Five Stella Young Adult Ladies of 2017

The Stella Prize invites you to join the Stella Sparks campaign and show your support for writing by Australian women! To get involved, share your favourite book by an Australian woman that you read in the past year and use the hashtag #StellaSpark. For more information please visit their website.

I'm an advocate for Australian female authors, women who bring our stories ​to the world. Women and authors identifying as women who write about small towns, our cities, our relationships, injustices and our beautiful sunburnt country. Today I'm featuring five remarkable young adult reads of twenty seventeen by female Australian authors who lend us their words and welcome us home.


The Build Up Season by Megan Jacobson

The Build Up Season
Written by Megan Jacobson
Published by Penguin Teen Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★★
My Review
He’s back.

The monster.

It’s the middle of the night and I’m awake, because even though I’m seventeen I still haven’t outgrown the childhood monster that haunts you in the dark. I haven’t outgrown it, because when I was a child, the monster was real.

He was my father.

But the thing is, the monster was the person I was closest to in the whole world, closer than I’ve been to anyone since.

That will tell you everything you need to know about me.

And still, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill the monster.

That will tell you even more about me.

Seventeen year old Iliad Piper is named after war and angry at the world. Growing up with a violent father and abused mother, she doesn’t know how to do relationships, family or friends. A love hate friendship with Max turns into a prank war, and she nearly destroys her first true friendship with misfit Mia. Iliad takes off her armour for nobody, until she meets Jared, someone who's as complicated as she is.
The essence of The Build Up Season is new beginnings and learning to forgive, reiterating the importance of holding perpetrators of violence accountable. The narrative although confrontational, are incredibly important for adolescents. If you haven't experienced family violence, it's likely you unknowingly know someone who has. The Build Up Season is an important discussion as a community in support of those family violence has touched.

Ballad For A Mad Girl by Vikki Wakefield

Ballad For A Mad Girl
Written by Vikki Wakefield
Published by Text Publishing
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★★★★★
My Review
Everyone knows seventeen year old Grace Foley is a bit mad. She’s a prankster and a risk taker, and she’s not afraid of anything, except losing. As part of the long running feud between two local schools in Swanston, Grace accepts a challenge to walk the pipe.

That night she experiences something she can’t explain. The funny girl isn’t laughing anymore. She’s haunted by voices and visions, but nobody believes a girl who cries wolf.

As she’s drawn deeper into a twenty year old mystery surrounding missing girl Hannah Holt, the thin veil between this world and the next begins to slip. She can no longer tell what’s real or imagined, all she knows is the ghosts of Swanston, including that of her own mother, are restless. It seems one of them has granted her an extraordinary gift at a terrible price.

Everything about her is changing, her body, her thoughts, even her actions seem to belong to a stranger. Grace is losing herself, and her friends don’t understand. Is she moving closer to the truth? Or is she heading for madness?
Ballad For A Mad Girl may become a point of contention for readers, is Grace psychologically unwell or spiritual, a contemporary novel or paranormal. Determined by the disposition of the reader. Vikki Wakefield is a formidable author, the ambiguous narrative is intriguing and captivating. Absolutely phenomenal.

Because of You by Pip Harry

Because Of You
Written by Pip Harry
Published by UQP
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★★★★★
My Review
Meet Tiny and Nola. Two very different girls with two very different stories who are just trying to find a place to belong. A powerful and compelling novel about friendship, love and acceptance.

Tiny is an eighteen year old girl living on the streets in Sydney, running from her small town past. She finds short term accommodation at Hope Lane, a shelter for the homeless where she meets Nola, a high school student on volunteer placement.

Both girls share their love of words through the Hope Lane writing group. Can they share their secrets, too?
Throughout the narrative, Pip Harry illustrates the callous installation of defence architecture, metal spikes used as a deterrent to erase homelessness from public exposure. While our governments allocate funding to frivolous enterprises, councils prohibit homeless communities sleeping within the city centre, denying those seeking safety in public places. Pip Harry is remarkable. Because Of You is the immaculate and captivating narrative of the Hope Lane community, a homeless initiative that encourages our most vulnerable community members to communicate through creativity. Inspirational and influential.

