Lia's Guide To Winning The Lottery by Keren David

Life, Love and a Huge Lottery Win
review by Maryom

Lia has just turned 16 and with her absolutely first lottery ticket, bought by her friend, Jack, as a birthday present, she wins 8 million pounds! When she starts to get over the disbelief, she has a million plans of what she could do with it - a luxury flat of her own and a life of leisure with no need to worry about exams, school or university figure high on the list - but her parents have different ideas - her Mum would like some cosmetic surgery and Dad thinks Lia should invest in his bakery business. Then there's her school friends, even those who weren't particularly friendly - they all feel she should treat them......and Jack's mum thinks Jack deserves a share...... while best friend Shazia's religion forbids her to accept anything. Although going on the telly and meeting famous people is cool, Lia's not sure about all the attention she's getting from the media and starts to worry about what secrets they may unearth... and she still hasn't won the heart of school heart-throb, Raf.

Keren David's previous novels When I Was Joe and Almost True were edgy thrillers dealing with knife crime and witness protection. Lia's Guide To Winning The Lottery is a much more light-hearted affair. When it turned up on my doorstep I'd been having a run of heavy adult thriller, emotionally draining fantasy and disturbing YA reads - all of them excellent but I was feeling in need of a little light relief and heading towards the Sophie Kinsella book on the TBR pile. Lia elbowed it out of the way!

Keren David has managed to pull off something rather clever here - the book is funny, laugh out loud at times, as Lia comes to terms with her Big Win and the changes it makes to her life and with everyone's attitude towards her BUT at the same time it raises serious issues about our attitudes to money, celebrity, gambling and, dare I say it, teenage sex. While Lia enjoys not having to beg her parents for every fiver, she also discovers that it won't help sort her love-life, that you can't buy friends but that, in the right place, a small amount of money can go a long way towards saving lives.

I was really left wondering what my stance would be in a similar situation - not merely as the parent of a teenager - would I try to insist she invested it all? - but if my parents won a huge amount would I expect to share it? or what if my totally grown-up daughter got lucky? If I personally won, would I be comfortable with all that money knowing that people die every day in underdeveloped countries due to circumstances that comparatively small amounts can solve.

I'm now prepared for what will happen when I strike lucky with that big win - how to deal with the press, with friends and relations, the sudden desire for a spending spree - unfortunately the one thing Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery doesn't cover is that all important question - How to pick the lucky numbers?


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Frances Lincoln
Genre - fiction, teen/YA /adult


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The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley

Continuing with our Mid-winter posts....


A Proper Old-fashioned Ghost Story
review by Maryom

Newly orphaned Michael Vyner is invited to spend Christmas with his almost unknown guardian, Sir Stephen, at his remote East Anglian home, Hawton Mere. Sir Stephen turns out to be a reclusive invalid, spending most of his time in his private tower room attended by his sister, and instead of receiving a warm festive welcome Michael is left to amuse himself as best he can. In wandering the dark gloomy passageways of the moated house, he discovers a hidden priest hole, strange noises and apparitions, but Michael soon realises that the ghostly figure he sees isn't intent on harming him but is asking for his help....

A chilling ghost story of the classic "huddle round the fire while the wind howls outside" variety, with all the expected ingredients - the house, isolated by both location and weather; the mysterious guardian; a tragic death; a secret room - and not a vampire or werewolf in sight! Intended for older children/young teens but perfectly chilling for adults. Chris Priestley creates such a feeling of brooding evil and growing menace that even in the middle of summer, I could feel a chill spreading through my bones. (I actually decided to finish reading it in the light of day)

Something I would love to know the answer to, though - was Hawton Mere based on any specific building? As I read the description of a moated house with a priest-hole and tower and twisting staircase, I was sharply reminded of a National Trust property I've visited near King's Lynn, but on a hot Easter weekend with absolutely no sign of ghosts.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Bloomsbury
Genre - Thriller, Supernatural, Ghost Stories, 10-14,Teen

Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman

Teenage Parenthood
review by Maryom

Dante is waiting anxiously for his A level results, then he'll be off to university to pursue his dreams of becoming a journalist. Unfortunately that isn't all that arrives on his doorstep that day. His ex-girlfriend Melanie shows up, with a baby she claims is his - and then she sneaks away and leaves Dante literally holding the baby!

So often teenage pregnancy and parenthood are seen as affecting the mother but here we see them from the perspective of a boy suddenly thrust into fatherhood. Dante finds himself in the middle of nappy changing/feeding problems, having to sort out all the bureaucracy of social services, health visitors, doctors, nursery placements etc that accompany a baby these days, while still not certain that this child is actually his. Sometimes his attempts to cope seem laughable (particularly to a parent), sometimes they'll have you near to tears.
I'm a bit curious though about the 'hype' around this book. It's billed as a novel about the effects of teenage parenthood - which it is, but the secondary plot of the problems faced by Dante's gay brother Adam is an equally important issue and somehow seems to have been ignored. Adam is quiet open and happy about his sexual orientation but his school friends find it harder to take and he's on the receiving end of a lot of serious homophobic bullying.
I found myself having a lot more sympathy for Adam than for Dante. Dante, after all, is responsible for the troubles he's landed with - Adam has done nothing to deserve his. Boys Don't Cry is a thought-provoking book that I hope will get teenagers thinking about the choices they make in life and the knock-on effects that they can have.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Random House
Genre - Teen Fiction

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An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons

A thriller to make you think.
review by Maryom

Chris and Imran were childhood best mates - blood brothers through thick and thin - till world events started to drive a wedge between them. Slowly but surely they start to move away from each other - Chris to join the army, Imran drifting towards Islamic militants.
The book starts as Chris is about to receive a medal for his actions in Afghanistan - he receives a text from Imran claiming that extremists are about to set off a bomb. They haven't spoken in years -Should Chris believe him?
Nicely balanced book showing both points of view against a thriller type setting. The characters are well-imagined and, importantly, believable - not just Chris and Imran but the 'supporting cast' of family and friends come over as real flesh and blood people with differing attitudes and beliefs. Against a background of rising global terrorism, it's easy to understand how the two boys feel pulled in opposite directions.

A full-of-tension thriller with a race against time ending, but one that will make you stop and think about all the rights and wrongs involved on both sides.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - Teen, thriller

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