The Bewitching of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes

I’m delighted to be celebrating the publication fo The Bewitching of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes, a second adventure for our eponymous hero who we last saw Haunted, this time stepping into the supernatural world of witchcraft.  The Bewitching of Aveline Jones is such an incredible and haunting book, chilling in the clever way that …

Blossom – Laura Dockrill & Sara Ogilvie

Blossom is Laura’s second collaboration with Sara Ogilvie for Barrington Stoke, and once again explores candidly the wobbly life of a young inner city child on the precipice of change.  These snapshots of life, of real experiences told with honesty and innocence are truly a gift to any reader.  Laura Dockrill’s writing reminds me of …

The Haunting of Aveline Jones – Phil Hickes

I missed out last year on The Haunting of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes which was universally lauded for its glorious creepy Halloween setting and everyone agreed on not to read it at night! So when I purchased a copy last winter, I had originally planned to read it as part of a glorious spookfest this …

His Royal Hopeless – Chloë Perrin

If I could only say one thing about His Royal Hopeless I would say imagine a Disney- Pixar movie but in book form- it has all the magic, the layered storytelling and jokes and growth of those animated movies imagine Onward with a dash of Luca and a frosting of Frozen meets a dollop of …

Keeper of Secrets by Sarah J Dodd

Keeper Of Secrets by Sarah J Dodd is a perfect wintery Christmassy read. It’s a book that I know I will be rereading year after year to reimmerse in the tale of Emily and Lotta the Lynx Kitten.  But it also is a wonderfully thoughtful and quietly mind-shifting novel dealing with issues of grief, but …

Review & Guest Feature: Blurring genres with The Ash House by Angharad Walker

I devoured this book and my immediate thoughts were please Chicken House I want some more?! I want to know what happens next and how did the protagonist Sol even arrive at this mysterious place!!! That or just hungry to slip into Angharad’s writing and worlds again!! In my review I reflect on the surreal …

No Man’s Land- Joanna Nadin

No Man’s Land is a bitingly clever speculative fiction that flips the perspective of books like When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit which feature living under the rule of fascism and fleeing as a historical distant ‘other’, or those about a modern refugee children coming to Britain as a socio-cultural ‘other’ instead here in Joanna Nadin’s …