Adele Broadbent's Blog, page 2
October 12, 2025
Only A Monster (3) Once A Villain
Joan finds herself in a world where monsters rule and humans are used for monster’s time travel whims and all manner of labours. Humans have no rights
and must wear pendants showing how much life remains in them, and how much they owe to their house family masters.
The showdown with a family member who created this monstrous timeline into being was massive. It killed powerful beings, but with Joan’s own powers, saved her and her friends. Now they must hide as they work out a way to combat the ruler of the new timeline. Red uniformed guards are everywhere, and so are wanted posters for Joan and others.
As they plan, Joan must deal with the choice Nick made, damning them all to this new reality. They also learn that their arrival cancelled their counterparts and their own timeline plans.
The ramifications of everything build as Joan struggles with her love for both Aaron and Nick, and what their possible futures might be, no matter what happens with their plans.
Discovering all the blocks and disruptions the new ruler has put in place to counteract any acts of rebellion depletes Joan’s hopes at repairing and regaining all that has been lost.
But the longer they wait to strike, the more peril they are in as the new timeline is fracturing every minute. Will they work out a way to strike back, and will it be in time to save everyone they’ve ever known including themselves?
A spectacular finale to this riveting monsters vs humans, time-travel romance series!
Once A Villain starts exactly where Never A Hero left off. I reread the ending of Never A Hero to be ready to dive into this final book in the Only A Monster series.
There were so many threads to hold in my mind as a gobbled up this young adult novel. Timelines, romance, and obstacles defeating the protagonists at every turn. Choices to be made and heartbreaks to survive. Powers to control and grief like no other. Tumbling, page-turning, time travel conundrums.
All in all, Once A Villain gathers together the narrative to a pulse pounding finale, leaving a squeak of an opening to possibly see the characters again in the future.
Author – Vanessa Len
Publisher – Allen & Unwin
Age – 15+
If you liked this series, you will like the Six of Crows series here
(2025, Allen & Unwin, Australian Author, Third Person, Action, Conflict, Courage, Family, Fantasy, Grief, Love, Time travel, Romance, Series, Love Triangle, Time Lines, Sisters, Gladiators, Murder Plot, Monsters vs Humans, Control, Allies, Enemies)
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October 10, 2025
Pirate Academy (1) New Kid on Deck
Jacoby Blunt and Jasmine Peacock are students at an exclusive school for children who want to follow in their famous parent’s footsteps. This isn’t just any
school, and the parents aren’t famous movie stars or musicians. In fact, actors and singers are a thing of the past, now that the oceans have risen, and so much more of the world belongs to pirates.
Jacoby, Jasmine and all of their classmates are all learning skills like knot tying, sailing, and sword fighting, so they can join their family dynasties that now roam the world’s seas and oceans. They all belong to the Pirate Federation, that now rules their watery world.
At age eleven, they have been with their classmates for years and have become a very tight-knit group of friends. They are treated well, train hard, and life is good with an exciting future ahead of them.
Jacoby is shocked to have his best friend suddenly taken out of school, with no sensible explanation. In his place comes a stranger who keeps to himself, not sharing his past. Blaming him for the loss of his friend, Jacoby is far from welcoming.
Jasmine also wonders where this stranger came from, but has her own worries. Her parents and their entire ship has vanished. Nobody knows where they are after they didn’t finish a sailing race.
Suspicion and confusion aren’t the only thing the New Kid on Deck brought with him though. He has a deadly secret, and it bursts open inside the school, bringing clashing swords and cannon balls!
The first book in a new exciting series, Pirate Academy (1) New Kid on Deck is fast paced, with short chapters, and perfect for reluctant readers.
With likeable characters, tons of action and a mystery very early in the story, this middle-grade novel captures the reader quickly, and holds on through the adventure on land and sea.
Black and white illustrations by Teo Skaffa appear throughout the story, sharing the action, settings and villains of the tale.
Climb aboard Pirate Academy for a trip into a sword swishing series.
Author – Justin Somper
Illustrator – Teo Skaffa
Age – 8+
(2025, Allen & Unwin, Third person, Pirates, Future, Control, Rebels, School, New Kid, Friendship, Teamwork, Sword play, Fighting, Kidnap, Sailing ships, Action, Adventure, Series, Courage, Secret, Mystery, Sailing, Ocean, Sea, Short Chapters)
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October 9, 2025
The Uninvited
A small boy is with his mum and big sister the day the strangers came. They’re visiting a circle of stones with many other tourists, when he saw a strange blue light in
the air just outside the circle. He follows and reaches out for it…. and something opens in the air. A doorway…
A woman with red hair falls at the boy’s feet.
