My So-Called Haunting - Tamsyn Murray
Pages: 207
Publisher: Piccadilly Press
Release Date: 24th September 2010
Other Books in this Series: My So-Called Afterlife
Skye, a fourteen-year-old who can see ghosts, is very stressed. Not only is the ghost of a sixteenth-century witch giving her fashion tips, but she’s struggling to settle into life with her auntie, and is developing a crush on the most unattainable boy in the school, Nico.
When her aunt asks her for help with a troubled teen ghost called Dontay, she’s glad of the distraction. But then Nico starts paying her attention, and she’s soon facing a battle to keep her love life and her psychic life separate.
As things get ever more complicated, it looks as though Dontay’s past may cost Skye her future.
Tamsyn Murray’s second novel, My So-Called Haunting, is just as funny, spirited and moving as her first. I loved it so much.
When I first realised that My So-Called Haunting was a sort-of sequel to My So-Called Afterlife, I wondered how on earth the two books could be connected. But I had my answer within the first few pages: Jeremy, who helped Lucy to cross over in My So-Called Afterlife, is the boyfriend of Skye’s aunt Celestine, who also featured in in Lucy’s story. I loved them then, so it was a pleasure to have them back.
But it was the new characters that really captured my heart. Skye is very stressed, and rightly so. She’s adjusting to her new life in London with her aunt, starting at a new school, keeps getting detention and has an earth-shattering crush on the mysterious Nico. Oh, and she sees ghosts on a regular basis. I really felt for the girl. But the dark, brooding and gorgeous Nico really caught my attention. He was not at all what I expected, though, and yet I’m really looking forward to seeing more of him in My So-Called Love Life. However, Mary the ghost who haunts Celestine’s house is my favourite. She was a witch in the sixteenth-century and has retained that style of very amusing speech, disapproves of modern clothes and plays continuous tricks on Skye.
There was also quite a few unexpected turns of plot. With the introduction of Dontay, a dead teenage footballer, the world of London gang culture was brought to Skye’s attention. Once again I became very glad that I live a rather sheltered life and haven’t been involved in any aspect of that life. There were also elements of the supernatural that stemmed from Romanian folklore. It was kind of fascinating really.
Tamsyn Murray is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and so I can’t wait to read her next offering, My So-Called Love Life.
For my 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Sophie
The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight - Jenny Valentine
Pages: 285
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: 5th August 2010
Other Titles by this Author: Finding Violet Park, Broken Soup, The Ant Colony
From Amazon: Two boys. One identity. He can change his life if he says yes…
An explosive new mystery from the award-winning author Jenny Valentine, The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight is the story of a boy who assumes the identity of a missing teenager and in-so-doing unearths a series of shattering family secrets – and the truth about who he really is.
With all the classic hallmarks of a Jenny novel – a fantastically strong, sensitive and memorable first person narration; themes of loss and betrayal, family secrets and personal identity; truly quality writing that is 'literary' but never inaccessible or pretentious, this is the thrilling new novel from the author of Finding Violet Park.
Jenny Valentine is one of the UK’s most literary YA authors, in my opinion, and her realistic and gritty novels always hit the spot.
Like Jenny’s earlier novels, The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight deals with troubled kids from broken homes and the physical and emotional fallout from them. And like The Ant Colony, it features a teenage runaway. But Chap had no family to return to and this left him with a desperate need to be part of a loving family who would miss him when he’s gone. It made me realise just how lucky I am and how I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a nobody. But even though Chap’s life is a million miles away from mine, I felt like I understood him.
Even when he took over Cassiel’s life. From then on there was a sense of impending doom hidden in the pages. I was almost as anxious as Chap was that Cassiel’s family would find him out and destroy his chances of having a family. Sucha adesperate act made me wonder what he ran from. And then came the questions about Cassiel. Where is he? Why did he run? What was he mixed up in before he left?
Only a master of mystery and suspense like Jenny Valentine could unveil countless clues and hints in a steady drip which lead up to a few explosive revelations that dramatically changed the course of the whole novel. I couldn’t even have imagined some of the secrets that were brought to light about Chap, Cassiel and the Roadnight’s. I was shocked. And so I was completely stunned when The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight ended happily.
This is a fantastic novel that would be perfect for mystery fans and as an introduction to Jenny Valentine.
For my 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Sophie
The Wings of Leo Spencer - Jerome Parisse
Pages: 266
Publisher: Sid Harta Publishers
Release Date: 1st May 2010
Fourteen year old Leo has found the most amazing present for his mum’s birthday. Unfortunately, someone has decided that he will not live to see it…
As he dies, Leo finds himself facing a terrifying choice, one that will impact his life - or death - forever.
But who wanted him dead in the first place? And why is he being targeted by an evil force? Even Geraldine - dead and loving every minute of it - has no clue as to what’s happening.
