Harvest (#5) by Nikki Rae

Published: 29th December 2020 Goodreads badge
Publisher:
Self-Published
Pages: 297
Format: ebook
Genre: Dark Romance
★   ★   ★  ★ – 4 Stars

The Wolf has captured his prey, but that isn’t enough to satiate him. Like chess pieces, he has gathered all the members of House Chimera except one: Elliot.

Fawn, Odette, and Marius are kept prisoner, forced to perform the Wolf’s most trivial tasks in exchange for a basement cell. The butler of Lyon Estate clings to reality while Master Lyon’s wife is a shell of herself. In the New Order, Fawn is key, and she struggles to infiltrate the Wolf’s mind while the Wolf uses her to lure the head of their House to his lair.

This game has been pre-planned, but that doesn’t mean the rules can’t change. Like any other predator, the Wolf has other needs. Fortunately for Elliot and Fawn, they have been trained all their lives for men with needs like his. Everything leaves a scar, but this might kill them. Can they survive not only the New Order Mansion, but the darkest parts of each other?

Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the author

I am super excited to be participating in the blog tour for Nikki Rae’s latest book Harvest. This is the fifth book in The Order series and it was full of the darkness, lust, pain, and power that this series has been synonymous with over the years.

Where in previous books there has been unease and anticipation, not to mention excitement as Fawn works to defy and bring down the system, there is a feeling of constant tension through this story as you never know where it will go and what these characters will do.

There is a greater focus on the dark romance and BDSM aspects of this story and it fills up a lot of the pages but everything has a purpose and Rae uses it well to show not only who is actually controlling who, but also as manipulation and to highlight how there are two agendas and purposes being played at the same time. There are clear warnings at the beginning of the book regarding the content but this is a topic that can be hard to read about even knowing the subject matter going in.

This isn’t a series you can jump into at any point, this one especially offers little in way of explaining the larger plotlines. Rae has built up a world through the past four books that show the depth of the world and these relationships and with this fifth it is a hint at what I hope to be a fantastic world crumbling conclusion it’s been building up to be.

After the shock of the previous book’s conclusion I wasn’t sure what I was going to be met with but this is a nice balance between furthering the story, enhancing the characters and their relationships, and being another small step in the bigger picture. Fawn alters between being strong and defiant, manipulative and able to master her emotions to trick when she needs to, and being weak and fragile. I’ve said before I love Fawn best when she is defiant and prepared to burn the world down so I’m glad I got a few glimpses of that in this book.

Expectations are tested and we see a few different sides to characters in situations we hadn’t previously. It was interesting to see Fawn struggle seeing different sides of these people, given her situation and experiences she should know people to wear different masks depending on circumstance and with such an imbalanced relationship she can’t expect that she knows everything about these people anyway, no matter how close they become.

This was a slow build but one that wasn’t unsatisfying. The tension and uncertainty around the Wolf’s actions and the unknown of how this group of people will act confined to a house, each with their own roles to play, was one that keeps you guessing and on edge. There are negotiations and punishments on both sides and the sudden shifts and the unexpected are what Rae does best. Spending an entire book on edge never knowing what could happen is a feeling that is perfect for the kind of story Rae is trying to tell.

You can purchase Harvest via the following

Amazon | Amazon Aust

An Aussie Day Before Christmas by Kilmeny Niland

Published: 1st October 2010Goodreads badge
Publisher:
Scholastic
Illustrator: Kilmeny Niland
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

It’s the day before Christmas in Australia and Santa is in a tizz! So much to do — prezzies to wrap, the ute to check and eight ‘roos to choose. But not everything is going to plan. The helpers have gone and the ‘roos can’t be found! What will Santa do now?

I was sceptical when I picked up this book but I was pleasantly surprised and found I really enjoyed it. The narrative is written with the same poetic style as the original Night Before Christmas, but Niland brings an Aussie feeling to the story which worked surprisingly well. This is a sequel of sorts to Yvonne Morrison’s An Aussie Night Before Christmas which Niland illustrated.

One of the things I enjoyed was that the story is Australian without being over the top Australian. Niland uses Aussie language and Aussie slang without the full on cringe that some books cause when the use over the top words and phrases that don’t even sound natural to Australians. Classics like brekkie, dunny and other Aussie slang make an appearance but Niland’s illustrations add an explanation element without distracting from the story for those unaware of the meanings or intentions.

