Rock War by Robert Muchamore
Jay comes from a large family - he's one of eight kids squashed into a flat above the chip shop that his mother runs. Jay isn't really like his brothers, who are tough and always in trouble. Jay is skinny and weedy and consumed with musical ambition. But his band, Brontobyte, just doesn't have what it takes, largely thanks to its spoiled brat, hopeless drummer, Tristan. If he wants a future in music, some major changes are in order. Full review...
Infinity Drake: The Sons of Scarlatti by John McNally
Finn (real name Infinity) Drake is off for a week away in the Pyrenees with his Uncle Al. He's supposed to be at school but Grandma has gone off on a knitting cruise, so she will never know. But before they can be on their way, Al is summoned to a crisis meeting with secret government officials. A lethal bio-weapon - the Scarlatti wasp - has been stolen and released by an uber-villain (who else but an uber-villain) and the world's only chance is to use Al's top secret invention to shrink a combat team to destroy it. Full review...
Sleuth or Dare: An AKA Novel by Robin Benway
When safecracker Maggie Silver's parents are falsely accused of a crime, she's uprooted from her newly peaceful existence as a normal high-school girl and forced to flee, along with best friend Roux and boyfriend Jessie, to Paris. Can the three of them, aided by some new friends and honorary uncle Angelo, clear her family's name? Full review...
Trouble by Non Pratt
Hannah is 15 and pregnant. She can't tell anyone who the father is - but new boy at school Aaron steps up to offer his services as a fake father. Hannah accepts, and the pair start their journey to parenthood. But who really is the dad, and why is Aaron willing to make such a massive commitment to a girl he doesn't even know that well? Full review...
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
Sophie is shipwrecked in the English Channel on her 1st birthday, with her mother presumed dead, but she's lucky enough to be found by scholar Charles. He raises her as his ward and they have a happy, if seriously unconventional, existence until the authorities intervene on her 12th birthday. With the orphanage beckoning, Sophie and Charles run away to France in the hope that her mother may be alive after all. Full review...
Dead and Buried (Murder Notebooks) by Anne Cassidy
It's been five years since Rose's and Josh's parents disappeared and Rose is determined finally to start getting on with her life. She hasn't seen Josh for a few weeks and although she misses him, she can't but help feeling a sense of relief. But then policeman Henry turns up at her door with more bad news: the body of a teenage girl has been found buried in the garden of her old home, the one she shared with her mother, Josh, and his father Brendan. With their parents implicated, Rose and Josh have no choice but to try to solve one last murder... Full review...
Shattered (Slated Trilogy) by Teri Terry
Kyla - or is she Lucy? or Rain? or Riley? - was slated as a teen criminal in Lorder-run Britain. All memory of her past life was erased and she was sent to live with a new foster family, controlled by a wrist bracelet that could kill her if she stepped out of line. But that was some time ago. Since then, some of Kyla's memories have resurfaced and she has discovered that she isn't a run-of-the-mill Slated. Used as a weapon by an anti-Lorder terrorist group, Kyla's brain has been messed with in more than one way. Full review...
The God Beneath the Sea by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen
When a baby falls from the sky into the sea, Thetis, goddess of the sea, takes him into her care and names him Hephaestus. Raised lovingly by Thetis and her sister Eurynome, Hephaestus still grows to question who he is and where he came from. The sisters tell him he was born on Olympus, and so begins the twisting turning tales of the Titans and the Gods - their battles for supremacy, their betrayals, their vengeance. Full review...
The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
Sutter Keely, The Sutterman, has life pretty good. Sure, he's got no long-term plan and may spend his life folding shirts, but he's having a ton of fun, he's hugely popular - even his ex-girlfriends still like him - and his relationship with the wonderful Cassidy will get back on track soon enough. Then he meets the sci-fi obsessed, shy, put-upon Aimee, and decides he can make a difference in her life. The plan is to help her gain some confidence, become popular, and find a nice guy - but Sutter doesn't bargain on things going further than he was planning on. Will he change Aimee's life for the better, or for the worse? Full review...
Vengeance by Megan Miranda
Vengeance is a follow-up to Fracture, in which Delaney almost died, drowned under the ice of a lake. Things never got back to normal after that. Delaney can sense death. She is irresistibly drawn to people who are about to die. And people take a long time to get over the accident. Delaney survived for 11 minutes under the ice - how was this possible? And Carson, the boy who pulled her out, is dead. There are mutterings that Falcon Lake is cursed. It wanted Delaney and, denied her, is now taking others in some kind of freakish revenge. Full review...
The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett
In a prosperous area of London during World War II the two Lockwood children, twelve year old Cecily and her older brother Jeremy, are dispatched, together with their socialite mother, to stay with family in the north to keep them safe. On their arrival, at Cecily’s insistence, they take in a young evacuee, ten year old May. As they wander the countryside close to Cecily’s Uncle Peregrine’s country estate the two girls find two strange boys hiding in the ruins of Snow Castle and do not tell the rest of the family about their discovery. As the children attempt to cope with their changed circumstances and the fear of an approaching enemy, each evening Uncle Peregrine tells the children a dark and sinister story of intrigue in the Royal courts of long ago and so begins the story within a story. This intriguing book then goes on to combine two periods of English history in an extraordinary adventure that is not only an historical novel but a moving coming of age story too. Full review...
