They have been meeting for the first surf of the season every year since they first met at the surf school run by Tilly’s dad, Phil, when they were eight.
Phil has big plans for the surf school this year, but when he is injured in a hit-and-run accident, everything suddenly seems uncertain.
While Phil languishes in hospital and the police track his attacker, Tilly is determined to realise his plans and keep the surf school open. To do this, she needs all the help she can get from her friends.
But Marlee is training for the surfing competition to win a new board and beat the moody Kyle, Pink is warring with her parents and intrigued by the stranger Kim, and Fran is busy making jewellery.
Laurine Croasdale has published three fiction titles for UQP (Trivia Man, Red Golf Balls, What Truly Counts), and a range of non-fiction titles (including two for Macmillan Education).
She was also a writer on Hi 5 for Channel 9. She reviews books regularly on radio, and spent five years reviewing children’s and adults’ titles on Angela Catterns’ breakfast show on ABC radio.
Laurine had the idea for Surf School many years ago but felt that its popularity had not yet reached its peak.
The story weaves together her childhood on the northern beaches with her daughter’s experiences growing up today.
Summary: Winter swells are rolling into Diamond Beach. But surfer girls Fran, Pink, Marlee and Tilly are still consumed by all things surfing.
Fran and Pink are collaborating on a surf label, and there’s news of a major surfing contest at treacherous Shipwreck Beach — a chance for Marlee and Tilly to dazzle on the world stage.
But parents and boyfriends are distracting the girls from their big plans.
Pink’s mother Christie is determined to control her spirited daughter; Marlee tells Kyle she has to concentrate on her surfing; and Jamie still can’t see that Tilly is anything more than just a friend.
The absorbing, dramatic sequel to Surf School.
Summary (from BeautifulCreaturestheBook.com):
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
Uuuu, look at that cover!Sixteen-year-old Evie's job is bagging and tagging paranormals. Possessing the strange ability to see through their glamours, she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But when someone--or something--starts taking out the vamps, werewolves, and other odd beasties she's worked hard to help become productive members of society, she's got to figure it out before they all disappear and the world becomes utterly normal.
Normal is so overrated.*
Releasing on September 21, 2010.
*Summary from GoodReads
Synopsis (from courtneysummers.ca):Perfect Parker Fadley isn’t so perfect anymore. She’s quit the cheerleading squad, she’s dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she’s failing school. Her parents are on constant suicide watch and her counselors think she’s playing games… but what they don’t know, the real reason for this whole mess, isn’t something she can say out loud. It isn’t even something she can say to herself.A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault.
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
Princess for Hire, by Lindsay Leavitt
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
Summary (from Amazon):Stepping into her new identity turns out to be easier than Cassie could have ever imagined...one moment, one choice, will change everything.
Cassie's new existence both thrills and terrifies her. Swept into a world of illicit parties and social landmines, she sheds her virginity, embraces the numbness she feels from the drugs, and floats through it all, knowing that she is now called beautiful. She ignores the dangers of her fast-paced life, but she can't sidestep the secrets and the cruelty.
Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral tinged with violence and abuse, and no one—not even the one person she thought she could trust—can help her now.
My Opinion:
Beautiful is a very powerful novel, and the fact that it's told from a thirteen-year-old makes it all the more profound.
Beautiful starts with the introduction of Cassie, who's recently moved with her family, and sees this as an opportunity to start over. Having had no friends in her old town, Cassie will do anything if it means she'll be accepted.
So when Alex comes along and invites her to join her table, Cassie is more than happy. But soon she'll learn that being Alex's friend, and trying to stay on her best side is not an easy thing to do.
Alex pressures her into taking drugs and having sex, both things that don't really have meaning, according to her.
Cassie comes from a broken family. Her mother is an alcoholic and her father wishes her were someplace else, rather than pretending to love Cassie and her mother. The world Alex introduces her to seems to hold all the answers to her problems. With drugs being an escape from the real world, alcohol filling the emptiness, and sex only meaning that someone wants her -even if it is just a physical thing- Cassie begins to feel that she belongs.
And then comes Sarah, Alex's half-sister. With a backstory so dark, it makes Cassie feel sick.
Sarah and Cassie become fast friends, they both understand each other. But Alex is not so happy about this. Leading Sarah to make a decision that'll change her life forever. One that'll also impact on Cassie.
Did I enjoy the writing style, yes. What I thought was a little bleh was the ending, which was completely expected. I would have liked to see something different happen to Cassie, but this doesn't mean I didn't like the ending either. I goes to show how strong a person can become after having fallen so bad and hard.
Monkey Rating: 3 Monkeys.
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I want to be beautiful like you, I thought, as if Mandarin were listening.It's hard to find beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming. Fourteen-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances and pickup trucks adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild girl Mandarin Ramey: seventeen, shameless and utterly carefree.
I want apricot skin and Pocahontas hair and eyes the color of tea. I want to be confident and detached and effortlessly sensual, and if promiscuity is part of the package, I will gladly follow your lead. All I know is I'm so tired of being inside my body.
I would give anything to be like Mandarin.
Grace would give ANYTHING to be like Mandarin.
When the misfits are united for a project, they embark on an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and constantly searching for someplace magic. Grace even plays along when Mandarin suggests they make a pact to run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds that plague their badlands town.
But all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, even the best friendships can't withstand betrayal.Firelight, by Sophie Jordan
July 2010, HarperCollins
With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness leads her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret.
This YA debut by bestselling romance writer Sophie Jordan is a unique and fresh offering for paranormal fans. Between the main characters' fiery, instant connection, the dire consequences at stake, the pressures of fitting in at a regular high school, and the threat of the draki community tracking them down, Firelight is sure to make your skin tingle and your heart race.
