Read Something Different!

So, girls, I have realised that I’m always encouraging you all to explore new things, follow your dreams, take chances and generally squeeze every single drop of joy out of life. Well, today I am applying that to reading, and saying… hey, girls, READ SOMETHING DIFFERENT! And because I’m not someone who tells other people to do stuff without doing it myself (unless it’s putting the bins out every week, for, ahem, fifteen years… sorry Matt, mwah!!) I have done exactly that.

I love reading comedy drama, and I love reading about families, friendships, issues and relationships – real worldy stuff, I guess. Recently I have read and loved Susie Day’s latest Pea book (boo! Hurry up and write more, Susie!), Pea’s Book of Birthdays, the fabulous How to Treat a Boy as a Pet by Diane Messidoro and Cathy Cassidy’s Chocolate Box Girls books. What I like to read is what I like to write – I know how to recognise it and I find some fab stuff.

But this week I read something different. I read the fabulous, breathtakingly brilliant sci-fi/thriller/mystery novel Amber, by Julie Sykes. It grabbed me because the cover is so great, and I was gripped from the first page. Following a car accident, a teenage girl wakes up in hospital with no memory of who she is or where she comes from. The only clues to her identity are a dead mobile phone in her pocket and a beautiful amber necklace around her neck, so she chooses the temporary name of Amber.

When a knocked tea cup goes flying and Amber catches it in mid-air with her mind, the only witness to it is a teenage hospital volunteer, Holly. Her freaked-out reaction makes Amber realise that it isn’t normal, and she soon discovers that she’s the only person with telekenetic powers. Some new friends take her under their wing and, as no one has come forward to claim her, she ends up with a place at their music summer school.

I got completely riveted as I realised that Amber might have come from a very long way away indeed. That she might be on a special mission she has no memory of. That she might be in serious danger… I don’t want to be a plot-spoiler, so I’ll just add that the ending was heart-pounding, mind-bending and explosive! I thoroughly enjoyed my foray into a different kind of book, and I hope you will if you give it a go too and READ SOMETHING DIFFERENT!