Sunday 1 January 2012

Books I'm Squeeing About in January

A new year, a whole new load of books that I can't wait to get my mitts on. And after the slow pace of the Christmas holiday, these are some fabulous new books that will shake you right out of the turkey and champagne stupor and have you on the edge of your seat. Desperate for plenty of twists and shocks galore? Then go ahead and order this bunch of delights that are waiting to ensnare you this month...


Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine-despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

A strong debut from an author to watch, Megan creates a brilliantly real world with some incredibly drawn characters – some of them a little too evil for my tastes which coloured my view of the book. But otherwise it’s a fantastic debut with some brilliant writing and a fresh plot that will keep you guessing right up until the end.
You can read my mildly spoilery review here.


The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.
That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.
But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time traveler.  Recruit… or kill him.
Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

At last, a time travel book for young adult that doesn’t stick to the stereotypes or preconceptions. I loved Jackson, I loved the concept, the plot and the secondary characters. It’s a brilliantly fresh novel that will get your year off to a fabulous start.
You can read my review here!


It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up.  When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love.  When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark. 
But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead.  His girlfriend Adriane, Nora's best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.

This is a brilliantly fresh book in young adult with a complex, twisting plot that will keep you on your toes until the very end. Told through letters and Nora’s own experiences the two different tales interweave until all the characters are bound to a fate they could never have imagined.
You can read my review here.


When Charlotte Kinder treats herself to a two-week vacation at Austenland, she happily leaves behind her ex-husband and his delightful new wife, her ever-grateful children, and all the rest of her real life in America. She dons a bonnet and stays at a country manor house that provides an immersive Austen experience, complete with gentleman actors who cater to the guests' Austen fantasies. 
Everyone at Pembrook Park is playing a role, but increasingly, Charlotte isn't sure where roles end and reality begins. And as the parlor games turn a little bit menacing, she finds she needs more than a good corset to keep herself safe. Is the brooding Mr. Mallery as sinister as he seems? What is Miss Gardenside's mysterious ailment? Was that an actual dead body in the secret attic room? And-perhaps of the most lasting importance-could the stirrings in Charlotte's heart be a sign of real-life love? 

I loved ‘Austenland’ and couldn’t wait to get back there when I heard that Shannon was writing a sequel. And not only does it live up to the first book, it surpasses it in some ways. We know the world and can sink straight into it, the characters are brilliantly crafted and the wit is fabulous. I cannot wait to get my hands on this!
You can read my spoiler free review here!

1 comment:

  1. Ive just finished Midnight in Austenland and have read the other two books except for Robin Wasserman's one which I have on my Ipad to read :)

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