'One Day' by David Nicholls

From the BLURB:

Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows? Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY.

Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew have been attending the same university for four years . . . but they only properly meet on the day of graduation.

Emma Morley is an idealistic English and History major who truly believes she can change the world (or at least her little corner of it) with hard work and passion. She has had a crush on the impossibly handsome Dexter for four years now, and is both horribly ashamed of her infatuation with someone so self-obsessed, but also terribly nervous that she will never see him after their one night together. . .

Dexter is an anthropology student (sort of) who has breezed through university with more drunken memories than grade-point-averages. He had never really taken much notice of Emma Morley, with her thick-framed glasses and badly cut hair. But something about tonight (their last night before the impending doom of adulthood) has seen Dexter enamoured of Emma’s close-lipped smile and owlish eyes. But Dexter knows how their little flirtation will end – with him walking out the door and never thinking of her again. . .

Little do Emma and Dex (Dex and Em) know that the day they meet – July 15th, 1988 (St. Swithin’s Day) – will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship that spans 20 glorious years.

‘One Day’ is the best-selling 2009 novel from British writer David Nicholls.

I have had this novel sitting on my shelf since 2009. I bought it because I loved Nicholls’s ‘Starter for Ten’ and had it on good authority that ‘One Day’ was another incredible read. But it wasn’t until I saw the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation that I was intrigued enough to finally crack the book open . . . and I'm so terribly glad that I did.

‘One Day’ begins in 1988, when Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew attempt to salvage the tatters of an attempted one-night-stand by agreeing to be civil and even, absurd as it sounds, friends. Neither of them have much faith in the other to carry through with the offer . . . but then we jump ahead to the same day one year later when Dexter is travelling (to ‘broaden the mind’) and Emma is stuck in another dead-end job and outpouring her disappointments to her dear friend, Dex, in letter form.

And so the novel continues. Each chapter is another year in the life of Dexter and Emma, a snapshot of the day they first met, July 15th, every year for twenty years. We read how their lives are intersecting, drifting or overlapping as they navigate an oddball friendship that amazingly stands the test of time. It’s a friendship of highs and lows. Bitter rivalries and broken hearts. Infidelities and one-night-stands.

We meet Em and Dex in their idealistic early twenties, suffer through their mid-thirties, through to the foreboding middle-ages . . . There are years when they are each other’s soul-confidante; acting as touch-stones when they suffer through the death of a parent, and post-college down-trodden idealism. Then there are the years when they slowly drift apart – Dexter’s career ‘in the media’ sees him enjoying the success and excess of fame, while Emma feels like a second-fiddle friend with a ho-hum teaching career. But they always find a way back to each other, eventually.

Their relationship is that of opposites-almost-attracting. Emma cannot deny that she had a crush on Dexter for four long years at college. But when they become friends Emma accepts that Dexter is firmly set in his lad-about-town, caddish ways and will never see her as anything other than a friend. Likewise, Dexter is inexplicably drawn to Emma – her wry wit and earnest disposition that is so different from the usual chits he attracts. Emma and Dexter love one another – they are never better than when they are in each other’s presence. They become funnier, more confident, more honest and simply better. But their romantic relationship is one of near-misses and almost’s. Love letters that never get sent. Phone calls that go unanswered. One of them enters into a relationship just as the other accepts singledom . . . all of this spanning 20 long years, until the stars finally align and Em and Dex (Dex and Em) accept what everyone else has always known about their relationship.

“When we first met, at University, before we became, you know, pals, well, I had a bit of a crush on you. Not a bit of a crush, a massive crush actually. For ages. Wrote dopey poems and everything.”

“Poems? Really?”

“I'm not proud of myself.”

“I see. I see.” He folded his arms, put them on the edge of the table and looked down. “Well I'm sorry, Em, but that doesn’t count.”

“Why not?”

“Because you said it had to be something that I didn’t know.” He was grinning, and she was reminded once more of his almost limitless capacity to disappoint.

“God, you’re annoying!” She slapped the reddest part of his sunburn with the back of her hand.

“Ow!”

“How did you know?”

“Tilly told me.”

“Nice one, Tilly.”

“So what happened?”

She looked into the bottom of her glass. “I suppose it was something you get over in time. Like shingles.”

“No, really, what happened.”

“I got to know you. You cured me of you.”

“Well I want to read these poems. What rhymes with ‘Dexter’?”

“‘Bastard’. It’s a half-rhyme.”

