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#AussieYAChallenge Update 2

02 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in Aussie YA Challenge, Young Adult Tags: #AussieYAChallenge, aussie books, Aussie YA Challenge, loveozya, meg mckinlay, reading challenge, sean williams, tobias madden, young adult

September snuck up on me in a weird way, but as I started writing this I was thinking thankfully my Aussie YA Challenge had been chugging along consistently; at least I felt like I’d been having a good run. Comparing my first update to my second I am not as pleased, but I am still pleased…I think. Two were July and one was an August read which is failing my one a month plan, but I have now read eight so I am technically on track. Given the hard task of finding Aussie YA in audio form, and how hard it is to find time to read a physical book it is a good addition at any rate. The problem is other, non Aussie, books are also around and they are shiny and intriguing and terribly distracting. How weird it is to say you’ve read 99 books but only 8 have been Aussie YA. That’s some kind of fail, right?

Once again I am boldly taking chances on books simply because they fill the challenge which is giving me some great reads that I have never heard of and may never have tired. It is also making me finally read books I’ve had on my TBR list for literal years which can’t be a bad thing.

I will endeavour to hit my goal by my final update and I am excited to see what other great stories I find.

Latest Additions:

Take A Bow, Noah Mitchell by Tobias Madden

Surface Tension by Meg McKinlay

Impossible Music by Sean Williams

Take A Bow, Noah Mitchell was a nice story about online friends, the truth, and realising a few things about your family.

Surface Tension was a fascinating story that I find myself thinking of a lot. A town that gets intentionally flooded and the power of a single voice in righting wrongs of the past.

Impossible Music was fascinating in how the newly deaf learn to adjust and the impact it has on your dreams and identify.

The total list so far:

All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield

Tin Heart by Shivaun Plozza

Because of You by Pip Harry

Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Madden

100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze by Clayton Zane Comber

Take A Bow, Noah Mitchell by Tobias Madden

Surface Tension by Meg McKinlay

Impossible Music by Sean Williams

I hope your own Aussie YA Challenge goals are going well and you have discovered some amazing reads yourself. Feel free to shout out in the comments some you have read so far, or even those you are looking forward to reading. If you’re interested in signing up it’s not to late, head over to my info page and declare your goal on social media, your website, or in the comments of this years post.

#AussieYAChallenge Update

30 Apr 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in Aussie YA Challenge, Young Adult Tags: #AussieYAChallenge, aussie books, Aussie YA Challenge, clayton zane comber, loveozya, pip henry, reading challenge, shivaun plozza, tobias madden, vikki wakefield

My first update of the year was looking a tad woeful for a while but then I found a few Aussie YA on audio which bumped my numbers a little at the last minute. In the end I did three audio, one ebook, and one physical so that was exciting. The books I read were pretty awesome, all unique, and had that wonderful Australian feel to them.

I’d forgotten how convenient it can be to have an ebook too. It’s really no less convenient to have an audio except you don’t need to worry about headphones or being able to hear the narrator if you’re in a loud area. Granted the reading ones took a long time, but it really helped me savour the story, and I looked forward to coming back to the story when I had a chance to keep reading.

One fun thing about this challenge is it’s making me try any Aussie YA that I come across because it fits my criteria. Which may not be the best approach, and the book still has to sound ok, but I am taking chances on stuff because is a #LoveOzYA title or the author is Australian. I definitely found some beautiful reads this way so far.

The list so far:

All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield

Tin Heart by Shivaun Plozza

Because of You by Pip Harry

Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Madden

100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze by Clayton Zane Comber

Because of You by Pip Henry was a gorgeous story of a young girl experiencing homelessness and the school girl who volunteers at a shelter she visits.

Tin Heart is an emotional story about a transplant recipient who wants to show her thanks but risks crossing a dangerous barrier of the no contact rule from her donor family.

All I Ever Wanted follows Mim who is living in the suburbs with a criminal family and a need to escape.

Wrong Answers Only was one I’d looked forward to for months and I’m glad it paid off. A story of taking chances and being brave, about expectations and the battles against your body, your mind, and letting go.

100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze had a great voice and was another story about being brave, taking chances, and discovering how small decisions can change your whole life.

Like all books not every one of these were perfect, amazing, or to my exact taste, but I am still glad I read them. I got to see these stories of characters in different situations and experiences. This is what I love about Australian YA, we have these big bold stories, often in very short compact books that are about the teenage experience but aren’t confined to the playground or classroom dynamics.