Tilly's Promise by Linda Newbery
Tilly often wished things would change in the sleepy little village she called home, but she gets more change than she bargained for when war breaks out. First her sweetheart joins up, then Tilly signs on a nurse and finally her brother Georgie is called up, despite the fact that he is completely unfit for service. Georgie is different, big and strong but with the mind of a child - how could he possibly survive the horrors of war? So many promises are made, Tilly promises her sweetheart Harry she will wait - Harry assures her he won't be away long - sure it will probably be over by Christmas (famous last words). When Georgie is posted to Harry's unit, Tilly extracts a somewhat reluctant promise from him to look after her brother. More promises will be made - but promises are hard to keep in wartime. As Georgie and Harry face the harsh reality of life in the trenches, Tilly finds herself near the frontline as a nurse. Everything seems to have changed. Will even love remain the same - especially in the aftermath of a broken promise? Full review...
Boys Don't Knit by T S Easton
Ben Fletcher is a pleasant and fairly quiet boy - so when the 17-year-old gets roped into taking part in the Great Trolley Robbery to grab some booze for a party, it's just his luck that he's the one who ends up getting assaulted by a lollipop lady and put on probation! Forced to keep a journal, give back to the victim of his crime, and take up an approved hobby, he reluctantly chooses knitting - only to find a real talent for it. Can he keep his new-found hobby a secret from his dad and his mates, get the girl of his dreams, and become a champion knitter? Full review...
The Kissing Game by Jean Ure
Salvatore d'Amato - sometimes nicknamed Sally Tomato - is twelve years old and has never been kissed. He's determined to change that before his next birthday. But will Lucy, the object of his affections, ever return them? He has a secret weapon - his poetry. Is it going to win her heart, or just disgust her? And will Harmony Hynde, the girl in his class who works as a library assistant, stop bothering him? Full review...
Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman
I wished I could visit a Museum of Unnatural History, but even so, I was glad there wasn't one... If someone actually caught a werewolf, or a dragon, if they tamed a manticore or stabled a unicorn, put them in bottles, dissected them, then they could be only one thing, and they would no longer live in the shadowy places between the things I knew and the world of the impossible, which was, I was certain, the only place that mattered.
So says Neil Gaiman in the introduction to this anthology of sixteen unnatural creatures (to capitalise or not to capitalise, that is the question). Full review...
ZOM-B Gladiator by Darren Shan
WARNING: Gladiator is the sixth book in the ZOM-B series, so if you don't want to catch any spoilers, look away now.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
You're gone, right?
Good. Full review...
The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M Valente
A while ago a friend recommended a book called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. I have to say, the title alone intrigued me, but somehow that title sat on my 'to get' pile and I never actually got around to reading it. Since then several other people (all adults) have suggested I might like it, so when I saw the latest book in this series was available I decided to give it a try. I really should have read the first two books, I think. This is the third in the series, and I believe there are going to be five altogether. There are some series which you can dip into without feeling too lost, but this isn't one of them! Full review...
Old Dog, New Tricks by Bali Rai
Nick is a miserable old sod by anyone's definition. His equally mangy dog, Nelson, is the only friend he has, as his nasty nature puts everyone off. But while he may be unpleasant to most people, he is downright horrible when the Singh family move in, bringing out the worst of his racist views - but can a man who likes Bob Marley really hate anyone of another colour? Is Nick just an ignorant and offensive old git, or is there something more beneath the surface? No one seems to have really bothered to find out before a common love of dogs draws young Harvey Singh to attempt to befriend not only the unkempt dog, but the lonely old man as well. Full review...
Tesla 1 by Mark Lingane
Sebastian has lost both his parents. His father died of a mysterious wasting disease whereas his mother is just... well... lost. The only thing he has he has to remember his mother by is a note telling him to go to the mysterious Steam Academy. However, first he has to find his way there in a futuristic Australia without widespread technology but with dangerous cyborg warriors. What's worse, despite fighting humans in general for thousands of years, the cyborgs now seem to have turned their attention and energy to killing Sebastian in particular. What's he done to deserve that? More to the point, whatever he's done, how can he survive? Full review...
Red by Libby Gleeson
Mud. In her mouth, her nose and her eyes. Mud in her hair and caked on her neck and her arms. Mud filling her shoes and seeping through her clothes. She lay sprawled on her side, a garbled, barely distinct sound coming from her: jaymartinjaymartin.
Who is jaymartin? And who is this girl? Red doesn't know who she is or what has happened to her. She doesn't know what has caused the devastation all around her. Rescued from the mud by Peri, Red discovers that she's in Sydney in the aftermath of a terrible hurricane. Chaos is all around as the emergency response struggles to get to grips with the dead, injured and displaced. Through the noticeboard at the rescue centre, Red and Peri discover that she has a name. And a father. And a frightening secret. Full review...
