YA to watch for in 2018

Young adult fiction shows no sign of slowing down, but how to navigate the masses of books out there? Well, here are seven YA novels coming out in the first half of 2017 which should be on your reading list.

The Fandom by Anna Day
Chicken House, January 4
Violet is a member of the fandom for The Gallows Dance - her favourite YA story and film, set in a post-apocalyptic London. On a trip to Comic Con she and her friends are catapulted by a freak accident into the world of The Gallows Dance, where they must put the plot back on track and get out before disaster strikes. This is a treat for anyone who's part of a fandom, or who is a fan of fandoms.

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

Hot Key Books, January 18

Maya lives in Batavia, Illinois, and is in her final year of high school. She wants to go to New York and become a filmmaker, her parents want her to study law in Chicago, and that's not the only thing they disagree on - Maya's mum wants her to marry an Indian boy (ideally the handsome and successful Kareem), while Maya is too busy crushing on her classmate Phil. When a terrorist attacks, Maya and her parents must both face hatred, and decide how they want to fight back.

I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan

Macmillan Children's Books, January 25

Muzna Saleem, aged 15, is expected to get educated, become a doctor, and then get married to someone from Pakistan. But she loves writing and dreams of becoming novelist instead, and when high-school hottie Arif Malik takes an interest in her, it seems like things are going well for her. But Arif and his brother are angry at the West for demonising Islam, and risk pulling Muzna into their world. How will she choose between betraying her heart and betraying her beliefs?

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

Gollancz, February 8

In Orléans, the people are born grey and damned, and only a Belle's powers can make them beautiful. Camellia Beauregard wants to be the favourite Belle - the one chosen by the queen to tend to the royal family. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favourite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. When the queen asks Camellia to break the rules she lives by to save the ailing princess, she faces an impossible decision: protect herself and the way of the Belles, or risk her own life, and change the world forever. (You can read the first two chapters of The Belles here.)

Unveiling Venus by Sophia Bennett

Stripes, February 8

This is the sequel to Bennett's Finding Ophelia, in which Mary Adams set out to become a Pre-Raphelite muse, and reinvented herself as Persephone Lavelle. In Unveiling Venus, Mary's secret identity is exposed, so she flees the scandal by escaping to Venice. Lost among the twisting alleyways and shadowy canals she encounters a mysterious, masked young man. He offers her the world, but at what price?

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Macmillan Children's Books, March 8

This is one for fantasy geeks everywhere. Zelie lives in a world where magic has been outlawed, and now she has the chance to bring it back. With the help of a rogue princess, Zelie must outwit and outrun the crown prince of Orisha, who is determined to eradicate magic for good. Zelie must learn to control her own powers, as well as deal with outside forces, and her growing feelings for an enemy.

Clean by Juno Dawson

Quercus Children's Books, April 5

After almost overdosing, socialite Lexi Volkov is forced into an exclusive rehab facility. From there, the only way is up for Lexi and her fellow inmates, including the mysterious Brady. As she faces her demons, Lexi realises love is the most powerful drug of all. Clean is described as "Gossip Girl meets Girl, Interrupted, with a side of Orange is the New Black". Who can resist that pitch?

Book review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

If you're white, you've probably seen yourself in books your whole life. But as a British Pakistani Muslim, it's rare for me to truly find a character I can point at and say: "That person, I share their experiences."

No more, because Sandhya Menon has written When Dimple Met Rishi, a - if we're searching for a quick pitch - YA arranged marriage rom com.

And reading When Dimple Met Rishi was one of the best, most joyful reading experiences of my life. It starts with the cover (and I know you shouldn't judge), which depicts a brown girl, smiling widely, wearing henna and a kurta, and sipping an iced coffee. It's joyful.

Here's a book about a brown girl, and she's not oppressed, and it's not about terrorism or struggles with religion or culture. Instead, it's a book about a brown girl with slightly overprotective parents, who get on her nerves sometimes. It's a book about a brown girl with big dreams doing everything she can to make them come true. It's a book about a brown girl navigating friendships. And it's a book about a brown girl falling in love with a guy she never expected to like.

Book review: All the Rage by Courtney Summers

I have struggled and struggled with this review - I started writing it weeks and weeks ago (months actually) and I've written and rewritten paragraphs, deleted sentences and whole sections, and given up many a time only to come back a few days or weeks later.

Because how do you review such a brilliant and brutal book like Courtney Summers' All the Rage?

