So it is that time of year when people make their top ten books of the year lists, or their best reads of the year and rank them. This is something I have never been able to do because I can’t always choose a top ten – I always have more than ten! This year ..read more

Title: The Girls Who Changed the World: Ming and Hilde Lead a Revolution Author: Jackie French Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: HarperCollins Australia Published: 7th June 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 336 Price: $16.99 Synopsis: The third book in the best-selling Jackie French historical series that places girls centre stage. Ming Qong is convinced that girls have ..read more

Title: The MudPuddlers Author: Pamela Rushby Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Walker Books Published: 5th April 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 224 Price: $16.99 Synopsis: What lies hidden in the mud? What might happen if you look at it too long? And what will happen if you let it go?Twelve-year-old Nina is not happy. Her scientist parents ..read more

Title: Tumbleglass Author: Kate Constable Genre: Historical Fiction/Time slip/Magic Publisher: Allen and Unwin Published: 31st January 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 288 Price: $17.99 Synopsis: A wonderful time-slip novel full of secrets, family relationships and quiet magic, from the award-winning author of the bestselling and much-loved novels Crow Country, Cicada Summer and The January Stars. 'Captivating and mysterious. I was ..read more

Title: The Upwelling Author: Lystra Rose Genre: Fiction, Time-Slip Publisher: Hachette Australia/Lothian Published: 31st August 2022 Format: Paperback Pages: 390 Price: $19.99 Synopsis: 'A deeply immersive young adult fantasy and an enthralling debut. It's a privilege to walk this new path into the oldest of stories' AMIE KAUFMAN, New York Times-bestselling author A CAPTIVATING YOUNG ADULT DEBUT ..read more

Title: The Silver Sea Author: Belinda Murrell Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Puffin Published: 2nd August 2022 Format: Paperback Pages: 288 Price: $16.99 Synopsis: The second book in Belinda Murrell’s Tuscian series, set in an Italian Renaissance inspired world filled with magic, mystery, mischievous creatures, and danger at every turn! ‘You don’t understand how dangerous this is ..read more

I have completed the 2023 QBD Challenge. My last prompt was a funny memoir, which in some ways was hard to find, but I settled on Paul Jennings’ memoir, Untwisted, which was funny in parts, and I enjoyed the way he told the stories – with humour and empathy throughout. I reviewed twenty books for ..read more

This year, I took on the Dymocks Reading Challenge again. This time, we got our prompts season by season, which made it more challenging to plan what to read, but in the end, I managed to do it. The prompts were fairly flexible as well – there were ones anything could fit into and ones ..read more

It took me six months to complete this challenge – I found nearly all of the categories easy to fill. The only one I had to search for on lists was the BookTok one, as I found many of the ones on the list were not always what I wanted to read, a genre I ..read more

Title: The Rebels of Mount Buffalo Author: Helen Edwards Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Riveted Press Published: 11th October 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 240 Price: $16.95 Synopsis: The Rebels of Mount Buffalo is a captivating time-slip tale in which a girl lost to grief meets a daring rebel on a misty mountain, who guides her to ..read more