AustLit

'SAM KINNISON IS A GEEK, AND HE'S TOTALLY FINE WITH THAT.

'He has his horror movies, his nerdy friends, World of Warcraft - and until Princess Leia turns up in his bedroom, worry about girls he won't.

'Then Camilla Carter turns up instead. She's beautiful, friendly and completely irrelevant to his plan. Sam is determined to ignore her, except that Camilla has a plan of her own - and he seems to be part of it.

'Sam believes that everything he needs to know he can learn from the movies. But perhaps he's been watching the wrong ones.

'Life in Outer Space is Melissa Keil's brilliantly sweet and funny debut YA novel. It's also the first book ever to be signed up through the Ampersand Project, Hardie Grant Egmont's initiative for emerging YA writers.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Joshua is good at magic tricks, ignoring his homework, and not thinking about life after year twelve. He's not so good at talking to Sophia, the genius in his class who he's had a crush on for years. But with their time together in high school running out, he has to do something about it, soon - because if he's learned one thing, it's that timing is everything, Sophia is smart enough to know that geniuses like her can end up as socially inept recluses.

'In fact, maybe she's halfway there already, what with the panic attacks and her best (and only) friend Elsie drifting away. All Sophia can do is seek refuge in what she understands best: maths, science, logic. But there's no logical explanation for the odd, almost magical things happening around her. And there are some things no amount of study can prepare you for... ' (Synopsis)

'Seventeen-year-old Friday Brown is on the run—running to escape memories of her mother and of the family curse. And of a grandfather who'd like her to stay. She's lost, alone and afraid.

'Silence, a street kid, finds Friday and she joins him in a gang led by beautiful, charismatic Arden. When Silence is involved in a crime, the gang escapes to a ghost town in the outback. In Murungal Creek, the town of never leaving, Friday must face the ghosts of her past. She will learn that sometimes you have to stay to finish what you started—and often, before you can find out who you are, you have to become someone you were never meant to be.'

'Violet Eden is dreading her seventeenth birthday dinner. After all, it's hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother's death. The one bright spot is that Lincoln will be there. Sexy, mature and aloof, he is Violet's idea of perfection. But why does he seem so reluctant to be anything more than a friend?

'After he gives her the world's most incredible kiss - and then abandons her on her front doorstep - Violet is determined to get some answers. But nothing could have prepared her for Lincoln's explanation: he is Grigori - part angel and part human - and Violet is his eternal partner.

'Without warning, Violet's world is turned upside down. She never believed in God, let alone angels. But there's no denying the strange changes in her body ... and her feelings for Lincoln. Suddenly, she can't stand to be around him. Luckily, Phoenix, an exiled angel, has come into her life. He's intense and enigmatic, but at least he never lied to her.

'As Violet gets caught up in an ancient battle between dark and light, she must choose her path. The wrong choice could cost not only her life, but her eternity...

Source: Jessica Shirvington's website, http://www.embracethebook.com.au/
Sighted: 25/10/2010