COME SEE ABOUT ME $2.99 at Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | * equivalent prices at other Amazons: £ 1.95 at Amazon.co.uk | Euro Amazons € 2.77 until end of November

Twenty-year-old Leah Fischer's been in a state of collapse since the moment police arrived on her Toronto doorstep to inform her that boyfriend Bastien was killed in a car accident. After flunking out of university and cutting herself off from nearly everyone she knows, Leah's saved by Bastien's aunt who offers her a rent-free place to stay in a nearby suburban town.

Initially Leah keeps to herself, with no energy for anyone or anything else, but it's not long before her nurturing neighbours begin to become fixtures in Leah's life and a much needed part-time job forces her to interact with other members of the community. And when Leah is faced with another earth-shattering event, her perspective on life begins to shift again. Soon Leah's falling into a casual sexual relationship with Irish actor Liam Kellehan, who has troubles of his own, even as she continues to yearn for her dead boyfriend. Clearly she's not the person she thought she was—and maybe Liam isn't either.

Reading level: Adult (mature readers 16+)

TOMORROW (Yesterday Book 2) $2.99 at Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | * equivalent prices at other Amazons: £ 1.95 at Amazon.co.uk | Euro Amazons € 2.77 until end of November


The sci-fi adventure that began with Yesterday continues with a thriller that can also be read as a standalone.

2063, United North America: climate change has rendered great swathes of the country uninhabitable, the rise of robot workers has created mass unemployment, eco-terrorism is a constant threat and a 2059 nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India has torn large holes in the world's ozone layer and pushed humanity's existence towards a cliff.

Nineteen-year-old Garren and seventeen-year-old Freya have managed to escape that nightmare world and lose themselves in 1986 Vancouver. But the future's reach is long, and they're no longer safe there. No one is. Shadowy forces are intent on influencing the past's path. And when Freya is taken, it's up to Garren to save both her, and the future.

Reading level: Young Adult & Up

Sadly, I missed the Toronto International Film Festival this past September because I wasn't capable of standing in line for more than ten minutes (the damn plantar fasciitis and patellofemoral syndrome--—yep, still!). Plus, If you have trouble with your knees you'll know how uncomfortable it can be to sit with them bent for any length of time. But I've still been going to the movies; I just fidget like CRAZY throughout, straightening my legs every fifteen minutes or so. Let me apologize here for anyone I might've driven bonkers (I swear I typically try to pick an otherwise empty row) with my cinema-restlessness!

But what I really want to say is that Australian end of the world flick These Final Hours is exactly the kind of gem I go to the festival to discover, a film you otherwise might miss because it doesn't have a big budget, a wide-release or tons of promotional $ behind it.

Nathan Phillips (James) and Angourie Rice (Rose)  in These Final Hours

What it does have going for it are wonderfully convincing performances from Nathan Phillips (James) and Angourie Rice (Rose) as its central characters and a compelling plotline which begins with the destruction of Western Europe and North America—after the Atlantic is hit by a meteor—and is destined to end with the frying of Australia in twelve hours' time.

Our setting is Perth, Western Australia looking every inch the last outpost of a fast-vanishing civilization. As the film kicks into gear, society rapidly unspooling, James's only plan for the end of the world is to face the moment out of his head so he won't feel the pain of annihilation. But en route to his own personal oblivion, James stumbles upon a situation he can't ignore, rescuing Rose from reprobate abductors.

With the clock ticking down a lifetime shrinks down to hours. As James deals with the hardest questions, we are forced to ponder them ourselves. How do we say goodbye? At the very end, who and what still matters?

If you admired Miracle Mile and Melancholia and are intrigued by the idea of a film that plays like the flipside of On the Beach, These Final Hours is for you, an entirely realistic but not heartless rendering of the end of life on our planet seen through the eyes of one man.


This is week 2 of The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing's blog tour and I want to say an enormous thank you to Giselle of Xpresso Book Tours and Alessandra from Dancing Cat Books for putting together such a wonderful tour so far. I've loved reading all the reviews!                              

There's a tour giveaway for The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing plus other Dancing Cat Books releases so please stop by and say hi along the route somewhere to enter.

You can also read my Back to School post on the Dancing Cat Books blog. The entry comes complete with a perm photo of my seventeen-year-old self with one of my favourite high school teachers.

The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing Blog  Tour: Sept 29-Oct 10
Week 1:
September 29th
-Back Porchervations  Review
-Read more-sleep less Guest Post: For the Love of Judy Blume
-Cindy’s Love of Books  Review

September 30th
-Bookshipper Review
-Shayna Varadeaux Books & Reviews  Review

October 1st
-Rhea’s Neon Journal  Review
-Book Lit Love  Review + Top 10 Tips for Debut Authors

October 2nd
-Reading In Winter Excerpt
-Journey with Books  Review
-Daydream Books Playlist Post

October 3rd
-The Book Landers Review
-The Bookish Confections Review

Week 2

October 6th
-A Reader of Fictions Review
-Heather’s Book Chatter  Guest Post: The Importance of Book Covers

October 7th
-Actin’ Up with Books Review
-Sassy Book Lovers  Excerpt
-Creating Serenity  Review

October 8th
-Beneath the Jacket Reviews Review

October 9th
-Becky on Books Interview
-Doodles, doodles everywhere Excerpt
-YA Story Teller  Review

October 10th
-The Young Folks Excerpt
-Loving the Language of Literacy Review + Top 10 List

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