Reviewed by our expert YA (Young Adult) book reviewer Natalie Kelly-Haigh. Read on and you will know why she is fast becoming an expert! Thanks Natalie!

"The Red Queen book series is the one that makes you question why you read any others. The recently published third book surrounding Mare Barrow’s life is called King’s Cage. After having finished the second book, Glass Sword, I got the impression that it was the end. And what a disappointing end that would have been. But it’s not. Mare Barrow is alive. However the lightning girl is not.

In King’s Cage, Mare is not thriving. She’s captured by her one, true enemy. The boy who has an obsession with her. The shadow of her loved one. The twisted monster Queen Elara forged from a young, innocent boy. The King of Norta. Maven Calore. Mare is no longer the lightning girl. She is a prisoner, a newblood unable to use her power with silence weighed on her nonstop. She grieves for her brother Shade, prays for her family, and dreams of the red flag belonging to Scarlet Guard. Mostly though, she longs for the flame of Cal, and the fierce eyes that once looked into hers. Cal can’t live without her. After having made his new alliances, he fights with the Scarlet Guard, as a weapon to them, and as a traitor to his people. The only thing valuable thing he owns is Mare’s heart. And nothing’s going to stop him from trying to get her back.

Without Queen Elara around, Mare feels she has gained one mercy. She can’t play mind games with Mare, or slither into her deepest thoughts. Now, Mare can play a few mind games of her own, tiptoeing into the hidden truths. Throughout her imprisonment, she finds depth to characters such as Evangeline, and sickening facts about Maven. She finds a world once again full of convincing masks and twisted lies. But hope is not gone. There is still a resistance. A dawn bigger than anyone could’ve ever imagined.

Life is no better than Mare’s first experience in a castle though. She has gone from being fake silver royalty, to Maven’s forged resemblance of a terrorist, and now to his pet, disguised as a prisoner. How is the public meant to take all of these transitions? Do all their alliances lie with Maven? Or is there a new rebellion, siding with the Scarlet Guard? And if so, is it for the same reasons? To rise as red as the dawn? Or something much, much deeper…

Mare is determined to find an escape. A crack she can squeeze out of. A mistake in a plan that she can hide behind. A way to wake up from this poisoned nightmare. Our story does not end with her escape though. There are more battle cries to shout, more dawns to rise. More love to share between her and Cal. More people to meet, including Shade’s child he shall never see. More secrets to uncover, more stories to reveal. This story shall rise. Rise as Red as the Dawn."

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Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider, reviewed by Sophia Christodoulou (age 13) Thanks Sophia!

Extraordinary Means is a read that will broaden your knowledge on what it is like to be a sick teenager. Lane lived a fairly normal life as a teenager: applying to colleges, hanging out with friends and family and working none stop to get into the best college. When he is diagnosed with tuberculosis he is sent to a sanitarium called Latham house where he is treated as though he is on vacation. He meets Sadie and her friends and learns how to operate at Latham to ensure he beats the disease and gets the most out of the ‘vacation’. As Lane and Sadie fall in love their world becomes filled with excitement and adventure. But when hope starts to occur and their group of friends start to get sicker, their worlds threaten to come crashing down.

If you have never understood what it is like for a sick teen or the challenges they go through, this book will help you get a better sense of how their lives operate and their perspective of of life as a teenager.

Extraordinary Means is written simply, with hints of humor, insight, and facts about tuberculosis. What I really enjoyed about this book is that it showed me issues that sick teens faced that I had never considered a problem. It broadened my knowledge about the consequences of tuberculosis and showed very meaningful insight about the characters. The writer's style reminded me of a John Green novel so I think if you are a man of his books you will love Extraordinary Means.

Thanks Sophia!

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You know that scene from the Oscars last night? The one where La La Land won, then didn’t win? Well that could have come straight from a Maria Semple novel. The craziness, the cringing, the idea of what NEVER could, NEVER should happen, but then does. That was all very reminiscent of Maria Semple and two of the most entertaining books I have read in the past few years, “Where’d you Go, Bernadette” and her latest novel “Today will be Different”.

“Where’d you Go, Bernadette” was a sleeper. One of those strange novels almost impossible to pigeon hole and with a quirkiness that makes its success so unpredictable and therefore so much more fun.

But while in “Where’d you Go, Bernadette”, one had the feeling that Maria Semple wasn’t quite sure how “different”, quirky and edgy she could allow her main character to be, in “Today will be Different” it is obvious that the success of Bernadette has emboldened her to go all in with her new protagonist Eleanor Flood.

The novel takes place during one “out of control” day in the life of Eleanor Flood, a former (“has been”) tv writer trying to come to terms with a marooned career in a status obsessed world; her son Timby who attends an equally status obsessed Seattle private school and who owes his name to the auto correct function of his mother’s smartphone; and Joe, her hand surgeon husband who seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Into the roller coaster ride of Eleanor’s day Maria Semple inserts Eleanor’s memories of the past, in particular her relationship with her sister Ivy whose life in the exaggerated southern elite culture of New Orleans adds spice as well as bewilderment to the more shaken than stirred cocktail Ms Semple offers up.

“Today will be Different” is a wonderfully funny and satirical, yet at times quite moving and serious novel that will please fans of "Bernadette" and I am sure initiate new members into the Maria Semple fan club.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times put it perfectly when she wrote in her review that “Maria Semple’s Today will be Different serves up screwball with Soul.” Happy Reading!

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Book of the Week - Girl Up by Laura Bates, reviewed by Natalie Kelly-Haigh (one of our young readers). Thanks Natalie for a strong review!

"Girl Up is like a combination of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Chicken Soup for the Soul, except not for the faint hearted.

Girl Up is a perfect, well researched and honest book. It states the facts, mocks the ridiculousness of gender inequality, and unapologetically gives the happiness and confidence that in today’s world, too many teenage girls need. Girl Up made me feel so welcome and at home, reminding me how proud I am to be a feminist.

Girl Up can be enjoyed by everyone, especially feminists who will love the articulate humour and easy relation to the author’s words. It is a needed and comforting voice that should be heard by everyone.

This book is a masterpiece by Laura Bates, who is one of the only people capable of elegantly displaying dancing vaginas, swearing and patriarchy busting. The book is so funny and many times I found myself in hysterics while reading. Laura Bates harnessed the ability to mix humour and seriousness together, in a page turning and delightful book.

Girl Up is a necessary and solid book, filled with stories from girls, experiments from children, real-life facts and Laura Bates’ mature and strong words. Laura Bates managed to juice the simple and important things to do with gender equality, pouring them into pages.

I am still amazed by the book, for it has had a real impact on me, despite how much I felt the same way towards gender equality before reading it. Girl Up is a special and unique book, designed for special and unique people. Plenty are, but I can guarantee that they will be even more so after they read Girl Up."

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