#LoveOzYAbookclub – February 2016 book selection

Welcome to a brand new year of bookclub! After a slightly, er, hectic start to the year, we’re back on track with our first title for 2016.

This month’s title was selected by Lili Wilkinson, the author of our Dec/Jan book, Green Valentine – Lili has chosen the new book by Alison Goodman, Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club.  A Regency adventure story about a society miss who becomes a demon hunter - Pride and Prejudice meets Buffy?  I’m twirling my parasol with excitement!

Kirkus Reviews describes Lady Helen as a ‘deep, deliberately paced journey’ through a Regency London filled with Reclaimers and Deceivers, a supernatural reflection of what was then the polite ton society and the seedy underworld of the period.  Lady Helen Wrexhall – led by her guide, the mysterious Lord Carlston – finds her destiny is a lot more unusual and deadly than she was originally led to believe…

This is the first book in a new series, about which Kirkus says: “Goodman’s prose is assured; her impeccable research shines through on every page … and brings to life questions of freedom and choice for women.”  All right, I’m convinced – sign me up!

For this month only we are having a very special bookclub event: Readings independent bookstore is also reading Lady Helen for their YA bookclub this month, so we thought we’d join forces and make things extra awesome for everybody.  So, lovely #LoveOzYAbookclub members, please make welcome visitors from the Readings YA bookclub on the title selection and discussion threads, and #LoveOzYAbookclub members will of course be welcome to join in the Readings bookclub discussion on Wed 17February, 7pm, at Readings St Kilda, hosted by St Kilda Children’s book specialist, Isobel Moore (click the FB link to book).  To make things even better, you now have two options for purchasing this month’s title: you can order it through Boomerang Books, with the special ‘loveoz’ promotional code, to receive free shipping, or – for February only – you can buy the book in-store at Readings for a 20% discount (just mention bookclub with your purchase at Readings).

I hope you enjoy Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club – stay tuned for some contact from Alison Goodman during the month, I’ll let you know when the discussion post goes live, and happy Leap Year!

xxEllie

#LoveOzYAbookclub : November 2015 book selection

Welcome to the #LoveOzYAbookclub debut book selection!

This month’s book is our very first, and the only book I get to choose – after November, the title selections will be made by the authors of the books under discussion.  I spent a long time thinking about which title to choose…and finally made a decision by asking myself Which book would I want to read more than any other?

So…*drumroll*… our book for the month of November will be Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

Illuminae is the first book in The Illuminae Files series, and has been described as “a fantastically entertaining space opera with explosions and romance” combined with “a thoughtful and expansive tale of political intrigue and subterfuge”.  It’s one of the biggest things to come out of Australian YA in a long time – it’s already hit the New York Times Bestseller List.  It’s also (if you have a quick glance at the insides) a mashup of graphic design and story – in fact, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

AmieKaufman is the co-author of the Starbound Trilogy with Meagan Spooner, and Jay Kristoff is the author of The Lotus Wars series, and they both live in Melbourne and are both quite lovely.  Amie and Jay have already agreed to choose a title for #LoveOzYAbookclub for next month.

I've made an arrangement with Boomerang Books (who specialise in Australian books and had all the titles I searched for at excellent prices) so that #LoveOzYAbookclub members can get free shipping.  If you would like to order the book through Boomerang Books, use the code loveoz at the ‘use a promotional code’ step, and you won't have to pay for postage.

So go forth and read!  I hope you enjoy Illuminae, and I’ll look forward to the discussion we’ll have about it at the end (probably early in the last week) of November here on the #LoveOzYAbookclub group.

xxEllie