Interview with Amy Tintera, author of 'Reboot'

Q: How were you first published – agent or slush pile? 

Both! I queried agents, so I was in their slush pile. REBOOT was the second novel I queried (the first one was rejected by everyone), and I sent out about 50 queries before I signed with Emmanuelle Morgen at Stonesong. 

Q: Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’ - that is, do you meticulously plot your novel before writing, or do you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and let the story evolve naturally?

I’m a combination, actually. I usually have a rough idea of what will happen in the first half of the manuscript. I’m big on knowing the midpoint before I start, so I’m always aiming for that. I like having a really big, exciting midpoint so the middle of the book doesn’t get boring. But the second half is often made up as I go along.

Q: How long did it take you to write ‘Reboot’, from first idea to final manuscript?

I wrote the first draft in about 4 months, then edited it for about 5 months after that. So 9 months from idea to sending it out to agents. Then there were many months of working on it with my agent, and then my editor, before it was ready for publication.

Q: Where do story ideas generally start for you? Do you first think of the character, theme, ending? Or is it just a free-fall?

Character usually comes first for me. With REBOOT, I heard Wren’s voice in my head, telling me she was dead for 178 minutes. I don’t always get such a clear vision of a character right away, but I definitely did with her. I built the plot around this character who was dead and thought she had no emotions left.

Q: So, ‘Reboot’ is a sci-fi novel in which the deadly KDH virus sweeps through the world, and people drop like flies … only they don’t stay dead; people “reboot” – coming back stronger, faster, healthier.  I’ve seen some reviews label ‘Reboot’ as a zombie-esque evolution. Do you agree, or do you think the world of ‘Reboot’ is in a classification all it’s own? 

It’s more of a classification of it’s own, though I don’t mind people comparing them to zombies. But Reboots aren’t mindless rotting corpses eating brains, which is usually what we think of when we think of zombies. They’re cute and strong and they heal quickly. 

 

Q: Were you a fan of sci-fi before you started writing in the genre? Did you go on a pop-culture movie/TV binge-watch when you were forming the idea and starting to write ‘Reboot’?

I was already a big nerd! By the time I started REBOOT, I was already a big fan of Battlestar Galactica and Buffy and Dexter and a bunch of other shows. I’m very influenced by television. I love how TV shows allow for complex character development and long, involved story arcs. 

 

Q: If ‘Reboot’ was to be made into a movie or TV show … who would your dream cast be?

I honestly have no dream cast! REBOOT has been optioned for film by Fox, so I’m always hesitant to name dream actors in case the movie actually ends up happening. I don’t want the actors who get cast to think they weren’t my first choice!

 

Q: Wren Connolly is a pretty kick-ass heroine. She’s the littlest Reboot – but the strongest, fastest and most feared. Why was it so important for you to write this conundrum of a character who’s pretty unlike any other female heroine appearing in YA fiction right now?

I love characters who are unexpected. I’m especially a fan of complex female characters who are so much more than how they look. I wanted Wren to have a sort of unassuming presence naturally, but to be feared by people because of what she’d become.

Q: There are some pretty amazing fight-scenes in ‘Reboot’, and you detail them beautifully. How did you get that rhythm and description down? – did you watch some real fights to get the fictional ones just right?

Thank you! The action scenes were incredibly difficult for me to write, so I’m glad they worked! I spend a long time on every action scene, probably three times longer than any other scenes in the book, trying to make sure things are clear and moving quickly. I love action movies, so I think I may have learned a lot from them without even realizing it. And my editor helped enormously with every fight scene in the book. We really worked on them a lot.

Q: Can you give any hints about the plot of ‘Reboot #2’? And when we can expect the second book to hit shelves?

I don’t have an exact release date yet, but it will probably be around May 2014. I can’t give any plot hints yet, but I will say that there is just as much action and romance in the second book! 

Q: Favourite author(s) of all time?

Tough question! I’m going to go with J.K. Rowling, because I’ve always been in awe of how she created such a fantastic world and characters in Harry Potter. I wish I had the ability to develop secondary characters the way she does!

Q: Favourite book(s)? 

So many! Legend and Prodigy by Marie Lu, If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares, The Chosen by Chaim Potok.

Q: What advice do you have for budding young writers?

Read a lot. Finish! Most of us are published because we finished a story, got rejected, and then started the process over again. 

Reboot is available in Australia from May 22!

'Dead Girl Sing' Darian Richards #2 by Tony Cavanaugh

From the BLURB:

Darian Richards knew he should have let the phone keep ringing. But more than two decades as a cop leaves you with a certain outlook on life. No matter how much he tried to walk away, something, or someone, kept bringing him back to his gun.

One phone call. Two dead girls in a shallow water grave. And a missing cop to deal with.
Something bad is happening on the Gold Coast glitter strip. Amongst the thousands of schoolies and the usual suspects, someone is preying on beautiful young women. No one has noticed. No one knows why.

Darian looked into the eyes of those two dead girls. The last person to do that was their killer. He can t walk away. He will find out why.

Maybe it’s a hero complex. Or that you never really take the uniform off for good. Hell, maybe it’s because Darian’s saved this girl once already, so what’s one more? Either way, the phone rang and Darian answered: ‘Darian, you must come. Only you can help. There are so many bodies– ’

That one phone call from Ida, the girl Darian saved from the Sunshine Coast killer a few months ago, has now dragged him into a new murder investigation . . . it involves a trip to the “hellfire inferno” Gold Coast, during schoolies week. When Darian starts looking for Ida, he finds two dead girls instead, and then a cop goes missing. 

Darian Richards retired from the police force, but when this new case drags him back into the fold he finds more to worry about than just the missing Ida . . . whatever this girl has gotten herself into, it involves disappearing University students, sex slavery and international kidnapping.

