Alone in a hospital room, a sixteen year old girl tells her story to a digital recorder. It is not a fairy-tale…

Jenna Lord’s life has not been easy. At eight she was caught in a house fire that almost killed her, and she still bears the scars. Her brother, the only person that she could rely on, shipped out to Iraq to escape their controlling parents and left her alone. Now, living with parents who are more caught up in their problems than concerned about her, Jenna is about to start a new school.

She’s terrified. And then she meets Mitch Anderson. He is gorgeous, caring and confident. And he’s her teacher. Before she knows it, events begin spiralling wildly out of control.

Drowning Instinct is one of those books that leave you without a clear emotional response. Rather than a black and white, cut and dried sort of a feeling of love or hatred, it leaves a conglomeration of swirling greys in its wake. It’s the kind of book too, that would mean different things to a person at different points in their life. If I’d read it as a teen I might have thought it vaguely romantic; as an adult, though, I find it intensely creepy. Either way, there’s no denying that it’s beautifully written.

The subject matters contained within it are not so beautiful. Jenna is a somewhat reformed cutter. She still thinks about cutting all the time and keeps a pair of scissors handy so that her options are open. Her mother is alcoholic and depressive. Her father is a philandering control freak. Actually, everyone in this book is pretty messed up. Is it a love story? No; more a story about people struggling to function and latching on to anyone that they can so that they don’t sink.

It shows a gritty and harsh reality that sadly does exist for some people, and that is the strength of this novel. Given the environment Jenna was raised in, she’s heart-breakingly vulnerable. Every layer of protection that a sixteen year old would normally have has been stripped away. Her brother has left, her parents don’t know how to care and she doesn’t have the confidence to know her own worth. Or to be able to say no to the only affection that she is being offered.

While readers can feel for Jenna, the novel does fall into the category of mistaking pain and sorrow for character. She’s come from bad circumstances, Mitch has come from bad circumstances; but their pasts don’t make them better or more interesting people. They are inherently weak. Mitch goes through the motions of doing the right thing and being the good guy, but will ultimately break morals, ethics and laws to get what he wants. Jenna doesn’t even manage to look like she’s doing the right thing. She’ll help the people who can make her feel wanted, and forget the ones who can’t.

This definitely isn’t a fairy-tale. There is no prince – nor any princess. Just a lost and lonely girl who is too young to realise that the choice she thinks she’s making isn’t a choice at all. It’s a lifetime of destruction funnelling her into the next cycle. It’s not a happy read; we know this from the outset, but it is raw and desperately bleak.

While the story can be predictable and the plot leans heavily on coincidence, this is a book that explores the world through the eyes of an unlikely protagonist. As such, it’s fresh and brings up some interesting questions that don’t have ready answers.

Drowning Instinct – Ilsa Bick

Quercus Books (February 1, 2012)

ISBN: 9781780870434

Joelene Pynnonen says: Almost a decade after the series premiered, Veronica Mars is making a comeback, this time on the big screens. With the release date set for next year, now is a perfect time to revisit the original TV show that captivated thousands. 

The series follows the eponymous main character, Veronica (Kristen Bell), as she navigates her way through a high school that has recently become hostile to her. The reason for this unfolds thorough a series of flashbacks. Veronica’s best friend, Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried), was brutally murdered and Veronica’s father, County Sheriff Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), accused Lilly’s billionaire father of the crime. The small but wealthy community proceeds to force Keith out of his job. He opens a private investigation agency and Veronica works there after school.

There’s something about teenage detectives that appeals to me, and this series was no exception. It’s one of those gems that take a few episodes to get into and then suddenly it hooks you so badly that you pull all-nighters to get through it and your workmates think that you’re hung-over. There is a charm about Veronica Mars. It’s one of those shows that puts entertainment first but still manages to be clever, without being pretentious.

