Archive for the ‘Popular Books’ Category

Most Viewed May 22-29

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Wow! It’s a complete mixed bag for our top ten most views for last week, and every single one is a book the we’d recommend as a must read.

1.

A Discovery of Witches   Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches An epic, richly inventive, historically sweeping, magical romance. When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it’s an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witc … Read More
2.

Phoenix Rising   Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

Phoenix Rising

Co-authors Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris ingeniously reimagine England’s Edwardian Era in Phoenix Rising—a hilarious, rip-roaring steampunk fantasy romp that the voracious fans of < … Read More

3.

White Tiger   Kylie Chan

White Tiger When 28-year-old Emma Donahoe becomes a nanny to John Chen?s daughter, Simone, she does not expect to be drawn into a world of martial arts, magic, and extreme danger, where both gods and demons can exist in the mortal world.

Emma … Read More

4.

Embrace   Jessica Shirvington

Embrace Violet Eden is dreading her seventeenth birthday dinner. After all, it s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. The one bright spot is that Lincoln will be there. Sexy, mature and aloof, he is Vio … Read More
5.

Managing Death   Trent Jamieson

Managing Death Steven and Lissa may have stopped a Regional Apocalypse, but that’s only the beginning. People are dying in the brutal summer heat. Stirrers are on the rise as their dark god draws near. And someone is trying to kill Steven de Selby.It s less tha … Read More
6.

Kiss of Snow   Nalini Singh

Kiss of Snow

Nalini Singh’s exhilarating world of shapeshifters and psychics is back.

Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had o … Read More

7.

Enticed   Jessica Shirvington

Enticed

Violet Eden thought she knew all the secrets … she was wrong. I now had little doubt. I felt the intensity in that one burst of emotion from him, felt his desperate need to eliminate me. Any small glimmer of hope that … Read More

8.

Heaven to Wudang   Kylie Chan

Heaven to Wudang Ancient Chinese mythology comes to life in this bestselling series of martial arts and demons, dragons and gods, legends and lies … and a journey to the depths of Hell.

The demons that could control stones and elementals have been de … Read More

9.

The Girl with the Steel Corset   Kady Cross

The Girl with the Steel Corset She thought there was something wrong with her. She was right.
Finley Jayne has known for quite some time that she isn’t ‘normal,’ but when she beats up the son of her employer and is forced to flee, she stumbles i … Read More
10.

Dead Red Heart   Russell B. Farr (Ed)

Dead Red Heart We’re quite chuffed to be able to announce the line-up for our bumper book of Australian vampire tales, Dead Red Heart.We received many fantastic submissions, and they certainly gave the editor some work to do. The final r … Read More

By 15 you should have read….

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

So it started because I’m packing up a box of books to send to our Young Adult reviewer Kaylee (yes, she works for books), but if you’ve read her reviews you’ll know that she’s an avid reader and is pretty well read. As often happens when doing fun jobs like packing boxes, I had the random thought of “What are the top five books everyone should have read by the time they’re 15″.

It’s a big question.

For me, by the time I was 15 some of my favourite books included:

But they were my favourites, if I was to recommend books that every kid should have read by they’re  15 what would the list look like?

I took the question to twitter (as one does), and some of the suggestions we got back:

  • Where the wild things are – Sendak
  • Sal Fisher at Girl Scout Camp
  • The Outsiders – SE Hinton
  • Forever – Judy Blume
  • The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe – CS Lewis x2
  • Harry Potter – JK Rowling
  • Belgariad – David Eddings x 2
  • The Hobbit – Tolkien x 3
  • Anything by Jules Verne
  • Anything by HG Hells
  • Danny the Champion of the World
  • To Kill a Mockingbird x3
  • All Quite on the Western Front
  • Catch-22
  • Oh the Places You Will Go
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • Anything by Roald Dahl
  • Mem Fox
  • Mo Williems
  • Huckleberry Finn
  • Treasure Island
  • Diary of Anne Frank
  • Adrian Mole
  • Anything by Jennings
  • Faraway Tree
  • Wizard of Earthsea x 2
  • Enders Game
  • Stig of the Dump
  • Runaway Ralph
  • Wrinkle in Time
  • Lord of the Rings – Tolkien
  • American Gods – Gaiman
  • Colour of Magic – Terry Prachett

 

Do you have any must reads?

Looking at the list we’ve gathered so far, I agree with most of them, so I guess those under 15 have a LOT of reading to do. Actually, there’s a few there that I haven’t read, so I’ve got a bit of catching up to do – remind me not to ask “What books should you have read by the time you’re 30″

Most Viewed: it’s Aussie Rulz

Monday, April 4th, 2011
1.

Managing Death Trent Jamieson

Managing Death Steven and Lissa may have stopped a Regional Apocalypse, but that’s only the beginning. People are dying in the brutal summer heat. Stirrers are on the rise as their dark god draws near. And someone is trying to kill Steven de Selby.It s less tha … Read More
2.

Enticed Jessica Shirvington

Enticed

Violet Eden thought she knew all the secrets … she was wrong. I now had little doubt. I felt the intensity in that one burst of emotion from him, felt his desperate need to eliminate me. Any small glimmer of hope that … Read More

3.

Embrace Jessica Shirvington

Embrace Violet Eden is dreading her seventeenth birthday dinner. After all, it s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. The one bright spot is that Lincoln will be there. Sexy, mature and aloof, he is Vio … Read More
4.

