Matt, Becci, Sophie and Nathan are a bit of a foursome, even though Matt and Sophie are a real couple, and Becci only wishes that Nathan would notice she's not just Matt's little sister. They're all looking forward to the themed fancy dress party they're going to, getting in to the Christmas spirit, laughing, drinking...They've got futures, dreams, lives ahead of them...Noth ...

The first book in Rhian Tracey's study of teenage relationships between Isla, the brash, mouthy, off the wall Scots girl, and Mike, the apparently more studious, serious and cerebral southerner, was a closely observed and sympathetic examination of the painful and passionate coming together of two seeming opposites. Continuing their story, Tracey shows how each has moved on, in themselves, ...

Ariel and Joaquin Dorfman have, ostensibly, written this book together. But the revealing third-person note at the beginning does not give the reader faith in their partnership. It ends with, 'Try to guess which one of us got in the last word'. By offering the reader a glimpse into their writing partnership the text then feels too self-conscious, or perhaps the reader self-consciously ...

As a parent Spiked! is the most frightening book I have ever read. The characters are utterly believable and so are their situations. The ease with which Debra, a sensible, mature and intelligent 16-year old, is abducted is terrifying. However it is not scaremongering or sensationalist and there is a satisfying resolution at the end.

This is a classic mystery thriller. It is ...

Something in the Air is a brilliant adolescent coming-of-age novel with an apparent touch of the supernatural and authentic touches of the post-war period.

 There's a familiar, comfortable feeling of Peggy's problems being the same as for any teenager now - at home with her bossy older sister, her friends and teachers at her all girls' school, and her desire to b ...

The King's Head by Susan Price, author of award-winning The Ghost Drum and The Sterkarm Handshake, consists of a sequence of linked stories of promises broken and kept. The storyteller (or skald) is the head of Egil Grimmssen, who was slain in battle and has his own promise to his king to keep.

Egil's tale of his former life is one of sibling rivalr ...

This is the second book in “The Circle of Magic” quartet. It follows the training of the four young, uncontrolled but very powerful mages, Tris, Sandry, Daja and Briar introduced in “The Magic in the Weaving”. Where that book focused mainly on Sandry and her power to weave anything, from thread to magic, this book explores Tris’s power over the weather.
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Eleven year old Phelim Green embarks on a quest to defeat the Stoor Worm, having been greeted as Jack o’ Green by the domovoy and glashans who appear in his house. Phelim is joined by characters from mumming - a Maiden, a Fool and a Horse – with whom he encounters a succession of mythical creatures, including malevolent fairies. Initially afraid and confused, Phelim gains confidence ...

It is Kittiwake's dream to escape the city of Orokos - and no wonder. it is a dismal and depressing place to live. Peopled by man-eating and murderous ghosts and plagued by probability storms, which can cause irrevocable change, anyone who wants to stay alive must have their wits about them.

Rail is more astute than most. A hard-nosed thief, he proves that he has a soft heart wh ...

Margaret Wild is uncompromising as she explores the dark side of growing up in this novel. It is fiercely honest and compelling and sometimes makes uncomfortable reading because this is not a cosy teenage read; it is a novel that faces the stark truths of young people’s self-discovery, relationships and behaviour towards their peers and their parents.

Written in poetic prose t ...