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada

This Mortal Coil
Written by Emily Suvada
Published by Penguin Teen Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★★
My Review
When a lone soldier, Cole, arrives with news of Lachlan Agatta's death, all hope seems lost for Catarina. Her father was the world's leading geneticist, and humanity's best hope of beating a devastating virus.

Then, hidden beneath Cole's genehacked enhancements she finds a message of hope.

Lachlan created a vaccine.
Only she can find and decrypt it, if she can unravel the clues he left for her. The closer she gets, the more she finds herself at risk from Cartaxus, a shadowy organization with a stranglehold on the world's genetic tech. But it's too late to turn back.

There are three billion lives at stake, two people who can save them, and one final secret that Cat must unlock. A secret that will change everything.
The essence of This Mortal Coil is genetic manipulation and biotechnology, developed by Lachlan Agatta and administered to infants as nanotechnology. It allows programmers to create applications that download directly into the body, collaborating with our human genetics. This Mortal Coil is an intelligent, captivating and atmospheric science fiction dystopian. Absolutely phenomenal.

Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian

Beautiful Mess
Written by Claire Christian
Published by Text Publishing
Add to Goodreads
★★★★★
My Review
Since Ava lost Kelly, things haven’t been going so well. Even before she gets thrown out of school for shouting at the principal, there’s the simmering rage and all the weird destructive choices. The only thing going right for Ava is her job at Magic Kebab.

Which is where she meets Gideon. Skinny, shy, anxious Gideon. A mad poet and collector of vinyl records with an aversion to social media. He lives in his head. She lives in her grief. The only people who can help them move on with their lives are each other.
Too often young adult literature promotes the mental well being of adolescents as an illness to be remedied by a love interest and I applauded the discussion of mental illness as a chronic condition that fluctuates upon a wellness spectrum.

A wonderful inclusion of diversity. The late Kelly is bisexual and Maori, Ava is of Greek heritage, Gideon's parents are in a female, same sex relationship and the discussion of depression, suicide and anxiety was magnificent and wonderfully represented. Claire Christian is a captivating, compassionate and remarkable debut author composing a narrative that will linger long after the final page. Exquisite Australian young adult literature.

More Information

The Stella Prize is a major literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing, and an organisation that champions cultural change. The Stella Prize is a non for profit organisation run entirely off donations. To donate please visit their website here.

26 comments

  1. These all look like fabulous reads! I've heard so many excellent things about THIS MORTAL COIL, and I love sci-fi, so I'm super-excited to read it! I think I really, really need to read BEAUTIFUL MESS, too. Being Greek, I've literally only read ONE YA book in my lifetime that has a Greek MC (THE FIRST THIRD; I adore that book), which has always been...frustrating. Admittedly I'd never heard much about the Stella Prize before, but I definitely plan to look into it more now.

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    1. Oh I loved The First Third too! Considering Australia has so many people with Greek heritage, I'm surprised we don't see more characters with Greek and Italian backgrounds. The Stella Prize is wonderful, supporting Australian female authors of any genre or audience. If you search the #StellaSpark hashtag on Twitter or Instagram you'll find so many wonderful new reads!

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  2. well deserved ! they are all great all- arounded reads! thanks for putting this and let the world know aussies can write well too!

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    1. I may be biased but I think Australian authors outshine their overseas counterparts. They don't over dramatise characters and write narratives that readers can see themselves within. The books being released this year sound phenomenal and more and more international readers are jumping on the #LoveOzYA bandwagon.

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  3. Glad to see you liked Beautiful Mess so much. I have a review copy of that, and I am happy it has an honest portrayal of mental illness. My personal experience is that people don't understand people with mental illness, so anything that helps show the reality of that gets my attention.

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    1. Oh Sam you must read it! The storyline is so wonderfully gentle and one of the finest and most genuine narratives that represent mental health that you're likely to discover. I can't wait to see what you think of it.

