Amie Kaufman - Sci-fi
If you've been here before you might know I like to find any excuse to mention #loveozya, so talking about an Aussie YA author was too tempting to pass up! I have only read a couple of Amie Kaufman's books so far, but I have loved them and plan on reading all of her work. Her books are space adventure sci-fi with awesome characters and authentic relationships (and feelings! so many feelings!). Apart from her amazing writing, I have seen Amie at a couple of events and I just love her. She did a panel on women (and sexism) in publishing at the Sydney Writers' Festival last year that just blew me away. She is also so open about her writing process and experience - I love following her writing updates in her Instagram stories. I am ALMOST a bit embarrassed to admit I think Amie is so wonderful that I have booked tickets to see her (and her co-writer Jay Kristoff) at Speculate (which means the super early flight to Melbourne in the morning and then flying to Sydney followed by a 3 hour bus to Canberra to get home).
While her published novels so far have been co-authored YA sci-fi, Kaufman has a middle grade book coming out in March (Ice Wolves) which is fantasy, and which sounds amazing!

Hannah Kent - Historical Fiction
I am pretty sure Aussie author Hannah Kent is either some kind of genius or magical writing witch. I have only read The Good People, but have heard only good (wonderful) things about her debut novel, Burial Rites, as well (it's on my giant TBR!). I have also seen Hannah Kent at an event and just thought she was so brilliant - she is extremely eloquent and give the most thoughtful, measured answers when she is interviewed. If you can access it, I'd definitely recommend checking out her discussion with Richard Fidler about The Good People on his podcast (Conversations).

Shirley Jackson - Horror
I first picked up Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle after hearing Book Riot's Liberty RAVE about it, and gosh I loved it too! Jackson is another writer that I absolutely admire, but who's work I haven't read very much of - only We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House, but we do have some of her short stories that I really want to get to.

So, those are three of my favourite women writers of genre fiction - pop over to Doddy About Books
to join in, and see what everyone has written about this prompt.

xo Bron

 

My feelings about this book are a bit complicated. Overall, this wasn't quite the right book for me right now. Call me a crabby old lady, but I've read a few books lately with a young narrator and first person POV they have just got on my nerves a bit. BUT there were some things I loved about this book, and one of the things I didn't like was that it finished too soon - the pacing wrapped up the end too quickly for me and I wanted to know more about these characters! 

I think wanting more is the mark of a Good Book, so I thought I'd share my top three favourite things about it:

• There was some super creepy writing. This was a proper horror twist on fairytales, and there were bits that were gross and kind of scary. In particular I loved the prologue and epilogue (which both happened to be written in 3rd person POV) - they were some of the creepiest passages I've read in a long time.

• The plot felt really original to me - I don't want to say too much because spoilers, but it was different to anything I'd read before. I thought the way the fairytales were linked, and there movement from one to the next, was really cool.

• The characters were quirky and individual. I really wanted to get to know them more, and when I finished the book I wasn't ready to let them go - I'm pleased to see on Good Reads that this looks like it will be the first in a series. I wanted to know more about the villain in particular, and what happens to everyone next.