I already have a few titles in my TBR list and I certainly have a massive stack of physical books piled up at home so I look forward to seeing what the next update brings.

#AussieYAChallenge 2025

07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in Aussie YA Challenge, Young Adult Tags: #AussieYAChallenge, aussie books, Aussie YA Challenge, loveozya, young adult

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

As part of my goals I am putting some determination (and public guilt and accountability) into my challenge and I am hoping to be a little better this year. Based on my previous challenges I expect each year I will be a bit better at planning and reading and organising so this year will be an improvement on my first I’m sure.

Despite the chaos of last year and scraping through my goal of a measly 12 books out of my 80+ read being Aussie YA, I am diving right back in and selecting the Nix level again. Whoo! 12 months 12 books.

I am hoping to hit the ground running because the usual dip mid to late year will get in the way, the other option is to try and stick to the one a month plan which could go either way in terms of success.

I am excited to explore more YA books, especially some of the older ones on my shelf I have gazed lovingly at for years and yet to pick up. Hopefully even find some new authors to fall in love with. One can only hope!

If you are interested in participating head to the #AussieYAChallenge page and join up.

#AussieYAChallenge 2024 Wrap Up

31 Dec 2024 2 Comments

by Amy in Aussie YA Challenge, Young Adult Tags: #AussieYAChallenge, Aussie YA Challenge, book challenges, loveozya

Well.

I don’t know who lets me have these grand ideas but as we tick down the final hours or 2024 I managed to pull off some kind of miracle. The past few days I frantically tried to meet my (personally chosen and completely voluntary) goal of reading 12 #LoveOzYA books this year and I have snuck in before the final strike of midnight. Yay!

Like most of my grand plans, I started off well, dipped in the middle, got angry at myself for my inability to maintain my plans despite the want and desire still being there, and then managing to stress out and make sure I met these (again, arbitrary, completely voluntary, self-inflicted, no consequence) goals.

It feels like an ongoing cop out, but I putting some blame on the fact there are so few Aussie YA books made into audiobooks. Even with the brief consideration of signing up for audible I couldn’t find any on there worth my time that I couldn’t get through the free library apps. The second blame lays entirely on the fact at somehow, in an entire year, I couldn’t make time to sit and read a single book and do nothing else? I felt like time was being wasted if I only read, I couldn’t read and do laundry, read and drive, read and walk the dog. That I think is one thing I will seriously have to work on next year because that doesn’t sound healthy if we study that too closely.

But enough lamenting, we’re here to celebrate the first annual Lost in a Good Book award for outstanding achievement in the field of reading challenges! I know readers like thebookmuse and jess64au on StoryGraph met their achievements which is amazing, especially considering I thought this was going to be a solo venture. I know a couple other people dropped off but I am still eternally grateful they were keen enough to give it a shot in the first place. I was a bit slack on the promotional aspect and I know I didn’t keep up with my tagging and reviewing but for a first year I am quietly pleased I pulled it off. Onto greater success next year!

I read some great Aussie YA this year. Two of which were set at university, and two were at the lower end with a 14 year old character and a 13 year old character. It was refreshing to see a different side of young life that wasn’t the mid teens which is often so prevalent. Some of the books I read have even made it onto my Top Five of 2024 list.

I read a lot of authors I hadn’t heard of, some that had been on my TBR list ages, and some lesser known books that were quietly waiting my discovery. The full list of what I read is below but I love that doing this challenge made me track down these books. Of course there are lists every year about new and upcoming books, the fantastic #LoveOzYA team promote new releases, themed books, and old favourites all the time. But having to discover Aussie YA on various library apps and diving right in because I have a goal to meet and it was available in a format I could handle honestly hasn’t been the worst way to read.

I also managed to complete a small related side quest and finished the Read 24 YA stories in 2024 Challenge on StoryGraph. Depressingly a lot easier without the Australian restriction in terms of audiobooks and in the end I exceeded that too (reading a couple series definitely helped I think), and I am most certainly going to challenge myself to that one again as well.

I plan to review these books if I haven’t posted them already, so look for those through the next few months. I am also keen to dive right back in 1^st January and get a head start on next year’s challenge. I cannot wait to see what amazing stories I discover. I will be putting up a whole new 2025 Aussie YA Challenge post so keep an eye out for that if you’re keen to join but for now these are the books that I read for my Aussie YA Challenge this year!