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  4. This is so awesome, Kelly! I find it hard to read from our own local authors, since Filipinos have a certain writing style I can't really get into, but I would love to show some love for them, too!

    I REALLY want to read This Mortal Coil and Ballad for a Mad Girl--I like books that are kind of confusing and mysterious. Plus Beautiful Mess sounds absolutely beautiful and realistic, so I'm adding that to my TBR as well. <3

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    1. This Mortal Coil brings back dystopian but with strong science fiction elements. It was incredibly surprising and I was armoured by the end of the first chapter. So, so good!

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  5. I hadn't heard of the Stella Sparks campaign until your instagram post the other week. I'll have to get off my butt and do my own post <3 :-) So many awesome ladies to choose from <3 :-)

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    1. There is Sarah! I've just posted my favourite middle grade reads by Australian female authors and have one more post to go. Such a wonderful campaign.

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  6. Thanks for sharing all of these! I definitely need to read more Australian authors. One of my favorite book is by an Australian woman though...John Belushi is Dead by Kathy Charles.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. I actually haven't read that one Lauren, I think in Australia it's titled Hollywood Ending if I remember correctly. Not sure why the name change. I'll have to get my hands on a copy, thanks for the recommendation!

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  7. Thanks for sharing. I haven’t read these books but i’ll check them out. I just finished an amazing book by an Australian author. ❤️😁

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    1. There's lots and lots of incredible Australian young adult authors Geybie, some you may not have realised are actually Australian. There's a great master list of #LoveOzYA novels on Goodreads here to browse through.

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  8. Yes please! I needed this list! I think I just said in another comment to you that I'm trying to read more NZ and Aussie YA so this list could not have come at a better time! I've opened all these books in Goodreads and they are definitely going straight onto my TBR. Thank you!!!!!!

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    1. You're most welcome Lara! I tend to gravitate towards more home grown authors, especially when it comes to contemporary. Such an exciting year of #LoveOZYA and #LoveNZYA as well!

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  9. You Aussie readers are AMAZING! So organized and enthusiastic.

    For What It's Worth

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  10. Great post Kelly :) I really like the sound of Because of You in particular. I have quite a few Aussie YA reads on my shelves, I really should get around to reading them one of these days :/

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    1. Because of You is phenomenal, one of my favourite all time reads. If you've signed up for the #AusYABloggersReadingChallenge on Goodreads, those Aussie authors will come in handy.

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  11. Nice job! I'm kind of impressed that you readily know where each author hails from! I have This Mortal Coil on my to-read list and I'm super excited about that one!
    Rebecca @ The Portsmouth Review

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    1. I always keep a track of Australia and New Zealand authors especially, I always tend to navigate towards home grown authors. Nothing beats them.

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  12. I am the literal worst because I have never read a book by Vikki Wakefield even though she is regarded as one of the best authors and I have at least 3-4 of her books on my tbr! I did snag a copy of The Ballad of a Mad Girl a while ago so I AM REALLY hoping to read it sometime in the near future!

    Also This Mortal Coil has been getting so much love from everyone that like, I need to get on top of that too.

    Basically, I am a terrible bookworm who hoards books she wants to read and needs to stop doing that.

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    1. Oh you have to read it Rashika, it's absolutely brilliant. It was my first Vikki Wakefield book and I was absolutely hooked.

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  13. I feel like a failure when I say this but... I haven't read any of these books! I noticed a sever lack in reading Aussie books in 2017 and I really want to fix that this year. I have already read six books by Australian women writers in 2018 so I feel like my goal is one that might stick. And the Aus YA Bloggers Reading Challenge will help me with that, as well! Out of these ones I'm most keen for This Mortal Coil so hopefully it fits one of our LoveOzYA prompts. Even if it doesn't I can see myself picking up that one anyway. Thanks for the lovely post, Kelly!

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  14. Great picks Kelly, you know I absolutely adore This Mortal Coil! There's actually a few ozya picks that I haven't read yet, so thanks for the heads up!

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