Category Archives: Young Adult

Review: The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

25 April, 2016 4:01 am , 4 Comments ,

abyssThe Abyss Surrounds Us
By: Emily Skrutskie
Publisher: Flux
Published: Feb. 8, 2016
Genre: GLBT YA Fantasy
Rating:

Goodreads

For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the genetically-engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the pirate-infested NeoPacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water.

There’s no time to mourn. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an unhatched Reckoner pup. Santa Elena wants to take back the seas with a monster of her own, and she needs a proper trainer to do it. She orders Cas to raise the pup, make sure he imprints on her ship, and, when the time comes, teach him to fight for the pirates. If Cas fails, her blood will be the next to paint the sea.

But Cas has fought pirates her entire life. And she’s not about to stop.

 

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Posted in: YA Fantasy , Tagged: ,

Excerpt: Maneater by Cambria Hebert (Giveaway)

25 March, 2016 3:30 am , 6 Comments ,

ManeaterManeater
(Love in the 80s)
By: Cambria Hebert
Published: Self-published
Published: March 25, 3016
Genre: Young Adult

Goodreads

Watch out, girls. Here she comes.

There’s always that girl. She’s popular, beautiful, and has everything together. The one with the perfectly teased hair, arms full of colorful (but coordinated) bangles, and expertly painted bright-pink lips.

A teacher’s pet. Daddy’s girl.

Everyone loves her.

Because everyone is afraid to challenge her.

Kelly Ross is that girl. She uses her powers of popularity for good… her own good. She doesn’t care who she hurts.

She always gets what she wants.

Including your man.

When she walks down the hallway in her hot-pink heels and ruffled denim miniskirt, all the boys’ heads turn. And all the girls start whispering.

Man-eater.

There hasn’t been a single guy Kelly hasn’t been able to chew up and spit out.

Until now.

Kelly has finally met her match. He’s been there all along, and he’s the exact opposite of everything you’d expect.

 

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Posted in: Excerpt, Young Adult , Tagged:

Review: Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry

21 March, 2016 3:30 am , 11 Comments ,

Walk the Edge
(Thunder Road, #2)
By: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: March 29, 2016
Genre: YA Romance
Rating:

One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.

Smart. Responsible. That’s seventeen-year-old Breanna’s role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully’s line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas “Razor” Turner into her life.

Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don’t belong. But when he learns she’s being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it’s time to step outside the rules.

And so they make a pact: he’ll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she’ll help him seek answers to the mystery that’s haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they’re both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they’re going from here.

 

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Posted in: YA Contemporary, YA Romance , Tagged: ,

Excerpt: Nora and Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor [Giveaway]

4 March, 2016 4:02 am , 2 Comments ,

N&KNora and Kettle
By: Lauren Nicolle Taylor
Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing
Published: Feb. 29, 2016
Genre: Historical YA

Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having “one drop of Japanese blood in them” things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys.

Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naive, eighteen-year-old Nora the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change.

For months, they’ve lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting. But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window.

In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away.

Set in 1953, Nora & Kettle explores the collision of two teenagers facing extraordinary hardship. Their meeting is inevitable, devastating, and ultimately healing. Their stories, “a collection of events, are each on their own harmless. But together, one after the other, they change the world.”

 

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Posted in: Excerpt, YA Historical Fiction , Tagged: ,

Review: Ugly by Margaret McHeyzer

3 February, 2016 3:02 am , 5 Comments ,

uglyUgly
By: Margaret McHeyzer
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: Oct. 26, 2015
Genre: Dark YA/NA
Rating:

If I were dead, I wouldn’t be able to see.
If I were dead, I wouldn’t be able to feel.
If I were dead, he’d never raise his hand to me again.
If I were dead, his words wouldn’t cut as deep as they do.
If I were dead, I’d be beautiful and I wouldn’t be so…ugly.
I’m not dead…but I wish I was.

*This is a dark YA/NA stand-alone, full-length novel. Contains violence.

 

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Posted in: New Adult, Young Adult , Tagged:

Review: Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

27 January, 2016 8:45 am , 5 Comments ,

silvershadowsSilver Shadows
(Bloodlines, #5)
By: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: July 29, 2014
Genre: Paranormal YA
Rating:

Goodreads

In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists.

Now in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive.

For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him. . . .

Their worst fears now a chilling reality, Sydney and Adrian face their darkest hour in this heart-pounding fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where all bets are off.

 

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Posted in: YA Fantasy , Tagged: ,

Review: The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

15 January, 2016 9:08 am , 6 Comments ,

9833184The Fiery Heart
(Bloodlines, #4)
By: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: Nov. 19, 2013
Genre: Paranormal YA
Rating:
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Goodreads

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the wolds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets – and human lives.

In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her…

But the struggle isn’t over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there’s still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure — and re-education — looms larger than ever.

 

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Posted in: YA Fantasy , Tagged: ,

Review: Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

6 January, 2016 3:17 am , 3 Comments ,

23480844Firsts
By: Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Published: Jan. 5, 2016
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself.

Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.

When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.

 

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Posted in: YA Contemporary , Tagged: ,

Review: This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

4 January, 2016 3:15 am , 5 Comments ,

EndsThis is Where it Ends
By: Marieke Nijkamp
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Release Date: Jan. 5, 2016
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Goodreads

10:00 a.m.
The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.
The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03
The auditorium doors won’t open.

10:05
Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

 

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Posted in: YA Contemporary , Tagged: ,

Review: Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

18 December, 2015 3:41 am , 10 Comments ,

neverNever Never
(Never Never, #1)
By: Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
Publisher: Self-published
Published: Jan. 7, 2015
Genre: YA Romance
Rating:
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Goodreads

Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen.

Complete strangers since this morning.

He’ll do anything to remember. She’ll do anything to forget.

 

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Posted in: YA Romance , Tagged: ,