Category Archives: Ya Contemporary

Review: The Libby Garrett Intervention by Kelly Oram

30 October, 2015 5:02 am , 5 Comments ,

libby garrettThe Libby Garrett Intervention
(Science Squad, #2)
By: Kelly Oram
Publisher: Bluefields
Published: Oct. 24, 2015
Genre: YA Romance
Rating:
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Goodreads

Libby Garrett is addicted to Owen Jackson’s hot lovin’. But the sexy, popular college basketball player doesn’t appreciate all of Libby’s awesomeness. He refuses to be exclusive or even admit to people that they’re dating. The relationship is ruining Libby and she’s the only one who can’t see it.

When Libby’s behavior spirals completely out of control, her best friend Avery Shaw and the rest of the Science Squad stage an intervention hoping to cure Libby of her harmful Owen addiction. They put her through her very own Twelve Step program—Owen’s Anonymous—and recruit the help of a sexy, broody, hard as nails coffee man to be her official sponsor.

…

Adam Koepp has watched Libby Garrett for years. How could he not notice the sassy girl with the purple skateboard and helmet plastered with cat stickers? But in all the years he’s crushed on her, Libby has failed to take notice of him. Why would she when he was just a nobody high school drop out who served her apple cider several times a week? Especially when she was hooking up with a guy like Owen Jackson—a guy with a college scholarship and more abs than Kyle Hamilton.

Adam finally gets the chance to meet Libby when his co-worker Avery Shaw recruits him to take Libby on the journey of a lifetime. With his ability to play Bad Cop and his experience with the Twelve Step program he’s the perfect candidate to be Libby’s sponsor. But will he be able to keep his personal feelings out of the matter and really help her the way she needs? And will Libby hate him when he forces her to take an honest look at herself?

 

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Posted in: YA Contemporary , Tagged:

Review: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

22 July, 2015 4:27 am , 6 Comments ,

MLNDMy Life Next Door
(My Life Next Door, #1)
By: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Published: June 14, 2012
Genre: YA Romance
Rating:
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Goodreads

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything.

As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase’s family embraces Samantha – even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha’s world. She’s suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

 

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

Review: Naked by Stacey Trombley

7 July, 2015 3:21 am , 6 Comments ,

23014838Naked
By: Stacey Trombley
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Goodreads

The best place to hide is in a lie…

I could never fit in to the life my parents demanded. By the time I was thirteen, it was too much. I ran away to New York City…and found a nightmare that lasted three years. A nightmare that began and ended with a pimp named Luis. Now I am Dirty Anna. Broken, like everything inside me has gone bad.

Except that for the first time, I have a chance to start over. Not just with my parents but at school. Still, the rumors follow me everywhere. Down the hall. In classes. And the only hope I can see is in the wide, brightly lit smile of Jackson, the boy next door. So I lie to him. I lie to protect him from my past. I lie so that I don’t have to be The Girl Who Went Bad.

The only problem is that someone in my school knows about New York.

Someone knows who I really am.

And it’s just a matter of time before the real Anna is exposed…

 

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Posted in: YA Contemporary , Tagged: ,

Review: Sweet by Emmy Laybourne

30 May, 2015 3:06 am , 3 Comments ,

18657784Sweet
By: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Macmillan
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Goodreads

*People would kill to be thin.*

Solu’s luxurious celebrity-filled “Cruise to Lose” is billed as “the biggest cruise since the Titanic,” and if the new diet sweetener works as promised—dropping five percent of a person’s body weight in just days—it really could be the answer to the world’s obesity problem. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv’s invitation. She’s already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host, Tom Forelli (otherwise known as the hottest guy ever!) and she’s too seasick to even try the sweetener. And that’s before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.

*But will they die for it, too?*

Tom Forelli knows that he should be grateful for this job and the opportunity to shed his childhood “Baby Tom-Tom” image. His publicists have even set up a ‘romance’ with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get a bit wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when his celebrity hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it’s Laurel that he’s determined to save.

Emmy Laybourne, author of the Monument 14 trilogy, takes readers on a dream vacation that goes first comically, then tragically, then horrifyingly, wrong.

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Posted in: YA Contemporary , Tagged: ,

Review: Mia and the Bad Boy by Lisa Burnstein

20 May, 2015 5:34 am , 12 Comments ,

25446202Mia and the Bad Boy
(Backstage Pass, #2)
By: Lisa Burnstein
Publisher: Entangled: Crush
Published: May 19, 2015
Genre: YA Romance
Rating:
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Goodreads

This good girl’s about to meet her match…

Ryder Brooks is living the dream—he’s famous, loved by millions of girls, and miserable. All he really wants is to write his own music, not Seconds to Juliet’s sugary sweet pop. In order to do that, though, the “bad boy” of the band will have to play by the rules. And that includes behaving with his new—and super cute—über-good-girl tutor.

