Tuesday, 5th May
The Beckett Effect by Nashae Jones
There’s no one Wren hates more than Beckett Lane.
Girls love Beckett because of his famous dad, and Beckett revels in the unearned attention. It seems like everyone except Wren is susceptible to the Beckett Effect—the phenomenon that makes people, most of all teen girls, fall for him despite his glaring red flags. Unfortunately for Wren, her sister, Kennedy, is vulnerable to Beckett’s charms, and she has a huge, misguided crush on him.
When Beckett humiliates Kennedy at a party in front of the entire school, Wren swears to bring him down once and for all. And what better way to expose him than by using her passion for filmmaking to create a documentary showing just how terrible he really is? But as Wren cozies up to Beckett to get (hopefully damning) inside information, she starts to wonder if the line between love and hate is as clear as she thought…
Thursday, 7th May
Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu
Elizabeth Zhang knows her place in the world. She knows she’s in the tenth percentile for likability, the seventieth percentile for attractiveness, and the ninety-ninth percentile for academics.
With a hard-working ethic instilled in her by immigrant parents, armed with impeccable grades, Elizabeth thinks she is set for Harvard Law School. Until she is rejected for being too ordinary, which she translates to mean she’s just another boring Asian female. But when her classmate Laura Kim gets in, everything falls apart. Why was Laura accepted? What makes her so interesting? At first, she follows her because she’s just curious. What Laura eats for lunch. Where Laura shops. The answer for Elizabeth’s failure must lie somewhere in Laura’s life. But still, Elizabeth just can’t see it. The only thing she sees is that Laura has taken her spot at Harvard.
A spot she knows she deserves. A spot that she’ll simply have to take back.
Stormbringer by Tig Wallace
Amelio’s world is divided by the Fault, a canyon separating him from Nimira, the storm-ravaged kingdom on the other side where magic is used freely.
When Amelio’s storm chaser mother goes missing, he is forced across the Fault, joining a mission to locate the source of a leviathan storm. As magic stirs within him, Amelio must also contend with Paige, a wildcard with a thirst for chaos, and Vintane, a criminal with an agenda of his own.
The storm chase of a lifetime is underway and Amelio must unite warring provinces and confront his own destiny – before the most powerful storm ever seen destroys them all . . .
The Beckett Effect by Nashae Jones
Beckett Lane is a legend.
He has more ex-girlfriends than letters in the alphabet.
He once dated twins at the same time . . . without either of them knowing.
I hear he has a secret love child with a supermodel in Colorado.
One time he starred in a toothbrush commercial . . . It was awesome.
Everyone is under his spell because of his Greek god-like looks and famous dad, but Wren Richardson sees through it and can’t stand the guy. So when Beckett humiliates her angelic sister, Kennedy, in front of the entire high school, Wren vows revenge.
Teaming up with Beckett’s exes to make a documentary, she plans to show the world exactly who he really is. Because she’s the only one not susceptible to The Beckett Effect. Isn’t she . . . ? Only, as she gets closer to Beckett, Wren wonders if there’s more to the school’s biggest womaniser than she realised. Is the line between hate and love as clear-cut as she once thought?
The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex
Birdie wakes to the news she’s been waiting eighteen years to hear: Jimmy Maguire – the man who murdered her sister – is out of prison.
She sends her children to school, picks up a gun, and leaves for London with one purpose: to find Jimmy and make him pay.
But there’s another side to this story, and Birdie is about to enter a world of family lies, worn-out loyalties and long-buried betrayals . . .
The Women Are Not Fine by Hope Reese
At the turn of the 20th century, the women of Nagyrév, Hungary, were in trouble. Their stories were hauntingly similar: husbands who drank, who beat them, who made their lives unbearable.
The village midwife – their confidante – offered an answer: arsenic. Soon, women began slipping poison into their husbands’ brandy, porridge, and stews. Over the next twenty years, the quiet village became the epicentre of one of the deadliest series of poisonings in modern history.
In The Women Are Not Fine, journalist Hope Reese pieces together archival newspapers, court documents, police records and more to uncover the truth behind this extraordinary case. Her findings serve as a stark warning: when women are pushed to the brink, the consequences can reverberate through history.
A Sister Like You by Sarah Hagger-Holt
When Ella and Ari start at St Hilda’s secondary school, they both feel alone. But after a chance meeting at auditions for the choir, they become friends.
When they discover that not only are they both adopted, they’re actually sisters, their worlds are turned upside down. While Ari is excited, Ella doesn’t know how to respond, and the differences between Ari’s laid-back dads and Ella’s old-fashioned Mum only adds to the tension.
Then Ella’s faced with the challenge of her Grandma’s sudden illness, and when she leans on Ari in her time of need, the two families decide to try and make the relationship work, finding harmony together despite their differences.