The Veronica Mars character very much steals the show. She’s an outcast and is struggling to come to terms with that when so recently she was part of the school’s inner circle. It would be easy for the show to become mired in angst, but it takes a more pleasant turn. While Veronica no longer has the status that she once had, she is witty, resourceful and proactive. She remakes herself so that she’s indispensable to the school in another way, by solving the myriad of problems and mysteries that students bring her. Her confidence is based in her intellect, her ability to problem-solve and her remaining friends, not in what general society thinks of her.

The chemistry is the other thing that gets me. All of the characters have it with each other, despite them all being very different people. Kristen Bell has an easy, natural acting ability that makes the scenes she’s in shine and it’s a lot of fun to watch her interact with both the people who hate Veronica and the people who love her in the series. While her interactions with both Wallace and Lilly are probably some of my favourite TV depictions of friendship, it is her relationship with her father that constantly makes me want more. He’s protective of her but they also have a quirky, off-beat bond. Rather than loving one another because they’re related, they are connected on a deeper level. Veronica doesn’t tell Keith everything but he knows who she is and he respects her for it.

The brilliance of Veronica Mars stems from a combination of many things, but at heart it is a teen series that focuses on wonderful characterisation, entertaining dialogue and some amazing performances. It’s definitely something to watch before the movie comes out.

Sam is over-tired, having been kept awake by recurring and steadily worsening nightmares. His science teacher, Mr Cole, who always seems to push Sam harder than anyone else, is disappointed in him. And annoyingly perfect Xavier Dark is all too happy to answer the questions that Sam can’t quite get. It seems like any ordinary day at school.

All of that changes when a helicopter lands on school grounds and armed men storm the building, looking for Sam in a matter of national security. Whisked away from his home and everything he has ever known, Sam finds himself caught up with two other people his age. A boy named Alex and, Eva, a girl who mysteriously knows more about their situation than either of the others.

If Sam is going to survive, he is going to have to work out who his friends are, and come to terms with the fact that his family may not be who they appear to be.

Thus begins the first novel in The Last Thirteen series. It’s fast-paced and action-packed with a premise that I’m sure we’ve all wished that we lived. What if our dreams could reveal our future? What if they could change it? Sam is used to nightmares, having battled them every night since his best friend died. Now he is told that there is more to his dreams than he could have imagined. Saved from the frightening Enterprise, an organisation devoted to exploiting Dreamers for financial gain, Sam is told that not only is he a Dreamer with the ability to see the future, he may be one of the Thirteen. One Dreamer, of the legendary thirteen, who will be strong enough to take a stand against the powerful Solaris in the final battle for earth.

While this is touted at being a young adult novel, I’d recommend it for a slightly younger age group. With the fascinating premise and likeable mix of characters, it’s a fantastic book for reluctant readers. The writing is simple but serves its purpose and the description is pared back to allow the action to flow along more quickly.

For avid readers who are older, this slim volume may not suffice, especially given the cliff-hanger ending that arrived far too quickly for my liking.

Book one of The Last Thirteen is a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Over too quickly and leaving you wanting more. I’d recommend it to anyone who had enjoyed the Conspiracy 365 series, and any 10-15 year old reluctant reader.

The Last Thirteen – James Phelan

 Scholastic (September 1, 2013)

 ISBN: 9781742831848

It’s rare to read a book that touches you so deeply that you immediately want to know everything about the author, and despite Google-searching for hours, the information found does not suffice. For me, that book was How I Live Now. With the upcoming release of the film starring Saoirse Ronan, I thought that it was about time I revisited the novel that had impacted me so deeply.

Daisy is a fifteen year old girl who doesn’t belong. Sent away from her dismissive father and stepmother, she finally finds a place that she might be able to make her own with her maternal aunt and cousins. They’re unlike anyone she has met before or likely will again. Isaac is intuitive; knowing things that shouldn’t be possible for him to know. His twin, Edmond can read minds. The youngest, Piper, has a way with animals that surpasses anything human.

They live a carefree life with their beloved pets in the English country-side. For the first time, during the idle summer days of gardening and lazing by the river, Daisy feels like a part of something. Especially, and increasingly, when she’s around Edmond. But a war is looming ahead of them and every day brings it closer to their door.

