The Lost Man by Jane Harper

The Lost Man
by Jane Harper
narrated by Stephen Shanahan

Published: 2019
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Hardback: 340
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Australia
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Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
From above, from a distance, the marks in the dust formed a tight circle.

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

My two-bits:
Men's roles are in focus in this story with a country setting.

I liked the storytelling style. The mystery was revealed with experiences rather than investigation and questioning within a family.

~*~
* weekly theme: Australia - outback

* Listened to audiobook version.

The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman

The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted
by Robert Hillman

Published: 2019
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Genre: Historical, Jewish, Australia
Hardback: 304 pages
Rating: 5
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First sentence(s):
She didn't stay long as far as marriages go, jut a year and then months.

Zombie sighting:
"… She has been six weeks at my apartment. Not a word. A zombie."
-chapter 35, page 280

Can one unlikely bookshop heal two broken souls?

It is 1968 in rural Australia and lonely Tom Hope can't make heads or tails of Hannah Babel. Newly arrived from Hungary, Hannah is unlike anyone he's ever met--she's passionate, brilliant, and fiercely determined to open sleepy Hometown's first bookshop.

Despite the fact that Tom has only read only one book in his life, when Hannah hires him to install shelving for the shop, the two discover an astonishing spark. Recently abandoned by an unfaithful wife--and still missing her sweet son, Peter--Tom dares to believe that he might make Hannah happy. But Hannah is a haunted woman. Twenty-four years earlier, she had been marched to the gates of Auschwitz.

My two-bits:

Loved the portrayal of books and the bookshop in this story.

Loved the Tom character and his gentle and loving ways.

Loved the description of how to make trifle.

~*~
* weekly theme: Australia - country

Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar

Summer Skin
by Kirsty Eagar

Published: 2018
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Australia
Paperback: 352
Rating: 5
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First sentence(s):
Jess Gordon reached the third story of Gallagher Wing and paused for breath on the landing, taking the opportunity to tie the laces on her high tops, pull up her tube socks.

Zombie sighting:
Each room she searched on T-floor was both deserted and a shambles; like some great catastrophe had happened during the day, the zombie apocalypse, rather than just a music festival.
chapter 28, page 225

Jess Gordon is out for revenge. Last year the jocks from Knights College tried to shame her best friend. This year she and a hand-picked college girl gang are going to get even.

The lesson: Don't mess with Unity College girls.

The target: Blondie, a typical Knights stud, arrogant, cold . . . and smart enough to keep up with Jess.

A neo-riot grrl with a penchant for fanning the flames meets a rugby-playing sexist pig―sworn enemies or two people who happen to find each other when they're at their most vulnerable?

It's all Girl meets Boy, Girl steals from Boy, seduces Boy, ties Boy to a chair, and burns Boy's stuff. Just your typical love story.

My two-bits:

Fun, spunky, head strong gal meets her match. Loved the push and pull moments between this couple as well as their relationship growth.

Got a nice introduction to college life in the land down under.

~*~
* weekly theme: Australia - college scene

The Things She's Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

The Things She's Seen
by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

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Just released: May 14, 2019
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Genre: Mystery, YA, Australia
Hardcover: 208
Rating: 3

Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since the day she died.

Her dad is drowning in grief. He's also the only one who has been able to see and hear her since the accident. But now she's got a mystery to solve, a mystery that will hopefully remind her detective father that he is still alive, that there is a life after Beth that is still worth living.

Who is Isobel Catching, and why is she able to see Beth, too? What is her connection to the crime Beth's father has been sent to investigate--a gruesome fire at a home for troubled youth that left an unidentifiable body behind? What happened to the people who haven't been seen since the fire?

As Beth and her father unravel the mystery, they find a shocking and heartbreaking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another...

My two-bits:

This story is a tale of a journey through grief that blends mystery and magical realism in the present day.

I appreciated the end notes as it explained the relation to folklore.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of publisher

Happy Release: The Things She's Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

The Things She's Seen
by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina
-Mystery, YA, Australia | Goodreads
Release date: May 14, 2019
Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since the day she died.

Her dad is drowning in grief. He's also the only one who has been able to see and hear her since the accident. But now she's got a mystery to solve, a mystery that will hopefully remind her detective father that he is still alive, that there is a life after Beth that is still worth living.

Who is Isobel Catching, and why is she able to see Beth, too? What is her connection to the crime Beth's father has been sent to investigate--a gruesome fire at a home for troubled youth that left an unidentifiable body behind? What happened to the people who haven't been seen since the fire?

As Beth and her father unravel the mystery, they find a shocking and heartbreaking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another...

The Dry by Jane Harper

The Dry
by Jane Harper

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Just released: January 2, 2018
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Genre: Mystery, Australia
Paperback: 352
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
It wasn't as though the farm hadn't seen death before, and the blowflies didn't discriminate.

Zombie sighting:
So bad. You can feel it. We're all walking around like zombies. Not sure what to do, what to say.
chapter 2, page 13

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.

Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.

My two-bits:

Two mysteries play out in this book with an Australian back drop. Both stories were equally engaging. It was easy to be led into this small town setting. The small cast of characters portrayed the place and community well.

Fell in love with Federal Agent Falk.

