Young Adult

Review of By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Dead by Julie Ann Peters

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Star Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult
Number of Pages: 240

Date Started: March 28, 2017
Date Finished: March 28, 2017

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
After a lifetime of being bullied, Daelyn is broken beyond repair. She has tried to kill herself before, and is determined to get it right this time. Though her parents think they can protect her, she finds a Web site for “completers” that seems made just for her. She blogs on its forums, purging her harrowing history. At her private Catholic school, the only person who interacts with her is a boy named Santana. No matter how poorly she treats him, he just won’t leave her alone. And it’s too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life . . . isn’t it?

In this harrowing, compelling novel, Julie Anne Peters shines a light on what might make a teenager want to kill herself, as well as how she might start to bring herself back from the edge. A discussion guide and resource list prepared by “bullycide” expert C. J. Bott are included in the back matter.

Review:
I spent the novel wishing Daelyn would open up, would tell her parents about what had bothered her, why she felt how she did. I wish that her account had been found, that her postings had been read, that maybe she shared them and would become an advocate for others who have suffered like she did.

Once Santana is in the picture Daelyn is forced to realize that while she might feel like there’s nothing for her, and that getting rid of herself is the only way, there are people who would be willing to do anything to make sure they could continue to live. Through seeing others bullied for being different like she was, Daelyn slowly begins to open up, to let people know that she does care… even though she really doesn’t want to.

The ambiguity of the ending is rather startling, though I hope most will think the same way I did, hoping it ended positively.

This book will remain on my bookshelf to potentially be loaned out to teenagers. It’s a perfect book to explain that people do care, even if you don’t realize it, and that there are many, many forms of bullying/abuse. This book would be an amazing book to have discussions about, and it includes potential discussion questions in the back.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
For the last 20+ years, I’ve been writing books for young readers. My YA novel, Luna, the story of a transgender teen beginning her transition from male to female, was a National Book Award finalist and an American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. (Thank you award committee members.) My other books about gender queer youth include Keeping You a Secret, Far from Xanadu (retitled, Pretend You Love Me), Between Mom and Jo, grl2grl: short fictions, Rage: A Love Story, She Loves You, She Loves You Not…, It’s Our Prom (So Deal With It), and my newest book scheduled for 2014, The Double Life of Swanee Durbin. Also check out my book about bullycide, By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead.

I’m a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, PEN America, the Authors Guild, and the Colorado Authors’ League. I live with my partner, Sherri Leggett, in Lakewood, Colorado. (We’re celebrating our 38th anniversary this year.

More information about me and my books can be found on my Web site: http://www.JulieAnnePeters.com

Review of My Very UnFairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski

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My Very UnFairy Tale Life
By Anna Staniszewski

Star Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/YA Urban Fantasy
Number of Pages: 208

Date Started: March 28, 2017
Date Finished: March 28, 2017

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
You know all those stories that claim fairies cry sparkle tears and elves travel by rainbow? They’re lies. All lies.

I’ve spent my life as an official adventurer. I travel across enchanted kingdoms saving magical creatures and fighting horrible beasts that most of you think are only myths and legends. I’ve never had a social life. My friends have all forgotten me. And let’s not even talk about trying to do my homework. So – I’m done!! I’m tired and I want to go back to being a normal girl. But then along comes “Prince Charming” asking for help, and, well, what’s a tired girl like me supposed to do?

Review:
What if you had something you were great at, but the novelty had worn off and you weren’t sure you wanted to keep doing it? Enter Jenny’s UnFairy Tale life. There are so many great messages that this novel gets across. Learning that what you thought you wanted and would make you happy isn’t going to if you have to give up things you enjoy is a great lesson all people can learn from. Relating to others and trying to make meaningful connections is also something that can be difficult when caught up in your own life. Facing your fears can be difficult, but there’s a solution to everything, if you look hard enough. Of course, Jenny’s “kindergarten phrases” as she calls them are usually great life advice that all of us could use a refresher in.

