Book Review | Going Rogue | Robin Benway

Feb 10

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Going Rogue | Robin BenwayGoing Rogue by Robin Benway
Series: Also Known As #2
Published by Bloomsbury on January 14, 2014
Genres: Contemporary YA, Spies, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Also in this series: Also Known As
Also by this author: Also Known As, Emmy & Oliver
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, good and bad, for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver. Pros: More quality time with her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best friend, Roux. Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and international spy honorary uncle, Angelo. Cons: High school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. But when Maggie’s parents are falsely accused of stealing priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and clear their names. Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she loves in danger. Maggie and her “new team” flee to Paris where they must come up with a plan to defeat their former allies.

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Book Review | Being Sloane Jacobs | Lauren Morrill

Jan 13

Being Sloane Jacobs Lauren MorrillTitle: Being Sloane Jacobs
Author: Lauren Morrill (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Delacorte
Release date: January 7, 2014
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley

Summary: Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure-skater from Washington, D.C., who choked during junior nationals and isn’t sure she’s ready for a comeback. What she does know is that she’d give anything to escape the mass of misery that is her life.

Now meet Sloane Devon Jacobs, a spunky ice hockey player from Philly who’s been suspended from her team for too many aggressive hip checks. Her punishment? Hockey camp, now, when she’s playing the worst she’s ever played. If she messes up? Her life will be over.

When the two Sloanes meet by chance in Montreal and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she’s the lucky one: no strangers to judge or laugh at Sloane Emily, no scouts expecting Sloane Devon to be a hero. But it didn’t occur to Sloane E. that while avoiding sequins and axels she might meet a hockey hottie—and Sloane D. never expected to run into a familiar (and very good-looking) face from home. It’s not long before the Sloanes discover that convincing people you’re someone else might be more difficult than being yourself.

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Blog Tour Guest Post + Review | Broken | C.J. Lyons

Nov 24

Book cover for Broken by CJ Lyons

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Book Depository

CJ Lyons: Web | Twitter

Summary: The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now… or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.

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Book Review | Just One Year | Gayle Forman

Nov 18

Book cover for Just One year by Gayle FormanTitle: Just One Year
Author: Gayle Forman (web | twitter)
Series: Just One Day #2
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Dutton Children’s
Release date: October 10, 2013
Source: Own it

Summary: Before you find out how their story ends, remember how it began….

When he opens his eyes, Willem doesn’t know where in the world he is—Prague or Dubrovnik or back in Amsterdam. All he knows is that he is once again alone, and that he needs to find a girl named Lulu. They shared one magical day in Paris, and something about that day—that girl—makes Willem wonder if they aren’t fated to be together. He travels all over the world, from Mexico to India, hoping to reconnect with her. But as months go by and Lulu remains elusive, Willem starts to question if the hand of fate is as strong as he’d thought. . . .

The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents that happen—and the happiness we can find when the two intersect.

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Waiting on Wednesday (38): Second Star

Nov 13

Waiting on Wednesday

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Book cover for Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Second Star

WHAAAAAT a retelling of Peter Pan. DO. NOT. TEASE. I’m totally psyched for SECOND STAR. First of all, Peter Pan is one of my favorite stories. I always loved the movie versions when I was a kid, and I don’t just mean the Disney one. I am still fascinated by Neverland, and Peter Pan and Captain Hook and all of it. The idea of this contemporary retelling of Peter Pan with lost brothers and surfers and drug dealing bad boys is just making me all fidgety. BRING IT, Alyssa B. Sheinmel. I am ready for your words.

SECOND STAR comes out May 13, 2014 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Second Star

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Book Review | How to Love | Katie Cotugno

Nov 8

Book cover for How to Love by Katie CotugnoTitle: How to Love
Author: Katie Cotugno
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release date: October 1, 2013
Source: Borrowed

Summary: Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

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Waiting on Wednesday (35): Maybe One Day

Oct 16

Waiting on Wednesday

Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor

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Book Review | Fangirl | Rainbow Rowell

Oct 15

book cover for fangirl by rainbow rowellTitle: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release date: September 10, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, St. Martin’s Press!)

Summary: Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

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Book Review | Golden | Jessi Kirby

Oct 10

Book cover for Golden by Jessi KirbyTitle: Golden
Author: Jessi Kirby (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Release date: May 14, 2013
Source: Own it

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

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Book Review | Where the Stars Still Shine | Trish Doller

Sep 23

Book cover for Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish DollerTitle: Where the Stars Still Shine
Author: Trish Doller (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release date: September 24, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, Bloomsbury!)

Summary: Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She’s never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love–even with someone who seems an improbable choice–is more than just a possibility.

Trish Doller writes incredibly real teens, and this searing story of love, betrayal, and how not to lose your mind will resonate with readers who want their stories gritty and utterly true.

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