Dexter Mayhew was brilliant. He’s a layered character, constantly changing throughout the novel. He is initially a little bit awful – at one point deciding he wants to take up photography because he likes the idea of picking up chicks with the line “I'm a professional photographer”. In the beginning he’s as deep as a puddle and egotistical to boot. It’s only in his scenes opposite Emma that readers are able to see his appeal. Emma makes him better – she pushes him to be honest and self-deprecating, she doesn’t give him an inch and calls him out on his glib insincerity. Dexter is at his funniest when he’s trying to keep up with Emma’s whip-quick wit. But he’s also frustrating – for as much as he is improved by Emma’s proximity, and as much as readers can read his betterment around her, he insists on one-night-stands with vapid misses and stone-cold beauties. It really does take Dexter 20 years to wake up to himself and realize what has always been right in front of him.

Emma and Dexter’s relationship was brilliant to read because it’s so bloody true. It’s a relationship based on what’s not said – all those words and truths that get lodged in your throat and stuck because you’re embarrassed or it’s not the right time or you might risk the friendship. It’s a romance based on ‘what if?’ and near-misses. Dexter and Emma are just two people – you may even have a Dex and Em in your friendship group. Two people who are so obviously meant to be together if they would just get their act together first!

What really impressed me in this book was how David Nicholls avoided the ‘big scenes’ but kept the novel interesting and the plot chugging. Each chapter is a snapshot of July 15th of that year. We only read what happens on that day – whether it be a disastrous job interview, a friend’s wedding, or a trip to Cornwall. Nicholls constantly references big events that are upcoming or have just been – like the death of a parent, or an impending marriage. But Nicholls never writes the actual scene – we never see the moment in the hospital room when the mother dies. Instead we read about the fall-out and repercussions of that event. It’s an interesting and unconventional way to write a book – sticking to the ‘one day a year’ format means that (realistically) all the big moments and dramas won’t all conspire to fall on that one day in July. But Nicholls hasn’t let that dampen the story or lessen the drama. This insistence on writing snapshots and aftermath means that the novel really does feel like a journey, and a relatable one at that.

‘One Day’ is a fantastically bittersweet story of a relationship that weathers the test of time. Emma and Dexter are two people who fell into their friendship, but managed to cling to it like a life-raft through 20 years of milestones and pitfalls, failures and triumphs . . . always with the knowledge that they were each other’s constant, the one person they could depend on in the whole world. I laughed (okay, snorted too) and wept bitterly throughout the novel. David Nicholls is an epic author of ordinarily extraordinary romance and ‘One Day’ is a must-read novel for young and old, men and women.

5/5

The film adaptation is set for August 19th release. It stars Anne Hathaway as Emma Morley, and Jim Sturgess as Dexter Mayhew. I'm actually really keen to see the movie (despite book fans online scepticism). Yes, Hathaway is American, not British (but I liked her fine as Jane Austen and everyone said that was blasphemy!). Jim Sturgess has been a favourite since ‘Across the Universe’. I know ‘One Day’ will be a hard story to adapt – what with Nicholls reluctance to write ‘big drama scenes’ in the book and the film medium kind of needing those high-drama moments. And, yes, some lines in the trailer are cringe-worthy corny: “whatever happens tomorrow, we have today.” But watching the trailer makes me happy and it was what prompted me to finally crack the book open in the first place – so there!

'Tender Mercies' by Kitty Thomas

Received from the Author

From the BLURB:

“Grace. That word that finally meant something again. Mercy. Favor. Good will.”

Fed up with play kink, Grace Warner moves to an island that embraces erotic slavery to be with a man she met online. Within hours of her arrival, everything is ripped from her, and she quickly learns play is preferable to the realities of actual enslavement.

Asher Collins has spent the past year mourning and blaming himself for the death of his slave, Darcy. When Grace catches his eye at a showing, obviously abused, he becomes obsessed with buying her and finding a way to atone for his own past sins.

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction, and the author does not endorse or condone any behaviour done to another human being without their consent. This work contains subject matter which is not appropriate for minors including depictions of abuse, slavery, dubious consent, and anal play.

Grace Warner has tried to live kink. She has been to clubs and given herself over to BDSM and her perverse fascinations with the lifestyle. But it’s not enough; it’s too much like ‘tie-me-up-tie-me-down’ play. And then Grace meets Lucas Stone online, and starts chatting to him about the island of Eleu.