I absolutely love the tie in between Earth with Jenny’s aunt’s love of animals, and Jenny’s love of mini golf, and how that transitions to Speak and trying to defeat the dastardly villain.

Although listed in the teen category, I think this book would fit the perfect niche of 5th grade on, as there is a great story line and a lot of reminders about how to be a good friend, and a good person, for all.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
Born in Poland and raised in the United States, Anna Staniszewski grew up loving stories in both Polish and English. She was a Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a winner of the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award. Currently, Anna lives outside of Boston, Mass. and teaches at Simmons College. When she’s not writing, Anna spends her time reading, eating chocolate, and challenging unicorns to games of hopscotch. You can visit her at http://www.annastan.com.

Review of How I Found the Perfect Dress by Maryrose Wood

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Star Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/YA Urban Fantasy
Number of Pages: 231

Date Started: March 26, 2017
Date Finished: March 27, 2017

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
On a bike tour of Ireland last summer, Morgan Rawlinson fell for Colin, the hunky guide, and entered a portal that turned her into the goddess Morganne. Now she’s back to her painfully normal life and her relationship with Colin has fizzled to the occasional e-mail, until he writes saying he’s coming to Connecticut, just in time for the prom.

But when he arrives, he’s exhausted. It seems that when Morgan crossed the portal as Morganne, a spell was cast on Colin. In his dreams he’s being forced to dance ’til dawn with the faeries, who want to boogie with him for eternity. Somehow she has to break the spell on her date, help plan the prom, and find the perfect dress. Oh, what a night.

Review:
This book was a good, fast read. It was interesting and quirky, something that’d be great to bring to a beach.

That being said, the plot didn’t have much substance, and the characters didn’t grow much throughout the story. Within the novel there are countless fights and obvious issues between Morgan’s parents, yet this is never fully resolved. Morgan’s sister, Tammy, seems far younger than her age, but that might be because she’s only seen as the baby of the family. While there is obvious conflict involved for Morgan, her family seemed superfluous.

Still four stars, as it was a fairly good read, but not something I’d expect to pick up again.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
If you’d like to learn about Maryrose Wood, you can do so on her website www.MaryroseWood.com 

Review of The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

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The Wizard Heir
By Cinda Williams Chima

Star Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/YA Urban Fantasy
Number of Pages: 480

Date Started: March 19, 2017
Date Finished: March 26, 2017
Synopsis: (From Amazon)
Sixteen-year-old Seph McCauley has spent the past three years getting kicked out of one exclusive private school after another. And it’s not his attitude that’s the problem. It’s the trail of magical accidents-lately, disasters-that follow in his wake. Seph is a wizard, orphaned and untrained–and his powers are escalating out of control.

After causing a tragic fire at an after-hours party, Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boys’ school on the coast of Maine. At first, it seems like the answer to his prayers. Gregory Leicester, the headmaster, promises to train Seph in magic and initiate him into his mysterious order of wizards. But Seph’s enthusiasm dampens when he learns that training comes at a steep cost, and that Leicester plans to use his students’ powers to serve his own dangerous agenda.

In this companion novel to the exciting fantasy The Warrior Heir, everyone’s got a secret to keep: Jason Haley, a fellow student who’s been warned to keep away from Seph; the enchanter Linda Downey, who knew his parents; the rogue wizard Leander Hastings, and the warriors Jack Swift and Ellen Stephenson. This wizard war is one that Seph may not have the strength to survive.

Review:
I picked this book up from a used bookstore not realizing it was the second in a trilogy. That being said, after reading this book and the eluded bits about the first, I don’t feel as if I missed anything or don’t understand what’s happened from having started with the second. If you are going to read this series, I would likely recommend you start with the first book, The Warrior Heir.

