Grown

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson (Harper Collins) RRP PB $19.99

ISBN 9780063056718

Reviewed by Kylie Buckley

Grown is a young adult fiction novel about Enchanted Jones, a talented seventeen-year-old girl who aspires to be a singer.

Chanty, as she is affectionately referred to, is trying to cope with life’s recent changes and feelings of isolation. Her family have recently moved from a seaside town to a suburb: she is one of only ten people of colour at her new high school and she feels she is missing out on being a ‘normal teenager’ as she spends most of her spare time looking after her four younger siblings while her parents are working.

Chanty’s life changes forever when she meets the famous R&B artist Korey Fields at a singing audition. He pays her some attention, compliments her talent and offers her tickets to his upcoming show. Chanty is smitten. Korey, eleven years her senior, soon offers to mentor her. Chanty jumps at the opportunity and believes all her dreams are coming true. “All this time, my heart has been beating, but this is the first time I’ve felt fully alive.” The platonic relationship quickly turns romantic and then turns toxic as Korey is revealed as a master manipulator. The controlling relationship goes from bad to worse to tragic.

This novel’s many mature themes include: sexual, physical and emotional abuse, grooming, rape, drug addiction and violence. Grown is a powerful story suitable for readers aged 15+ years.

The Last Balfour

The Last Balfour by Cait Duggan, (HarperCollins Australia), 2019, Pb  

RRP 19.99  ISBN: 9781460757017 Ebook 9781460710791

Reviewed by Pauline Hosking

Here’s a tale of witchcraft set in Scotland in 1597. The story begins when Iona Balfour’s aunt Grizel is about to be executed for being a witch. Before she dies, Grizel tells Iona she must flee from their village and deliver the mysterious family heirloom, a bloodstone, to someone called Ancroft in Edinburgh.

Like many Balfours, Iona knows some magic and this helps her complete the quest. Along the way, though, there are plenty of tears and much blood. The trials of Iona are described in detail:  her hounding by the witchfinder Finster, the betrayal by her childhood sweetheart Dalziel, and her brave attempt to help a village racked by plague. Luckily Iona meets Cal, one of the shape shifters from the forest, who becomes a stalwart friend. When they are captured by the witchfinder, Cal escapes by turning into a raven. Iona is convicted of witchcraft but saved from the flames by the Edinburgh witches led by Ancroft, who turns out to be her long-lost father. The ‘mystery’ of the bloodstone is revealed and the book ends with the possibility of more adventures for Iona and Cal.

The story is action-packed and moves quickly from one dramatic incident to the next. This is Cait Duggan’s first novel. She has done a monumental amount of research, even adapting traditional Scottish spells and incantations to fit her tale. The places and characters described have a completely believable historical reality. Some of the minor characters are particularly interesting and well written, especially Dalziel and Ishbel. Dalziel is deeply conflicted. He works for Finster but cares about Iona and is horrified by what happens. Iona’s sister, Ishbel, is a sympathetic creation who has a miserably sad ending.  

The Last Balfour is best suited to a YA readership as some of the events described are quite harrowing.  

Remind Me How This Ends

Remind Me How This Ends by Gabrielle Tozer (Harper Collins Children’s Books)  PB RRP $17.99   ISBN 978000734285

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

This is one of those books you just can’t put down: you are hooked from beginning till end. Tozer is past winner of the prestigious Gold Inky Award and has produced a rip-roaring read on so many levels.  This book delivers in a rad way for YA readers and adults, too.  

It is so much more than just a boy meets girl story, touching upon so many themes:  love, friendship, change, grief, parents, the end of school, university, travel and survival.  Staying true to yourself proves to be the hardest challenge of all. 

Milo is smart and clever but since finishing high school, he hasn’t been able to make a decision about the next step to take in life.  He is left behind while his cohort is off at university, travelling and working. Milo is frozen with the inability to make a choice.  He is stuck at home, in a small town working in his parent’s bookshop feeling pressured not to waste an awesome UAI and feeling like a loser.

Sal his girlfriend is living away at uni, studying and partying hard.  The gap between Milo and Sal widens more and more each day. Quirky Layla has suffered a great loss in life. She is back in town, hoping to find the grounding and healing that she needs. Milo’s older brother Trent is the loser of the family and is secretly pleased that the golden boy of the family is losing his halo.   The characters are believable, annoying and lovable.

‘I rattle through the boring stuff – eighteen, from Durnan, Sal’s boyfriend of two years, doing the long distance thing while she’s studying in Canberra – to disguise the fact that I don’t have answers for most of her other questions.’

This is a summer that starts in a tangled mess and ends leaving the reader wanting to know more about what happens in the lives of these teenagers.  Keep your Fingers and toes are crossed and hope that Tozer writes a sequel to Remind Me How This Ends.

This book would be suitable for ages 14+ years.  Definitely, put it on your hit list for 2017 for teenage readers.

FB: www.facebook.com/Karen-Hendriks-Childrens-Author

Flying through Clouds

Flying through Clouds by Michelle Morgan (self-published)

PB   RRP $18.99   ISBN 9780995386501

Reviewed by Bill Condon

Flying through the Clouds takes readers on an entertaining ride with 14-year-old, Joe Riley, a boy who author Michelle Morgan first introduced in her successful 2014 novel Racing the Moon (Allen & Unwin).  Joe is a rebellious lad with an impetuous streak that often lands him in trouble, but Morgan skillfully counterbalances this with glimpses into his inner thoughts that show him to be good-natured.

The book is set in Australia during the early 1930s when the country was in the throes of the Great Depression. However, Joe’s mother and sister have plenty of sewing work to do, and his father is an illegal bookie and debt collector. Unlike much of the population, the Riley family doesn’t appear to be too unfavorably affected by the Depression. This isn’t a criticism of the author. No doubt there were those who coped with adversity better than others, and it could be said that it’s to Morgan’s credit that she took a less obvious approach than other Depression stories have taken.

Joe’s dad is a hard man, who is quick to discipline his sons with a strap, or a backhander. He is also a heavy drinker. Not, it would seem, an ideal father, but once again Morgan manages to show his good side, and it’s great to see that, as in life, the characters in Flying through Clouds have positive aspects, as well as negative ones.

Morgan has done a brilliant job in researching this era. Fact after fact comes tumbling out, but none are boringly presented; instead they are seamlessly woven into the narrative. Through the course of the book Joe joins the Boy Scouts and takes a flying lesson, his first step to becoming an aviator, just like his hero Charles Kingsford Smith (Smithy). As Joe learns, so does the reader; in-depth knowledge about the Scouts and flying add an extra layer of reality to Joe’s often daring escapades.

I enjoyed this story. It was well-written and believable, and Joe is a very likeable character. Read it for its accurate depiction of Depression-era Sydney. Read it for a rattling good story; it’s highly recommended.

 Flying through Clouds can be ordered from bookshops and educational and library suppliers from 2 April or from www.michellejmorgan.com.au

Bill Condon’s latest novel is All Of Us Together (About Kids Books, 2016).