M-Awards round 4

Here are some more M-Awards for memorable, meaningful, moving, thoughtprovoking, inspiring etc speculative fiction. These are the special books that remained with me long after I’d finished reading them. They aren’t necessarily perfect books, but they are memorable, usually because they deal with important issues, and /or have a strong element of compassion,  unconditional love and wisdom in them. Sometimes just because they are beautiful powerful books

Freefall by Mindi Scott

This is a truly excellent book. The death of a good friend, who drowned in his own vomit after a drinking binge, causes the main character to rethink his life and what he wants out of it.  The story is about facing fears, coming to terms with yourself and your limitations and learning to appreciate what you have. This isn’t fantasy, it’s real teens, doing real things and learning important lessons in a very believable way.

The blurb…

Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend, Isaac, alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time when Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up.

Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely.

Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he’s ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth soon realizes he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .

Phantom Universe by Laura Kreitzer

I wasn’t sure whether I should give this an M-Award at first, because it wasn’t a hit-me-with-a-slam-straight-away sort of book. It beauty was deep, sweet and gentle like the main character Summer. It haunted me with memories of her shocking abuse as a young child abducted into slavery contrasted with the sweetness of the character and the love of her friends. Sweet and sour make a wonderful sauce. Laura Kreitzer is giving 10% of the proceeds from this book to DNA an organisation aiming to prevent the human trafficking that goes on today even in America.  Read my review here.

See an article about Laura and the book  here.

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think of them?