JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

River Stone by Rachel Hennessy

Pandora, of the River People, wants more than her village can provide. When disaster comes to her people, Pan has the opportunity to become their saviour and escape her inevitable pairing with life-long friend Matthew. She wants to make her own choices. Deep in her soul, she believes there is something more out there, beyond the boundaries, especially since she encountered the hunter of the Mountain People.

A story of confused love, difficult friendships and clumsy attempts at heroism, Pan’s fight for her village will bring her into contact with a whole new world, where the truth about the past will have terrifying reverberations for her people’s future survival.

River Stone is the first book in a new dystopian YA series from Australian author Rachel Hennessy. The story is about survival and bravery, but it’s also about family, legacy and expectation.

At first, I thought The River People were a cult. The village is small, ruled by a male elder, and teenagers are told who they are to be paired with. They don’t get to choose who to have children with, and who or what they want isn’t really taken into consideration.

It all seemed very cultish, and I guess it kind of is, but in a dystopian setting. Most of the world was wiped out after a mysterious virus started infecting people, and The River People are just doing their best to survive and continue procreating so that they don’t die off. In the blurb, it says “when disaster comes to her people”, and I half expected that to be a mass suicide like you see in cults, but I was just overthinking it. Pandora’s people are struck down with the mysterious virus and it’s up to Pandora and her friends to travel into the city and find the cure.

“Caro chews on a large piece of meat. He and Bayat have prepared a piece of the cougar on a long, whittled spear which they’ve placed over there pit, held up by two forked branches driven into the ground. They have turned it sporadically over the course of the afternoon and then carved slices off it.”

Young readers will be drawn to Pandora’s resilience, determination and strength. She’s worried for her parents, but she’s also worried for her village. She doesn’t want to let anyone down and she certainly doesn’t want to fail on this mission.

Pandora has to navigate this new world if she’s going to succeed. But she also has to navigate a love triangle, and the group of friends she’s traveling with. Tensions rise and friendships are damaged.

“At the very least, the training had ensured I could just keep up with Bayat and as we sped along the path to the caves, I realised my muscles were stronger than they’d ever been.”

As an adult, I picked up on a few things about the plot that I thought could’ve used some work. Firstly, there’s a lot of travel involved in this book, which is something most commonly seen in the second book of a series. Travel is very important in fantasy or dystopian fiction, but it can also be a little boring. I certainly felt like the travelling in River Stone could’ve been condensed, or sped up.

Secondly, I found it awfully convenient how easy it was for Pandora and her friends to gain the Mountain People’s trust. Things seemed quite….easy for the team. They’re trained in both information and combat, and they’re given pretty much everything they need to succeed in their mission. It seemed a little unrealistic.

But, I’m an adult. Whilst I certainly think teenagers are at risk of getting bored of the travelling, I don’t think Pandora’s quick connection with the Mountain People will deter young readers.

River Stone entertained and intrigued me enough to want to read the sequel. The premise is refreshingly unique, and whilst the plot is a little slow at times, and the pacing lagging, I think teen readers will be enthralled by the story. I recommend this for readers aged 11-15.

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

River Stone
Rachel Hennessy
May 2019
Midnight Sun Publishing

The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton

From the author of The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender comes a haunting maelstrom of magic and murder in the lush, moody Pacific Northwest.

When Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island more than a century ago, her otherworldly skills might have benefited friendlier neighbours. Guilt and fear instead led the island’s original eight settlers to burn “the witch” out of her home. So Rona cursed them. Fast-forward one hundred–some years: All Nor Blackburn wants is to live an unremarkable teenage life.

She has reason to hope: First, her supernatural powers, if they can be called that, are unexceptional. Second, her love life is nonexistent, which means she might escape the other perverse side effect of the matriarch’s backfiring curse, too. But then a mysterious book comes out, promising to cast any spell for the right price. Nor senses a storm coming and is pretty sure she’ll be smack in the eye of it.

The Price Guide to the Occult is a young adult fantasy novel from Leslye Walton, about a young girl and her journey towards facing up to her villainous mother.

Nor is the youngest of the Blackburn women, cursed for generations. She just wants to lead a normal teenage life, until she stumbles upon a book — written by her mother — that can cast any spell. She’s thrust into a world she doesn’t fully understand, and her evil mother — who once tried to kill her — returns into her life to wreak havoc.

