Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

I do love it when an unexpected gem falls into your lap.

Regency romance/supernatural YA is not my usual genre, but I can tell you now, that this review of Alison Goodman's first installment in her Lady Helen trilogy will be a rave one with some outright gushing thrown in for good measure!

I could barely put this book down and when I did have to, you know, to go to work or actually talk with my family, it was done so reluctantly. The whole time counting down the minutes until I could pick it up again.

It has been a long time since a book seduced me in such a dramatic, slightly obsessive way.

How was this possible?

I recently attended the Harper Collins Christmas roadshow for work. The Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club unedited ARC was part of the goodies package. Goodman was also one of the guest authors at the event...in full Regency regalia (below)!

I wasn't feeling very well the night of the roadshow.
After the official presentation I was therefore happy to stay in my seat (with a glass of bubbles for company) and people-watch.

One of the truly fascinating sights was the small, but dedicated crowd that quickly formed around Goodman.
There is a LOT of love out there for her previous YA fantasy books, Eon and Eona and her fans wanted her to know about it!
I found it a curious thing that an author renown for dragon fantasy stories had gone to the trouble to dress in a full Regency costume. What?

It turns out that Goodman is a Georgette Heyer fan from way back. Her only quibble with Heyer (& Jane Austen) has been that their books assumed that the reader had a lot of knowledge about Regency society and customs. She has always wanted to write her own Regency story with all these interesting details included.

Somehow I missed out on reading any Heyer's in my younger years, so I can only imagine that they were similar to my go-to historical fiction romance books at that age written by Eleanor Hibbert (a.k.a as Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt and Philippa Carr).

Perhaps because I was unwell, I viewed this entire Regency/dragon/Jane Austen/supernatural powers conversation through a haze of total bemusement.

But at the bus stop on the way home, I pulled out my ARC of Lady Helen.

And that was the end of all sense and sensibility from me for three days.

I couldn't get enough of Goodman's regency world. I loved how the story gradually morphed into the supernatural. It felt natural and (almost) believable. The main characters were well-drawn, although at times a little stereotyped (the strict uncle, the protective older brother, the illusive, darkly handsome older man with a deadly secret from his past). But that's half the fun of a Regency romance!

The story was full of surprising action, sexual tension and moral dilemma's to keep the pages turning quickly.

I for one, will now become a Goodman groupie, hanging around, demanding to know when the next book is coming out.

This post is part of my Australian Women Writer's Challenge and promotes #LoveOzYA

Sadly, the rest of you have to wait until January 2016 before you can read Lady Helen and The Dark Days Club when it will be published by Harper Collins Australia.

Picnic At Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

I've enjoyed highlighting and remembering all the Australian classics I've read over the years in preparation for November's AusReading Month.

And Flashback Friday has been a great motivator to get me to do one a week at least - thanks Lisa.

This weeks FF needs no introduction...well not in Australia anyway.

Not only is Picnic At Hanging Rock a popular classic book from the 60's it is also an iconic Australian movie from the 70's.

In the 80's a resurgence of interest occurred when the 'secret' final chapter was published for the first time.

Lindsay created a story set at the turn of the previous century with a distinct true crime feel.

The day was Valentine's Day - a hot summer's day - and a group of school girls and their teachers went for a picnic to Hanging Rock in Victoria.
A number of the girls disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

The ending is deliberately ambiguous and has been highly debated over the years.

However in 1987, for those of us who had come of age with the book believing that it might have been based on real events, we were shocked to discover that there had been a chapter cut from the original book at the publishers request.

Lindsay had died in 1984, and the story went around that she refused to allow the final chapter to be published until after her death.

I personally was devastated to find out that the whole story was pure fiction from start to finish.

The final chapter revealed a time warp, supernatural ending that was far less satisfying than the ambiguity of old. The success of both book and movie hinged on the possibilities of truth, mystery & suspense.

The 1975 movie was directed by Peter Weir. It was beautifully shot, the tension and drama were exquisitely crafted and it starred a who's who of Australian tv and theatre at the time. The pan-pipe music is still haunting and evocative even if the acting looks & sounds a little dated.

It is now possible to view the movie each Valentine's Day in the picnic grounds at the base of Hanging Rock. Naturally, it is screened after twilight!

If you'd like see a few pics of the real Hanging Rock click here to go to my other blog, Four Seasons. We had a family holiday there in 2007.

The Highgate Vampire by Asa Bailey

As most of you know by now, vampire/werewolf literature is not really my thing. But every now and again I feel obligated to give one a go.

I tried Twilight 3 years ago. I read 6 or 7 chapters. I could see the appeal during the set-up stage, but by the 6th chapter I was so over Bella and the goody-two-shoes vampires, that I put it down in disgust.

Recently I read The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda and surprised myself by how much I loved it.

So when an advance copy of 'The Hightgate Vampire' came my way recently, I didn't automatically file it away on the never-to-be-read-pile.

The title grabbed my attention straight away.

When I left uni many years ago, I did the usual Aussie gap year thing and spent a year in the UK working and travelling around Europe.
The 6 or so months I lived in England, Highgate was my home.

I loved the local references. Drinking at The Flask...the pub I also drank at. The cemetery of course, plus various mentions of streets and roads I had walked down once upon a time.

And this was a good vampire story.

The vampires were mean and nasty, the way all good vampires should be. They killed people indiscriminately and they didn't care.

