The Mountains of Instead

Championing fiction as an escape from pandemics, politics and bad TV.

Everything You Wanted, Everything You Don't (Review: How to Love by Katie Cotugno)

How to Love Katie Cotugno Quercus 2013
Reena loved Sawyer for a long, long time.She loved him from afar, never believing he’d ever think of her the same way, especially when he took up with her best friend, Allie.But then he does and then Allie is gone and after a while so is Sawyer, leaving behind Re…

Nothing More Terrible, Nothing More True (Review: Undone by Cat Clarke)

Undone
Cat Clarke
Quercus 2013


Jem and Kai have been friends forever.  She adores him, loves him, would do anything for him and he for her.  Well, anything except live.  Kai is easygoing, kind, gorgeous and gay.  When he is brutally out-ed online, he cannot see past the hell of homophobic abuse torren…

All Wars are Planned by Older Men (Review: Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick)

Shadows Ilsa J. Bick Quercus 2012
Shadows is the second book in the series that began with Ashes. As such, this review contains spoilers for the first book (you can find a review for Asheshere). You have been warned.
It’s tough being a teenager. All those strange changes, urges and suspicion that you m…

This Heart Within Me Burns (review of Torn, by Cat Clarke)

Torn Cat Clarke Quercus 2011
When Alice King heads from London to the Scottish countryside for a school trip, her biggest concern is leaving her widowed father at home alone.When her group arrive in Scotland, though, things take a turn for the problematic when Alice, her best friend Cass, emo Rae and …

Let Me Live, Unseen, Unknown (review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick)

Ashes Ilsa J. Bick Quercus 2011

Alex is half way up a mountain when it happens, where she’s been undertaking a personal quest and coming to terms with a terminal illness – a monstrous brain tumour that she is tired of fighting… Alex, really, is all fought out. In the middle of a chance meeting with an…

The Art of War (Review: Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden)

Tomorrow, When The War Began John Marsden Quercus 2011
When Ellie and her group of friends head off into the bush for a week of camping, the most exciting thing on the horizon is the fact that this is the first time they’ve been away, boys and girls, unsupervised. They head directly to a remote are…

Interview With Cat Clarke (Entangled Blog Tour)

I recently was lucky enough to read and review debut title Entangled by Cat Clarke (review here).  Publishers Quercus also invited me to be part of the Entangled blog tour. The Mountains of Instead is the first stop on the tour and I was lucky enough to interview Cat about her new project:
Firstly, …