Aussie YA Challenge – Garth Nix level

Hamlet is Not Ok by R. A. Spratt

Points of Departure by Emily O’Beirne

Unnecessary Drama by Nina Kenwood

My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery

The Quiet and the Loud by Helena Fox

It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood

The Pause by John Larkin

Untidy Towns by Kate O’Donnell

My Lovely Frankie by Judith Clarke

As Happy As Here by Jane Godwin

Josie Robs and Bank and Other Stories by Gabrielle Reid

Can’t Say it Went to Plan by Gabrielle Tozer

As Happy As Here by Jane Godwin

30 Apr 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, Aussie YA Challenge, Young Adult Tags: #AussieYAChallenge, five stars, jane godwin, loveozya, young adult

Published: 23 July 2019
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pages: 273
Format: Paperback
Genre: Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars

A beautiful coming-of-age story about three teenage girls from very different backgrounds who find themselves sharing a hospital ward, for fans of Kate DiCamillo and Fiona Wood

Three teenage girls from very different backgrounds find themselves sharing a hospital ward. When they witness a crime in the park below their window, they bond over trying to solve the crime and each one undergoes a profound change.

A beautiful coming-of-age story about identity, expectation, class, justice, society, fairness, and, above all, kindness.

I did not expect to still be thinking about this book weeks after I had finished it but it will not leave my mind. It isn’t even so much the story, but the characters Godwin has created are so impactful it’s hard not to remember them.

Godwin captures the three different personalities really well. Evie, Lucy, and Jemma overlap in some ways but at the same time their unique selves come through. Lucy is mature, having a lifetime of experience already at a young age, Evie is a young girl on the cusp of growing up and the world moving too fast for her, wanting to stay young but also foolishly lamenting not being older. Jemma is a chaotic force who is acting grown up but at the same time is even younger and more vulnerable than the others. Her strength is to bewilder and bullheadedly push on not worrying about what comes before.

The Jemma she puts on to others is very different to the one you can see is the truth. It’s a loose comparison but she gave me Pippi Longstockings vibes: the neglected kid making up stories and being proud of how unbalanced her life was.

I understood Evie’s frustrations so well. I have been around people like Jemma before and it’s hard to fight against their confidence and their chaotic nature. Their lies and self-assuredness make it hard when you know things aren’t true or are unjust. Trying to find the voice or the energy to do the right thing, or to stop people believing the wrong things about you is hard.

You know Jemma is a lonely little girl, you know she is covering up hurt and trying to be flippant about it, but my god it makes it hard to feel sorry for her. You find yourself hating this poor twelve year old and the irritation and wanting to shake sense into her and tell her to stop acting like that is strong.

I enjoyed the adults in this story as well as the three girls. Their roles are so different, and yet they are also the same. With minimal words Godwin gives full depth to the adults in the girls’ lives. We know the kind of people Evie’s parents are, who Lucy’s dad is, and who the adults in Jemma’s life are. The comparison and the different approaches was a great contrast and even through Evie’s eyes it is a great example of how much kids see.

This is a powerful story about the lives different people have, especially young teens. Having Evie reflect on the differences without being judgemental is incredibly important. Her empathy is wonderful but Godwin never makes her perfect. She is young, learning, timid but wants to do what’s right. She is a wonderful character and a great narrator. That is where Godwin’s story is fantastic. You can have these feelings based on surface events but as the book progresses and we see more of the bond the three girls have, how their lives interact, how each conflict changes them, your own perspective changes with theirs.

For the most part it is a story about unlikely friends and a strange mystery outside the window like Rear Window for the modern age, but then in the final chapters it changes so suddenly it really shocks you. I was not expecting to be hit in the emotional face by the last part of this book but it works so well.

This book does break your heart a little. Even when you have theories and know snippets of information, confirmation and context is still a punch to the heart. Godwin does a great job sprinkling in the heartache. I had to remind myself that this was not a true story, but even then it is so reminiscent of the real lives kids have out there it’s hard not to think how true these scenarios could be.

I honestly could talk about these characters forever. Godwin has cemented them in my heart and I will be grateful they are not real but at the same time mourn for them for always.

You can purchase As Happy As Here via the following

QBD | Booktopia

Dymocks | Angus and Robinson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust