Tag Archives: Young Adult

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Review: The Fever by Megan Abbott

Title: The Fever
Author: Megan Abbott
Rating: ★★★

The Fever

I thought The Fever sounded like a thriller of a book. Something is making girls sick and no one really knows what it is. Panic ensues. I thought it would show how society could fall apart when fear takes hold. And that was there, but I still ended up feeling a little let down at the end.

Deenie lives with her brother, Eli, and father, Tom. She’s a good student, Eli is a star hockey player, and Tom is a popular teacher. Their lives aren’t perfect, but they’re happy for the most part. And then Deenie’s friend has a seizure in class, igniting frenzy. After that, more girls at the school are falling sick with an unexplainable illness. It’s only affecting the girls, and the first connection is made to the HPV shots they have all been getting. And then one girl falls sick that didn’t get the shot. Panic erupts.

The story is told from Deenie, Eli, and Tom’s points of view. Each has a different perspective of the story, from the girl just wondering when it will be her, to the brother wanting everything to be okay, and the father just wanting to keep his daughter safe. I never really felt connected to any of the characters, though, and that made it a little difficult to connect with the book. I felt bad for each of them, sure, but I never felt like I was in the novel.

The plot of the novel wasn’t what I thought it would be. First I was worried it was going to be a commentary on vaccines (and given my health issues, anti-vaccine agendas bother me), and then I thought it’d be a commentary on how poisoning nature ends up poisoning ourselves. So I was a little thrown when the actual cause was revealed. I didn’t feel like it fit the rest of the story. It seemed quick and easy to wrap things up the way they were. From the panic and build-up of the novel, I was expecting something more.

In the end, The Fever was a fine book. It wasn’t what I thought it would be, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped, but it certainly wasn’t a bad book. It is well written, and if I was looking for a book dealing with relationships, I think I would have enjoyed it more. I was just looking for a thriller that would leave me blown away, and this wasn’t it.

If you think you’d like to read The Fever, you can purchase it here:
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Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: The Things You Kiss Goodbye by Leslie Connor

Title: The Things You Kiss Godbye
Author: Leslie Connor
Rating: ★★★★

The Things

The Things you Kiss Goodbye really threw me for a loop. I was not expecting to feel such strong emotions as I read. Bettina’s story filled me with happiness, dread, and hope. Don’t read the synopsis for this book and expect a surface level love triangle. That’s not what you’re going to get.

Bettina is the only daughter in a pretty traditional Greek household. Her father is the head of the house, making everyone’s decisions. He keeps Bettina on a short leash, but when Brady Cullen asks her on a date, Bettina’s father surprisingly agrees. The first part of their relationship is sweet. Brady is a doting boyfriend, wanting only to make Bettina happy. Then summer starts and their time together is interrupted. When school begins again, Brady is different. He’s no longer sweet. He’s emotionally abusive, venturing into physical abuse sometimes. Bettina runs away from him during one such incident and meets Cowboy. He’s much older, but his car shop provides a safe place for Bettina and soon, something develops between them.

I know there will be people who read this and consider Bettina to be weak. And maybe she is. But I can understand why she is the way she is. She has been taught to respect her elders, especially her father. Her father is tough and has taught her to, basically, suck it up when things happen to her. Plus, dating Brady gives Bettina a little bit of freedom she’s never had. Her father thinks Brady is a good guy, and tells Bettina it is up to her to keep him happy. So even though Bettina knows what Brady does isn’t okay, she has a hard time convincing herself it’s reason to leave.

Cowboy represents more than just a love interest in this story. He is safe. He is respect. He is the person who shows Bettina she has more value than others place in her. She gives herself value. It’s because Cowboy treats her with respect, and shows her that she can be important, that she starts to fall in love with him. I loved the slow build between them. I didn’t want a relationship to happen right away. The sweet little moments as they becomes friends were better than anything else that could have happened between them. It was perfect.

My only complaint with the novel is that the ending felt a little rushed, almost. I wish there had been a little more dealing with Brady’s abuse. There’s a moment of set-up when Connor could have made a big statement about abuse, and coming forward to protect people Brady might date in the future, but it passed without being dealt with. That’s the only thing that bothered me about the novel.

The Things You Kiss Goodbye is not a book for everyone. It deals with abuse and if you have trouble getting behind Bettina, then this will be a tough read. You’ll spend a majority of the novel frustrated because she won’t do what you say. But for the right kind of people, who can stand behind Bettina and want to support her, but also understand where her head is at, this is a book that will gut you in the best way. It’s raw and real, but so, so good.

