Book Review: Rogue by A.J. Betts

Rogue

by

A.J. Betts

The thrilling sequel to HIVE

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Aus

Publication date: 25th June 2019

Series: The Vault #2

Genre: Science Fiction/Young Adult

Pages: 368

RRP: $16.99 AUD

Format read: B-Format uncorrected proof Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

Hayley has gone rogue.

She's left everything she's ever known - her friends, her bees, her whole world - all because her curiosity was too big to fit within the walls of the underwater home she was forced to flee.

But what is this new world she's come to? Has Hayley finally found somewhere she can belong?

Or will she have to keep running?

 

“I’d chosen out and this was it: hot-cold, dry-wet, bright-dark and lonely.”

Book 1 Hive ends with Hayley escaping her underwater world built with hexagonal rooms connecting like a bee hive.

In Rogue Hayley emerges into a new dystopian world. It is 2119, the ocean has risen cutting off small land masses turning them into islands. She comes ashore on a small island situated east of Tasmania, now called Terrafirma. Hayley is taken in by the caretakers of the island but a tragic accident forces them to leave the island placing them all in grave danger.

I loved this book even more than book1, Hive. Hayley’s wonder at the world around her is lusciously described and I could feel her awe at seeing a world that was bigger than the walls that had surrounded her all her life.

In a world with blood codes that can be traced Hayley’s unmarked blood becomes a precious commodity that is hunted down. Hayley wanders the land, sometimes finding the help of strangers, as she searches for a place where she can belong. Although she never forgets Will, the boy she left behind.

I rated Hive 15+ because of one graphic scene of a body being dismembered. However the writing in Rogue is simple and the storyline, although action packed, is not complex. Suited to age 10+ or younger mature readers.

“This world above the ocean isn’t perfect. What world is? It can be moody, savage and fearsome. It can be unsafe.

But it can be magnificent too. Surprising and wondrous.”

I’m looking forward to seeing what Betts comes up with next!

Read my review of Hive HERE

                        🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

My rating   5/5

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

book #33 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

A. J. Betts is an Australian author, speaker, teacher and cyclist, and has a PhD on the topic of wonder, in life and in reading. She has written four novels for young adults. Her third novel, Zac & Mia, won the 2012 Text Prize, the 2014 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award, and the 2014 Ethel Turner prize for young adults at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, was shortlisted for the 2014 Queensland Literary Award, and is available in 14 countries. It was adapted for American television by AwesomenessTV, and will soon be available globally. 

Her fourth novel, Hive, was shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Awards and 2019 ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children, and is a notable book in the Children's Book Council of Australia awards. A. J. is originally from Queensland but has lived in Fremantle since 2004.

Book Review: Heart of the Cross by Emily Madden

Heart of the Cross

by

Emily Madden

From Ireland to Kings Cross, a legacy of loss and hope echoes across the generations ...

Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises Australia

Imprint: Mira-AU

Publication date: 19th August 2019 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

RRP: $29.99AUD  

Format read: Trade paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

  

Tinahely, Ireland, 1959 Rosie Hart is content leaving her home behind to follow her new husband to Australia. But she soon discovers there is no room for her or their young son in the life he has built in vibrant Kings Cross. As their marriage crumbles, Rosie will need to fight for the golden future her son deserves ... until the day her world is shattered and all hope turns to dust.

Eighteen years later, haunted by her past, Rosie is determined her daughter Maggie will follow the path she has set out for her. But when Maggie rejects her plans and moves out of home, all Rosie can hope is that she has also left behind the grief that plagues the Hart name.

Sydney, 2017 When her grandmother dies and leaves Brianna Hart a secret apartment in Kings Cross, Brie wonders what else Rosie was keeping from her. As Brie chases the truth of Rosie's past she uncovers an incredible story of passion, violence, love and tragedy.

 

Heart of the Cross is a heartfelt story of love, tragedy and loss told across three generations of Hart women. This multiple time line novel will have you cheering for these three strong women.

Rosie falls head over heels for Tom Fuller. When she falls pregnant Tom marries her and moves to Australia to set up a new life for them. When Rosie and their son move from Ireland to Australia to join him, Tom is a changed man and Rosie knows no-one.

The story follows Rosie as she makes a life for herself in Sydney’s Kings Cross whilst her husband spends his nights drinking and gambling. She has a hard loveless marriage however Rosie is vibrant and kind making friends with everyone around her. She is loved by this close community.

Maggie feels smothered by her over-controlling mother who monitors every aspect of her life. She moves out of home with best friend Sharon and they soon become embroiled in the bright lights of the Kings Cross night life.

