The Help - Kathryn Stockett (2009)

The same friend that bought me Glow for my birthday bought me this as well and I can't believe that she got two amazing books in one shop when sometimes I struggle to find any that even look appealing these days.

I thought this book was wonderful, it had a clever idea behind it and was written extremely well, I completely understand how this was a bestseller and a movie. My favourite character was definitely Aibileen, I thought she was lovely, gentle and had a great storyline, from her son Treelore to Mae Mobley. I also admired Skeeter, however I found her story with Stuart was quite tedious at times.


Minny and Aibileen are coloured maids working in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. Skeeter Phelan is an aspiring journalist and a white woman who is part of the high class circle that these maids work for. When Skeeter gets fed up with how some of her friends are treating the maids, she decides to write a book of interviews of the maids to show some of the ups and downs that they have to deal with. Skeeter becomes good friends with Aibileen but they struggle to get more maids to help them with the book, however after Aibileen gets her best friend Minny on board she helps them get ten other maids for the book. The book gets published and doesn't get much attention for a while, but after its reviewed on television all the ladies in Jackson read it and Skeeter gets a job in New York. Minny is then assurred that she will always have her job with Celia, however Hilly makes sure that Aibileen gets fired.

Burn Bright - Marianne de Pierres (2011)

Mac gave this book to me for my birthday this year because it had a staff recommendation, and I can understand how someone could be totally obsessed with this series.

This book was written in that funny, kind of always wanting to know more way, that reminds me of The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. It has an interesting plot that is nothing like anything that I've read. My favourite character was Suki, I thought she was lovely and super tough at the same time. I also thought that creating the world where the women were the powerful ones that protected the men was pretty clever. I would recommend this to any fantasy fans, especially fans of complicated plots you need to think about.


Retra jumps onto a barge that will take her to Ixion, an island of non-stop darkness and partying. Most people run away to Ixion because they want to rebel and party, but Retra goes there to find her brother Joel, who ran away a year ago. There we discover the land of Ixion where Ripers are there to "protect" you, night creatures linger in the dark beyond the paths, and when you become too old you are withdrawn. When Retra sees the Riper Brand attacking Krista-belle she slams a chair over his back and gets noticed by a lot of people, including the head Riper Lenoir. Retra then learns that her brother is Clash, the second in command of the League and working for Ruzalia. Brand then tries to hurt Retra and cuts her femeral artery, Lenoir then heals her, however in doing that they become bonded. Retra then changes her name to Naif and a battle occurs between the league and the night creatures. The night creatures want to kill Naif as Lenoir also killed one of them to protect her, Joel then calls Ruzalia to take Naif away and Lenoir tells her that the only way to stop the night creatures attacking is for her to leave. Before she does, he tells her that the night creatures won't kill him because he is one of them and they won't kill one of their own, Ruzalia then takes Naif, Markes and Charlonge away from Ixion.

Glow - Amy Kathleen Ryan (2011)

I got this book for my birthday and I wasn't sure if it looked good or not, turns out it was pretty great.

This book was really excellent, it's set in space and has an excellent plot. I thought it was so well-written I found it hard to stop reading, I also thought that the villian Anne Mather was so well portrayed and I couldn't hate her more, she reminded me of Umbridge. My favourite character was Amanda, as she was one of the only consistently good characters throughout the book. I would recommend this book to any teenager, it has aspects that can appeal to many different kinds of people.


Waverly and Kieran are in love, they live on a ship called the Empyrean which is flying to New Earth. There is another ship, the New Horizon, which set sail a year before the Empyrean that has slowed down to rendevouz with them, however instead of talking, the New Horizon crew boards the ship and kills almost all the adults on board. They then take all the girls on to their ship and tell them that they didn't shoot anyone they merely tranquilised them. Waverly doesn't believe them and quietly rebels with Samantha and Sarah, they soon learn that some adults from the Empyrean that got away are stored in the basement of the New Horizon. Anne Mather is the ship's pastor and captain, she tells Waverly that Captain Jones sent them an injection that destroyed their ovaries and thats why they have no children on board. Anne soon drugs Waverly and a number of other girls and harvests their eggs without their consent. Waverly and the other girls escape however they are unable to free their parents from the basement without being shot like Samantha, who died. Meanwhile on the Empyrean, Kieran is in charge, he and Seth save the few adults that were trapped downstairs while trying to save the ship from radioactivity however they are badly burned and some die. Seth then turns on Kieran and becomes a ruthless dictator and starves Kieran in a cell, soon the other boys help take down Seth so Kieran returns to be leader of the ship. Waverly and the other girls then return to the ship, however Waverly doesn't want to be with Kieran anymore because he has started running religious services and it reminds her too much of Anne Mather.

