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In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Reaching Reluctant Readers, Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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In the first of a new sci-fi action series by prolific author James Patterson we meet Daniel X.  His secret abilities — like being able to manipulate objects and animals with his mind or to recreate himself in any shape he chooses — have helped him survive. But Daniel doesn’t have a normal life. He is the protector of the earth, the Alien Hunter, with a mission beyond what anyone could imagine.  From the day that his parents were brutally murdered in front of his very eyes, Daniel has used his unique gifts to assume their quest to hunt down the worst aliens hiding out onRead More →

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In the first of 6 projected books, The Comet’s Curse, opens with a quirky narrator telling the story of a “message in a bottle.”  The tail of the comet Bhaktul flew through the Earth’s atmosphere, leaving deadly particles in its wake. Suddenly, mankind is confronted with a virus that devastates the adult population. Only those under the age of eighteen seem to be immune. Desperate to save humanity, a renowned scientist proposes a bold plan: to create a ship that will carry a crew of 251 teenagers to a home in a distant solar system. Two years later, the Galahad and its crew—none over the age of sixteen—isRead More →

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Simone Elkeles’ latest novel, Perfect Chemistry, is loosely based on a suburb near her home where 2 distinct neighborhoods share a high school.  In this novel, a perfect teenager, Brittany, with a perfect life expects a perfect senior year.  Things aren’t going to work out that way, however, when her chemistry partner is none other than the toughest Latino gang-banger in school, Alex Fuentes.  Immediately Brittany and Alex clash, as do the 2 distinct worlds that are forced to co-exist at this suburban Chicago high school. What happens throughout their senior year is that Brittany and Alex both come to realize that the other isRead More →

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In: Middle Grade Reviews, Supernatural & Horror, Supernatural & Horror (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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Zara suspects there’s a guy stalking her. She’s obsessed with phobias and saving the world.   She hasn’t been herself since her stepfather died and her mother has exiled her to frozen Maine to live with her grandmother in the hopes a change of scenery will help her recover. But is that really the reason Zara’s been sent north?  Once in Maine and starting a new school she discovers it’s not a sleepy, backwoods town at all – there are some scary secrets here, some of which are not human and are definately after her blood. Carrie Jones’ Need features suspense, romance and supernatural themes and fans of the Twilight saga willRead More →

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Just One Wish is a romantic comedy, with a sensitive side.  All of the characters are likeable.  The main character, Annika, is a girl struggling with her brother’s cancer.  She feels like she can and must help her brother by granting him a wish from her imaginary genie.  His wish ends up being way more than she expected.  But since she is willing to do almost anything for him, she sets off to grant his wish.  Because of her “can-do” attitude, she gets into so many situations that almost force her back home without being able to grant her brother’s wish.  It is fun toRead More →

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In: Middle Grade Reviews, Supernatural & Horror, Supernatural & Horror (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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I hate cliff-hangers!! Grrr!!  But I am getting ahead of myself… in Skeleton Creek, Patrick Carman’s latest book, we meet best friends Ryan and Sarah right after a terrible accident that has left Ryan house-bound and forbidden from having any contact with Sarah.  They came too close to discovering something scary and sinister that’s happened (or maybe happening) in their small Oregon town, Skeleton Creek.  Separated and alone, Ryan works through his fear & trauma by journaling about what happened that lead to the accident and he communicates secretly with Sarah via emails and online videos.  They know whatever caused the accident is still outRead More →

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In her first novel for young adults, Shackleton’s Stowawayauthor Victoria McKernan captures both the peril and the beauty of the frontier West.  This action-filled book is engaging, accurate, heartbreaking and hopeful. In The Devil’s Paintboxwe travel from a ruined Kansas homestead to the logging camps outside Seattle, WA in 1865.  Aiden and Maddy Lynch are the 16 & 13 year old survivors of a family wiped out by the harsh homesteading life and when the story opens they are slowly starving to death after a long, frigid winter.  An unlikely savior appears to them in the form of Jefferson J. Jackson, who is searching forRead More →

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Barry Lyga’s latest YA novel, Hero-Type, is an interesting examination of human behavior.  His sense of character and his astute window into a teen guy’s soul come through brilliantly in this book.  Lyga captures the struggles and feelings that define Kross and his friends and makes the reader agonize and cheer right along with them. Kross was in the right place at the right time and he saved a beautiful girl from being attacked and murdered.  Thrust into the national spotlight for stopping the attacks of a serial-killer, Kross is now the focus of everyone’s attention, which is almost more than he can bear.  Then,Read More →

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In Deadville, the latest YA novel by Ron Koertge, we meet Ryan.  He’s been avoiding life, primarily by smoking pot and isolating himself with his iPod, since his younger sister died of cancer two years ago. But when Charlotte Silano — a gorgeous, popular senior way out of his league — has a riding accident and falls into a coma, Ryan finds himself drawn to her hospital room almost every day, long after her friends stop coming around.  And while he visits Charlotte, Ryan slowly starts to emerge from his own isolation – he reconnects with his parents, stops smoking pot, works out a gym, and evenRead More →