So many genres, so little time
Bethan Jones lives alone with her grandmother, Gran, who is the drabarni (magical practitioner) of her clansmen. To Romany people, the drabarni is the wise women of the clan and Bethan is next in line. To Bethan's disappointment, Gran says she is not ready to learn spellcraft yet and insists she go to the local… Continue reading The Hollow Girl by Hillary Monahan
Ashley is an artist and has become accustomed to being ridiculed for simply being herself. Would she feel differently about herself if her mom thought differently of her? Does she make choices based on how she perceives how others expect her to behave, and does she subconsciously draw their attention to her flaws? She'll never… Continue reading Every Ugly Word by Aimee L. Salter
Beauty's life is good, she lives with her father, her two sisters, and her brother-in-law in a small cottage. However, when her father comes back from a trip, she finds that he has to sacrifice a daughter to the Beast that lives in the enchanted castle. Beauty sacrifices her life for her father's life and… Continue reading Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (Folktales Series) by Robin McKinley
This is an unusual and disturbing story about mental illness. The attractive, new guy at school, Brad Johnson, has taken an interest in Tracy Lloyd, but what does he really want from her. If it only could be so easy. His story is heart-wrenching and frightening and her fate is in the hands of this… Continue reading The Twisted Window by Lois Duncan
Words matter--how we use them and how we don't. Chelsea learned the hard way. Her words almost ended up killing a fellow classmate. When she outed a boy at a party, her "friends" decided to beat him and send him to the hospital. Her conscience made her rat out those friends and all hell broke… Continue reading Speechless by Hannah Harrington
It is good to see a young male protagonist in a young adult fiction novel. I was beginning to wonder if they existed. Stephen Quinn, 15, and his father are living in a post apocalyptic world which was devastated by an unknown plague. They travel around the country as salvagers who trade their wares to… Continue reading The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid…I know ordinary kids don’t make other kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don’t get scared at wherever they go. My name is August, by the way, I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. August may not look… Continue reading Wonder (Wonder #1) by R.J. Palacio
To believe so concretely that there's someone--something--out there watching guard, keeping us safe, testing us only with what we can handle. I've never believed in anything the way Aunt Helen believes in God. Harper has lost her sister, June, to suicide. Her big sister, the golden one, the one that did no wrong, as opposed… Continue reading Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Sonia has learned that her father has lost his job and he isn't acting like himself. She wonders what he does in his study that makes him feel better. That's not the only change. Now that her father has lost his job, she has to go to the public middle school. Everyone at her private… Continue reading The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani
Sadie felt like an outcast at school. She didn't fit in. No one believed her when she thought her mother was still alive and had not died in a car accident. She just had this feeling... Enter her 13th birthday and her whole world transforms into magic, witches, gnomes, and pure evil. You see Sadie… Continue reading Any Witch Way by Annastaysia Savage
I am a big fan of young adult and Christian fiction and was excited about reading Ms. Byler's debut novel. However, I found the book to be choppy and slow to get to the meaning of the book title, running around. It wasn't until most of the way through the book that the main character,… Continue reading Running Around (And Such) (Lizzie Searches for Love #1) by Linda Byler
Nora is a good girl and meets the new, bad guy, Patch. Patch is mysterious and dangerous and appears to be her "guardian" angel. Enter the bad guy, Elliot. The new transfer student who may have been involved in a murder at his previous school. Of course, we can't forget Nora's sarcastic best friend Vee… Continue reading Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Hailey has a father who has lost his job and is drinking, a mother who lost her inheritance when she married her father and has recently lost a baby, and a brother who has lost his faith in God. What has Hailey got to lose? Her respect? Her virginity? Her "best" friend? Her soul? Tusa… Continue reading Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa