Vanessa Jones

Do you ever just feel like reading a book about a cult? It's been a while since I last visited a cult behind the safety of a well written narrative, but Australian author Vanessa Jones convinced me to give her latest novel The Tens a try.

Main character Sophie has recently been suffering from terrifying nightmares and she's seeing a therapist to help her work through some issues. After her husband leaves her, Sophie's world begins to fall apart and she relies more and more on her therapy. Sophie is the classic unreliable narrator and her behaviour becomes more worrying as time progresses.

A few errors and typos (like mignon instead of minion page 174) jolted me out of the storyline, and the occasional mixed tense broke the tension as my reading stumbled over the inconsistencies. The dynamic between Sophie and Abigail wasn't realistic enough for me and left me unconvinced. I'm certain that with a better editing process, these issues will be improved and the story will benefit greatly as a result.

I've been watching a lot of crime shows lately (Broadchurch, Troppo, Wire in the Blood) and it occurred to me while reading it, that The Tens would make a great screenplay for one of these programs. I later learned the author is also a screenwriter, so that makes perfect sense.

The Tens by Vanessa Jones is a solid thriller with Australian flair that is recommended for crime and thriller readers and fans of Aussie domestic noir. There's even a playlist that accompanies the novel which is fun!

* Copy courtesy of the author *… (more)

This was an entertaining and emotional story about a young woman dealing with grief while trying to attend a high pressure college for the performing arts. Nettie Delaney is the daughter of a woman who was a star performer who died of cancer a year earlier. Nettie's mother was a dancer but Nettie's strength is her singing voice. At least it was until her mother died and she lost her voice.

Nettie's audition was a disaster because she got a long-lost voice mail from her mother just before she was set to perform and found that she couldn't sing at all after receiving it. So she was very surprised to find that she had been admitted to the prestigious program despite her awful performance. Once she learns that that head of the school knew her mother, she thought she understood why she had been admitted.

The story is filled with a bunch of characters straight from teen melodramas. Almost the first person she meets is the awesomely talented and gay dancer Alec who decides that they are going to be best friends. And she meets the talented and handsome Fletch who wants to write songs with her. She makes friends with Kiki who is in the dance program and who feels like she always has to lose weight. There are the school Mean Girls in Natasha and Jade. Jade has a massive crush on Fletch, a dad who has bought her way into the school, and absolutely no talent. There is a mean ballet teacher who has taken Nettie in dislike and who belittles her at every opportunity. There are also sympathetic teachers like Michael who knew her mother and Steph who is the advanced vocal coach and determined to help Nettie get her voice back.

There is lots of drama too. Naturally Fletch and Nettie have difficulties with their romance. Between Jade who is constantly trying to attract Fletch's attention to Fletch's confusion about the real-like Nettie and the girl who is singing when he plays piano in the next room - who also happens to be Nettie. Time is spent with Nettie trying to figure out who her mystery accompanist is. She even suspects Jade at one point.

I liked the story and know that fans of musical theater and romance will enjoy it. Lots of the references to musical theater went right over the top of my head though because I'm a very casual fan of the genre. I really liked that Nettie had a strong body image and was confident in her appearance despite other people's attempts to belittle her.… (more)

This was a cute read with fun characters whose personalities popped off the page. It’s perfect for anyone who’s ever dreamed of being on stage.

Nettie has an audition for the prestigious arts school she’s always dreamed of going to. But when a voicemail from her dead mother pops into her inbox just before the audition, her voice disappears. And it doesn’t seem to want to come back.

But Nettie still gets in. She thinks it must be because her mom was practically ballet royalty and friends with the school’s founder.

Nettie’s immediately drawn to a cute guy, Fletch, and he seems to be into her too. But Nettie starts to worry that there’s someone else, and he may just be leading her on. Nettie has to decide if he’s worth taking a risk.

The only time Nettie can sing is when she’s alone in the studio. Nettie must put in the work to emotionally heal from her mother’s death so she can perform again.

One thing I wished we had more resolution to was the back story of Nettie’s mother and the other teachers. Why did she mysteriously quit ballet? Some teachers like her and favor Nettie, while another hated her so much she’s kind of abusive to Nettie. Learning more about this would have added some depth to those interactions.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.… (more)