Review: The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

Life isn't fair, it's just fairer than death, that's all

Review: Alanna – Song of the Lioness Quartet, by Tamora Pierce

"From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight." Rereading one of my favourite childhood authors as an adult

Review: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through The Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: One day, a young girl named Alice is sitting on the riverbank with her sister, when she sees a curious looking white rabbit. She soon after falls into the magical world of Wonderland, where she meets a series of strange creatures. Through the Looking Glass: Nothing is quite what it seems …

Review: Fire Girl, by Matt Ralphs

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Hazel Hooper has spent her whole life trapped in a magical Glade created by her mother, Hecate. She's desperate to meet new people and find out about the world. And, more than anything, she wants to be a witch. But when her mother is kidnapped by a demon - everything changes . . …

Review: Monsters of Men – by Patrick Ness

Synopsis: Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape. As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there ever be peace when they're so hopelessly outnumbered?       Title: Monsters …

Re-Read: The Hobbit – by J.R. Tolkien

Synopsis: Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey ‘there and …

Review: The Ask and the Answer – by Patrick Ness

Synopsis: Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is …

Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go – by Patrick Ness

Synopsis: Imagine you're the only boy in a town of men. And you can hear everything they think. And they can hear everything you think. Imagine you don't fit in with their plans... Todd Hewitt is just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. But his town has been keeping …

Review: The Magician’s Nephew – by C.S. Lewis

Synopsis: On a daring quest to save a life, two friends are hurled into another world, where an evil sorceress seeks to enslave them. But then the lion Aslan’s song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible.   …

Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – by Mark Twain:

Synopsis: An idyllic snapshot of a boy’s childhood along the banks of the Mississippi River, Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the author’s work that comes closest to his boyhood experiences of growing up in Hannibal in the 1840s. Mischievous and full of energy, Tom enjoys childish pranks and pastimes with his friends, Huck …

Review: Earth Flight – by Janet Edwards

Synopsis: Jarra never wanted to be a celebrity. All she ever wanted was to gain some respect for the people left on Earth: the unlucky few whose immune system prevents them from portalling to other planets. Except now she’s the most famous Earth girl in the universe – but not everyone in the universe is …

Review: Ruby in the Smoke – by Philip Pullman

Synopsis: Soon after Sally Lockhart's father drowns at sea, she receives an anonymous letter. The dire warning it contains makes a man die of fear at her feet. Determined to discover the truth about her father's death, Sally is plunged into a terrifying mystery in the dark heart of Victorian London, at the centre of …

Review: Tape – by Steven Camden

Synopsis: Record a voice and it lasts forever… In 1993, Ryan records a diary on an old tape. He talks about his mother’s death, about his dreams, about his love for a new girl at school who doesn’t even know he exists. In 2013, Ameliah moves in with her grandmother after her parents die. There, …

Review: The Book Thief – by Mark Zusak

Synopsis: HERE IS A SMALL FACT: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and …

Review: The Divergent Series: Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant

Synopsis: Divergent:Sixteen-year-old Tris has been forced to make a terrible choice. In a divided society where everyone must conform, Tris does not fit. So she ventures out, alone, determined to find out where she truly belongs. Tris can trust no one in this brutal new world, but she is drawn to a boy who seems …

The Harry Potter Re-Read

I pretty much grew up with the Harry Potter books – my friends and I would all go insane when the new book came out and rush out to borrow it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of the children that got to buy the books; we weren’t a book buying family. Since then I’ve never re-read …

Review: Geek Girl: Model Misfit – by Holly Smale

Synopsis: “My name is Harriet Manners, and I am still a geek.” MODEL MISFIT is the sequel to No. 1 UK debut GEEK GIRL. Harriet Manners knows a lot of facts. She knows that humans have 70,000 thoughts per day. She knows that Geek + Model = a whole new set of graffiti on your …

Review: A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – by Mark Haddon

Synopsis: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours …

Looking for Alaska – by John Green

Synopsis: BEFORE. Miles Halter’s whole life has been one big non-event until he starts at anything-but-boring Culver Creek Boarding School and meets Alaska Young. Gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, screwed up and utterly fascinating she pulls Miles into her world, launches him into a new life, and steals his heart. But when tragedy strikes, and Miles …

Geek Girl – by Holly Smale

Synopsis: “My name is Harriet Manners, and I am a geek.” Harriet Manners knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a “jiffy” lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. She knows that bats always turn left when exiting a cave and that peanuts are one of …