Populated by the rich and reclusive, Eleu is Private Island inhabited by natives and extreme BDSM participants. There are no embassies on Eleu, and citizenship is revoked the moment you step onto the island – effectively turning a person into a refugee. The little island is made up of large mansions and plantations, owned by rich ‘Masters’ who seek willing masochists to be their slaves and live with them on the island.

This is what Grace wants and needs. To give herself fully to Lucas and live with him on Eleu . . . she needs to give herself over to the fantasy, completely and totally.

But eight months later and Grace is a broken, bleeding shell of her former self. Lucas is no Master; he is a tyrant intent on pushing Grace until she is beyond repair . . . but before all hope is lost, Grace is sold to a fellow Eleu resident – Asher Collins.

There are rumours about what happened to Asher’s last slave girl . . . rumours that set Grace’s frayed nerves on edge and have her believing she will die in Asher’s dungeons.

But it is in Asher that Grace finds a true Master. Someone to banish Lucas’s nightmares and show her the difference between hurt and harm . . .

‘Tender Mercies’ is the new darkly erotic literary novel from Kitty Thomas, due for release on May 15th.

I discovered Kitty Thomas last year with her novel ‘Comfort Food’. I likened that erotica novel (about extreme Stockholm syndrome) to literary wasabi – sinus clearing and somewhat unsettling, but also incredibly, breathtakingly powerful. So I went into ‘Tender Mercies’ excitedly knowing that Kitty Thomas writes at the extreme-end of the erotica scale. She intrudes upon reader’s comfort zones and pulls you (kicking and screaming) into an abrasive and compelling world of fetishism and erotica . . .

‘Tender Mercies’ is actually a very nice complement and follow-up to Thomas’s ‘Comfort Food’. Both novels explore captivity, trust, BDSM and the extremities of that lifestyle. ‘Comfort Food’ was all about a woman accidentally finding love in the most unconventional and disturbing of ways, ‘Tender Mercies’ acts as the complete flipside to that story. Grace Warner is actively seeking an extreme BDSM lifestyle – and she believes she has found her perfect new life on the island of Eleu, which is a refuge for Masters and their slaves. But while Grace signed up for a secluded life of masochism, she was utterly unprepared for the horrors that lay in Lucas Stone’s dungeons . . . she is beaten, humiliated and subjected to perverse forms of torture (seriously, I'm talking ‘American Psycho’ levels of disturbing). Lucas Stone is no Master – he is the devil incarnate.

“Did he tell you pretty lies online for that year about how your life would be?”

“Yes, Master.”

He could hear the tears in her voice as she forced the words out of her mouth. Of course she must think he was toying with her, but he had to know how bad it was.

“He made you believe you’d have lovely things and live kinkily ever after, didn’t he?”

She hesitated a moment and then said, “Yes, Master.”

It is only when Lucas sells Grace to the island’s resident ‘killer’, Asher Collins, that she starts to learn the true BDSM lifestyle . . . for Asher is a kind and intuitive Master. He is still reeling from the accidental death of his last slave (and lover), and is determined to treat Grace with the utmost care while also introducing her to the wicked carnality of the Master/Slave relationship.

Together, Grace and Asher learn to trust and love again. Grace comes to accept her fetishes and explore them in the safe and trusting relationship that Asher establishes. Meanwhile, Asher begins to let go of his guilt and rebuild his life, with Grace kneeling by his side;

“This won’t bring Darcy back.”

Asher suppressed a growl. “I know that. Do you think I don’t know that? I don’t have any illusions I can fix her. I just need . . .” He searched for a word or sentiment he couldn’t bring himself to say. Still, the word stole into his mind and bloomed into full existence in the silence of the room – forgiveness.

I loved the romance between Grace and Asher. It’s partly ‘white knight syndrome’ – that Asher rides in to save Grace from the devilish clutches of Lucas Stone. But it’s also the fact that Asher has his own disturbing problems with guilt and forgiveness. He was a very tender and enticing Master, but underneath his firm hand lay a broken heart. His rebuilding of Grace’s confidence and love is dramatic and romantic and made for such a compelling storyline.

Dare I say . . . Kitty Thomas is fast becoming the erotica novelist du jour. Her books of extremism, BDSM and fetishism are the very best examples of the erotica genre – as she writes smartly sexy books that explore the darkest facets of sexual gratification and perversion while also weaving a marvellously compelling storyline with intense romance.