With the (reluctant) help of Noosa cop, Maria, computer genius Isosceles and a notorious con called Blonde Richard; Darian is going to get himself mired in yet another grisly case, once again proving that while he may be done with the police force, the force ain’t done with him. 

‘Dead Girl Sing’ is the second book in Australian author, Tony Cavanaugh’s crime-thriller series, ‘Darian Richards.’ 

I loved Cavanaugh’s debut, ‘Promise’, and I’m thrilled that he has bought Darian Richards out for a second dance (with a third definitely on the horizon). I don’t get invested in many crime series; Karin Slaughter being my only other devout read. I tend to lose interest in crime series very quickly (which is why I don’t watch many crime series TV shows either). What I found though, that keeps me coming back, is terribly damaged characters. I don’t know what it is, but if there’s an underdog, grey-scale dubious anti-hero who I constantly flip between loving and loathing; then I’m there. I’m invested. I care. And there’s nobody more grey-scale than Darian Richards – an ex Melbourne detective who was rumoured to have a bad-guy kill-rate, but was also known to put crooked cops in their place (and in the ground). 

This is a guy who admits to never having had a successful relationship; he pays by the hour for his companionship and that’s all he needs. He moved to Noosa to be closer to his one and only ‘friend’, an ex-brothel owner called Casey. And Darian seems to have an unlimited number of favours owed to him by any number of criminals from all over Australia. But, for all his murky ethics and questionable past, Darian is smart. He first put on the uniform at age nineteen, and even in retirement it looks as though his blood will never run anything but blue. This is especially obvious when a single phone-call from a girl he saved in ‘Promise’ has him driving, helter-skelter, down to Brisbane and the Gold Coast . . . where he reluctantly uncovers dead bodies, a missing cop, disappearing co-eds and a sex slavery ring masterminded by one of the most chilling femme fatales I've ever read.

First: the Gold Coast setting is genius. Even more so for being set during the dreaded ‘schoolies’ week: when the recent high school graduates descend on this beachside city (sometimes called ‘Bris-Vegas’, for being Australia’s own big kids playground version of Las Vegas). Schoolies is full of drugs, alcohol, parties and hormonal teenagers doing anything and everything regrettable. Every year, without fail, schoolies week news-coverage involves stories of roofie rapes and teenagers falling to their death from hotel balconies. So this is the town and time of year that Darian is working in to uncover the murder mystery. And he’s trying to work alongside (or at least, not get in the crosshairs) of Q1, the #1 Queensland police station.

Something I love about Cavanaugh’s writing is that he has the intricacies of the Australian police scene well and truly sussed out. He writes about the force/service name change, the old grizzly detectives who’ve been in the game too long and in the case of the Queensland cops; he’s nailed their RayBan-wearing, muscle-bearing, nose-flaring inflated egos; 

I knew they’d be a different breed, different from the boys on the Noosa hill, back up on the Sunshine Coast. Up there it’s Japanese tourists and stoned rich kids. Little guys growing dope and drink-driving. It’s tourism crime. Down here, on the Gold Coast, it’s hardcore. It was sleepy and laid-back in 1954. Now it’s a hellfire inferno. The waves kept crashing against the beach and the corks keep popping; it is a tourist playground, after all, but there’s a rumble-fuck not far below the surface. Step back from the beach and you can feel it, hear it, see it. The cops more than meet the need. They’re known to show off their guns to teenage girls. They don’t mind a bit of jackboot.

Something I said about ‘Promise’ reveals itself in this follow-up, to be Cavanaugh’s particular crime-writing style; gore and violence. Maybe it’s obvious to point out that there’s violence in a crime novel – but having dabbled in a few now, I can safely say that some writers pull back and, compared to Cavanaugh, are downright conservative. But the ‘Darian Richards’ series goes to dark places that are sometimes very uncomfortable. And Cavanaugh only seems to write violence against women – so you can imagine the dark and vicious stories involved. And in ‘Dead Girl Sing’ we’re dealing with sex slavery; so it is harrowing. And as a woman reading this, there are times when I swallowed bile. But what makes ‘Dead Girl Sing’ even more uncomfortable is the fact that the ‘bad guy’ is actually a young woman . . . ‘Starlight’ is the name she gave herself, and she’s disgustingly ruthless. She came from the slums of Rio, slept her way to London and then fought her way to Australia. She’s young and stunning – drop dead gorgeous, in fact – but she’s taken the hard lessons she learned in the slums and has decided to never have to claw her way out of that life again. She intends to stay on top, and anyone she has to dispose and sell to stay there is just collateral damage.

In reading ‘Promise’ I wasn’t sure (but hoped) that it wouldn’t be a one-off book, but part of a series. In ‘Dead Girl Sing’, Cavanaugh leaves no doubt in the readers’ mind that Darian is a hero who could be here to stay for a good long while. We learn tiny morsels of his past, and the secondary characters who intrigued us in ‘Promise’ are back for round-two. Isosceles, the computer genius with a penchant for obscure historical factoids and no social skills, whatsoever, is again helping steer Darian’s investigation. And Maria is also returned; still harbouring resentment and guilt over what happened with the Sunshine Killer. 

Maria is, really, a stand-out for me. Admittedly, her and Darian’s dubious ‘partnership’ is a bit of a cliché; he, the handsome and wiser sceptical old pro; she the model-like rookie who’s eager but green. But she has potential that Cavanaugh constantly hints at. She’s dealing with sexism and the fact that her ideals of the police service are constantly butting heads with the reality. And in ‘Dead Girl Sing’ we actually get into Maria’s head and learn that she’s not as confident as she appears; 

Sometimes her lover, who she adored, spoke in the most obscure ways. This was one of those times. But she got the drift, nonetheless.  

‘You don’t understand,’ she said. 

‘What? Because you’re a cop and the bloke you talked to is also a cop? That clan thing? Yeah, babe, I understand that. You and this Dane Harper dude, all puttin’ on the uniform, all standin’ under the same flag, all workin’ to the same code . . . but you know it and I know it. Darian ain’t a cop, don’t wear no uniform, but baby, he is the man for good. And you know it.’ 

