'Please Ignore Vera Dietz' by A.S. King

From the BLURB:

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

Charlie Kahn is dead, and Vera Dietz can’t decide if she still loves him or hates him irrevocably.

In the aftermath of death, Charlie has become a villainous cautionary tale for Vera’s classmates. The events surrounding his death are shady, horrendous and psychopathic.

But Vera knows the truth that could clear Chalie’s name. And Charlie wants to be proven innocent – he haunts Vera with his paper-cut-out ghosts who fold like an accordion around Vera in the small confines of her car or at the Pagoda Pizza Delivery shop where she works.

But Vera has her own problems. Like convincing her Zen-like dad that she isn’t succumbing to his lousy alcoholic genes. Or convincing herself that she’s nothing like her stripper mother who abandoned the family when Vera was twelve. Vera also has to convince herself that her friendship with Charlie meant something, and wasn’t tossed away because of some Detentionhead losers who stole him away from her in the months leading up to his death.

Vera Dietz may just want to be ignored – by her dad, classmates, arch-nemesis Jenny Flick and the thousand-and-one Charlie’s who haunt her daily. But some things you can’t ignore . . . like the truth.

‘Please Ignore Vera Dietz’ is the acclaimed Printz Honor novel from literary young adult author, A.S. King.

Urgh.
Wow.
Sigh.

Words cannot express (but I’ll try).

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you one of my new all-time favourite novels – ‘Please Ignore Vera Dietz’. This, *this* right here is why young adult novels are more than the sum of their parts. When somebody gives me a perplexed look after I tell them that I write and most enjoy YA books – I wish I could shove ‘Please Ignore Vera Dietz’ down their throats and make them eat it the same way Vera and Charlie eat their napkins. A.S. King is exquisite proof that some of the most exciting and refreshing writing are being explored in the genre intended for younger readers. The young adult genre is the cable television network of writing (HBO, baby!). Everyone may think that movies and adult literary fiction are where it’s at – but cynics and critics need only look to ‘Vera Dietz’ to know the truly astounding work that lies within this genre.


When the novel begins Vera is eviscerated by her emotions. Her childhood best friend (turned enemy in recent months) has just passed away under a cloud of suspicion. Vera misses Charlie every day . . . while also hating him for the way he treated her before his death. But Vera’s emotions are even more complex than that. Because Vera loved Charlie, even when she hated him she loved him. And now that he’s dead she loves to hate him even more in a never-ending spiral of mixed messages and hopeless emotions for a dead kid.

Is it okay to hate a dead kid? Even if you loved him once? Even if he was my best friend? Is it okay to hate him for being dead?

Vera’s grudge extends to her reluctance in helping ‘ghost’ Charlie clear his name. Vera holds the key to Charlie’s innocence . . . but before she can find it in her to forgive him enough to free him, she has to go back to where it all began . . .

The story back-tracks through Charlie and Vera’s history. Sometimes figments of memory feel empty and pointless – like tossing paper airplanes off the rocks overlooking the Pagoda shopping mall. Other times previously forgotten memories take on bigger-than-life meaning . . . like a white Chrysler cruising by. Or the wall-shaking fights that come from the Kahn house next door.

Interjecting Vera’s recounts is the dead kid himself, putting his two cents in from beyond the grave. Also piping up is the inanimate object, Pagoda – a monument to failed dreams and questionable symbolism. Vera’s dad also has a thing or two to say – about how Vera is coping with Charlie’s death (not well, and with copious amounts of alcohol).


And as Vera remembers, she misses and mourns. She mourns the tree-climbing friendship she and Charlie had in their youth, and she misses the future she and Charlie don’t have to mend.

Because with Charlie, nothing was ever easy. Everything was windswept and octagonal and finger-combed. Everything was difficult and odd, and the theme songs all had minor chords.

‘Please Ignore Vera Dietz’ is a novel of magnificence. It’s about bullying and grief, abandonment and ignoring a problem until it festers and explodes. But above all else, it’s a novel of forgiveness. Forgiving people their mistakes and bad choices, the hurts inflicted and sorry’s never given.