Truthfully, I don’t see this novel holding the attention of a child or teenager. It struggled to hold my attention, and I’m in my late twenties. The prose is very descriptive, which at first made me admire the book, but after a while, I realised the book is actually just very overwritten and the pace very slow. The book sits at 278 pages, and if it were any longer I think I would’ve given up before the end.

“Nor watched her mother’s blood inch its way across the roof, then stop. Weakened and defeated, Fern slumped to the ground as Nor breathed a shaky sigh of relief. Perhaps the madness was finally over.”

Despite the ominous setting and the murderous plot, the stakes never felt high enough in the book. The characters never felt realistic or complex enough for me to sympathise for them, and the villain never scary enough for me to fear her. Additionally, I never really warmed to the love story or the romance of the book.

My favourite part of the book was the prologue, however it’s about Nor’s ancestor Rona and so the rest of the novel isn’t about her.

“Nor was dreaming again. In her dream, she was standing in a cold and unfamiliar room. The walls and floor were made of stone. The room had a foul door to it, a mix of rot and decay, and the metallic scent of blood. The only way out was a winding stone staircase.”

The pacing is one of the major reasons this book didn’t work for me. It takes a long time before the conflict between Fern and Nor arises, and the book weaves between past and present so often that it’s easy to get confused by events.

This book has an amazing backstory. A truly wonderful prologue. But unfortunately the rest of this book wasn’t for me.

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

The Price Guide to the Occult
Leslye Walton
April 2019
Walker Books Australia

The Secret Runners of New York by Matthew Reilly

‘The windows on all the skyscrapers are smashed…
No power, no lights, no people…
It’s a parallel New York of some kind.’

THE COMING END
When Skye Rogers and her twin brother Red move to Manhattan, rumours of a coming global apocalypse are building. But this does not stop the young elite of New York from partying without a care.

CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?
And then suddenly Skye is invited to join an exclusive gang known as the Secret Runners of New York.
But this is no ordinary clique – they have access to an underground portal that can transport them into the future.
And what Skye discovers in the future is horrifying.

RUN! AS FAST AS YOU CAN!
As society crumbles, Skye and Red race to figure out how to use their knowledge to survive the impending annihilation, they soon discover that the chaotic end of the world is perfect time for revenge…

The Secret Runners of New York is a new standalone YA novel by well-known Australian author Matthew Reilly.

When Skye Rogers moves to Manhattan to attend an expensive private school, she befriends a group of popular girls. One of the girls — Misty — has an amulet that allows them to be transported approximately 20 years in the future, where they can run beneath Central Park.

Skye is shocked to find that 20 years in the future, the world is a wasteland. After some time, the group work out that on St Patrick’s Day in the present year, a doomsday, apocalyptic-style event had occurred that destroyed the earth.

“It was like I had been knighted or damed or whatever the hell the female equivalent of being knighted it. Both at school and outside it, Misty ushered me into her inner circle. I was in.”

Reilly’s world building is really strong, and the premise of the story is intriguing and interesting to the reader. However, this book wasn’t for me. There’s so much potential for this to be an amazing book but it fell flat.

Reilly’s shift from adult protagonists in his other works to a teen protagonist in this book isn’t the main issue.

The main issue is the lack of backstory, character development and authentic voice. The pacing is really fast, making the reader feel like the story is skipping important information, and also making us feel like the book is really rushed.

The characters are adequate, but two-dimensional. The love story feels forced and there’s very little chemistry between the characters. It feels like the romance is there because it should be, rather than needs to be. Additionally, the plot was too easily signposted and the ending very predictable.

“Even though it was only my second time inside the tunnel, it felt like my third. I think I’d mentally appropriated Red’s initial run as my own. And this run was actually more of a walk. It was not the late-night scramble that my first one had been with the larger group.”

Fans of Matthew Reilly’s previous works will discover this book, but may not necessarily enjoy it. This strays too far from his other works and is not the strongest of his collection. And if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t think this book successfully captures the teenage female voice, or the teenage female experience.

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

The Secret Runners of New York
Matthew Reilly
April 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

REVIEW AND AUTHOR INTERVIEW: What I Like About Me by Jenna Guillaume

You know those movies where teenagers have the summer of their lives?
This summer is probably not going to be that.