There’s a moment in ‘Dead Girl Sing’, when Darian muses on an old psychological test that the police forced used to insist on as part of application. It was the Milgram experiment – and it was designed to study the willingness of participants to obey an authority figure (even when obeying meant conflicting with their conscience). Darian actually refers to it more as a psychopath test – since the experiment involves inflicting pain on another human being, upon instruction of a ‘teacher.’ Some people find themselves incapable of hurting (and potentially killing) another human being – and would refuse to do the experiment, or at least show extreme remorse when they eventually caved and obeyed. For some, the experiment was simple. I think Cavanaugh has actually written his own version of a ‘psychopath test’ in the ending of ‘Dead Girl Sing’ . . .  for some, the conclusion will be a fitting end; comeuppances served, a form of justice upheld (however twisted). For others (and I’m one of them) the end will be a perversion in itself. I think it will be a test of each reader’s personal moral compass how they react to the ending and Darian’s bitter form of justice. I’ll admit that for some, the ending will skew the rest of the book (and possibly series?) they’ll second-guess if they ever want to read Darian Richards ever again. I think that’s okay – it lends itself to why I’m conflicted in my liking of the character, and enjoyment of the series – that beautiful grey area. 

For what it’s worth; I’m hooked. 

4/5

'Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty' by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke

 From the BLURB:

In August of 1994, 11-year-old Robert “Yummy” Sandifer — nicknamed for his love of sweets — fired a gun at a group of rival gangmembers, accidentally killing a neighborhood girl, Shavon Dean. Police searched Chicago’s southside for three days before finding Yummy dead in a railway tunnel, killed by members of the drug gang he’d sought to impress. The story made such an impact that Yummy appeared on the cover of TIME magazine, drawing national attention to the problems of inner city youth in America.

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty relives the confusion of these traumatic days from the point of view of Roger, a neighborhood boy who struggles to understand the senseless violence swirling through the streets around him. Awakened by the tragedy, Roger seeks out answers to difficult questions — was Yummy a killer or a victim? Was he responsible for his actions or are others to blame?

Before Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook, there was Yummy Sandifer. 

When he was just eleven-years-old, Robert ‘Yummy’ Sandifer (so named for his love of junk food) opened fire in a street of his local neighbourhood in Roseland, Chicago. Yummy fired a 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol, hitting and killing a young girl called Shavon Dean, who was just 14-years-old. Yummy fled the scene, and a manhunt got underway – the senseless murder and 11-year-old killer making national headlines . . . but that was just the beginning of this tragic saga.

Yummy was close to members of the Black Disciples Chicago street gang, and this is presumably how he came to be in possession of the gun. During the manhunt, it was reported that the shooting was even an initiation gone wrong. And it was because of his fledgling ties to the Black Disciples that it was the gang who ended up finding Yummy, and executing him.

Brothers Cragg and Derrick Hardaway, ages 16 and 14, were Black Disciples members who met Yummy on August 31. They promised him a safe place to hide from the police . . . instead he was driven to an empty underpass and told to get on his knees – he was then shot twice in the back of the head. His body was discovered by Chicago police the next day, and brothers Cragg and Derrick Hardaway were convicted of his murder and given long-term prison sentences.

Yummy’s mug-shot was plastered over the cover of TIME Magazine (the same mug-shot his family used for his funeral program). His story sent shockwaves through America as more of his sad background and violent end became known. By three-years of age, Yummy was known to Child Welfare authorities as his mother had a history of misdemeanour arrests and his father was incarcerated. Yummy was beaten on a regular basis, and was found to have cigarette burns on his body as well as more serious bruises consistent with physical beatings. Sandifer was taken to live with his grandmother when he was three, but the house was often overrun with other children (up to 19 at any one time) and by the time Yummy was eight-years-old he’d started stealing cars and breaking into houses.

President at the time, Bill Clinton, spoke about Yummy and the sad circumstances of his life and death in a President’s Radio Address on September 10, 1994. It was during this address that Clinton announced his eminent signing of a proclamation declaring the upcoming week National Gang Violence Prevention Week.

Some sixteen years after the violent life and death of Yummy Sandifer, author G. Neri together with illustrator Randy Duburke, created ‘Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty’ – a middle-grade graphic novel about the child killer who still haunts Chicago and the American conscience. 

Neri’s reimagining of this tragic event is told from the perspective of Roger, a Roseland resident and classmate of Yummy’s. Roger tries to come to terms with the killing of Shavon Dean, the manhunt for Yummy and his eventual murder amidst his own family’s struggles with Roger’s older brother, who has been hanging out with the Black Disciples.

This book is intended for ages 12 and up – though I can imagine a lot of people would take issue with the violent themes being discussed and depicted in a graphic novel for middle-grade readers. But the fact of the matter is; this violence really happened. This is Neri and Duburke recounting and questioning a very real, very violent crime that rocked America and, sadly, involved a young boy who is nearly the same age as the intended readers of this graphic novel. 

In 1994 Neri was a filmmaker teaching workshops to kids in the inner-city schools of Los Angeles, when the Yummy story broke. In interviews he talks about how those kids grasped and processed the breaking news story of Yummy Sandifer – the opposing beliefs that he was a thug who deserved his end, versus those who saw him as a victim. There was also a recurring discussion of gang and gun violence. In reading ‘The Last Days of a Southside Shorty’ I can see how Neri came to tackle Yummy’s story from the similar point of view of a young classmate who is grappling with Yummy’s death, and life. 

Roger’s voice is carrying this story, as we see events unfold through his eyes – he’s weighing the tragedy of Yummy’s life against the recent news of Shavon’s death . . . and eventually, Yummy’s execution. And then there’s Roger’s older brother, Gary, who is himself friends with members of the Black Disciples. 

Neri does very well to process all of this information through Roger, who slowly comes to realise the shades of grey in the tragedy. And it is a slow processing – as bits and pieces of Yummy’s abusive childhood leak into the news-feeds amidst images of the shrine in Shavon’s memory.

Randy Duburke has done an incredible job of illustrating this powerful story – in bold, black and white panels he captures Yummy’s innocence in one drawing, and then hints at his menace in the next. And some panels are lifted right out of the 1994 newsfeeds and TIME magazine photos – like the haunting picture of Yummy in his casket, surrounded by stuffed toys. 

‘Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty’ has won countless awards, among them; the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, Kirkus Review Best Books of the Year, and the 2010 Cybil Award - Best YA Graphic Novel . . . to name a very, very few. And this graphic novel deserves all that praise, and more.

Author G. Neri and illustrator Randy Duburke have created a haunting graphic novel exploring one of the darkest moments in America’s long history of gun violence. That they’ve created this novel for young readers is incredibly important and potent. ‘Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty’ is a beautiful and raw graphic novel that looks unflinchingly and with great care to the story of Robert ‘Yummy’ Sandifer – and while the illustrations may be in stark black and white, Yummy’s story is reflected in complex shades of grey. 

5/5 

'Steal My Sunshine' by Emily Gale

Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

During a Melbourne heatwave, Hannah's family life begins to distort beyond her deepest fears. It's going to take more than a cool change to fix it, but how can a girl who lives in the shadows take on the task alone? Feeling powerless and invisible, Hannah seeks refuge in the two anarchists of her life: her wild best friend, Chloe, and her eccentric grandmother, Essie, who look like they know how life really works. But Hannah's loyalty to both is tested, first by her attraction to Chloe's older brother, and then by Essie's devastating secret that sheds new light on how the family has lost its way. Even if Hannah doesn't know what to believe in, she'd better start believing in herself. 

Combined with Hannah's contemporary story, at the heart of Steal My Sunshine is the revelation of a shameful aspect of Australia's history and how it affected thousands of girls and women - the forced adoptions that saw 'wayward girls' and single mothers forced to give up their babies by churches and hospitals. The practice endured for decades, and only now are the numbers and the heart-wrenching stories coming to light.

There are two sides to the Moon family – Hannah and her dad on one side, her mum and brother Sam on the other. It’s been that way for as long as Hannah can remember; her and dad have their Wednesday movie nights, while mum and Sam share private jokes and pet cat, Scribble.

But when her parents’ marriage reaches breaking point, and it’s Hannah’s dad that leaves, she is completely unprepared for the fallout. Mum and Sam huddle together and lean on each other, while Hannah feels isolated and abandoned.

She has her best friend, Chloe, for a shoulder to cry on. But Chloe’s mum abandoned the family when Chloe was six, and she constantly reminds Hannah that things can’t be as bad as all that. Then there’s the fact that Hannah has a painful, obvious crush on Chloe’s older brother, Evan. 

That’s why she needs Essie now, more than ever. Essie is her mum’s mum, Hannah’s beloved grandmother – the only other person in the family who loves and understands her. Maybe it’s because Hannah and Essie have her mother in common – or, rather, neither of them get on with Sara Moon and are constantly in her firing line. She accuses Essie of lying and manipulating, and she thinks Hannah is lazy and ungrateful.

As her home life spins more madly out of control, Hannah starts visiting Essie more and more … particularly once she realizes how bad her grandmother’s health has become. But there’s also the fact that Essie has started telling a story, her story. And it might just explain why she and her daughter never got along, and why Sara seems to love her Sam so much more than her Hannah …

‘Steal My Sunshine’ is the new young adult novel from Emily Gale.

This year, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard apologized to the generations of women and children who were victims of forced adoption. Gillard apologized on behalf of the Australian Federal Parliament, for the hundreds of forced adoptions that took place in Australia from the late 1950s to the 1970s. These involved babies being taken from their mothers who, for various reasons, were seen as ‘unfit’ – babies were taken without consent, or mothers were compelled to give consent to the Australian State and Territory government agency. It’s impossible to know the exact number, but it’s believed a majority of babies taken were those belonging to single mothers –at a time when it was believed adopting out the babies of unmarried mothers was in the best interests of the child. 

In her March speech, Gillard said; “We deplore the shameful practices that denied you, the mothers, your fundamental rights and responsibilities to love and care for your children.”

And this is the heart of Emily Gale’s powerful novel, ‘Steal My Sunshine’ – about young girl, Hannah, who starts unravelling her grandma Essie’s harrowing story and how it still impacts on her own mother today. 

When the story begins, Hannah and her mother are already in the midst of a tumultuous relationship, which is further fractured when her dad walks out on the family. Sara Moon seems to have unrelenting anger towards her daughter, and nothing but affection for Hannah’s older brother, Sam. 

Maybe you really couldn’t force a family to work. How were you supposed to know when to stop trying? Mum had stopped with me, it felt like. Essie was the only one I had left. She and I were connected. I needed to know everything there was to know about Essie, and hold onto her for as long as I could.

But Sara Moon also despises her own mother – Essie. She constantly warns Hannah and Sam of Essie’s manipulations and lies, and she has in fact stopped visiting her altogether. It’s only Hannah who spends time with Essie now, and in the midst of her crumbling home-life and the discovery of a mysterious letter about someone called ‘James’, Hannah starts prying apart Essie’s lies to get to the heart of their family matters…

What Hannah discovers is Essie’s own part in Australia’s forced adoptions; as a teenage girl sent away from her London home, and forced to repent for her sins; 

Sister pushes the grey dress and blue apron into my arms again, and even while I’m putting them on I’m telling her, ‘You can’t touch me. I’m not from here. You can’t keep me. I’m not a prisoner.’ Not a single muscle in her face moves as I carry on. ‘Someone is coming for me,’ I cry. 

