My final post for 2017 is a book stack! I have to admit, I love doing these! Books (like craft supplies) often live in stacks around my home - where I pulled some off the shelf to loan someone, or put together a TBR, or even just because the covers/spines look good together! So it is really fun to share them here, and it's something I'm hoping to do more in 2018.Pachinko, The Woman Next Door, The Prey of Gods, and Queens of Geek. Pachinko and The Woman Next Door were both on my book radar and 'to read some day' list, so it is really cool to have copies of them. Also, the Woman Next Door will be an option for the 'fenale protagonist over 60' task in the Read Harder Challenge. The Prey of Gods I hadn't heard of, but it sounds cool, and Queens of Geek I was SUPER excited to get my hands on - I've been keen to read it for ages and it's #loveozya, which you know I'm keen to read loads of in 2018.

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for the not so catchy title of this post haha - it's the week between Christmas and New Year, and my brain barely even knows which day it is, let alone how to word eloquently haha.
But, anyway, I've been starting to try and keep track of the new #loveozya releases on their way in 2018, and I thought it would be fun to share five that I am especially excited to get my hands - and eyes - on in the new year..

Graevale by Lynette Noni :: 1 Feb from Pantera Press
Graevale is the fourth book in Lynette Noni's Medoran Chronicles, about a girl called Alex who finds herself accidentally attending a magical school in a parallel world. I talked a little bit about how much I loved the first book in this post, and I am looking forward to reading books 2 and 3 before Graevale comes out at the start of February.
I know I said 5, but I can't resist mentioning that Lynette Noni also releasing a collection of novellas about the Medoran Chronicles protagonists (We Three Heroes) in September AND has another book coming out in May called Whisper, which sounds fantastic too!



The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross :: 24 April from Hachette
Leife Shallcross is not only a #loveozya author, but also a fellow Canberran - yay for reading local! Her debut novel - The Beast's Heart - is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, from the perspective of the beast. I LOVE a retelling - especially with a twist like this - and Beauty and the Beast is big at our place at the moment, so I can't wait to read this!

Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein :: 1 April from Walker Books
This one has come to my attention just over the past week or two as reviewers have started sharing photos of the eye catching ARC (it looks amazing!). Like The Beast's Heart, Small Spaces is also a debut, this time a YA psychological thriller, about a young woman with a 'gruesome' imaginary (or is he?) friend.  Aaargh it sounds so creepy and fantastic!


Neverland by Margot McGovern :: 2 April from Penguin Random House Australia
Oooooooh the cover on this on (insert all the heart eyes here!) It has mermaids and pirates and Neverland and, gah I just want it now! The website says: "Kit Learmonth would rather die than grow up and leave Neverland..." - and it also sounds a bit creepy, and one of those books where we have to figure out what is real and what isn't (which I love!)


If I Tell You by Alicia Tuckerman :: 1 March from Pantera Press
 Alicia Tuckerman's debut, If I Tell You, is a YA love story set in rural Australia about a girl with a secret and the new girl in town, who she falls in love with. Having grown up in the country myself I'm always really interested in books with 'small town' settings, and with this book being about young people trying to figure out F/F relationship in the face of the challenges a small town (and the small mindedness that can come with that sort of community) bring, I think it is going to be one of the most important Australian YA books published in 2018.


So, there are five (ahem, seven) new books to keep your eyes peeled for in 2018. Like I said, there are SO MANY awesome YA books on their way from aussie authors, so this is in no way an exhaustive list - I'll be keeping my eye on the #loveozya hashtag across social media, as well as the LoveOzYA blog (where you can sign up to get a monthly newsletter with a list of new releases), for more! And if anyone has recommendations for other new releases I shouldn't miss, please share in the comments!


xo Bron

I was lucky enough in December to win a couple of book giveaways on social media, including one from Allen & Unwin for this dystopian #loveozYA novel - Pandora Jones: Admission.

I'm a day early with my book stack this week, because I wanted to share some #loveozya books that I think would make perfect gifts for the readers in your lives, just in case anyone is doing some (very) last minute shopping! So, here are my top 3...Begin, End, Begin - Edited by Danielle Binks

Darcy Shaughnessy has gotten used to her overbearing brothers chasing away any man she wants to date. But a chance meeting with a brooding - and deliciously handsome - artist is about to make this holiday season one to remember.

