When Amelia Fang’s baby brother, Vincent, accidentally enters a mysterious land – the place where all squished toads go – Amelia has to embark on a daring adventure to rescue him.
But even if Amelia and her friends do find Vincent, will they be able to find their way home? Or will they be trapped in the toad afterlife FOREVER?

Amelia Fang is a series that will always have a special place in my heart as, it was the first book series to truly capture Biba’s imagination when a well placed Waterstones display caught her eye. We’ve been through a lot with Amelia and her friends over the 7 book series and we’re going to miss not being able to read more of their adventures.

The Trouble with Toads finds Amelia baby sitting her little brother Vincent whilst her parents and Woo are suffering with Frankenflu. Unfortunately that means Amelia taking him to Grimaldi’s birthnight celebrations which starts with games and ends up with an adventure to The Pond Beyond where a daring rescue mission is on the cards!

Honestly everything about this story was joyful, the imagination in creating such a vibrant world is just as you would expect from Laura Ellen Anderson, with just the right balance of peril, adventure and humour, I also loved that we even got a little bit of time with some of my favourite recurring side characters  There are some really beautiful and touching illustrations dotted around alongside the usual quirky offerings, my heart was captured by Amelia and Grimaldi in one and I really felt that each friend was given ample page time. They all got a chance to shine here and get their own good send off, from Florence’s prancing to an unlikely selfless act from Tangine! As usual, there are strong themes of acceptance and loving people for just the way they are. I had to chuckle a lot at Amelia’s dynamic with her baby brother, as it’s something I can relate to so much through seeing how Biba is with her little brother too. The Trouble with Toads is the perfect conclusion to the series.

I may have choked up a little at the wonderful little photo memories section too, its certainly a series that we have returned to many times and will continue to do for many more!

5*

Biba’s Review (Aged 9)

I really enjoyed this book and I’m so sad that the series has to come to an end. I loved Toad Paradise and now I wish I was a toad! I like Amelia’s brother and think that he is very much like my little brother. Some parts of the story made me feel sad, like when Vincent went missing, but some parts I loved especially with Fergus and his sister. It was a very exciting story!  I rate this book 5 Stars and send crumpets to Furgus

Ebenezer Tweezer is a youthful 511-year-old. He keeps a beast in the attic of his mansion, who he feeds all manner of things (including performing monkeys, his pet cat and the occasional cactus) and in return the beast vomits out presents for Ebenezer, as well as potions which keep him young and beautiful. But the beast grows ever greedier, and soon only a nice, juicy child will do. So when Ebenezer encounters orphan Bethany, it seems like (everlasting) life will go on as normal. But Bethany is not your average orphan . . .”

The Beast and the Bethany is a decadent delight of a book, a real treat for the taste buds and as many other culinary based notes of praise you can think of! In short, as a family we loved it. I’m going to come out and say it, but I haven’t laughed as much at a middle grade book since Roald Dahl, it’s the same slightly dark story line and morally grey protagonists that make for the perfect children’s read.

Ebeneezer is not a nice man, he is vain and greedy, he is Dorian Grey without the picture and has to a degree forgotten what it is to be human. His service to the beast is all encompassing and the ease in which he is prepared to just feet it a child is pretty chilling in a Lemony Snicket kind of way, he has a great little story ARC and quite the voyage of self discovery which was done brilliantly.  The beast is not a nice beast, he is cruel, unforgiving and very selfish. And Bethany, well she’s not that nice either all be told, she totally reminded me of a character from an old St Trinians movie, however, she has a non selfish reason for being the way she is so I can very much forgive her. Between them all they create such a great triangle, Ebeneezer being pushed and pulled between them.

There is such imagination and creativity in the writing though, even though you can draw so many comparisons it is very much it’s own story, with both fantastical and depressing locations. Ebeneezer’s house is just wonderfully crafted with the slight touch of magic running through it walls. The Beast’s attic is wonderfully evocative if not a little terrifying at times. This for me is where the parent part is going to come out. So often I find that middle grade reads are really at the high end of the age range, there is a huge difference between an 8 year old and a 12 year old, not all kids like to be scared and not every MG book needs to be knocking on the door of YA. The Beast and the Bethany is perfect as the author pushes the story to just the right point, either then pulling away or describing what has happened with great skill and comedy – what could have been terrifying for younger readers, actually got it just right and for this Jack Meggitt-Phillips has my thanks.