Crossed - Ally Condie (2011)

Mac gave me Matched for my birthday last year and I got this one for Christmas. The end of the last book wasn't that big a cliffhanger and I wasn't really dying to read this, however I think this book is an improvement on the last one.

I think this book was better than the last one as it shows Ky's perspective as well as Cassia's, it also had a lot more adventure and excitment than the last one. My favourite character was Hunter, I found him interesting and well written and I hope he is in the last book.


Ky is in the outer provinces as a decoy for the enemy to shoot at, his friend Vick is the only other abberration that has lasted as long as he has. He, Vick and a boy called Eli escape into a maze of hills and canyons, known as the Carving. Cassia and her friend Indie soon make their way to the outer provinces and run to the Carving to find Ky, but before they meet up Vick dies. Cassia soon learns of a rebellion against society known as The Rising and wants to join, however Ky already knew about them and didn't want to join, instead he wants to join The Farmers, a group that lives away from both the society and the rising. Cassia, Indie and Ky end up all joining the Rising and they discover that Xander was already part of it.

Hallowed - Cynthia Hand (2012)

I read Unearthly last year and was absolutely captivated, I read it in a day. I know there is a lot of young adult paranormal books that are popular now, but I think this is one of the better ones.

This book doesn't really have a big fight scene or a large complication like most books do which is both good and bad, but it was still well written enough for me to read it in two days. My favourite characters in this book were Mr Phibbs and Christian. In books with love triangles I usually go for the guy that the main character chooses, like Peeta in The Hunger Games, or Edward in Twilight, probably partly because they're portrayed more likeable, however in this book I really liked Christian a lot more than Tucker. I also just liked Mr Phibbs cause he's pretty cool. I would recommend this series to any fans of the Fallen series by Lauren Kate.


This book follows Clara's journey after failing at her purpose in Unearthly. She has chosen to love Tucker but is becoming better friends with Christian throughout the novel, especially after they learn that angel-bloods only live to be 120 years old and that's how old her mum is. Samjeeza is constantly around Clara and it is worrying everyone a lot until Clara and Jeffrey's dad comes to see their mum before she dies and banishes Samjeeza. They then learn that their dad is an angel, an Intangere, which means that both her and Jeffrey are Triplare and are extremely rare and will be constantly hunted by black wings. Christian then takes Clara to his mother's grave and tells her that he is also a Triplare and that's why they are meant to be together, he then kisses her and Clara runs away. That kiss, the fact that Clara has so many angel secrets from Tucker and the long distance factor now that Clara is moving to Stanford causes her and Tucker to break up. Clara then learns that last year when Jeffrey was so upset after the fire it was because he started the fire Tucker was in and it was his purpose to then save him but Clara ruined it all. Jeffrey then runs away and Clara goes to Italy for the summer with Angela.

Inheritance - Christopher Paolini (2011)

I have read and enjoyed all the books in this series, although not as much as Mac has, and really wanted to see how it would all end. I know that this series has a pretty hardcore cult following (Mac included) so I'm sure it pleases all of you to know that Christopher Paolini says he will write more books in the setting of Algaesia and I myself will definitely be reading them if this series is the standard they will be held to.

I enjoyed this book, though probably not as much as its predecessors because it took half the book to get to the main plotline that is described in Mac's previous blog. Also the biggest disappointment to me was the fact that Eragon and Arya didn't end up together, most other endings were predictable (excluding the dwarves and urgals becoming riders) however that is one thing that I would've liked to predict. My favourite characters were Saphira, Murtagh and Orik, I loved the chapter that was from Saphira's perspective and it upset me that there was only one chapter like that. I also just have a soft spot for Orik and Murtagh which I have had from the start of the series, and when Orik arranged a farewell with all the dwarves for Eragon I must admit there were some tears. I would recommend Eragon to any big fantasy fans that have not already read it, I would be recommending this book as well but I know that anyone who has read the rest of the books will get around to reading it sooner or later.


For plot summary see Mac's previous blog.

Prom Nights From Hell - Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer & Lauren Myracle (2007)

I bought this book from an op shop because it was fifty cents and I like Meg Cabot. At first thought the pricing was a mistake because surely they could get more money for something with Stephenie Meyer's name attatched, however after reading the book I can see why it was so low.

This book contains five short stories, all about supernatural events happening at a prom. None of the stories were particularly compelling, they were all quite predictable and were nothing I hadn't heard of before. The exception being Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper by Kim Harrison. This story was probably the best idea of the five, however it didn't really have a resolution in the end and I think it would have been better as a full length novel.