She’s like a statue, staring me down until I feel as powerful as the puddle of clothes at my feet. ‘You’ve fallen,’ she says. ‘And we are the only ones who will pick you up.’ 

She’s right, I’ve fallen into the bottom of the world. ‘Someone has to come for me,’ I whisper.

This book is harrowing and heartbreaking, brave and beautiful in equal measure. Gale picks apart an ugly chapter of Australia’s history with a deft and sympathetic hand, bringing these old wounds into a contemporary story that’s so important for young Australians to read and try to have a fraction of understanding about. 

What really struck me in Gale’s storytelling is that she very much presents this as a women’s tale – and there’s quite a visceral connection in that, a knowing that runs deep. It’s in the fact that while Hannah’s family life crumbles, and Essie’s story is being told, a news story has captured Victoria – a young girl (Hannah’s age) has been reported missing, believed to be abducted. There’s a hubbub made about this at Hannah’s school where one girl, greedy for the spotlight, cashes-in on her acquaintance-by-association to the missing girl, named Sophie.  As Hannah muses on Essie’s life; how she, as a teenage girl in the 1960s, was one day thrown into a Magdalene asylum, never to be heard from again – in the present day another young girl seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, and the worst is presumed. It hits home that this is a story about the abuses and injustices women seem doomed to always face. At one point Hannah muses that Essie’s story doesn’t mean as much to her brother, Sam … and her own father admits to not really understanding how this also affected his wife. I’m glad Gale touched on this, because it is a truth rarely acknowledged but so important in this book that really revolved around Hannah, Sara and Essie.

One small aspect that didn’t quite work for me was Hannah’s crush on her best friend, Chloe’s, older brother. Evan felt like an afterthought, and was a little out-of-step with the book. I actually think more interesting male relationships were presented with Hannah’s father and brother. And I was more curious about another man in her life; young drama teacher, Mr Inglewood. Not in a romantic way (though the other girls at school titter about him) but Mr Inglewood posed an interesting new male dynamic in the novel, and there was a moment when he confronted and pushed Hannah – provoking a most interesting reaction. For me, personally, in a book where the male characters worked more to illustrate what’s missing in the relationships of the females … I would have preferred more of the charismatic Mr Inglewood than the half-hearted Evan.

In ending her ‘sorry’ speech, Prime Minister Julia Gillard acknowledged the pain and suffering of those affected by forced adoption: "The hurt did not simply last for a few days or weeks. This was a wound that would not heal." And, indeed, ‘Steal My Sunshine’ is about what has not healed – wounds that run like fractures through time and family trees, secrets that poison and pain that never goes away. This is a beautiful and tough book, an important book for young Australians to be reading right now. 

4.5/5 

'Fall of Night' Morganville Vampires #14 by Rachel Caine

 Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

Thanks to its unique mix of human and vampire residents, Morganville is a small college town with big-time problems.  But it isn't the only town with vampire trouble . . .

Claire never thought she'd leave Morganville, but when she gets accepted into the graduate course at MIT, she can't pass up the opportunity.  Saying goodbye to her firends, especially her boyfriend, Shane, is bittersweet, and her new life at MIT is both scary and exciting.  

Entrolled in a special advanced study programme with Professor Irene Anderson, former Morganville native, Claire is able to work on VLAD, her machine designed to cancel the mental abilities of vampires.

But Morganville and its inhabitants are never really far from Claire's mind.  When she begins testing her machine on live subjects, things quickly spiral out of control, and Claire begins to wonder whether leaving Morganville was the last mistake she'll ever make . . .

Following from the events of ‘Bitter Blood’, when lives were lost and friendships put to the test, Claire Danvers is following-through with her decision to leave Morganville, and attend the MIT graduate program in Cambridge. 

Claire has made the monumental decision to leave her friends behind – including newlyweds Michael and Eve, who want to start acting more like a married couple (less roommates should help with that). But Claire is also determined to leave her beloved boyfriend, Shane, behind too. Because Shane made the worst mistake not too long ago, believing a lie that Michael told about his relationship with Claire – and now she needs to be away from the most important person in her life, to try and find who she is without him. 

In Cambridge, Claire has moved into an apartment with her pre-Morganville best friend, Liz. But straight away Claire is off-balanced by the fact that her blue room apartment is nothing as homely as the Glass House. Then there’s the fact that Liz has turned into a flake, dressing in schoolgirl outfits and decidedly disinterested in books. She also has a stalker – a man named Derrick who keeps an unwanted vigil of their house. 

Claire will be assisting a Professor Irene Anderson during her MIT graduate program – another ex-Morganville resident, and another assistant who survived tutelage under Myrnin. They will be working on Claire’s VLAD machine – a mood-altering device that should help humans with unruly vamps.

Meanwhile, in Morganville, Shane can’t stop missing Claire (and worrying about her). He also feels like the awkward third-wheel in Michael and Eve’s marriage. So he makes the momentous decision to drive to Cambridge and keep an eye on Claire … from a distance.

‘Fall of Night’ is the fourteenth book in Rachel Caine’s young adult paranormal series, ‘Morganville Vampires.’ 

It always happens that when I crack open the latest ‘Morganville’ instalment, a small part of me worries that this might be the book to mark my waning interest. There aren’t many series that have been around since 2006 with consistent releases, and still manage to not only maintain, but consistently grow its fan-base … so I always go into ‘Morganville’, with a small pessimistic part of me that’s waiting for the magic to dissipate. But I’m happy to report that ‘Fall of Night’ is not that book – and, actually, it looks like Rachel Caine has just given this series a second-wind…

In ‘Fall of Night’, Caine is again taking the characters out of Morganville. She did this in book eight, ‘Kiss of Death’ – taking the awesome foursome on a killer (literally) road-trip that opened their eyes to the fact that the grass is not necessarily greener on the vampireless side. The big difference, of course, is that in this 14th book, Claire is all on her lonesome – and by choice. Not only is she outside of Morganville, but she has left her friends behind too. 

