Will Kostakis

Charming, funny and poignant, this was a delight. I loved Bill and his best friend Lucas and Bill's bumbling attempts at lurve were hilarious and entertaining. The loving relationships with Yiayia - the quintessential Greek grandmother and the "glue" holding the family together - were portrayed sympathetically and warmly and her directive that Bill fulfills her bucket list fills Bill with dread and seems impossible. I also loved the fact that the novel embraces the sexuality spectrum. AND, show more Hooray! Most of the adults are supportive of their children (a bit of a rarity in YA at the moment). I must admit, I wasn't drawn to this book (cover issues AGAIN!) but I'm so glad I read it. show less

Was put off reading this book by the lame cover but its actually quite good - an older readers Percy Jackson. 16 year old Connor is hiding from his ex- best mate in an old boys school in Sydney when he stumbles on a trap door. Opening the door leads to a hidden room with a locked chest inside. While hiding and trying to work out if he can open the chest, a girl rushes in and does so and suddenly he is thrust into a world of living statues, gods and the end of the world scenarios - sound show more familiar?
Liked how Connor is gay so there's no romantic entanglement between him and the girl Sally (but later some with a "gorgeous boy" at a ball). A couple of twists that I didn't see coming and so I will be reading the second one to see how all the problems Connor faces are resolved. For older students due to language and mature content. show less

A book within a book about giving up everything for love and family. Harvey's father Ba has decided to leave his Dad and so they get on a plane to Sydney from Perth to stay at this grandmother's flat over a cafe in Sydney. Harvey is bisexual and discovers some things about his Ba he'd rather not know, re-connects with his great-grandmother ( only to find out she has Alzheimer's) and incurs the wrath of his feisty grandmother working at her cafe part-time. All the while trying to work out who show more he wants - is it Bradley the Grindr hook up or Isabelle, the barista at work?
Sotiris is 17 and has just had his first book published but instead of being on top of the world, a mistake means he loses the plot and it is not until he meet Jem that life begins to look up.
The reader then discovers that Sotiris ( who becomes Sam Baker for later version of the book) and Jem are actually Harvey's Ba and Dad, and Sotiris has left Jem because he is trying to write the story of them and can only do so when he is away from Jem.
The whole book itself is then semi-autobiographical of Will K ( i.e. gay Greek boy) so the reader can see bits of Will K's life in both the story of Harvey and Sotiris.
Was engrossing but somewhat unresolved at the end. I felt the book just stopped. Great writing and wonderful descriptions of the Sydney cafe life. show less

One for mature readers containing drugs, sex and copious amounts of swearing. Nevertheless, it is a good story told from the perspective of three different boys who were all friends of another boy who died the day before the book commences. This boy Issac or Zac was the only common thing they had in their lives and now he has drowned as a result of over indulging in alcohol and substances supplied by one of the friends Harley who "knows a guy". The first part of the book deals with the show more Swimmer Ryan, who has a Mum as Head of English at his school, is a fantastic swimmer bound for the Olympics and is also gay. The only people who know Ryan is gay are the now deceased Isaac and Ryan's boyfriend at another school. Ryan's part of the story has little really to do with the dead boy and more to do with Ryan getting the guts up to "come out". (He is given an ultimatum by his boyfriend). There is a small teaser in Ryan helping the Nerd (Miles) to break into Isaac's locker before his parents collect his things and removes an envelope with a large wad of cash in it.
The second part is told from Harley's perspective as, The Rebel racked by guilt that the drugs he gave Isaac killed him, he goes home to his father's place (He is a boarder at their prestigious Catholic school) and basically only reappears for the funeral. Harley's guilty conscience causes him to start looking around to try and right some of the wrongs in the world. harley also looks at reassessing his relationship with his mother who has divorced his father and left Harley to boarding school. Oh and there's a girl too - his "best mate" who waits patiently for him every day he is away as they always get coffee before school....mmmm.
And finally there is Miles, quintessential Nerd and star academic who it turns out has been writing essays for other kids and selling them with Isaac being the middle man ( hence the envelope full of money.) But there is more to their relationship than that as Miles spends every lunchtime replaying the movies ( and especially the outakes) he made with Isaac in a now disused computer room.
Story moved very well from start to finish and I found all the characters and settings very believable ( having worked in a large all boys Catholic school myself). I particularly liked the Ryan part - most believable regarding a young man's angst and also being the son of a teacher and how you see teachers in a different light to other students. show less