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

In her historical mystery The Voice Upstairs, Laura E. Weymouth tells a riveting ghost story with plot twists that keep the reader intrigued and engaged until the surprising ending. Under the influence of Weymouth’s pen, Wilhelmina Price (aka Wil) and Edison Summerfield (aka Ed) serve as protagonists and the voices that carry the story, which is set in 1920s England, forward. Triggered by her mother’s passing, Wil develops a death sense, which enables her to see a soul leave a body prior to death. She can also slip into the shadowland—the world between life and death—where she can lend her body and voice to aRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure (YA), General Book Reviews, Multicultural (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

In Kingdom of Without, Andrea Tang pens a story about socioeconomic class differences and the challenges that those in the lower classes face just to survive. To tell her story, Tang creates an allegory that bumps up against truth and gives the reader ample food for thought. Set in Beijing, nearly 150 years since General Yuan Shikai successfully declared himself the Emperor of China in 1915, the story opens in the Sixth Ring, where a seventeen-year-old street urchin is getting new prosthetics from Ge Rong. An art and engineering savant who is talented not only with biohacks, Ge Rong engineers tools and techniques for aRead More →

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

Aneesa Marufu writes her debut dark fantasy, Rebel of Fire and Flight to explore the concepts of racism, classism, and gender roles. To tell her tale about freedom from oppression and the deep roots of hatred, Marufu creates the parallel stories of two teens: Khadija and Jacob. Set in the fictional South Asian country of Ghadaea and alternating between Khadija’s and Jacob’s experiences, the book allows readers to witness the lives of the pair and their individual challenges as they explore who they are and what they truly want in this world. Sixteen-year-old Khadija is a brown-skinned Ghadean girl, who has spent a good dealRead More →

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

Feeling small, alone, and unloved, Ellis Truman has been abandoned by her parents. With a father addicted to drugs and an alcoholic mother who is mostly absent, Ellis is often home alone. She grows up embarrassed of her house, her parents, and who she is. She grows up in a world of in-between, unsettled, angry, and unsure of where she belongs. Then, Sandry Albrey, who grew up in Indiana with Ellis’ father, offers Ellis a home.  Sandry knows Tru’s shortcomings as well as the depth of his love. It is from her that Ellis will also learn the true meaning of love. Although Sandry welcomesRead More →