True story: I picked up this book because the protagonist shares the same name as my sister. When Deanna attends the funeral of a family friend, she discovers a ghost from her past. She thought that her childhood crush/friend Hyde was dead, but now he’s mysteriously reappeared and is fighting to reclaim his stepfather’s company. Read more
Branded is a young adult dystopian novel set in a world run by the Commander, a man who abolished the judicial system in favor of punishing anyone accused of wrongdoing by sending them to the Hole, a forced labor camp. Each sinner is given a colored brand based on which of the seven deadly sinsRead more
So, by this point I’m sure that many of you have seen the kerfuffle over on Slate surrounding Ruth Graham’s article “Against YA: Read whatever you want, but you should be embarrassed when what you’re reading was written for children.” I read the article nearly a week ago and have been meaning to write aRead more
Steelheart is set in a world where superpowers are real. People with superpowers are known as Epics, and nobody’s quite sure how they were created. Some people think that the Epics were a product of scientific experimentation. Others think of them as magic. Either way, their arrival coincided with a strange new light appearing inRead more
Alice Will by Ashley Chappell is the story of a 14-year-old demigod named Trotter who is just coming into her powers. She’s going through an awkward preteen age, and that means she’s pretty bad at magic. She can’t even get the hang of using it to make her hair behave. Trotter has a talking catRead more
Back in June, I won a giveaway at The Book Smugglers for Karen Sandler’s novel Tankborn and its sequel Awakening. The books are from Lee & Low, a new publisher focusing on multiculturalism and diversity in children’s and young adult literature. Their mission is something that I fully support, and it’s especially heartening to seeRead more
One of my blogging goals for this year is to work on whittling down my TBR pile of review copies from last year’s Book Expo America. From the moment that I began reading Laini Taylor’s “Daughter of Smoke & Bone,” I was enthralled. Taylor builds a magical world reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s “Neverwhere“–simultaneously menacing andRead more
A few days ago at work a library patron brought in this book as a donation for the staff book exchange. “Please don’t judge me, it’s YA,” she said. “And it was really good.” Based on her recommendation, I decided to borrow it for the weekend. “Beautiful Creatures” isn’t the type of book that I’dRead more
“What’s Left of Me” by Kat Zhang is a YA dystopian novel set in a world where people are born with two souls. By the time that most kids turn five, one of the souls fades away and dies off, leaving the dominant soul in control of the body. Eva and Addy were two suchRead more
I received a review copy of Karen Mahoney’s “The Iron Witch” while I was at BEA earlier this summer. The cover looked intriguing, and a book about alchemists, fae, and angry wood elves seemed like it could be a lot of fun. Donna Underwood is a home-schooled senior in high school. Her father died protectingRead more