There's only one thing Benjamin Tanner loves more than his woodcarving: solitude. Then he gets snowed in with Darcy in his cozy cabin in the woods, and their heated feelings begin to melt the icy barrier between them.

With Ben's need for privacy and Darcy's love of family and social life, will opposites still attract once the snow clears and the holiday festivities come to an end?

Here we are at the pointy end of the festive reading season, and I'm ready to admit that my Christmassy TBR requires some serious trimming and prioritisation! And so here is my updated TBR for up until Christmas...

It's no secret I love a nice big cup of tea when I'm settling in for a serious reading session. I also love spicy teas, so Christmas is my peak tea time each year - that cinnamon and clove and star anise and all those other Christmassy flavours. This year I've tried a bunch and I though I'd share my top 3 here =)

Growing up on Hope Island, Eden Lancaster always believed that if you wished hard enough for something, dreams really could come true. But Eden’s greatest wish is also her biggest secret: she has been completely in love with her childhood friend, the charming and attractive Dougie Harrison, for as long as she can remember. And he has no idea. 

When Dougie leaves his successful life in New York to return home to Hope Island for good, Eden can’t escape her feelings. Her heart is full of hope that her romantic dreams are finally, at long last, going to come true… 

This Christmas could change everything. But can a lifelong friendship really turn into the perfect romance? And will Eden get the happily ever after she’s always wished for? Christmas at Mistletoe Cove is another sweet (and a bit sexy) Christmas read. This was quick and fun, and the characters were mostly likeable (except I just wanted to give them a big shake! Just talk to eachother people! Haha).

Most of the books I read specifically to review come through NetGalley and are ebooks. But when I saw Harlequin had a collection of Australian Christmas short stories coming out - and when I saw how gorgeous the cover is - I wrote to them to ask if I could have a paperback. And it is really as lovely in real life as I had hoped (I love a gold foil detailed cover!)!

Yesterday I started reading Katie Fforde's new Christmas short story collection, The Christmas Stocking and Other Stories. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - this is at the very top of my TBR and I'm planning for it to be the first thing I read when I'm done with Christmas books (in fact, my friend and I have set it as our Christmas holiday reading homework!) Also, can you believe that out of all the books I read this year not a single one was published in that period?!

Flora Phillips has an excuse for every disaster in her life; she was abandoned as a new-born on a doorstep on Christmas Eve 1984. Her philosophy is simple: if your mother doesn't want you – who will?

Now a thirty-year-old, without a boyfriend, a career or home she figures she might as well tackle the biggest question of them all – who is she? So, whilst everyone else enjoys their Christmas Eve traditions, Flora escapes the masses and drives to the village of Pooley to seek a specific doorstep. Her doorstep.

But in Pooley she finds more than her life story. She finds friends, laughter, and perhaps even a love to last a lifetime. Because once you know where you come from, its so much easier to know where you're going.
A Christmas Wish is out now. I received review an e-book copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but only chose to read it because it sounded like a book I would enjoy (life's too short to read books we don't think we'll enjoy). All opinions on my blog are my own, and I wouldn't tell you it a book was good if I didn't really think so. =)

I think I've mentioned here already how much I love a Christmas Hallmark movie, and tonight's Christmas book is one that I could absolutely see adapted for the small festive screen!

When Lily Ambrose needs a fresh start, she remembers her happy childhood holidays in the seaside town of Shipley, and decides it’s the perfect place for a cosy Christmas hideaway.

Keen to make new friends, Lily promises to source a celebrity to turn on the Christmas lights. But when reality star Ollie turns up with his cameraman Craig, with plans to make a TV show out of his stay, things quickly go awry.

Ollie is gorgeous but unruly, and soon decides that staging a romance with a normal girl – a girl like Lily – is exactly what he needs to save his fading reputation…

With new neighbours to impress, and Ollie’s over-enthusiastic attentions to fend off, can Lily bring the Christmas cheer back to Shipley – and find herself a real kiss under the mistletoe?