If The Things You Kiss Goodbye sounds like a book you’d like to read, you can purchase it here:
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Thank you to Edelweiss and Katherine Tegen Books for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: 17 First Kisses by Rachael Allen

Title: 17 First Kisses
Author: Rachael Allen
Rating: ★★★★

17 First Kisses

This was a little gem of a book. The synopsis doesn’t really do it justice. It’s about a lot more than Luke. It’s about a family finding a way to move on, friendships being tested, and trying to find out who you are in the midst of being a teen.

Claire is part of the popular group of kids at school. Her best friend Megan basically runs the social scene. Claire has had 13 first kisses by the time she’s a sophomore in high school and that’s branded her with the title of slut. She’s worked hard for two years to fight beyond that reputation. So when Luke arrives to town, and both she and Megan start to like him, things get tricky. She has to decide who means more to her: her best friend or a chance at teen love.

I liked Claire. She was a little naive, but it worked. She had to grow up fast at home, taking care of her family after tragedy strikes, and she didn’t have the chance to completely be a teen. Her first kisses are shown through little stories between chapters and it was interesting to see her progression through them. She’s by no means a slut, but teen years are difficult and that’s the name she’s given. When Luke arrives, she feels an instant connection. His home life isn’t great either and she feels like they can really understand each other. But for the sake of her friendship with Megan, she agrees to not do anything. But events happen and their friendship is really put to the test.

Luke is pretty to look at, but when he opens his mouth, you can smell the rotten insides. He starts out sweet, but I could tell right from the beginning something was going to go wrong. He was a little too perfect, but it appeared like that was done on purpose. As for how the book turns out, I had a feeling through the entire novel that it was going to turn out a little like it did.

I am glad the friendship between Claire and Megan was really the main part of the story. Both girls are good friends with a few negative qualities. They’re both insecure, despite being at the top of the social food chain. It’s clear they each cherish their friendship, but sometimes things get in the way. I couldn’t help but want their friendship to work. They both make mistakes and reading how they overcame those challenges was fun.

17 First Kisses is a sweet, touching story about a girl growing up and deciding what is important in her life. You can’t help but to feel for every single character as they try to weave through high school. The portrayal of friendships is not perfect, but you’ll still root for them. It’s definitely worth a read.

If 17 First Kisses sounds like a book you’d like to read, you can purchase it here:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound

Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

Title: The Murder Complex
Author: Lindsay Cummings
Series: The Murder Complex
Rating: ★★★★

The Murder Complex

I’m a little weird about blood and killing. It doesn’t bother me, really, but gratuitous amounts of it annoy me. So I was a little hesitant that a book with the title The Murder Complex would be one of those books that would overdo it on the killing. And I won’t lie, there is death and blood and killing. But it didn’t feel like it was killing for the sake of it. I enjoyed this book quite a bit.

Meadow lives with her sister, brother, and father on a houseboat. They are getting by on the serving or rations her father earns, but they need more. She has been trained by her father her entire life to protect herself through any means necessary and uses those skills to earn a job in the city. One evening, she comes across a dying Zephyr and for a reason she can’t quite explain, she stops and helps to save his life. From that point on, their lives are intertwined.

Meadow is a fighter. She doesn’t show weakness. It’s the only way to try and survive in the world. When the murder rate is higher than the birth rate, one must always be ready to fight. Her family, however, is her soft spot. She can take any beating, fight any enemy, but her family is where to hit her hardest. I liked Meadow, and I liked her moxie, but I want to see a little more depth of character. She’s got a great beginning and I have hopes that she’ll develop a little more as the series progresses.

I’m not sure about Zephyr. He’s not really my kind of guy, but he works with the story. He’s lived a life of struggles, and has a past that he doesn’t even understand. My only problem with his character has to do with a problem I find common in a lot of novels. The idea of instant love. And granted he has dreamed of a girl like Meadow for a while, but to love a dream of a person is different than loving a person. I’m hoping this idea is explored more going forward.

The story of The Murder Complex is something I haven’t read before. In the genre of dystopian fiction, there can be a lot of repetition or an author can try to be so different that it borders on the unbelievable. Cummings writes a world that paints a dire picture of the world, but adds a unique spin. I’m definitely intrigued by this world and am looking forward to more.

The Murder Complex is a new take on a bleak future. The characters are interesting and have room for growth. This is a series beginning that gives promise of good things to come.

If The Murder Complex sounds like a book you’d like to read, you can purchase it here:
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Thank you to Edelweiss and Greenwillow Books for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

Title: The Art of Lainey
Author: Paula Stokes
Rating: ★★★

The Art of Lainey

The Art of Lainey is not the kind of book I’d usually pick up. I thought it’d be a lot more superficial than it was. So I was presently surprised when, even though it started out as I feared it would, it didn’t end that way.