Mia Reyes is in fangirl heaven. Tutoring her favorite member of her favorite band? It’s a dream come true…until it turns into a complete nightmare. Ryder is nothing like she thought. He’s crude, arrogant, and pretty much a total jerk. And the worst part? She’s roped into pretending to be his girlfriend so that no one finds out he’s being tutored. Fake kisses, plenty of PDA, and even sharing his hotel room…

But sometimes even the baddest of bad boys needs a little redemption.

 

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

Review: Halfway Perfect by Julie Cross and Mark Perini

5 May, 2015 9:27 am , 2 Comments ,

21900150Halfway Perfect
By: Julie Cross and Mark Perini
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: May 5, 2015
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Eve’s time as a fashion model nearly destroyed her-now she’s determined to build a career behind the camera lens. But landing a coveted photography internship brings her face to face with her dark past-and her ex.

While Eve is snapping pictures, up-and-coming male model Alex is launching his career-which, for him, involves maintaining a fake relationship with his (secretly) underage co-star, Elana.

But Alex is falling for Eve, and Eve won’t let herself get hurt again. If Alex can pull off a fake love with Elana, can he convince Eve to risk a secret affair with him?

 

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Posted in: YA Contemporary , Tagged: , ,

Review: Righteous by Kim Lehman

2 April, 2015 9:08 am , 10 Comments ,

25048015Righteous
By: Kim Lehman
Publisher: Lucky Stars Publishing
Published: Feb. 24, 2015
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Goodreads | Amazon

A story about a troubled girl and her effed up, going-nowhere life.

Quick witted, sharp-tongued Righteous Andrews is troubled by a broken past, fed up with her present circumstances, and resolved to a hopeless future.

On the first day of her senior year of high school she gets in trouble, landing in the principal’s office . . . again. There she meets Colt Jackson, the new kid with a troubled past of his own. Despite her attempts to avoid him, Colt seems to show up everywhere she doesn’t want him to be, and soon they strike up an unexpected friendship. Righteous is wary. Friendships aren’t her thing. But something about Colt is different; something about him makes her curious, makes her wonder . . .

Is Colt Jackson really different from everyone else? Does happiness and love truly exist? Or will every relationship in her life always end in lies and heartache?

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Posted in: YA Contemporary , Tagged:

Excerpt: Biggie by Derek E. Sullivan

4 March, 2015 2:43 am , 3 Comments ,

biggiebanner

biggieBiggie
By: Derek E. Sullivan
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: March 1, 2015
Genre: Contemporary YA

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Henry “Biggie” Abbott is the son of one of Finch, Iowa ‘s most famous athletes. His father was a baseball legend and his step-dad is a close second. At an obese 300+ pounds though, Biggie himself prefers classroom success to sports. As a perfectionist, he doesn’t understand why someone would be happy getting two hits in five trips to the plate. “Forty percent, that’s an F in any class,” he would say. As Biggie’s junior year begins, the girl of his dreams, Annabelle Rivers, starts to flirt with him. Hundreds of people have told him to follow in his dad’s footsteps and play ball, but Annabelle might be the one to actually convince him to try. What happens when a boy who has spent his life since fourth grade trying to remain invisible is suddenly thrust into the harsh glare of the high school spotlight?

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Posted in: Excerpt, YA Contemporary , Tagged: ,

Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

3 March, 2015 3:08 am , 10 Comments ,

7600924Forbidden
By: Tabitha Suzuma
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: May 27, 2010
Genre: YA
Rating:
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Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives–and the way they understand each other so completely–has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

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Posted in: YA Contemporary , Tagged: ,

Review: Some Boys by Patty Blount

16 February, 2015 9:30 am , 3 Comments ,

18509683Some Boys
By: Patty Blount
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Published: Aug. 5, 2014
Genre: Young Adult
Rating:
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Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Some boys go too far. Some boys will break your heart. But one boy can make you whole.

When Grace meets Ian she’s afraid. Afraid he’ll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses the town golden boy of rape, everyone turns against Grace. They call her a slut and a liar. But…Ian doesn’t. He’s funny and kind with secrets of his own.

But how do you trust the best friend of the boy who raped you? How do you believe in love?

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Posted in: YA Contemporary, Young Adult