5/5

Aussie YA Month

Hello Darling Readers,

November is Aussie YA month - when we celebrate the best and brightest of Australian young adult literature.

I have a real affinity for young adult literature in general - but it's the YA of my homeland that has a special place in my heart. It's about holding a mirror up, finding a spark and a connection, recognizing a little of yourself in the stories and setting. It's that 'aha!' moment, when you're sure the author is writing about you and yours, the possibility that this story could be set in your hometown and you recognize a character from your own friendship group.

It first happened for me with Melina Marchetta's 'Looking for Alibrandi' - when I first read about a young woman attending a cut-throat all girl's school (like me) in the city and coping with her extended 'wog' family. And since then I have been seeking out that same affinity in my Aussie YA, constantly looking for that 'aha!' spark of connection that draws me into my own land and surroundings, reminds me a little of myself.

I have also been delighted by the many ways that Aussie YA has branched out and embraced other genres. Books like Kirsty Eagar's 'Saltwater Vampires' uses the iconic Australian sun, sand and surf as a horrifically macabre backdrop to an age's old vampire story. Leanne Hall's 'This is Shyness' is a genre-bending novel that blends speculative fiction, urban-fantasy and realism in a brave new Aussie YA. Or that Alison Stewart made the first foray into the popular world of Dystopia with 'Days Like This', turning Sydney into a Fountain of Youth war-zone!

Below is a list I have compiled of my very favourite in Aussie YA, produced by our finest publishing houses (and thank God for them, who understand that Aussie teens need to read beyond the shenanigans of our American/British 'counterparts'!). The list is always growing, I'm always on the hunt for the latest from our sublime home-grown authors.

I love everything about the young adult fiction of my country. I love how brave the authors are, with their genre-bending writings. I love when characters speak in ocker Aussie that surely only us 'in the know' will be able to decipher. I adore beach-settings and especially Melbournian explorations. But most of all I crave that 'aha!' moment, when a mirror is held up and I like what I see, because it's my beloved home.

'Finnikin of the Rock' by Melina Marchetta
'Froi of the Exiles' by Melina Marchetta
'Looking for Alibrandi' by Melina Marchetta
'Saving Francesca' by Melina Marchetta
'The Piper's Son' by Melina Marchetta
'On the Jellicoe Road' by Melina Marchetta
'Swerve' by Phillip Gwynne
'Raw Blue' by Kirsty Eagar
'Saltwater Vampires' by Kirsty Eagar
'Beatle Meets Destiny' by Gabrielle Williams
'The Comet Box' by Adrian Stirling
'Days Like This' by Alison Stewart

'Good Oil' by Laura Buzo
'A Pocketful of Eyes' by Lili Wilkinson
'A Straight Line to my Heart' by Bill Condon
'Only Ever Always' by Penni Russon

'Enticed' by Jessica Shirvington

'Act of Faith' by Kelly Gardiner

'Shift' by Em Bailey

'The Night Creatures' series by Marianne de Pierres

'All I Ever Wanted' by Vikki Wakefield
'This is Shyness' by Leanne Hall

'Winter's Shadow' by M.J. Hearle
'Six Impossible Things' by Fiona Wood
'Chasing Charlie Duskin' by Cath Crowley
'Graffiti Moon' by Cath Crowley

'Audition' by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

What would you give up for your dream?

Dare I tell them that since I came here to dance

I have been giving pieces of my body away

To ridiculous diets,
To repeated injuries,
To Remington?

And that maybe

I think

With each bit of my body

I lose a little piece of my soul.


At sixteen, Sara is living many ballerinas’ dreams. She has been given a scholarship to study at a prestigious dance academy in the big city. But following your dreams is harder than it seems . . . Sara is in constant competition with her dance peers. Training is a grueling affair and the weight of success rests heavy on her shoulders – when she thinks of all those who are so sure she will excel.

The more Sara dances, the more she wonders if she even enjoys going through the motions any more.

But in the milieu of her dance dreams, Sara becomes enraptured by an older dance instructor, Remington. She becomes his muse and his short-fuse.

