I know a good percentage of you have flown at least once, and there’s a pretty good chance than some of you, while flying, were stuck sitting next to someone you would rather not be in a confined place with for hours.

This is not the case for Hadley Sullivan when rescheduling her missed flight to London to be a bridesmaid in her Dad’s second wedding. Oliver is the young man she meets in the departure lounge and he is a cheeky young Englishman heading home for an event of his own. Neither of them really wants to be headed across the globe and they find and instant connection.

The mainly black and white cover photo by Oleg Oprisco, depicts a couple kissing on a generic city street with the double exposed images of passers-by’s around them. This gives me the impression of time standing still for the smooching pair. The font of the title alerts me to the fact that it is a story of young love and there’s a red heart drawn around the couple for emphasis.

This was an incredibly sweet book. I love the idea of meeting someone nice on a flight. Someone you can spend hours talking with and not getting the feeling you’re over sharing or sticking your foot in your mouth.

It’s set over 24 hours and has an amazing amount of depth for something with only 215 pages. I was even brought to tears at one stage.

The scene structures are simplistic but they are a fantastic backdrop for the character interaction.

There is a smallish cast until the wedding scene and it works well to give the polar opposite scenarios of isolation and privacy, compared to the crowded insanity of the celebrations.

Hadley is someone I can certainly relate to, and I was right with her through her emotional transitions of trepidation, anger, sadness, and joy. It feels mean to say, but she got on the plane as a brat and stepped out of the hotel a young woman. That’s some serious character development.

It is a challenge to find something out of place, but at a push I think there weren’t enough interruptions by the flight attendants. (See, it’s nothing)

I would say the book can easily be knocked over in an afternoon and it’s a really pleasant few hours you spend observing Hadley and Oliver as they try to figure out The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.

Release date: January 2012

Paperback 216 pages

Published by: Headline Publishing Group

ISBN: 978 0 7553 8402 0 (978 0 7553 9217 9)

Follow Jennifer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenesmith

In the second installment of the Ravenwood mysteries life couldn’t be more complicated for April if she tried.

I mean how is your love life supposed to survive when you’re a Fury (basically the carrier of a virus only deadly to Vampires) and your tall dark and handsome boyfriend is one of the undead?

How is your family life supposed to prosper when you’re still recovering from having your dad die in your arms after a Vampire attack? And forget about the survival of your personal life when a fair majority of your fellow class members are being seduced into becoming food for the emerging Vampire community.

Sure it’s crazy, but it’s all part and parcel in the life of April Dunne.

This series is set in London and, though I’ve never been, I felt like I was really in amongst it all. The gothic romanticism mixed in well with the bitter cold to create a spooky backdrop for the dramas surrounding this unfortunate young lady.

The popular people, or the ‘faces’, are delectably narcissistic, and the idea of April and her friend Caro striving to infiltrate them gives me the heebie jeebies.

There is enough intrigue to keep you turning pages, though there is an infuriatingly obvious information source being deliberately avoided. By the end of the book I was face-planting in frustration.  I hope this issue is resolved in the third book.

I had a measured amount of empathy for April, and at times her hasty recovery from horrible situations made me cringe.

If you are looking for a Vampire mystery and like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series you’ll find enjoyable similarities, making this series one to consider.

As with most series, I suggest starting from the beginning. By Midnight is the first book and the next is untitled at this stage, but looks to be due out midway through 2012.

Paperback, 352 pages

ISBN 0575095598 (ISBN13: 9780575095595)

Expected publication: March 1st 2012 by Gollancz (first published March 1st 2011)

http://www.ravenwoodmysteries.com/

This was my first accepted request from Netgalley.com; (http://www.netgalley.com/ ) so I was excited to delve in and experience Vee’s story for myself. Here’s the blurb…

“Sylvia “Vee” Bell hates that, like her deceased mother, she has narcolepsy. But this embarrassing condition is nowhere near as bad as what happens during these episodes: when Vee passes out she actually slides into somebody else’s conciousness and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. This is how Vee finds herself in the head of a killer, standing over a classmate’s slashed and murdered body.

When another cheerleader turns up dead, Vee realizes that someone is killing off her sister’s friends. Suddenly everyone is a suspect, and Vee finds herself enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies and danger. She must face up to the fact that she can trust no one-not even the family and friends she thought she knew.”