Now, Claire has always been a strong, remarkable young woman. She prefers brains over brawn (but also knows how to throw a punch) and she’s a very level-headed, quick-witted warrior. But, ever since Michael, Eve and Shane gave her the safety of the Glass House in book one, she has been part of a unit. Now that we’re 14 books in, I can see it makes a lot of sense for Caine to take Claire out of that home-base and show fans what she has become while living in Morganville. With Claire’s independence, fans can really appreciate that she loses none of her strength away from the awesome-foursome friendship unit. She might lose a little of her heart, but even away from Morganville Claire has a steel backbone and strong moral compass. 

The heart though, is another matter … but again it makes sense that we see Claire and Shane put to the test. They’ve been an item for a long, long time and have become very co-dependent - so it was actually really nice for Caine to separate them and see how they go. Of course, it’s mostly Claire doing the separating since Shane can’t stay away for long (it’s more protective than stalkerish though – honest!) but it was nice to reaffirm why they are together, what remains when they are apart and the strength that binds them. For anyone doubting Claire and Shane being together for so long, and at such a young age – I think Caine puts a lot of those worries to bed in this book.

And this is also a book of new faces. Claire and Shane both befriend two Cambridge locals who work with Professor Anderson, and at the bar where Shane gets a job as busboy. Pete is a bouncer and rough teddy-bear, then there’s Jesse – a fiery red head with killer curves and a badass streak a mile long. When Derrick, Liz’s stalker, starts encroaching on Claire’s new territory, Pete and Jesse are there in lieu of Michael, Eve and Shane to have her back; 

‘I can smell the crazy on that man from here. I have a nose for it.’ In the dim light, a passing car’s lights hit Jesse full in the face, and lit her up like a billboard. Her blue eyes were very, very bright, and for a second Claire had a Morganville déjà vu … but this was the real world, and Jesse was just a badass. Like Pete.Maybe that was enough.

I loved these two, especially Jesse. She poses an interesting twist in the story, and while some fans will probably grumble about her appearance I can’t wait to see how she shakes things up for a certain someone….

Caine is also touching on themes of the eighth book, ‘Kiss of Night’ – in that the Morganville kids learn that the outside world is just as tough and full of danger. Shane, especially, is somewhat surprised by the violence he encounters from regular humans; 

For some reason, I thought that Morganville was the equivalent of ‘Dead Space’ Level Twelve, and having survived that, I didn’t rate the nerdy, vampire-free streets of Cambridge at more than a Level Two. 

The difference with ‘Fall of Night’, however, is that some of the outside violence may be leaking into Morganville … but fans will just have to wait for ‘Daylighters’ releasing in November to find out more about that.

All in all ‘Fall of Night’ was another Morganville book that got my heart racing, my hands sweaty and my interest piqued. What can I say? Rachel Caine has done it again.

5/5

'Kiss of Steel' London Steampunk #1 by Bec McMaster

 From the BLURB:

When Nowhere Is Safe

Most people avoid the dreaded Whitechapel district. For Honoria Todd, it's the last safe haven. But at what price?

Blade is known as the master of the rookeries—no one dares cross him. It's been said he faced down the Echelon's army single-handedly, that ever since being infected by the blood-craving he's been quicker, stronger, and almost immortal.

When Honoria shows up at his door, his tenuous control comes close to snapping. She's so...innocent. He doesn't see her backbone of steel—or that she could be the very salvation he's been seeking.

Honoria Todd knew she couldn’t lie low in the Whitechapel district forever – but she had hoped. Honoria and her family – a prickly younger sister called Lena, and sickly little brother named Charlie – had already been through so much since their father’s murder. She had hoped that they could hide away somewhere, nurse Charlie back to some semblance of health and quietly hunt for the cure their father was working on, before it got him killed.

But now Honoria has attracted the interest of district master, Blade. He is ruthless and blood-thirsty (literally) and nothing goes on in his rookeries that he doesn’t know about – least of all a prim-looking dove like Ms Todd who is clearly on the run from someone. 

When Blade and Honoria finally cross paths, it’s downright combustible. She has fierce secrets to keep, and he’s curious to pry them out of her . . . any way that he can. But Blade predicts Honoria would be sweeter to catch with honey than vinegar, and so strikes a bargain that she’ll coach him in elocution lessons, in exchange for his protection.

But when Blade discovers the identity of the man who killed Honoria’s father now hunts her family, he will come to realize all that is at stake for the Todd’s, and in fact, the whole of Whitechapel. 

‘Kiss of Steel’ is the first book in a new steampunk paranormal romance series called ‘London Steampunk’ by Bec McMaster.

I haven’t really been terribly tempted by steampunk romances. I tried Meljean Brook, but it wasn’t for me. And there have been a few others that I've sampled pages of, but rejected because I just wasn’t interested. . . the only steampunk I've loyally stuck with was Gail Carriger’s ‘Parasol Protectorate’ because the trending sub-genre seemed suited to Carriger’s ludicrousness, extravagance and wry humour. But, I decided to give steampunk 'steamies' another whirl with Bec McMaster's hot new series.

First off, I loved the Whitechapel setting. It’s already an iconic, gory destination for Jack the Ripper – but in McMaster’s steampunk world the streets of Whitechapel are overrun with monsters. We’re talking vampires and werewolves, and a few nasties that are all new and horrifying creations of McMaster’s ‘London Steampunk’. Honoria Todd and her little family certainly stick out in the gloomy Whitechapel district – she’s an educated lady, barely scraping by with elocution lessons since their father’s death left them in hiding and near-penniless. So it’s no wonder the biggest Whitechapel monster of them all, Master Blade, makes it a point to pull Honoria aside one night and try to deduce the reason this lady would be hiding out in his rookery. . . 