~*~
* part of Books, Inc. Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here)

Get It Together, Delilah! by Erin Gough

Get It Together, Delilah!
by Erin Gough

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Just released: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Genre: LGBTQ, YA, Australia
Hardback: 336 pages
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
As far as English teachers go, I could do worse than Mr. Hammer. He's a smart guy with a good haircut and an admirable passion for punctuation. He's taught me since the start of high school and I have only two misgivings: his views on the semicolon and the fact that he ruined my life.

Seventeen-year-old Delilah Green wouldn't have chosen to do her last year of school this way, but she figures it's working fine. While her dad goes on a trip to fix his broken heart after her mom left him for another man, Del manages the family cafe. Easy, she thinks. But what about homework? Or the nasty posse of mean girls making her life hell? Or her best friend who won't stop guilt-tripping her? Or her other best friend who might go to jail for love if Del doesn't do something? But really, who cares about any of that when all Del can think about is beautiful Rosa who dances every night across the street... Until one day Rosa comes in the cafe door. And if Rosa starts thinking about Del, too, then how in the name of caramel milkshakes will Del get the rest of it together?

My two-bits:

Set in Australia this YA story has a focus on a young woman trying to navigate life on her own. She puts her parents and other adults in the a backseat as she tackles high school pressures, work and a love life head on.

Many life lessons are learned along the way. However, friends provide support and care despite some ups and downs.

~*~
* WINNER: Ampersand Prize
Short listed: Gold Inky Awards 2016
Short listed: CBCA Book of the Year (Older Readers) 2016
Long listed: Indie Awards 2016
White Raven International Youth Library title 2016

* review copy courtesy of publisher

That Crazy Perfect Someday by Michael Mazza

That Crazy Perfect Someday
by Michael Mazza

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Just released: June 20, 2017
Publisher: Turtle Point Press
Genre: New Adult, Sports - surfing, California, Australia
Paperback: 318
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
My Charger clocks eighty-three miles an hour up North Harbor Drive, past the airport, headlights blazing, tachometer redlining, the V-8 roaring as if it's heading into war.

Zombie sighting:
Weakened by the prospect, I recline the seat all the way back, close may eyes, and numb as a voodoo zombie, let the car loop around the city into the dark, decaying hours of the night.
-page 217, chapter 38 (ARC)

The year is 2024. Climate change has altered the world's wave patterns. Drones crisscross the sky, cars drive themselves, and surfing is a new Olympic sport. Mafuri Long, UCSD marine biology grad, champion surfer, and only female to dominate a record eighty-foot wave, still has something to prove. Having achieved Internet fame, along with sponsorship from Google and Nike, she's intent on winning Olympic gold. But when her father, a clinically depressed former Navy captain and widower, learns that his beloved supercarrier, the USS Hillary Rodham Clinton, is to be sunk, he draws Mafuri into a powerful undertow. Conflicts compound as Mafuri's personal life comes undone via social media, and a vicious Aussie competitor levels bogus doping charges against her. Mafuri forms an unlikely friendship with an awkward teen, a Ferrari-driving professional gamer who will prove to be her support and ballast. Authentic, brutal, and at times funny, Mafuri lays it all out in a sprightly, hot-wired voice. From San Diego to Sydney, Key West, and Manila, That Crazy Perfect Someday goes beyond the sports/surf cliché to explore the depths of sorrow and hope, yearning and family bonds, and the bootstrap power of a bold young woman climbing back into the light.

My two-bits:

I found this to be a fun way to get into the surf world with a female perspective.

This story also gets into tackling the hardships in life that come with sports, fame, relationships (family and friends).

Admired the protagonist's courage and perseverance.

Had me watching some YouTube GoPro footage by surfers on Australian waves.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of publisher

Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier

Razorhurst
by Justine Larbalestier

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Just released: March 3, 2015
Publisher: Soho Teen
Genre: Historical, Paranormal, YA, Australia
Hardback: 320 pages
Rating: 4

The notoriously bloody history of a mob-run Sydney, Australia neighborhood is fertile ground for this historical thriller with a paranormal twist: two girls' ability to see the many ghosts haunting Razorhurst.

Sydney’s deadly Razorhurst neighborhood, 1932. Gloriana Nelson and Mr. Davidson, two ruthless mob bosses, have reached a fragile peace—one maintained by “razor men.” Kelpie, orphaned and homeless, is blessed (and cursed) with the ability to see Razorhurst’s many ghosts. They tell her secrets the living can’t know about the cracks already forming in the mobs’ truce.

Then Kelpie meets Dymphna Campbell, a legendary beauty and prized moll of Gloriana Nelson. She’s earned the nickname “Angel of Death” because none of her beaus has ever survived knowing her. Unbeknownst to Kelpie, Dymphna can see ghosts, too, and she knows that Gloriana’s hold is crumbling one henchman at a time. As loyalties shift and betrayal threatens the two girls at every turn, Dymphna is determined not only to survive, but to rise to the top with Kelpie at her side.

My two-bits:

Got a good sense of the 1930s time period in Australia with gang activities and rivalries. Such a dangerous racket to be in. The description of the usage of razors instead of guns as deadly weapons was an interesting bit of history to learn about.

The interesting tweak to this historical piece is the ghost element. The beginning of the story is challenging to follow along as there are conversations of characters and ghosts that criss-cross with only one person in the room who is party to all. However, once familiar with the characters and with who is alive and who is a ghost then things become clear.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of edelweiss