Indigo Blue by Jessica Watson

Indigo Blue by Jessica Watson
Published January 2018 by Hachette Australia

Blurb:

Alex feels like a fish out of water in her new hometown - the sleepy little lakeside village of Boreen Point where she is reluctantly sent to live with her slightly eccentric aunt for her final year of high school. None of Alex's classmates could care less about the new girl, so Alex couldn't care less about them . . . or so she tries to tell herself. As a distraction from what is quickly shaping up to be a very lonely year, Alex spends her savings on a rundown little yacht and throws herself into restoring it. An offer to help a shy classmate with a history assignment leads to a curious discovery and the beginnings of a friendship, but it's Sam - the sailmaker's apprentice - and his mysterious ways that really capture Alex's attention . . .

I have to start this review by saying that I REALLY want to tell you what happens in this story.  I won't...because I don't do that, but this book really isn't what I was expecting at all.  The blurb, doesn't lie, it is about a girl called Alex fininshing her last year of High School in a small Queensland country town.  She does have trouble fittng in, she does buy a boat, and she does meet a boy...and then....a whole storyline I can't mention.

The descriptive language in this book was great.  I could see the landscapes, and the 'action' scenes when Alex was sailing were great too.  It was the 'voice' of Alex that was off for me, she seemed very young, and it makes me question who this book is written for? The main character Alex, is in her last year of High School, and for me that would normally mean the book is aimed at readers 14+, but his book seems to be written for a much younger audience, I would be OK with an 11-12 year old reading this book.  There is some boy/girl love interest in the story, but it's very innocent (I think the characters kiss twice) 

I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either...I think I just felt a bit tricked because I thought I was reading one thing and then it turned into a completely different book...for me anyway.

I would be very interested to see what other readers have to say.

Supersaurs Book 1: Raptor of Paradise by Jay Jay Burridge

Supersaurs Book 1: Raptors of Paradise by Jay Jay Burridge

Published October 2017 by Supersaurs (imprint of Bonnier Zaffre)

Blurb:

A thrilling new adventure series: what would the world look like if dinosaurs had never died out?

Imagine a world where dinosaurs have survived and evolved as ... SUPERSAURS. This is the world that Bea Kingsley lives in, a world where humans live side by side with supersaurs, sometimes in peace but often in conflict.

Bea is the daughter of explorer parents who went missing when she was just a baby. So when her grandmother suddenly takes her on a trip to the remote Indonesian islands of Aru, Bea starts asking some big questions. But the more questions Bea asks, the more trouble she and her grandmother find themselves in. Was the journey to the islands a big mistake?

The adventure starts here...

Picking this book up from the shelf is a prime example of me judging a book by its cover.  I was drawn to the retro Indian Jones image on the cover, and interested to see how the Supersaus App worked with this book.

Firstly let me say that I went straight to the app, and it is very cool.  When you open the app and place your phone or iPad over the illustrations, they come to life and literally jump out of the pages!  (see below for some images of what this augmented reality looks like) This is an impressive and clever feature that will definitely encourage non readers to pick up a book, but I hope they don’t stop there because the book is a great read.

I would say the book is set in the 1930s, but it’s an alternate version of the 1930s, where dinosaurs are still alive.  While adventurers in the 1930s travelled the world to catch sight of exotic animals like elephants, lions and tigers, the intrepid travellers in the Supersaurs novel are hoping to spot the elusive Raptors of Paradise.

Book 2 is out now...there is a new app that can be downloaded for this book, but it only works with the cover.

Hello, I'm back...

If you didn't look too closely at the dates on this blog you may think it's only been 6 months between posts...not more than 2 and a half years...but what's 30 months between friends??

It's safe to say that in the last 2 and a half years I have read a few books...and it's also safe to say that I am not going to review them all now.  If you want to see some of what I have read, you can click on the covers to the right, under the heading, Rebecca's bookshelf: read.

I have decided that 2018 is going to be my year to make a comeback to the blogging world...and it has only taken me until March 12 to do anything about it...but I am here now, and with any luck, this is the first of many posts for 2018.
Watch this space.