In the midst of so much change and personal upheaval, Sara has to start thinking of herself outside of dancing, in order to know who she really is.

‘Audition’ is the YA verse novel from Stasia Ward Kehoe.

I don’t normally have much opinion about verse novels. I don’t seek them out, and I haven’t really read any since my university days when they were assigned reading. I didn’t hate them, but they were never my first choice for recreational reading. However, my indifference to verse novels is in direct conflict to my obsession with dance movies. ‘Center Stage’, ‘Save the Last Dance’, ‘Step Up’ and ‘Dirty Dancing’ (to name a very few). So, of course, when the cover for Kehoe’s ‘Audition’ was revealed I knew I'd have to give this verse novel a chance . . . and I’m so glad I did. ‘Audition’ works beautifully in verse – in the flow and sweep of the words, the lyrics like songs that you can imagine Sara pirouetting to. Stanzas that stretch across the page in arabesque and raise the reader in relevé. Absolutely stunning!

I would say, as is always the case with poetry, that you will enjoy ‘Audition’ more if you read it out loud. Poetry is cold and dead on the page; it needs voice and cadence, pitch and flow. And some of Kehoe’s poems are just dying to be read aloud – the stanzas so succulent and observations so beautifully precise.

For those who are unhappy with the verse format, don’t be under the mistaken impression that verse means empty, pretty words. There is a story in ‘Audition’ – a love story between dancer and his muse, and between an artist falling in and out of love with her medium.

On my dresser is a postcard

From Ms. Alice:
A Russian ballerina in black and white,
Arms open, reaching forward,
Leg behind in arabesque.

“Anna Pavolva.”
Ms. Alice’s handwriting loops in even curves.
“She reminds me of you.
Keep working hard!”

I sit on my narrow bed
In the dank room
Where only strains of Julio’s guitar
And his occasional muttered curses
Filter through the door.

I think of Ms. Alice, Mom, Dad, eyes full of pride.
Bess, the practical genius, sending me off.

Wish there were no photographs,
No mirrors in the world to record
Anna Pavlova
Or Lisette or Bonnie or Rem,
But especially my own reflection.

I did find some of Kehoe’s formatting odd. I am, by no means, an expert in poetry. But I found it strange that when her topic is dance, Kehoe kept to a very traditional layout for her poems. Poetry is very versatile in how it’s presented on the page – it’s not unusual for a poem to be full of double-spaces and white space, separating words and stanzas so that a verse can start in the top right of the page and trickle down to zig across, going far left and finishing centered. Kehoe keeps her poems so rigidly same that the first word on each new line is upper case. It’s a small complaint, but I think Kehoe could have been a little bit more adventurous and used unique spacing and formatting to make her poetry literally dance across the page. . .

All in all, ‘Audition’ is a sublime verse novel. It reads like the frenzy of a dance; the lulling beginning as Sara comes to terms with her dreams, and rising in pitch and pace as Sara voices her dying love and new obsession with her cavalier, to finally reach a heart-stopping final crescendo. Beautiful.

4/5

international GIVEAWAY ♥ 3 copies of 'The Secret Ingredient'

I loved Dianne Blacklock's new book, ‘The Secret Ingredient’.

So I am absolutely delighted to announce that I have 3 copies to give away, courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia.

To enter, just tell me ‘what is your favourite comfort food?’.

To enter:

♥ Become a follower of my blog (if you aren't already)

♥ Answer the question; ‘what is your favourite comfort food?’

♥ Include a way to contact you (e-mail addy is fine)

♥ One post per entrant

♥ This is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway!

♥ Contest closes November 30th
I will announce the three winners on December 1st

Interview with Dianne Blacklock - author of 'The Secret Ingredient'

I recently read my very first Dianne Blacklock book, 'The Secret Ingredient', and I was blown away! Ms Blacklock knows that the way to a chick-lit lovers heart is through her stomach ... so I was thrilled at the chance to ask her a few questions (particularly about a certain Pommie head chef!)

Without further ado - the lovely, Dianne Blacklock! Woo-Hoo!!

