Category Archives: Young (and New) Adult

All the Young Adult genre book reviews, with some New Adult thrown in.

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Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

I think one of the the reasons I enjoy young adult romance books so much is there’s such a wonderful, first love quality to them that’s hard to find some days in real life. The reader feels as head over heels about the characters and the characters feel about themselves. Yes, there’s a bit of a struggle, but there’s not of the adult “real life” involved. There’s no kids, no house, none of the typical “adult” things to overcome. It makes it easy to fall in love with the love.

I absolutely loved Lola. I’m not sure there’s an adequate word to express just how much I swooned through the entire book. Not only over Cricket, but the little piece of Anna and Etienne that were in there, too. Perkins has such a fabulous way for writing completely wonderful, swoon-worthy, perfectly imperfect guys that I’m not sure my heart could handle much more. Of course, that will never stop me from rereading Anna and Lola and eagerly awaiting Isla.

The huge difference I loved between Anna and Lola was the realness of Lola. Anna was amazing, but there was this special feel to it. It was set in Paris, with amazing English boys, living the life almost every girl dreams of. Going away to the city of love and finding it. Lola was set in San Francisco, with a delightful, tall, slightly awkward American boy. It was what could happen to almost any girl.

My heart hurt from all the happiness and love I felt reading this book. It was so amazingly sweet and wonderful and I fell in love with it several times over.

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The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

I’m not sure what emotion can be used to describe how I’m feeling about this book. It was a wonderful book and I loved it, but I still want more.

This book is very legend driven and the romance aspect of it doesn’t get in the way of that, which I enjoyed. I was happy the book focused on the legend instead of trying to devote equal time to both and coming up short in the end.

Would I have liked more Puck and Sean? Sure. However, I never thought the book was going to be about them. I went into the book thinking it was going to be about the Scorpio Race and it was. It was about overcoming the limits other put on you and proving to yourself that you can do whatever you set your mind to. Even the romance plays into this; making the characters realize what they can sacrifice in order to come out in the end with what you need.

The characters are amazingly written as well. I’m sure most people will fall for Sean; however, as much as I liked him, Finn was my favorite character. He is so fiercely loyal to Puck, even when he knows he could lose her. He stays by her side and is there for her always, even though he might disagree with what she is doing.

I only wish there had been a couple more chapters at the end devoted to Puck and Sean and their relationship. As much as the book wasn’t about that, I still wanted a tiny bit more of them

Stiefvater is a great young adult author and I thoroughly enjoyed The Scorpio Races.

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Sometimes It Happens by Lauren Barnholdt

I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like this book when I started. I was a little unsure about the infidelity aspect of the story and how Barnholdt would manage it. I didn’t know if I’d be able to like the main characters or if the story would make it seem like cheating is okay.

I was very happy with how it turned out. It was real, with both Hannah and Noah taking responsibility for how they each acted, knowing how they should have handled things and how they actually did handle them. Yes, some of it seemed a touch melodramatic, but it was written from a 17 year old’s point of view, and what teenager doesn’t over dramatize some things in life?

Each chapter seemed to end with something like a cliff hanger. You knew what would ultimately happen, but at the end of each chapter, when it switches between past and present day, you’re left wanting to know just a little bit more of the story.

As for the characters themselves, I love when they have flaws. And I don’t just mean a pimple or scar. I mean actual flaws that make them human. There wasn’t any perfection within the characters and I loved that. They were human with human problems and that made it easy to relate to.

This was a perfect end of summer read and it put Barnholdt on my list of authors I’ll be anxious to read again.

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Love Story by Jennifer Echols

I enjoyed Going Too Far and Forget You, so I was extremely excited to read yet another one of Echols’ books. I was not disappointed and I only wish we had gotten more of Erin and Hunter’s story.

I liked how Echols included some of the stories Erin and Hunter wrote for their creative writing class within the story. It made some of the revelations about their history more interesting than simply telling it in the main story. You still got their back story, but it was not only from Erin or Hunter’s point of view, but from the characters they wrote.

I wish there had been a little bit more written about the class, the publishing internship, their relationship, as well as something more with her grandmother. It felt a little cut off and some of those loose ends weren’t tied up enough for the story to be really over. I felt like there could have been another couple of chapters to really end the story.

I can’t wait to read what else Echols writes in the future.

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I’m not really sure what my expectations were when I started this book. All I know is every single one of them was shattered.

This is not a book you can just breeze through and understand. It makes you really read and drown in the rods on the page. There is so much emotion in every word, you can’t just skim it. this is a book that demands you read it.

The whole book is narrated by Death as he “works” through World War II. He tells Liesel’s story as she grows up during the war. She begins as an orphan, heading to her foster home but becomes so much more.

The one thing that I loved and hated about Death telling the story, was how well everything was foreshadowed, or in some cases, announced. Knowing what was coming just made me dread it more, because I knew there wouldn’t be a different outcome. If Death announced something, it was coming. It just made the emotional shock value increase, and tied a connection between me and war going on in the book. People die in war. You can’t change that. Knowing what will happen is sometimes worse than not knowing.

