RTW - Best book of the month

I read some really good books this month (and a few were duds, at least for me, haha):

August reading looked like this (in the order I read them):
The Iron King - Julie Kagawa
Fire - Kristin Cashore
The Summer of Skinny Dipping - Amanda Howells
And the Everything Unravelled - Jennifer Sturman  My Review
Siren - Tricia Rayburn
Swerve - Phillip Gwyne
Joel and Kat Set the Story Straight - Nick Earls and Rebecca Sparrow  My Review
Raw Blue - Kirsty Eagar  My Review
Beatle Meets Destiny - Gabrielle Williams  My Review
How Not To Be Popular - Jennifer Ziegler
The Naughty List - Suzanne Young
The Hand That First held Mine - Maggie O'Farrell
Winter Longing - Tricia Mills
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins (re-read)
Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
Caleb and Kate - Cindy Martinusen-Coloma
Saltwater Vampires - Kirsty Eagar

Four of the above books weren't really my thing (and get one or two stars from me)...

Only one adult fiction this month (my YA TBR pile is huge right now) but Maggie O'Farrell's book was stunning as I expected it to be :)

The rest of them were great reads. Including two paranormals - which I don't normally read. (Penguin Australia sent me Siren and after reading Kirsty Eagar's debut, I had to read her newly released vampire thriller - and, it rocks :).

My fave read of the month?

Two have entered my favourite books of all time list. Yay! Both are Australian - you can probably guess if you've been around here a while.

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar - because it just resonated with me so deeply and made me ache and feel all kinds of emotions. And it's also inspired me to go deeper in my own writing and not be afraid to pour my heart and soul onto the page. Also, the dialogue, hey? And it's just a stunning, mesmerising book. I love it so much. Sigh...

And

Beatle Meets Destiny by Gabrielle Williams - which is so completely awesome that just thinking about it blows my mind. It's a cult classic and I wish I could shout out from the rooftops and tell the world to read this book.

What was the best book you read this month?

Oh - and sorry for the post overload - but so many awards to announce and then RTW... :) And, had to do this while it's still Wednesday here, haha (It's 11pm). Just had a lovely Thai feast with our extended family (an early Father's Day) and am about to settle back into reading (Jarvis 24 - whoo hoo!) so, good night all :)

xx

Oh - and you can join in in Road Trip Wednesday by linking up with YA Highway - and check out everyone else's favourite reads this month.

RTW - Best book of the month

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog carnival courtesy of YA Highway who post a writing- or reading-related prompt for all the YA bloggers to participate in.

The topic this week is:

What’s the best book you read in July?

Easily one of the best books I've read this year: Stolen by Lucy Christopher. Stunning and scary and beautiful with the most crush-worthy of writing it messed with my head and completely spun me out.

Told in a moving letter to her captor, sixteen-year-old Gemma relives her kidnapping from Bangkok airport. In a story of survival, passion and darkness, Gemma reveals how she had to deal with the nightmare or die trying to fight it. Sensitive, powerful and beautifully written. (from Coffs Harbour Library catalogue)

The synopsis? Basically, Ty kidnaps 16 year old UK girl Gemma from Thailand and takes her to his remote place in the Australian outback.

Goodreads blurb quote: Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous.


Um, agree :)


This book messed with my mind and made me question right and wrong and all the shades in between.


 The writing, holy guacamole, is so evocative that it seeps into you. So so much goodness to crush on. The setting was so rich: I felt the stifling heat and slipped right into the red earth with Gemma and Ty. 


The plot? It's psycholgical and twisty and I just had no idea what the ending would be or could be or even how I wanted it to end. I was so driven to see what would happen and it's been a long time since I've been so caught up in a story like that. 


The characters. Okay, hands down, Ty is a new fave literary guy for me. I cant even describe all the emotions he made me feel. Love , intrigue, pain, terror, sorrow, beauty and gratitude - he seriously is in a new dimension of his own reserved for the elitist of haunting and unique characters that make me ache in the most hard-core of ways.


The ending. Ooooh, the ending. It killed me and gripped me and lingered with me for days.


This book, is why I read.


And, it just intimidated me as a writer on a whole new level of whoah. 


Okay, so I feel like this response is a bit incoherent. Here's how John Marsden (legendary author of the Tomorrow series) figured out how to express all that I feel about Stolen:

"Stolen is a brilliant novel, which will pick up your world and shake it so hard that you can never be sure of anything again. Set in a landscape so exotic and powerful that it becomes one of the main characters in the book, this story of a boy and a girl delivers one compelling scene after another. Ty and Gem will be in your head a long time. If you were getting tired of reading, Stolen will turn you back into an addict."… John Marsden

Link to read the first chapter.


Obviously, 5 stars.  Couldn't put it down and can't get it out of my head.

And, totally rooting for it to win CBCA best book of the year. Winner announced in a few weeks :) Plus, it's nom'd for the Prime Minters Award (a prize including $100 000 cash).