From there ‘Kiss of Steel’ becomes quite the cloak-and-dagger story; there’s the murder of Honoria’s father, the secret ‘cure’ he was killed for, and how it links back to her sickly brother, Charlie . . . and the powerful echelons beyond Whitechapel who are responsible for the Todd family’s tragedy and currently being in hiding.

And the currents running beneath all these stories are Honoria and Blade’s attraction. They really are two complete opposites; she, an educated woman on the run, and he a riff-raff blood-drinker with a cockney accent. But they work incredibly well together; 

“Easy, luv. Don't stir the devil, or you'll 'ave to pay the consequences."  

"I'm not sure I have any coin on me," she said leaning closer and kissing the stubbled roughness of his jaw. "Do you think he would accept my favors instead?" A sultry whisper in his ear.  

Blade groaned, "Bloody 'ell, Honor. Don't tease a man so."  

"But it's so very exciting.” 

There’s this constant push-and-pull with them that makes their scenes together very interesting – she’s hiding big secrets, and he knows she’s running from someone but increasingly, he wants her to run to him for safety. Sure, it’s a storyline that’s been done again and again and again, but McMaster has written two very charismatic and conflicting characters in Honoria and Blade, and it’s just downright fun to read them clash on the page. 

If I have any complaints about this new series it’s the questionable ‘steampunk’ label . . . I think this is actually pretty firmly in the ‘paranormal romance’ genre, since there was more of a concentration on supernatural than steampunk. And while there was an alternate history explored, it just seemed like this book was lacking the Victorian-era industrialisation and mechanics that mark most steampunks. Regardless of the fact that the word ‘steampunk’ is in the series title – there just wasn’t enough here to convince me of its steampunkiness, if you will. That’s not to say this wasn’t a darn good paranormal romance – I just think maybe the ‘steampunk’ label was an attempt at trending. 

This is a new series, so throughout ‘Kiss of Steel’ McMaster is laying the foundations for future books. Next up is ‘Heart of Iron’, featuring Honoria’s sister Lena and Blade’s right-hand-man, the loupe-infected Will Carver (who’s already terribly interesting for hints of bisexuality touched upon in this first book). I actually went into ‘London Steampunk’ thinking that the next two instalments were already available. Alas, I have to wait until May and October to get my hands on more McMaster books . . .  but my impatience is probably a very good indicator of how much I enjoyed this new series, and intend to stick with it.

4/5 

'Game. Set. Match.' Outer Banks Tennis Academy #1 by Jennifer Iacopelli

Received from the Author 

From the Blurb:

Nestled along the North Carolina coast, the Outer Banks Tennis Academy is the world's most elite training facility. In this pressure-cooker environment, futures are forged in blood and sweat, and dreams are shattered in an instant.

Penny Harrison, a rising female star, is determined to win the French Open and beat her archrival, Zina Lutrova. But when her coach imports British bad boy Alex Russell as her new training partner, will Penny be able to keep her laser-like focus?

Tennis is all Jasmine Randazzo has ever known. The daughter of two Grand Slam champions, she's hell-bent on extending her family’s legacy and writing her own happily-ever-after...until her chosen Prince Charming gives her the just-friends speech right before the biggest junior tournament of the year, the Outer Banks Classic.

With a powerful serve and killer forehand, newcomer Indiana Gaffney is turning heads. She’s thrilled by all of the attention, especially from Jack Harrison, Penny’s agent and hot older brother, except he keeps backing off every time things start heating up.

With so much at stake, dreams—and hearts—are bound to break. Welcome to OBX: Where LOVE is a four-letter word, on and off the court.

Indiana Gaffney is returning to tennis after a year hiatus, following her mother’s death. She’s taking up an offer from legendary coach, Dom Kingston; US and Australian Open winner, twice over. Indiana ‘Indy’ will be moving to North Carolina and boarding at the nation’s most prestigious tennis training academy (founded by the Randazzo’s themselves!) Outer Banks Tennis Academy – reverently nicknamed OBX. 

Indy gets off to a bad start with her fellow junior girl OBXers . . . and then things get progressively worse. She manages to piss off OBX Queen-Bee and tennis-royalty, Jasmine Randazzo, without even trying. And while she makes fast friends with new tennis star, Penny Harrison, Indy’s instantaneous crush on Penny’s 23-year-old brother/agent, Jack, is anything but convenient. 

Seventeen-year-old Jasmine Randazzo has just tanked in the first round of the Madrid Open; this is a particularly hard blow, since Jasmine is the daughter of tennis’s most famous couple and great things are predicted of her. 

And to top off a bad week; Jasmine decides to profess her unrequited love to her best friend, Penny’s twin brother and OBX-Lothario; Teddy Harrison . . .  only to have him shoot her down, hard. Now she has to watch as Teddy continues lusting after everything with boobs (except her, that is, because he doesn’t want to wreck their ‘friendship’). Adding salt to the wound is Teddy expressing interest in the new OBX girl, Indy. 

Penny Harrison is marked as the new golden-girl of US tennis. She’s just beat the World #1 in the Madrid Open, and now the scene is set for an explosive French Open showdown. Penny is willing to do whatever it takes to win, but when Coach Kingston suggests a new training partner in Alex Russell, Penny is more than a little hesitant. . . 

Alex Russell is the British bad boy of tennis. At 17 he was the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936 and the youngest man to do it, ever. But as easy as his climb up the tennis ranks was, his fall down was even grander – marked by alcohol-fuelled nights, paparazzi snaps with supermodels, a knee injury from a motorcycle accident and the loss of all his sponsorship deals. But that’s not what’s making Penny pause – rather, it’s the fact that she and Alex had a heated one-night-stand at the Australian Open, and haven’t talked since.

