four stars | Lost in a Good Book

The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon

05 Feb 2018 1 Comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Junior Fiction Tags: four stars, junior fiction, liz pichon, tom gates

Published: 4th April 2011
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
Genre: Junior Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

All Tom Gates wants to do is get tickets to see his favourite band when they come to town. It’s not easy when he’s up against Delia, his weirdo big sister. All of his plans seem to get him into major trouble!

I wasn’t expecting this to be such a funny book. I was reading and actually laughed out loud at some of the things Pichon has written. It was such a different experience than Wimpy Kid where I disliked it almost immediately. The premise is the same (young kid, diary, shenanigans) but the reading experience and the content is so much better. It’s a case of English versus American which accounts for the differences and once you realise that you understand the different styles of humour.

I will admit, Tom is a little mean, but it’s childlike and a bit more innocent. The kind of annoying kid in class that make teachers want to retire early and hold back their exasperated sighs. It’s fairly harmless joking and being an annoying younger brother than actually being cruel or deceitful. You believe that Tom is being himself and not really thinking things through, there is no real intended malice in his actions.

He isn’t constantly like this though; for the most part, he is a young kid who is in a band with his friend, he is embarrassed by his dad’s clothes, wants to see his favourite band, and tries to impress a girl at school. When he gets in trouble he learns his lesson and there is a cheekiness about Tom that makes you smile, even when he is in the wrong.

One of the things I loved is that it’s very interactive with the inclusion of the pictures. Tom is a character who doodles in his school books and you experience his days through his drawings on the page as much as the words he’s written. It goes beyond one drawing per page, there are drawings through the text and pages where it is just drawings and a random array of Tom’s thoughts and emotions. It portrays a young boy’s book extremely well and I can’t wait to keep reading the series.

You can purchase The Brilliant World of Tom Gates via the following

QBD | Booktopia

Book Depository | Dymocks

Amazon | Amazon Aust

Audible | Fishpond | Wordery

Anna and the French Kiss

24 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Young Adult Tags: four stars, stephanie perkins, young adult

Published: 16th July 2013
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 372
Format: Book
Genre: Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Can Anna find love in the City of Light?

Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she’s less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year.But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he’s taken —and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she’s waiting for?

There are definitely two emotions one experiences whilst reading this book. On one hand, it is sweet and adorable and there are lovely French sites and wonderful friendships and cute, sweet romances. On the other hand, there’s a boy who essentially cheats on his girlfriend because he hasn’t got the emotional stability to be alone, both have too many emotions that can’t seem to stay balanced for more than five minutes, and other kinds of moral problems that just don’t sit right.

Focusing on the good though, I loved that Perkins took the friendship route. I loved the entire first half where Anna and the nice French boy Étienne St Clair become friends as he shows her around France. There’s not anything to worry about and you fall in love with their friendship. I loved that Anna didn’t pine for the boy across the room without really meeting him, she got to know him and be a close friend first and foremost which made their relationship and the story much better.

I enjoyed the narrative a lot; I liked the normalcy of it before the relationship drama really began. I liked seeing Anna find her feet and making friends, seeing her navigate through this French school as best she could. Character \wise though, Anna was complicated. To be honest, all the characters were interesting and had some issues, but my word they were dramatic. Very dramatic, and so many emotions! Anna was such an emotional yo-yo it was hard to keep up. She also cried a lot. A lot. For no reason, at the drop of a hat, for the smallest thing. It’s a character choice I guess, the sensitive girl, but I swear there are times when crying is not the right reaction and there’s some stuff that maybe could be solved without tears.

St Clair was another emotionally and angst-ridden teen. St Clair is the typical YA boy: the hair, the smile, the eyes, the way he chews on his nails is even meant to be adorable, and I’ll be honest, at times I hated myself thinking that was adorable but credit where credit is due, Perkins makes you fall in love with these two and makes all the problematic moments easy to forget. Like Anna, St Clair is an emotional confusion which makes him a pain at times with his own indecision, but I guess it is meant to be romantic or something.