Lainey has a wonderful life. She’s got a pretty flexible job at her family’s coffee place, she’s popular at school, and she’s got the best boyfriend in Jason. So when he dumps her in the middle of the coffee shop, in front of everyone she works with and the customers, she feels like everything has been ruined. She doesn’t know how to be Lainey. She only knows how to be Jason’s girlfriend. She and her best friend Bianca decide to adapt the lessons in The Art of War to get Jason back. But as the summer progresses, Lainey learns more about herself.

At first, Lainey bothered me. A lot. It’s hard for me to identify with someone who places his or her worth on someone else. Lainey can’t see her life being as good without Jason as it was with him. She feels her social status depends on the people she’s friends with and not who she is. But then she starts to change. She begins to see that she’s not worthless without Jason. She can be important on her own. She has friends and she’s good at soccer. She has things in life that make her happy. She also starts to realize that Jason might not be the best person for her, but finds that Micah, a boy she works with, might be the person she needs in her life.

Micah is a good character. He’s sweet, but honest. He’s hardworking and unique. He pushes Lainey to figure out who she is, not who she’s dependent on. He’s a good contrast for her.

Bianca is one of my favorite best friend characters. It’s clear she cares for Lainey and wants the best, but instead of telling her what she thinks, she makes Lainey figure it out herself. She’s there to support Lainey, but she’s not afraid to tell her when she thinks Lainey is selling herself short. She’s the kind of best friend everyone needs.

The Art of Lainey was better than I thought it’d be. Even though it started out rough for me, Lainey’s character growth saved the novel and made it enjoyable. I’m glad I picked it up. It’s a good summer read for those looking for a book that will end putting a smile on your face.

If The Art of Lainey sounds like a book you’d like to read, you can purchase it here:
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Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: (Don’t You) Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn

Title: (Don’t You) Forget About Me
Author: Kate Karyus Quinn
Rating: ★★★★

Don't You Forget About Me

This book messed with my head. In a good way. It’s a complete trip of a book, from beginning to end. Just when I thought I had a handle on what was going on, something would happen that would completely throw me off again.

Gardnerville is a special place. People don’t get sick there. It just doesn’t happen. And sick people who move to the town suddenly aren’t sick anymore. But it comes at a price. Every four years, a teen explodes with deadly consequences. The book begins in the middle of one of these fourth years, just dropping the reader right into the town. Skylar uses pills to forget the past, a past where her sister led teens to their death four years ago. But something finally stops Skylar from forgetting. The secrets she’s held for years have to come out. And as little pieces of the truth appear the story becomes even more confusing and amazing.

Skylar is an interesting character. She just wants to forget what happened to her family. She wants to forget that her sister was the cause of the last fourth year destruction. She wants to forget about the evil that possesses her town. She just wants to forget. But forgetting means she can’t move forward with her life. As her secrets are shown, between flashbacks and the present day, she becomes a great character. It’s clear she knows what she has to do for her town, even though only little pieces are shown at a time.

The town is a character itself. It has a strange power to heal people, but it’s not without a price. The town gives, but it also takes. It really made me think about what price I would pay for complete health. A small connection I made to the novel is that the mother of the book had the same disease I do, cystic fibrosis. Obviously, since she lives in the town, it’s not a problem for her anymore. But it made me think about if living in fear of external death would be enough for me to cure my internal death. I can certainly understand why the mother lives in the town, but her life isn’t perfect. She traded one pain for another. It’s an interesting thought; to examine what price a person would pay for perfect health.

I’m going to be honest. I was completely confused for the majority of the novel. But it was confusion I enjoyed, because it meant Quinn has weaved an intense story. Every little piece she gives you s dropped without much context, leaving you to try and piece it together. It’s like putting together a puzzle that doesn’t have a picture until every piece has found its place. You’re working to solve a puzzle where you can hardly figure out where each piece goes.

This is not a book anyone can pick up and enjoy. You have to be able to suspend reason and take the events that happen for what they are. If you can do that, then (Don’t You) Forget About Me is a fantastic book.

If you think (Don’t You) Forget About Me is a book you’d like to read, you can purchase it here:
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Barnes and Noble
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Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: The Secrets of Lily Graves by Sarah Strohmeyer

Title: The Secrets of Lily Graves
Author: Sarah Strohmeyer
Rating: ★★★

The Secrets of Lily Graves

Let me start off by saying The Secrets of Lily Graves is not a romance novel. Yes, there’s a teaser of romance in the book description, but that’s not what this book is about. It’s about the secrets that surround the lives of the characters and how they unravel after a murder. The twists and turns are excellent, and I am happy to say I couldn’t see the ending coming.