The Outer Banks Tennis Academy is a cut-throat environment; everyone wants to be the best and beat the best. But these up and coming star players are quickly coming to realize that tennis is as much a physical sport as it is a mental game – and, sometimes, life and love get in the way of a good match. 

‘Game. Set. Match’ is the first book in a new contemporary young adult/new adult sport series from debut author Jennifer Iacopelli.

I used to play tennis – from age seven to 17 – and I'd like to think I wasn’t too shabby at it. I had a killer backhand, passable serve but I'd always choke in my smash . . . still, I played smart and would make the other player work for me; I was great at strategic placement and consistent-hits. I still love tennis, and occasionally have a hit when the mood takes me. I love watching the Australian Open, and I’ll forever think that it’s the most interesting sport to watch live. So when I got wind of this new young adult sport series based at a tennis training academy – I got crazy excited. This made perfect sense to me. Tennis, like most sports, is one of those industries that churns out young protégées who have to be dedicated to the game throughout their teens if they hope to win Grand Slams. And, tennis has produced some fine-looking young players over the years (Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Anna Kournikova and Ana Ivanovic. . . to name a very few). A tennis young adult/new adult series just struck me as fertile ground for competitive melodrama in a pressure-cooker environment and featuring attractive young players. I had high-hopes for this series going in, based purely on my belief that tennis is fascinating on the court, so it must likewise be on the page . . . and, luckily, Jennifer Iacopelli has proven me right. 

First off, much as I looked forward to reading a sports series that laid the ground-work for competitive friendships and heated courtships, I wouldn’t have been interested if it didn’t deliver on the sports front (as some novels have disappointed me in the past). This is especially important since three female protagonists are carrying this series – and I'd have hated to read only about their romantic entanglements, with tennis being a convenient plot backdrop to the boy-drama in their life. I'd have had no interest in such a series, so I was relieved to read Penny Harrison smashing it at the Madrid Open within the first few pages. And within a few paragraphs, Iacopelli showed that tennis would most certainly be a serious focus in this book. She writes some great, tight and punchy paragraphs detailing the games being played, and as a tennis fan I have to say she nailed the adrenaline information; 

One bounce, then two, three and four in perfect rhythm. Her body weight shifted forward and then back, arms up, racket ready, the ball suspended above her head. She pushed into the ground then sprung up and out, racket face hammering a clean stroke, skimming it off the white chalk T in the centre of the court.

As the story progresses the girl’s heads get clogged with real-life worries that they can’t help but bring onto the court. Iacopelli does a really good job of clouding the commentary and bringing life metaphors into the game; 

There was no way to predict how a player would respond to the pressure of an important match. Some players, like Penny, were immune to it. Others battled with the nerves until they learned how to deal with them, and some players, no matter how talented, never overcame the fear of the big moment.

All three girls are in it to win it. Penny, Jasmine and Indy are all competitive and egotistical about their game (as they should be!) these are real tough sportswomen and I loved that Iacopelli gave them serious ambitions coupled with guts and determination. Sure, the boy-drama is there. . . 

Long before there were sponsorships and British bad boys, there had just been tennis and her simple love for the sport. She still loved it, of course, but everything was just so complicated now.

. . . But I never once thought that any of the girls were sacrificing their careers for their love lives, and that made them stellar heroines, and turned this into one of the best sports series I've read in a long time. 

Now, as to the girls – Jasmine was my favourite, for a number of reasons. I feel like when the book opens, Jasmine is on very unsteady ground and her status as OBX queen-bee and royalty is in question. When we first meet Jasmine she’s presented as this underdog – home after bombing out in the Madrid Open, turned down by the boy she has been crushing on for ages, and pitted against the new girl at the academy. Funny thing though, is that we then learn she’s the daughter of the two most famous tennis players – the Randazzo name being reverential in the tennis world. We get the impression that prior to all this upheaval, Jasmine had it pretty sweet and easy. I loves me an underdog, but an unconventional underdog is even better. And I appreciated the fact that the Randazzo name hangs over Jasmine’s head – I sympathised that, while she loves tennis and trains her heart out, the natural talent is just not there and she has to work twice as hard. Jasmine just fascinated me from the beginning – her famous name and losing streak, the boy who turned her down and the love she still has for him. I’m definitely Team Jasmine.

Indy and Penny, on the other hand, I thought were verging a bit on Mary-Sue at times . . .  these are the two girls who Coach Kingston thinks have the most natural talent. These are also the two girls who seemed to have only minor-hiccups in their boy-dramas and who are repeatedly referred to as gorgeous, beautiful and basically, are a sponsors’ wet dream. But I admit – that was only my first impressions, and my opinion changed towards the end of the book. Penny’s boy drama ratcheted up a notch with Alex Russel (who’s basically Andy Murray, only; better looking, not Scottish and he didn’t choke at Wimbledon). 

I will say that Penny’s love life didn’t gel with Indy and Jasmine’s romantic trials – Penny talks about great sex and an intense love affair, but Jasmine admits to not having kissed many boys and Indy is all about longing looks and shy advances . . . Penny is definitely where the ‘new adult’ aspect comes into it, but Jasmine and Indy’s story felt young adult and that was a clash for me (sometimes I even wondered if Penny’s story was needed in this first book  - or if we could have just focussed on Indy and Jasmine?) 

Only in the last few chapters does Iacopelli hammer home the fact that Indy recently lost her mother, and is all but estranged from her father. This is actually kinda a big deal and if I'd felt Indy struggle with this more throughout the book, I probably would have warmed to her character quicker – but Iacopelli leaves explorations into Indy’s sad history for the end, and it came a little late for me. 

I raced to finish this book, because I was so engulfed in the game, the dramas and the girls’ respective sagas. I’m definitely excited to read Outerbanks Tennis Academy #2 and I’m making an early declaration that Jennifer Iacopelli’s YA sports series is one of the best out there – with tough girls who have their eye on the ball and boys at their beck and call – I’m definitely coming back for more.

4/5