She is Faerie, and fleeing from a terrible force in her home. 100,000 Faerie folk soon follow her through the portal into our world.
Humankind is horrified at the invasion of these Uninvited guests. They look strange with their pointy ears and weird ways. For human ‘safety’, the Faerie are all locked up together in a camp named Glass Forest after their own home city.
Now, Fairie Samm Wolfback can hardly remember that day or the land he came from. All he has are two items his mum gave him, explaining they belonged to his father. These Faerie tools contain magic, like many of the Faerie folk themselves.
One of these tools helps Samm find things, and he is soon in a dangerous plot to try and get the Faerie folk home again. First, he must find the Faerie woman who opened the portal. A watchful old human, and an eerie circus lead Samm to the truth of the devastating war that his folk fled from.
Can he defeat the evil that caused it all, and save a young human boy who was at the beginning?
This fantasy novel begins in our world with a young boy’s curiosity. Exploring themes of immigration, otherness, and freedom, The Uninvited is a stunning read.
Following two boys in their lives after 100,000 Faerie folk appear in the UK, The Uninvited is cleverly plotted and page turning stuff.
A human boy finds himself mentally changed by their arrival, and a faerie boy is just trying to survive in the terrible camp humans have fenced him and his kind in.
It’s only together the problems can be solved – a powerful message for us all.
The premise might be explored in many children’s books, but The Uninvited takes the reader on a wild ride into fantasy, horror and freedom, all in one novel.
Loved it!
Author – Ross Mackenzie
Age – 10+
(2025, Action, Adventure, Bullies, Conflict, Courage, Family, Fantasy, Prejudice, Racism, Magical, Faery, Faerie, Refugee Camps, Portals, Otherworld, Theft, Monster, Circus)
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October 8, 2025
Catch
It comes from nowhere. Sudden nausea as if she’s going to throw up. Beth stops walking, puts her shopping down then looks up. Holding out her arms just in
time, a man dressed in paint splattered overalls drops into them. He’s just as surprised as she is, but they say nothing as she steadies him on his feet.
At home, there’s no time to think about it, let alone tell anyone. Her parents are preparing for visitors, wanting to make a good impression. They are the parents of Beth’s sister’s boyfriend Rik, and her sister has some news.
Beth knew the secret, but a pregnancy announcement is far from what both sets of parents were expecting. Beth is left alone with her own shocking news, as her homelife suddenly gets a whole lot more complicated.
Her family has noticed a different change in her. She’s grown taller over the summer break, her arms longer too. Is this why she’s being catching falling items at home? Boys at school look at her differently too, along with her sister’s best friend, Etienne.
She’d be able to enjoy the attention if it wasn’t for the strange nausea that creeps up on her. Then a strong feeling deep in her gut. A desperate need to be somewhere. She doesn’t know just where that is at first, but follows the feeling, breaking school rules on the way. It happens again. She stops underneath a window and the school caretaker falls into her arms.
Terribly confused and a little freaked out, she knows she has to tell someone. Maybe her best friend Lin will understand. Over the following weeks, it happens again and again. But it is taking over her life at school and home, and most importantly coming between something wonderful and new with Etienne.
Although being able to Catch, saving lives over and over; Catch is more about main character Beth’s relationships. There is no way she can ignore the feeling to run and save someone, but it comes at all times of the day and night.
This has detrimental effects all around her, but explaining herself is even harder. Catch is about responsibility, new love, family bonds and friendships, all within an astonishing premise.
Basketball is a background thread which is also new to Beth, as she has never been into sports. The court setting is yet another place she has to try and be ‘normal’, but must come second to her urge to Catch. Each Catch saves a life, but adds tension to Beth’s.
Intriguing read.
Author – Sarah Brill
Age – 13+
Publisher – Allen & Unwin
(2025, Allen & Unwin, Australian Author, First person, Special ability, Superpower, Teen pregnancy, Family, Relationships, School, Encompassing, Friendship, Growing up, Romance, Secret, Catching jumpers)
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October 6, 2025
Emilie Walks Te Araroa
Emilie Bruce has been tramping in the NZ bush with her mum since she was four years old. So when her mum decided to tramp from the top of the North
Island to the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand, Emilie was ready for an adventure.
This journey is called the Te Araroa Trail. It is 3,000 kilometres long, and it took them six months. Emilie was only seven years old!
They began at a special place called Cape Reinga,
“…a sacred place where Māori believe spirits leap into the ocean to return to Hawaiki.”
and finished their journey at Bluff, celebrating with an ice-cream.
