#AussieYAChallenge 2026

08 Jan 2026 Leave a comment

by Amy in Aussie YA Challenge Tags: , , , , , ,

The #AussieYAChallenge is a challenge created by Amy at Lost in a Good Book as an attempt to read more Australian young adult novels.

Doing a switcheroo for this month’s Long Lost Reviews because it seems my announcement for the 2026 #AussieYAChallenge has gotten out ahead of me so I’ll post my #LLR next week.

Entering its third year my #AussieYAChallenge is something I have grown to love more and more. I love finding new Australian young adult books and finally making the effort to read books I have had lovingly on my shelf for honestly, like 10+ years at this point and should probably have read long ago.

This challenge is open for anyone who wants to participate and you complete at your own pace throughout the year, or whenever you chose to start. There is no limit, no review requirements, just a chance to expand on your reading.

The #LoveOzYA is a strong brand and getting to focus some attention on it with my reading has brought me a lot of amazing stories. I hope if you follow this challenge, whether you participate or not, you will see the great variety and talent we have with our YA authors.

For the 2026 Challenge I am tapping that Nix level again, 12 books, 12 months. I hope to go beyond this year but I know if I set myself a higher number it’s only going to end badly. The excitement at exceeding (if it happens) is enough for now.

Keep an eye on my posts through the year as reviews for last year’s reads come through. I will also try and get some of this year’s reads up a bit sooner.

If you are interested in participating head to the #AussieYAChallenge page and see what’s involved.

Happy Reading!

Take A Bow, Noah Mitchell by Tobias Madden

20 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Audiobook, Aussie YA Challenge Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Published: 30 August 2022 (print)/25 October 2022 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Penguin/Penguin Random House Australia Audio
Pages: 384/9 hrs and 43 mins
Narrator: Matthew Backer
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
★   ★   ★ – 3.5 Stars

Seventeen-year-old gaymer Noah Mitchell only has one friend left: the wonderful, funny, strictly online-only MagePants69. After years playing RPGs together, they know everything about each other, except anything that would give away their real life identities. And Noah is certain that if they could just meet in person, they would be soulmates. Noah would do anything to make this happen—including finally leaving his gaming chair to join a community theater show that he’s only mostly sure MagePants69 is performing in. Noah has never done anything like theater—he can’t sing, he can’t dance, and he’s never willingly watched a musical—but he’ll have to go all in to have a chance at love.

With Noah’s mum performing in the lead role, and former friends waiting in the wings to sabotage his reputation, his plan to make MagePants69 fall in love with him might be a little more difficult than originally anticipated.

And the longer Noah waits to come clean, the more tangled his web of lies becomes. By opening night, he will have to decide if telling the truth is worth closing the curtain on his one shot at true love.

I know it is the point but I get so uncomfortable with lying in these types of novels when the character could organically weave it into a planned pretend surprise revelation. Which I know defeats the purpose of black moments and tension in the story and is more high concept than a love struck horny 17 year old can fathom, but it is always an interesting choice. Surely there can still be drama and twists by the manipulation of the facts than lying about them? Maybe for the next book.

Interestingly I didn’t actually want Noah and Eli to be together, not even because of the lies after a while, because I felt Eli wasn’t right for Noah. He is rash and emotional and quick to jump to conclusions. Even for Noah’s faults it felt like Eli would be a hard person to fully trust and be with if every move is under suspicion and always jumps to the worst conclusion.

Having said all that, what I did like is that the ending isn’t perfect. Something which works well for my opinions of the characters. While the story wraps up nicely, it is still tender and rocky for everyone involved. It felt better than full on acceptance, you can see growth in the characters, understand their reasoning and accept their decisions. I get a teenage boy not understanding the adult side of life, having a narrow viewpoint about their world view, and I also see how a parent can be lost in who they’ve become. The combination and culmination of both these plots was perfect and I loved Madden’s perspective and how each character felt real. The mother/son dynamic was honest and realistic, full of history and disappointment coming across with minimal effort. Everything Noah and his mother are, his sister and father as well of course, but everything these characters are is on the page perfectly.

