Book Professor

The Book Professor experience is getting more and more popular. It's the perfect gift for any child, especially if you want them to keep reading over the summer!

Book your child's session and they will sit down with our Book Professor over a drink and a treat to discuss exactly what kind of books they do and don't like, their hobbies and interests, and what they'd like to try. Armed with this knowledge, the Book Professor will suggest several titles for them. Your package includes a book token, so they can purchase right there and then, or take away the curated list and purchase later! It's a great experience.

https://shop.thebookcentre.ie/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BOOKPROFESSOR

Review: Paradise Girl

Paradise Girl by Phill Featherstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kerryl finds herself alone on her farm, in her town, and possibly in the world, when a highly contagious disease sweeps out of Africa and infects the whole world. Unsure how to deal with her experiences, she writes everything down in her diary, addressing it to Adam, her imaginary friend. But as her predicament sinks in, she leans more and more heavily on Adam, until she's not sure anymore what's real and what isn't...

What a fascinating read! Most of the things I want to comment on would count as spoilers, so I'll only say that I really enjoyed this. Kerryl is an odd character; I felt bad for her, but I didn't really like her as a character. However it didn't stop me reading and wanting to know what would happen next, and if I get a chance I'll pick up the sequel/companion book, too.

Read this if you're interested in apocalypse, teen survival, or psychological thrillers with killer endings.


I received a free copy of this title and chose to leave an honest review.

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Review: Perfectly Preventable Deaths

Perfectly Preventable Deaths by Deirdre Sullivan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Madeline and Catlin find their new home, Ballyfrann, a bit...well...odd. It's full of Collinses for a start, one family grown out of all recognition. There's the bodies that keep turning up – birds, foxes – and the strange feeling of warmth in the middle of winter, and Mamó, their new stepfather's cousin, with her herbs and potions. And, of course, there's the missing girls; teenagers have gone missing in Ballyfrann for many years. But that won't happen to Madeline or Catlin, of course. They're perfectly safe...

An atmospheric, slightly terrifying read. The language is amazing, lyrical sentences that lull you into thinking nothing bad can possibly happen – usually immediately followed by something bad happening. The increasing fear as things start to go wrong will ensure you can't put this one down. Deirdre has captured perfectly the relationship between siblings, sometimes prickly, sometimes supportive, always there for each other. I'd love to meet Mamó for real, assuming I could get her to answer my questions!

A great, chilling read.


Receiving a proof did not affect my review in any way.



"What will your Galway boyfriend be called?" I ask.

"Something pure Galway like Peadar or Ultan," she says.

"Mine will be called Fenian," I tell her. "Or maybe Mountain. Mountain Boyfriend O'Galway."

"That's good," she says.

I tell her that I know. We make her bed and then we go into my room and make mine. I quite like making beds. When you're putting the duvet cover on you can pretend to be a ghost. Our rooms are almost identical, mirror images, only with different tapestries and views. Every room in Brian's castle has a view. It's a bit much, really. All that landscape.

"Ultan will be able to drive a tractor," Catlin says, as though this is an extremely desirable quality in a man.

Which it may well be. We're in the country. There are different rules.

"My one will have ROAD FRONTAGE," I tell her, "and feed abandoned baby lambs by the hearth. With his big Galway hands." I think I've won.

"Ah. Mountain sounds like a sweetheart," she says. "Ultan will have a shock of bright red curls."

"Mountain will have straw instead of hair. Like a thatched cottage."

"That is incredibly Galway of him," she says, and I can tell that she's impressed.

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New Titles

How amazing do these look together? Hurry and buy your copies before they're all gone!

Author Visit

Yesterday the wonderful Anna McPartlin came to visit our store and talk with some schoolchildren. I think she enjoyed it, and I learned that pepper spray is illegal in Ireland! So fun times all around.

Review: Meat Market

Meat Market by Juno Dawson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jana is scouted by a modeling agency at Thorpe park. Surprised and suspicious at first, she's soon pulled into the fast paced world of high fashion, earning thousands just for walking while wearing clothes. Modeling is not a kind industry, though, and she soon finds herself caught up in the seedy side of things, alone and unprotected.

Juno Dawson has a way of cutting straight to the heart of things. Surprisingly, I found this easier to read than Clean, which was desperately distressing: this one is upsetting, but in smaller doses, so it was easier to keep going. I enjoyed it very much and felt great satissfaction at the end. I was also pleasently surprised when Jana's narration turned out to be entirely innocent; I'd been expecting a magazine exposé or a police interview, but it was much more benign than that.

