Acheron by Sherrilyn kenyon

Eleven thousand years ago, a god was born. Cursed into the body of a human, Acheron spent a lifetime of shame. But the strongest steel is forged from the fires of hell…

Acheron’s human death unleashed an unspeakable horror that almost destroyed the earth. Then, brought back against his will, he became the sole defender of mankind. Only it was never that simple. For centuries, Acheron has fought for our survival and hidden a past he’ll do anything to keep concealed. Until a lone woman who refuses to be intimidated by him threatens his very existence. Now his survival—and ours—hinges on hers, and old enemies reawaken and unite to kill them both. War has never been more deadly...or more fun. 


I loved reading Ash's story. It explains his relationship with Artemis and with the Dark Hunters. 

Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

 I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a sixteen year old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still getting to grips with my various identity hyphens.

It's hard enough to be cool as a teenager when being one issue behind the latest Cosmo disqualifies you from the in-group. Try wearing a veil on your head and getting in the 'bum's up' position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time.

Luckily my friends support me, although they've got a few troubles of their own. Simone, blond and gorgeous, has got serious image issues, and Leila's really intelligent but her parents are more interested in her getting a marriage certificate than her high school certificate.

And I thought I had problems... 


I really enjoyed this story and I learnt a few things.

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

In orbit above the planet Rodeo, a habitat operated (like everything on Rodeo's surface) by the Ampad company houses a great experiment. Ampad's profits are seriously reduced by its workers' need to spend rigorously enforced periods of time at full gravity, because the human body's adaptations to life in free fall (weightlessness) can quickly become irreversible. Ampad thinks that in genetic engineering, it's found the answer to this limitation. Its scientists have created a new species of human, one that finds free fall its natural habitat. Since legs are of no use under such conditions, the genetic engineers have substituted an additional set of arms. Which is why members of this new species call themselves quaddies.

Engineer Leo Graf can't believe what he sees and hears when he's assigned to teach the young residents of the Rodeo habitat how to become crack free fall welders. It's not the quaddies who repel him; he instantly likes the first ones he meets, and quickly establishes a fine teacher/student relationship with those in his classes. What repels Leo is the attitude other Ampad personnel take toward the quaddies, and their legal status. Which is that of Ampad capital assets, not human beings. The habitat's administrator in particular, a former subordinate whom Leo couldn't stand years ago and positively loathes now, takes advantage of the quaddies' innocence and of the dependence to which they've been reared. Leo sees no chance to change their situation, however much he deplores it, until the development of artificial gravity by a recently settled human colony renders Ampad's quaddies obsolete. Overnight, they go from being a valuable asset to something Ampad would destroy outright if it dared. Instead, Ampad plans something that the quaddies - if they knew about it, which Ampad is hoping they won't - would think much worse. 


 A well told, highly enjoyable book with great characters. 

The Stockmen by Rachael Treasure

Rosie dreams of being allowed to work the land she loves rather than being stuck in the house as the daughter of a station owner.

Tragedy strikes and she gets the chance to prove herself.

A really good read. I loved the history of the Kelpie being woven through the story. 

Life On The Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers

Claire and her mother are running out of time, but they don't know it. Not yet. Claire is wrapped up with the difficulties of her bourgeoning adulthood—boys, school, friends, identity; Claire's mother, a single mom, is rushed off her feet both at work and at home. They rarely find themselves in the same room at the same time, and it often seems that the only thing they can count on are notes to each other on the refrigerator door. When home is threatened by a crisis, their relationship experiences a momentous change. Forced to reevaluate the delicate balance between their personal lives and their bond as mother and daughter, Claire and her mother find new love and devotion for one another deeper than anything they had ever imagined.


A very quick, emotional read.
I loved the way so much was said in short notes.

The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee

Set in a Queensland mining town, this is the story of Beth, who died at 14, and her sister Jenny who wants to understand why.


The story begins as Jenny and her best friend, Angela, are rifling through a forbidden box at the top of Jenny's mother's closet. Inside, they find clues to Beth's death --- all ordinary objects yet each a key to Beth's downturn. "There were two blue plastic hair combs. A tough girl's black rubber-band bracelet. A newspaper advertisement for a secretarial school folded in half. A blond braid wrapped in gladwrap. A silver necklace with a half-a-broken-heart pendant. An address, written in a leftward-slanting hand, on a scrap of paper. Ballet shoes wrapped in laces."