‘Tender Mercies’ is more bitter brilliance from Kitty Thomas. Yes, there are some very disturbing aspects to the novel – not least of which is an island dedicated to promoting a Master/Slave society where only the death of a slave warrants punishment . . . but Kitty Thomas is, above all else, a literary erotica novelist. In ‘Tender Mercies’ she is exploring the ‘perversions’ of kink and the traumas of captivity, followed by the struggles of post-traumatic stress. I feel it’s important to stress that Kitty Thomas doesn’t write ‘smut’ – her novels are above all that. She instead writes insanely powerful sex scenes that flip between being sensuous and serious, delicious and disturbing. Her sex scenes make you think, as they lead into the subliminal storyline of trust and captivity, of surrendering yourself to another human being and opening yourself to pain in return.

Kitty Thomas is one of the most audaciously brilliant erotica novelists I have ever read. Her third novel, ‘Tender Mercies’, is another example of her brilliance as she weaves a twisted tale of punishment and betrayal, redemption and understanding – all against the kinky backdrop of a BDSM island wonderland.

5/5

Kitty Thomas’s next novella is called ‘The Auction’ and does not yet have a release date.

'Undead: Queen Betsy' SERIES by MaryJanice Davidson

‘Undead & Unwed’ From the BLURB:

Betsy Taylor turns 30, gets laid off, is killed by an SUV and wakes up dead all in the same week. The vampire community is convinced she's their prophesied Queen. But she's not having any of it—she's got shoes to buy! And now the undead world is being turned upside-down by a Bela Lugosi throwback and her subjects expect her to take care of it! Why didn't she read the handbook? But her would-be consort, Eric Sinclair, is (annoyingly) ever-present. If only he wasn't so tall, dark, gorgeous...and undead.

Betsy Taylor had it all, once. She cashed in on her blonde-haired long-legged good looks and was a model. But at the age of 30 she’s decidedly over the hill, and with no ring (or sugar daddy) to show for it. Her home life is fairly disastrous – with her parents divorced and her father married to a liposuctioned creature of horror, Antonia ‘the Ant’ who hates Betsy and steals her shoes.

So when Betsy finds herself on a morgue slab she isn’t all that surprised . . . really, it’s just another thing in a long line of personal disasters.

What Betsy isn’t prepared for is to wake up – undead! Undead and with awful pasty skin that clashes with every colour palette in her wardrobe! Even worse than that though, Betsy is hungry . . . starving. But a little neck-nip of a cute detective and cuter (but gay) doctor has them turning into lust-ridden puppies.

And the hits keep on coming when Betsy is approached by a drop-dead-gorgeous (literally) guy called Eric Sinclair and his minion-buddy, Tina. They claim that something called ‘The Book of the Dead’ foretells of a vampire queen rising to take control of the vamp population . . . and that Betsy is just that queen.

The ‘Undead: Queen Betsy’ series by MaryJanice Davidson began in 2004 and is now ten books deep (with at least two more to come). This is one of my all-time favourite paranormal series, and I feel the need to share the love.

Davidson’s series is hilariously similar to Molly Harper’s ‘Jane Jameson’ – told in first-person narrative by a newly-awakened vampire as she navigates the perks and upheavals of her newly undead life . . . but that’s where the similarities end.

Betsy is a divinely ludicrous and self-involved protagonist. She’s hot, and she knows it. She has a one-track-mind that is often narcissistic and she speaks like a Gilmore girl on crack. When she awakens as a vampire one of her first thoughts is how to adjust her makeup to her new ghostly pallor – that’s just the kind of heroine she is. Betsy’s narcissism is never so awful that you can’t laugh at her; her big head makes her oddly endearing and always funny. Even when Betsy is in the middle of a werewolf smack-down her outfit is never far from her mind;

Unlike what happens in a karate movie, these guys didn’t take turns. Nope, it was dog-pile time, with me on the bottom. (Did that make me the dog? Oh, never mind).

I jerked my face to the side, just as a fist slammed through the floorboards where my head had been.

“Wait. Wait!” I screamed.

Three fists (from two different people!) paused in midair, as I pulled my legs up, yanked off my saddle shoes (vintage, 1956, eBay, $296.26), and threw them into a corner.

“Okay,” I said. “Go.”

I blocked (barely) another fist, catching it on my crossed forearms à la Uma Thurman in Kill Bill (either one). I had zero martial arts training, but by God, I'd remember anything Uma did.