A fantastic read, I really enjoyed it.




(Note that curses are not hidden in the novel.)

By the end of the shoot, I don't feel quite so ridiculous. No matter how mad I feel pretending to walk on the spot, at least I can see the pictures popping up on Ro's laptop and they do look pretty cool. 'You can't take a bad picture, babes,' Ro tells me. I guess that's why Tom is good at his job - he knows who's gonna look good in pictures, however weird they look in real life. 'I think we're good, Layla. We have so many choices.'

'Yeah? Wicked.' She comes over and gives me a big hug. 'You're a trooper, babe. I wanna shoot you again. I'm serious.'

'Really?'

'Abso-f***ing-lutely. You got it, babe.'

'Thank you.' I sense Arabella is waiting for the same feedback, but Layla doesn't seem to notice she's still here.

'You're a sweet kid. Hang on to that for as long as you can. Don't become a c**t, even if you can get away with it.'

Layla's assistant starts taking the backdrop down and it all wraps up in a flurry of air kisses. I mostly want the shoes off. As I change into my vest and jeans again, I can't help but feel a bit less special, like Clark Kent putting the tie and glasses back on.

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Review: Stepsister

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Ugly Stepsisters never get much limelight in most versions of Cinderella, other than to laugh at their misfortunes. Luckily for everyone, this is not a version of Cinderella, not really. This is about what happens afterwards, when Ella goes with the Prince and the Stepsisters are left at home with a mother they were never good enough for.

This is mostly Isabelle's story; as a child she was fearless, strong and fast, but not pretty. Never pretty. And in the world they grew up in, not pretty was almost a death sentence. When beautiful Ella came into their lives Isabelle allowed jealousy to poison her heart, but now, left alone and crippled, she realises what she's lost and longs to regain it.

This is a wonderful story of redemption and believing in oneself. Isabelle is a wonderful character, surrounded by a cast of other wonderful characters. The interaction between the Marquis and Tantine is one of the highlights of an amazing book.

I really enjoyed this book.


The magician pulled the actress close. She kissed her cheeks and wiped her tears away with a handkerchief. Then she balled the handkerchief up and pressed it between her palms. When she opened her hands again, it was gone and a butterfly was sitting in its place.
As the three women watched, the butterfly took wing, carried aloft by the breeze.
It flew past a little monkey playing with a rope of pearls. Past a violinist and a trumpeter, a cook, a scientist, and three ballerinas, all with scars of their own.
Past a man with amber eyes, raging at the falling dusk. Swearing at the treacherous roads. Building his teetering human tower taller and taller.
A smile, small but defiant, curved the magician's full red lips. "That's what we do with our pain," she said, watching the butterfly rise. "We make it into something beautiful."
"We make it into something meaningful," said the diva.
"We make it matter," whispered the actress.

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New Titles

The classic Milly Molly Mandy stories have been reissued by Macmillan Children's Books in these beautiful paperback editions. These are ideal for any child who is learning to read, as the easy language and simple stories will give them great confidence. (They'll also make you very hungry.)

Review: The Fandom Rising

The Fandom Rising by Anna Day
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Fandom was Anna Day's love letter to dystopian fiction and the fervour of the fans. The Fandom Rising is, rather more specifically, about fanfiction and the wars they can engender. Rising picks up a year after the end of Fandom. In the interim, Alice and Violet have published the official sequel to Gallows' Dance. However, Nate is still trapped in his coma and the girls have forgotten their adventures. Violet's been dreaming, though, and things are moving in the Gallows fandom. A new fanfic writer is turning everything on its head, and if the girls don't stop him they'll lose any chance of bringing Nate back...

I'm going to start with the only problem I had with this novel, and it's the same problem I have with almost all series; it's been more than a year since the first one was published, and there's no recap or memory jogger beyond a few bits of dialogue and exposition. I am honestly not too sure who a couple of the characters were and what the relationships were in the first novel. But almost all series have this, and I realise that putting in a recap at the start can affect the flow.

This is my only problem. Other than that, the story is brilliant. Shifting POVs mean that we're aware of what's happening on both sides of the divide, and a certain character reveal took me by surprise. Another I was expecting didn't materialise, which is good because it would have been upsetting. The settings were great and the action didn't stop at any point.

This sits beautifully as a duology, but I'll be watching out for whatever Anna does next. I'm sure it'll be great.



I need to contact this Fanboy and convince him to stop posting. And I'm Alice Childs, author of The Gallows Song. That must mean something. And if it doesn't, if he won't stop, well, I'll hunt him down and grind his bloody keyboard to dust with my Jimmy Choos.

