I’m just about to start reading Danger at Dead Man’s Pass which I’m really looking forward to as I’ve loved the first three books in the Adventure on Trains series. I’m also going to start listening to The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow on my way to and from work.
I’ve finished listening to Never and Forever which is a brilliant end to the series – and I found out who the narrator was! I’ve also read The Bewitching of Aveline Jones which is another brilliantly spooky adventure. I will post my review in the next day or so. Even though I’m not very good at reading in the evening when I’m at work, I couldn’t put How Not to be a Vampire down – it is such a gorgeous story, full of heart and humour and I absolutely adored Sharptooth – definitely a new favourite character. I aim to write my review this weekend.
I’m hoping to read Keeper of Secrets next although I’m on a residential with Year 6 next week, so not sure how much reading I’ll get done!
Diary of an Accidental Witch is a gorgeously charming, magical adventure that sparkles with humour, warmth and friendship that completely captivated me.
Bea Black has moved to Little Spellshire where her weather scientist Dad intends to write a book about its unusual climate. She soon makes a new friend, Ashkan, who gives her cake and offers to show her around her new school, Spellshire Academy. A promising start! BUT things don’t quite go to plan for Bea when she discovers that her Dad has accidentally enrolled her in The School of Extraordinary Arts instead. It’s a school for witches which would not be a problem except that Bea isn’t aware of any hidden witchy powers! She is given her own wand, a frog called Stan to look after and sent to levitation class – what could possibly go wrong?
This is written in the style of Bea’s diary, giving a wonderfully heartfelt and witty insight into her life as she navigates some rather unusual lessons, learns to ride a broomstick and finds herself on the Committee for the upcoming Halloween Ball. Will she be able to keep her school life a secret from her Dad and Ashkan? Will she find friends in this magical school, or is she destined to spend her time hiding in the broom cupboard?
Bea is an incredibly likeable young girl who is coping with some of the usual worries about settling in to secondary school like whether she will fit in or make friends which is sure to offer support to young readers feeling the same whether they are going to another school or starting in a new class. Bea also shows a great deal of resilience as she works hard to practice her witch skills, sometimes with unexpected consequences.
I loved the diary-entry style of this story which will appeal to lots of young readers with its use of bold and capital letters, crossing outs, lists and footnotes. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and complement the humour and charm of this story perfectly.
This is a wonderfully warm-hearted, fun-filled story that is sure to enchant young readers of 7+.
Thank you to Little Tiger for an early copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
And … my summer holiday is over! I did make the most of it, and it was exactly what I needed – lots of relaxation, reading and seeing family. But the rowing machine that was going to help me get fit – not so much! I had my first day with my new Year 6 class on Friday and it was so brilliant to be back with this Year group. We’re heading off on a residential later this month which I’m very excited about as I used to love this one when I was last in Year 6.
Books I’ve read:
I’ve read 12 books this month, all physical copies. I’ve written and posted reviews for 7 of the books I’ve read. I really enjoyed all of these books but the ones that really stood out for me were Fireborn, Hide and Seek and The Crackledawn Dragon.
NetGalley:
My Feedback Ratio is now at 97%. I have two books to read on my NetGalley Shelf, The Shadows of Rookhaven and Locked Out Lily both released on 30th September.
Books sent by publishers:
I have been lucky enough to have been sent these books by publishers this month.
Books I’ve bought:
I’ve bought 6 books in August.
How has your month been?Have you read any of these?
On my Blog today, I am delighted to bring you a guest post from the author of this gorgeous book, Rachel Pierce, who has shared some fascinating facts which I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did. I was born in County Donegal and didn’t know that I was brought up so close to a ‘hellmouth’!
Top 10 facts about Ireland by Rachel Pierce, author of
IRELAND: THE PEOPLE, THE PLACES, THE STORIES
It’s easy to think that you know your own country very well, but when you really pay attention, you quickly realise that you often only know half of the story. Writing Ireland: The People, The Places, The Stories brought me on a journey across the whole island and right through its long history. It’s a truly fascinating place and I hope readers relish learning about Ireland as muchas I did.
About 350 million years ago, Ireland was covered by a tropical sea – that’s why so many interesting marine fossils are found in the Burren, County Clare.
A 2,000-year-old lump of bog butter was unearthed in Emlagh bog, County Meath – taste- test anyone?
The oubliette, or ‘forgotten place’, in Leap Castle, County Offaly, has wooden spikes sticking up out of the ground – a truly gruesome punishment!