There is so much to say about How I Live Now. It is beautiful, terrible, haunting, lyrical. Reading it is physically, desperately painful. Putting it down is impossible.

But that’s a lot of words without a whole lot of information. So, what I really love about this book is that it is literary and poignant and entire classrooms could talk about the nuances of it for months and still have more to say. All this, and it’s written for young adults.

Meg Rosoff has an incredible way of juxtaposing situations to accentuate our understanding of them. The war, when it comes, is brutal, destructive and incomprehensible. On the other side of that, the balance is Daisy’s budding relationship with Edmond. It is everything that the war is not; tender, positive and plausible. There are a lot of intelligent readers who want to know why Daisy and Edmond had to be cousins and it bothers me that they can’t see how much weaker the story would be if that had been changed. As a society we will judge two people for having fallen in love with the wrong kind; but we ignore war. The simple beauty of Daisy and Edmond’s love contrasted to the cruelty of the war makes us re-evaluate those views.

There are multitudes of ways that Rosoff has made me consider my opinions and beliefs, but she doesn’t preach. Her gorgeously evocative writing and phenomenal characters drew me into the world and kept me there. She is one of the rare few unapologetic writers. Daisy, in many ways, is self-interested and caustic. Her interest in the world only emerges when world events begin to affect her. All of her flaws, nuances and imperfections are spread across the page for all to see; no excuses, no apology. It works. Daisy’s loyalty and the way that she grows through the novel round out her flaws until we like her all the more for having them. There is something about imperfect characters written well that makes them unforgettable.

I could go on, but you are so much better off finding more out for yourself. If you’re in the mood for a bittersweet story as wonderful as it is painful, pick this one up before the movie comes out.

  How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff

 Penguin (August 5, 2004)

 ISBN: 9780141319926

The wall looms over the people of Amarias through the days and nights. Joshua knows that it is meant to be there to offer them protection from the people on the other side of it – the people who used to live where Amarias is now. The people in Amarias are strange though, and every day his mother becomes more like them and less like the woman that he grew up loving. So when he finds a tunnel leading under the wall, it is a chance to discover for himself whether the people on the other side are as dangerous as the government says.

Lost and afraid in a society different to his own, a girl does him a kindness that will have repercussions for both of them.

Cruel regimes are a pretty big theme in teen fiction right now. In The Wall, dystopia is taken from the realms of sci-fi and fantasy and translated to reality. Rather than reading about an imaginary reality, we are offered a glimpse of a real and current one. One that is partially of our making. The depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict here is raw and desperate. Split physically by only a wall, in the minds of both societies, there are so many other barriers between them. Fear and hatred exist on both sides of the wall.

Sutcliffe’s writing style is wonderful. He captures the voice of an inquisitive and intelligent thirteen year old boy perfectly. His ideals, however, are what took me from liking this book to loving this book. Though this isn’t an imaginary world, it does have a similar feel to the dystopian teen fiction books I’ve been reading lately with one important difference. Violence is not fought with violence. Ever. Joshua resists the horrible situation around him with as much courage as any hero I’ve read, but he combats the destruction with construction. He builds a relationship with the people he is meant to hate by nurturing an orchard they once owned. Pouring love into the world, rather than saturating it with more hatred. It’s a strong and essential message to send, that resistance can be non-violent and productive.

In this sort of a story, making an ‘us and them’ dichotomy can be all too easy. Sutcliffe, however, avoids it. There are some truly terrible people on both sides of the wall, and some good ones, and some who are lost and frightened. Opening up dialogue and a willingness to understand each other is shown to be the key to ending the violence and misery that exists in both societies.

Beautifully crafted with amazing and realistic relationships, The Wall is a wonderful read for teens and adults alike. Ultimately uplifting, it’s books like this that create more kindness and understanding in our world.

The Wall – William Sutcliffe

Bloomsbury (April 1, 2013)

ISBN: 9781408838426