Romy Grey wouldn't stand out from any other teenagers in her town if it wasn't for the fact that she accused the sheriff's son Kellan Turner of raping her. No one believed her, so now Romy takes refuge at her after school job in a diner where no one knows about her past. When a girl from her school goes missing, Romy suspects she knows what has happened, and she has to decide whether to take action to help, at the risk of becoming even more of an outcast.

Consent, justice and memory are all dealt with by Summers in All the Rage. We meet the tough, prickly, fierce Romy, and root for her from beginning to end. Her every word and action shows someone who has survived and who is still fighting in small ways, even though she may think she's hiding away. Just getting up, going to school, going to work, interacting with people is a huge battle for Romy, but she does it.

Book review: Asking for It by Louise O'Neill

I've never actually been the recipient of a real punch to the gut, but how I felt when I finished reading Louise O'Neill's Asking For It is how I imagine being whacked really hard in the stomach feels - you're left momentarily breathless, shocked, unable to process for a minute, and then the hurt piles in.

Beautiful, confident, 18 years old, Emma O'Donovan's life changes one night when she goes to a party. Waking up the next morning in front of her house, she doesn't remember what happened or how she got there. Her first clue is when she turns up at school to find herself mocked and shunned, and the reasons why become clear when Emma discovers a Facebook page which show photos of her with some of her small town's most popular boys. Emma's memory, her friends, her family - all want to believe their own story, and what happened that night is only the start of Emma's nightmare.

In Emma O'Neill has created a character who isn't particularly likeable, but who I always felt for, and whose side I was always on, unhesitatingly. Emma is kind of selfish, she uses her beauty to her gain, she takes advantage of friends, she steals, and she gives extremely bad advice, so bad that it actually means someone gets away with a crime and one of her friends is hurt physically and emotionally. Yet Emma is unflinchingly real, a typical 18-year-old who thinks the world is hers for the taking, and who believes she's destined for bigger and better things, and who acts as she does to fit a stereotype placed on her not just by her friends and the boys she knows, but also by her parents and her brother. 

Book review: Remix by Non Pratt

It's always difficult to follow up a critically acclaimed, pretty much universally loved first novel, but Non Pratt has risen to the challenge with her second book, Remix.

Kaz and Ruby are heading off to Remix, a three-day music festival that is sure to be populated by cool bands (including the hot, hot, hot Adam Wexler of Goldentone), friends galore, and plenty of sunshine (hopefully). Kaz is still not over her ex-boyfriend Tom, and is hoping Remix will give them the chance to rekindle their romance, while Ruby is definitely over her ex-boyfriend Stuart, and is looking to have the time of her life. But with the sun shining down and everyone camping in close quarters, the drama is sure to be top of the bill.

Pratt's first novel Trouble tackled teenage pregnancy and what it means to be a family, and in some ways Remix also looks at the latter. And just like in trouble, things get complicated when it comes to family. Kaz and Ruby have been friends for so long that they're practically sisters, which becomes a problem when Kaz makes a new friend while at Remix. Ruby's jealousy is a bit like that of a sister who is being suddenly ignored after years of being worshipped. And Kaz feels Ruby is holding her back, and not wanting her to have fun and become her own person. The stuff between Kaz and Ruby is excellent. Of course the situation, taking place over three days, is slightly accelerated but the emotions and reactions are realistic.

Book review: The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

There is such a lot of young adult fiction out there that sometimes it all becomes much of a muchness, and you lose heart.

So I was relieved to discover Melinda Salibury's The Sin Eater's Daughter, which has a unique concept and which I could not put down once I started reading.

Twylla lives a life of luxury in the Queen's palace, but she can't touch anyone - for her touch carries death. The Queen uses Twylla as a demonstration of her power and her right to the throne, and Twylla reluctantly does the Queen's bidding - killing those guilty of treason - in order that her family remains fed and protected. When Twylla's betrothed - the Queen's son Prince Merek - returns to the castle, and Twylla gets a new guard, the young woman discovers that she may be at the centre of a power play and her life in more danger than she ever realised.

The Sin Eater's Daughter is a complex story, with Salibsury creating a world that takes its influences (and punishments and beliefs) from medieval times, but with a twist of fantasy added in. I enjoyed the way Salisbury put us right in the middle of Twylla's life, with explanations about what she is appearing slowly, and sometimes even leaving the reader to work out what is going on, which I liked.

Book review: All Fall Down by Ally Carter

The world of foreign embassies seems like it's quite a glamorous one, full of glittering balls, fancy dinners and interesting people.

