Consider the Nightingale – Rumer Gooden
So we read Thursday’s Child and then I remembered this one. It’s a little fairytale-ish but none the worse for that.
All Change – Elizabeth Jane Howard
The last of the Cazalet books. Much like the other four, I liked reading it but had to resist the urge to smack them upside the head and tell them to pull it together.z
None of them seemed to learn anything and while the world around them was changing, they really weren’t.
The Girl with All the Gifts – MR Carey
I really enjoyed this, as it starts, you think it’s going to be about how they save what’s left of humanity but it’s not. It’s about relationships and trust and has a great theory as to what causes the zombies. I’m still thinking about it now.
Escape from Eden – Elisa Nalder
This and the next book on the list are books that H has read and kept telling me I should read. I’m not actually sure that she’s right and I’m trying really hard to remember that when I was 13 I read loads and I read well outside my reading age, so that I may not have chosen them myself doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t be reading them. When I remember that at 13 I read some terrible books, Flowers in the Attic anyone?, I feel much better about her reading choices.
This didn’t go at all were I expected it to. It starts off as a basic ‘life in a cult’ book and yeah the clue is in the title, but what I thought was happening wasn’t at all. It all went a little dollhouse on me. The characters are going to need years of therapy, to process it. It was pretty full on and whirlwind to read. I can see why H liked it.
Secret Girlfriend (RVH) – Bria Quinlan
This took me straight back to being 13 and reading stuff like this, and it’s better than the Sweet Valley High books I read at that age. I liked Amy, I didn’t like the situation she put herself in but I could see how she got there and I understood it. The romance was all a bit instalove and the ‘hero’ was a bit too perfect and a bit too alpha but you know, it’s not actually real, and H knows that. It was surprisingly funny and eventually Amy grows a spine and while Amy grows because of her actions, there is some decent grown up involvement in the form of her coach. The other more person thing, that impacts a lot of Amy’s actions is her dead mother and an mostly absent father, who has pretty much checked out because he’s grief stricken. The book resolves that plot line a bit too glibly for my liking but for obvious reasons, H found that interesting and asked lots of questions about parents, adults, responsibility and death, she was of the opinion that the father was forgiven for being, and I quote “a stupid, selfish man and a bad parent” to easily. Any book that makes a teenager truly appreciate her parents and the adults around her gets my vote but that may only apply to H!
Through the Ever Night – Veronica Rossi
I finally got around to reading the second of the trilogy, as luck would have it the third is out next month! I liked it, I read it, H is now reading the first and will read this one too! I’m interested in how it’s going to resolve and what exactly the ‘Still Blue’ is. I like that the characters have grown and as ever I like it better when they actually communicate.
In the Bleak Midwinter – Julia Spencer-Flemming
I don’t know what prompted me to pick this one up, I’m really not that into mysteries. I am the woman who always flips to the last page! I really, really liked this, from the first line – ‘It was one hell of a night to throw away a baby’. I liked the friendship between Clare and Rus and that the book never shies away from Clare’s faith and calling while at the same time not making everything about it. I was generally surprised by how much I enjoyed this and I will be reading the others in the series at some point.
Nic Dempsey 