Leo’s search for the truth takes him to the most astonishing places, and presents him with a challenge even greater than dying: to protect his family and his best friend from a terrible fate…
But how do you do that if you can make no impression on the material world?
The Wings of Leo Spencer is a touching and warm-hearted tale of love, family and friendship.
Jerome Parisse presents the afterlife in a way that I haven’t come across in YA before. It’s a fully fledged Heaven with a tunnel of white light, a test and a judgement. And there are angels. Five hierarchies of angels, in fact, each with a different job, standing and level of Heaven, marked by the colour of their wing tips. I really would have loved to learn more about them, actually. Especially the fallen angels, the Grigori, which were only touched upon briefly and also the idea of reincarnation.
But it is Leo’s reaction to his death and entry into Heaven that really struck me. At first he maintained a steadfast that he was dead. It was so heartbreaking to watch him try to get through to his family and best friend and try to save them even though it seemed impossible. His determination to protect them at all costs was admirable and displayed a level of loyalty to his family that’s rare.
The Wings of Leo Spencer is a subtle and unassuming novel that’ll work it’s way into your heart.
For my 2010 Debut Author Challenge, 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Sophie
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Pages: 166
Publisher: Corgi (Random House)
Release Date: 2nd September 2010
Other Titles by this Author: far too many to list!
Bill Bryson’s story-telling skill makes the ‘How?’ and, just as importantly, the ‘Who?’ of scientific discovery entertaining and accessible for all ages.
In this exciting new edition of his worldwide best-seller, A Short History of Nearly Everything, which has been specially abridged and adapted for younger readers, Bill Bryson explores the mysteries of time and space and how, against all odds, life came to be on the wondrous planet we call home.
Along the way, we meet several bizarre scientists, crackpot theories which held sway for far too long, and some accidental discoveries which changed the way science developed.
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything is a fantastic snapshot of our planet’s history, spanning from the beginning of time to the environmental dilemmas that we’re currently facing.
I think that Bill Bryson has written a book that will draw kids into the fascinating world of science effortlessly. Well, it attracted my inner geek, anyway! The complex ideas that are breached in A Really Short History of Nearly Everything are explained clearly and simply without taking away their impact or adopting a patronising tone. Amongst the passages, illustrations, diagrams and timelines are scattered around, highlighting particularly important or complicated ideas. Fascinating facts are also spattered across the chapters. These are a few that especially spiked by interest:
“Tune your television into any channel it doesn’t receive and about 1 per cent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by the ancient remains of the Bog Bang.” p. 11
“We each contain so many atoms and are completely recycled that a significant number of our atoms - up to a billion for each of us - probably once belonged to Shakespeare.” p. 56
“…about half of the chemical reactions that take place in a banana are the same as those that take place in us.” p. 136
I mean, seriously, who could fail to amazed be by things like that?
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything is a brilliantly engaging book that contains a lifetime of school science lessons (that are actually interesting) in under 200 pages. I loved it.
For my 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Sophie
The Maze Runner - James Dashner
Pages: 371
Publisher: Chicken House
Release Date: 2nd August 2010
Other Titles in this Series: The Scorch Trials (US 12/10/10), The Death Cure (2011)
When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas can remember is his first name. But he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade, an encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible maze.
Like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they came to be there, or what’s happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything to find out - even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horrors that hunt the Maze’s walled corridors.
The Maze Runner throws you straight into a world of terror, mystery and complete unknowns.
Without any warning or prelude, we’re thrown straight into the action with Thomas, knowing nothing about him, the world he came from or the world he’s just inexplicably landed in. In exactly the same boat as Thomas. These question didn’t get answered, they just kept on piling up. The mixture of frustration and intrigue that these questions brought to the surface made The Maze Runner a slow burner for me, but I soon became caught up in it and got addicted.
I was fascinated by where Thomas found himself: the Glade. Run completely by teenage boys, it’s not the Lord of the Flies set-up that you’d expect. It’s highly controlled and organised with a job for everyone and everything and held together by rigid rules. The only way that Alby and Newt (the leaders of the Glade) keep all of the Gladers alive. In contrast to this is the Maze. A dangerous place of moving walls, WICKED spies and deadly Grievers: half, slug, half robot creatures that can cause agonising death. There’s also the strange dialect the Gladers developed, introducing words such as ‘klunck’, ‘shuck’ and ‘shank’.
But what I really wanted to know more about is the world that lays beyond the Maze. Alby’s hallucinations had hinted at a barren place riddled with disease. And I desperately wanted to know the how, the why and the when. Although a little was revealed near the end, more mysteries emerged and a highly intriguing epilogue left me with not much more knowledge than when I started the book!
I’m now anxious to read the sequel, The Scorch Trials, and can only hope that it makes it’s way over to the UK pretty sharpish.
For my 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Sophie
