Category Archives: Young Adult

Review: Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

17 February, 2012 2:33 pm , 3 Comments ,

Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have)
By: Sarah Mlynowski
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: June 7, 2011
Genre: YA
Rating:

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2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house – parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn’t have.
If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn’t jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe “opportunity” isn’t the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: “Lied to Our Parents”). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up “Skipping School” (#3), “Throwing a Crazy Party” (#8), “Buying a Hot Tub” (#4), and, um, “Harboring a Fugitive” (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.

 
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Posted in: YA Contemporary

Review: Halflings by Heather Burch

7 February, 2012 12:14 pm , 1 Comment ,

Halflings
(Halflings #1)
By: Heather Burch
Publisher: Zondervan Publishing
Published: Feb 1, 2012
Genre: YA
Rating:

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After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret—and the wings that come with.

A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in a scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.

 
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Posted in: YA Fantasy

Review: Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

10 January, 2012 3:08 pm , Leave a Comment ,

Touch of Power
(Healer #1)
By: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Mira
Published: Dec. 20, 2011
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan absorbs their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Fifteen Realms, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.
Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life…

 
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Posted in: YA Fantasy

Review: Asha by Kevis Hendrickson

7 December, 2011 8:40 pm , Leave a Comment ,

Asha
By: Kevis Hendrickson
Publisher: Self-published
Published: Sept. 8, 2011
Genre: YA/Dark Fantasy
Rating:
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Amazon

Asha is a 15-year old girl with the soul of a demon. She plans to wage war against heaven and hell using humanity as her main weapon. Asha begins the epic tale of the revenge of the dark goddess of demons!

 
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Posted in: YA Fantasy

Review: The Curse Girl by Kate Ellison

28 November, 2011 9:32 am , 3 Comments ,

The Curse Girl
By: Kate Ellison
Publisher: EllisonBooks
Published: May 14, 2011
Genre: YA
Rating:
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When her father tries to steal a magic cure for his sick wife from the beastly master of the mysterious mansion outside her home town, seventeen-year-old Bee is the one forced to go live with him. But Will isn’t anything like she expected. He’s the same age as she is, for one thing. He’s also really handsome, contrary to local legend. Well, maybe the whole “beast” thing is meant to be metaphorical, because he’s a total jerk.

Between the house’s weird magic and Will’s snobby attitude, the situation is nearly unbearable, and Bee only wants to escape. But the house is sealed by magic, and they can only leave if they break the curse. The witch who cursed Will left him a way to break it, and the answer lies in a riddle. Although Bee would rather eat dirt than be nice to Will, they’re going to have to learn to work together if they want to solve it and break the curse.

Because time is running out.

 
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Posted in: YA Fantasy

Review: Crave by Melissa Darnell

23 November, 2011 8:22 pm , 2 Comments ,

Crave
(The Clann #1)
By: Melissa Darnell
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Published: Oct. 25, 2011
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating:
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Savannah Colbert has never known why she’s so hated by the kids of the Clann. Nor can she deny her instinct to get close to Clann golden boy Tristan Coleman. Especially when she recovers from a strange illness and the attraction becomes nearly irresistible. It’s as if he’s a magnet, pulling her gaze, her thoughts, even her dreams. Her family has warned her to have nothing to do with him, or any members of the Clann. But when Tristan is suddenly everywhere she goes, Savannah fears she’s destined to fail.
For years, Tristan has been forbidden to even speak to Savannah Colbert. Then Savannah disappears from school for a week and comes back…different, and suddenly he can’t stay away. Boys seem intoxicated just from looking at her. His own family becomes stricter than ever. And Tristan has to fight his own urge to protect her, to be near her no matter the consequences….

 
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Posted in: YA Fantasy

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

17 November, 2011 5:22 pm , 2 Comments ,

Wither
(The Chemical Garden #1)
By: Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: March 22, 2011
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Rating:

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Obviously, something went terribly wrong. Genetic mutations have festered, reducing human longevity to twenty-five, even less for most women. To prevent extinction, young girls are kidnapped, mated in polygamous marriages with men eager to procreate. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery, a recent victim of this breeding farm mentality, has vowed to break loose from its fetters; but finding allies and a safe way out is a challenge she can only hope she will survive.

 
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Posted in: YA Sci-fi

Review: You Are My Only by Beth Kephart

7 November, 2011 10:28 am , 3 Comments ,

You Are My Only
By: Beth Kephart
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Published: Oct. 25, 2011
Genre: YA
Rating:

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Emmy Rane is married at nineteen, a mother by twenty. Trapped in a life with a husband she no longer loves, Baby is her only joy. Then one sunny day in September, Emmy takes a few fateful steps away from her baby and returns to find her missing. All that is left behind is a yellow sock.

Fourteen years later, Sophie, a homeschooled, reclusive teenage girl is forced to move frequently and abruptly from place to place, perpetually running from what her mother calls the “No Good.” One afternoon, Sophie breaks the rules, ventures out, and meets Joey and his two aunts. It is this loving family that gives Sophie the courage to look into her past. What she discovers changes her world forever. . . .

 
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Posted in: YA Contemporary

Review: The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

26 October, 2011 6:51 pm , 4 Comments ,

The Gathering
(Darkest Rising #1)
By: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: April 12, 2011
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 359
Rating:

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Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn’t know much about her background – the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip – but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town – from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend’s hidden talent for “feeling” out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel . . . . different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya’s biological parents and it’s easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.

 
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Posted in: YA Fantasy

Review: Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

18 October, 2011 8:21 am , 3 Comments ,

Dearly, Departed
(Dearly #1)
By: Lia Habel
Publisher: Random House
Published: Oct. 18, 2011
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

 
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Posted in: YA Sci-fi