Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

review by Maryom

Even as a young girl, Yael was nothing if not a survivor - at first by keeping quiet, doing as she's told, despite the pain and suffering she undergoes as a scientific 'guinea pig', then when she sees a way, she escapes. Personal survival isn't enough for her though. Working with the Resistance she's determined to overthrow the vicious National Socialist organisation that has ruled Germany, Europe, the Middle East and much of Africa for years - by taking the fight right to the top, and killing Hitler. Now, she has her chance - to take on the persona of Adele Wolfe, the seventeen year old girl who won the round-the-world Axis Tour motorcycle race in 1955, and looks likely to do it again this year, and by impersonating her, get close to the Fuhrer himself. Yael's unique abilities, ironically given to her by experiments carried out in the camps, make her the ideal, if not the only, choice for the task, and the wolves tattooed on her arm, not only serve to hide her camp numbers, but to remind her of those who helped her on her way.
 So Yael changes her appearance, and learns to ride a motorbike, to become as competent and competitive as the girl whose place she will take, but all her research can't let her into Adele's mind - and the relationship between Adele and her brother Felix, and with fellow competitor Luka Lowe could prove to get in the way of Yael's plans.  
Set in an alternate past where Germany won the Second World War, rules Europe, and the resistance is still fighting to topple Hitler, Wolf by Wolf is both an exciting, fast-paced action adventure thriller, and a story of suffering, fear and determination to survive. Yael is a strong, independent heroine in the Katniss Everdeen mould, inspired by her personal history and by the injustices she sees around her, to take on this seemingly impossible task. The story slips easily between the 'present', 1956, and flashbacks to the years that Yael spent in Nazi concentration camps or in hiding with the Resistance, building up the back story that created the person she's become. 
It's a great read, gripping, and exciting, with every page filled with incident as Yael races her way from Germany to Tokyo, up against riders of equal calibre and determination - none of whom are going to accept second place without a fight!

Maryom's Review - 4.5 stars 
Publisher - Indigo/Hachette 
Genre -  teen/YA fiction

End Game by Alan Gibbons

review by Maryom

Seventeen year old Nick Mallory is lying in a hospital bed, his memory wiped almost clear. He can remember driving his father's BMW, remember crashing it into a tree, but not why he was in the car in the first place or why he was furious with his father. Although Nick can see and hear what's going on around him, notice his mother's concern, and his father's slight shiftiness, he can't communicate with anyone, can't lift a finger or bat an eyelid. So he drifts off into dreams and memories, always followed by the haunting dead eyes of a frightening visitor who comes in the night. Gradually Nick begins to piece together the events that led up to the crash, and remember the the dishonest and dangerous deals his dad has been involved in ...

End Game is a thriller-style read about a father-son relationship which goes off the rails when the son, Nick, becomes disillusioned with the father he once idolised. Now, I suspect that a lot of children grow up to discover their parents aren't quite the heroes they'd once been seen as, but Nick's father has a lot further to fall than most. As a soldier, he was a 'real' hero, especially to his young son, and, even when he turned to politics, his concern over injured soldiers and determination to fight for them maintained that status.
Events are seen solely from Nick's point of view, so despite having acted stupidly and dangerously, he definitely has the reader on his side. You can't help but feel sorry for Nick, though the clearly seen anguish of his mother and sister might temper your support of him a little. His father though is a different matter - his behaviour at the hospital is odd and shifty, and, even when he can't remember why, Nick has an inkling that his father has done something despicable, which obviously taints the reader's view. The author manages though, as Nick's memories re-surface, to capture the way the father appears to have been duped, which leaves the way open for a father/son reconciliation.


There's a lot here for teens to think about and debate; issues about arms deals, guilt versus innocence, who should accept responsibility for mistakes, and, of course, what their own attitude would be faced with similar circumstances.

Putting the evidence together piece by piece, through the eyes of someone trying to recover lost memories is a clever way of tempting the reader in, grabbing their attention and making them want to read on till the mystery is uncovered. It's excellently done, and I certainly didn't want to put the book down. 

Maryom's Review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Indigo/Hachette 
Genre -  teen/YA fiction

Tinder by Sally Gardner

 illustrated by David Roberts
review by Maryom

Otto Hundebiss is tired of war, has seen too much of "man's inhumane heart" but still refuses the hand that Death offers him. Instead he wakes up in a forest, where a half-beast, half-man creature gives him boots to walk in and a set of dice that will tell him which path to follow...and so he sets out on an adventure. He falls in love with the beautiful Safire, is imprisoned by the sinister Lady of the Nail, and although he wins his freedom, can Otto save Safire from an arranged marriage?