Cursing stones, like those at Feaghna, County Kerry, and at Inishmurray, allow you to place a curse on the head of anyone who’s annoying you.
Folklore tells us there are ‘hellmouths’, or ‘gateways to hell’ in Ireland – the most famous being at Oweynagat (‘the cave of the cats’) in County Roscommon and at St Patrick’s Purgatory in County Donegal.
You can go moonbow hunting in the Dark Sky Reserves in counties Mayo and Kerry.
The dry stone walls in the Ceide Fields in north County Mayo are c. 5,800 years old.
Marauding Vikings massacred about 1,000 hiding people in Dunmore cave, County Kilkenny.
If you live in Muckanaghederdauhaulia, in County Galway, you live in pig-shaped hill between two saltwater lakes (although that’s open to interpretation!).
The Gresham Vault at Mount Jerome cemetery in Dublin has a pedestal on top that once held a bell with a chain attached. The lady buried inside the vault insisted on a spring lock on her coffin, as well as the bell and chain, so that if she was buried alive, she could pop the lock, ring the bell and be rescued!
Ireland: The People, The Places, The Stories is published by Scholastic on 2nd September. It features a foreword by Dara Ó Briain and illustrations by ten leading Irish illustrators: Linda Fahrlin, Diarmuid Ó Catháin, Alan Dunne, Lydia Hughes, Brian Fitzgerald, Ashling Lindsay, Graham Corcoran, Jennifer Farley, Conor Nolan, Donough O’Malley
I’m still listening to Never and Forever which is such a fun read – it’s taking a while but I should finish it by next week as I’ll be back at work and able to listen to it on the way to and from work which seems to be the only way I can focus on audiobooks! I’m about quarter of the way through The Bewitching of Aveline Jones and, oh my goodness, it is delicious! I just love the spooky vibes and the building of suspense as well as the writing style which makes it hard to put down.
I’ve really enjoyed all the books I’ve read this week. I finished Wolfstongue which is a powerful and beautifully written story. It’s one I’m considering using in Year 6 as the writing style is wonderful and the themes would be great to explore with children. I’ve also read Diary of an Accidental Witch which is a wonderfully warm and funny story about Bea Black who moves to the village of Little Spellshire and finds herself enrolled in a school for witches, even though she doesn’t have any magical powers. I will be posting my review for this one soon. Unexpectedly, I was sent a copy of Danger at Dead Man’s Pass, the fourth book in the brilliant Adventure on Trains series, so I thought I’d pick up Murder on the Safari Star. This was another fantastic, exciting adventure as Hal and his Uncle Nat venture from Pretoria to Victoria Falls. Such a clever mystery and, as usual, I didn’t guess who the culprit, but I so enjoyed Hal’s investigation together with the wonderful pictures. I was determined to read The Crackledawn Dragon before I headed back to school, and I just managed. What a wonderful end to a fantastically magical series. This has everything I love in a fantasy adventure – warmth, humour, incredible adventure, gorgeous world-building and brilliant characters who go on an emotional as well as fantastical journey. And Abi is the Queen of character names, magical inventions and messages that make me all fuzzy inside! I’m sad that this series is finished, but can’t wait to see what comes next.
I’m hoping to read How Not to be a Vampire Slayer next.
I have been eagerly waiting for the opportunity to return to an end-of-season Eerie-On-Sea after enjoying the brilliant Malamander and Gargantis. What a spookily thrilling return! Mystery, darkness, danger and revelations are weaved in another of Eerie-on-Sea’s intriguing legends: Shadowghast is perfect to cosy up with on a dark evening as a spine-tingling tale unfolds from within its pages … just make sure you keep a candle lit!
The Grand Nautilus Hotel has some rather intriguing new guests: a theatre troupe who have been invited to stage the annual Ghastly Night Show, a shadow puppet show that promises to protect the inhabitants of Eerie-on-Sea from the Shadowghast: a creature of legend, or a dark entity hunting the living?
Imagine the surprise felt by the Hotel’s resident Lost-and-Founder, Herbie Lemon, when one of the guests discloses a startling revelation, a revelation that, if proven, will change his life …
As if getting life-changing news wasn’t enough for Herbie to deal with, he finds out from his best friend, Violet Parma, that her guardian, the owner of the Eerie Book Dispensary, has disappeared …
Herbie and Violet find themselves on an action-packed, thrilling race against time to uncover the truth behind the legend of the Shadowghast, a truth that looks into the past, takes them into dangerous situations and leads to shocking revelations. Will they be able to save the missing townsfolk before they are lost to darkness? Can they discover where the threat to the town is coming from before it is too late? Luckily, they have help from the mysterious and really rather wonderful cat, Erwin, and from a brilliant little clockwork creature that I absolutely adore.