♥

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

Slush pile! I’ve never had an agent here in Australia. They really do read all the submissions, folks, I wouldn’t be here if they didn’t!

Q: Where does writing begin for you – with characters or plot?

It begins with a smidgen of plot, that is, the idea, but then I have to get the characters right. Once I have them established, they pretty much take over the plot anyway.

Q: How long did it take you to write ‘The Secret Ingredient’, from idea to final manuscript?

Probably in the vicinity of six-seven months, that is to complete manuscript, which is only the first submission to my publisher. The editing and proofing stages add another few months.

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?

Haven’t come across that expression before, ‘pantser’, but I love it! I’m probably somewhere in between, leaning more towards a pantser. I certainly don’t ‘meticulously plot’, I can assure you. But neither am I one of those writers who has no idea where the book is going. I start with my idea, or concept, and then develop the characters around that. And then usually I come up with the ending quite early on. I liken it to planning a trip – you decide to go on a holiday, and who you want to go with, and where you want to go. Some people need to have every step planned along the way, others are happy to go with the flow, while still heading towards a set destination.

Q: A lot of ‘The Secret Ingredient’ is caught up in the current Aussie foodie trend – thanks largely to shows like ‘Masterchef’ and ‘My Kitchen Rules’. So, are you a foodie yourself – and if so, did your gourmet love come pre-Masterchef or post?

Definitely ‘pre’. I loved cooking and experimenting with food since my teens. I married young and we used to host a dinner party almost every Saturday night – I’d spend all day cooking, and I loved trying really spectacular, elaborate dishes. But once I had kids, my enthusiasm waned. Cooking a meal for six every night becomes a bit of a chore; you end up settling for the the lowest common denominator that’s still nutritious, but that everyone will eat. I’ve learned to love the hospitality side of things more, I’ve come to realise I don’t have to work slavishly in the kitchen all day to entertain friends. So these days my boys call me the ‘platter queen’.

Q: Infidelity has certainly been making the news lately. Between Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger, people are voyeuristically obsessed with watching and reading about the crumbling of a marriage, and quite a few of your novels deal with the fallout and lead up to that moment of betrayal. What do you think are the reasons behind people’s fascination with unfaithfulness?

Perhaps it’s a fear that it could happen to any of us? I also notice that a lot of people seem to be inherently jealous, even suspicious. I would think that in a sound and happy relationship there wouldn’t be any reason to be jealous of co-workers and the like, but I see evidence of it all the time. So infidelity is one of the primary sources of conflict and drama when you’re writing about relationships. I’ve also come to realise, with age and experience, that there are usually two sides to a break-up, but if someone else is involved, the cheater is summarily dumped with all the blame. So I have generally tried to be very even-handed in my books. Having said that, in ‘The Secret Ingredient’ I wanted to write a Lothario character, because there are plenty of such men around, and I hadn’t really written one before.

Q: Your novels are often labelled as ‘chick-lit’, if only because it rolls off the tongue easier than ‘contemporary fiction’. Does that label annoy you? What do you think is the biggest misconception about the chick-lit genre?

The label doesn’t really annoy me, as such – I agree with many authors that I don’t really mind what it’s called, as long as people read it. What annoys me is the assumptions that are made about the label, and the biggest misconception is that it’s all light fluff, very girlie, about twentysomethings drinking martinis in stilettos while they look for Mr Right. In reality, chick-lit covers an incredibly broad range of topics, from the serious to the light-hearted, and it reflects the full range of women’s experiences in contemporary life.

Q: Andie’s love interest in the novel is Dominic Gerou – a cranky but handsome Pommie head chef. Where did you draw inspiration for Dominic . . . and who is your favourite celebrity chef?

My favourite celebrity chef is sweet, chummy Jamie Oliver, so he certainly wasn’t the inspiration! I didn’t need to base Dominic on a chef, just someone who could seem arrogant, but is really only reserved, maybe even a little shy. Colin Firth kept drifting into my head, and there are worse things that living with Colin Firth in your head for a few months, let me tell you.

