Book Review: Conjure by Lea Nolan

Nov 16

Book cover for Conjure by Lea Nolan

Title: Conjure

Author: Lea Nolan

Series: Hoodoo Apprentice #1

Genre: Paranormal YA, Contemporary YA, Magic

Publisher: Entangled

Release date: October 23, 2012

Amazon | Goodreads

Source: Netgalley

Summary: Emma Guthrie expects this summer to be like any other in the South Carolina Lowcountry–hot and steamy with plenty of beach time alongside her best friend and secret crush, Cooper Beaumont, and Emma’s ever-present twin brother, Jack. But then a mysterious eighteenth-century message in a bottle surfaces, revealing a hidden pirate bounty. Lured by the adventure, the trio discovers the treasure and unwittingly unleashes an ancient Gullah curse that attacks Jack with the wicked flesh-eating Creep and promises to steal Cooper’s soul on his approaching sixteenth birthday.

When a strange girl appears, bent on revenge; demon dogs become a threat; and Jack turns into a walking skeleton; Emma has no choice but to learn hoodoo magic to undo the hex, all before summer—and her friends–are lost forever.

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

Book Review: Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Oct 26

Book cover for Flat Out Love by Jessica Park

Title: Flat-Out Love

Author: Jessica Park

Genre: Contemporary YA, New Adult

Amazon | Goodreads

Publisher: Amazon Children’s

Release date: September 11, 2012

Source: Ebook

Summary: Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it.

When Julie’s off-campus housing falls through, her mother’s old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side … and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.

And there’s that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That’s because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie’s suddenly lonesome soul.

To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that … well … doesn’t quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.

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Book Review | Spark | Brigid Kemmerer

Oct 19

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 | Spark | Brigid KemmererSpark by Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Elemental #2
Published by Kensington on August 28, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 345
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads

Gabriel Merrick plays with fire. Literally.

Sometimes he can even control it. And sometimes he can’t. Like the fire that killed his parents.

Gabriel has always had his brothers to rely on, especially his twin, Nick. But when an arsonist starts wreaking havoc on their town, all the signs point to Gabriel. Only he’s not doing it.

More than Gabriel’s pride is at stake — this could cost him his family, maybe his life. And no one seems to hear him. Except a shy sophomore named Layne, a brainiac who dresses in turtlenecks and jeans and keeps him totally off balance. Layne understands family problems, and she understands secrets. She has a few of her own.

Gabriel can’t let her guess about his brothers, about his abilities, about the danger that’s right at his heels. But there are some risks he can’t help taking.

The fuse is lit…

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Book Review + Giveaway: The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

Oct 4

Book cover for The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

Title: The Other Normals

Author: Ned Vizzini

Genre: Fantasy YA, Contemporary YA, gaming

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release date: September 25, 2012

Amazon | Goodreads

Source: ARC from the publisher

Summary: The Other Normals centers on 15-year-old Peregrine “Perry” Eckert, who’s seriously obsessed with an uber-dorky role-playing game called Creatures & Caverns. Concerned about his stunted social skills and need for fresh air, Perry’s parents decide to ship him off to summer camp to become a man. He anticipates the worst summer of his life until he arrives at camp and stumbles into the World of the Other Normals, a place where his nerdy childhood may serve him well — but not without connecting with the real world first.

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Filed Under: Blog Tour, Giveaway, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review | Don’t You Wish | Roxanne St. Claire

Sep 7

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 | Don’t You Wish | Roxanne St. ClaireDon't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire
Published by Delacorte on July 10, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Time Travel
Pages: 357
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad’s whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she’s Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she’s the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.

In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilarating . . . and illegal. Here she’s got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she’s ever seen.

But on the inside, Ayla is still Annie.

So when she’s offered the chance to leave the dream life and head home to Pittsburgh, will she take it?

The choice isn’t as simple as you think.

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

Book Review | Pushing the Limits | Katie McGarry

Aug 31

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 | Pushing the Limits | Katie McGarryPushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits #1
Published by Harlequin Teen on July 31, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 392
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

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

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
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
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: Easy by Tammara Webber

Aug 13

Book cover for Easy by Tammara Webber
Title: Easy

Author: Tammara Webber

Genre: Contemporary YA, New Adult

Publisher: Tammara Webber

Release date: May 25, 2012

Amazon | Goodreads

Source: Bought for my kindle

Summary: When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex’s frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night–but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.

When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he’s hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

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Book Review | Unbreak My Heart | Melissa C. Walker

Aug 2

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 | Unbreak My Heart | Melissa C. WalkerUnbreak My Heart by Melissa C. Walker
Published by Bloomsbury on May 22, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Young Adult
Pages: 232
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
three-half-stars

Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life.

Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now.

Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart?

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

Book Review | This Is Not A Test | Courtney Summers

Jul 26

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 | This Is Not A Test | Courtney SummersThis Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
Series: This Is Not a Test #1
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on June 19, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Horror & Ghost Stories, Young Adult, Zombies
Pages: 326
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self.

To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live.

But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside.

When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

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