5*

Biba’s Review (aged 9)

I really enjoyed this book and how funny it was. I loved Ebeneezer and how joyful he was. I also like how Bethany always sold stuff for worms and not money! I liked the beast and his powers, but I wouldn’t want him in my house. I loved the extra mini stories at the end and how funny the whole book was. I rate this book a 5 Star and think it will be even better when it has all the pictures, (We received a proof copy with some of the artwork to come)

Thank you so much to The Write Reads and Egmont books for sending us a copy of this amazing book for review, The Beast and the Bethany is coming your way very soon!

She came from nothing.
Avery has a plan: keep her head down, work hard for a better future.
Then an eccentric billionaire dies, leaving her almost his entire fortune. And no one, least of all Avery, knows why.
They had everything.
Now she must move into the mansion she’s inherited.
It’s filled with secrets and codes, and the old man’s surviving relatives –
a family hell-bent on discovering why Avery got ‘their’ money.
Now there’s only one rule: winner takes all.
Soon she is caught in a deadly game that everyone in this strange family is playing.
But just how far will they go to keep their fortune?

It’s no secret that I’m not usually a fan of books in a contemporary setting, my one caveat to that however, is a thriller and I’m loving that YA is now firmly on board with this genre too!  I’d have to describe this book as the most elaborate game of Clue meeting Cruel Intentions in the ultimate long game of a mystery thriller.

Whilst I saw the twist coming from very near the start I honestly didn’t care because what came in between was absolutely amazing. No filler, just short pacey chapters and a story that was constantly driving forward from one clue to another, I never wanted to put it down, but there is life too but I have to admit I cared very little for much of that outside of reading this. Avery it a great character, right from the start I was endeared to her, brutally smart but just that little bit over onto the wrong side of the tracks to be able to put it to the use she could have. Her reaction to the situation she found herself in was one of believable bewilderment throughout and I loved how it was all about the mystery for her and the money was always second. The brothers were interesting and each had their own personality to bring to the table, there is a lot of manipulation and secret keeping but not just with Avery, they all had their own agenda and skill set to help the pieces fit together.

The world is totally addictive, the puzzles are fiendish in the way they play out and the side characters are nothing short of vicious. Hawthorne House is almost a character in itself with as many hidden secrets as the main man himself and given how much time Avery finds herself within it’s walls that’s a very good thing! The girls are mean, the brothers are cute in a rich bad boy kind of way, the family’s crazy angry but it all comes together perfectly, none of the characters are over the top or hammy which could have happened given the back ground. In short it’s a total must read!

The second book can’t come quick enough and this is definitely one game that I want to play again!

5*

The story that I thought
was my life
didn’t start on the day
I was born

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.

The story that I think
will be my life
starts today

Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?
With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

“There’s a stone in my throat, there’s a brick on my chest”

Punching the air is a powerful, poignant, yet ultimately devastating read. A stark portrayal of institutionalised racism in the US criminal justice system and beyond, the story is propelled forward by soul swelling verse and broad brush strokes. It’s a tough read throughout and often I had to stop and sit and really take in what I had just read. We follow Amal, a young black Muslim who pays the ultimate price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Each step of his harrowing journey is beset by bias and judgement from a system which continuously sees him as less. From his “character witness” to the lawyer who just wants to get paid, everything is stacked against Amal who is portrayed not as a the child that he is, but as villain and a violent menace. There are many difficult sections to read, from the guard known as Tattoo (which is sickening) to the destruction of artistic expression; yet there are sections of hope. I found the discussion around mistakes and misgivings to be particularly important along with some small acts of kindness he experiences.