Along the way, Emilie and her mum crossed many types of terrain. There were beaches to walk along, rivers to cross, mountains to trek over and lakes to walk around. Tracks through the extensive NZ bush weren’t lonely because they sang silly songs as they walked, and native birds kept them company. They hiked through valleys and across wire swing bridges, canoed down rivers, and shot through rapids.
Sometimes the trek was tough, with stinging sand kicked up by wind, driving rain that crept down necks, no matter how many clothes or waterproofs they wore, or through mud that sucked at their feet, threatening to steal their boots.
Home was a little yellow tent, back country huts, or sometimes a ‘trail angel’ would offer them a meal and a bed for the night. Food had to be carried, so was light and specially dehydrated. Emilie’s favourites were tomato soup before dinner and she really enjoyed ice cream when they reached a town or city.
Tramping can be dangerous, and Emilie had a couple of scares along the way, a run in with some wasps and a sudden slip that resulted in a scar on her knee. But the beautiful wildlife, birdsong, people along the trail and many swims in rivers and streams made up for all the tough bits.
Emilie and her mum raised over $20,000 for charities through their trek. 2,200 kilometres of it was on foot.
Their tramping didn’t end there. Emilie and her mum continue to go on smaller tramps into the bush and NZ Ranges.
What an inspiration! Emilie Walks Through Te Araroa is a true tory told in Emilie’s voice as she tramps the entire length of NZ in 2021 with her mum.
In diary format, it begins with a quick introduction how the tramp began, how much they had to carry (shown in a great photograph), and their goal to fundraise for The Mental Health Foundation of NZ and Federated Mountain Clubs of NZ.
With maps of their journey and full colour photography throughout, Emilie tells her story. We see her in rivers, streams, on wooden tracks and mud. She sits on rocks overlooking steep valleys and eyes up ice creams in towns. She tells it like it is, not enjoying the cold, the rain or the mud that sometimes just can’t be avoided.
But her enthusiasm for the incredible adventure they have, and all she learnt about New Zealand nature along the way – shines through this amazing journey.
This A4 size diary allows plenty of room for a clear font for young readers, clear photo labelling, and even full page spreads of Emilie in spectacular NZ scenery. Photos of NZ native birds and Emilie’s own artwork from her actual tramp diaries are sprinkled through the book, illustrating different events in the tramp.
Emilie Walks Te Araroa is sure to inspire any young adventurer keen to get out into the NZ bush.
Authors – Emilie & Victoria Bruce
Age – 6+
Publisher – Potton & Burton
Non-Fiction
Take a look inside here
(2025, Potton & Burton, Aotearoa NZ, Adventure, Courage, Family, Real Life, New Zealand, Trek, Tramping, Hike, 6 months Hike, Nature, NZ Bush, Wildlife, Tent, Back Country Huts, Mountain Trails, River Crossings, Ninety Mile Beach)
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The Library of Unruly Treasures
Gwen is quite happy to go and stay with an uncle she has never met, in a town called Dalgety. It’s got to be better than staying wit her dad who watches lots of
sports, drinks lots of beer, and hardly knows she exists. Staying with her mum is equally awful, because her mum would rather be with her latest boyfriend.
When picked up from the airport, she meets Uncle Matthew and his funny looking dog Pumpkin. A trip to the local library is early on her list, especially as it has her last name – MacKinnon. Gwen soon learns the history of Dalgety and its library, and about the descendants hung on the walls. Making friends with the neighbour’s young daughter is nice too, even if she does insist on playing a game called Ladhukan.
Uncle Matthew said his daughter Nora used to play the game, and the librarian has heard of it too. It seems many children have played the same game over generations.
Gwen is soon shocked and surprised to realise that the small people with wings that Julia is constantly talking to, aren’t just an “over-active imagination.” These small creatures actually exist.
At age eleven, Gwen shouldn’t be able to see or hear these clever, curious, flying creatures. The fact that she can is under much scrutiny by the Ladhukan. They have consulted their wise scholars and pored over their ancient prophecies. They have been waiting for an important someone….and Gwen is that person.
It’s wonderful to have a lovely place to live, and be able to talk to magical people, but to suddenly be responsible for their welfare? It’s almost too much. Gwen vows to herself and the Ladhukan, that she will try her very best to help them, (and enjoy her limited time with kind Uncle Matthew and Pumpkin), before she must return to her father.
It becomes the most exciting, wonderful, frightening, and dangerous two weeks of her life.
Imaginary friends that not only fly, are invisible to anyone over age six, and actually exist!
This is what main character Gwen MacKinnon faces early in this story. She has such a sad back story, it is easy to want the best for her. Her Great Uncle Matthew is a heart warming character, along with his quirky dog Pumpkin, both kind and caring.
