Book Review: The Amazing Edie Eckhart

Author: Rosie JonesIllustrator: Natalie SmilliePublisher: Hodder Children’s Books (2021)Genre: Contemporary fiction (for a middle grade readership). Image sourceImage description in alt text. This review contains spoilers for parts of the novel. “Edie Eckhart is Excited with a capital E to start secondary school with her best friend Oscar - the fish to her chips, the…

Book Review: The Other Side of Beautiful

Author: Kim LockGenre: Contemporary fictionPublisher: Harper Collins (July 2021) Image source “Meet Mercy Blain, whose house has just burnt down. Unfortunately for Mercy, this goes beyond the disaster it would be for most people: she hasn't been outside that house for two years now.And so begins Mercy's unwilling journey. After the chance purchase of a…

Book Review: Pride

Author: Lazaros Zigomanis (aka Les Zig)Publisher: Busybird Publishing (2017)Genre: Contemporary fiction Image sourceImage description: White background. The word Pride is capitalised in red at the top of the image. There is a small black bird (a curlew) in the bottom right. “Luke Miggs wants more than what small-town life can offer – the grind of…

Book Review: Ghost Bird

Author: Lisa FullerPublisher: UQP (2019)Genre: Horror/ Historical (for a YA readership) “Stacey and Laney are twins - mirror images of each other - and yet they’re as different as the sun and the moon. Stacey works hard at school, determined to get out of their small town. Laney skips school and sneaks out of the…

Book Review: The Coconut Children

Author: Vivian PhamPublisher: Vintage Books (2020)Genre: Historical fiction Content warning: mentions of alcoholism, overdose “Life in a troubled neighbourhood demands too much too young. But Sonny wouldn’t really know. Watching the world from her bedroom window, she exists only in second-hand romance novels and falls for any fast-food employee who happens to spare her a…