Here lies Maisie Martin, dead from embarrassment, aged sixteen.

The last thing Maisie Martin thought she’d be doing this summer is entering a beauty pageant. Not when she’s spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone.

Not when her Dad is AWOL for Christmas and her best friend starts going out with the boy she’s always loved. But Maisie’s got something to prove. And she’s not going to let anything or anyone – including herself – hold her back.

What I Like About Me is the debut YA novel from Jenna Guillaume, exploring topics such as body image, self-love, feminism, body positivity, relationships and family turmoil. This book is perfect for readers aged 12+

Maisie goes to a lot of effort to hide her body from others. When everyone else is swimming on the beach, she’s on the sand wearing jeans. Maisie avoids the summer beauty pageant because she doesn’t feel like she’d get in, despite being very keen to be involved. She’s a kind, compassionate girl who has to learn to love herself, and above all else, she needs to learn that she is worth loving. Just because someone is a certain body size doesn’t mean they don’t deserve their happy ending.

“When we were younger, Eva and I talked about entering together. We couldn’t wait until we were both old enough. We’d do a joint talent entry and dance together. We didn’t care if that was allowed or not. We’d do it anyway.”

The novel takes place over one summer holiday. Maisie Martin accompanies her mum and her glamorous childhood best friend Anna to the beach, where she’s forced to face her unrequited crush on Seb. Unfortunately, Maisie’s dad can’t come on holiday because he has to work, but over the course of the novel her dad grows more and more distant and her parents are fighting and Maisie wonders if there’s more to his absence than he’s saying.

What I Like About Me is written in diary form, so the book allows for Maisie’s voice to really shine through the pages. She’s sassy and intelligent, but also really considerate. She wants to love and be loved, and she has always wanted that with the gorgeous Seb. But when Seb and Anna start dating, Maisie forms a bond with an unlikely friend — Beamer.

“If this were a montage in a movie, it would have been all romantic and cute. It would have been with the dreamy leading guy and the beautiful leading girl, not the smart-arse best friend the chubby sidekick. But Anna and Sebastian were off making out somewhere in the dark — probably next to a dumpster, let’s be real. Because life is not a movie.”

Maisie has poor self-esteem, particularly when she’s around her sister Eva. Her sister has always been a high achiever and popular, and thin, and Maisie’s confidence slips whenever she’s around her. When Maisie applies to be in the local beauty pageant and is accepted, she must learn to love the body she has and to stop comparing herself to others. She’s beautiful — inside and out.

One of the strengths of this book is how well Jenna has captured the glorious Australian summer and the teenage experience. Reading it, you can remember how it feels to hang out with your friends by the beach, but readers will also relate to how nervous and worried you got as a teenager whenever you had a crush on someone else and you weren’t sure if they felt the same way.

“Here lies Maisie Martin,
dead from embarrassment,
aged sixteen.”

Young YA readers will love this book, and there’s plenty of teen romance in these pages to satisfy young fans of romance. The most important relationship, however, is the one that Maisie has with herself.

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

What I Like About Me
Jenna Guillaume
March 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

***

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH JENNA GUILLAUME

How has your love of romance fiction evolved or changed since your teenage years?
I’ve been a sucker for romance ever since I was a kid. Even when I was 8 and reading The Baby-Sitter’s Club, my fave stories were ALWAYS the ones where one of the girls had a crush or went on a date. That never changed as a teen and has carried on through to adulthood – if anything, I’ve embraced my love of romance more and spend more time reading it! It’s my comfort reading and happy place.

Alongside writing your novel, you also have years of experience writing short-form pieces for outlets such as Girlfriend and Buzzfeed, and now many more through your freelancing career. What do you like about short-form writing, but also novel writing? How do the two compare?
I like writing about a variety of things, and sharing my thoughts and feelings on topics that are interesting me at any given moment. With short-form writing, it’s great to have an idea and quickly be able turn it around so you can see it published and immediately get feedback on it. Novel-writing is obviously a much bigger and much, much longer process. It’s a lot more work overall but it’s incredibly rewarding and satisfying. To have people contacting me about how much they love What I Like About Me, after years of hard work, means the world to me.

