Sunday 25 November 2012

Book Review: Slave Girl by Alexa Moses

Goodreads Summary: Thirteen-year-old exchange student Jenna has nabbed an appointment in New York's coolest hair salon, but when her teacher insists she stay with the group at the boring Metropolitan Museum, she storms off and stumbles into what she thinks is a fancy-dress party. And it is a party. In ancient Egypt. 3500 years ago. Once Jenna accepts she's really travelled back in time, she realises she has to work out a way home - with only her big mouth, a smart phone and a pair of second-hand Marc Jacobs sandals to get her out alive. Jenna's attempts to bluff her way out of her precarious situation are often brave, sometimes ingenious and guaranteeably funny.

Title: Slave Girl
Series: 1st in Jenna Bookallil-Brown
Author: Alexa Moses
Publisher: Harper Collins Australia
Release Date: 1st August 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley ~ thank you!

I always love discovering Australian Author’s; they are always interesting and diverse. Alexa Moses is no exception to this rule and Slave Girl was a great read directed at Middle Grade-Young Adult. The easy flow of the writing style was fabulous and the characters were fun.

Jenna Bookallil-Brown is a 13 year old on an exchange program, currently visiting museums in New York. Jenna is very excited to be in New York staying with her Great Aunt and trying to become the sophisticated, fashion conscious teen that every girl wants to be. Jenna is visiting the Metropolitan Museum and has an appointment that she must get to. Her chaperone will not allow her to leave and Jenna is torn whether to disobey or just suck it up.

Jenna notices a strange cat under the bench she is contemplating on and the cat watches Jenna in return; how strange. The cat jumps onto the bench and steals the envelope with all Jenna’s money for her appointment. OMG – a cat stealing an envelope full of money, haha. Jenna takes off after the cat to rescue her treasured envelope.

One second Jenna was in the Museum and the next in a strange room with a party themed with people in Egyptian costumes. Huh, Jenna has no idea what is going on, why would there be a party at the Museum like this? Jenna is still chasing the cat, spots it behind a group of dancers. Trying to stay inconspicuous, she crouches and waddles over towards the cat; the cat takes off, Jenna gets caught and is taken into a room with a bunch of other girls.

Jenna still doesn’t know what is going on and everybody doesn’t seem to know what she is talking about or understanding her way of talking. Before long Jenna is taken to the kitchen to start her daily duties, she is now a slave.

Will Jenna find that dastardly cat? Can she find her way home to New York in her current era? Will she be able to survive being a slave and all it entails?

Follow along on a fun adventure with Jenna, trying to search for the cat while not being captured or imprisoned or even sentenced to death. This was a fantastic quick read that I recommend to all Middle Grade readers and above for something fun. Plus hello, Australian authors are fantastic. This is the first in a series of adventures for Jenna and I look forward to reading the next.

4 STARS OF FUN

Amazon ~ Bookworld ~


About the Author:
Alexa Moses graduated from a masters degree in screenwriting at the Australian Film Television and Radio school in 2001, thinking she wanted to write comedy, but got a job as a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald instead and discovered she loved journalism.

Over her six years at the Herald, she worked as an arts and features writer and entertainment reporter, along the way stalking Nicole Kidman, writing about the Asian tsunami she survived, panthering her way through the deportment course Princess Mary took before becoming royalty, and receiving hate mail during her time as a film critic. In 2007, she won the VarunaHarperCollins fellowship for her first manuscript. More recently, she’s been working as a novelist and screenwriter for children’s television including The Woodlies, Gasp the Goldfish andThe Davincibles.

When she’s not reading and writing, Alexa spends her time knitting, cooking, watching sitcoms and musicals, and listening to maudlin pop music.

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