News from Nikki

Hello Everybody,

First of all, sorry we've been neglecting the site. We have been quite busy but now we have some time to catch up with everything we've missed lately.

Thanks to all of the authors who signed up and are now posting! We truly appreciate how passionate the online community is, and without all your help we would've gone nowhere. Please continue asking your friends to sign up and keep on posting there!

Here is some exciting news: we will be launching a FanFiction area of the site where you can post stories to do with your favourite books. Of course, we're not hoping to rival fanfiction.net, but we will be closely moderating and editing so hopefully we'll have a good collection of good-quality Fanfics to share with our community!

Thanks,
Nikki.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Synopsis

When Nora's biology class has a new seating arrangement, she is devastated, scared, and interested. Previously, she was sitting with her best friend, Vee, but now she has to make do with Patch, a transfer student. He doesn't give much information about himself, but somehow he is able to know a lot about Nora without even asking, just from a glance! This really peeves Nora off and she finds it really irritating and freaky that he can know so much about her when she knows basically nothing about him. Who could've known the deepest and darkest secrets about Patch, when he is usually quiet and keeps to himself? Meanwhile, Nora meets a new student that transferred from Kinghorn Prep, a private school, to a very ordinary CHS. Nora finds this a little bit strange and eerie. Nora is about to find out the stunning truth about Elliot and his friend that never shows up to parties as well as Patch.

Review

Category:

Age Group: Teens

Star Rating: 7.5/10

Verdict

I found this really interesting because i have never read about fallen angels before and I know there are quite a bit out there, in the big world of books. I was really interested in the way Fitzpatrick and structure the story so well, where all is revealed at the end and where the Prologue makes sense at last. She keeps the reader in suspense all throughout the book, although if you have read something similar before you might find it quite obvious, I don't know and I can't say. Based on someone with no experience whatsoever in reading books about fallen angels, I couldn't stop myself from stopping. No, it doesn't give you nightmares if you read before you sleep without having finished the book, but it certainly kept me awake and took me some time before i could fall asleep. I was wondering what would happen next; the suspense was really killing. If you love reading books where you can't wait to find out what happens next then this is the right book for you!

The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson

Synopsis

Tally doesn't want to go to a boarding school, but for the safety of herself she must obey her father for World War II is almost upon themselves. Getting to the school, she settles in easily and meets many good friends. One day, Daley, the principal of the school receives a letter inviting some students to go to Bergania to perform at an international folk dancing festival. Previously while at the cinemas with a friend she saw a travelogue about Bergania and wants more than anything to go there, so at this opportunity she bullies her friends into training for the dance and going with her. She had no idea what an important deed she would be doing there until she arrived...

Review

Category:
Age Group: 12+
Star Rating: 8/10

Verdict

I found this book, to put this simply, quite amazing. Ibbotson describes things in this book quite marvelously and her imagery use is very strong. When, in the book, she describes Bergania "A ridge of high mountains with everlasting snow, wide valleys planted with orchards and vineyards, and meadows where children herded goats like in Heidi." (Page 67, chapter seven: matteo's moan.) I was astonished. When I was reading that i could see, like I was watching a movie instead of reading, the actual land in my mind. That goes for all the other parts of the story as well.