What I Like About Me explores many important messages and topics – self-esteem, body positivity, bullying, relationships etc. But it’s also about Maisie learning to love herself. How important do you think it is for a teenager to reflect on what they like about themselves? Is this something you wish you could tell your younger self, given the chance?
When I was a teen and even as an adult, every time I looked in the mirror, I’d automatically see the things I didn’t like about myself. I really wanted to challenge that all-too-natural instinct and make people stop and consider what they actually do like about themselves. I think girls in particular are socialised to minimise their accomplishments and strengths, when really we should be recognising and celebrating what makes us ALL great. I always say you should treat yourself like you treat your best friend – you point out all their good points and don’t criticise them, so you should love yourself like that as well. You deserve nothing less.

And finally, is there anything you can tell us about what you’re working on right now (either novel or freelance writing)?


I’m freelancing for a lot of publications – like the Sydney Morning Herald, Junkee, GOAT, Flicks and even BuzzFeed! It’s a lot of fun to be writing for different audiences and on a range of topics. In terms of novel-writing, I am working on a follow-up – I can’t say too much, but it is another YA rom-com standalone. It’s hopefully going to be a lot of fun!

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

The award-winning author of The Hate U Give 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.

On the Come Up is the highly anticipated second novel from Angie Thomas, exploring racism, class, wealth and status, and also identity. Bri is a talented young rapper who wants to help lift her family out of poverty — her father was shot dead 12 years earlier by a rival gang and her mother Jay has recently lost her job. Jay used to be a drug addict and those years of unemployment mean that it’s really hard for her to find a new job. They’re struggling to pay the bills and Bri hopes that her rapping — and any money that comes from that — will help her family.

Bri is a teenager who doesn’t know who she wants to be. Yes, she wants to be a rapper. But what does she want to say to the world? When she writers her songs, what does she want people to know about her world?

All she knows is she wants to be on stage, performing for crowds. And when she does that, people listen. They cheer for her. Her talent and her ambition mean that her debut single On the Come Up becomes an overnight sensation. Radio hosts want to talk to her and kids are singing her lyrics in their cars.

But most people misunderstand her lyrics. Her song is about challenging and deconstructing stereotypes and calling out the unfairness of authority, but when people hear it they take it as proof that she’s a dangerous person.

When she sings her lyrics — “Strapped like backpacks, I pull triggers. All the clips on my hips change my figure” — it sounds to others like she’s boasting about violence and guns and painting herself to be an angry, black girl capable of killing cops. People misunderstand what she’s trying to say.

“That look on his face says more than he’s saying. ‘What’s wrong?’ I ask.
‘It’s just…you talked about doing stuff you’ve never actually done, Bri.’

On the Come Up explores talent and ambition, and the road blocks that come with that, not only for someone so young but for a person of colour who comes from a poor family. Bri is expected to be a certain kind of person because of where she comes from. Because of who her father was. And with that comes the expectation that she’ll rap about topics or situations that she knows nothing about.

At first, Bri doesn’t care. She’s rapping about what she wants and people are loving it. And then she catches the eye of a music manager and he’s pressuring her to be the kind of artist she never wanted to be, and it’s hard for Bri to choose the right path.

“Thing is, sometimes I follow the rules and still deal with crap. Sonny, Malik, and I went into a comic shop a few months back, and the clerk followed us around until we left the store. Malik recorded the whole thing on his camera.”

On the Come Up explores racism in a number of settings, but more specifically within Bri’s high school. A security guard targets her and throws her to the ground because she’s been selling candy to other students. This isn’t code word for drugs, she’s really just selling candy to other students and using the money to help her family.

There are no repercussions for the two security guards who did this. They return to work, and members of the public flock to support them. Bri feels wronged, like no matter what she does she’ll always be seen as the troublesome, angry black teenager because of the colour of her skin and where she comes from.

“Suddenly, it’s as if that punch was the green light some students were waiting for. A cluster of boys charge Long and Tate, taking them to the ground. Curtis is one of them. Fists fly and feet kick.”

This book is very powerful, and important for readers who come from a place of privilege. There’s a lot happening between the pages of this book that many readers will never come to understand.

This is not just recommended for teenage readers or young eyes. All readers will enjoy this story — all readers will find something in this book that will help them better understand a world they probably don’t know anything about.

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

On the Come Up
Angie Thomas
February 2019
Walker Books Australia

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