The world of Ladhukan begins with a prologue – explaining how they came to live in America from Scotland. It’s not a complicated world structure, with just enough to keep the story interesting as decisions are made, foes attacked with tiny bows and arrows, and complicated flight patterns are required to control difficult humans.
The Library of Unruly Treasures is a sweet story with wholesome characters, and perfect for young readers who don’t like anything scary, but do enjoy a little tension, courage, and magical creatures that only small children or the chosen can see.
From the author of The Penderwicks.
Author – Jeanne Birdsall
Age – 8+
Publisher – Penguin Random House
If you like the sound of this middle-grade novel, you might like:
Pinch Perkins and the Misdummer Curse
The Magic Faraway Tree
(2025, Penguin Random House, Fantasy, Library, Prophecy, Prophecies, Scottish Clans, Invisible creatures, Family, Parental Neglect, Kindness, Love, Courage, Action, Moving, New Home)
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Funny Kid (14) Seriously Soccer
Max just doesn’t get what the big deal is about soccer. There is one ball, two goals, and eleven people trying to get the ball past the other team and into the
goal. Who cares?
What Max cares about is his stand up comedy career. He’s determined to make it big on the stage, on TV, anywhere! He is all set up to wow the crowds at a weekend market, when the crowds suddenly leave. Where are they all going?
He is not impressed to see them around the corner, watching a soccer game on a big screen. Apparently the local team The Red Backs is playing and everyone wants to support them. How about a little support for Funny Kid?
Soccer fever has taken over at school too. Max can’t fathom what the fuss is about. Abby Purcell is particularly crazy about the sport and even coaches a little kid’s team. Is she mad? But the prospect of entertaining the parents of these little players gives Max an idea.
As so often happens in Max’s world, things don’t go to plan. Max finds himself getting sucked into the soccer silliness, and up against Abby Purcell. Again!
Slowly but surely, he begins to realise why Soccer is the most popular game on earth and why it’s called The Beautiful Game.
This might be the 14th book in the series, but it’s just as funny as the first, and I chuckled all the way through. Max is just thinking about Max (as usual) but he IS funny as he continues on his quest to fame on the funny circuit.
He never lets anything get in his way of his dream, not even his town, school or nemesis Abby Purcell. There are some touching moments between Max and his grandad as he tries to understand soccer fever. Like in all the Funny Kid books, Max is always learning about life, people and family, all while he cracks jokes and entertains readers. We even learn where the word Soccer comes from!
Love Football or Soccer or laughing out loud? Funny Kid (14) Seriously Soccer is definitely for you.
Author / Illustrator – Matt Stanton
Age – 7+
Publisher – Harper Collins
Find more Funny Kid & other Matt Stanton books here
(2025, Harper Collins, Funny, Laugh out loud, Series, Friendship, Humour, Football, Soccer, Sports, Coaching, Stand up Comedy, Junior Soccer, World Cup Fever)
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October 5, 2025
Kuwi the Kiwi Treasury
From the cutout tree trunk on the cover to the adorable end papers, Kuwi the Kiwi Treasury will become an Aotearoa NZ treasure for our own tamariki.
The five Kuwi the Kiwi stories, including the Winner of the Gaelyn Gordon Award 2025 are all here, along with the heart warming story of where Kuwi came from.
Pages on Kuwi’s creator Kat Quin, her creative journey and process, precede the five stories themselves.
Begin the Kuwi the Kiwi stories with Kuwi’s Egg, then onto her hatched chick Huwi, and his choice for dinner one night. There’s a tale of a bedtime story and another of an adventurous Huwi and his mates. Then when Huwi becomes fluey, Kuwi tries glow worm poo to plankton potions to help her sneezy son. Watching Huwi grow across the stories is a real treat.
As you read this beautiful hardback full-colour treasure, savour the backgrounds of Kuwi’s kiwi burrow home to see plenty of Kiwiana and clever additions to each room.
With a Te Reo Māori / English translation page and other extras in the rear of the book, the Kuwi the Kiwi Treasury is a perfect gift for kindergartens, early childhood centres, children and grandchildren.
Gorgeous!
Author / Illustrator – Kat Quin
Publisher – Illustrated Publishing
Picture Book Collection
(2025, Illustrated Publishing, Aotearoa, NZ, New Zealand, Kiwi, Native Birds, Mother and Son, Family, New Zealand Bush, Kiwiana, Collection, Gift Book, Treasury)
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October 2, 2025
Felix and the Future Agency
Felix hates school. He tries to hide it, but when he gets dreams or visions of the future, he can’t help but tell people so they don’t get hurt. But instead of being
thanked by his classmates and teachers, he gets the blame. How else would he know the details of mishaps around school such as thefts, breakages or poisonings? Finally, his headmaster has had enough.
