Another lil library haul

Remember the last time I did this? I called it "A Little Library TBR"? Well, PAH! Turns out, it was not actually 'little', at least not for my standards! Let's be honest, a seven book long tbr could take me all year to get through! But let's hope not. And if we're being TOTALLY honest, as the above suggests, then I should probably admit that I only used the word 'little' because it alliterates with 'library. And I am a huge proponent of alliteration. Even if it compromises factual accuracy (and I must be honest, once again, I only noticed this just now. Literally, just then. I was like 'hang on, didn't my last library haul have like a crap tonne of books in it? Then why did I call it LITTLE, WHY, ARIELLE, WHYYY?'). Alliteration is why. That, and I hadn't planned that many books to go into that post!

 

OK, the point I am trying to make is, THIS TIME, I'm using the word 'lil', and it is truly gonna be accurate to the number of books I'm including in this post. Two. Just two!

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty

Wow. BLL has been sitting on my desk next to my laptop for months! Months and months. This post is so overdue. Woops! Sorry to anyone who was waiting for this.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Liane Moriarty is, as you probably already know, one of my favourite authors in the world. AND she's Australian.

Her books are hilarious and intelligent, her characters are authentic and believable, her stories are out-of-this-world entertaining, and her writing is unmatchable in quality and execution. I got to see her at the Perth Writers Festival this year, which was amaaazzzinnggg.

Big Little Lies is her latest release (she's written quite a number of novels, and I haven't read all of them yet but I WILL!) and it has a murder mystery! Someone has been killed, and at a primary school quiz night, no less! The characters are so captivating, the plot can't help but entice, and the writing delivers the whole package together so brilliantly.

There are some heavy things some of the characters go through that are pretty serious and challenging, such as domestic violence, but Liane touched upon them with finesse and grounded authenticity. I absolutely love the way Liz Byrski worded it when she talked about this at the Perth Writers Festival in a panel along with Liane. Liz described them as "dark, contentious issues dealt with very lightly and never trivially".

I'm really excited for this book to be adapted to the screen - especially with Reese Witherspoon playing Madeline and Nicole Kidman playing Celeste.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Allegiance by Wanda Wiltshire

Allegiance - Wanda Wiltshire

After reading Betrothed and posting its very first review back in 2013, I was excited to receive Allegiance last year shortly after its release date. Wanda personally requested a print copy for me, which I adore her for! But to be honest, I adore her anyway, just for creating such a beautifully fantastical world and story.

It's taken me a long time to finally finish the book (I haven't been reading anything at all, apart from some children's books here & there). But I really want to start getting back into it. I have a few books I'm excited to read, which is something I didn't have for a long time. Anyway, I wanted to start off with finishing Allegiance first. 

Allegiance is a wonderful continuation from Betrothed in that the tone of the story hasn't changed a lot, although many, many things are different. Marla's human friends live in Faera now, which is great, and we see so much more of the world of faeries, but there's still one foot in the real world (the human world). I've always loved the combination of worlds - the world-building is done very well, Wanda paints a gorgeous picture of Faera and I just want to escape to that world all the time. 

Cracked by Clare Strahan

Cracked by Clare Strahan

Click here for more info & synopsis

Thanks to Allen & Uwin, I got to read Cracked! It is an Australian YA debut novel by Melbourne writer Clare Strahan, which is due to be released in June, so only a couple of months away! It's about a girl named Clover Jones and all the happenings in her life - school life, family life, friends and fitting in, and trying to find out her place in the world through the creative outlet of vandalism (hehe). The characters were very relatable and realistic, and I think a lot of readers will really connect to Clover in many ways. She's the heart and soul of Cracked, and I think everyone could relate to her some way through the relationships she has with all the people around her - her mum, her teachers, the mean girl at school, the footy player crush, the best friend, the pet dog Lucille. 

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

I had a lot of fun writing Goodreads status updates for this one as I read through it. 

You can see them here.

This was a rather intense one. I know it's called The Husband's Secret so I should have expected some mystery and twists, but there's some heavy stuff that these characters deal with! For example: grief, guilt, betrayal, the blurred line between right and wrong, and murder. There were also lots of secrets and tragedies.

Betrothed by Wanda Wiltshire

Betrothed by Wanda Wiltshire

goodreads page

(If you live in/near Sydney, Wanda's book launch is happening at Dymocks on George St on June 27)

Betrothed is Australian author Wanda Wiltshire's debut novel - it is being released on July 1st, 2013 and I was so kindly sent a copy from Pantera Press. 

Fortunately, I read it as soon as I received it and I really enjoyed it (it was a lovely distraction from working on my research essays) - but unfortunately, that was about a month ago and I can't believe I kept putting off posting my thoughts on it for so long.  

But now the day has come, the release date is drawing near, and if you enjoy reading YA fantasy, I encourage you to go online, or to Dymocks, or wherever you have to go to get your little (or big, I don't know what size your hands are) hands on this excellent debut novel. 

I wrote a brief Goodreads review shortly after I finished reading Betrothed so it has more of my immediate feelings - check that out here.

Betrothed is half set in the real world - modern day Australia, and half set in Faera - the world of fae (or faeries). This was really interesting because the main character, Amy (aka Marla) sits on the edge of both worlds. She gets the best (and worse) of both worlds. Hannah Montana theme song reference not intended. She grew up in Australia, but she isn't human, and therefore not exactly meant for this world. Marla is fae, and her betrothed - Leif - is a fae prince. She meets him in her dream. It's crazy but there's an explanation I won't go into because I'm no good at plot retell and I'd end up rambling for way too long. You just have to read it!

The mix of fantasy and reality was really nice to see because normally you only have one or the other. Amy/Marla has her human friends and (adopted) family who all love her so much, but she doesn't belong in the human world - she belongs with her betrothed, she belongs in the realm of fae. She also longs to find her biological mum and dad - her fae parents who abandoned her. 

Faera was an exciting, enchanting place to read about. There are just so many exciting, enchanting things in this book! Marla's wings, the markets in Faera, the royal court, Leif in general....

I was not happy with the ending, but only in that the ending was not a happy one. Things weren't resolved very nicely but it is a series after all, so the ending just made me want to read more and get hold of the sequel (Allegiance) right away.

There's little for me to criticise - hmm I guess some of the dialogue seemed to me a bit unrealistic at times (I know the faeries all speak like they're ancient and that's fine, but I meant dialogue between humans), and beware, there is a love triangle going on but don't worry, the winner is victorious from the get go. 

I haven't read a lot of other YA books with faeries other than the Wicked Lovely series, and Betrothed reminds me a little of that, except it's not as creepy. It's a bit lighter than the Wicked Lovely books, and I like that about it.

My Rating: 4 stars! 

Click here to see my Goodreads review of Betrothed

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