An Ordinary Wife Kerrie Robin

An Ordinary Wife Unknowingly bound to two souls for eternity, and the emotional tug of war between them, Ana delves into the deep, dark secrets of her family’s long standing ties to witchcraft in the hope of freeing and finding herself. 

… Read More

5.

Burnt Snow Van Badham

Burnt Snow Sophie is in the last term of Year 11. She’s used to moving around with her accountant father and free-spirited mother, so the move to a small town on the South Coast in NSW doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary – at first. 

But thin … Read More

6.

White Tiger Kylie Chan

White Tiger When 28-year-old Emma Donahoe becomes a nanny to John Chen?s daughter, Simone, she does not expect to be drawn into a world of martial arts, magic, and extreme danger, where both gods and demons can exist in the mortal world. 

Emma … Read More

7.

Death’s Sweet Embrace Tracey O’Hara

Death's Sweet Embrace After thousands of years of secret conflict, humans and parahumans have reached an uneasy truce. But unspeakable evil now threatens to shatter the tenuous peace. 

Teenaged shapeshifters are being slaughtered by a twisted, sadistic serial … Read More

8.

As Shadows Fade Colleen Gleason

As Shadows Fade Directly descended from the very first vampire hunter in the Gardella family, Victoria knows she must continue the lineage so humanity will have protectors against the undead. While Sebastian Vioget appears to be both the perfect warrior and lover … Read More
9.

The Sun Sword Lexxie Couper

The Sun Sword

She has the power to bring new life…or utterly destroy it.

Torin Kerridon, the last warrior from an ancient order, is drawn to an abandoned, dying Earth, where he … Read More

10.

Halo Alexandra Adornetto

Halo Nothing much happens in th.e sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels, Ivy, Bethany and Gabriel are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness. They work hard to conceal their true indetity … Read More

NZ Book Month

Friday, March 4th, 2011

March is New Zealand Book month.. and there are LOTs of things going on to celebrate NZ authors and NZ readers; but one of the things that surprises most people is the number of great New Zealand authors writing in the Fangtastic genres, from Romance to Fantasy, so we thought we’d start putting together a list to help you out a little, but I think we need a little more help!

Who’s your favourite NZ author?

Which favourite NZ authors who write Romance -> Fantasy have we missed?
(Surely Nalini Singh isn’t the only Kiwi author writing steaming paranormal romance?!) Share with us!

New Zealand authors are taking over the world, but are they known in New Zealand?

I’m not going to list ALL the titles of the authors, but if you click on their name it will take you to a list of the ones we have listed on Fangbooks. It’s not exhaustive, and I will try to continue to update it over the month (with your help). Happy Reading!

Romance

Author: Nalini Singh

Bonds of Justice

Author: Felicity Price

Split Time

Author: Jane Beckenham

He’s the One

Author: Michelle Holman

Bonkers

Author: Karina Bliss

Here Comes the Groom

Author: Lila Richards

A Different Hunger

 

Author: Elizabeth Knox

The Vintner’s Luck

 

Author: Natalie Anderson

Rebel with a Cause

 

Author: Fiona Brand

Blind Instinct

 

Author: Bronwen Evans

Invitation to Ruin

 
     

Fantasy

 

Author: Helen Lowe

Heir of Night

 

Author: Andre Norton & Lyn McConchie

Silver May Tarnish

 

Author: Ant Sang

Shaolin Burning

 

Author: Mary Victoria

Tymon’s Flight

 

Author: Philippa Ballantine

Geist

 

Author: Juliet Marillier

The Dark Mirror

Author: Emily Gee

The Sentinel Mage

Author: Lucy Sussex

The Scarlet Rider

Author: Russell Kirkpatrick

Beyond the Wall of Time


Teen Fantasy

Author: David Hair

The Bone Tiki

Author: Gary Cross

Plague of the Undead

Author: Justin D’Ath

Pool

Author: Karen Healey

Guardian of the Dead

Author: Margaret Mahy

Kaitangata Twitch

Author: Paula Morris

Ruined


Weekly Most Popular 25-31 Oct

Monday, November 1st, 2010

A mixed bag of favourites this week in our most popular books list:

.

Embrace   Jessica Shirvington

Embrace Violet Eden is dreading her seventeenth birthday dinner. After all, it s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. The one bright spot is that Lincoln will be there. Sexy, mature and aloof, he is Vio … Read More
2.

The Red Thread   Dawn Farnham

The Red Thread Like Chinese silk, The Red Thread is, by turns, gentle and strong, exploring a love that breaks through the divide of race and culture, a love that is both deeply physical and a marriage of souls.

Set against the … Read More

3.

Burnt Snow   Van Badham

Burnt Snow Sophie is in the last term of Year 11. She’s used to moving around with her accountant father and free-spirited mother, so the move to a small town on the South Coast in NSW doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary – at first.

But thin … Read More

4.

Nightshade   Andrea Cremer

Nightshade She can control her pack, but not her heart . . .

While other teenage girls daydream about boys, Calla Tor imagines ripping out her enemies’ throats. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. Calla was born a warrior and o … Read More

5.

Shadowfae   Erica Hayes

Shadowfae The first book in an extraordinary new urban fantasy series based in a Melbourne populated with beautifully imagined fairies. Perfect for fans of Laurell K Hamilton and Karen Marie Moning!

Welcome to a secret world hidden behind shadowy … Read More

6. Paranormalcy   Kiersten White
7. The Rest Falls Away   Colleen Gleason
8. Soulless   Gail Carriger
9. Hear the Dead Cry   Charlie Price
10. Crescendo   Becca Fitzpatrick