If you liked that book, you'll love this book!

By Celine Lindeque


On June 1st, Love YA Day is being celebrated at the Brisbane Square Library. A series of Australian Middle Grade and Young Adult authors will be in attendance discussing their books. Tickets are free but events are already selling out. Register now below!

Love YAYouth Ambassadors

In 'One of Us is Lying', five students walk into detention, and four students walk out. When foul play is determined, the remaining four students are all suspected of murder.

Similarly, in 'Eleanor Jones is Not a Murderer', Eleanor starts at her ninth school in five years and intends to blend in. Her plans go awry when the first person she talks to on the bus ends up stabbed and in a coma by the end of the day. To make matters worse, Eleanor was the last person he texted. Unenthused by the reaction of investigators, Eleanor sets out to figure out what happened and clear her name. In the process, she makes a slew of new eclectic friends — each of them interested in solving the mystery for personal reasons.

'Caraval' follows Scarlett, who has dreamed her whole life of seeing Caraval — a mystical annual performance where invited audience members participate. When her invitation arrives, and her sister Tella is kidnapped by Caravan's mastermind organiser, Scarlett sets out to find her sister before the other competitors do. The magical events within Caraval are supposed to be mere performances, however, the romance, games, and consequences if she doesn't find her sister feel all too real.

In 'Akarnae' (Book #1 in 'The Medoran Chronicles'), Alex stumbles through a doorway and finds herself trapped in the magical world of Medora. Unable to return home without the help of a missing professor, Alex begins attending Akarnae Academy, a boarding school for gifted teenagers. As she settles in amongst her newfound friends, she can't shake the feeling something sinister is looming over Akarnae, and that it's targeting her…

Lynette Noni will be speaking about the latest 'Medoran Chronicles' novella 'Kaldoras' during Love YA.

In 'Fable', the daughter of the most powerful trader on the seas goes in search of the father who abandoned her the day after her mother drowned. With the unique skills her mother taught her, her thieving wits, and West, another young trader, Fable sets off to find her father and demand her rightful place beside him and in his crew.

In 'The Isle of the Gods', Selly's plans to follow her father — who left her high and dry in port — are dashed when she receives a quest from a handsome stranger. Selly is tasked with delivering him to the other side of the dangerous Crescent Sea without detection. This high-seas adventure dissolves into terror, treason and mayhem for the two strangers as war looms on the horizon, and two dangerous gods begin stirring from their centuries of slumber…

In 'Only a Monster', Joan is determined to have the perfect summer, even when she's shipped off to her late mother's eccentric family in London. However, her plans are ruined when she learns her family isn't just odd, they're monsters! And the cute boy at work is a legendary monster slayer set on bringing her family down. Joan must fight her crush, work in alliance with the heir to a monster family who hates her, and learn to embrace her monstrousness to save herself and her family.

'In The Spider and Her Demons', Zhi is busy surviving high school and balancing a job at her aunt's dumpling shop. All she wants is to find time for her friends and keep the fact she's half spider-demon secret. However, her secret is let out when she accidentally kills and eats a man in front of the most popular girl in school. This is a story of found family, friendship, and self-acceptance.

In 'The Gaps', when Yin Mitchell is kidnapped, the news reverberates through the Year Ten class. As the hours tick by, the chances of Yin being found alive grow slimmer and slimmer. Everyone at Balmoral Ladies College is impacted by her disappearance, including scholarship student Chloe, and queen bee Natalia. The two girls form an unlikely friendship and must learn to lean on one another for support as they grieve and cope with the dangers of the world around them. 'The Gaps' is a story about female friendship, vulnerability and strength, who has the right to grieve a missing girl, and the uncertainties of being a young woman in the world today.

Stella Wilde is aware of the rules around love and grief. In 'Completely Normal (and other lies)' Stella is secretly in love with the most popular guy at school, Isaac, and he even seems to love her back. However, Isaac has a girlfriend; the wonderful Grace Reyes. When Isaac is killed in a car accident, grief floods the school. And while Grace can mourn publicly, Stella must keep her grief — and undetermined relationship with Isaac — hidden. But how long can Stella continue lying to herself and those around her? And when the truth comes out, how will it impact her newfound friendship with Grace?

Abby's life is going pretty well in 'Let's Never Speak of This Again'. Sure, her grandmother doesn't remember things anymore and she accidentally kissed her cousin's cousin on the weekend, but she can take it all on with her best friend Ella by her side, and Ella's interesting and attentive brother Will on the sidelines. When a new girl Chloe arrives at school, Abby is assigned as her buddy. However, as Chloe's friendship with Ella blossoms, Abby begins feeling left out and unsure of where she stands with Ella. In a moment of anger and confusion, Abby wishes something bad would happen. And when something tragic does occur, Abby is left reckoning with her feelings and ideas around friendship, while learning to support those grievin

The mystery of what happened to thirteen-year-old Henry Weaver is at the centre of 'Deep Water'. He disappeared one stormy night, leaving behind only his muddy mountain bike at the train station. Three months on Chloe Baxter is reunited with the friends she and Henry grew up with, and she wants answers. Why would Henry run away without telling her? And what are her friends hiding from her? Chloe is determined to wade into the murky waters of her small town to find out the truth.

In 'Scar Town', twelve-year-old Will and his twin friends Dar and Juno stumble upon a safe full of money and human bones in an old house sticking out of a rapidly receding lake — all thanks to the worst drought their town has ever had. When Will was seven years old, his dad went missing days before a dam broke and flooded their town. And he's not the only one who's gone missing. As Will and his friends set out to identify the body, dangerous secrets those around them would rather keep buried will be revealed.

'Tracks of the Missing' follows Declan 'Dek' Archer and his friends as they learn of the murder of 'Old Mate' Mr Henry. Additionally, a bus-load of Year 12s have disappeared on camp and are now missing. The police believe there's a link between the two events. While Dek and his best mate have an important football match playing in front of professional recruiters that evening, they feel they must search for their missing friends. Dek's grandfather, a renowned tracker with certain otherworld gifts turns up and expects Dek to go bush in search. This choice of heading out and learning from his grandfather will change his life and family forever.

Thanks for reading!

This blog piece was written by BWF 2024 Youth Ambassador, Celine Lindeque. Click the buttons below to find out more about Celine and read her other blog pieces.

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