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In Robin Benway’s newest book, The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June, 3 teen sisters’ lives are reeling: their parents have recently divorced and their dad has moved from LA to Houston; along with their mom, the girls have had to move to a new house in another part of L.A. and start a new school; and they’re on a roller coaster ride of emotion, including pain, guilt, confusion, and normal teen angst.  But things get really complicated when on a seemingly normal day at the start of the school year, Junior April, Sophomore May, and Freshman June suddenly discover they have “powers”: eldestRead More →

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In: Action & Adventure (YA), Mystery & Suspense (YA), Supernatural & Horror (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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Roger’s gift, or curse, is to be able to cross over and visit the Land of the Dead.   For most of his life, his cruel uncle has used Roger to prey on the hopes of simple common folk who want to speak to their lost loved ones.  But when his uncle is killed in part of a failed attempt to wreck and rob a ship, innocent Roger falls on the mercy of the ship captain’s widow.  She grudgingly writes a letter of recommendation for Roger and the hapless, naive teen finds himself as a laundress in the palace of one of the country’s rival Queens.  When his gift comesRead More →

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In: On the Edge, Young Adult Book Reviews
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Finn and Chloe are two smart (maybe too smart) high school juniors in a small New Jersey town.  Bored and in need of something dynamic to make them stand out to college entrance officers, they hatch a deceptively simple hoax that will rocket them to the national spotlight: Chloe will disappear and after a sufficient amount of time, her devoted best friend, Finn, will miraculously find her unharmed and return Chloe to her family.  But once the hoax is in place, Finn watches their families and their community start to unravel and everything spins out of control until an innocent friend is accused of Chloe’sRead More →

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In a kingdom of merciless tyrants and swift, brutal justice, Jebel Rum’s family is honored as royalty because his father is The Executioner. But Rashed Rum is near retirement. And when he goes, there will be a contest to determine his successor. It is a contest that thin, puny Jebel has no chance of winning.  Humiliated and ashamed, Jebel sets out on a quest to the faraway home of a legendary fire god to petition for super-human powers so that he can become the most lethal of men and take over his father’s post.  He must take someone with him to be sacrificed to the god, and soRead More →

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In a city a lot like early-20th century New York, 3 teens lives are about to intersect and be changed forever:  sold into slavery by his uncle in Italy, street musician Guiseppe finds a green violin that both leads him to imagine his freedom and towards a life-or-death struggle with his cruel padrone; orphaned clock-maker’s apprentice Frederick yearns to create a magnificent mechanical man that will allow him to make journeyman and hopefully forget the mother who abandoned him; and smart, strong-willed hotel maid Hannah is struggling to bring in enough money to support her family and find a cure for her father’s crippling illness.  Soon each of them discoverRead More →