- ‘Undead and Uneasy’ book #6

The ‘Undead’ series is all about how Betsy not only copes with her new undead status, but the realization that she is undead royalty. Betsy hasn’t been dead for a week when the local vampire population start approaching her and asking for her royal advice and guidance. Someone so self-involved and designer-obsessed is certainly not prepared for the divine responsibilities of the crown. Reading Betsy’s reaction to her queenly status is bellyaching hilarious – especially when the vampire Eric ‘Sink Lair’ Sinclair informs her that she has duties to fulfil.

Yes, Betsy has a romantic love-interest and his name is Eric (note: Sinclair, not Northman). These two have a very unconventional romance . . . it goes from hatred of volcanic proportions to resentful attraction and then landing right on lustful love and begrudging acceptance. Eric Sinclair is a smoulderingly handsome bad-ass – he is the quintessential vampire, and Betsy is all too happy to call him out on his tall, dark mysterious vampire-clichés.

I opened my mouth to yell – or bite – which proved to be a tactical error, as he used it as an excuse to shove his tongue into my mouth. I made fists and hammered at his chest as hard as I could, and I actually heard something snap. He shrugged off the blows and deepened the kiss. My knees went weak, which was annoying beyond belief. I'd never been so attracted to someone I absolutely despised, and it was infuriating.

I could feel his hand on the small of my back, pressing me close to him, could feel his hard length against my stomach – how could he want anyone after what just went on upstairs? Didn’t he need a nap? Or a shower?

He pulled back, so abruptly, I staggered. “There,” he said, sounding indecently satisfied. “Now you’ll stay, and we’ll chat.”

The crack of my slap was very loud, and I was savagely thrilled to see him rock back on his heels.

“If you touch me again, I’ll kill you.”

- ‘Undead and Unwed’ book #1

The good news is that Eric and Betsy hook-up early on in the series (so lots and lots of sexy-time ensues). The real focus of their continued romance is how they cope with happily-ever-after when they have a resentful attraction.

One of the best things about the ‘Undead’ series is the cast of kooky-cool secondary characters who surround Betsy. There’s her rich best friend, Jessica. Gay doctor buddy, Marc. Suspicious but cute detective, Nick Berry. Sinclair’s right-hand-woman, Tina and a cache of sister spawn, evil stepmothers, ghostly roommates and psychic werewolves. Some of Davidson’s best laugh-out-loud moments come from Betsy’s repartee with these zany individuals.

MaryJanice Davidson’s ‘Undead: Queen Betsy’ series is a perfect comedic paranormal romance. This is the series to read if you don’t like how dark Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ books have become. Or if you wish that Molly Harper would release another twenty ‘Jane Jameson’ books. Read Betsy for a hilariously-sexy good time with a sweetly self-involved heroine as she reluctantly takes the crown.

5/5

Rachel Caine for Breakfast!

Hello Darling Readers,

First of all – Happy Mother’s Day!

And now onto more important things . . . (I kid, I kid! I love you, Mama!)

After reading and envying many Aussie book bloggers, it was finally my turn to meet Rachel Caine for brekkie. Finally!

I travelled down to Camberwell to have a breakfast with Ms. Caine and two other book bloggers. We got to talk about vampires, tornadoes and Charlaine Harris-impressions over coffee and pancakes. Heaven!

First off, Rachel Caine is an absolute delight. Truly, she is lovely and charming and it was a pleasure to pick her brain while downing a cappuccino.

We talked a lot and randomly. We discussed Southern slang, ya’ll (and I did my Sookie Stackhouse impression, thank you very much!). Rachel also showed us a horrifyingly cool picture of her husband decked-out as a vampire (contacts, fangs and all!). And we even discussed our crush on vintage Pacey Witter (it was all about the Caesar haircut!). But in-between I did manage to slip in a few pertinent questions about her books;

OUTCAST SEASON

Rachel actually said that she got up at 6:30AM this morning to write a thousand words for the fourth ‘Outcast Season’ book. This fourth book will be the last in the series, and will most likely put to rest the entire ‘Weather Warden’ series (apparently matching-up series timelines is a real headache!).

The good news is that my favourite character, Rashid, definitely makes an appearance in the final book. Fingers crossed he’s naked for most of the novel!

WEATHER WARDEN

I know this series is done and dusted, but I couldn’t help pointing out to Rachel how spookily predictive the series has been! She started the ‘Weather Warden’ series back in 2003, and she was inspired by the fact that Texas has many tornado/hurricane warnings throughout the year. But since then we’ve had floods in Queensland, earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan as well as crazy volcano activity and the awful Hurricane Katrina.