It is just wonderful to be back in Eerie-on-Sea catching up with familiar faces and places, and enjoying the brilliant humour that Herbie injects into the narrative which perfectly balances out the darker elements. Herbie and Violet are just as likeable as I remembered them and I love their interactions as the curious, impetuous Violet is determined to find adventure, and what an adventure she finds leading up to Ghastly Night.
This is a eerily-good mystery that will take the reader on an exhilarating, edge-of-the-seat adventure to discover the truth of a deliciously dark legend: a fantastic addition to the legends of Eerie-on-Sea, and as always, I can’t wait for the next mystery to unfold.
Thank you to Toppsta for an early copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
As darkness falls, a cloaked figure, hidden in the looming shadows of the gnarled, twisted trees, sweeps silently closer to the trickling stream that runs round the edge of Skeleton Woods.
Any ideas?
When I was sent information about this one, I couldn’t help requesting it sounds like such a fun read!
Waterstones synopsis
A fang-tastic story of unlikely friendship. Maggie Helsby isn’t afraid of spooky legends and she’s willing to prove it. But when she agrees to a dare to venture into the forest, she doesn’t expect to find…
1. A creepy castle enchanted against humans
2. A vegetarian vampire who wants to be her friend
3. An ancient book naming HER as the latest of the Helsby slayers!
Can Maggie persuade her family, her new (human) friends and the greedy Mayor Collyfleur that their nocturnal neighbours need protecting just as much as they do? Or will her neck be on the line…
I’m continuing to listen to the The Wizards of Once Never and Forever which is a really fun story read brilliantly by David Tennant. I also picked up Wolfstongue earlier this week as my evening read and am almost half way through it. It’s a fantastic, powerful story that I’m really enjoying. Silas is being bullied at school as he cannot find his voice, and doesn’t fit in. One day he helps a wolf who is being hunted by a group of foxes and he enters a new world of the Forest. Wolves have been enslaved by Foxes and have been forced to build an underground city. Only two adult wolves remain, and they need someone to speak for them against the clever talk of the fox leader, Reynard. I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens in the rest of the story.
Ifinished Fireborn this week which I absolutely loved. I took part in the Write Reads Blog Tour for this and posted by review yesterday. I am definitely looking forward to going back to Ember to find out what happens to Twelve next. I’ve also read Shadowghast which is the third book in the Eerie-on-Sea series which focuses on legends related to the town. This was a brilliantly spooky return and will be perfect for the lead-up to Halloween or Shadowghast Night. I will be posting my review shortly.
Reading Shadowghast has put me in the mood to read another spooky story, so I’m going to read The Bewitching of Aveline Jones next.
Written by Robin Scott-Elliot Design and Illustration by Holly Ovenden Published by Everything with Words Published on 12th August
Hide and Seek is an utterly stunning, powerful historical adventure set in Nazi-Occupied France, a story of awe-inspiring courage, resilience and hope standing up to tyranny and the fear it engenders.
It’s 1942 and thirteen-year-old Amèlie is playing hide-and-seek with her mother and brother in their Paris apartment. She has contentedly escaped to the coolness of the wardrobe to escape the stifling summer heat, blissfully unaware that her life is about to change. Banging on the door and the sound of heavy footsteps is followed by a terrible silence as her Jewish family are taken by the Germans, leaving her alone, her life changed forever …
This incredible young girl makes a courageous choice. Despite knowing the risk she is taking if she is caught by the Nazis, she decides she will not hide in fear. She finds herself negotiating the streets of Occupied Paris, rejected by those concerned for their own safety by association with her, and fending for herself, until the day she is taken in by the Musee de l’Homme Resistance Group, and becomes their youngest member.
So begins an unforgettable, heartfelt story of survival, courage, defiance and strength as Amèlie fights back against the Nazi persecution, becoming a courier for the Musee Network. She is in constant danger as she delivers messages, and risks her life to help those who need to escape. Amèlie’s determination to fight, to resist and discover her family’s fate takes her away from Paris, across the sea and back to France again. She grows up in the landscape of war, fighting to protect others at terrible risk to herself, having to put her trust in others, but not knowing when she might be betrayed.
