Category: YA

Recent Reads: Raising Hell by Bryony Pearce

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Raising Hell by Bryony Pearce is set in a world where a rift has been opened which allows black magic to happen.  Ivy works as a school security guard in a high school as teenagers are the ones who can work magic.

But Ivy is hiding a secret – she was there when the rift was opened, along with her friends.

This is a YA urban fantasy novel, which is entertaining, and a good introduction to urban fantasy.  I enjoyed the way the story was woven together, and was cheering on Ivy and the others.

Raising Hell was published on 3rd June 2021 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Bryony Pearce on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to UCLan Publishing.

Recent Reads: The Montgomery Murder by Cora Harrison

Posted on by Pam

My review:???

The Montgomery Murder by Cora Harrison is a YA crime, set in Victorian London, and feels in the vein of The Baker Street Irregulars from Sherlock Holmes books.

Alfie is the leader, and he’s the one who comes up with the plans for how they’re going to pay the rent.  When a vicious murder happens close to their home, and Alfie gets dragged into the police station, he soon strikes a deal to look into the murder, and to feed back what he finds!

This is very much a YA book, and so is a fun introduction to historical books for that young person you know!

The Montgomery Murder by Cora Harrison was published on 4th March 2019 and is available from Amazon and Waterstones.

 You can follow Cora Harrison on her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Sapere Books.

Recent Reads: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush book 1)

Posted on by Pam

My review:???

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush book 1) is a YA fantasy book, so you can go into this book knowing it’s going to be dramatic, there’s going to be fantastical elements, and at least one person isn’t going to be who you think they are.

Nora is a high school student, busy with her studies, when Patch starts at her school.  He’s got a lot of insight into her, and a good smile, but Nora doesn’t trust him.  

There’s a couple of incidents that scare Nora, and she doesn’t know who can help her.

This is very much in the style of Twilight, so if you enjoyed that you’ll probably enjoy this.  I haven’t read Twilight for years, so I don’t remember how Edward was, but I *spoiler* was not a fan of the mind manipulation, and how quickly Nora was ok with it. 

Hush, Hush was published on 13th October 2009, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Becca Fitzpatrick on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Recent Reads: Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann is a YA story of 15 year old Phoebe in her GCSE year, with her doctor mother off helping everyone else, and her best friend having fallen off the planet as she’s gotten a boyfriend.

This is written as a diary, which works so well as you get such an insight into Phoebe and her feelings.  I enjoyed this book, and wanted to see what would happen next.  I thought the situation was well created, and Phoebe’s feelings of abandonment, uncertainty and stress was well written.

P.S Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann was published on 21st January, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

P.P.S You can follow Wibke Brueggemann on Instagram.

P.P.P.S I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan.

Recent Reads: Glassheart by Katharine Orton

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Glassheart by Katharine Orton is a YA fantasy book, with our heroine, Nona, being 11 years old, and it is set after the World War II, with descriptions of the Blitz.

She lives with her uncle, who creates stained glass windows, but she wakes one night to find her uncle talking to someone she can only see as a reflection in a mirror.  The next day they go to the middle of nowhere on the moors of Dartmoor.  Who has enchanted her uncle and why is what Nona has to find out.

This is a very emotive book, with lots of memories of those who have been lost.  It’s a good story of a young girl taking on forces stronger than her for those she cares about.

Glassheart was published on 5th November 2020, and is available on Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.

You can follow Katharine Orton on her website and on Twitter.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Walker Books.

Recent Reads: The Hairy Hand by Robin Bennett

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

This is a YA fantasy book, with a young boy of 11 called Septimus as our hero.  He lives with his two horrible parents, who tell him one day that his Uncle has died (whom he has never heard of before), and has left him something which he needs to go and collect.

It’s a long journey, and one he is to do on his own.  That’s the type of parents he has.

I found this book to be quite different.  Instead of telling the story of his journey to his Uncle’s and back again, it tells us about people.

I really liked this as a twist.  His adventure is his family, not the journey he undertakes.

The Hairy Hand was published on 19th January 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

I couldn’t find a website or any social media for Robin Bennett, so I’m afraid no link for that today!

If you’re interested in YA fantasy books, then here’s some others I’ve reviewed:
We hunt the night by Hafsah Faizal ????
Brotherhood of Shades by Dawn Finch ???


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Monster Books (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: How to be Famous by Caitlin Moran

Posted on by Pam

My review: ?????

How to be Famous is about Dolly Wild, who is 18, living in London in her own place, and is a writer for a music magazine in 1994, when BritPop is big!  

Her best friend and man of her dreams, John Kite, has just made it big in music, which means he’s touring all of the time.  In the meantime, Dolly makes friends with Suzy, a woman who knows she is going to be famous.

Dolly has a two night stand with comedian Jerry Sharp, which turns ugly later.  There are many points where this book was great, and how Dolly deals with this situation is one of these.

How to be Famous is the second book about Johanna  Morrigan aka Dolly Wild, with the first being How to Build a Girl.  I’m definitely going to read that!

How to be Famous was published on 28th June 2018,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Caitlin Moran on Twitter, or through her website.

If you’re interested in funny journey stories, then I’d suggest The Fall and Rise of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain, which I gave ????.


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal is about a group of people who are thrown together in the search for a book.  

Zafira, a young woman who dsiguises herself as a man in order to hunt for the food so desperately needed by her village.  Deen, Zafira’s best friend, and also in love with her. Nasir, the prince who is also an assassin, and who doesn’t care about his own life.  Altair, who forever teases Nasir about his decisions.  

We Hunt the Flame is a fantasy book, set in another world, where magic has disappeared, and this book is meant to return magic.

It’s a YA fantasy novel, which does mean that you get a lot of introspection, but this didn’t take away from the book for me.  I enjoyed the journey and the characters, and as this is the first book in the series, I look forward to the next one.

We Hunt the Flame was published on 8th August 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Hafsah Faizal on Twitter, or through her website.

If you’re interested in fantasy book, then here’s some others I’ve reviewed:

The End of the Line ???
Brotherhood of Shades ???
Once Upon a River ?????
The Bear and the Nightingale and the Girl in the Tower ?????
Spinning Silver ?????
Ragnarok Unwound ????
The Salt Roads ????
Midnight Crossroad ????
California Bones ?????

And there’s more reviews if you click Fantasy in the labels!


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: Brotherhood of Shades by Dawn Finch

Posted on by Pam

My review: ???

Brotherhood of Shades is a YA fantasy book by Dawn Finch, for whom this is her debut novel.  She has also written a number of non-fiction books on historical sites, and I can see her love of history in Brotherhood of Shades.

Adam is a teenager, who dies at the beginning of the book, but whose shade is important to a secret organisation called The Brotherhood of Shades, whose purpose is to deal with poltergeists and other unhappy spirits.

This is a book that is set in present day, with some trips down memory lane to 1666 for example, where we experience the Great Fire of London.

I don’t read many YA books, and so found it to be slow in places and giving a little too much explanation, and I’m not sure if that was due to it being YA or not!

Brotherhood of Shades is to be published on 22nd April this year, and will be available on Amazon and Waterstones to pre-order, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Stirling Publishing and Stone Cold Fox Press (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!