With roos instead of reindeer more Aussie nicknames come forward, and even by now I hadn’t grown tired of the Australianness of the story. You can always tell when an author tries too hard but Niland balances it well between a fun Christmas story while also having it tolerable to read aloud and not be so filled with slang that it becomes incomprehensible.

The illustrations are cute and I loved the design style used for not only Santa and his misses but also the native animals and the Australian environment. Through the rhyme Niland captures other elements of an Australian summer Christmas with the mention of blow flies, cicadas and the Aussie salute. A few Australian places are mentioned which adds some local identifiers and it was great to see Santa get ready for the big night with his summer gear on.

This is a fun and uniquely Aussie story that is also familiar as it lines up with the well-known classic. It’s fun to read aloud as you get caught up in the rhythm and with the use of the Aussie language you get to have a bit of fun with it as well. It’s also a great way to show off how Santa gets ready for his big night.

You can purchase An Aussie Day Before Christmas via the following

Amazon

A Very Quacky Christmas by Frances Watts

Published: 23rd October 2017Goodreads badge
Publisher:
ABC Books
Illustrator: Ann James
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

Samantha Duck is getting ready for Christmas and her friend Sebastian thinks she’s silly. After all, he says, Christmas isn’t for animals. But Samantha knows that Christmas is for everyone and sets out to make sure that all the animals have a very quacky Christmas (and a tortoise new year) 

This is such a cute book. Samantha Duck is trying to spread the Christmas cheer for all the animals but is constantly being reminded by her friend Sebastian that animals don’t do Christmas. I liked this because even though Sebastian keeps telling Samantha that she shouldn’t be doing Christmas, he still helps her make decorations and presents. I also loved how they go around and collect things from other animals who want to help like eggs and wool, and it is a lovely story about how even the simplest gesture can mean a lot.

The illustrations are adorable, James has done a brilliant job. I loved the designs on Samantha and Sebastian, and having a visual as Samantha decorates and they create their presents was a great bonus of enjoyment on top of an already sweet story. The water colours and roughly lined illustrations of the characters and scenery works well and they alter between full pages and smaller drawings with the text sharing half the page. The colours bring a feeling of nature as well as the summer Christmas atmosphere which we definitely need more representation of.

There is so much heart and determination Watts has put into a seemingly simple story but is also filled with its own bit of Christmas magic and it is a truly special little Christmas story.

You can purchase A Very Quacky Christmas via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

Rick by Alex Gino

Published: 21st April 2020 (print)/22 April 2020 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher:
Scholastic Press/Scholastic
Pages: 240/3 hrs and 27 mins
Narrator: Alex Gino
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Junior Fiction
★   ★   ★  ★ – 4 Stars

Rick’s never questioned much. He’s gone along with his best friend Jeff even when Jeff’s acted like a bully and a jerk. He’s let his father joke with him about which hot girls he might want to date even though that kind of talk always makes him uncomfortable. And he hasn’t given his own identity much thought, because everyone else around him seemed to have figured it out.

But now Rick’s gotten to middle school, and new doors are opening. One of them leads to the school’s Rainbow Spectrum club, where kids of many genders and identities congregate, including Melissa, the girl who sits in front of Rick in class and seems to have her life together. Rick wants his own life to be that … understood. Even if it means breaking some old friendships and making some new ones.

This is set in the same universe as George and takes place a couple years after the events in that book but this time we focus on a different character. Rick, who we met as a side character before, now takes centre stage and we see him a little older, a little wiser but also a little more confused.  You do not need to have read George to understand this story but it was wonderful to see what happened after the events in that book even if it isn’t the focus of the story.

It was amazing to see this story grow and develop and see Rick grow and develop along with it. Rick and Jeff’s friendship is one that kids form when they’re young: easy, they have fun together, they have a great time, but as they both start to get older their different personalities start to develop and this is where conflictions can occur.

As readers we’re meant to think Jeff is a creep straight away even if Rick doesn’t see it or completely agree, as everything about Jeff’s language and behaviour is gross and/or offensive. My limited understanding of American middle school is that these kids are in year six. They are eleven and twelve years old and they’re talking about girls in totally creepy and sexist ways. It is one way to show how Rick feels by seeing him fight emotionally against what Jeff does and says, but he doesn’t stop how Jeff keeps objectifying these girls.