Sometimes the writing and dialogue left a little to be desired, but the story itself was interesting enough to get me all the way to the end.

The way that Bailey left poor Kathy at the end was desperately sad and Antwain seemed to be channelling Edward in the dying moments of the story! However Bailey wasn't afraid to kill off main characters and there was plenty of stake, holy water and garlic action.

Recommended vampire lit for those tired of vampires with a moral conscience!

Sexual references and drinking alert as well.

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

It feels like a while since I gave a completely positive review for a YA book, but here it is!

The Hunt is the first book in a new series by Andrew Fukuda. It's strong, gripping and exciting from the word go.

'The world as we know it is populated by the dominant vampire people. Their over-hunting of humans (or hepers) over the years has resulted in a serious scarcity of new meat. As a result, the government organises a Hunt every decade or so. A small group of specially breed hepers are released into the wild for a select group of vampires to hunt down.

This time around 17-year old Gene is one of the lucky vampires selected to be apart of The Hunt. The only problem is, Gene is a heper too. A heper, who has up until now, kept a low profile & kept alive by pretending to be a vampire!

Initially I thought this was going to be another Hunger Games, but the Hunt doesn't go to plan and Fukuda throws in a few surprises and plot twists along the way to keep everyone guessing.

This is a May release - worth waiting for and worth looking out for.
In the meantime you can check our Fukuda's blog as he prepares to write book 2.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

This book came to me with a LOT of hype attached to it and a LOT of high expectations.

So I was bound to be disappointed, I guess.
The ghastly descriptions early on were so annoying I didn't know whether to laugh-out-loud or throw the book across the room! I found it quite slow to begin with and a little confusing about what type of book it wanted to be - thriller? paranormal? romance? issue-based?

But things did improve. Some of the questions and confusions were resolved and the pace picked up until it became a real page-turner. I can see that this could become quite a hit with older teens looking for a light-weight paranormal romantic thrill!

The slutty talk early on in the book was annoying, but then I remembered that teens like to talk a lot about sex and the ones doing the most talking are the ones that usually know the least! That was when I realised that Hodkin actually knows her audience well.

I'm assuming there will be a sequel after re-reading the confusing last chapter. I don't think I care enough to check it out though :-(

Warning this book contains lots of sexual references, teenage angst and romantic cliches.

P.S. I've just been reading some reviews that refer to Mara's brother Daniel...and yes, he sounds amazing!

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

As you all know vampire-lit is not my usual thing.

All the ones I've tried to read before just leave me cold. They're either too tedious and ernest or too teenage-angsty. So I started reading the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series reluctantly.

Sookie lives in a world where vampires and shape-shifters are accepted into polite society - even the polite society of small country town America. Vampires can walk into a bar and order a pint of artificial blood and having sex with a vampire is pretty darn special...for those that survive the experience!

Sookie is also special. She can read peoples thoughts. When we first meet Sookie this special gift is a curse. She has to work very hard to keep these thoughts out of her head as they drive her crazy.
When Sookie meets her first vampire she is pleasantly surprised to discover that she can't hear him. His thoughts are blocked and for the first she can truly relax around someone.

But no sooner does the first vampire turn up in town than locals begin to mysteriously die.

Sookie is sexy, funny and sassy. There is lots of sex, lots of death and lots of laughs. Charlaine Harris doesn't take the genre seriously and as a result has written an engaging, light-hearted block-buster!

She left me wanting more.

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

I reluctantly picked this book up. It's black and red cover with a looming dracula-like figure hiding a knife behind it's back, did not really look like my kind of book.
But I wanted to read something by Marcus Sedgwick as I had heard good things about him.

Midwinterblood turned out to be a "don't judge a book by its cover'' job. I was enthralled by the writing and the wonderfully eerie, gothic nature of the story.

This is a romance between Eric and Merle that spans several centuries and several lives.

It is complete with vampires, magic orchids, vikings and, of course, a love that will not die.

My only disappointment was the shortness of some of the chapters. Just as I was getting lost in the time period and engaging with the characters...we moved onto the next period of time.

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

As you know by know paranormal lit is not really my thing, but I received a reading copy of Forever and felt obliged to try it.

I haven't read the first 2 books in the trilogy, but the story was pretty easy to pick up. Wolves and teen angst is the short version!

It was well written; quite engaging in fact. The story moves between the four main characters - which allows the author four times the usual opportunities to delve deep inside the heart, soul and psyche of teenage romance and heartache.

The covers of the 3 books are gorgeous and the coloured fonts are a nice touch (but can be difficult to read, especially when tired).

Paranormal lit is still not my thing. But if you loved Twilight and you thought the Bella/Edward/Jacob angst was wonderful and romantic, then Stiefvater's trilogy could be for you.

P.S. There are sexual references throughout the book.

Gone by Michael Grant.

Stephen King's The Stand meets William Golding's Lord of the Flies in Gone.

What would happen if everyone over 15 suddenly disappeared from your world? Could you survive on your own? Who would step up to lead? What if something bad happened? Who would fix it? Police it? Make it better again? And what if some of the people began developing weird powers? Powers that could really hurt you and cause some serious damage!

A thrilling, menacing page-turner for the older teen with a sequel 'Hunger' (& at least 2 more books after that) due out later this year. 

A movie is also being made, but get the book with the original cover - it looks far better than the movie-tie edition!