Category: Duology

Listen, Layla by Yassmin Abdel-Magied

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The Blurb On The Back:

I am Layla Kareem Abdul-Hafiz Hussein, the greatest Sudanese Australian inventor the world has ever seen.  And if they don’t know my name yet, they soon will.  Inshallah!

School’s out for the summer!  And Layla’s going to spend it getting her inventions ready for the grand design competition.  But when her grandmother falls ill and her family must rush to Sudan to be with her, Layla feels like she’s being pulled in many different directions.

Family, friends, home, inventions – there’s a lot to navigate.  With big protests looming in Sudan, could Layla save the day with her revolutionary ideas?

Exploring the diaspora experience, Listen, Layla is an own voices novel for young readers bursting with passion, humour and truth.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book

You can order LISTEN, LAYLA by Yassmin Abdul-Magied from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

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The Blurb On The Back:

Five students walk into detention.

Only four leave alive.

Yale hopeful Bronwyn has never publicly broken a rule.

Sports star Cooper only knows what he’s doing in the baseball diamond.

Bad boy Nate is one misstep away from a life of crime.

Prom queen Addy is holding together the cracks in her perfect life.

And outsider Simon, creator of the notorious gossip app at Bayview High, won’t ever talk about any of them again.

He dies 24 hours before he could post their deepest secrets online.  Investigators conclude it’s no accident.  All of them are suspects.

Everyone has secrets, right?

What really matters is how far you’ll go to protect them.

You can order ONE OF US IS LYING by Karen M. McManus from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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Liquid Crystal Nightingale by Eeleen Lee

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The Blurb On The Back:

Go deeper, they said.  Look closer. 

Pleo Tanza is a survivor.  Her father was broken by tragedy, her twin sister is dead – chewed up and spat out by the corruption and injustice of Chatoyance – but she’s going to make it, whatever it takes.  She’s going to get off this rock.

But escape is for the rich or lucky.  Pleo’s framed for the murder of a rival student – the daughter of one of the colony’s wealthy, squabbling clans – and goes on the run, setting off a chain of events that could destroy the fragile balance of the old colony forever …

You can order Liquid Crystal Nightingale by Eeleen Lee from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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The Land Of Roar by Jenny McLachlan

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The Blurb On The Back:

I see a cluster of jelly-shaped islands, a castle rising out of the sea, and three dragons soaring through the sky.  And written along the top of the map in my spiky handwriting is one word: 

ROAR

When twins Arthur and Rose were little they were heroes in the Land of Roar, the imaginary world they created.  Roar was filled with the things they loved – dragons, mermaids, ninja wizards and moonlight stallions – as well as the things that scared them the most.

Now the twins are eleven, Roar is almost forgotten.  But when strange things start happening, Arthur begins to wonder if maybe, just maybe …

ROAR IS REAL

You can order The Land Of Roar by Jenny McLachlan from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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One Way by S. J. Morden

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The Blurb On The Back:

There’s a murderer amongst them, and everyone’s a suspect …

Frank is a criminal.  He and a select group of inmates have been offered the same deal: die in prison or live on Mars.

They’ve been recruited to build the first Mars base, and they’ll have to learn to trust each other if they want to survive.  Not easy when your crewmates are convicts.

Then the first accident happens, and the next. Until Frank begins to suspect they might not be accidents at all …

Time is running out.  But how do you stop a killer when it could be any one of you?  

You can order ONE WAY by S. J. Morden from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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The Exact Opposite Of Okay by Laura Steven

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The Blurb On The Back:

Izzy O’Neill.

Impoverished orphan.

Aspiring comedian.

Slut extraordinaire – apparently … 

Izzy never expected to be eighteen and internationally reviled.  But when photos involving her, a politician’s son and a garden bench emerge, the trolls set out to take her apart. 

Armed with best friend Ajita and a metric ton of nachos, she must figure out who’s behind the vicious website – while keeping her sanity intact.

Izzy is about to find out that the way the world treats girls is not okay.

It’s the Exact Opposite of Okay.  

You can order THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF OKAY by Laura Steven from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings

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The Blurb On The Back:

Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness: a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her fearsome glass starship the Marauder, she’s just Andi, their captain and protector.

But when a routine mission goes awry, the crew’s resilience is tested as they find themselves in a most unfamiliar place: at the mercy of a powerful bounty hunter connected to Andi’s past and a harrowing betrayal.  

You can order ZENITH by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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Flame In The Mist by Renée Ahdieh

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The Blurb On The Back:

She’s barely seventeen, but Hattori Mariko knows her place in life.

She’s been raised for one purpose: to marry the son of the Emperor’s favourite concubine.

But en route to the wedding her litter is ambushed by the Black Clan. Now Mariko has two choices: she can wait to be rescued … or face her enemies.

She’s done waiting. 

You can order FLAME IN THE MIST by Renée Ahdieh from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney

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The Blurb On The Back:

Maureen didn’t mean to kill a man, but what can a poor dear do when she’s surprised by an intruder and has only a holy stone to hand?  Lucky that she’s just reconnected with her estranged son Jimmy because, as the most feared gangster in Cork, he certainly has the tools to sort out the mess.

So Jimmy enlists his boyhood buddy Tony who, with six kids and a love of the bottle, could certainly do with the money, even if his teenage son, Ryan, is far too keen to grow up so he can become a gangster himself.  And all is going to plan until Georgie, the girlfriend of the hapless intruder, starts to wonder where he went …

You can order THE GLORIOUS HERESIES by Lisa McInerney from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links. 

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Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

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The Blurb On The Back:

THIS IS THE STORY OF:

A mysterious city stripped of its name.

A mythic hero with blood on his hands.

A young librarian with a singular dream.

A blue-skinned goddess every bit as perilous as she is imperilled.

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around –

And Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly in choosing him.  Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it.  Then a stunning opportunity presents itself and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.  

You can order STRANGE THE DREAMER by Laini Taylor from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

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