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The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 10 Dec 2020
Times Children’s Book of the Week 5 Dec 2020

“In classic McManus fashion, perspectives shift, providing insights into the three cousins’ distinct stories and personal motives while maintaining a steady pace that leaves readers flipping pages. Every twist is gasp-inducing, and the ending will satisfy some and make others yearn for a sequel.” KIRKUS

A brilliant new thriller from the author of One Of Us Is Lying and One Of Us Is Next.

The Storys are the envy of their neighbours: owners of the largest property on their East Coast island, they are rich, beautiful, and close. Until it all falls apart. The four children are suddenly dropped by their mother with a single sentence: You know what you did.

They never hear from her again. Years later, when 18-year-old cousins Aubrey, Milly and Jonah Story receive a mysterious invitation to spend the summer at their grandmother’s resort, they have no choice but to follow their curiosity and meet the woman who’s been such an enigma their entire lives.

This entire family is built on secrets, right? It’s the Story legacy. This summer, the teenagers are determined to discover the truth at the heart of their family. But some secrets are better left alone.

Waterstones
Bookshop
Amazon

The Rules by Tracy Darnton

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 16 Oct 2020

”A heart-thuddingly nervy thriller’ — Financial Times

A gripping thriller from Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-Shortlisted Tracy Darnton, author of The Truth About Lies.

Amber’s an expert when it comes to staying hidden – she’s been trained her whole life for it. But what happens when the person you’re hiding from taught you everything you know?

When a letter from her dad arrives, Amber knows she’s got to move – and fast. He’s managed to find her and she knows he’ll stop at nothing to draw her back into the extreme survivalist way of life he believes in.

All of a sudden the Rules she’s spent so long trying to escape are the ones keeping her safe. But for how long?

Waterstones
Amazon

The Haunting Of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes ill. Keith Robinson

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 16 Sep 2020

A spooky mystery from a debut author, and the first book in a  new adventure series.

Aveline Jones loves reading ghost stories, so a dreary half-term becomes much more exciting when she discovers a spooky old book. Not only are the stories spine-tingling, but it once belonged to Primrose Penberthy, who vanished mysteriously, never to be seen again. Intrigued, Aveline decides to investigate Primrose’s disappearance. Now someone…or something, is stirring. And it is looking for Aveline. Turn on your torches, and join Aveline Jones in her first charmingly spooky mystery, from debut author Phil Hickes.

The book has a stand-out cover by Keith Robinson
Follow the illustrator on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithrobinson_illustration/

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Amazon

Devil Darling Spy by Matt Killeen

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ACHUKA Book of the Day Wed 11 Mar 2020

A sequel to Matt Killeen’s debut espionage thriller, Orphan Monster Spy, which was shortlisted for both the Branford Boase Award and the Costa Children’s Book Award, whose judges summarised the book as “A compelling, darkly thrilling debut – tense, cinematic and brilliant.”

Sarah is used to spying in the champagne-fuelled parties of Nazi Berlin. But her new mission is infinitely more deadly – tracking a deadly virus across bullet-torn Africa, to uncover the monster who would use it to create fifty million corpses. Her enemies think she is a terrified little girl. But she is a warrior set to burn them all.

Waterstones

It Ends With You by S. K. Wright

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Everyone loves Eva. Beautiful, bright, fun, generous – she’s perfect. So when her body is found in a ditch in the local woods the only thing anyone wants to know is: Who could have done this?

It has to be Luke, her boyfriend. He has the motive, the means, the opportunity and he’s no stranger to the police. Even though the picture is incomplete, the pieces fit. But as time passes, stories change.

It Ends With You is clever and compulsive. It challenges preconceptions, makes you second-guess yourself with each chapter, and it holds an uncomfortable mirror up to the way societies and systems treat outsiders.

“The social commentary, though on point, never overwhelms the engaging, page-turning plot.” Irish Times

Waterstones

The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

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“Variously described as folklore, fantasy and mystery, The Wren Hunt wears its labels lightly, shedding one genre for another with a sort of slippery grace that initially confuses. But the story takes flight once Wren is ensconced in the judges’ territory, and the book settles into a deft equilibrium between thriller and myth. Watson’s writing has the sort of poise rarely found in a debut, moving the plot at a steady pace, shot through with moments of true beauty.” Kiran Millwood Hargrave, GUARDIAN Review

Waterstones

Deals: Bloomsbury Acquire A Debut YA Thriller

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Bloomsbury Children’s Books has bought world rights to a debut YA novel by Mary Watson and one other title ahead of Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

The Wren Hunt tells the story of two ancient powers fighting for survival and one girl, born of both, who will decide their fate.

The deal was brokered by editorial director Ellen Holgate and Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge & White.

Holgate said she was “reluctant” to pigeon-hole the genre because it was “so different from anything else out there”.

“The setting is contemporary, but with a deep, ancient magic thinly veiled from view – it sizzles with romance, betrayal, deceit, lies and magic,” she said. “The tension at the heart of The Wren Hunt makes it read like a thriller, but the high concept is backed up by exceptional writing.”

 

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/bloomsbury-childrens-snaps-wren-hun-ahead-bologna-514761