Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Not to to be effusive or anything, but this is the book that began my love affair with Melina Marchetta’s books.
When I read fiction, regardless of genre, I automatically seek a sense of connection with the words on the page. Sometimes a scene will get me, or a character, or a turn of phrase. I long for these moments of empathy that can turn an otherwise forgettable book into a treasure in my bookshelf.
Saving Francesca gives me diamonds on every page.
Francesca Spinelli is one of thirty girls at St Sebastian’s, a previously ‘all-boys’ school that has opened its doors to girls in Year Eleven for the first time ever.’ She misses the feeling of belonging she had at her old school with her old friends:
St Sebastian’s pretends it’s co-ed by giving us our own toilet. The rest of the place is all male and I know what you’re thinking if you’re a girl. What a dream come true, right? Seven hundred and fifty boys and thirty girls?
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The Family Farm by Fiona Palmer
The Family Farm’s blurb shows promise, but a slow plot and lacklustre romance make for a rather dull read.
I really, really wanted to like this book. I’m always on the lookout for good outback romances and at first glance The Family Farm fits the bill.
Isabelle Simpson returns to the family farm, eager to help her parents and show her father that she’s more than capable of managing the farm. But her father is convinced that farm life is too harsh for his remaining daughter, and this causes some conflict between then. When her father is hospitalised indefinitely, Isabelle surreptitiously takes over managing the farm.
Her father thinks their neighbour, Will Timmins, is in charge. For years Isabelle has blamed Will for her sister’s death, but gradually she learns the truth behind her sister’s tragedy and she discovers that Will has changed from the skirt-chasing prankster she knew as a child.
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This month’s Mixed Bag features wildly different stories by Aussie authors, which have left me with…well, mixed reactions.
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Micah Williams is a compulsive liar, and Liar is Michah’s attempt ‘to tell you my story…No lies, no omissions. That’s my promise.’ Zach, Micah’s friend, has gone missing and Micah’s story is a non-linear narration of events leading up to and following from Zach’s disappearance, interspersed with her family history.
You may have heard of this book due to the US cover controversy (a non-issue for Aussie readers because we got a different cover), but it’s just as likely you’ve heard of it from the many great reviews it’s received. The praise is well deserved. Larbalestier has created an original and compelling if notoriously unreliable narrator in Micah—something the story depends on for its success.
If you know me at all, you know I almost always peek at a book’s ending. I have no problem with spoilers
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Red Dust by Fleur McDonald
BOOK GIVEAWAY: Read on for a chance to win a signed copy of Red Dust. The contest ends midnight on Wednesday, December 23 AEST.
Fleur McDonald’s debut novel evokes the rugged beauty of the Australian outback through the eyes of a strong protagonist, but this might not be enough for genre readers.
If there’s one type of contemporary romance I’d like to see more of, it’s the good old outback romance. I don’t mean generic romances set in the outback where the hero is a land baron with money to spare. I mean romances set in the harsh landscape of rural Australia, where people struggle against the vagaries of nature, and where I can feel the hot dust on my tongue as I read the story.
If there’s one thing Red Dust does well, it’s capturing the beauty and roughness of outback Australia.
When Gemma Sinclair’s husband dies in a plane crash, she takes on the task of managing Billbinya, their 100,000-hectare sheep station. Although she’s managing to stay afloat
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Dark Country by Bronwyn Parry
BOOK GIVEAWAY: Read on for a chance to win a free copy of Dark Country. The contest ends midnight on Friday, December 11 AEST.
Bronwyn Parry’s second novel is a much more intricate thriller that balances romance and suspense in a way that should appeal to the broadest possible audience.
Dark Country opens with Morgan ‘Gil’ Gillespie’s return to Dungirri, hinting at his troubled past and discomfort at returning to a place that holds nothing but bad memories. He’d been involved in a fatal car accident that landed him in prison, so he’s not expecting a warm welcome from the town. Along the way, he meets police sergeant Kris Matthews. Gil is wary of cops, but an incident sparked by old grievances puts him under Kris’s care for the next 24 hours.
The next day, a dead woman is found in the boot of Gil’s car, and as violence escalates, Gil realises he’s endangering the people he cares about and that it may be impossible to walk away from the town this time around.
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Addition by Toni Jordan
Toni Jordan’s debut novel was a delight to read. It’s not often I come across unconventional protagonists, and this one has become a favourite.
“It all counts.”
So begins Toni Jordan’s debut novel about a woman with a peculiar problem: She counts—everything.
Grace Lisa Vandenburg lives by numbers—from the number of letters in her name, to the number of bites it takes to eat a flourless orange cake sprinkled with poppy seeds from her local cafe, she shapes her world using whatever unit of measurement presents itself.
So when she finds herself 1 banana short at the grocery checkout, what’s she supposed to do?
My shopping trolley has 2 trays of chicken thighs, fat and glossy,
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Blue Noise by Debra Oswald
Despite its straightforward storytelling style—or maybe because of it—there’s something rather charming about Debra Oswald’s latest young adult novel about a group of high school students who form a blues band.
Blue Noise is the fledgling blues band formed by a group of reluctant year 10 students who find themselves a little bewildered by the whirlwind who is Charlie, a new boy in the neighbourhood.
When Ash meets Charlie, he’s talked into an impromptu jam session, right there in the middle of the music shop. For 16-year old Ash, whose family provides him no sense of optimism for the future, Charlie’s enthusiasm is infectious, even though he doesn’t think the band will last—they never do.
Shy classical pianist Erin tends to overthink things, and by the time her words are ready to say no to Charlie’s request that she join the band, it’s too late—she’s in. And then she can’t quite figure out how to back out.
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It warms my heart to know that romance readers love Aussie characters, but it takes more than the odd “no worries, mate” to get Aussie readers to believe that a character really is Australian.
To help authors out, here are 15 tips on how to make your Aussie characters more authentic. I’ve written them with romance authors in mind, but they apply outside of romance, too. Update: Check the comments for more great tips!
1. Eric Bana is a comedian, not a sex symbol. Do not, under any circumstances, compare your hero to Eric Bana unless he wears a mullet, and there had better be a very good explanation for that.
2. Aussies are obsessed with sports. Obsessed. It’s theoretically possible to have a hero—or heroine, for that matter—who doesn’t have at least a passing knowledge of cricket and/or footy (rugby union, rugby league or Aussie rules), but they’d better have a damn good reason for it.
3. We don’t buy coffee from Starbucks.
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As Darkness Falls by Bronwyn Parry
The first I heard of As Darkness Falls by Australian author Bronwyn Parry was a small blurb in the Dymocks Booklovers catalogue. I was intrigued because it sounded like a romance (just because the catalogue says it’s romance doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be genre Romance), it’s set in Australia, and it looked meaty. When I finally got my hands on the book, the cover promises: “If you enjoy reading Nora Roberts you will love…” That is a big call, I thought, especially since it’s the author’s first novel. But after reading As Darkness Falls, I think it really is a book that Nora Roberts fans might like. It’s a shame, then, that so few Australian romance bookstores have it in their catalogues.
As Darkness Falls centres on Detective Isabelle O’Connell, who has isolated herself from society to recover from some serious personal trauma resulting from an investigation into a child killer. Not only had she been unable to find the killer in time, she had been unable to protect a local suspect from falling victim to an angry mob. But when she receives a visit from Detective Chief Inspector Alec Goddard informing her that another girl has gone missing in her hometown of Dungirri, Isabelle is compelled to go back home and help solve the case.
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