Annie —
Landovel by Emily Rodda
One of the perks of being a bookseller is getting advance copies of books that we’re going to sell. I knew as soon as we received a sample of Emily Rodda’s new book for 10-14 year olds that I would be keen to try it — but I did not expect to be reading the second two parts on my phone, desperate to know what happened next! This is a marvellous magical adventure from the Queen of children’s fantasy writing. A cleverly built world full of nuance, and characters that have you rooting for them from the very first page. I inhaled it as quickly as I could. This is a beautiful edition that features all three novels in the series in a hard slipcase. Recommended for fans of The Keeper of the Lost Cities or Nevermoor.
Alex —
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
My Italian mother-in-law always greeted me with “ciao Bella,” and to this day it makes me smile. So I didn’t need Oprah to tell me to pick up a book of the same name!
The four Italian American Padavano sisters are as close as the Marches or the Bennets, closer perhaps, with all the added depth of modern psychology thrown into the mix. The family dramas are both thought-provoking, heart breaking and infuriating, and I found myself so involved that I wanted my opinion to count.
Loosely based on Little Women — the sisters share out the roles throughout their childhood — as young adults there is a terrible rift that may never heal. I couldn’t put it down. And you will need tissues!
Phoebe (work experience student) —
Dragonfall by Louise Wolhuter
Dragonfall is set in a world where humans and dragons used to live together in peace, with dragons having all the magic while helping humans who weren’t born with magic. This worked perfectly for the two species until the humans betrayed the dragons, taking their magic for themselves and sending them away to a dying world. Now, hundreds of years later the once thriving population of dragons have dwindled, leaving Everen as the last male dragon alive. While feeling troubled about his destiny, Everen gets sent into the human world by a thief named Arcady and quickly discovers that the humans have forgotten their history and worship dragons as gods. Everen now has to regain his true power which lies in Arcady, before getting his revenge on the human world.
This book covers many different topics with the main themes being the legacy and destiny of the main characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an adventure between worlds, friendship and romance, and a fight against destiny.