By:
On:
In: General Book Reviews, Realistic Fiction (YA), Romance (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Although occasionally bawdy with its vulgar language, illicit activities, and other questionable behaviors, Those Girls examines the lives of three girls attempting to deal with their insecurities, fears, and vulnerabilities about being pretty or talented or special.  In this debut novel by Lauren Saft, Mollie Finn, Alex Holbrook, and Veronica Collins have been BFFs since fifth grade, and their friendship has served as a life raft in the turbulent waters of private school at Harwin, an all-girls academy in Greencliff, Pennsylvania. But junior year—with its boy troubles and other social challenges—stretches the bonds of their friendship to the breaking point, and it might take moreRead More →

By:
On:
In: Realistic Fiction (YA), Romance (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Although aspects of social media possess the ability to provoke intense debate, for seventeen-year-old Sonny (Sonya) Elizabeth Ardmore, an online world serves as a refuge – a place for hope and healing.  Behind the protection of the computer screen, Sonny–who sees herself as the designated poor and less attractive friend–discovers a place to restore her dented dignity and a buffer that allows her to be honest and close rather than using lies as a shield. While IMing her antagonist Ryder Cross, she abandons the lies and lets her guard down to discuss the subjects that trouble her the most: estranged relationships with her negligent mother and convictRead More →

By:
On:
In: Mystery & Suspense (YA), Realistic Fiction (YA), Romance (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Heart-rending love stories abound in both history and literature, and Meredith Moore has drawn from that store of knowledge to write her debut novel, I Am Her Revenge.  Taking threads from the tales of Elaine and Lancelot, Romeo and Juliet,  Merlin and Vivien, and Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, Moore weaves a tapestry of mystery, romance, intrigue, and revenge.  This is a tale told by a masterful storyteller, complete with imagery richness—details like chiseled cheekbones, a whisper-soft kiss, the smell of a barely tamed wilderness, and the sky, a riotous canvas of pink and orange and red, abound. Dismantled by love and having experienced intimately theRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Multicultural, Multicultural (YA), Realistic Fiction (YA), Romance (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Debut author Stacey Lee‘s Under a Painted Sky lyrically intertwines aspects of America’s Western expansion that are rarely, if ever, explored.  Into the very real world of the California Gold Rush, the pioneers’ homesteading journeys  along the Oregon Trail, and the lawlessness of the “Wild West“, Lee creates a powerfully moving story of friendship, race and gender politics, and above all, courage and faith.  It’s a treat to spend time with a writer who takes pains to research and then accurately represent, with beautiful, vivid prose, a world gone by and in so doing, make it vibrant, interesting, and resonant. 15 year old Chinese AmericanRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Mystery & Suspense, Mystery & Suspense (YA), Romance (YA), Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

A hidden past and an uncertain future.  There are mysteries around every shady corner in Atlantia, a crumbling underwater world, once hailed as the last outpost of humanity on earth.  But now, the formerly glorious city is barely breathing, hanging on by the annual exchange of minerals (and people) for food and resources from their long-estranged sister city Above.  The people are restless, afraid, engaged in black market trading in their Deepmarket, and looking to the corrupt priesthood for answers and hope. At the center of this dying world is Rio, daughter of the recently deceased woman who was the beloved leader of their people, and whose mysteriousRead More →

By:
On:
In: Mystery & Suspense (YA), Realistic Fiction (YA), Romance (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Summertime, St. Kilda, Australia.  The long, languid days of  Christmas holiday break stretch before 15 year old Sky Martin.  She and her family, she says, are “like inverse superheroes, marked by our defects.  Dad was addicted to beer and bootlegs. Gully [her younger brother] had ‘social difficulties’ … I was surface clean, but underneath a weird hormonal stew was simmering. My defects weren’t the kind you see just from looking.” (2)  Into lives of the Martin family that summer come 19 year old enigmatic Nancy, who challenges, thrills, taunts, and awakes something in Sky she didn’t know was there and tragic, broken, and oh-so-hot Luke, who isRead More →

By:
On:
In: Mystery & Suspense (YA), Romance (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

“The universe is in fact a multiverse. Countless dimensions exist, all layered within one another.  Each dimension represents one set of possibilities. Essentially, everything that can happen does happen.” (6)  I love this idea.  Not only as the premise for Claudia Gray‘s new series, which debuts this Fall with A Thousand Pieces of You, but as a thought experiment and a beacon of wonder.  One tiny choice can change your destiny, right? Imagine who you’d be if you’d chosen another career, a different partner, or even driven to work on a different route.  Of course, all these minor changes probably don’t amount to much inRead More →

By:
On:
In: Middle Grade Reviews, Multicultural, Multicultural (YA), Romance (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

In a few decades, the long-standing gender selection of choosing boy children over girls will result in a 5 to 1 ratio of boys to girls across India and violence will erupt as the availability of this scarce resource (eligible, healthy young women) dries up and people realize the mistake they and their government have made for far too long.  A small group of powerful, forward-thinking women promise a respite: a new country within the boundaries of India, sealed off, safe, and a haven for families with daughters, Koyanagar.  People from across the country flock to the emergent nation, hopes buoyed by the promise ofRead More →

By:
On:
In: On the Edge, Realistic Fiction (YA), Romance (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

On the day when his younger brother, Luke, needed him the most, Matt Turner wasn’t there for him.  Now, after Luke’s suicide, Matt lives in guilt over not being there for his brother both during the bullying that lead to his suicide and on that last day; anger at both his parents for their ineffectual response to the tragedy; disappointed in friends who turned their backs when things got tough; and completely without faith in God and in a future where life “will get better.”  Matt clings to his girlfriend, Hayden, like a drowning man hanging onto a life preserver, even though their relationship isRead More →