The unspoken mystery was well worth the wait, I completely get Noah’s apprehension and choices around that. It is also so coded in pressure around friends and dramas, the emotional impact of events when you’re young far reaching years later and how it shapes who you are as a person. I get some concerns people have about cringe and no communication but from a teen mindset, of seeing consequences and social fallout, I totally get Noah’s caution. I only felt weird with the deception, which to be fair, so did Noah.

The LGBTQIA+ representation was great and I loved the variety of characters and cultural backgrounds. The gaming portion was well done too. It was balanced great between Noah being a gamer without falling into the trap of often inaccurate and overdone stereotypes. Madden treated it like a real hobby, one that was full of skill, friendship, and community.

I read this as an audiobook and Backer was a great narrator. The characters were distinctive with his voice and I loved how each character came across fully with his narrative style. As a whole the story felt wonderfully Australian without ever feeling cliché or trite. It captures the community of Ballarat, the issues with family, and the desires of getting out on your own while also embracing what you have.

You can purchase Take A Bow, Noah Mitchell via the following

QBD |  Dymocks | Booktopia

 Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Exit Through the Gift Shop by Maryam Master

11 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Australian Women Writers, Junior Fiction Tags: , , , , ,

Published: 21 July 2021Goodreads badge
Publisher: Pan Australia
Pages: 216
Format: Paperback
Genre: Junior Fiction
★   ★   ★ – 3 Stars

Anahita Rosalind Ghorban-Galaszczuk (yes, that really is her name but you can call her Ana) is discovering that life is absurd. As if dying of cancer at the age of 12.5 isn’t bad enough, she still has to endure daily insults from her nemesis, Alyssa (Queen Mean) Anderson. Ana’s on a wild roller-coaster of life and death, kindness and cruelty, ordinary and extraordinary. And she’s got a few things to do before she exits…

I enjoyed this book but it also got me really invested in some of the bullying aspects so there are some smidge spoilers in here. I tried to be vague but there are some mini spoilers ahead as my impassioned response took over.

Being a book about a child with cancer is going to divide a few readers. I think though that sometimes having a book where it isn’t doom and gloom is a powerful choice. It isn’t about the disease it’s about living life with the disease and Master has chosen that route well. The fact this side plots with a case of severe bullying was a wild decision but again, Master manages to tie into Ana’s life philosophy and really highlights her character and strength, even if I wasn’t pleased with some of the directions the plotline took.

I thought from the blurb this would be a general mean girl taunting situation, not full scale years of targeted horrific abuse. The description of bullying, and the years of emotional and borderline physical abuse this girls suffers is enough to break anybody. If she were a different person she could have taken it to heart and really withdrawn, hurt herself, or worse. It’s only that she’s kept a positive attitude and acknowledges the bad behaviour to make light of it, while still mentioning the dread it causes. ‘Recognise it, but ignore it’ is her approach.

I understand her plan of not saying anything, and not standing up for yourself. It’s hard. But I thought her new plan was brilliant. There are laws now, she found the right law, and she had the evidence. The plan was great, she finally told her parents. The fact she stops because she discovers something about her bully is ludicrous.

What if she never discovered that? What if the bullying got so bad she’d killed herself to escape it? What if she harmed herself because she believed what this girl was saying? I cannot believe after all the great things Master was putting in here that that was the result. There is being the bigger person and there is justifiable consequences for this horrific abuse.

“As horrid as Alyssa had been and continued to be, her life obviously sucked and getting the police involved wasn’t going to help anyone.”

Disagree. It will teach her a lesson and make her realise her behaviour. It might give her some help or support, or some perspective about other people. Tell her there are consequences for her actions and it could stop her doing it to someone weaker than Ana. Disgraceful.

I know we have to teach kids to be nice, but I think there is also an important lesson about teaching them when to avoid someone, tell and adult, and leave each other be. You can’t make someone forgive you or be nice to you after years of singled out, targeted bullying. Especially when it continued after the news came out this twelve year old was dying for goodness sake. If that doesn’t make someone come to their senses nothing will.

I wished there was less ‘make the bullied kid stand up for themselves’ instead of having a teacher and parents address the issue in a one on one situation. Let the adults know about what happens but make the kids deal with it isn’t a great solution.