As depressing as the subject matter of the book is, somehow, the book itself is never completely depressing. It is not morbid. Liesel provides what this book needs to save it from being a depressing read. She and her Papa’s relationship is one of my new favorites. The love they had for each other nearly jumped off the page. In between all the ugly in the book, there was good.

This book made me feel more than most books in recent memory. The story grabs you by the heart and does not let go. It squeezes hard and tugs at you, but through the entire story, you are being held captive by the words that play so important a part within the story itself. This is not a book for young adults. It is a book for anyone. It will leave an imprint on you long after you finish reading the last page.

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Out in Blue by Sarah Gilman

I requested this book from NetGalley, and was extremely pleased when I was allowed to read it. The new look on angels and demons really interested me and I couldn’t wait to start reading.

Overall, the book was extremely well written, and I found myself very engrossed in the story. My only real complaint was how the story started. Readers are dumped right into the middle of a story and I would have liked to have a bit more of a build up, but even that did not distract me from the story.

Despite how fast the two main characters fell in love, and even though it didn’t seem natural, it didn’t feel forced, either. It just was and I actually found myself enjoying that.

I was a little worried about starting this book when I saw it was the first in a series, however this book can stand on it’s own, even as a set-up for the rest of the books. It was it’s own story and simply laid in place the elements necessary for the rest of the series. I loved the end of the book, and while I’m excited to read what’s next, I know this story is finished and it felt that way.

I greatly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see what comes next for these characters.

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The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle

I was drawn to this book after reading books like If I Stay. I always try to go into reading a book without drawing too many comparisons between books with similar ideas. I’m sure if I were to compare The Beginning of After to If I Stay, I might find it lacking or not up to par, but instead, I view it as its own book as found it to be an emotional ride that didn’t feel fake or contrived.

Castle wrote the emotions of her characters so well, that even when she didn’t explicitly say what a character was feeling, as I reader, I could still tell. I could feel the confusion and hurt and anger of her characters. She was able to give them depth and a dimension that is rare to find in books. Where I usually find myself getting annoyed with characters that become selfish and seemingly lose themselves, I didn’t feel that way at all during this book.

Something else I enjoyed was just followed Laurel’s journey, from wanting someone to blame for the accident, to realize that she needs to find acceptance and live her life for her. That journey was easily placed into the novel, but wasn’t obvious. It made it feel extremely real. Things didn’t happen overnight for her. She came to realizations, but there weren’t many lightning bolts of reason, and when those did happen, they made sense; they fit.

Where If I Stay dealt with more of the emotional aspects of life after losing your family, The Beginning of After dealt with the emotion side, as well as the reality that the world goes on and you go with it. It’s a strong, amazing novel, and I’ve very glad to have read it.

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Entwined by Heather Dixon

I know people say, “don’t judge a book by the cover,” but I can’t help but do that sometimes.

I started Entwined because I was in the book for something in the realm of fantasy and having to with royalty. I’ve always been fascinated with that world, and the cover of this book looked especially beautiful.

This book greatly lived up to the expectations I gave it. It was beautifully written, and it was a nice escape from the day to day reality of life, and you could really tell Azalea loved and greatly cared for her sisters. She stepped up and became the mother and father they needed when they didn’t have anyone else.

The difference between their real lives and how dreary it is compared to the secret world they discovered shows just how badly they want things to change. It’s clear they wish they lived the life of most royals, having lavish food and gift, but they’d settle for simply having a family life where they knew everyone cared for everyone else.

Azalea was a great, strong female character and I loved reading her story.

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Legacy by Cayla Kluver

I got my copy of Legacy and couldn’t wait to read it. Forbidden-type romances really draw me in. There’s just something about two people you know should be together, and yet they can’t that makes me crave more words.

Legacy didn’t disappoint. It started a little slow, but I quickly got into in and found myself willing Alera to find her voice and really use it, to tell her father exactly what she wanted. Don’t get me wrong, she was already strong to begin with, but she was still very compliant and gave in to her sheltered world, not questioning things she should. When she started asking questions, the new strength she found was amazing.

Narian was able to make her see that there was so much beyond the walls she had been living in, a completely different world from the one she currently resides in. He told her that woman can have power, and should. The future should not be left up to the men only, and Alera needed to add her voice into the mix.

My heart was breaking towards the end of the book, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series to see how Kluver handles the future of her characters.

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Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

I have been anxiously awaiting Forever since I finished Linger last summer. My heart has been slowing breaking more and more, just waiting to learn the fate of Sam and Grace.

It did not disappoint me. My emotions kept going up and down, and I refused to put the book down any longer than absolutely necessary. I was enthralled from beginning to end.

I feel like I can’t give this book the praise it deserves without giving away everything, but I will say this entire series will be read and reread several times over. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful love story.