As the narrative unfolds, the story behind each of these objects is revealed --- the beloved braid of hair their mother chopped from Beth's head while angrily wrestling with her on the kitchen floor; the flyer for secretarial school: a last-ditch effort to keep Beth from getting into trouble; the necklace worn by Beth and her semi-boyfriend/bed-partner Marco, the 17-year-old bad boy from across town. Watching Beth morph from responsible daughter to wild child hell-bent on doing what she wants is infuriating and depressing but realistic nonetheless. 


A heartbreaking story that really hit home with me. I can see this book staying with me for some time. 

Resurrectionist by James McGee

Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood brings his own form of justice to the salons and slums of Regency London in the gripping sequel to 'Ratcatcher'. For the body snatchers, death is a lucrative business. But it's the corpse they leave behind, horribly mutilated and nailed to a tree, which sets Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood on their trail. A new term at London's anatomy schools stokes demand for fresh corpses, and the city's "resurrection men" vie for control of the market. Their rivalry takes an ugly turn when a grave robber is brutally murdered and his body displayed as a warning to other gangs. To hunt down those responsible, Hawkwood must venture into London's murkiest corners, where ever more gruesome discoveries await him. Nowhere, though, is as grim as Bedlam, notorious asylum for the insane and scene of another bizarre killing. Sent to investigate, Hawkwood finds himself pitted against his most formidable adversary yet, an obsessive genius hell-bent on advancing the cause of science at all costs. 


There are a too many filler pages describing early surgical procedures in detail.

On the plus side,Hawkwood's a great character, both dark and likeable.

Overall a strong plot ,a bit of edginess and crisp ,unfussy writing.

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfield

Jessica has just moved to the small town of Bixby after living in Chicago. But other than size, temperature, and scenery, she also discovers something else very different about the town. Every day at midnight the rest of the world freezes but she, and several other kids, get an extra hour. Unfortunately other, older and scarier, things also inhabit this time.

Jessica meets the other kids; Midnighters as they call themselves. Each has a special talent related to the secret hour. Jessica must have a talent but hers is not obvious. Nor is Jessica sensitive to light in the same way as the others. To make matters worse, the dark things seem to want her dead. She must be a threat to them so it becomes important to figure out just what her special talent is and it could be dangerous.

This is a very nice start to a series.

Conspiracy In Death by JD Robb

Eve Dallas has to solve a series of murders. The murders are perpetrated on the homeless and prostitutes. In each murder the bodies are found missing vital internal organs. Eve's career, and her entire self is placed in jeopardy. An irrational, bitter cop (Bowers) really hates Eve and messes up the case. This book goes further into Eve's past and you even see a soft side to her 

Name All The Animals by Alison Smith

A memoir based around the 3 years following her brothers death when he was 18 and she 13.

A story of love, loss and family.

I particularly liked the interview with the author at the end, it added an extra dimension to the story.

The Prophets Camel Bell by Margaret Laurence

When Margaret Laurence set out for Somaliland with her engineer husband in 1957, she confronted the difficulty of communication between peoples of vastly different cultures. Yet she came to know the skilled orators, poets and craftsmen of the country, and to share the vision of a people’s struggle for survival in a barren land.


I really enjoyed this book. I liked the way she told the stories of the people they met during their time in Somaliland. 

Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy

Whitethorn Woods has a clever structure; it begins from the point of view of Father Brian Flynn in Rossmore, a modern town in prosperous modern Ireland. Father Flynn feels beleaguered in his vocation: church scandals, the much reduced role of the church in everyday life, and the low esteem in which his profession is held by so many in the community (particularly his own family). Perhaps because it isn't really his biggest problem, he fixates on an ancient holy well in the Whitethorn Woods. Now dedicated to Saint Ann (mother of Saint Mary), believers have made a shrine out of the grotto in which the saint's statue stands. Father Flynn finds this to be all superstition and nothing to do with the true faith. He resents the attention the shrine gets as compared to his church. The shrine becomes the subject of divisiveness in Rossmore when a new road is proposed that will relieve the aggravating traffic in Rossmore, but pass through the Whitethorn Woods and obliterate the shrine.  A really nice, gentle, feel good read. I chuckled all through it and it left me smiling. What more can you ask for?

Loyalty In Death by JD Robb

Instead of a murderer or a serial killer, this time NYPSD homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas is up against terrorists who are bent on blowing up NYC landmarks. 


Not the best in the series, but still an entertaining read. 

Skye by Linda Lael Miller

Skye loves Jake.  Jake loves Skye.  They won't tell each other how they feel.  Jake tricks Skye into marrying him.  Skye tries to help Jake in his business.  Misunderstandings and stubborness abound.  All is forgiven.  They live happily ever after.