Brianna is back in Sydney for her Grandma’s funeral only to find out her grandmother has sold the house. The more people she talks to the more she wonders if she really knew her grandmother at all. Secrets are uncovered and many more questions are left unanswered.

“Are you saying that secrets are a good thing? Secrets are just like telling lies.”

“All I’m saying is that if you dig, be prepared for the sting.”

Brought up by her grandmother Brie knew nothing of her mother and even who her father was. She now feels betrayed and hurt that Rosie kept all these secrets from her. She is determined to dig and reveal the truth and find out where she belongs.

Madden has written a heartbreakingly real story of Sydney in the early 1960’s and the struggle for married women with no rights. She includes themes of love, family, belonging, friendship and the kindness of strangers. The three women prove to be strong and resilient with Rosie becoming a legend in her time.

 

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My rating    5/5

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

book #32 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

 

 

Photo credit: Goodreads

I am a book nerd, coffee lover and love anything 80’s (except the fashion, okay, I admit – I like some of it).

My love of books started at a young age when I would often go shopping with my mum just so I could score yet another novel. Nothing has changed – I rarely leave a bookstore without a book.

I read anything and everything, but stories that touch the heart and uplift the soul are what I love the most.

I have an unnatural obsession with needing to be close to the ocean, but am terrified of deep water. 

 

Book Review: Wearing Paper Dresses by Anne Brinsden

Wearing Paper Dresses

by

Anne Brinsden

'A compelling story of country Australia with all

 its stigma, controversy and beauty.'

FLEUR McDONALD

Publisher: Macmillan Australia 

Publication date: 24th September 2019

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 384

RRP: $32.99 AUD

Format read: Trade paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

Discover the world of a small homestead perched on the sunburnt farmland of northern Victoria. Meet Elise, whose urbane 1950s glamour is rudely transplanted to the pragmatic red soil of the Mallee when her husband returns to work the family farm. But you cannot uproot a plant and expect it to thrive. And so it is with Elise. Her meringues don't impress the shearers, the locals scoff at her Paris fashions, her husband works all day in the back paddock, and the drought kills everything but the geraniums she despises.

As their mother withdraws more and more into herself, her spirited, tearaway daughters, Marjorie and Ruby, wild as weeds, are left to raise themselves as best they can. Until tragedy strikes, and Marjorie flees to the city determined to leave her family behind. And there she stays, leading a very different life, until the boy she loves draws her back to the land she can't forget...

Wearing Paper Dresses is a beautifully written, heartbreaking story of mental illness and a family struggling to keep their head above water in the harsh Australian Mallee region.

The drought is in full force and son Bill is sent to the city to earn money to help support his parents back on the farm. He meets city girl Elise, refined and beautiful.

“Bill was from the Mallee, which meant he didn’t muck around either. He asked Elise to marry him – even though she was a non-catholic. And out of his league.”

They marry and have two children, Ruby and Marjorie. When Bill’s mother dies the family returns to the farm. Elise came from hats, gloves and pearls and tea in the Botanical Gardens to the dry, parched heat of the Mallee. Elise’s city ways never seem to fit in. The heat is oppressive and her French meringues are scorned. Ruby and Marjorie become as wild as the land around them.

Wearing Paper Dresses is captivating and immersive. It is not an easy read and does take some concentration but the reader is rewarded with a story that will capture your heart and leave you wondering if things could have turned out any differently.

The story follows Ruby and Marjorie as they grow up trying to protect their mother, always on alert for when the next bout of depression will hit. The girls are shunned at school and teased about their crazy mother.

In a place and time when men didn’t talk and feelings were kept inside the townsfolk offer Bill and Pa help in their own way.

Brinsden uses personification expansively and skilfully. Everything comes to life; the house, the trees, the weather. It’s a feast for the mind!

Wearing Paper Dresses is a story about life with all its harshness but from the depths of despair comes a glimmer of hope.

Anne Brinsden’s riveting debut has placed her firmly on the list of authors to watch out for.

 

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟  

my rating  5/5

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

book #31 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

Photo credit: Pan Macmillan Aus

 As far back as Anne can remember she has loved stories. Mostly, she would read them. But if there were no stories to read, she would make up her own. She lives in the western suburbs of Melbourne now with a couple of nice humans, an unbalanced but mostly nice cat and a family of magpies. But she lived all of her childhood in the Mallee in northern Victoria before heading for the city and a career as a teacher. She received the 2017 Albury Write Around the Murray short story competition, judged and presented by Bruce Pascoe; and was highly commended in the 2018 Williamstown Literary Festival short story competition. Wearing Paper Dresses is her first novel.