Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult:

One of my absolute favourite Picoult novels, Small Great Things is emotionally charged, confronting, and will have you hooked from the first page to the last.
This book will have you laughing, crying, and you will feel yourself the strong emotions of characters who have lost a child; who are discriminated against for their race; and those who have had their ideals and views of the world challenged.

Picoult has confronted one of the most heavily avoided societal issues; racism, alongside the emotions of loss, love, frustration and hatred. It delves into justice, privilege, and does not shy away from tackling a society’s conversation about racism. As with all of her novels, Small Great Things has characters with a story line that will make you question your preconceived morals and in this case; ideas about race, discrimination and family. It also has a twist at the end that you will never see coming which ends the book perfectly, and gives the reader something to hold on to long after they read the last page.

For any fans of a good drama that will grip you, make you question everything you ever thought you knew, and stick with you long after you put it down.
Small Great Things is one of the best novels I have ever read, and I would highly recommend it! -Coreena

Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts:

If you’re looking for a book with a little bit of everything, go no further than Nora Roberts’ Stars of Fortune. It’s jam packed with everything you could ever want: magic, adventure, romance, action, friendship, lovable characters and a beautiful setting.

Stars of Fortune is a classic tale of good vs evil. It follows six heroes drawn together by fate, each with their own supernatural powers, to defeat a dark goddess. Their goal: to retrieve three fallen stars and return them to the sky before their nemesis finds them and uses them for her own nefarious purposes.

Nora Roberts is a wonderfully gifted storyteller. I fell in love with each and every one of her characters, they had their own voices and I enjoyed how their relationships with each other grew. One of my favourite aspects of the book was the location – Corfu, an island is Greece. Roberts described the setting so vividly I had no trouble visualising the beautiful island.

Stars of Fortune is a fun, easy read where the author has perfectly balanced drama and romance with action and adventure. When you finish it you will no doubt be immediately reaching for the next one in the series, I know I was!! -Zoe

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein:

“Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms.” – LT. Col. Jean V. Dubious (Ret.) and Student, Chapter 2 p.32

Starship Troopers is one of Robert A. Heinlein’s most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind’s most alarming enemy. This book lead to the production of the 1997 Starship Troopers film, sequels and adaptions.

Starship Troopers follows the main protagonist known as Juan ‘Jonnie’ Rico, on a raid against the ‘Skinnies’ an alien race who have allied themselves with the main collective antagonist referred as the Arachnids or Bugs. The Bugs have gone from Human Colony to Colony and wiped out all existence on them. To become a citizen in this universe you have to do one thing, join the good fight against the bugs for the federation. This book will have you on the edge of your seat through to the very end. – Joshua

The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers:

I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed this book. Several friends and online groups recommended it to me and as a fan of “Hard Sci-Fi” I didn’t need much convincing. LWTASAP is a very modern take on long-haul space travel and familiar sci-fi tropes such as subspace travel and quantum tunnelling. It can easily be compared with the TV series “Firefly” as it stars a cast of oddballs who work very well together despite a variety of quirks. A character of particular interest is the ship’s A.I., who despite their bodiless existence has very human motivations, morals and personality, a fact which is unusual and discussed within the story.

This book, despite its misleading cover (reminiscent of an introspective teen romance), creates a very logical multi-species sapient culture and addresses varied issues such as gender pronouns, space-travel fuel and diets, social disorders and behaviours and the thought processes of distinctly non-human sentient life.
I recommend it to anyone looking for a entirely likeable and, for lack of a better word, “human” emotional tale with a wonderful cast of misfits, or anyone who needs a trip outside this solar system. The drama and morals that drive each of these extremely well-written characters is beautiful, and often powerfully touching. I can’t wait to get a hold of the sequel and I’m sure you’ll feel the same. – Aaron

The Dry by Jane Harper:

Who really killed the Hadler family?

Tensions in the farming community of Kiewarra become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are discovered shot dead on their property. Everyone assumes Luke Hadler committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son. When Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to the town for the funerals, his investigative skills are called on, and the facts of the Hadler case start to make him doubt this murder-suicide charge. As Falk probes deeper into the killings, old wounds start bleeding into fresh ones – for Falk and his childhood friend Luke shared a secret.

The Dry by Jane Harper is excellent, the pacing was quick with fully fleshed characters, and the ending was satisfying without being too cut and dry. Half the fun of this story is, even if you guess at the who, you probably won’t guess the why until it’s revealed. This was a perfect example of a book being extremely dark and terrifying without being overly graphic for the shock value. – Katherine

The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do:

Sometimes there are books that touch your soul and open your eyes to the joys of reading about the lives of other people. The Happiest Refugee is a biography which transports you from life after the Vietnam War to the busy bright lights of life in Australia.

Anh’s journey is an inspirational story which highlights his love of family, friends and having a go. It is a read where you both cry and laugh at the same time all the while making you feel happy and lucky that we all get to live in this amazing country. This uplifting biography is one that shouldn’t be passed over and is the one biography that I would recommend to any reader.- Ashleigh

The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty:

The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty is a fast read that will get you caught within the first few pages. She creates characters that you will love and very much so dislike.
The main character Ellen O’Farrell is a professional hypnotherapist who works out of a beachfront home which she inherited from her grandparents. When Ellen meets Patrick she is caught and shortly falls in love. However Ellen soon learns that Patrick doesn’t come alone. He has a stalker, which Ellen becomes intrigued by and would love to meet.
Ellen doesn’t know it, but she already has. -Danielle

Feed by Mira Grant:

Feed is a dystopian novel set on Earth in the 2040’s. The cure for the common cold and cancer merge to create a deadly disease that turns you into mindless zombies with one command: FEED.
Shaun and Georgia Mason are bloggers during the apocalypse, covering the presidential campaign, but they uncover a truth they may not be able to handle.
Feed is jam packed with twists and thrills to create a novel that can’t be put down.This book is for a lover of action thrillers. -August