I will stop going on about it, but it really got up my nose how Master executed this plotline, especially when we came so close to a real solution that could have real world positivity for readers who experience the same thing. Or might change their own behaviour as a result.

Other than that I enjoyed Ana’s approach to her diagnosis and her plan for the last part of her life. There are random references to hospitals and Ana’s weakening state but Master filters these in so well you forget sometimes that there is a physical toll of Ana’s condition. It is sad, but with Ana as our narrator she never makes us feel too depressed, she goes on with life plans and a smile and is taking her life into her hands. Ana’s voice is definitely the tone setter. It is surprisingly light-hearted and funny, she navigates things like family drama and puberty with grace and with as much ease as she gives her terminal diagnosis. She has a time limit on her life but there is still life happening in the meantime.

Her friendship with Al was great, he is a wonderful support for her as well as a distraction and a sounding board for her troubles.

I loved the ending because as readers we’re given no definitive answers. Ana’s philosophy about life is to be lived and how everything matters and nothing matters is a nice message and not having a solid ending leaves readers with hope even with the knowledge of the inevitability of it all.

You can purchase Exit Through the Gift Shop via the following

QBD |  Booktopia | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon Aust | Audible

I Don’t by Clementine Ford

22 Aug 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, Audiobook, Australian Women Writers, Non Fiction, Top Five List Tags: , , , , , , ,

Published: 31 October 2023 (print)/7 November 2023 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Allen and Unwin/W. F. Howes Ltd.
Pages: 370/9 hrs and 5 mins
Narrator: Clementine Ford
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Non Fiction
★   ★   ★   ★   ★ – 5 Stars

Incendiary feminist and bestselling author Clementine Ford presents the inarguable case against marriage for the modern woman. Provocative, controversial and above all, compellingly and persuasively argued.

“I want this book to end marriages. But more importantly, I want it to prevent marriages. Women are allowed to aspire to more than what we’ve been told we should want in order to be happy. Let yourself have a bigger dream than becoming the supporting role in someone else’s story.

Why, when there is so much evidence of the detrimental, suffocating impact marriage has on women’s lives, does the myth of marital bliss still prevail? If the feminist project has been so successful, why do so many women still believe that our value is intrinsically tied to being chosen by a man?”

In her most incendiary and controversial book to date, Clementine Ford exposes the lies used to sell marriage to women to keep them in service to men and male power. From the roots of marriage as a form of property transaction to the wedding industrial complex, Clementine Ford explains how capitalist patriarchal structures need women to believe in marriage in order to maintain control over women’s agency, ambitions and freedom.

I Don’t presents an inarguable case against marriage for modern women. With the incisive attention to detail and razor-sharp wit that characterises her work, Ford dissects the patriarchal history of marriage; the insidious, centuries-long marketing campaign pop culture has conducted in marriage’s favour; the illusion of feminist ‘choice’ in regard to taking men’s names; and the physical and social cost that comes with motherhood. 

But most importantly, Clementine Ford shows us what a different kind of world could look like for women if we were allowed to be truly free. 

I wasn’t sure I’d be interested in this book despite my love of Ford’s other books, but I adored it. The history of marriage and the role it’s played in society, women’s lives, and how it has changed over the years was fascinating. I loved the quotes that could have been from this decade but were from centuries ago. Women have always had strong opinions and thoughts about their lives and marriage and I loved being able to see that people have always been people.

I have seen the hate Ford gets from certain people both in the public eye and not, and while this blurb makes it sound like it’s a call for every woman to suddenly up and leave their partner in the middle of the night it isn’t that at all.

What Ford’s done is written a fantastic book looking at the history of marriage and how it has been used over the centuries to claim women as property, to control and subdue them, and, despite all the years of growth and change, there are still a lot of negative things that come from marriage even in the twenty first century.

The binding ties of marriage are different to the concept of being in a relationship and Ford has nothing against being with someone, but a lot of her book goes through the history of marriage, its evolution, and how it is still rooted in those misogynistic ways of the early incarnations. Not to mention how it wasn’t that long ago women still didn’t have full financial autonomy, security over their children, or safety in being able to leave abuse.