I certainly shifted between them being adorable and rolling my eyes at them which was weird. They shifted between the two so quickly so one minute I was rolling my eyes then I was ‘awwing’ at their sweetness. It was an odd experience but in a weird way, I think the sweetness worked out, even if it was hilarious at times watching them discusses their situation and I hate St Clair at times for his actions.

I know there are problems in this about characters and their actions, but I think I was won over because it was sweet and it was a romance that was built up through friendship and accidental feelings. But I will openly admit that I feel a bit wrong in doing so.

You can purchase Anna and the French Kiss via the following

Publisher | Book Depository

Amazon | Booktopia | Kobo

Wordery | Fishpond | A&R Bookworld

The 52-Storey Treehouse (#4) by Andy Griffiths

15 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Treehouse Series Tags: andy griffiths, aussie books, four stars, Treehouse Series

Published: 1st September 2014
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pages: 330
Format: ebook
Genre: Junior Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Andy and Terry’s incredible, ever-expanding treehouse has 13 new storeys, including a watermelon-smashing level, a wave machine, a life-size snakes and ladders game (with real ladders and real snakes), a rocket-powered carrot-launcher, a Ninja Snail Training Academy and a high-tech detective agency with all the latest high-tech detective technology, which is lucky because they have a BIG mystery to solve – where is Mr Big Nose???

The 52-Storey Treehouse brings mystery and adventure. Numerous things have gone missing from the Treehouse: Mr Big Nose, Jill, and the flying beetroots. This sets Andy and Terry off with a mission to find out where all these missing things have gone, discovering a very hungry caterpillar and a vegetable vendetta on their way.

I liked this story, not as much as the pirate story in the 26-Storey Treehouse, but it was fun. I liked the mystery element and I liked that it kept the silliness of Andy and Terry we’ve come to expect without going overboard.

Jill returns as well. Any story is better with Jill in it; she balances out the boys, and brings some reason to their antics while also having her own silliness. There’s also a lot of references to their past books and adventures in this story. Which, if you’ve read the other books is a nice reminder, but if not you aren’t really missing out but may be a bit confused.

Again, the illustrations are as much a part of these books as the text, the animals in the treehouse are great, there’re even some great nods to other books: I spotted a hobbit on an eagle in one picture. Denton puts in a lot of fun detail and comments that are a fun story in themself. This frivolity has always been transported into the audiobook with Wemyss’s voices so the effects are still there, but looking at the detail of Denton’s treehouse and the numerous characters in it can be simple but quite elaborate at the same time.

I liked the multiple components of this story, it wasn’t one big story, but multiple things that all connected. Just when you thought the adventure was over there was another one. I look forward to more Jill appearances and whatever awaits in another 13-storeys.

You can purchase The 52-Storey Treehouse via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Book Depository

Booktopia | Bookworld | Fishpond

Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Wordery | Publisher

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

11 Jan 2018 2 Comments

by Amy in 4 Stars, Australian Women Writers, Fiction Tags: #aww2018, australian women writers challenge, aww 2018, aww18, four stars, liane moriarty

Published: 29th July 2014 (print)/1st August 2014 (audio)
Publisher: Berkley /Bolinda Audio
Pages: 460/1 discs
Narrator: Caroline Lee
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbours secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

As I’ve been making way back through Moriarty’s back catalogue I had been leaving this one until later. After being disappointed with a few of her earlier ones I had been told her later books were better. I have to admit this was a great book. I listened to it on audiobook and it really suited the format. Caroline Lee does a wonderful job bringing the characters to life and with Moriarty’s style of jumping back and forth in time and scenes it is a style suited to this kind of story.

Lee is a great narrator; she makes each of the key women unique in their voices and every character’s personality shine through with her voices and inflections. She definitely captured the School Mum hierarchy and pushy parents, which added to the experience.