MORGANVILLE VAMPIRES

I actually saw a Word document on Rachel’s computer! That’s right; I saw the words ‘Last Breath’ on the screen! But that’s all I saw. I promise.

By the sounds of it there’s going to be a lot of twists, turns and surprises in 'Last Breath' – naturally, this is Morganville after all!

Monica Morell has a few big, bullying scenes. We might be finding out why Texas was Amelie’s chosen location for the vampire town experiment . . .

Rachel is also aware that some fans were lobbying for a Myrnin/Claire romance ... but says it's highly unlikely (what with Myrnin being wacko and all. When he considered putting Claire's brain in a master-computer it was pretty much a deal-breaker). Sorry ladies, it doesn't look like Claire will be sharing Myrnin's bunny slippers anytime soon...

And Rachel Caine would be more than happy to continue the series, beyond the 13th book she is currently contracted for (and which is untitled at the moment). Rachel (like her fans) is not at all tired of Morganville and she is keen to keep writing – but it all depends on sales. So if you haven’t visited Morganville yet, I suggest you climb onboard the fan-wagon!

Oh, and Rachel Caine is more than aware of the fan-girl lobbying of Jared Padelecki for Shane. She thinks he would have been good in the role during his Gilmore Girls days, but that he’s a little bit too old to play Shane now . . .

REVIVALIST

I am so excited for Rachel’s new series! It’s set in a funeral home / morgue and it sounds spooky-cool, like ‘Six Feet Under’ with a paranormal bent. I can’t wait! It comes out August this year.

♥

I had a delightful breakfast with the wonderful Rachel Caine. She was bubbly, funny and an all-round fantastic chick.

I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to the lovely Felicity Vallence for organizing the breakfast (and agreeing that Pacey Witter was a hottie in his hey-day!).

♥

'A Pocketful of Eyes' by Lili Wilkinson

Receive from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

Bee is in her element working in the taxidermy department at the Museum of Natural History, but her summer job turns out to be full of surprises:

A dead body in the Red Rotunda. A mysterious Museum benefactor. A large stuffed tiger in the Catacombs. A handsome boy with a fascination for unusual animal mating habits.

And a pocketful of glass eyes.

Can Bee sift through the clues to discover whether her mentor really committed suicide ... or is there a murderer in their midst?

Beatrice May Ross is one peculiar teenager. Beatrice ‘Bee’ is interning at the Melbourne Natural History Museum’s Department of Preparation over the holidays. Because Bee enjoys taxidermy – reanimating an animal with pins, glass eyes and careful stitching. Bee loves taxidermy almost as much as she loves a good mystery – everything from Trixie Belden to Agatha Christie and Janet Evanovich (anything but that primly perfect Nancy Drew. Bee can’t stand that sickeningly sweet do-gooder).

So Bee is oddly fascinated when not one, but two mysteries fall into her lap! The first is the mystery of the new boy in the taxidermy lab – Toby. Toby is a university student working at the museum for extra credit and to satiate his dreams of becoming a zoologist. Bee is disturbingly fascinated by Toby, while also annoyingly flustered by his know-it-all banter and tiger-riding.

The second mystery is far less rom-com and more Holmes-esque. Because the second mystery involves a dead body . . . Bee and Toby’s supervisor, Gus, is found dead in the taxidermy department’s Catacombs. The police are quick to write Gus’s death off as a suicide, but Bee and Toby suspect foul-play.

Bee is a girl who loves a good mystery and has dreamed of her very own Scooby-gang adventure. But when a real-life whodunit needs solving, Bee discovers that death isn’t as glamorous as Arthur Conan Doyle would have us believe. . .

‘A Pocketful of Eyes’ is a new cozy YA mystery from Australian author Lili Wilkinson.

I loved this book! Lili Wilkinson has written an entertaining and daring novel that’s both a great addition to YA and a thrilling mystery whodunit.

Bee is a fantastic leading lady and girl detective. She’s not your typical teenager – she genuinely enjoys spending her summer holidays ‘mounting’ animals and she’d much rather read P.D. James than go out clubbing. She’s sort of geek-chic fabulous and a wonderful heroine. Bee is a complex character and interesting to decipher. She is partly using her taxidermy internship as a means to avoid an uncomfortable break-up and impending friendship disaster. She reads hard-boiled, gruesome detective novels but still believes in her heart of hearts that the world is more harmless, like in a Stephanie Plum or Nancy Drew novel. I really liked Bee and could relate to her inner mystery nerd.