Even without the captivating chapters about power dynamics, household labour imbalance, and the societal expectations engrained in us from a young age, the insight into the wedding industry is fascinating. Ford delves deep at how they prey on people whose dream day can be exploited with price hikes, unnecessary frivolity, and how so often a huge party is just as acceptable compared to the pomp and circumstance of dresses, flowers, and sermons about obeying.

There isn’t a sole focus on the female perspective of marriage, and the analysis of the marriage equality debate was considerate and well judged. This is as much a look at the system and history of marriage as it is a call for readers to think critically about their choices and why they want to do this. If you go into marriage with your eyes open you can go in knowing what to expect. But Ford asks readers to decide if it’s something they actually want to do, or if it is something that think they have to do, are expected to do, will fill incomplete and unfilled if they don’t do, or if they will be thought of as lesser if they don’t. These issues are what she explores beautifully and with statistics behind her and a wealth of data I loved how accessible and eye opening this book made me, especially when I already thought I knew so much.

You can purchase I Don’t via the following

QBD |  Dymocks | Booktopia

 Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Not Here to Make Friends (#3) by Jodi McAllister

19 Aug 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Australian Women Writers, Fiction, Romance Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 3 January 2024 (print)/2 January 2024 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster Australia
Pages: 400/9 hrs and 35 mins
Narrator: Matty Morris, Aileen Huynh
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Romance
★   ★   ★   ★ – 4 Stars

Murray O’Connell is standing on the greatest precipice of his career. As showrunner of the reality dating show Marry Me, Juliet, Murray is determined to make this season a success.

Nothing and nobody will stand in his way.

Except perhaps Lily Fireball, the network’s choice for this season’s villain. Lily has classic reality TV appeal: She’s feisty, dramatic, and never backs down from a fight. She also happens to be Murray’s estranged best friend and former co-showrunner.

What was once a perfectly planned season turns to chaos as the two battle for control. Working in reality television, they’re used to drama, secrets, and romance. But what happens when suddenly they’re at the center of the storyline?

I love this series. This is the third version of this story but while there is a whole other side being explored, there’s obvious overlaps and seeing that cross over with what I’ve read in books one and two are great nods to the other points of view while also being a fresh new story on its own. Lily has intrigued me from the very beginning. I have been dying through two books to know Lily’s story. Now I finally have it.

It is amazing to see how easily people can be produced. It’s come up before, not in the reality TV space, but how people can be manipulated or at least be used to gain information or make people reveal more than they normally would. We all know about the editing to get the best TV, it’s something we’ve seen it in the past two books and now we finally have the answers.

Murray has suffered a lot as a result of this and I love how his rushed, tired, and frantic existence is captured in his narration. You can see how run off his feet he is, something that we’d seen briefly in the other books but it’s fun to see the poor man suffer at the whims of these characters who aren’t doing the story they originally planned on.

It isn’t all heart-warming and sunshine, nor a revisit to scenes and plots we’ve read before. Seeing behind the scenes of reality TV has never been my cup of tea. I don’t actually like seeing how manipulative producers and editing can be. Now McAlister has given us the perspective of those behind the scenes it’s hard to see the enjoyment in these shows. Where previous books showed how the characters could defy the chosen narrative and make their own paths, it’s hard seeing how those less fortunate can’t escape being manipulated by what makes “good TV”.

Having said that, it’s still great. It’s interesting because a few chapters in you know where it’s going, you’ve also read the other books so one side you’ve seen already. Yet McAlister has still makes these characters intriguing enough, their dynamic engaging enough, that you need to see how they both react to what happens in this story.

Despite being on the dodgy side of ethics, Murray and Lily do know they aren’t the best people. Coercing people into their narratives and staging things to get the outcomes they want are things they know aren’t good, but they know they are good at them as well.

The replay of scenes we’ve read before never feel repetitive and it’s a good reminder of what’s happened and the different points of view and how those events came to be. Reading the three books gives a perfect view of every angle of the story. The final story being the behind the scenes manipulations, puppetry, and wrap up of the mysteries of the previous books is perfect.

You can purchase Not Here to Make Friends via the following

QBD |  Booktopia

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

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