As it was an electronic uncorrected proof, I don’t have a cover to respond to, but judging by the options I can see on goodreads, both the UK and the US covers are going to be beautiful.  Here, take a look.  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9542582-slide

I tore through this book in less than 24 hours and I felt it was authentically respectful to readers.

The characters are anything but stereotypical, and I am in awe of how multifaceted and well thought out each of them are.

My favourite character is Zane, without giving away spoilers; he’s an incredibly unpredictable dark horse, with a good heart. My least favourite character is Vee’s father. He’s so preoccupied that Vee is forced to practically give up her childhood to be the emotional rock for her sister. That’s just not right.

Jill Hathaway appears to have a way with bringing up touchy subjects such as suicide, binge drinking, and bullying, so as to create a non-judgemental playing field. Her characters are the ones with the moral compass. We are allowed to make up our own minds how these things make us feel. Things just are the way they are, like it or lump it in a very non-preachy manner.

The plot is thick and juicy, making the reading process quite enjoyable.  Her use of imagery plonks you right into Vee’s head and has you galloping right along with her in first person. You can’t possibly know a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes and I can’t wait to walk another mile in Vee’s.

Hardcover, 256 pages

Expected publication: March 27th 2012 by Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins

ISBN 139780062077905

http://jillscribbles.blogspot.com/

The Principal told Winter Adams she has to try a little harder at school and consigns her as the photographer for the school newspaper. On her first assignment, she observes a beautiful stranger, and by taking his picture, sets into motion, a series of events that will forever change the way Winter views both herself and the world around her.

The chapter viewpoints shift between Blake’s mother in the late 1800’s and Winter in the present day. We’re finding out about the things that make Blake tick and also living through the revelation of truth as it hits Winter head on.

The cover art shows a red haired girl clinging helplessly to a young man. The teal hues of the forest that surround the couple make the flaming red of her hair pop. It is certainly eye catching with a romantic ambience.

I enjoyed the curly circumstances that come from left field adding an extraordinary level of adversity to overcome.

I thought perhaps Winter could have fought a little more rather than being the personification of a damsel in distress. I don’t quite know if it is my own prejudices or if I am just being hyper aware, but after so many accidents… if I was Winter I would have at least made myself fight back or avoid certain situations.

The end is left open for the next installment and my only hope for the next book is that Winter stops being such a push over.

All in all, the book was enjoyable and made a dreary rainy day far more pleasurable.

Meridian is a 16 year old Fenestra. In layman’s terms, she is the light people see as they are passing away. A month ago she had her life turned upside down and inside out by learning she is one of these part angel, part human beings, a window to the ‘other side’. But that story is contained within the pages of the book Meridian. Wildcat fireflies is the next installment of the story of Meridian and her protector, Tens.

Will Juliet hang on long enough for Merdiain and Tens to find her?

Or will the Aternocti that lurk in the very house Juliet calls home get to her first?

Now I must admit it seems like an eternity since I closed the cover of Meridian and began the wait for the next book to pop up on my local shelves. So it was with a great whoop of pleasure I found Wildcat Fireflies within the first few days of 2012 and added it swiftly to my library.

The cover is dark and somewhat brooding with accents of dark green butterflies, fireflies and curling vines twining their way around the front and back flaps. I’m not sure which character is portrayed on the front, but it looks to be the girl from the first book; I assume it is Meridian. Cover art is by Chad Michael Ward, and I think it’s beautiful.

Though 506 pages, I found myself leaping through the last 350 in a single morning. The storylines flow, the setting is extremely vivid and the characters are brilliant (even the nasty ones.)

There is a new tension between Tens and our heroine that I wasn’t expecting; it went a long way to making the couple seem more realistic on a basic level.

I loved the way the country town was portrayed as I have personally found them to be; friendly and warm, but with deep secrets, and sometimes a thread of evil lurking.

Trying to find anything that I didn’t like about Wildcat Fireflies is more ordeal than I would bother with; I just wish I’d owned it sooner. If you haven’t read Meridian, read it before this one. Though this book can stand on its own, you get more emotion for the situation and more empathy for the plight of the Fenestra.

You will adore the tale Amber weaves. So much heart and soul went into the telling, pun completely intended.

Australian release date November 2011

Paperback 506 pages

Random House

http://www.amberkizer.com/

http://www.meridiansozu.com/