Q: Andie’s cheating husband, Ross, is practically awful in every way. Is there any worry that one of your friends or acquaintances will assume your novel’s ‘bad guy’ is based on them?

Ha! I hope not! He isn’t based on anybody in particular, though the exchange at the opening of the novel – about the current wife – took place between friends of mine, who are still together and happy. The husband reads my books too, and is all chuffed that the character is based on him. I keep telling him, ‘He’s not, you’re not going to like him … Seriously, he’s not you!’

Q: You have four sons. How do they feel about their mum being a ‘chick-lit’ author, and do they read your manuscripts and give feedback?

They’re very proud, though over the years it’s become just what mum does. The older two have always read my books and given wonderful feedback – one is an editor himself now, and the other did a creative writing degree, so it’s obviously in the blood. They do admit, however, that they skip hastily over the sex scenes.

Q: What novel are you working on at the moment, and when can we get it into our hot little hands?

Sorry, it’s still a good year away, actually a little longer this time. Haven’t wanted to break it to my very loyal readers, but I have to move house in the new year, and I knew I couldn’t keep up the pace required to get another book out in a year. But it should only be a few months later.

As for the novel itself, I have started, but it’s early days yet. In a nutshell - feisty, activist single mum comes to loggerheads with the owner of a vineyard. At this stage I have only a vague idea about what’s going to happen, but that’s the fun of it!

Q: Favourite book(s) of all time?

Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Lord of the Rings, The Hours, The Corrections, Revolutionary Road, The Wonder Boys … (I could go on!)

Q: Favourite author(s)?

Not surprisingly, if you look at the list above, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Jonathan Franzen, Richard Yates, Michael Chabon … to be honest, there are so many writers whose work I’ve enjoyed and admire, it’s difficult to say that one, or a few are favourites.

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

Read a lot and write a lot. I know everybody says some version of that, but that’s only because it’s true. And don’t be afraid of having your work edited! That’s a big one. Some people are way too precious about their writing, and are devastated by criticism, so they don’t actually listen to what’s being said. I wouldn’t have eight books published if I couldn’t listen and respond to constructive criticism.

'The Secret Ingredient' by Dianne Blacklock

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

Nourishment is nurture. That's what Andie learned from her grandmother and what she's always believed about cooking. But somehow, since marrying Ross, she's allowed her love of food to take a back seat and given up her dream of becoming a chef.

Lately she's been craving more. And when her marriage falls apart, she's determined to find herself again and take back control of her destiny.

The first step is taking a job in the kitchen of renowned chef Dominic Gerou. The brooding Englishman is more than Andie bargains for, but the new Andie is ready for anything, even a bad-tempered chef who makes it clear he won't tolerate mistakes.

Andie Corcoran sacrificed a lot for true love ten years ago. She crossed lines she never thought she’d cross when she met and fell in love with married man Ross Corcoran. At the time Andie was still reeling from the sudden deaths of her mother and brother, and Ross was her sanctuary from grief.

But in choosing Ross, Andie had to forgo a few of her aspirations. She had to give up her great dream to become a chef because of hectic hours that would keep her away from Ross. Instead, Andie was set up with her own gourmet deli to run. She had to accommodate to living in a trendy Sydney loft, and accept the fact that Ross’s children would never entirely warm to her as their ‘stepmother’. And she has to accept that while her biological clock ticks, Ross is settling into being a grandfather and does not want to be a father again. . .

But what never factored into Andie’s compromises was Ross’s infidelity. Even worse, that Ross would claim his infidelity was inevitable in light of Andie’s sudden baby demands that was never a part of their marriage contract.

So, while Ross tries to win her back with conciliation and negotiation, Andie intends to follow her shelved dreams. She is taking a job at the hot Sydney eatery, Viande, and working under English ex-pat stick-in-the-mud Dominic Gerou. And she doesn’t intend to compromise her life any more.

‘The Secret Ingredient’ is the new novel from Dianne Blacklock.

This was my first introduction to Blacklock’s highly popular Australian contemporary fiction, and I've got to say it was a highly enjoyable first foray.

