Chicklish

REVIEW: The Secret of the Towers (The Sprite Sisters) by Sheridan Winn

Review by Hannah

This is the third in the Sprite Sisters series, the second: The Magic Unfolds is reviewed here.

The summer holidays are here, and this means campfires and freedom for the Sprite Sisters. When they find the key that unlocks the secret of Sprite Towers; the magic of the mysterious old house is about to be released. But danger is lurking in the midst, and a guest at the house may not seem to be all they are...

Again, I enjoyed the 'Sprite Sisters' book. I read the second book and it started from where I left off. The great thing about this book is that you don't have to read the first and second book because the third one recaps it all. I liked the relationship between the four sisters; they all stuck together because each has their own special power. Flame (13) is the oldest who seemed much more like me. She wants to be a writer and she's very protective over the younger ones. Marina (12) is much more loud and outgoing; which sometimes gets her in trouble with Flame. Ash (10) is the owner of the 'magic stone'. She spends her time gardening with their dad. And Ariel (9) is the youngest but seems the most compassionate. She sees people more than they are. This book was good, it was nice to read a different type of book. I recommend this for anyone who likes adventure and mystery. A must-read.

Review by Hannah, aged 13

REVIEW: Girl Meets Cake by Susie Day

It's the start of a new term at the exclusive boarding school that Heidi attends because her parents work there. Heidi's looking forward to seeing her friends again, both at school and at her Saturday job at the local cake shop where she's been working all summer. But suddenly her friends have all found love and paired off, leaving Heidi to dream up a fantasy boyfriend, Gingerbread Ed. Ed is perfect in every way, except for the fact that he only exists in the online form Heidi herself created. (Unless you count the biscuit.) In fact, he's so perfect that most of her friends love him too, and soon they start messaging him with their deepest secrets...

Girl Meets Cake is 100% my kind of book. All I can say is that I loved it. No, I can say I love-love-loved it. Ah, maybe I can say a bit more...

The characters in this book are all gorgeously lovable in different ways. The locations - especially the cake shop - are quirky and original. The school's eighties musical production of Twelfth Night is inspired and utterly hilarious. The linguistic tricks are as brilliant as those in Susie Day's first book, Big Woo!, if not more so - the book is full of messaging sessions with friends, scripted dialogue between Heidi and a fictional TV detective and laugh-out-loud recipes. I love the way Heidi's mind works and the way it comes across on the page. This book is thoroughly entertaining, touching and funny.

And now I feel obliged to make a biscuit/cake pun, but I promise it's just a little one: Girl Meets Cake is truly yum from start to finish.

To quote Heidi herself: "EX. SELL. LENT."

GIVEAWAY: win a signed copy of Extreme Kissing by Luisa Plaja

Extreme Kissing, the new teen novel by Split by a Kiss author Luisa Plaja (who is also the editor of this site, and writing this right now...) is already in the shops and officially out on 2nd April 2009.

Featuring two best friends and one wild and random day out, Extreme Kissing is a story about friendship, love, risks and secrets.

Luisa will be giving away one signed copy of Extreme Kissing every week for the month of April. There will be a draw every Friday (3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th April) and winners will be contacted by the following Monday.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED - THANKS FOR ENTERING!

Read reviews of Extreme Kissing at Wondrous Reads and About Books and So Many Books, So Little Time.

Find out more about Extreme Kissing on Luisa Plaja's website.

REVIEW: WAGs' World, Playing the Game by Anonymous

Review by Alexandra

This is clever.  Very clever in fact.

The title itself, WAGS' World just screams glamour, money, clothes and shopping, and certainly Playing the Game delivers this. But it also delivers much more.

Amy is 16. Her childhood sweetheart, Damien has been signed up to play for the Royal Boroughs. It’s his premiership football big-break and soon he’s in London leaving Amy behind. It’s not long before Amy joins him though; it’s the summer and she’s on holiday before starting sixth form.

As soon as she’s back at Damien’s side, Amy is thrust into the spotlight. Photographers follow her, gossip magazines are talking about her, the other wives and girlfriends have stories and advice for her… But friendships don’t seem to be as easy as they were at school. Some of the WAGs seem to have agendas; Amy soon finds out that they see themselves as playing a game with the press and the personalities around them.

Struggling to be herself and fit into her new life, things start to unravel for Amy. Will she find out which of the girls around her she can trust? Will the ‘chief’ WAG, Claudette help her or make things worse? Will Amy manage to keep her relationship with Damien on track?

Lots of detail and intriguing turns in this novel. The characters are interesting and realistic. It not just about shopping and high fashion – WAGS World is about identity and changing circumstances. It’s about how life changes can bring us into new and different worlds that impact how we’ve already constructed our realities.

A really great new series to try! And I think that, like Gossip Girl, adults will find themselves reading it as much as older teens.

Watch out for the sequel, Knowing The Score, out July 2nd!