The book is peppered with a cast of quirky-cool characters. Like Bee’s mother; a Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast who is embarking on a romance with her mystical badger-buddy (recently turned into a human man called Neal). Toby is an equally fascinating PG13 paramour – he is full of random tid-bits and crazy factoids. Toby’s constant stream of ‘did you know?’ makes for funny and interesting reading. For instance, I have learnt that an emu’s hips are anatomically the closest thing in the animal kingdom to a human’s. The human vagina is anatomically closest to a sheep’s. And that most snails are hermaphrodites. I loved all of these slices of general knowledge – they have that ‘random coolness’ factor while also being totally plausible pieces of repartee between characters who just so happen to work in a taxidermy lab.

I did love the mystery in ‘Pocketful’. For starters, the setting of a taxidermy lab is ingenious and creepy (all those sightless eyes, staring!) and the lab’s catacombs make for an eerie backdrop. The red-herrings and clues are brilliant – like the lizard eyes found in the dead man’s pocket. Wilkinson uses some wonderful Christie-esque settings and symbolisms throughout the novel, shaping it into a truly elusive whodunit.

The book is quite tongue-in-cheek. Bee is aware of how surreal her life is becoming, while also indecently excited by the prospect of living out a real-life murder mystery with herself in the starring role. As a lover of mysteries myself, I completely understood Bee’s guilty-fascination and sick pleasure in investigating her co-workers supposed suicide. And I loved that Wilkinson kept making pop-culture and literary references to the many mystery greats who shaped Bee’s quirky outlook on life (I especially loved one Veronica Mars reference);

Bee shook her head. “This is serious stuff. A guy is dead.”

This was what she had spent her whole life wishing for: a real mystery, with clues and suspicious circumstances, and the police refusing to get involved. It was all there, waiting for her. But she should walk away. The police would figure it out.

“Okay, fine,” said Toby. “But what would you do next, just for argument’s sake?”

“What?”

“If it wasn’t real life. If you were Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes or whoever. WWPD?”

“WWPD?”

“What Would Poirot Do?”

A Pocketful of Eyes’ is a strange and suave YA mystery novel. I could actually see Lili Wilkinson turning Bee Ross into a veritable Trixie Belden (I wouldn’t dare compare her to Nancy Drew!). ‘A Pocketful of Eyes’ could conceivably be the first book in a new and long-running YA mystery series. I definitely get the impression from ‘Pocketful’ that Bee liked her first taste of real-life murder-mystery; I think she’ll be unable to stop at just one, she might need to get another whodunit fix. I also think that murder mysteries are sadly lacking in the YA genre – there hasn’t really been a new Nancy Drew or Famous Five on the scene for quite some time . . . I think Wilkinson might just be the new Agatha Christie for the younger set, and Bee Ross our new girl detective!

5/5

'Love in the Years of Lunacy' by Mandy Sayer

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

Sydney, 1942.

Pearl is eighteen, beautiful and impetuous. She plays saxophone in an all-girl jazz band at the Trocadero and occasionally sits in on underground gigs with her twin brother Martin, who also plays the sax. On one such evening black GI and jazz legend James Washington blows into her life, and nothing is ever the same again, especially not Pearl. A love story begins to unfold against the blacked-out nights and rumour-filled days of a city in the grip of war.

But public events are closing in on Pearl's private world. When James is shipped out to fight in New Guinea, she hatches a breathtaking plan to reunite with him. And then all hell breaks loose.

Moving, tender and audaciously original, Love in the Years of Lunacy is a love story with a haunting jazz soundtrack and a war story like no other.

A famous (and fictional) Indigenous crime writer has discovered a series of biographical tape recordings made by his favourite aunt, who died one year ago. Pearl paved the way for Australian jazz, and in her time she was lauded as a revolutionary musician – both for introducing the blues to Aussie shores, and for being a formidable female saxophone player.

The writer presses play on her recorded memoirs, and is transported back to Sydney in 1942...

American GI’s are in Sydney, helping to guard against the Jap invasion. Pearl and her twin brother, Martin, are two talented musicians playing for the army boys. One night Martin drags his reluctant sister to a Negro dance hall – and the promise of fast music, appreciative ears and wild nights. It is here that Pearl first meets Private James Washington – a black man from Louisiana who played sax on a New Orleans riverboat before getting shipped off to the army.