The novel is about Andie Corcoran Lonegran, who needed to hit rock bottom in order pick herself up . . . that rock bottom is thanks to her husband, Ross, and his slippery conscience. And Andie’s fall from grace, readers discover, was more of a slippery slope than outright plummet – as we learn of the many ways she has been compromising her dreams, morals and personal happiness since falling in love with Ross.

Andie’s pick-me-up comes from re-realizing her dreams to become a chef. While Ross is busy grovelling without apologizing for his various mistakes, Andie is trying to move on with her life. She’s trying her hand at being single, and going back to the kitchens like she always planned to before marriage got in the way. But what catches Andie by surprise is her simmering romance with the head-chef at her new job, Dominic Gerou.

‘Well, Ms Lonegran, this isn’t the place to get over . . . whatever it is you’re getting over.’
‘Why not?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Why not?’ she repeated. ‘It’s as good a place as any.’
He frowned. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘You have to move on, whatever life dishes up. Seems to me you have a better chance of doing that if you’re busy and focused and passionate about something. You might as well pour all that emotional energy into something useful.’
‘I don’t need you crying over my stockpot.’
‘I’m not going to cry over your stockpot,’ she said plainly. ‘I’m not going to cry over anything, except maybe chopping onions, and I don’t think you can blame that on a broken heart.’

In the past few years, there has been a growing foodie trend in the Western world – thanks in large part to highly popular kitchen-centric reality TV shows and a growing Monsanto concern regarding fresh produce and genetically modified food. Women are particularly caught up in this recent food trend, and it’s certainly not because ‘a woman’s place is in the kitchen’. No, it’s thanks to hunky chefs like Jamie Oliver and Rocco Dispirito and their angrier counterpart Gordon Ramsay. Men (Ramsay aside) who are sweet and funny, and undoubtedly manly even with an apron strapped on. And Australian’s are definitely proud owners of the hunkiest male chefs like Curtis Stone, Hayden Quinn and Manu Fidel (French, but on an Aussie show . . . so he’s still ours!). Dianne Blacklock is tapping into this current obsession and tempting readers with the delicious love story of Andie and Dominic Gerou . . . who is as cranky as Ramsay, but with Jamie Oliver’s plum accent and Curtin Stone’s drool-worthy good looks.

A few of the characters grate in this book, purely for their fairly black and white portrayal. Ross remains a conceited midlife crisis who doesn’t learn a whole lot of anything throughout the book . . . and I would have liked him to be a bit more balanced with at least the chance for redemption. Likewise, Ross’s piece on the side is a young twenty-something called Tasha, who is a cringe-a-minute in all of her scenes. As a young twenty-something myself, it didn’t really sit well with me that Tasha was portrayed as such a vacuous gold-digger. I hope this isn’t how Blacklock views all us Gen-Y girls, because reading Tasha was like swallowing wasabi – it burnt the whole way down.

I also loved Blacklock’s portrayal of new family dynamics in the novel. Andie is on good terms with Ross’s first wife, Joanna, though it didn’t start out that way (what with Ross leaving her for Andie and all). Likewise, Andie has formed a solid relationship with at least two of Ross’s children . . . while being firmly cold-shouldered by his eldest daughter, Lauren. Andie has also built a wonderful extended family of friends, since losing her brother and mother at an early age. There’s Jess, her best friend from culinary school. And her brother’s childhood best friend, now her surrogate brother, Toby. I really loved reading about this unusual family dynamic which, though some connections are without blood ties, certainly does read like a tight-knit and loving family unit.

The novel also explores a subtle metaphor that is nicely glazed in the gentle ribbing of Australia’s current foodie obsession. Thanks to shows like Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules, the average Joe now wants to make their own Hors d'oeuvre dishes and import the latest ingredient fad to impress their culinary-obsessed friends. There’s a sort of food-lover divide though, between those who like precision presentation of their exotic and expensive meal, and the people who appreciate a quality tried and true favourite without all the fuss. Blacklock translates this foodie trend to Andie’s life – she had the prettily presented marriage to Ross, complete with artfully placed garnish and perfect drizzling. . . but it left a bitter after-taste. By comparison, her tentative relationship with Dominic is complicated and messy – slopping off the plate and mired in excess dressings of ex-husband baggage, bad timing and the many complications of falling for the boss. But there’s something to be said for the perfect mix of ingredients and chemistry that shocks the tastebuds and leaves you craving more . . .