I go straight to the Fandalism site on my phone. The barbed wire motif suddenly seems all the more jagged, all the more dangerous. I scroll with urgent fingers. There isn't a contact page. I do a bit more snooping, but he isn't on social media or the internet more generally. The guy's a cyber ghost. How on earth did he get so popular?

This complicates things.

Deep breaths. New plan.

I need someone to help me. I'm hopeless with computers. Which sounds daft coming from a girl who spends most of her spare time glued to one. But that's different, that's writing. I know diddly about how to track down another user.

What I need is an IT nerd.

I open Facebook and follow a friends of friends trail until I find the perfect geek. A nerd who I really owe a drink and who, historically, owes me a favour.

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Review: A Wolf Called Wander

A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Based on the travels of a real life wolf, this wonderful book tells the story of a year old wolf who is forced to leave his home ground when another pack attacks his. In the aftermath of the attack, he struggles to find any of his pack or a place where they can be safe, always desperately missing his home ground.

This is a beautifully illustrated book, full of real life details about wolves in general and Wander in particular. His loneliness for parts of the book is stark and heartrending, and the intricacies of wolf culture are fascinating. One part near the end, when Wander is thinking about one of his brothers, had me in tears.

I want to mention the illustrations again, because without them this would be a whole other book. Still good, still sad and happy and heart rending, but emptier. The illustrations add so much to the story and the whole package is just perfect together.

An amazing book for nine and up.



My raven will be hungry. We have not eaten in days. I call her and open the hide. Good things spill out in a warm steamy pile. I take a few bites and call for my raven again. She led me to water all the way across the dry flats. I will be glad of her company over the meat. It feels wrong to eat alone.

My raven doesn't come.

I call her again.

A whole pack of ravens rise up from the grass with a great rattling call. They come to me. They swarm around the meat. I am happy to share. I take the parts that are a wolf's due and settle in to chewing as the ravens pick over their bits of meat.

I search for mine among them but they look all alike. I call to her but none of them look up. I sniff the air but ravens all smell the same to me. My raven had a bald patch on her chest much like the white line on my shoulder. I look for it, and when I find her, I yip a greeting.

She carries on eating and squabbling with her pack as if I'm not there. As if kinship between a wolf and a raven is impossible. As if all the days we have traveled together mean nothing at all. When the shadows grow long and the air cools, every one of the ravens takes to the sky without a backwards look. They roost together on the other side of the water, far away from me. My raven has her pack now.

I have eaten my fill. There is more water than I can drink and yet I have never felt so empty. I know; I have always known, that the raven could never be a pack mate to me. No mere bird could take the place of Pounce or Wag, certainly not Warm. And yet we have taken a journey together. We have shared meat. She was my guide and companion. The soft talk of doves and the cheerful trills of the wren do not comfort me. The clouds turn golden, orange and pink against a sky of deeper and deeper blue. Even this beauty cannot lift me.

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Review: The Hand, the Eye and the Heart

The Hand, the Eye and the Heart by Zoë Marriott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Zoe Marriott returns to low fantasy in this loose retelling of Mulan. No quipping dragons or cheerful training montages here, this is a gritty, serious look at a war with constantly shifting alliances. Set in the same world as Shadows on the Moon and Barefoot on the Wind, in an unspecified time that may be before, after or during either, neither or both of those titles, this expands Zoe's world beautifully.

This book touches on themes of bisexuality and transgenderism, but with a very light hand, never sounding preachy or forced. There was a twist I didn't see coming but very much enjoyed - it's unusual for a twist to surprise me like that one, so well done! - and the characters were intriguing and well thought out. I hope Zoe returns to this world, but if she doesn't, this was an excellent swan song.

I made an effort to put my own worries and misgivings aside as we headed to the barracks together. But even as I chatted companionably to him and went through the motions of settling into the camp, a sense of foreboding descended over me. I had succeeded in convincing my family to let me come here and succeeded in convincing the camp officials to accept me into the ranks of the army. At home, when I planned this, those had seen the biggest obstacles.
But this morning the enemy had been close to killing me without coming anywhere near me. I had made my first and only friend and then almost lost them again, because of who my father was. And nearly incurred the wrath of the first senior official I spoke to without even trying.
With a sensation like falling, I realized that, despite all my preparations to come here, I wasn't prepared for this. I hadn't been prepared for anything that happened today. I wasn't prepared for tomorrow, or the next day, or the one after that. I had no idea what challenges were ahead.

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