The Exterminator's Daughter - Meg Cabot
Mary tries to kill Dracula's son the day before prom but fails. While doing this she meets Adam, a guy from her school who she's never really noticed before, they fall in love and defeat the vampire at the prom together.

The Corsage - Lauren Myracle
In an attempt to try to get Will to ask her to prom, Frankie takes him to a psychic who gives her a corsage that will grant her three wishes. Frankie then wishes that the boy she loves would ask her to prom so Will then climbs a water tower to spray paint the question on it and falls to his death. On the night of the prom she wishes for him to be alive again and his corpse comes to her house, she then uses her last wish to make him dead again.

Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper - Kim Harrison
At the prom, Madison is dumped by her date and falls into the arms of a handsome stranger. When driving her home, he drives her off a cliff and stabs her. Madison then wakes up in the morgue with two white (good) reapers arguing over who was responsible for not saving her. Madison is like a ghost unless one of the reaper's amulets are close by so she steals one off the black (bad) reaper who killed her in the first place and who came back to take her somewhere. A white reaper is then assigned to be her guardian angel for a year as she poses as a human while they work out why she's so important.

Kiss and Tell - Michele Jaffe
Miranda has superpowers and works as a driver on her day off from boarding school. On the day of her prom she drives a girl named Sibby to somewhere where people are trying to harm her. Miranda helps Sibby escape and then takes her to the prom so they can hide. While there Miranda talks to her crush, Will, who really wanted to go to prom with her. The prom is then evacuated when the police announce a "bomb scare" and the policeman who is leading them is the one who is after Sibby. Miranda then knocks out the policemen and saves Sibby, she takes Sibby to her safehouse and then goes to breakfast with Will.

Hell on Earth - Stephenie Meyer
Gabe is drawn to a mysterious girl called Sheba at the prom. Sheba is a demon who is causing havoc at the prom and when Gabe sees her she can no longer manipulate the people at the prom. She realises that Gabe must be half angel and has no idea, he is drawn to situations where he can help and is unkowningly trying to save Sheba.

Froi of the Exiles - Melina Marchetta (2011)

I know that this book has taken me ages to read, and the fact that it is 600 pages has nothing to do with it, I just found it's very hard to get addicted to. You know when you're reading a book and the part you're reading is so exciting that you have to keep reading? That didn't happen at all in this book, the whole thing is kind of like a slow burn, it's interesting, just not enough to make me want to read more than a chapter a night.

I enjoyed the first book in this series Finnikin of the Rock more than I enjoyed this one. I found this one was too long and had too many stories going on for me to understand. It's really hard to remember who all the characters are, which provinces are good or bad, and work out who's perspective you're reading from all the time. My favourite character was probably Phaedra, she was the only character who was consistently both likeable and strong-willed for the entire novel. Although I like Melina Marchetta, I think she is better at writing teenage dramas like On the Jellicoe Road and Looking for Alibrandi.


This book focuses on Froi, the thief that Isaboe and Finnikin met in the last novel. It's been about three years since Lumatere's curse was lifted and Froi is now a trained and trusted member of the Queen's Guard and is sent into Charyn to kill the king with information from a Charyinite that Charyn is also cursed and no-one has had a child for eighteen years. While there he falls in love with the lastborn princess, Quintana, who is destined to bear the first child of Charyn with another lastborn male. We discover that Quintana was really the oracle's child, not Lirah of Serker's (the king's whore), however the king is still her father. The oracle was thrown into a gravina on the day she gave birth to Quintana along with who everyone thought was her child. Lirah also gave birth that day, to a boy, who she thought was thrown of the balcony with the oracle because the children had been switched. It turns out that Lirah's son was Froi and Quintana's stillborn twin was thrown off the balcony into the gravina with the oracle. This means that when Froi and Quintana had sex, Quintana fell pregnant. Froi tries to protect her, however they are followed many times, and then when he finally takes her somewhere he knows she will be safe, Turla, they are betrayed, and Froi is captured after telling Quintana to run for her life and to protect their son. Beatrice and Trevanion get married, and Lucian falls in love with his Charynite wife, Phaedra, who he had previously rejected. Phaedra however, seems to die in a plague with five other Charynite women and Lucian is devastated. In the epilogue we learn that Phaedra and the women are actually alive and faking their deaths was part of an unknown plan. Froi awakes to his uncle, Arjuro, who is going to heal him then help him find Quintana.

^I told you it was complicated. And I left out all the confusing stuff.