Of course, it's probably not like that at all. In fact, it's probably a lot of thankless hard work, but then that wouldn't make a good YA novel now, would it?

Luckily, Ally Carter has chosen to focus on the glam side of embassy life in All Fall Down, the first book in a new series. Grace has moved in with her grandfather, the American ambassador to (the fictional) Adrian, three years after her mother died in a fire. Only Grace is sure that her mother was shot by a man with a scar on his face, and she's determined to find the culprit, even if everyone else thinks she's a troublemaker.

All Fall Down has great characters in Grace, who is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of her mother's death, while also trying to come to terms with her grief; the funny and sweet Noah, who has hidden depths; Rosie, who takes on the role of little sister, but who is so, so smart; the initially silly Megan who has the brains to more than match her beauty; and Alexei, the handsome Russian guy next door.

Book review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I love a good story about privileged American teenagers as much as the next pop culture obsessed millennial (hello, Gossip Girl) but E. Lockhart's We Were Liars, a haunting tale of a young girl coming to terms with tragedy, is a different kettle of fish to tales of teenagers having expensive parties and fighting with their BFFs.

Cadence Sinclair Eastman is part of the distinguished Sinclair family. Every summer the Sinclairs, headed by Cadence's grandfather Harris, gather at their private island off the coast of Massachusets. With her cousins Mirren and Johnny, and Johnny's sort-of stepbrother Gat, Cadence leads a decadent lifestyle, running riot on the beach at Beechwood Island without a care in the world, part of the self-titled Liars. But then Cadence is involved in an accident, one that leaves her suffering physical and mental pain, and has to come to terms with what has happened to her and the effects it's had on her family.

We Were Liars doesn't quickly tell you what has happened to Cadence, instead the story unravels slowly, like a rope whose separate strands are fraying and coming apart, and it's only towards the end you realise the rope is completely broken. I enjoyed the slow reveal - it gave me time to try and work out what was going wrong, to try and figure out why certain things (events, phrases, people) unsettled me so much.

Review: Misty Falls by Joss Stirling

Savants and an evil serial killer are hardly the stuff of realist fiction, but somehow, with her latest young adult novel, Misty Falls, Joss Stirling has created a book that is realistic while having plenty of elements that make it wildly fictional.

Misty's savant gift means that she is compelled to tell the truth (a little like Ella Enchanted, but not that bad) and she can also use her powers to make others around her more honest. Unfortunately, that's not always a good thing, and Misty's honesty has gotten her into trouble plenty of times. On a trip to South Africa, Misty meets Alex, who is gorgeous and confident, but who seems to dislike Misty on sight. But the pair have bigger problems - a serial killer is killing young savants around the world, and Misty and Alex are prime targets.

The heart of the story is Misty, who is both a Mary Sue - the perfect female character girls often write themselves as in (fan)fiction - and painfully realistic. Unlike a Mary Sue, Misty has many, many faults and insecurities, but that's exactly what makes her appealing, and what makes readers want to be her. Misty is first the insecure teenager we all were, then a savant, meaning we relate to her in spite of her powers.

In Misty Falls Stirling tells both a love story and a murder mystery, and combines them both seamlessly. Lighter moments, like Misty and her friends attending a summer camp and Alex and his schoolmates competing in a debating competition, sit alongside the darker parts of the storyline. And rather than splitting the book in two, the serial killer storyline is always in the background of the other action.

Misty Falls is the fourth book in Stirling's savant series, and characters from the previous three pop up, which I love since it offers familiarity, but also moves the story forward because this time round we get to spend more time with members of the Benedict family we haven't seen before ( and who doesn't love a Benedict boy?!). Stirling could continue expanding the savant universe (and she can because she's built up her mythology so well) and I would read every word.

How I got this book: From the publisher, Oxford University Press. This did not affect my review.

Review: Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton

I adore a strong female protagonist, and Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton provided just such a character. But it's not just a strong female that drives Witch Finder.

Luke Lexton's parents were killed by witches when he was a young boy. On his 18th birthday Luke is finally inducted into a guild of men sworn to kill all witches. There, he picks the name of Rosa Greenwood, and must kill her within a month, or else he himself will be killed.

Witch Finder's premise of good vs evil, non-witches vs witches, is not a new one, but the way Warburton handles it is unique, and also full of emotion. Luke and Rosa are both great characters who elicit our sympathy and who I really liked, and both were tough as well as kind, principled as well as headstrong. I love that Warburton created a realistic male character in a story with supernatural elements and romantic overtones, and that both Luke and Rosa developed into their roles as the "heroes" of the novel over the course of the book.

Where Witch Finder gets even better is with its baddies, who are really, really scary. Rosa's brother Alexis is a nasty piece of work - you just know that as a child he ripped the wings off helpless butterflies. And Sebastian, goodness, Sebastian is just evil all over, but knows how to wield his power to seduce people - even Rosa finds herself falling for his charms very occasionally.

This may be a story about witches, but it also deals with lots of very serious, very human issues. Family relationships are explored extensively, particularly through Rosa's family. Her cruel brother and mother raise the question of nature vs nurture, and it seems like Rosa is a product of both (although her now-dead kind father seems to have influenced her on the nurture side). And there are also mentions of domestic violence - Sebastian is violent and cruel towards Rosa in more than one way. And finally, Rosa herself is not entirely innocent - she does something to Luke which raises huge moral questions, but is of course doing it for the greater good - does that make it okay?

Witch Finder is a great book about the supernatural, but it also has many, many layers. I read it once, and then went straight back through to read various bits again, getting more out of them the second time and understanding the characters even better. Lucky for me the sequel, Witch Hunt, is out soon, so it's not too long before I get to immerse myself in the world of Rosa and Luke again.

How I got this book: From a friend

Review: Half Bad by Sally Green

Now here's a book that I felt I absolutely had to love from the moment that I first picked it up.

THE book of the 2013 Bologna Book Fair, Half Bad by Sally Green is talked about in breathless voices tinged with excitement. It's a book where the hype is huge among all quarters, and because it's YA it's even more impressive that adults seem to be harping on about it too.

Nathan is a witch, but the only problem is, he's half Black, half White witch. Growing up in a family of White witches (his grandmother as caretaker, his kind older brother and one sister, his evil oldest sister) doesn't stop the witch council from wondering whether Nathan will turn out fully Black or White. After all, Nathan's father is the most evil Black witch out there.

To keep him under control until his 17th birthday, when Nathan becomes a fully fledged witch, the council of witches issue a series of edicts to ensure his life is lived within narrow boundaries, before abandoning all sense of propriety and basically kidnapping and torturing him to keep him on their side.

Half Bad is told through Nathan's eyes, and follows him from a young child until his 17th birthday. We learn he can't read and write, and that people barely try helping him before they give up. For me, this was one of the things that really made me feel for Nathan, but that may just be because I'm a huge advocate of getting kids reading. We also learn that Nathan longs to meet his father, even if he is a Black witch who has killed many, many people.

Nathan's voice is interesting, but I wasn't ever enthralled by it. Green's telling of Nathan's story is episodic in some ways, full of short scenes and short sentences, but I think for an epic tale of good vs evil, nature vs nurture, a sentence and scene structure with a bit more depth would have been more appropriate. As it is, everything seems a bit sudden and broken. I guess that's a reflection of Nathan himself, and the fact that his vocabulary isn't extensive, but I personally didn't love it.

I also have some issues with the way other characters treat Nathan. The council of witches, for example, constantly punish him for who his father is, even though they want to keep Nathan on side. It seems to me that it's an extremely stupid bunch of people who don't realise punishment is no way to get a child onside. I could understand it if one person was treating Nathan in that way, but it's the whole of White witch society (apart from three members of Nathan's family and one other person). Seriously? How stupid are these people?

And then there's the romance element, which I didn't quite find myself invested in. From the moment he sees her, Nathan falls in love with White witch Annalise, whose family are horrible. His love for her continues throughout the book, even though his encounters with her are few and far between. I just couldn't believe enough to root for this relationship, not when there were far more compelling ones in the book that were nothing to do with romance. Nathan's connection with his brother was lovely, as was his burgeoning friendship with Gabriel. Both were sensitive, nuanced relationships, of the kind rarely seen between two boys in fiction.

Half Bad is the first in a trilogy by Green, and it's not a bad start. It's also not a thrilling one, and definitely not the one I was hoping for. While I read the whole of Half Bad, it was done with more of a sense of resignation as the stories progressed. I'm hoping, that now that all the exposition is out of the way in Half Bad and now that some of the pressure of such a hyped first book is out of the way, Green can really get going in books two and three. Cross your fingers.

How I got this book: From the publisher, Penguin. This did not affect my review.

Review: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

Fun, fun, fun - that's the kind of read Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer is.

Okay, I know it's got lots of murders in it, but it's also about the ghost of Marie Antoinette killing people and an American girl on a trip to Paris with her mean girl friends who is key to solving the crimes.

Colette is glad to escape to Paris on a school trip - her parents have split up and she, her mother and her younger brother have moved into a tiny flat. There's no way she can let her friends Pilar and Hannah know - the two of them wouldn't understand what it's like to have little money. As her trip to Paris progresses, she finds herself attracted to the cute tour guide and reassessing her friendships, as well as, you know, seeing the ghost of Marie Antoinette. As you do.

This is definitely the kind of book you should read if you're looking for something frivolous but with a decent plot and a variety of characters. I liked Colette, and watching her grow and mature through the book was good. Her schoolmates and friends all played vital roles, and the setting felt just like something from a teen rom com, apart from the whole ghost murdering people thing.

That aspect of it was well executed though (excuse the unintentional pun). I liked the slow build, and the parts in between chapters where yet another murder was carried out. It was interesting to see the pieces falling into place (another unintended pun) and the key scenes at the end were exhilarating.

If I had to find fault with the book, I would say that Colette's realisations were a little too perfect, particularly when it came to her family. The lessons were learned just a bit quickly and everything was tied up very neatly.

Still, that's a small thing in the bigger context. This isn't a book to sit down and pore over and find hidden meaning in. It's designed to thrill and be a fun reading experience. In other words, it's a pure pleasure read.

How I got this book: From the room of unwanted books at work.

Review: Heist Society by Ally Carter

A story about glamourous, clever teenagers running around Europe and America planning to steal back a lot of really expensive, really rare art? Yes, please.

Ally Carter's Heist Society is one of those fun, frivolous books that you didn't know you wanted to read until you were doing so.

Katarina Bishop has given up her old life as the daughter of a world-class thief. At least, that's what she thought. Now she's been expelled from her exclusive boarding school and has found out her father is accused of stealing a collection of art from a really, really mean guy. With no other option, Katarina must head back into the world she tried to escape, and with a group of friends try to set things right.

Let's be clear, Heist Society requires you to suspend disbelief. The action takes place over roughly two weeks and in that time Katarina - a 15-year-old girl - manages to jet between America, England, France, Italy and a couple of other places numerous times. That alone seems unrealistic (although her friend/love interest is super rich and has access to private planes). Add to that the fact that Katarina - remember that she's a 15-year-old girl - is threatened by a grown man who probably would be better off speaking to actual adults about his stolen art, that she and her friends plan a heist that's huge and audacious, and that they all manage to flirt and joke throughout. 

But you know what? None of that matters, because Heist Society is a great read. The story has a solid female protagonist - clever, tough, independent - and the action is fast and full on and you get completely caught up in it. I found myself tearing through the book, wanting to know what happened next, and most importantly, I really enjoyed reading it.
 
The best way to sum up Heist Society is that it's Ocean's Eleven meets Gossip Girl. How could you not want to read that book?

How I got this book: Borrowed.

Review: Who Framed Klaris Cliff? by Nikki Sheehan

I probably had an imaginary friend when I was younger, and so did you. Yes, you, reading this. I doubt anyone else knew my imaginary friend, and at some point I guess they just left, and life went on. 

But what if that imaginary friend had substance? What if you lived in a world where the government is scared of imaginary friends, and if your imaginary friend starts to go "rogue", the authorities swoop in and get rid of them?

In Who Framed Klaris Cliff? that's the world Joseph lives in. Imaginary friends are seen as a potential threat, and Joseph's unfortunately just got one. Klaris really belongs to Flea, his best friend Rocky's little brother, but for some reason she's migrated and is now talking to Joseph too.

When Flea's dad calls the authorities about Klaris, Joseph and Flea have just days to try and prove Klaris isn't guilty of all she's accused of, otherwise they'll both have to have the Cosh - a brain-zapping surgery that will get rid of Klaris.

Original, brilliant, moving, funny, sad - just the start of the list of words I could use to describe Who Framed Klaris Cliff? I absolutely adored this book, which is Sheehan's debut. From its characters to its pacing, Who Framed Klaris Cliff? is a masterfully written children's novel, which will also appeal to adults.

Firstly, Sheehan's characters are brilliant. Joseph's in that awkward stage of teenagedom where he's "finding" himself. Rocky, his best friend, is really annoying and brash and just such a boy. Flea is one of those kids who's all skin and bones, cute and awkward and very, very young but very, very wise all at the same time. Joseph's dad is that lovely guy who's trying to do his best for his son, trying to be cool, just trying. And there's more, so many more characters that are clearly drawn. The great thing about Sheehan's characters is that I could picture all of them, and more than that, I could picture people just like them that are in my life or that I have encountered.

The concept of imaginary friends having some substance is an intriguing one. It's just close enough to reality to be scary and pretty realistic, but far enough removed that you can read Who Framed Klaris Cliff? without being totally terrified. This isn't dystopian fiction in the way The Hunger Games is, and it's not genre fiction like Twilight. This is a children's story in the tradition of great children's stories from authors like Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton.

Talking of Blyton, there were moments in this book that really reminded me of reading Blyton's books when I was younger. Scenes where Joseph and Flea are doing their investigating thing made me recall the Secret Seven or Famous Five mysteries. The pacing and the thrill was exactly the same.

The novel wasn't just thrilling, it was a real rollercoaster of emotion. There are some really funny parts, especially those involving Rocky, and the camaraderie between Joseph and his dad is sweet and full of love and good humour. But Who Framed Klaris Cliff? does have darker moments, and some very sad ones. It's one of those books that can teach children about life and its myriad emotions.

Who Framed Klaris Cliff? doesn't fit easily into any boxes, apart from the box containing utterly brilliant books. I absolutely adored this novel, and will be pressing it upon friends and relatives. Give it a go, and I hope you're as enamoured as I am.

•Who Framed Klaris Cliff? is out on Febraury 6.

How I got this book: From the publisher, Oxford University Press, for review. This did not affect my review.

Review: Storm and Stone by Joss Stirling

The Finding Sky series by Joss Stirling was something I stumbled upon by accident, so when I got her new book, Storm and Stone, through the post, I was pretty happy.

I delved into Storm and Stone expecting more of what I'd found in the Finding Sky series - some danger, a little bit of angst, a whole lot of romance and a happy ending.

Instead, I got quite a lot of angst, and a crime story nestled in between a tale of growing up and surviving secondary school. In Storm and Stone Stirling has taken a typical tale of growing up - complete with Mean Girls - and stuck in a healthy dose of mystery.

American student Raven Stone starts off the new term at her English boarding school with a missing roommate and an encounter with the bitchiest girl around, who is set on making life for Raven as difficult as possible. With few friends, Raven finds herself striking up conversation with the new boys, Kieran Storm and his friend Joe Masters. But the new guys aren't what they seem, and neither are some of the students she goes to school with, who have weirdly morphed into Stepford kids.

As mentioned, Storm and Stone is primarily a novel about growing up. Raven faces bullies (really, really mean bullies) and family problems. She experiences the wonderful feeling of having a crush on someone who seems to have no interest in you (note the sarcasm) and is constantly trying to figure out why she doesn't fit in. There's at least something that Raven goes through that every female can relate to and has gone through at some point in their life.

While Raven tries to navigate life, she's also thrust into a mystery which seems almost impossible to unravel. All around her, students are disappearing and then coming back, devoid of their original personalities and more inclined to turn on the not-so-perfect, very human Raven. Although this might seem unrealistic, Stirling makes this plot point seem realistic by having Raven's friend Gina turn into one of these shells, causing her to completely ignore Raven. While most of us have probably never had brainwashed friends, I can definitely think of instances in my life where one day you were best friends with someone, and the next day they completely ignored you. Throwing Gina into the mix makes the mystery surrounding Raven much more believable.

I must throw in a mention of Kieran, Raven's love interest. There's no insta-love between the pair, thank goodness, but there is the more realistic insta-attraction. That's followed by the fact that Kieran is a very flawed human when it comes to emotions and communicating with people, even if he is super clever and a young James Bond of sorts. It's great to see a love interest with so many faults, and to have a love interest called up on those faults by the author, instead of having them ignored (coughEdwardfromTwilightcough).

Storm and Stone is a dark read at times. One section where Raven is attacked is particularly brutal, and seems like it's going to end very, very badly. Stirling isn't afraid to address tough issues like bullying, although some of her bullies don't get the comeuppance they deserve, even though they bullied her long before the events of the book took place. The central mystery is also a little weak, only because I felt the villains were a little one-sided and we didn't see enough of them for them to justify what they were doing. Since the focus of the book was Raven though, I understand why this was, as she also didn't see much of the criminals.

Overall though, Storm and Stone is a solid read, especially if you're looking to read some genre YA. With its mix of crime and mystery, Storm and Stone is a great alternative to all the YA dystopia out there.

