Welcome to Tea in the Treetops’ stop on the #LoveOzYA blog hop!
This week, the Aussie YA Bloggers and Readers group (on Goodreads and Facebook) are celebrating our #LoveOzYA books with a blog hop, hosted by Happy Indulgence.
Please, let me recommend you a few of my favourite Aussie reads, then hop along to the other blogs.
I particularly love when characters and settings feel familiar to me, and when the language used is distinctly Aussie. I also love it that Australian publishers don’t mind going where their more conservative counterparts overseas won’t, whether it be swearing, sexual content, or controversial topics. Aussie YA really breaks the mould, and we love it! (Pictured: Shadows from the Rephaim series, Paula Weston)
Oh, I have plenty of these. I love Jaclyn Moriarty, Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman, Paula Weston, Alison Goodman… I could go on all day.
Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. A friend introduced me to this series in high school, and I was hooked. Since then I have always taken extra batteries and tinned food camping with me, just in case. Not kidding.
I haven’t actually read that many Aussie new releases so far this year! I’ve been catching up on my backlog. But I think my favourite that I have read was Riders of Thunder Realm by Steve Lochran. Dinosaur-riding Knights on an epic quest – yes, that is as awesome as it sounds. Loved it!
It involves demons in medieval Tuscany, around the time of the first Crusade. Sign me up!
The Book of Whispers by Kimberley Starr. I’ve been looking forward to reading this book ever since it was announced as the winner of the Text Prize for 2015!
Whoa, another hard one! Let’s see, I love the Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta, the Lotus War Trilogy by Jay Kristoff and the Rephaim series by Paula Weston, but my favourite long-term series has to be the Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody. You can listen to Philippa and me chatting with Isobelle following the publication of The Red Queen, late in 2015.
I really wasn’t expecting to love The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl as much as I did. It was just so cute, with the friends and their dramas, and then strange with the end-of-the-world storyline in their small town. I thought it was delightful!
I’ve recommended Alison Goodman’s Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club to quite a few people over the last few months, and they’ve all loved it! I’m very jealous of those who got to have high tea with her last week!
I actually just got this one in the mail yesterday and can’t wait to read it: Elizabeth and Zenobia by Jessica Miller. It sounds creepy, and has a beautiful cover, don’t you agree?
10. Recommend your favourite Aussie YA Bloggers!
Okay this one really is tricky – I don’t want to miss anyone out! I don’t get to read blogs as often as I would like these days but I do enjoy reading Happy Indulgence, Loony Literate, Read at Midnight, Paper Fury, Speculating on SpecFic and Tsana’s Reads & Reviews. I feel like I’m about to get a whole lot more favourites after hopping on through the list![/column]
Hop On!
All you have to do is visit Happy Indulgence Books to see the full list of blogs participating in the hop. Happy reading!
Anni
Anni lives in Brisbane, Australia with her young family. She loves everything fantasy and science fiction and believes sleep is really very underrated.
Emily @ theBookishLounge
That’s so true that Australian publishers don’t seem to stick with trends or uncontroversial topics and I love that about Aussie YA too. I haven’t heard of many of these books in your list but they sound interesting so I might give them a go. Love the post!!
Emily @ theBookishLounge recently posted…#LoveOzYA: Aussie YA Blog Hop // Blog Hop
Angelya
Thanks Emily! 🙂
Carolyn
The Book of Whispers does sound amazing! And I loved Lady Helen, Alison Goodman did any amazing job of mashing Regency Romance with Buffy-style fantasy 🙂
Angelya
Absolutely! I can’t wait for book two to come out! Still a few months to wait though. Book of Whispers isn’t far away though 🙂 Thanks for visiting Carolyn!
Emily @ Loony Literate
Cinnamon Girl yesssss. John Marsden yesssss. Colours of Madeleine yesssss.
Basically these are amazing choices and I salute you 🙂
Angelya
Aw thanks Emily! *high 5*
Hannah
I’m loving everyone’s answers for why they love Aussie YA, because it’s all so true! I love that Aussie pubs aren’t afraid to push boundaries or go into territory that their counterparts may be more reluctant to pursue. That goes to show what a great group of talented authors we have as well, who are willing to take risks and make their voices heard through their stories. And high five for John Marsden!
Jeann @ Happy Indulgence
It definitely does break the mould and that’s what I love about it! There’s just something so refreshing about Aussie YA. I absolutely LOVED A Tangle of Gold and the series, I’m so glad I read it! Looking forward to reading Shadows as well. Thanks for joining the hop Philippa, I’m discovering lots of great new blogs as well!
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