Lily Graves is the daughter of a mortician, living in the house where the dead go to get ready for their funeral. Lily is the social outcast because of her family and how morbid others consider her to be. She’s had one best friend, and that’s really about it. So when Matt Houser starts to hang out with her, even though it’s because she’s helping him with school, she finds happiness in her new friendship. Yet when Matt breaks up with his girlfriend Erin, Lily is immediately the suspect. Things become even more twisted when Erin is found dead, murdered, the day after attacking Lily. With Matt and Lily at the center of the focus, she has to work hard to find out the truth.

I liked Lily. She was her own person and didn’t try and change to have more friends. She knew that if people didn’t like who she was, she didn’t need to have them in her life. Of course, this doesn’t mean she’s immune to the comments she receives, but she chooses to look beyond them. I think she’s a very well written teen. A little head strong and stubborn, like continuing to see Matt even though everyone tells her to stay away, but she’s also a little insecure about things. Her determination to figure out who killed Erin really drove the novel.

Matt was fine as a love interest. He’s a little too perfect for my tastes, but since their relationship wasn’t the main reason for the novel, it didn’t bother me too much. He’s sweet and a little corny, but it works. It makes for an interesting character study, when he is shown to be one way with Lily, but still have a mountain of evidence piled against him in Erin’s death.

There were a few things about the plot of the novel that I found to be just a little too convenient, but given how long working around those instances would have been, I can forgive. Things like Lily’s mother dating the chief of police and getting little pieces of information she would have otherwise never known seemed a little to convenient, but it worked. I was never really sure where the novel was going to go and until the very end, I had no idea how the murder case would be solved. When everything finally came to light, I was shocked, but in a good way.

The Secrets of Lily Graves is an excellent look into the secrets a town can hold and how those secrets can destroy. Everyone has a secret and while some are harmless, others lead to death. It’s one of the better Young Adult mystery thriller novels I’ve read. Definitely worth a read.

If you think The Secrets of Lily Graves is a book you’d like to read, you can purchase it here:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound

Thank you to Edelweiss and Balzer + Bray for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: After the End by Amy Plum

Title: After the End
Author: Amy Plum
Series: After the End
Rating: ★★★

I fell in love with Plum’s first series. It had the perfect mix of romance and action. I would swoon on one page, and then be engrossed in a fight on the next page. After the End is a little different. It’s not the same type of story, and I’m thankful for it. This novel and her other series do have one thing in common, though. In both, Plum creates two vastly different worlds existing together but without knowing about the other. When the two worlds are finally reviled to each other, what unravels is amazing.

Juneau has lived her entire life isolated in the Alaskan wilderness. World War III has destroyed the rest of the Earth, save for her clan and a few other people. She knows how to live off the land and has a special connection with the Earth. She has never questioned the story of how her clan came to be. When she is out hunting one day, she hears a dangerous sound. Believing her clan is in danger, she races back to her home. When she arrives, every person is gone, the only clues to their location coming from Juneau connecting to the Yara, the power that fills everything on Earth.

Miles is in trouble. His admittance to college is in jeopardy and his father thinks very little of him. When Miles stumbles across the opportunity to earn back his father’s favor, he jumps at the chance.

That is how the two characters meet.

Juneau is learning just how much of her life has been a lie. World War III never happened. The world continued to evolve as her clan stayed frozen in time. The world is overwhelming and she’s not sure where she can turn. The people she trusted most in her life lied to her. She doesn’t know how to behave in the current world. She’s questioning everything she knows. She’s a fantastic character that is the perfect mix of bravery, innocence, and maturity. I loved that she holds onto her values, even when confronted with how much the world has changed. She might not understand the world, but she understands herself. She’s still learning, but she’s determined to find her own way.

I didn’t really like Miles to begin with. I understood his reasons, but it felt a little strange to me that he didn’t see a problem with using a girl to get back into his father’s good graces. But as the story progressed, and he started to realize what he was doing, I started to like him more. He started to see Juneau as a person and not just a means to an end. I was extremely pleased with his character growth from the beginning to the end of the novel.

The cliffhanger is horrible. I was getting closer and closer to the end and I was desperately hoping that there would be just a page or two more. But Plum ended After the End at exactly the best and worst spot. I desperately want to know what happens next.

If After the End sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
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Audible
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IndieBound

Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: How to Meet Boys by Catherine Clark

Title: How to Meet Boys
Author: Catherine Clark
Rating: ★★

How to Meet Boys is a lighthearted book that deals with friendships, relationships, and growing up. This is a topic that can be done really well, but for me, How to Meet Boys felt a little flat. The characters were flat, even confusing at times, and the relationships weren’t that interesting either.

