Need some downtime around exam study?

Try one of these senior fiction reads:

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

Mara Carlyle’s senior year is going as normally as could be expected, until—wa-bam!—fellow senior Katelyn Ogden explodes during third period pre-calc.

Katelyn is the first, but she won’t be the last teenager to blow up without warning or explanation. As the seniors continue to pop like balloons and the national eye turns to Mara’s suburban New Jersey hometown, the FBI rolls in and the search for a reason is on.

With literal spontaneous explosion (and resulting mess). This absurd humour is the perfect stress breaker between exams.

The Painted Many by Peter Brett

As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise—demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards—symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile.

Like A Game of Thrones - only better! [I have been a fan of GoT since it was first published and I thought that series would never be beaten! - Mrs Kelleher]

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

Aron Ralston's account of his six days trapped in one of the most remote spots in America, and how one inspired act of bravery brought him home.

With scant water and little food, no jacket for the painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he'd told no one where he was headed, he found himself facing a lingering death -- trapped by an 800-pound boulder 100 feet down in the bottom of a canyon.

This is not for the feint hearted!

Saving Jazz by Kate McCaffrey

Jasmine Lovely has it all – the looks, the grades, the friends. But when a house party spins out of control, Jazz discovers what can happen when your mistakes go viral ...

Instead of being told by the victims point of view, this is about the offender. Who is she? What was she thinking? and what happened to her after the fallout?

Confronting. Hard to put down.

Spotlight on Senior Fiction

Senior students, if you are looking for something with a bit more maturity than the things you were reading in year 7 and 8, look out for the Senior Fiction stickers on books with more adult themes.

Not sure where to start? Perhaps try one of these titles:

Saving Jazz by Kate McCaffrey

Gone were the days when you live in fear of what someone could do to you. Now you lived in fear of your worst mistakes being paraded around the globe to take you down.

Jasmine Lovely has it all - the looks, the grades, the friends.

But when a house party spins out of control, Jazz discovers what can happen when your mistakes go viral... [Goodreads.com]

Mrs Stephenson rates this read 4 1/2 stars

The Bad Decisions Playlist by Michael Rubens

A stranger rolls into town, and everything changes…

…especially for Austin Methune, when the stranger turns out to be his father, presumed dead, and his father turns out to be Shane Tucker, a bigtime musician—just the role Austin wants for himself.

Austin has a long history of getting himself into trouble, with the assistance of weed, inertia, and indifference. And he’s in deep trouble now—the deepest ever. He’s talented, though. Maybe his famous father will help him turn his life around and realize his musical dream.

But maybe Austin has inherited more than talent from Shane, who also does drugs, screws up, and drops out.

Austin is a tour guide to his own bad decisions and their consequences as he is dragged, kicking and screaming, toward adulthood. [Goodreads.com]

Now in the Cinema

Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins



EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAYAnd then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good? [blurb from Goodreads.com]