It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

The Its Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life…

In bookish news, I was thrilled to video conference with two fabulous authors this week.

I chatted with Honey Brown, author of Dark Horse, After the Darkness and The Good Daughter. You can find the link to the chat HERE

I also go to talk with Kate Manning, author of My Notorious Life by Madame X. You can find the link to the chat HERE

What I Read Last Week

A Distant Land by Alison Booth

Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French

Currawong Creek by Jennifer Scoullar

Powder Burn by Mark Chisnell

The Shadow Tracer by Meg Gardiner

The Steele Diaries by Wendy James

New Posts

(click the titles to read my reviews)

Review & Giveaway: A Distant Land by Alison Booth ★★★★

**AWW Feature: Alison Booth and a Distant Land**

Review: My Notorious Life by Madame X by Kate Manning ★★★★★

Review: The Window Waltz by Sally Koslow ★★★

Review: The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs by Nick Trout ★★★

Review and Feature: YA Fiction from Bloomsbury ★★★

Stuff on Sundays: Bookshelf Bounty

What I Am Reading Today

One man’s search for justice and redemption plunges him into the violent world of Melbourne’s underbelly. Defence lawyer Will Harris is reluctantly drawn into a bizarre murder trial. A terminally ill man claims to have witnessed the brutal crime – in a vision. But the looming trial is more than just a media circus: it’s Will’s first big case since the tragic death of his fiancée. With the pressure mounting, Will’s loyalties are split when his fiancée’s sister is charged with drug trafficking. The strain of balancing both cases takes its toll and Will finds himself torn between following the law and seeking justice.

What I Plan To Read This Week

(click the covers to view at Goodreads)

just_a_girl tears into the fabric of contemporary culture. A Puberty Blues for the digital age, a Lolita with a webcam, it’s what happens when young girls are forced to grow up too fast. Or never get the chance to grow up at all. Layla is only 14. She cruises online. She catches trains to meet strangers. Her mother, Margot, never suspects. Even when Layla brings a man into their home. Margot’s caught in her own web: an evangelical church and a charismatic pastor. Meanwhile, downtown, a man opens a suitcase and tenderly places his young lover inside. just_a_girl is a novel about being isolated and searching for a sense of connection, faith, friendship and healing, and explores what it’s like to grow up negotiating the digital world of facebook, webcams, internet porn, mobile phones and cyberbullying – a world where the line between public and private is increasingly being eroded.

‘Ford laid his fingertips gently on the cut in his shoulder where the bullet had clipped him. His best chance would be to hitch a ride south at the first opportunity, before the police started looking for him. He was alone, enveloped in the monstrous silence of the desert. Free and alone, without assistance and without excuse.’ Left for dead in the desert, framed as the inside man in a bullion robbery at the remote mine site where he works, and fearing that his daughter and ex-wife have been abducted from their home in Perth, Ford must cross a thousand miles of wilderness to find his family. Ford forms a fragile alliance with Doc and Banjo, a pair of fugitive bikers, and Kavanagh, a cop from the Gold Stealing Detection Unit who’s found herself shut out of the case. As this unlikely team sets out across the Outback, they are pursued by cops, mercenaries and bikers, each group with its own agenda for preventing Ford from reaching Perth and uncovering a conspiracy that spreads through the upper strata of Western Australian life.

In postwar Sydney, Grace Smith takes Mary, a young Aboriginal girl, into her home. She believes she will be able to save the child by giving her all the benefits of white society. But Mary’s arrival has unexpected consequences as Grace’s past comes back to haunt, and condemn her. Runner-up in the Australian/Vogel award, The Heaven I Swallowed is a tale of the Stolen Generations, told from the perspective of the white perpetrator.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building. Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they’ll both be targets. Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive

While you are here…

Enter to Win

1 copy of A Distant Land by Alison Booth {Australia Only)

Congratulate

The winners of  1 of 3 print copies of  The Avalon Ladies Scrapbook Society by Darian Gee : Cherry, Kathy and Julie

Thanks for stopping by, I’ll be along to visit you shortly!