Book Review | Since You’ve Been Gone | Morgan Matson

Jul 7
Book Review | Since You’ve Been Gone | Morgan MatsonSince You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Published by Simon & Schuster on May 6, 2014
Genres: Contemporary YA, Friendship
Pages: 449
Format: Hardcover
Also by this author: Second Chance Summer
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

The Pre-Sloane Emily didn’t go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn’t do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just… disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try… unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait… what?

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Um…

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , ,

Book Review | Dark Triumph | Robin LaFevers

Apr 15
Book Review | Dark Triumph | Robin LaFeversDark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
Series: His Fair Assassin #2
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on April 2, 2013
Genres: Fantasy YA, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 385
Format: Hardcover
Also in this series: Grave Mercy, Mortal Heart
Also by this author: Grave Mercy, Mortal Heart
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. Naturally skilled in both the arts of death and seduction, the convent views Sybella as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin’s skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. Her father’s rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother’s love is equally monstrous. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for? This heart-pounding sequel to Grave Mercy serves betrayal, treachery, and danger in equal measure, bringing readers back to fifteenth century Brittany and will keep them on the edge of their seats.

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Book Review | The Hallowed Ones | Laura Bickle

Nov 29
Book Review | The Hallowed Ones | Laura BickleThe Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle
Series: The Hallowed Ones #1
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on September 25, 2012
Genres: Historical Fiction, Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 311
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her in this dystopian tale with a philosophical bent. Rumors of massive unrest on the “Outside” abound. Something murderous is out there. Amish elders make a rule: No one goes outside, and no outsiders come in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man, she can’t leave him to die. She smuggles him into her family’s barn—at what cost to her community? The suspense of this vividly told, truly horrific thriller will keep the pages turning.

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Book Review | The Girl of Fire and Thorns | Rae Carson

Oct 25
Book Review | The Girl of Fire and Thorns | Rae CarsonThe Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Series: Girl of Fire and Thorns #1
Published by Greenwillow on September 20, 2011
Genres: Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 423
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness. Elisa is the chosen one. But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will. Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess. And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake. Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young. Most of the chosen do.

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Book Review | Small Damages | Beth Kephart

Aug 24
Book Review | Small Damages | Beth KephartSmall Damages by Beth Kephart
Published by Philomel on July 19, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Pregnancy, Young Adult
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
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four-stars

It’s senior year, and while Kenzie should be looking forward to prom and starting college in the fall, she is mourning the loss of her father. She finds solace in the one person she trusts, her boyfriend, and she soon finds herself pregnant. Kenzie’s boyfriend and mother do not understand her determination to keep the baby. She is sent to southern Spain for the summer, where she will live out her pregnancy as a cook’s assistant on a bull ranch, and her baby will be adopted by a Spanish couple.

Alone and resentful in a foreign country, Kenzie is at first sullen and difficult. She begins to open her eyes and her heart to the beauty that is all around her and inside of her.

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Book Review | Second Chance Summer | Morgan Matson

May 25
Book Review | Second Chance Summer | Morgan MatsonSecond Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
Published by Simon & Schuster on May 8, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Death/Dying/Grief
Pages: 468
Format: Hardcover
Also by this author: Since You've Been Gone
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

Taylor’s family might not be the closest-knit – everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled – but for the most part, they get along fine. Then they get news that changes everything: Her father has pancreatic cancer, and it’s stage four – meaning that there is basically nothing to be done. Her parents decide that the family will spend his last months together at their old summerhouse in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former summer best friend is suddenly around, as is her first boyfriend. . . and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses, the Edwards become more of a family, and closer than they’ve ever been before. But all of them very aware that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance – with family, with friends, and with love.

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Book Review | Born Wicked | Jessica Spotswood

Mar 22
Book Review | Born Wicked | Jessica SpotswoodBorn Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
Series: The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1
Published by Putnam Juvenile on February 7, 2012
Genres: Alternate History, Historical Fiction, Magic, Paranormal YA, Witches, Young Adult
Pages: 330
Format: Hardcover
Also in this series: Star Cursed, Sister's Fate
Also by this author: Star Cursed, Sister's Fate
Source: Bought it
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four-half-stars

 

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word… especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review | Everneath | Brodi Ashton

Feb 6
Book Review | Everneath | Brodi AshtonEverneath by Brodi Ashton
Series: Everneath #1
Published by Balzer + Bray on January 24, 2012
Genres: Fantasy YA, Mythology, Young Adult
Pages: 370
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
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four-stars

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she’s returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld…this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she’s forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath with Cole.

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Book Review | Witch’s Brew | Heidi R. Kling

Jan 23
Book Review | Witch’s Brew | Heidi R. KlingWitch's Brew by Heidi R. Kling
Series: The Spellspinners of Melas County #1
Published by Colliloquy on January 11, 2012
Genres: Paranormal YA, Witches, Young Adult
Pages: 342
Format: eBook
Also in this series: The Gleaning
Also by this author: The Gleaning
Source: Bought it
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three-half-stars

Once soulmates, the witch and warlock covens of the California coast have been estranged for a century. Raised to hate each other, their teenagers meet in the Solstice Stones, a magical battleground where they draw energy from each other to maintain their balance. 16 year olds Logan and Lily have spent years training for their first Stones…only to discover just days before that the enemy may not be what either of them had thought.

In Witch’s Brew, Lily is torn between her feelings for Logan and her coven’s need to know who—or what—he is. The young lovers race against time, their distrust for each other, and the powerful influence of their elders to unravel the mystery of their pasts before their future is destroyed.

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Book Review | The Probability of Miracles | Wendy Wunder

Jan 5
Book Review | The Probability of Miracles | Wendy WunderThe Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder
Published by Razorbill on December 8, 2011
Genres: Contemporary YA, Illness
Pages: 360
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

Dry, sarcastic, sixteen-year-old Cam Cooper has spent the last seven years in and out hospitals. The last thing she wants to do in the short life she has left is move 1,500 miles away to Promise, Maine – a place known for the miraculous events that occur there. But it’s undeniable that strange things happen in Promise: everlasting sunsets; purple dandelions; flamingoes in the frigid Atlantic; an elusive boy named Asher; and finally, a mysterious envelope containing a list of things for Cam to do before she dies. As Cam checks each item off the list, she finally learns to believe – in love, in herself, and even in miracles.

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