The Jane Doe chronicles by Jeremy Lachlan

All 14 year old Jane Doe has to do is stand on the foundation stone in the centre of the Cradle Sea to heal the Gods’ labyrinth, The Manor, and defeat the immortal being, Roth, before he takes over all the Otherworlds. Not a lot really! But first she has to face deadly booby traps, a carnivorous, soporific forest, a runaway train, vicious tin skins and an army of leatherheads, huge snakelike tadpoles and the grip of spectres. She’s accompanied by the trickster, Hickory, and Violet, she as remembers being eight years old, not old enough to kiss! Jane wants her mum and dad! This book can kill in so many gross ways. Indiana Jones meets the video game Sonic the hedgehog in this action packed adventure story.  Author, Jeremy Lachlan, is from Griffith, here in Australia! I’m getting back to the action right now in the second book, The key of all souls, right now! Suitable for 12yrs+ readers. Available as paperback, ebook and eaudio so we have everybody’s reading needs covered!

The vanishing half by Brit Bennett

Fair-skinned African-American twins leave their small town together, aged 16, in the 1950s. One ends up marrying a darker man, and the other passes as white and disappears from her sister’s life. It is an utterly fascinating story about identity, race, family ties, love, and loyalty, spanning from the 50s until now. It is thought-provoking, earnest, and life-affirming.

Where the dead go by Sarah Baile

Detective Gemma Woodstock is thrown into another murder investigation while navigating her own emotions. Gemma is a mess and this distracted me from the story a bit, but I feel hopeful of her future. A solid mystery with multiple suspects and multiple situations to keep the reader interested.

Terra Nullius by Claire Coleman

It’s a familiar story; native children taken from their families to be re-educated to serve settler families who are trying to adjust to the Australian bush. It’s familiar until it is turned on its head in this thought-provoking tale of enslavement, resistance, survival, humanity, and pride. I found it a very moving, original, and clever way to think through Australia’s colonial history and legacy.

The strange fate of Kitty Easton by Elizabeth Speller

Laurence is invited to Easton Deadall to evaluate a church on the estate and finds more mysteries than the church to uncover. Speller evokes the time period of a family dealing with, not only the aftermath of World War I, but the tragedy of a missing child that keeps everyone linked to that tragedy stuck in the past. It was an absorbing story that slowly reveals the circumstances of the missing child. I was not completely sold on the ending, a shame, but I enjoyed trying to work out what happened to Kitty.

A rising man by Abir Mukherjee

It’s 1919, and Sam Wyndham comes from Scotland Yard to Calcutta for a fresh start after the Great War. He is immediately plunged into a murder investigation that immerses him in the Raj’s political, social and environmental climate. Fascinating historical detail, endearing characters, and a satisfying mystery. I will be back for more of Sam and Surrender-not.

A pinch of magic by Michelle Harrison

‘She who tries, triumphs.’ What a great line! This story shows us how recognising our differences makes us stronger. An adventurous, medieval style story about three sisters, Felicity, Betty and Charlie, living with their granny on gloomy Crowstone Island while their father is in prison. They’re unable to leave the island because of an old curse and nobody trusts them because they might be witches. They inherit three objects: a scruffy old bag that helps them magically travel, a mirror so they can see and talk to people, and wooden nesting dolls which can turn them invisible. Will these magic objects break the curse before they end up in greater danger? The last name of the family is Widdershins! If you know what this means, then this book is for you! You will be very happy to learn that there is another book about their next adventures called A sprinkle of sorcery and I am just about to read it!

Peace by Garry Disher

This story follows on from Bitter Wash Road. Hirsch is still policing in the small rural town of Tiverton, he has mellowed a little, but is still battling his past accusations, relationships and fighting rural crime and police corruption. There is plenty of action and things are not as they seem. I am enjoying this series of stories an can’t wait to see what happens to Hirsch – hopefully there will be more!

The poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Xiomara lives in Harlem with her twin brother, her emotionally absent father, and her strict, Catholic mother. Her mother has a path laid out before her, but Xiomara wants something different; she has a voice that needs to be heard. This is a powerful coming of age story, about being first generation American, about love in its different forms, about loyalty, longing, strength, and truth. It is told in verse, not a natural format for me, but I found it compelling, moving, and hopeful.

The secrets at ocean’s edge by Kali Napier

A family drowning in secrets. The story is revealed in alternating chapters of the 4 family members as they try to establish themselves in a coastal Western Australian town in the 1930s. Each member of the family has an idea of what it will take to be respected in the community and we see them struggle through with the shadow of their secrets always in the background. It is not an entirely uplifting story and the style of writing matches this perfectly.