AWW 2020 Wrap Up

24 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

by Amy in Australian Women Writers Tags: , ,

This has been a strange year for my AWW Challenge – I read a lot of books but haven’t gotten around to reviewing that many yet. And I started strong but then had a small slump and then somehow have come back strong at the end. And while my number looks huge compared to what I usually achieve, I have come in big with picture books with them taking up almost half of my total. I don’t have any guilt about this however which is a surprise to no one more than myself because I know what kind of year I have had and know it is a pure miracle I have read anything at all so to be able to have such a phenomenal number is amazing. Plus I read a lot of CBCA and Christmas picture books which bumped up my numbers.

My final total for the year is 58 read and 20 reviewed which is an almost win from my 40 read, 30 reviewed goal from the start of the year. I read over 200 books this year and the AWW made up 30% of those. This is a 5% increase from last year so maybe in 2021 I can make it 35% or higher. I don’t need to worry that I haven’t got reviews for them all yet, I have all next year to get some reviews included but to have read this many, mainly accidentally, is astounding. I am curious about what next year will bring. The 2021 AWW Challenge sign up is already up but I don’t think I’m ready to set a number yet. I need to get through this year first, see it to the end and then I can focus on 2021.

Did you participate in the AWW this year? If so how did you go? Or if not, with a new year nearly upon us it’s a great chance to jump on board for the 2021 challenge and discover the wonderful women writers Australia has to offer.

 

AWW 2020 Books Read and Reviewed

Fairytales for Feisty Girls by Susannah McFarlane

Growing Up Queer in Australia ed Benjamin Lee – Review

Summer Time by Hilary Bell

Goodwood by Holly Throsby – Review

A Day at the Show by Gwyn Perkins – Review

Just the Way We Are by Jessica Shirvington – Review

Shout out to the Girls – Review

Meerkat Choir by Nicki Greenberg – Review

Celeste the Giraffe Loved to Laugh by Celeste Barber – Review

Charlotte Pass by Lee Christine

Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend

The Mistake by Wendy James

Meet Me at the Intersection ed Rebecca Lim

Welcome to Orphancorp by Marlee Jane Ward

Clancy the Quokka by Lilli Wilkinson – Review

Star Crossed by Minnie Darke – Review

A Trip to the Beach by Gwyn Perkins

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood

Faking It (#2) by Gabrielle Tozer – Review

The Ex by Nicola Moriarty

Those Other Women Nicola Moriarty – Review

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil

What I Like About Me by Jenna Guillaume – Review

The Anzac Bilby by Claire Saxby

The Easter Bunnyroo by Susannah Chambers

Archibald the Naughtiest Elf in the World Causes Trouble for the Easter Bunny by Skye Davidson

Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah – Review

Before You Forget by Julia Lawrinson – Review

Queer Stories ed. Maeve Marsden

Ella and the Ocean by Lian Tanner

My Friend Fred by Frances Watts

Blinky Bill: The Quaint Little Australian by Dorothy Wall – Review

Blinky Bill Grows Up by Dorothy Wall – Review

Blinky Bill and Nutsy by Dorothy Wall – Review

All I Want for Christmas is Rain by Cori Brooke

Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr

This Is a Ball by Beck Stanton

Who’s Your Real Mum? by Bernadette Green

My Folks Grew Up in the ’80s by Beck Feiner

The Red Book by Beck Stanton

There’s no such thing! By Heidi McKinnon

All Through The Year by Jane Godwin

Reindeer’s Christmas Surprise by Ursula Dubosarsky

Little Dog and the Christmas Wish by Corinne Fenton

A Very Quacky Christmas by Frances Watts – Review

What Do You Wish For? by Jane Godwin

Tea and Sugar Christmas by Jane Jolly

An Aussie Day Before Christmas by Kilmeny Niland – Review

Santa and the Sugar Glider by Alexa Moses

Cleo and Rob by Helen Brown

Dear Grandpa by Kate Simpson

Theodore the Unsure by Pip Smith

Ask Hercules Quick by Ursula Dubosarky

The Cute Penguin by Gabriel Evans

When Billy Was a Dog by Kirsty Murray

Baz & Benz by Heidi McKinnon

Ivanhoe Swift Left Home at Six by Jane Godwin

Are These Hen’s Eggs by Christina Booth

Miss Kraken by Nicki Greenberg

Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French

The Naked Penguin by Kym Larder

Whitney and Britney, Chicken Divas by Lucinda Gifford – Review

 

Cover Reveal: Harvest (#5) by Nikki Rae

23 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

by Amy in Cover Reveal Tags: , , ,

Reveal

It feels like an eternity in coming but the fifth book in The Order series is almost here! The book is called Harvest and I am here to show off the gorgeous cover and throw in a few teasers as well. Nikki Rae always had spectacular covers and I think this one suits the fifth book in a seductive and dangerous series. If you’re new to Rae’s books you can catch up on the previous four by following the links below. If you enjoy dark romances and secret societies than this may be the series for you. You can read my reviews of this series here.

Synopsis: 

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?

 

 

 

Harvest will be released 29 December 2020

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AWW Update Oct-Dec

22 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

by Amy in Australian Women Writers Tags: , , , , ,

Curiously I read nothing by Aussie women in October or November so from my update in Oct I am jumping into December. A lot of these are picture books because aside from trying to find some cute Chrissy picture books I sussed out the CBCA list and read a few of those as well. I found a few missing from the previous update so I’ve added them in where they belong but even without those I’ve added another 15 books in December. It brings my total to 58 which is pretty awesome. I haven’t reviewed all of these yet but I will be so I’ll have to count that towards next year’s reviews. There’s some pretty fun books on this list though so I’m looking forward to reviewing them soon.

AWW20 BOOKS Oct – Dec

All I Want for Christmas is Rain by Cori Brooke

Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr

This Is a Ball by Beck Stanton

Who’s Your Real Mum? by Bernadette Green

My Folks Grew Up in the ’80s by Beck Feiner

The Red Book by Beck Stanton

There’s no such thing! By Heidi McKinnon

All Through The Year by Jane Godwin

Reindeer’s Christmas Surprise by Ursula Dubosarsky

Little Dog and the Christmas Wish by Corinne Fenton

A Very Quacky Christmas by Frances Watts – Review

What Do You Wish For? by Jane Godwin

Tea and Sugar Christmas by Jane Jolly

An Aussie Day Before Christmas by Kilmeny Niland – Review

Santa and the Sugar Glider by Alexa Moses

AWW20 TOTAL

Read: 58/40

Reviewed: 20/30

BLOGMAS Day 20: Favourite Picture Books featuring Amy from Lost In A Good Book

21 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

by Amy in General Tags: , , , ,

I teamed up with Jess from The Never Ending Book Shelf to talk about our favourite picture books s part of her Blogmas celebrations. Have you read any of these delightful stories? Also you should check out her blog because not only is her entire Blogmas content awesome, the rest of her blog is fantastic.

Jess's avatarThe Never Ending Bookshelf

Today for Blogmas I’m teaming up with Amyfrom Lost In A Good Book to talk about our top five favourite picture books. Amy runs an awesome book blog (so make sure you check it out) talking about a wide range of books across almost every genre and age group. Amy is also a qualified librarian and has written a really good introduction about the importance of picture books, so read on more to learn about picture books and our all time favourite picture books.

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An Aussie Day Before Christmas by Kilmeny Niland

18 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Australian Women Writers, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , , , ,

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

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