Published in April 2018 by Quercus Children’s Books / 400 pages Opening sentence: “Face-down on leather.” This was a book I’d heard good things about, but didn’t actually know much about. For some reason I thought it was a biography, then picked it up and discovered it’s fiction and actually published as YA, despite its […]
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Published in 2017 by Walker Books / 288 pages Opening sentence, “Adam would have to get the flowers himself.” At the Greenwich Book Festival I had the pleasure of hearing Patrick Ness in conversation with authors Angie Thomas and Katherine Woodfine. He spoke about how his new book, Release was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (the […]
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The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Book One in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. Opening sentence: “The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say.” Published in 2008, quite a few people have recommended this book (the whole trilogy in fact) […]
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We Were Liars by E. Lockhart Opening sentence: “Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.” I listened to this on audiobook, and the American narrator, Ariadne Meyers, really helped to capture the tone of this Young Adult book. I’d heard a lot of good things about it, so was intrigued to see why. But… there’s no […]
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The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness Opening sentence: “Chapter The First, in which the Messenger of the Immortals arrives in a surprising shape, looking for a permanent Vessel; and after being chased by her through the woods, indie kid Finn meets his final fate.” Earlier this year, I read my first […]
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Caraval by Stephanie Garber Opening sentence: “It took seven years to get the letter right.” This is a book I heard about due to Bookstagram (Instagram accounts dedicated purely to books.) For a while, it was the only book popping up on my feed, I seemed to be the only person in the book-world not […]
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The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave Opening sentence: “They say the day the Governor arrived, the ravens did too.” Set on the fictional island of Joya, this enticing Young Adult book is told from the point of view of 13-year-old Isabella. It has had quite a lot of hype since its release […]
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