How I got this book: From Oxford University Press for review

•Storm and Stone is released on February 6 2014.

Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

You know how books in a series tend to get progressively worse? How even when they're very good, the second book isn't better than the first, and the third isn't as good as the second and so on? Well, forget that when it comes to Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles, because somehow every book in the series just gets better and better.

Cress, the third book in The Lunar Chronicles (following Cinder and Scarlet), was one of the books I was most anticipating this year, and I'm so glad I didn't have to wait too long to get my hands on it.

While Cinder and her gang - Scarlet, Wolf, Thorne and Iko - float on their ship in space hiding from the many, many people chasing them, and while Emperor Kai prepares for his wedding to the evil Queen Levana, Cress sits aboard her spaceship dreaming of freedom.

When an opportunity to be rescued presents itself, Cress imagines being swept off her feet by Thorne and finding a great group of friends. What she gets is days of wondering through the desert, a hero who doesn't love her, and a group of allies who find themselves scattered and injured, all while trying to execute an audacious plan to stop the wedding of Kai and Levana.

I won't give too much away about the plot, but Cress is the most action-packed books of The Lunar Chronicles so far. Much of that action comes in the last quarter of the book, with the rest spent preparing for the battle to come, but it's all worth the wait.

Meyer is deft at bringing together the various storylines we've been following so far - the stories of Cinder, Scarlet, Wolf, Kai, Thorne, Cress and Dr Erland (and Iko, mustn't forget Iko) are all brought closer together even as the characters sometimes move physically far away from each other. Into this mix comes Jacin Clay - a Lunar who works for Queen Levana's right-hand woman Sybil - and Princess Winter, Queen Levana's stepdaughter and the central subject of the next book in The Lunar Chronicles series. Our glimpses of the latter are very brief, but Winter looks like one of the most intriguing characters we've been introduced to so far.

Cress is a dark novel - unsurprising since it deals with mass murder, good and evil, dictators and more - but it's not all doom and gloom. There are some very funny moments, mainly featuring Iko, who despite being a robot continues to be as human as anyone you might encounter in real life. And Thorne brings a sense of humour to the proceedings as well, despite everything that happens to him during the course of the book. He's definitely the hero I'd choose, so I can see why Cress loves him, even though she doesn't need him.

For me, Cress is the most fairytale like of The Lunar Chronicles books so far, with a princess in her tower waiting for a prince to rescue her. While Cress is very, very clever and self-sufficient, she holds on to the image of being liberated from her spaceship by Thorne, rather than doing the liberating herself.

Thankfully, Meyer twists the fairytale trope pretty deftly. While Cress may not realise it, and while she spends much of the book falling deeper for Thorne while he plays the just friends card, she's actually the real hero of this book. Cress is the one leading the way, fighting for survival and putting herself in real danger - in short, she takes on the traditional role of the prince in the fairytale. Thorne, meanwhile, has to spend much of the book dependent on others, after a fight leaves him injured.

Cress is about a book about heroes and heroines, and its strong female characters are the true stars of the novel, and that make this book worth reading. It's the women who stand head and shoulders above the men in The Lunar Chronicles (though not all of them good), and it's these types of women (the good ones, anyway) who should be at the centre of fairytales being told to children the world over.

How I got this book: From the publicist at Puffin (thanks!)

•Cress is out on February 4

Book review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

You never forget your first love, goes the tagline on Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor and Park. I'm hoping I'll never forget Eleanor & Park, one of the sweetest, most powerful books I've read in a while.

Eleanor is the weird new girl at school, worried about her weight and her looks (which lead to bullying) and her family (abusive stepdad). Park is the quiet boy on the bus, from a not-so all-American family (and he's not quite sure where he fits in). Over the course of months, they bond over music and comic books, and fall in love.

And that's it really. Sure, there are difficulties in Eleanor and Park's lives, but this book is about falling in love for the first time when you're young, and the way it can be all-consuming, no matter what is happening around you.

Switching between sections focusing on both characters, it's only the reader who has full knowledge of Eleanor and Park's lives for much of the novel. In the privileged position of knowing it all, I felt like Rowell had told the perfect story - there wasn't a single moment where I went: "Oh, because I know that I think he/she should have reacted differently."

There are plenty of supporting characters, but we see them all through their interactions with the protagonists, and although some of them help the story move along, they're not as important as Eleanor and Park, what's important is the way they affect the characters' relationship.

