Succubus on Top, by Richelle Mead

The continuing adventures of Seattle succubus Georgina Kinkaid sees her battling her essential nature by dating a mortal she can’t have sex with for fear of killing him. Georgina feeds off souls, but she and author Seth are in love so she has to remain chaste with him and suck life force elsewhere. Awkward much? Meanwhile an old incubus friend is in town – her male equivalent, who may have a hidden agenda. And then there is her bookshop colleague Doug, whose music career is taking off, possibly under demonic influence. An entertaining supernatural mystery story, with plenty of sex and romance – what’s not to love?

Love, Simon (2018), directed by Greg Berlanti

In this high school comedy with a difference closeted teen Simon develops an email-only relationship with Blue, a fellow student who is also hiding his sexuality. Simon is delaying coming out until he goes to college but discovery of his secret by a schoolmate threatens this plan. Martin blackmails Simon into setting him up with a good friend. Low key and understated, the film is not terribly profound but that’s what makes it ground-breaking, because it treats a teen coming out story like any other high school story. There is a nice exploration of Simon’s imagination as he tries to figure out the identity of Blue, but some aspects of the story are not quite credible. It is hard to believe that with such a supportive family and good friends Simon would not have confided in a soul, particularly his best friend Leah and especially when the blackmail starts. Nick Robinson is suitably appealing as Simon, who learns that being his authentic self is the most important thing, especially with his friends. Australian actress Katherine Langford does a good job as the thwarted Leah. The secret of Blue’s identity is kept from everyone, including Simon, until the very end, providing an appropriate reward.

Longitude, by Dava Sobel

An attractive and unusual cover and rave reviews bely the rather sparse contents of this non-fiction account of the long hard road towards measuring longitude – the vital ingredient for safe navigation of the oceans. It has all the elements of a good tale – hard working hero, vindictive snobbish villain, a long battle after which good finally triumphs – and yet the whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts. For a slim volume there is a surprising amount of repetition and some of the science gets very abstruse, making it difficult to maintain interest in the story.

Succubus Blues, by Richelle Mead

Georgina Kincaid has been a succubus for centuries, feeding off the life force of mortals through sex, and she’s kind of over it. These days she limits her feeding sources to the morally dubious, which is not as satisfying but squares better with her conscience than literally sucking the life out of good people. She works in a Seattle bookshop and counts humans among her friends as well as like-minded fellow immortals - vampires, imps, angels and demons. Life gets very complicated when her favourite author comes to town and a violent crime wave sweeps immortal ranks. Georgina can’t resist investigating the crimes and she is having trouble resisting the charms of the author, despite the potential perils. Mead employs a tongue in cheek style familiar from her Vampire Diaries series, but this succubus story is funnier and sexier.

Personal Shopper (2017), directed by Oliver Assayas

An American in Paris, Lewis, has recently died from complications of a congenital heart defect, which also affects his twin Maureen. She is working in Paris as a personal shopper for an unpleasant celebrity while waiting for a sign from her dead brother, as they had promised each other. Kristen Stewart does her surly best to inhabit the morose Maureen; the remaining cast are peripheral. Her strength is unfortunately not sufficient to carry a film that has more than its fair share of WTF moments. There is minimal dialogue, some of which is swallowed by the muddy sound mix, and far too many long lingering shots of nothing very meaningful. Dreary rather than suspenseful, the only genuinely shocking moment jars against the general mood of introspective moodiness. The previous award-winning collaboration between writer-director Assayas and Stewart, The Clouds of Sils Maria, was complex, mysterious and thought provoking. He has attempted something similar here but the result is an unconvincing ghost story that ends up disappearing up its own backside.

Ash & Quill, by Rachel Caine

Out of the frying pan and into the fire describes the continuing saga of the group of scholars in rebellion against the tyranny of the Great Library. They have fetched up in the Burner HQ of Philadelphia, which has been under siege by the Library for a century, but find that the enemies of their enemy are not necessarily their friends. Escape comes at an enormous cost to all and the next fire awaits in the form of Jess Brightwell’s family of ruthless book smugglers, who will help the rebels but at a very high price. Jess must think three steps ahead and even betray some of his friends to ensure the rebellion continues with some chance of success. But will any of them survive? And if they do can they forgive each other for what they have had to do to get there?

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

In this follow up to The Dry Federal finance cop Aaron Falk and his new partner have been putting pressure on a corporate whistleblower to pass on the hard evidence they need to prosecute. When the woman disappears while on a company team-building exercise Falk is left wondering if their pressure put her in danger. The Feds remain on the fringes of the search party, in rugged, damp bushland; with every day that passes making it less likely she will be found alive. The narrative alternates between the present day investigation and a day-by-day account of what actually happened on the corporate hike. A Lord of the Flies dynamic begins to emerge and it is clear that the other women on the team have not been entirely frank with the searching police. Harper is very good at evoking a sense of place; the steep, damp terrain of this novel provides a stark contrast with the parched paddocks of The Dry but is just as influential on events and characters. In solving the case Falk himself goes through a physical and emotionally cathartic cleansing process, which allows him to come to terms with his difficult past and prepare to move on. It will be interesting to see what kind of physical and emotional landscape a third novel takes him to.