He doesn’t like the thought of a new school, but his expulsion is final. Sparkleton High School is offered as another option, and a young teacher has come to talk to him about it. Felix is wary, but can’t believe his ears when she believes he can see the future. She knows of others, and she has come to rescue him from the state school system.
Felix is soon in a top secret organisation with people who are encouraged to daydream with incredible results. There are spirits wherever they travel in this hidden London underground, but not everyone can see them like he can. There are celestial beings that can be pocket sized or the size of a bus in moments, and magic swirls everywhere he goes. His ability to see the future is finally appreciated and applauded, not scoffed and scolded at.
But there is training, and school and lessons, just like any other school. To his dismay, there are still school bullies, and distrust in his new world, and he does everything to try and prove himself. Especially after showing the leaders the scariest premonition he’s ever had.
It shows a dark, powerful force attacking their magical world, and the world above them where his grandmother lives.
When blame falls upon his shoulders again, Felix will do anything to prove to his new teachers and friends that the evil he’s foretold has not been summoned by him.
It’s hard not to compare Felix and the Future Agency to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with its school setting, new friends, school bullies and magic. There is much more to this (1st book in a new middle-grade series) however, with dreams, astrology and premonitions being the base the story is built upon.
Main character Felix is easy to like, and far from perfect, with easily stoked anger he must learn to control. A temper has much higher implications in his new world. The world-building is fascinating and the setting a place I’d like to visit myself, especially to taste the magical teas!
A twist or two in the story is satisfying, making me want to know what happens next, when the story finishes unresolved. There are a sprinkle of illustrations throughout the novel, and intriguing pics at every new chapter heading.
An interesting Afterword strengthens the basis of the premise, prompting possible further research into an actual Premonition Agency in real life.
This unique world is going to be one to watch out for when the next book in the series hits the shelves.
Author – Rachel Morrisroe
Illustrator – Paddy Donnelly
Age – 9+
Publisher – Simon & Schuster UK
(2025, Simon & Schuster UK, Third Person, Future, Action, Magic, Series, Friendship, Secret, Ghost, Mystery, Loss, Accident, See the Future, School, Enchantments, Dream Weavers, Astrology, Dyslexic, Premonitions, Spirits, Constellations, Daydreams, London, Tube, Railway)
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GLOAM
Gloam Island was once a place of games and fun, family and holiday time with their grandmother. Now, siblings, Gwen, Roger, and six-year-old twins, Hazel
and Hester cross the tidal causeway to live in their grandmother’s house. She has gone and so has their mother, but Henry Oakworth vowed to love and care for them as his stepchildren.
It feels strange to be back on the island without their grandmother, and the home the locals just call The House, is quiet and strange without her. Mind you, Gwen still remembers her eccentric Grandma, with her belief in monsters and learning to face and fight your fears.
As the oldest, Gwen looked after her siblings through their mum’s illness, and isn’t happy that Henry is planning to hire someone to look after them while he finds work on the mainland. She is adamant they don’t need a babysitter.
A woman arrives, and she is young, pretty and kind. Henry seems relieved, and the twins and Roger warm to her, but Gwen is wary. Something is not quite right with Esme Laverne.
Henry is happy to leave his stepchildren in the care of this local island woman, brushing off Gwen’s worries. He cooks and cares for them as well as he can when he’s home from work, but begins to struggle with his oldest stepdaughter as she insists Esme isn’t who or what she claims to be.
Gwen thinks of their Grandma’s words and warnings from years before, and knows she must stand up to whatever is taking over the house and her siblings. She must be brave, face her fears and the fight that is coming…
Set on a sparsely populated island that is cut off from the mainland daily by the tide, GLOAM is an eerie, atmospheric read within a large old house, that was once an inn where Dick Turpin is said to have stayed.
There are creepy places in and outside of the houses, where the characters must venture, in a fight for their lives. The backstory of the house and main character’s relationship with her strange but loving grandmother, is well written and draws the reader in further.
The further into the novel you get, the creepier it becomes – just as it does for four siblings who must believe in each other in order to survive something truly evil.
I read GLOAM in one sitting. Great read!
Author – Jack Mackay
Age – 10+
(2025, Oneworld Publications, Horror, Old House, Siblings, Stepfather, Monsters, Fears, Spooky, Eerie, Scary, Island, Sinister, Action, Blended Family, Courage, Family, Fantasy, Love, Grandmother, New Home, Memories)
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