As per Moriarty style, we begin with a mystery. Something has happened and we’re not going to be told what until 3/4 of the way through. I have grown to like this style of hers, especially when she does it well and succinctly. This, like Truly Madly Guilty, benefited from this because there are a host of characters to introduce and explore. In that case this drawn out mystery is beneficial and never feels like it drags on.

There are numerous clues and possibilities as to what it is that has happened and who it is that had been affected. But it’s not just this Event that is mysterious; Moriarty weaves numerous seemingly innocent events together to create a plot filled with secrets, gossip, rumours, and schoolyard politics that snowball into a dramatic and destructive force. Numerous clues are given and enough details are provided about the three main women that you can easily convince yourself that The Event is about each of them, keeping you on your toes as to who will be affected.

I loved the mixture of the interviews and the different perspectives and I loved the variety of school mums and their relationships. There are so many complicated things happening that you really are not sure which way the story could go.

When the reveal comes it is divine, and then it morphs into something else entirely. Moriarty has finally mastered a good reveal that actually means something and changes everything. My suspicions were confirmed, but I was also pleasantly surprised. Something I haven’t really had with a Moriarty book before.

You can purchase Big Little Lies via the following

Dymocks | Booktopia | Wordery

Book Depository | Kobo| Fishpond

Amazon | Amazon Aust | QBD

The Younger Man by Zoe Foster

10 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Australian Women Writers Tags: #aww2018, Audiobook, australian women writers challenge, aww, aww 2018, aww18, fiction, four stars, zoe foster

Published: February 2012 (print)/1 February 2017 (audio)
Publisher: Penguin Australia /Wavesound Audio
Pages: 304/8 Discs
Narrator: Helen Atkinson
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Abby runs her own agency, providing beautiful girls for promotional events. She needs a new website and when she calls in the web contractors, none other than the gorgeous, sexy, young Marcus turns up. Abby had met Marcus at a party a few weeks earlier and they had an amazing one-night stand. Abby is not unhappy to see him again. He is rather divine, after all. It’s just that she’s 33 and he’s 22, so how can she ever expect anything to come of this relationship. But Marcus is determined and sets out to prove to Abby that he is wise beyond his years and knows what he wants. Abby is not so sure and when she escapes to Italy and meets someone else, she must decide whether to follow her head or her heart.

I quite liked this book. I don’t think I liked it as much as I liked The Wrong Girl, but I did enjoy it. Helen Atkinson did a great job narrating the audiobook, she added emotions and emphasis to Foster’s words that add another level to each of the characters.

Abby is a woman in her mid-30s, accomplished, self-employed and not looking for a relationship. Naturally, this idea is challenged when she meets Marcus, a guy of 22 who was only meant to be a one night fling. I liked the dynamic between these two, Foster plays them off one another and as they clash and blend it’s a great read.

I liked that Marcus was mature and serious, but knew how to have fun as well. He reflected back against Abby’s insecurities and her constant doubts and it made the reader see Abby’s failings. The story wasn’t predictable to the point of fault; it was more like you knew where it was meant to go if only Abby could get her act together. She was the one that needed to learn and grow up ironically. But seeing her turmoil and the journey they go on is rewarding as well. The story isn’t will they/won’t they, it’s how long and what will we have to sit through before Abby gets herself together. Which was different, it didn’t have the usual climax and drama, I was almost starting to think it wasn’t going to have one to be honest.

Foster could have added more to the story but in a way I think it works, even with the abrupt ending she’s gone with. There could have been extra pages that wrap things up nicely, that give more details, hope, happy endings, but it works without it. Foster wraps things up in stages so there are a few mini conclusions before the book ends which until the end you don’t realise were mini conclusions. It was a surprise but when I thought it through it works quite well.

You can purchase The Younger Man via the following

Publisher | Amazon Aust

Booktopia | Book Depository

Fishpond | QBD | Audible