James is beautiful and he plays a mean sax, Pearl is smitten from his first riotous note. Soon the two embark on a sweet love affair – tempered with James’s unease at being seen with a white woman, and Pearl’s growing infatuation for her talented lover.

But reality soon impedes on Pearl and James’s love story. James is shipped off to war-torn New Guinea and his romance with Pearl seems destined to disintegrate into tragedy . . . until Martin and Pearl concoct a way to reunite the lovers, under the most awful and dangerous of guises.

‘Love in the Years of Lunacy’ is the latest novel from Vogel-winning author, Mandy Sayer.

I started this novel one morning, and had finished reading by the afternoon. Sayer’s words are just that kind of hypnotizing – like the cadence of a jazz song – starting smooth and lulling, and building to a scream.

Sydney in the 1940s is an interesting setting, and Pearl as a saxophone-playing army band member is equally fascinating. But Sayer elevates this lush story by including the romance of a white Australian woman with a black American soldier. There have been enough tales told about Aussie women falling for Yankee men during WWII, but Sayer’s tale is made more intense and hotly powerful for the racism she explores in this forbidden romance.

James is ingrained with the rules of the Deep South. Every time Pearl tries to show public affection or discuss their romance, James reminds her of the scars he has endured as a black man. His grandfather was hung from a tree, James has been run out of towns by shotgun-wielding mad men and as he constantly reminds Pearl; their relationship would be condemned in his country;

“I want to know where –” She paused, to search for the right words. “I want to know what this all . . . I mean, do you think you and I, after the war . . .” she swallowed, not knowing how to complete the sentence.

He sighed, and turned his face to her. “Honey, in America, what you and me are doing is illegal in thirty-three states.”

“But what if we got married?”

“Girl, ain’t you been listening to anything I been telling you? We’d be thrown in jail before we even got out of the church. Uncle Sam’s happy to fight fascism – long as it’s the German kind.”

All of these obstacles just make Pearl and James’s romance all the more lusciously epic. They have a genuine connection, at first through music and then through a deeply physical bond.

When James is shipped off to New Guinea, Pearl concocts an outlandish reconnection for the two of them. This particular plot spin was, at times, a little too fantastical for my liking. I thought James and Pearl’s complicated love affair, in the time of war, was interesting by itself. The New Guinea aside seemed a little overcooked and melodramatic. But that’s my only complaint in this otherwise flawless novel.

The jazz references are meticulous and worth further research. Sayer mentions everyone, from the greats to the little-known’s; Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Chu Berry, Buster Smith and Benny Goodman. The jazz provides real soul for this novel, as the initial spark between Pearl and James. But Sayer takes the time to give voice to the chords – her descriptions of James and Pearl’s playing is impressively detailed and full of heat.

Mandy Sayer takes ‘Lunacy’ to dramatic heights and sizzling lulls as she tells the war-time tale of a white Australian woman who falls for a black US soldier. Sayer’s words are resonant chords as she writes the scorching love story, peppered with sombre strikes of forbidden yearning.

5/5

Waiting on Wednesday: 'Tied with a Bow' anthology

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

TITLE: ‘Tied with a Bow’ anthology

AUTHOR(s): Lora Leigh, Virginia Kantra, Eileen Wilks, Kimberly Frost

RELEASE DATE: TBA November 2011

I'm really excited for this anthology, because Eileen Wilks is writing a short story called ‘Human Error’. Here is a short synopsis from Wilks’s blog;

"Human Error," which is about Arjennie and Benedict. It's Christmas and Benedict is going to spend the holiday with Arjenie's family . . . her large, Wiccan, entirely human family. Who he hasn't met. Now, Benedict has lived most of his life at Clanhome, surrounded by lupi. He isn't used to fitting in with humans. He even asked his brother for advice about clothes, hoping to create the right impression.

So it's a shame the way things go wrong from the moment he gets out of the car ....

I love, love, loved Benedict and Arjenie in ‘Blood Challenge’. They were my favourite part of that book, and I have high hopes that Wilks writes a spin-off series for them (à la Patricia Briggs’s Charles and Anna in the ‘Alpha and Omega’ series).

I'm not sure if Arjenie and Benedict will have a big role in the eighth ‘World of the Lupi’ book, titled ‘Death Magic’. But in the meantime I'm excited for a short story that lets us read Arjenie and Benedict’s continued happily-ever-after. Yay!