Review by Alexandra

NEWS: meet Hilary Freeman on TopFriendz

Hilary Freeman's Don't Ask is a novel about love, lies and social networking, and it features a site called TopFriendz: 'the social networking site where nothing is quite as it seems and where you can be whoever you want to be'.

You can find TopFriendz here and join in with the fun discussions, uploads and blog posts, and Hilary Freeman herself has a page on the site, so you can send her comments. (Also watch out for Igor, who was the first person I noticed when I joined!)

Don't Ask is released today in the UK.

Read our review of Don't Ask here, and our interview with Hilary Freeman here.

REVIEW: Mariah Mundy and the Midas Box by G. P. Taylor

Review by Sasha

Mariah begins a new chapter of his life, working in the Prince Regent Hotel. Previously coming from a Colonial School for boys, Mariah is used to strict rules and discipline, but nothing could ever prepare him for the future ahead. His job is to assist Bizmillah, the magaician, in his stage performances and must let Bizmillah saw him in half on a weekly basis. Upstairs in the gleaming brilliance, the hotel offers every form of luxury. But down in the murky cellars where the magic equipment is kept is a secret. A secret that will lead Mariah into foul plots of villiany and deciet and even possible death.

This book was full of wicked tales, fast paced monster chases and dark characters. I love to read a variety of different books with different genres and this book was everything I expected it would be. It was full of mystery and wonder from start to finish but took a while to get into. There was so much description on every page and you were really able to picture the settings and characters. Sometimes you would just wish that the story would move a little bit quicker and not focus on the description so much. Also, there was a sense that the story was kind of made up as it went along. For example, the characters just seemed to be going through passages that led to doors and then through more passages that went through doors (etc.etc.) Over all, this book is for readers who like a stories full of tummy turns.

Review by Sasha, aged 12

REVIEW: Love, Lies and Lizzie by Rosie Rushton

Review by Hannah

The fourth series in the 21st century Jane Austen books. Mrs Bennett has bought a new house at Priory Park a posh house left by a relative who died. They don't fit in there but soon the five girls are involved in parties, posh frocks and Pimm's.

This was a great book. At first, I couldn't see the relation with the original Pride and Prejudice book because I've never read it before but I do know a certain character that comes along (James Darcy). There are five sisters who are very different characters: Katie who only seeks the approval of her twin sister Lydia; Lydia who is very different from Katie - loud, giggly and very happy when 'pulling a boy'; Meredith the eco-warrier who loves recycling, finding low-energy bulbs and worrying about global warming; Lizzie, the main character who doesn't seem bothered about love right now - especially since Toby. And finally Jane, who is closest to Lizzie and practically best friends with her. Then there's Alice Bennett, the loud, quite irritating mother who wants to fit in with The Bingleys. And quiet Dad. This was an interesting book and I loved the end. The characters all thought differently of each other, and there were surprising things happening. I liked James who was sarcastic but I nearly cried at times. A good classic turned into a something teenagers can relate to. Good to read when on holiday. Especially in France.

Review by Hannah, aged 13

REVIEW: War of the Witches by Maite Carranza

Review by Alexandra

This is an exciting novel. It starts well and builds into a page-turner you can’t put down.

The beginning shows Anaid waking to find her mother, Selene missing. She's already lost her grandmother the year before, so she's immediately worried. Her mother's friends are anxious too, they know Selene has drawn too much attention to herself lately, they think this is why she's disappeared. For any normal person, such extrovert behaviour might be fine but Anaid soon learns that her mother actually isn't just like any other mother, she has some special abilities…

The search is on to find Selene, but it's not going to be an easy ride. Anaid has to catch up and learn things about herself that she could never have imagined and no one has told her before. She quickly finds herself plummeted into a new world of danger, witches, special abilities, strange spirits and much more. I won’t give too much away about the story because half of the excitement is finding out as you go along!

This novel has been a bestseller in the author’s native country, Spain. It sold over 100,000 copies there and has now been translated into English. Towards the end of the book I remembered that this was a translation and felt astonished, it's beautifully done by Noel Baca Castex. The text reads as if written by the original author, you would never know it was first created in Spanish.

This is a fantastic novel with unique characters and an exciting plot. It leaves you waiting anxiously for the sequel.

Review by Alexandra

Spanish speakers/students (both Castillian and Catalan) can check out the author’s website and also La Guerra de las Bruixes. According to this site, the book is the first in a trilogy.

NEWS: Vanessa Curtis signing Zelah Green in Portsmouth, 28th March

Vanessa Curtis will be signing copies of Zelah Green, Queen of Clean at Waterstone's in Portsmouth on Saturday 28th March from 12pm to 2pm.

She'd love to see you there!

Waterstone's Portsmouth is at 115 Commercial Road, Portsmouth, PO1 1BU
Tel: 023 9282 1255

See our review of Zelah Green, Queen of Clean

Read our interview with Vanessa Curtis

Vanessa Curtis's website

INTERVIEW: Hilary Freeman

Luisa interviews Hilary Freeman, author of the fabulous Don't Ask, released on 26th March 2009 in the UK. (Read our review here.)