Rick’s dad is also a sexist and a creep, he says inappropriate things to Rick and I liked that Rick’s response to this is that he feels like he’s “coated in a sticky layer of ick” when he hears it. He also doesn’t like that people expect him to become a ‘hormonal beast’ now he’s in middle school. Which again, is now he’s twelve. Even at my age I feel dirty hearing that phrase.  I am not blaming Gino for this at all and I love that they highlight the weird and inappropriate language people use around kids of a certain age, especially boys. I love that our main character doesn’t feel comfortable hearing this kind of talk and it’s great that Gino shows him working out who he is and makes it ok that he feels confused about his identity.

There is a great representation and exploration of the LGBTQIA+ community and it was great to see kids this age be so supportive and open about who they are, as well as so understanding of those who are still trying to figure themselves out. The kids manage to teach the adults something and the story explores great themes like acceptance, understanding, and support.

Melissa (who we’re introduced to in George) is in the story and I loved seeing her again and seeing her story after the end of George but I also loved that she doesn’t take centre stage. Rick’s story isn’t connected to Melissa’s and while she is in his story, I love how Gino hasn’t connected the two stories in such an obvious way.

There are other things Gino explores about getting to know and understand family and accepting the differences and realising there is a lot more to a person than there first appears. The relationship he has with his grandpa is sweet and it was a nice safe place for Rick to talk about his feelings and not be ridiculed or embarrassed.

This is a fairly quick read but it covers a lot of topics and explores a range of important topics not only about the LGBTQIA+ community but also about being a good person, a good friend and knowing you have the ability to make big decisions even at such a young age. I can’t wait to see what else Gino does next because based on these last two books I can only imagine it’ll be just as wonderful.

You can purchase Rick via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | WorderyAngus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Those Other Women by Nicola Moriarty

Published: 19th March 2018 (print)/25 April 2018 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher:
HarperCollins Australia/Wavesound Audio
Pages: 448/11 hrs and 52 mins
Narrator: Louise Crawford
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★   ★   ★  ★  – 4 Stars

Poppy’s world has been tipped sideways: the husband who never wanted children has betrayed her with her broody best friend. At least Annalise is on her side. Her new friend is determined to celebrate their freedom from kids, so together they create a Facebook group to meet up with like-minded women, and perhaps vent just an little about smug mummies’ privileges at work.

Meanwhile, their colleague Frankie would love a night out, away from her darlings – she’s not had one this decade and she’s heartily sick of being judged by women at the office as well as stay-at-home mums. Then Poppy and Annalise’s group takes on a life of its own and frustrated members start confronting mums like Frankie in the real world. Cafés become battlegrounds, playgrounds become war zones and offices have never been so divided.

A rivalry that was once harmless fun is spiralling out of control. Because one of their members is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And she has an agenda of her own.

This is a fascinating contemporary story about social media, modern parenting and the vindictiveness people are capable of when they feel justified in their actions. One thing I loved was Moriarty’s choice of narrators. Through the first few parts it alternates between Poppy and Annalise but when we get to see a third party, through Frankie’s eyes, I was amazed how I suddenly saw the previous events through different eyes. I could see how horrible Poppy and Annalise were being and it was a fascinating example of untrusty narrators and how perspective changes intent and meaning.

There are surprises and stereotypes that take sharp turns just when you think you know what is going on, a skill Moriarty is quite good at. She brings new twists to old clichés and I loved that it brought more depth and life to this story and the characters as a result. There is no relying on well-known tropes but Moriarty does play on them to her own advantage. In doing so it adds another level to the narrative and it reinforces the notion that people’s lives are complicated and there are a lot of different lives being led with problems of their own. Jumping to obvious conclusions is detrimental and damaging and it was fantastic to be drawn in myself and have it thrown back at me for my own assumptions. If you pay attention there are hints and clues that come to light after your whole viewpoint has shifted. This muddies the waters as more information doesn’t necessarily make things clearer but it definitely made it more intriguing.

The concept of having children versus remaining childless is confusingly a point of contention. This was something I was fascinated to read about because clearly there is an entire world of contention that I have been cut out of. The experiences described in this book will no doubt be familiar to some, certainly on both sides, and while I know of the general judgements and opinions, seeing it play out before me with Facebook groups and battles between mums and non-mums was a curious insight into a world I have never come across before. I’m hoping Moriarty took creative licencing with some of this because it was wild reading about these Facebook groups and what some of these women do.

Moriarty lays forth a story that has mystery and deceit, not to mention drama and emotional torment in her usual style. Crawford does a great job as narrator too. Her tone and pacing was great and didn’t distract from the story in any way. Overall it is engaging, captivating, a definite reflection of the modern parenting experience as well as the experiences of those left out of the conversation.

You can purchase Those Other Women via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | WorderyAngus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

 

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