The story is not autobiographical and whilst Amal is very much the centre of his own story, it is clear from reading about the exonerated five that his story draws heavily from the experience of Dr Yusef Salaam.  I was aware of the original case involving the exonerated five, I had little in depth knowledge about it and I did spend time researching the case after reading which really brought home Amal’s words in a new way.

It’s only the second time that I have read a book wriiten in verse, and I felt that by writing in this medium it really stripped down the story to it’s rawest form, every word, every line filled with meaning; repeated phrasing morphing to reflect a different aspect of Amal’s journey. The layout is uneven at times drawing your eye awkwardly across the page which really heightened the shared sense of confusion and I was often moved to tears whilst reading. Thank you so much to Harper Voyager for sending me a finished copy of this book to review, it is one that will stay with me and one that I am sure I will read over again often.

5*

Abigail Willard first spots her from the back of a New York cab: the spitting image of Abby herself at age twenty-two—right down to the silver platforms and raspberry coat she wore as a young artist with a taste for wildness. But the real Abby is now forty-six and married, with a corporate job and two kids. As the girl vanishes into a rainy night, Abby is left shaken. Was this merely a hallucinatory side effect of working-mom stress? A message of sorts, sent to remind her of passions and dreams tossed aside? Or something more dangerous?
As weeks go by, Abby continues to spot her double around her old New York haunts—and soon, despite her better instincts, Abby finds herself tailing her look-alike. She is dogged by a nagging suspicion that there is a deeper mystery to figure out, one rooted far in her past. All the while, Abby’s life starts to slip from her control: her marriage hits major turbulence, her teenage son drifts into a radical movement that portends a dark coming era. When her elusive double presents her with a dangerous proposition, Abby must decide how much she values the life she’s built, and how deeply she knows herself.

I’m feeling more and more drawn of late to books where protagonists are a similar age to myself, and whilst I’ll always love my squads of teen misfits, I can feel a definite shift. So when the synopsis for You Again arrived I felt excited, especially as it sounded like a psychological thriller. However, the printed sticker with a quote from Glamour Magazine on the front made me worry that this was more women’s fiction territory, but what I read though, was a mix of the two.

At just over 300 pages I found this to actually be quite a quick read (I read it in a day,) and actually, it really shouldn’t have been. This story is layered and complex, yet the author didn’t really explore the issues deeply, to a degree it felt a little shallow with Abbey just flitting around, somewhat selfishly at times. However, it was strangely captivating and I felt I just had to keep reading being pulled along by a thread of interwoven case notes and emails suggesting that all is not what it seems.

The writing was clever and humorous at times, I counted several nods to Bob Ross which made me smile. Despite me not really liking Abbey as a character much, I could empathise with her situation to a degree, and when she started to come into contact with her former self the story had an uncanny way of almost frizzing, there was definitely a great tension in the air but almost childlike with curiosity too. The author had a great way of writing a scene which could equally be of a woman having a mental health episode or that of a tangible experience being witnessed by others, and so as a reader I was left feeling out of sorts and always second guessing. Where the writing did fall down for me was not all conversation was quoted, so I was left sometimes confused by what was outward speech and what was inner monologue, this was also compounded by the fact that it often happened in the shared space between Abbey and her former self.

There is an interesting side story involving Abbey’s son which I actually found upsetting in that she was clearly being taken advantage of in the situation, and that there were a number of potential ties to her own experiences with her former self which could also have explained a number of incidents. Everything is wonderfully interwoven with seemingly innocuous moments part of a bigger chain, although there are many times where I felt things were too far removed from the middle class family unit we were presented with, and honestly how Abbey never got the sack is beyond me – was she ever there? I would have enjoyed more of the case notes and emails being within the earlier parts, I think knowing what I now know from the end, I would have enjoyed the story more. That level of understanding tying things together to make it a more cohesive story, I think on  a re-read this book would take on a whole new dimension.

Summing up, I did enjoy You Again, it wasn’t what I expected at all and I’m still trying to place it into a genre. It has elements of so many, even a touch of sci-fi – but just a touch. It’t an interesting narrative with many introspective moments but I felt it was messily executed at times. Thank you to Titan Books for the review copy.

3*