Lucy and Mikayla are staying at a cabin owned by Lucy’s grandparents for the summer. Lucy is working at her grandparents’ apple store with Jackson, the boy who embarrassed her in 8th grade. Mikayla is working at the local country club. She’s never met Jackson and never seen a picture of him. So when they meet, Mikayla doesn’t know who he is. What follows is a lot of teen dramatics, confusion, and frustration.

The character never really felt flushed out to me. Lucy can’t seem to get a grasp of what her personality was. Mikayla was said to be shy had have trouble talking to boys, but that was never clearly shown. Ava seemed like she was thrown in there to serve as mediator, but she didn’t really fit that role. Lucy’s mother showed up and was a crazed spazz and that didn’t seem to have a purpose. I don’t think any of this would have been a problem if the story had been more worked out and these characters had served a purpose. Instead, they felt like they were filling personality roles, not being people.

The story didn’t draw me in, either. It felt like Clark was trying to make it more dramatic that necessary. Yes, teens tend to do that at times, but it didn’t feel like there was a point other than to make it dramatic. Then there was the situation with Lucy’s mother. Having a parent come to check in on two teens staying by themselves in a cabin for the summer makes sense. But that’s not what Lucy’s mother did. This is all looking past the problems I had with Lucy and Mikayla’s parents agreeing to let them stay unsupervised for a summer. I was a good kid in high school and didn’t really give my parents problems, but there is no way they would have let me stay with a friend in an adult-less cabin.

In the end, How to Meet Boys was not the book for me. There will be people who enjoy it, but I’m not one of those people. The characters didn’t feel fleshed out and the plot didn’t draw me in. It’s not a bad book; it’s just not my style.

If you’d like to read How to Meet Boys, you can purchase it here:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound

Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: Tease by Amanda Maciel

Title: Tease
Author: Amanda Maciel
Rating: ★★★

I had to take a few days to sort out my thoughts on Tease. From the beginning, I hadn’t expected to like Sara. She’s one of the bullies in the novel, and feels like nothing is her fault. Honestly, I thought I’d feel a lot more anger towards Sara and her friends. Somehow, Maciel created a story and character that made me feel sorry for the bully. Not in a way that I felt like she should avoid all blame, but in a way that made me examine all her characters closely and see what made Sara different.

Emma Putnam was the new girl at school. She was also the target of bullying. She killed herself and now the people who bullied her most are being charged for the harassment that led to her death. Sara doesn’t see how she is at fault when it’s Emma who killed herself. Sara and her friends didn’t kill her, but she fails to see how they were pushing her to do so. The novel jumps between the present and the past, showing the events leading up to Emma’s death and the fallout.

Sara is not a likable character. She’s a little selfish and a little clueless. But she’s also a victim of high school. She wants to make the most of her years there, doing anything to be friends with the school’s “Queen Bee” Brielle. It’s an extremely toxic relationship and Maciel does a good job of showing how that friendship changes Sara. The before and after points of view also do a great job of showing how Sara is different when she’s friends with Brielle. It’s clear that Sara does a lot of the bullying to keep Brielle’s favor. It doesn’t make her bullying okay, but it gives a little context to Sara’s actions.

This is not a book that anyone could pick up and read. It’s realistic, the characters aren’t very likable, and Sara doesn’t do a complete 180 transformation. She has her moments when she understands her part in Emma’s actions, but there’s a disconnect, too. Her intent through the bullying was to make Emma transfer schools. So when Emma kills herself and Sara is charged, it’s clear she can’t understand why people think she wanted Emma dead. And to be fair, reading Sara’s point of view makes it clear that she didn’t want Emma to kill herself. Sara has a lot of typical high school insecurities and getting Emma to transfer, she thinks, would fix them. Plus, by joining in on the bullying, she avoids being bullied.

Tease is not a book that has a happy ending. The characters don’t redeem themselves and find complete understanding about what happened. Sara finds a way to accept her role. She knows that her actions were part of what led to Emma’s suicide, but she also finds a way to move forward with her life in a way that shows she learned something. I didn’t like her character, but I did find a respect for her at the end. I never thought I’d like a book that had unlikable characters and a plot told from the bully’s point of view, but Tease managed to do it. It doesn’t try to make you like or feel sympathetic towards the characters; that would have felt fake. Tease is a good book that will make you consider both sides of every story.

If Tease sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
Amazon
Audible
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound

Thank you to Edelweiss and Balzer + Bray for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.