why february is going to be exciting

well! not only will i be gleefully falling off the wagon with a gin and tonic in one hand and a latte in the other...


...the rest of you can read the deliciousness, the joy, the bittersweetness of joanne horniman's latest novel, about a girl. the idea is this: that anna is living on her own in a town she moved to because the bookshop there hired her. she sits in the storeroom and reads novels on her break (and sometimes when she is meant to be working!). sometimes she goes out to see a band. one night she sees flynn singing and anna is instantly smitten. because this is a book, and because this is the way it should go, the two girls soon see more of each other and soon become lovers. while their relationship progresses - often blissfully and with great affection, anna is often wracked with fear, or worry, that flynn won't come knocking next time. we learn about anna's life before flynn, we come to realise that maybe flynn too is keeping something of herself hidden.
this is a remarkable love story, passionate and mature, and smacks of beautiful young things. there's literary references and music, you yearn to be clever, and to be friends with anna.

i'm not 100% sold on the cover though - it makes it seem to be a younger book than it is. however, i do like the idea of illustrated YA book covers, as i don't love books with photographs of people's faces, as a rule (mostly because i like to imagine what the characters look like for myself, and also because it can sometimes be tacky).

p.s. i meant to thank allen&unwin for sending this reading copy to the shop. you guys are rad.