Mistik Lake - Martha Brooks

A beautifully evocative novel which mines the dangerous spaces occupied by family secrets, coming of age and prophetic dreams. Sally is the only survivor when a car full of teenagers crashes through the ice and sinks to the bottom of Mistik Lake. Twenty years later, her teenaged daughter, Odella is attempting to keep her family above water when Sally abandons them for an Icelander. Odella is faced with dark secrets from not only Sally's haunted past but that of her great aunt Gloria.



Odella meets Jimmy Tomasson who knows her from his dreams and the spark between them is soon ignited. Rich with the flavours of Icelandic mythology, Canadian summers and winters, life in the country, this is a sure page-turner which does not disappoint. The ending is very satisfying, the characters are all well-developed. Take this home today!

On the Jellicoe Road - Melina Marchetta

Taylor Markham is seventeen and lives as a boarder at the Jellicoe school in rural New South Wales. Taylor's young life is shrouded in mystery - she was dumped at the side of the road by her own mother and she has no memory of her father. Her dearest friend is Hannah, the woman who rescued her. But Hannah has her own secrets. Add to this the parallel story of a group of five friends who lived in Jellicoe twenty years before and you have the recipe for a very suspenseful narrative.
Will Taylor lead the Secret Underground Club troops to victory in the annual war against the local Townies and the visiting army cadets? Will she sort out her nemesis Jonah Griggs?
Marchetta ties up all the loose ends and provides a very satisfying conclusion.
If you enjoyed Marchetta's earlier titles, then curl up on a comfy couch with this one soon!

Forever in blue : the fourth summer of the sisterhood

Yey! The next book of the series of 'The sisterhood of travelling pants'.

Forever in blue : the fourth summer of the sisterhood is just as good as the other books of the series.
The girls are finding it harder to keep in contact with each other since starting college.They still though continue to use the pants as a means of having connection with one another.
Carmen attends theatre festival where she feels lonely and unknown and Tibby has a life changing experience at film school and cannot seem to find the motivation for her filming.
The other two girls also find themselves changing. Bridget becomes attracted to a married man while part of a excavation team and Lena poses nude for a art student in her own class.
There are break ups- make ups , new love intrests and loosing of "innocience" in this novel.

Those who have read the past novels will see the same kind of patten/themes through the novel but i feel it was comfortable coming back to the four girls that I first read about in the "The sisterhood of travelling pants". I enjoyed reading about them- I could easily have these novels in my collection at home (i am picky when choosing novels to have on my novel book shelf)

Three Wishes - Deborah Ellis

"I know a girl whose sister was killed when she was out buying books for school. She was only 16" (Talia’s story). Deborah Ellis speaks to many children; learning about their daily lives and hopes as they live in war-ravaged Palestine.

The Underdog - Markus Zusak

This is the story of two brothers, and three weeks in their lives. It starts with the plan to rob the dentist (it was never going to happen), stealing street signs(and putting them back), defending their sister (and getting their own love lives).

The King of Whatever - Kirsten Murphy

Joe King is in the most tumultuous year of a student’s life. He is the younger brother of two overachieving siblings, has no idea of what he is going to do with his life, and has just discovered that the girl he is in love with is seeing his best
friend.

Saving Francesca- Melina Machetta

At Sixteen Francesca always counted on her mum being the strength of her family.

Her mum every morning placed post it notes on Francescas' mirror and the house halls echoed with songs that were set to inspire Francesca and her sibling. Then one morning there is no post it notes, no songs and her mum hasn't left her bed.

That is one of many problems that Francesca faces when she gets up in the morning. She has no idea why her mum isn't getting out of bed and she has to deal with a new school with new friends. To top it off she has boys at her school that are less than happy that there are girls at their once only boys only school.

I found this book easy to pick up and get into the story. I loved that Francesca was different from Alibrandi (first novel of Melindas') and laughed many times throughout the novel remembering when i was in high school.

A must read!

Georgia's website

http://www.georgia-nicolson.co.uk/homepage

Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging By Louise Rennison

Laugh out loud with Georgia Nicolson as you peer over her shoulder and read her very honest diary. How does she cope with parents, the neighbours next door, school and the fact that S G Robbie (Sex God Robbie) has gone overseas to that far away land, New Zealand? Georgia and her best friend Jaz have each other to make endless phonecalls to and chat to during classes so they can decide all the important issues in life, including snogging.