4.5/5

'Reckoning' Strange Angels #5 by Lili St. Crow

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

This is it.

Sixteen-year-old orphan Dru Anderson has faced down suckers, zombies, and wulfen without flinching. And now that she's bloomed into a full-fledged svetocha, she doesn't even need a gun. But the Real World is still a frightening place . . . and things are about to get ugly. Really ugly.

Dru Anderson has escaped with her life, but she's not out of the woods yet. She's on the lam in a stolen car with her best friend Graves riding shotgun and a Broken wulf named Ash curled up in the backseat. Desperate, Dru heads deep into the Appalachian Mountains to the one place she thinks they'll be safe. But her grandmother's wards and enchantments can't keep Dru's scent from the suckers for long – especially when Dru is betrayed by the one person she trusts most.

It's all come down to this.

ONE battle. ONE choice ONE final sacrifice.

Dru Anderson's not afraid of the dark.

But she should be.

‘Reckoning’ is the fifth and final installment in Lili St. Crow’s helter-skelter paranormal thrill ride, the ‘Strange Angels’ series. We’ve come a long way with Dru, and readers will no doubt be sad to see her go. But fans will find no fault with this crashing finale.

This book comes down to just two people. Yes, fans have been divided into Team Graces and Team Christophe. But ‘Reckoning’ is really and truly all about Dru and her final showdown with Sergej. This is what the finale hinges on – Dru reaping revenge for her mother and father, her lost innocence and all those who were sacrificed along the way. It’s all distilled in one final, epic and bloody battle with Sergej … and it is good. Nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat thrillingly good! Big WARNING; set aside a huge chunk of time to read this book, because once you start you may be physically unable to stop.

The battle also highlights just how far Dru has come. From book one we’ve known that Dru is tough and independent – loyal, almost to a fault, and a butt-kicking heroine not to be messed with. But in the lead-up to her guns-at-dawn final battle with Sergej, we read just how much Dru has grown up. She no longer thinks of herself as a lone entity. In ‘Reckoning’ she is willing to ask for help – to trust and rely on people, to admit that she can’t go it alone. And this leaks into her relationships with two important men in her life, Christophe and Graves.

This is the big draw-card for fans – a love triangle of epically heartfelt proportions. And I refuse to give anything away… except to say that Dru gets very honest in this book, she lays it all out on the line and puts her heart on her sleeve. Fans will be gasping and applauding certain heart-wrenching scenes.

He scooched around a bit, making himself comfortable. His arm tightened, and my nose ended up in his throat. His leg curled over both of mine, and his free hand came up and stroked my tangled hair.
“The only one,” he murmured. His chin dipped a little bit. “You know that, Dru? You’re the only person who’s ever believed in me. You know what that’ll do to a guy?”
What? “I—”
“It makes him want to live up to it.” A sarcastic, bitter little half-laugh, just like the Goth Boy I used to know. The birdlike one who was a little ugly, sure, until you got to know him and saw what had been under the ugly all along. The true beauty.
Sometimes it hides deep, that truth.

Now, as to the ending … if you’ve been reading the reviews of ‘Reckoning’, you should know that the finale is not necessarily a crowd-pleaser. St Crow is not putting a definitive end on Dru and co. (despite this most certainly being the last installment in the ‘Strange Angels’ series). Undoubtedly, the open-ended conclusion will annoy some people. But for me, I liked the little bit of mystery that St Crow leaves readers. I think the infinite ending is a bit indicative of Dru’s life so far, and the overall feel of the ‘Strange Angels’. No journey should end on a definitive full stop. The end of ‘Reckoning’ feels like a befitting conclusion for Dru – like she’s still figuring it all out, taking each day as it comes. And that’s okay – because life is an adventure.

5/5