This is an emotive, action-packed and tense story with unexpected twists and the constant threat of danger and discovery, but is also one that shines a light on the courage, resilience and strength of those who are prepared to resist tyranny, to fight for others and to risk their lives. Whilst Amèlie may be a fictional character, her story, and reading the author’s note, as well as the inclusion of real people in the story, made me want to find out more about these young Resistance Fighters, people whose stories should never be forgotten.
An exceptional, sensitively told and touching wartime adventure which I would highly recommend to anyone studying World War II in Upper Key Stage 2 and for those of 9+ who enjoy historical fiction.
Thank you to the Publisher, Everything with Words and Fritha Lindqvist for a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
It’s my turn on the Ultimate Blog Tour for this incredible fantasy adventure.Thank you to Dave at The Write Reads for inviting me to take part in this Blog Tour. I was sent a gorgeous proof by the Publisher in exchange for my honest opinion – thank you!
Written by Aisling Fowler Cover Illustration by Sophie Medvedeva Published by Harper Collins Release date: 30th September
Now THIS is my type of fantasy! A breath-taking epic quest that made my heart sing, ache and race as I was wholeheartedly engrossed from start to finish: dazzling, rich world-building; an incredible cast of characters; and an action-packed, electrifying plot that pulsates with darkness, danger, light and hope.
Twelve has pledged herself to the Hunting Lodge, vowing to serve and protect the seven clans from dark creatures and tyranny, giving up her name and family for this new family of Hunters. When the Lodge is attacked by goblins, and a young girl is taken, Twelve goes in search of her …
As she starts to track the missing girl and her captors, Twelve finds herself joined on her quest by the Lodge’s stone Guardian, Dog and two other huntlings, Five and Six. So begins an exhilarating quest: a quest that sees Twelve and her companions venture to the Frozen Forest where they encounter terrifying dark creatures; where they come to depend on each other for survival; and, where they must battle to overcome the darkness that threatens Ember.
The plot is perfectly paced with a satisfying balance of fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat action and character building and interaction. And oh, my goodness: the suspense, the twists, the secrets, the revelations. Just wow!
The world-building blazes with richness and depth and really immersed me in Ember from the walled Hunting Lodge to the Frozen Forest where huntlings become fully-fledged Hunters. The myriad of dark creatures were breath-taking, and scary, from the cliffcrawlers to the Ygrex to the deathspinner. I also really enjoyed the glimpse into the history of Ember, and the fractious nature of clan relations, which feels like the world is being drawn back into an era of turmoil and unrest. I’m really hoping this aspect will be explored more in any further books.
Whilst I wouldn’t want to meet many of the creatures encountered, there were a couple who did not frighten me at all – well, maybe one, just a little! Widge is Twelve’s endearing, loyal squirrel who is ridiculously cute and offers her comfort when she most needs it. Dog is the stone Guardian of the Hunting Lodge called forth to defend it after the goblin attack. Instead, he finds himself on Twelve’s quest protecting the huntlings, and making good use of his acerbic wit to maintain some sort of order over their bickering.
For me, Twelve is an incredibly sympathetic protagonist. Is she perfect? Absolutely not! Can she be horrible? Definitely! But, my goodness, she is a fierce, fiery and courageous young girl whose past is haunting her, leaving her in turmoil. She feels overwhelming guilt and regret and is hell-bent on avenging her family. The glimpses into Twelve’s past are heart-breaking and emphasise her anger and pain and why she is punishing herself. I was so invested in her as a character and loved the tentative building of friendship, trust and her gradual empowerment and belief that she can take a different path.
Fireborn is a scorcher of an epic fantasy adventure that is perfect for upper middle-grade and beyond. An absolute must-buy!
Aisling was born in 1985 and wishes that she had grown up in a magical, mountainous kingdom, but was actually raised in Surrey on a diet of books and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her early ‘adventure’ stories involved surprisingly little action and her first novel (3 pages long) was politely declined by publishers at age 11. After earning a BSc in Biology and working as a support worker and then a nurse, the idea for her debut novel, Fireborn, came to her as she moved back and forth between London and the US. Now based in Hackney, when she is not reading or writing, Aisling loves cooking and plotting adventures (for herself as well as her fictional characters). Fireborn will be published by HarperCollins in 2021.
Book Craic 