Rowell's powerful storytelling had me in tears for much of the novel. I'm not sure if it's because I started reading it at 1am after a night out and I had flu and it was the end of a long week of work, or if it's because the story was genuinely weep-worthy. I have a feeling it's a little of both, and despite the fact I was wiping the water out of my eyes a lot, I did enjoy the book.

Eleanor & Park is a beautiful tale, made even more so by its simplicity. You never forget your first love, and I'll never forget the time I fell a little in love with Eleanor and Park.

How I got this book: Borrowed from the library

Book review: Hidden by Marianne Curley

Three hearts, two worlds, one secret - that's the tagline for Marianne Curley's Hidden.

A novel about the eternal battle between good and evil, Curley's novel surprised me with how good it was.

Teenager Ebony has overprotective parents, and finds herself able to do things others can't. She's stronger, faster and has better hearing.

On a night out at an under 18s disco she bumps, literally, into Jordan, a boy who goes to her school and who has had a pretty rough life - dad in jail, mum dead, bounced from foster home to foster home, bad blood with a former friend. The connection between the two in instataneous - think sparks of light.

Jordan is stabbed with a bottle that night, and while on the verge of death in hospital is visited by two men in a dream. They save his life and one, Thane, later comes back to get Jordan's help for a mission. Thane is an angel, and he needs to find a female angel who was kidnapped by a dark angel and brought to earth when she was a baby.

Curley's writing style reminded me a bit of Maggie Stiefvater's in that both authors are really good at creating strong characters, and really good at conveying their emotions.

Hidden wasn't packed full of masses of action, but it was full of a myriad of relationships, all of which were fascinating to read - best friends, mentor and mentee, parents and child, brothers, and so on.

The romance element is very interesting, but more than that this is a book about identity and finding your place in the world, something Ebony struggles to do as she discovers the world is much bigger than she thinks. There are other characters who clearly struggle with their identity as well, although perhaps in different, more subtle ways - Thane, whose life has been defined by another person; Jordan, who lost his parents at a young age and so has had no adult influences for a long time; and Jezelle, the angel who doesn't quite seem to fit in with the others.

Hidden alternates chapters between Ebony and Jordan, which worked really well for me, since both characters had distinct voices, and very different lives up until the point they were thrown together.
 
Curley's novel is the first in a series, and its ending was certainly intriguing, and quite dark. Hidden is well worth a read, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Ebony and Jordan's journeys continue.    

Book review: Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Young adult fiction is enjoying a resurgence, thanks to the popularity of series like Twilight and The Hunger Games, but just because they're the big names doesn't mean there isn't other quality fiction out there.

I stumbled across Sarah Crossan's Breathe thanks to a publisher friend, and read the book in just a couple of sittings.

A dystopian novel, Breathe is set in a world where all trees and plant life has disappeared, and the lucky few live in Pods. Everyone else slowly suffocated to death. When the fundamental right to breathe has disappeared, where does that leave society?

In this world, like any other where society is split into haves and have-nots, there grows a rebel group. Among them is 16-year-old Alina, who is forced to escape the Pod when a friend of hers is seemingly killed by officials.

Alina manages to get out of the Pod with Quinn, a Premium who is infatuated with her, and Bea, his auxillary friend, who are going on a camping trip into the outside world. Armed with just a couple of days worth of oxygen each, Quinn and Bea soon find themselves introduced to a world they never knew existed.

Chapters alternate between Quinn, Bea and Alina's points of view, so we get to know all three characters quite well. The character I most liked was Bea, who was compassionate and kind, as well as being tough.

Alina and Quinn are both slightly selfish, and slightly clueless, and occasionally I found myself wanting to shake some sense into them both.

The world outside the Pod is well crafted, although we barely get to see the rebel stronghold, and secondary characters including Alina's cousin Silas, Quinn's father, and drifter Maude are rounded individuals. Rebel leader Petra is scary, although not quite as terrifying as her nine-year-old protege and surrogate daughter Jazz.

On the down side, I found the central love story of Breathe a little clumsily handled, and it was resolved far too quickly, and not in a very satisfactory manner. 

Comparisons to The Hunger Games will be inevitable, although it's difficult to say whether Alina or Quinn is Katniss, but Bea is definitely Peter. Breathe, bravely, doesn't have a happy ending, leaving readers fully prepped for its sequel, whereas The Hunger Games could be read as an isolated book. If I was going to pick a book to compare Breathe to, it would be Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden, a dystopian novel I read years and years ago. It was the first in a series, and I never got round to reading the others to find out what happened - I won't be making the same mistake with Breathe.