Using the phrase "illustrated folk tale" to describe this will conjure up images of a brightly-coloured fairy tale for children - don't be mistaken, for Tinder is nothing like that! Folk tales were once much scarier and darker than the sanitised versions put out for children today and Sally Gardner has taken Hans Christian Andersen's The Tinder Box story back to those darker origins. Otto and Safire represent the pure-of-heart innocents struggling against the powers of hate, revenge, and jealousy, personified by truly terrifying characters, not the Pantomime-style villains of younger children's fiction; the Lady of the Nail and the scheming Mistress Jabber will send shivers up and down your spine, and the werewolves just plain horrify you! The writing is compelling and atmospheric, and doesn't pull punches;  werewolves are hungry, blood-thirsty beasts, and war isn't glorious but filled with violence, rape and death.  Through Otto's dreams we see flashbacks to the past that haunts him, the horrific things that happened to his family, and the guilt he still carries.  As I said, it's not a pleasant children's bedtime story.

  The mood throughout is menacing and chilling, and David Roberts' excellent illustrations  - in black and white with vivid splashes of blood red - echo and even increase this mood.

What age group would I say it was for? Teens and onwards, with no upper limit. Although it's published as a 'children's book', I found it enthralling enough to consider it readable by adults with a taste for the fantastical and bizarre.

Maryom's Review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Indigo/Hachette
Genre - folk tale, teen +

Any Dream Will Do by Maria Duffy

review by Maryom

30 yr old singleton Jenny Breslin has become addicted to twitter - chatting to her online friends as often as she can, at all hours day and night. Then in a rash moment she invites her three best on-line friends to visit for the weekend. When they accept, Jenny hits major panic mode. How can her real life live up to the one she's painted on Twitter?  But on the other hand, how many secrets have her friends hidden? Zahra's job isn't quite what she claims, Fianna's life isn't the cosy domestic bliss she'd said and Kerry? Well, Kerry's certainly NOT what Jenny had been expecting

When I've had enough of blood, gore and emotional trauma, I always find myself back at chick-lit for light relief - and this is the sort of light-hearted story that hits the right buttons for those moments. A heroine to laugh or cringe with, highs and lows along the way and the promise of a happy ending - what more could you want? This is the first Maria Duffy novel I've read (appropriately after 'meeting' her on Twitter) and I'll be looking out for more.

Something really puzzled me though - the cover! It's not often I bother to comment on them but this one just seems so inaccurate. You'd imagine the young woman featured there would be Jenny, after all she is the heroine. But she's described as having hair dyed red, make up so thick her 'face was barely recognisable', several ear-piercings and an eyebrow stud and a style of dress she describes as 'sort of punkish, but without the hob-nailed boot'. Hmm, not very like that cover!

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Hachette Books Ireland
Genre - romcom/chick lit

 Buy Any Dream Will Do from Amazon

And Actually...... by Denise Deegan

review by Maryom

Since Rachel has moved to Strandbrook College, her life has turned around. She now has real friends who she's grown to love and trust, and she's managed to put behind her the shameful things that have happened in the past. When she's lands a part in a TV medical drama, it feels like all her dreams are coming true but almost the first person she meets there is someone from her past, Rebecca French - and all the bad memories come flooding back...

And Actually... is the third in the Butterfly series and this time Rachel takes centre stage. Her story may be more 'everyday' than Sarah's or Alex's but none the less devastating in its impact. Bullying is an issue that affects many people's lives and here it's shown in all its insidious  bitchiness. The bully comes across as friendly and outwardly nice, managing to worm her way into people's lives then gradually manipulating their opinions. It's easy to see why so many were taken in with her stories - even when the reader clearly knows the rights and wrongs of the case.

A great stand-alone novel but for followers of the series, Alex and Sarah are back with their continuing stories.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Hachette Books Ireland
Genre - teenage fiction

Buy And Actually ... from Amazon

And For Your Information by Denise Deegan

A Slice of Teenage Life
review by Maryom

Sarah feels that her life is out of control - her parents have separated, her mum is angry all the time, boyfriend Simon pays her no attention, her best friends Alex and Rachel keep secrets from her and have loads more spending money... So when she accidentally discovers the power that shoplifting appears to give her, it feels like a good thing. Can that be right? or is it the way to spin even more out of control? Getting caught may be better for Sarah than she realises. It certainly proves to be life-changing!

To be honest, I'd expected And For Your Information to be just another fairly light-weight teen chick lit/school story - exam stress, bullies and boyfriends, - but realised quite early on that this story was something more than that.
Denise Deegan deals with important issues in an accessible, readable, yet thought-provoking, way. I haven't read the previous novel in the series, but found it easy to slip into the lives and problems of Sarah, Alex and Rachel - and between them they seem to have all the teenage problems in the world. It's not all doom and gloom for them though - there are plenty of laughs and a lot of romance. As the parent of a teenager, I particularly liked the way in which grown-ups were shown to have thoughts and feelings of their own - too often ignored by their teenagers!
An excellent slice-of-teenage-life novel - just be warned, the ending won't leave a dry eye in the house!

I think the cover didn't do the story justice - and could have been responsible for my expectations of it. The Mole actually suggested it looked like a fitness book!

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Hachette Books Ireland
Genre - teenage fiction

Buy And for Your Information: a Novel (Butterfly) from Amazon