Dead Ends by Erin Lange
Dane is a rebel who's close to getting kicked out of a school; Billy D is the new kid in town. One of Dane's few rules of behaviour is that he won't hit kids in special ed, so Billy D figures hanging around with someone tough who won't hit him is a good idea - although it's not that easy to convince Dane of this. He really needs to, though, because he has a puzzle to solve and Dane could be the perfect person to help him. Full review...
Nomad (Faery Rebels) by R J Anderson
Ok. Before we begin, you should know that Nomad is the second in a sequence. So if you haven't yet read Swift, you should probably start there. Don't read this review: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.
We meet up with Ivy again as Full review...
The Forbidden Stone (The Copernicus Legacy) by Tony Abbott
If you like your fiction full of heart-stopping adventures, mysterious cults and constant danger, then you'll love this book. Codes, puzzles and ancient secrets abound, and there is no doubt that the publisher's comparison with the novels for adults written by Dan Brown is justified. There's drama and deadly peril on pretty well every page. Full review...
Emily's Quest: A Virago Modern Classic (Emily Trilogy) by L M Montgomery
When I read this book as a teenager (many times over!) I loved Emily's passion for writing, I loved the excitement of all the different events through the story and I loved the happy ending. Coming to the story now, twenty-plus years later, I found the book had a rather different flavour to it. It is, at times, terribly, desperately sad. I was surprised, by a book that is widely regarded as a children's story, at just how bleak Emily's life appears to be, and how traumatic the events in her life are. It is very well written, and I still experienced the same compulsion to read it as I used to find when I was younger, yet even with the final, desperate happy ending that Montgomery manages to squeeze in I was left feeling rather contemplative. Full review...
A Room Full of Chocolate by Jane Elson
Sometimes family isn't the one you are born into but the people and pigs you collect along the way.
Grace doesn't want to leave her London home and go and live with misery guts Grandad while her mum goes into hospital to get a LUMP sorted out. Grace can't see why she couldn't look after her mum herself. After all, the LUMP was just caused by Mum dancing too much, wasn't it? WASN'T IT? But Mum won't hear of it and Grace must move away, start a new school, make new friends and miss her mum so much that even chocolate doesn't help. Things go from bad to worse when Grace upsets the resident school bully on her very first day. Full review...
The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson by Paige Toon
Jessie Jefferson isn't having a great time of it. Her mum died in a freak accident. On Jessie's birthday. While buying Jessie's birthday cake. Grief and anger at the loss of her mother has sent Jessie into a spiral of teenage rebellion. She's drinking and smoking and partying and stepfather Stu is at the end of his tether. So much so that he finally tells Jessie something she's always wanted to know: the identity of her biological father...
... it's Johnny Jefferson, global rock star. Full review...
Bird by Crystal Chan
Grandpa stopped speaking the day he killed my brother, John.
That was also the day Jewel was born. Birthdays for Jewel are miserable affairs during which her parents' grief for their son trump their joy in their daughter. In fact, Jewel doesn't see that her parents have any joy in their daughter at all. She's quite certain that nobody will ever love her as much as Mom, Dad and Grandpa loved John. Until, one day, she finds a mysterious boy sitting in one of her favourite trees. Grandpa doesn't like this new John, but Jewel does. She finally has someone that she can really talk to, who really understands the way her mind works. But John isn't everything he says he is. And his arrival is about to change Jewel's life forever... Full review...
Looking at the Stars by Jo Cotterill
Amina and Jenna are sisters living under the Kwana regime. Because the Kwana have banned girls from going to school, they contribute to the family finances by weaving baskets and mats from reeds. Life under the Kwana is tough but Potta and Mamie tell their children to keep their heads down and get on with life as best they can. But fighting is breaking out across the country and when Amina sees a column of liberating soldiers, she begins to think life might get better soon. Full review...
Hunger (Hammer 1) by Melvin Burgess
Beth wakes up one morning covered in dirt and consumed by a ravening hunger. She puts it down to illness and sleepwalking at first but when the hunger doesn't go and reports of a grave desecration surface, Beth has to admit that something sinister is afoot. Beth doesn't know it yet, but she is a special person. She carries a conduit from the land of the living to the land of the dead and a newly-awakened demon wants her very much. But can Beth, together with brother Louis and friends Ivan and Coll, defeat him? Full review...
Shadowplay by Laura Lam
Micah Grey and the clown Drystan have left the circus. Trying to escape their past, and the terrible tragedy that ended Pantomime, they find Jasper Maske, a retired magician who owes Drystan a favour. While they seem to have found a safe haven, the return of a figure from Maske's past reignites an old rivalry. Can they help Maske and avoid detection when the mysterious Shadows seek both Micah and the person he once was? And who is the mysterious Cyan, and can they trust her? Full review...
Storm and Stone by Joss Stirling
American student Raven Stone doesn't like it at her exclusive English boarding school. People are going missing, and return seeming very different. The teachers pick on her as a scholarship students, and her classmates hate her - one of them enough to send her death threats. Just as the mystery starts to deepen, two new boys arrive. Joe is friendly and charismatic, but it's Kieran's analytical brain which may be the clue to solving her problems. Although her problems may be bigger than either of them had realised... Full review...