Trouble with a capitol D

Trouble is a Friend of Mine - Stephanie Tromly
Available - August 2015

Digby is the best worst best friend you ever had - the kind of guy that jumps from a burning building (that he no doubt set alight) falls two flights and lands feet first without a scratch or even slightly tousled hair. 

Zoe is the new girl in town - she's not putting in a whole bunch of effort to be in the 'in crowd' and doesn't exactly have a que of people lining up to be her new bestie, in fact there isn't much of anything going on for her...until Digby decides to insert himself into her life and unleash his special brand of chaos. Zoe, bless her heart tries to avoid his shenanigans as long as she can but lets be honest, what else did she really have going on anyway?

This is a fast paced joy ride with razor sharp wit and characters that you could even give a dam about. It's absolutely perfect for the "I just read Paper Towns, followed by John Green's entire backlog and now my life is over cause where am I going to find anything like that again?" sect. Trust me, you might just like it... 

The Promise of an Open Door

The Door that Led to Where - Sally Gardner
Available - January 2015

"When the present offers no hope for the future, the answers may lie in the past"

This comment from publisher Hot Key Books for me, pretty much sums up the feel of this remarkable book. Sally is known for breaking all the rules when it comes to adhering to genre and this offering is no exception! If pushed I would describe it as contemporary YA fiction with a hint of mystery, a dash of Sherlock Holmesesq crime solving and a significant quota of Time Travel - intrigued? Great!

AJ is our leading man who after not exactly excelling in his GCSEs (HSC or ATAR equivalent here) is staring down the barrel of unemployment and all the unpleasantness life in the lower reaches of London society has to offer. His two best mates are faring even worse, getting mixed up in gang politics, dodgy drug deals and just generally being on the wrong side of the law but when AJ is offered a job as a junior clerk with an esteemed law firm it's not only his employment status that changes, the ripples of this one opportunity are extremely far reaching and not at all what you would expect. 

What I loved most about this novel was the assumption placed upon the reader that conversational tone in YA doesn't need to be dumped down. It also really made me examine today's society and the emphasis it places on the results of inconsequential exams to the future success of an individual…when did being a useful and practical person cease to be enough? Why must everything a person is and could be capable of, weighed and measured within the confines of a system that clearly doesn't work for everyone?

Travel outside the box and through the Door that Led to Where!

Contemporary Irish Teen Thriller

Shiver the Whole Night Through - Darragh McManus
Available - November 2014


Originally found on the slush pile at Hot Key HQ, truly making it a Diamond in the Rough!


While this is Darragh's debut in teen fiction this Irish author brings all of the finesse of his previous adult Crime novels paired with a unique younger voice creating a thrilling murder mystery with a supernatural edge….

Aidan as a main character is intelligent, witty and relatable, there is an obvious change in him throughout the novel and its interesting to see how that change effects the characters around him.There are some pretty heavy themes of suicide, bullying and hooking up or 'Shifting' (a term used in Irish slang that can mean anything from kissing to full carnal knowledge. I love it!) not to mention he pretty much chain smokes throughout the entire book. But its these darker aspects that make it real and compelling, I mean don't we all want to read about someone with grit, integrity and a bit of familiarity? Besides these 'themes' are sadly just a part of life and reading about a character who overcomes his fears and limitations can only help the rest of us right?

There is also a fantastic exploration of history, where the whole town has a grim backstory, a sordid past that when examined closely is just down right scary, giving a glimpse of the mythical Ireland I love most. Darragh links the past and the present with an ancient evil that Aidan must confront or risk loosing the entire town to its frigid clutches.

As a stand alone novel it works perfectly well but thats not to say that I don't want more because I do - I think theres a lot more to come in Aidan and Sláine's story.