt like I was detached from her in some way. She finds out about her father and then meets him in such a short amount of time, it just felt incredibly unrealistic.

Additionally, there doesn’t seem to be much tension to the story. Angie finds the letter, tracks her dad down immediately, he welcomes her with open arms, and then Angie spends majority of the novel trying to form a friendship and/or relationship with Giulio’s adopted son Alessandro. It all feels a little too easy.

“My feet seem to have glued themselves to the spot, but my father steps forward and embraces me, squeezing me tightly. I could not feel more bizarre as I squeeze him back. He smells of cologne and wood smoke — sort of homely and welcoming — and for a split second, my senses are flooded with the memory of what my grandfather used to smell like.”

Angie is 27 but at times, she reads like a teenager. She has quite a juvenile dialogue — external and internal — and despite Angie and I being of similar age, I felt like I was reading a story from the POV of a high school student who has been set free in Italy without adult supervision.

If you’re a die-hard fan of romance novels, then you’ll love this book despite its flaws in pacing and believability. But if you’re like me and you only dabble in romance every now and then, I’m not sure that this book is for you.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

If You Could Go Anywhere
Paige Toon
May 2019
Penguin Random House Australia