Don't Ask is the story of a girl who gets in too deep with a social networking site. Are you a fan of these sites?
Although Don't Ask wouldn't exist without social networking sites, I wouldn't say I'm a fan of them – I've been swept along with them, like most people. I resisted joining Facebook for ages, but I gave in eventually to the peer pressure. And now I can't keep off the darn thing.

I'm also on Friends Reunited, which I know is very passe, and Twitter, which I don't like, as I think it's about showing off and pretending celebrities are your friends, rather than having any meaningful conversation with anyone. I have a concentration span that's longer than 10 seconds. And I'm really not that interested in what people are having for breakfast. I do love playing scrabble on Facebook, purely for educational reasons, of course, and not to avoid working, or cleaning the flat.

I do find it fascinating how social networking sites are changing people's social lives, our relationships and the way we all communicate. On Facebook, for example, everyone is equal: your oldest, best mate and the person you met at someone's party two years ago, who you can barely remember, but don't want to insult by turning down. There's this whole new etiquette that everyone is learning. Is friendship about quantity or quality? Do you want everybody to know your latest news? Etc.

Thanks to social networking sites, I'm back in contact with people I haven't seen for 20 years (I'd like to say since I was a baby, but truthfully, since school). It's nice to be back in touch, but I can't help thinking, isn't there a reason why friendships drift? Are we meant to have everyone from the whole of our lives at clicking distance?

Have you ever pretended to like something you didn't to impress someone, the way that Lily pretends to be an Arsenal fan? (And can I just say that I really loved those parts!)
I wouldn't have Lily's guts. I've never pretended to be someone else – and I genuinely am an Arsenal fan – but yes, like everyone, I have exaggerated my interest in things to make somebody like me (men usually), or to look cooler. Or not to offend someone. I've found that people take you at face value: if you look and sound the part, nobody questions you. I guess that's how conmen operate.

My first serious boyfriend managed to pose as a non-smoker for the first three months of our relationship, because he knew I didn't smoke and thought I wouldn't like him if he did. He must have spent a fortune on chewing gum and toothpaste! I caught him out one day, having a crafty one round the back of my house.

There was a story in the news recently about people claiming that they've read books which they haven't read, but think they should have done. I will come clean: I have never read Harry Potter – any of them - even though I've pretended I have when people ask. (I did see the first film, but that doesn't count!) I probably shouldn't admit that, because I know people love them, but the books just never appealed to me. It's also partly because I'm a bit contrary and I decided that JK Rowling has enough readers, when there are lots of brilliant books out there, which are being neglected. I don't like jumping on bandwagons.

I also absolutely loved the mix of seriousness and humour in Don't Ask, which I think came both from Lily's character and the situations she got herself into. Which comes first for you when you're writing - character or situation? (Or perhaps both together?)
Thanks! This is a tricky question to answer, as I'm not entirely sure where things come from when I'm writing. I think you've got it spot on: character and situation come together. With Don't Ask, I had two basic ideas: wouldn't it be great if you could use a social networking site to find out information about someone you couldn't otherwise get? And isn't it easy to pretend to be someone else on these sites? When I started plotting out the story, Lily just appeared.

When I'm writing, it often doesn't feel like I'm inventing anything; the people and the story already seem to exist, fully-formed in my head. The effort is getting them down on paper and working out the details. 

I know some authors work out every last detail of their story before they start writing, but I prefer to sketch an outline and then see where the characters take me. Ideas pop into my head as I go along – annoyingly, usually when I'm in the shower or out at a gig, so can't write them down - and the characters become more and more real. By the time I'm absorbed in writing a book, I feel like I'm living in my characters' lives. They're my friends. I start thinking, what would Lily do or say?
I know this makes me sound slightly mad, but I can't explain it any other way!

Can you tell us something about other teen books you've written, or are currently writing?
My first teen book, Loving Danny, came out in 2006. It's about a girl called Naomi who's on her gap year. Most of her friends have gone away travelling or to university and she's stuck at home, doing a tedious office job, trying to save money. She's bored, not very confident and a bit of a dreamer. One day, she meets a guy called Danny, a good-looking, mysterious and intense musician, who's in a band that's on the brink of stardom. Naomi can't believe he's interested in her and he opens up her eyes to a whole new world. But, as she discovers, he also has a dark, destructive side...

The book explores first love, not being able to change people, and working out who you are and what you want from life. I can't say anymore without giving it all away.

There's actually a social networking site aspect to Loving Danny too, although it doesn't feature in the story. As some readers have discovered, the band website in the book is a real website, where you can listen to the song in the book. It also links to Danny's myspace page.

As far as future books are concerned, I'm working on a few ideas at the moment; I'm afraid it's too early to say what... But watch this space!

Thank you very much, Hilary Freeman!

Thank you!

Read our review of Don't Ask

Read an extract of Don't Ask

Visit Danny's (from Loving Danny) MySpace page

Listen to one of Danny's songs

Hilary Freeman's website