It's that time of year! The time your bookshop membership earns you lots of rewards as you visit for OTHER people as well as yourself. Or the time that you go into a bookshop, despite not usually frequenting them, because you've got family or friends who are book dragons* and you love them enough to want to get them something they'd really like for Christmas. But then! You get inside, you look around, and there are SO MANY BOOKS.  Where do you start? It's okay. I'm here to help.
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*twitter user @bookdragonism encouraged me to replace "bookworms" with "bookdragons" because... well, because it's cooler. 

It's school holidays here AND it's been raining, which of course meant I've been able to read a little bit (never mind the lack of writing being done). Below are my thoughts on three quite different books - UK YA fantasy Ink and Bone, Australian YA contemporary/mystery Pocketful of Eyes, and new release Australian mainstream fiction Nine Perfect Strangers. 

One of the disadvantages of not having an ebook edition is there's no option for people ordering online to "try before you buy" so to speak and read a sample. To rectify this, I'm going to post the opening chapter of The Things We Can't Undo here, with links at the bottom to buy it if you're interested. Hopefully you'll be inspired to "just keep reiding" ;-)
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​*trigger warning* sexual assault

Can you believe my book baby has been out in the world for two whole months now? I'm loving reading people's reviews and comments, and even more so knowing that people have picked it up based on someone's recommendation. Thank you so much, everyone! And so I can pay it forward, here are my honest thoughts on the books I've read since I last posted.
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I've been reading (a little), but slack on the reviewing as I've been distracted trying to promote my own book. So here's a bit of a catch-up post and some thoughts on three YA titles I've read recently. Cath Crowley's Words in Deep Blue, Tara Altebrando's The Leaving and Kurt Dinan's Don't Get Caught.

So my book baby is out in the world! It's all a little surreal; I'm continuing my everyday life here with a demanding toddler and laundry to do and trying to write another book, but every now and again I'm reminded that right now total strangers might be reading something I wrote. I've got a launch party happening this Saturday (Sydney people! Come along!) and a few other events lined up, so I'm gradually settling in to the idea that yes, I am a published author now.

If you missed any of them so far, here are links to all the stops on the blog tour:
Bookish Kirra's review
An episode of Better Words podcast featuring me
The Literary Casanova's review
My interview on Genie in a Book
A Q&A on #LoveOzYA
My guest post (on the topic of consent) on The Adventures of Sacakat
Ely of Wonderland's review
My interview on Infinity Reads
My guest post (re: social media) on Musings & Wanderings

There's 2 more stops to go before it wraps up - nicely timed with the launch on Saturday. But if you've been inspired to buy a copy, leave a review on Goodreads, tweet me, tag me in your instagram pics, comment below, recommend to a friend... it all counts! I love the support and am eternally grateful to you, my readers.

Until next time,
​just keep reading!