AustLit

'We are the luckiest, Elliot’s dad told her. And Elliot, of course, believed him. Elliott and her family have lived in the house of a thousand storms by Crooked River all her life, with her best friend, Drake, just a kayak ride downstream. But one ordinary evening, Elliott’s parents tell her some shattering news and Elliott realises they are no longer the luckiest. Has it all been a lie? As Elliott’s life is split apart, she stands to lose all the places and the people she calls home. Except Elliott refuses to lose anything. Because if she lets go of everything she loves, Elliott will surely lose herself too. A heart-wrenching story of loss, love and the things you get to keep from the author of The Other Side of Tomorrow, CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award Honour Book, 2023.' (Publication summary)

'When Abby traded her life in the city for a wholesome new life on the coast, it was meant to be a fresh start for her family. Behind them was the sickness and sadness of the past. But sickness doesn’t always play by the rules. And as Abby’s past threatens to swallow her future, she is forced to decide what is most important. What she will fight for. And she will fight. For however many days she has left.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Scarlett was gifted with beauty. But beauty can be taken in a day, in a single moment, by one car fire.

'Now permanently disfigured, Scarlett has become a smudge in her perfect world. She can see only one acceptable solution: to escape the modern world for Matilda Mountain, which is desolate, isolated, forlorn. Perfect.

'But mountains are not always as lonely as they appear. And unexpected friendships can be found in the wilderness. Friendships that challenge her ideas about perfection and her place in the world.

'Can Scarlett break free from the confines of her beauty-obsessed culture to discover who she is beyond the layers of her skin?' (Publication summary)

'Ruby was named after a song about freedom, but she's far from free. She's trapped by her mum's accident, her past as a famous pianist a distant memory. This was never the plan - both of them invisible and voiceless in a dusty small town. And Ruby wants to be heard.

'But that was before Joey Milano.

'Before that awful party.

'Now the only thing Ruby's sure of is that she'll never ever trust anyone again.

'When the opportunity of a lifetime comes knocking, and a boy from her past reaches out, Ruby's not fooled. Some things are broken beyond repair.

'Or are they?' (Publication summary)

'It’s not because Bel’s mother was murdered.
It’s not because her father is a politician.
Bel writes to a Death Row prisoner as an easy way out of an assignment.

'But now he’s written back.

'Drawn to Micah’s world inside a Thai prison, Bel finds herself falling for the boy with ragged hair, shackles and a terrible past. But is she setting herself up for more loss? And will loving him mean losing the people who mean the most to her at home?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.