Before the Beginning Tour

Hachette Australia together with the #AusYABloggers are celebrating the release of Before the Beginning by Australian author Anna Morgan. On the tour you'll find Australian Reviewers and Instagrammers sharing their thoughts.

About The Book

Before the Beginning
Written by Anna Morgan
Published by Hachette Australia
Add to Goodreads
The story of four friends, a mysterious stranger, and the week when everything changed. For fans of We Were Liars.

Schoolies week: that strange in-between time when teenagers move from school into the adult world. It's a week when anything is possible, and everything can change.

Grace is questioning everything she thought about herself, and has opted not to join her clique of judgemental friends for schoolies, instead tagging along with her brother Casper and his friends. Casper, an artist, is trying to create the perfect artwork for his uni application folio. Overachieving, anxiety-ridden Noah is reeling from a catastrophe that might have ruined his ATAR result. And Elsie is just trying to figure out how to hold their friendship group together.

On the first night of the trip, they meet Sierra, a mysterious girl with silver-grey hair and a magnetic personality. All of them are drawn to her for different reasons, and she persuades them to abandon the cliched schoolies experience in favour of camping with her on a remote, uninhabited island. On that island, each of them will find answers to their questions. But what does Sierra want from them?

An empathetic and suspenseful coming-of-age story from the author of All That Impossible Space.


Tour Schedule


Monday 26th October

Tuesday 27th October

Wednesday 28th October

Thursday 29th October
Friday 30th October

About The Author

Anna was born in Sydney, but spent most of her childhood surrounded by mountains in Nepal and Tibet while her parents were part of an international community of health professionals. Navigating this cross-cultural life made her a curious observer of people, although most of her time was spent reading Enid Blyton and dreaming of going to boarding school. This did not cushion the shock of shifting from home-school in Tibet to an all-girls high school in Melbourne when her family returned to Australia. Anna completed a MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University in 2015, and now lives in Melbourne with her husband. She works as a bookseller.

You can find Anna on Twitter  ·  Instagram  ·  Goodreads

The Secret Life of Stars: Astrophysics for Everyone Tour

Thames & Hudson Australia together with the #AusYABloggers are celebrating the release of The Secret Life of Stars: Astrophysics for Everyone by renowned and award-winning astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith. On the tour you'll find Australian Reviewers and Instagrammers sharing their thoughts.

About The Book


The Secret Life of Stars: Astrophysics for Everyone
Written by Lisa Harvey-Smith

Published by Thames & Hudson Australia
Add to Goodreads

The Secret Life of Stars takes us on a cosmic journey to meet some of the weirdest, most extreme and enigmatic stars in the universe.


We all know the Sun, the powerhouse of our solar system, but what about Luyten’s Flare, the Rosino-Zwicky Object or Chanal’s variable star? For those whose curiosity takes them far beyond Earth’s atmosphere, The Secret Life of Stars offers a personal and readily understood introduction to some of the Galaxy’s most remarkable stars.


Each chapter connects us to the various different and unusual stars and their amazing characteristics and attributes, from pulsars, blue stragglers and white dwarfs to cannibal stars and explosive supernovae. With chapter illustrations by Eirian Chapman, this book brings to life the remarkable personalities of these stars, reminding readers what a diverse and unpredictable universe we live in and how fortunate we are to live around a stable star, our Sun.



Tour Schedule

Monday 12th October

Tuesday 13th October

Wednesday 14th October

Thursday 15th October
Friday 16th October


About the Author

Lisa Harvey-Smith is an award-winning astronomer and Professor at the University of New South Wales. In 2018 she was appointed as the Australian Government's Ambassador for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). She is the author of When Galaxies Collide and best-selling children's book Under the Stars, both published by Melbourne University Press. Lisa is also a regular on national tv/radio/media, and has appeared in several TV series and documentaries as a guest scientist and is a presenter alongside Prof. Brian Cox on ABC TV's Stargazing Live.

Author Links

Lisa's Website     Twitter     Instagram     Facebook     Goodreads






Things here

Reading Challenge: October


Hello there fellow bookish gals, guys and otherwise. You have stumbled upon October's reporting Chat Post for our 2020 Reading Challenge. If you are interested in what the challenge is all about click HERE to read the introductory post.

This months theme is Mental Health.

To report your months reads comment below, answering the questions.


Reporting questions:

1) What book did you pick for this month’s read?
2) Did you enjoy it?
3) What rating would you give it out of five?
4) Was there anything in your book that touched you /resonated with you in some way?
5) What was your favourite part of the book?
6) Who would you recommend read this book?
7) Try to sum up the book in one sentence.


We look forward to finding out what you've all been reading.

Next Months theme is Glorious Graphics.
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