This was a book I didn’t want to end. Instantly enthralled, it was very easy to empathize with Seph.  There was a depth to this novel that isn’t always seen in YA pieces, the motivations of what people are doing to achieve their goals not obvious at first, but understandable when revealed. On top of the great characterization and development, this book is also well written in a way that makes you want to know what happens next, and care very deeply for the connections the main protagonist makes.

So many lessons can be learned from this book. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you feel like something is wrong, don’t let anyone pressure you into doing something you’re uncomfortable with. Trust your instincts.

I read this book slowly, putting it off or only reading in small spurts to try to make it last longer, knowing that a find like this doesn’t come that often. I absolutely love this book and highly recommend it to others. I also think this book would likely be amazing for reluctant readers, due to how gripping the plot is.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
New York Times bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima began writing romance novels in middle school, which were often confiscated by her teachers. Her Heir Chronicles young adult contemporary fantasy series includes The Warrior Heir (2006), The Wizard Heir (2007), The Dragon Heir (2008), The Enchanter Heir (2013) and The Sorcerer Heir (2014) all from Hyperion.

Chima’s YA high fantasy Seven Realms series launched with The Demon King (2009), followed by The Exiled Queen (September, 2010) The Gray Wolf Throne (2011) and The Crimson Crown (2012.)

Chima’s latest series, The Shattered Realms, (HarperTeen) is set in the Seven Realms world, and features a new generation of characters. It includes Flamecaster and Shadowcaster (April 2017) with two more coming.

Chima’s books have received starred reviews in Kirkus and VOYA, among others. They have been named Booksense and Indie Next picks, an International Reading Association Young Adult Choice, to the Kirkus Best YA list, and the VOYA Editors’ Choice, Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, and Perfect Tens lists.
Chima lives in Ohio with her family, and is always working on her next novel.

Review of Confessions of a Serial Kisser by Wendelin Van Draanen

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Confessions of a Serial Kisser
By Wendelin Van Draanen

Star Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult
Number of Pages: 304

Date Started: March 4, 2017
Date Finished: March 5, 2017

Synopsis: (From Amazon)confessions-of-a-serial-kisser
Evangeline Logan wants a kiss. Not just any kiss—a “crimson kiss,” like the one in a romance novel she’s become obsessed with. But the path to perfection is paved with many bad kisses—the smash mouth, the ear licker, the “misser,” the tentative tight lipper.

The phrase “I don’t kiss and tell” means nothing to the boys in her school. And worse: someone starts writing her name and number on bathroom walls. And worst of all: the boy she’s just kissed turns out to be her best friend’s new crush.

Kissing turns out to be way more complicated than the romance novels would have you believe. . . .

Review:
I couldn’t put this novel down. From the first page, you’re drawn right into Evangeline’s life. Whether or not you’re interested in getting a heart racing, spark inducing, firework detonating kiss, this book is perfect. Evangeline is a bit lost, she wants to find something to make her feel like she’s truly living, and when she does, she puts all of herself into it. In order to do that, Evangeline makes herself edgy, changing her style, trying to stand out– something that most girls will experience at some point through high school. While Evangeline is busy searching for the crimson kiss she wants, she doesn’t stop to consider what that might do to others, just as most teenagers would do.

I absolutely love how important music is to Evangeline and how much it shapes her, though there were a lot of times when I wondered if the album name and several song titles were listed as more of a word addition than a necessary part of the story.

In the end, I absolutely loved this book and definitely recommend it to anyone who isn’t sure what they want, and knows that there must be something better out there for them. I’d also recommend this to anyone going through a dark time, needing something else to focus on. It’s flirty, it’s fun, and I give it five stars.

wendelinAuthor Biography: (From Amazon)
Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes mystery series, and wrote Flipped which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by SLJ and became a Warner Brothers feature film in 2010.

Her other stand-alone titles include The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones, Runaway, Confessions of a Serial Kisser, Swear to Howdy, and The Running Dream which was awarded ALA’s Schneider Family Award for its portrayal of the disability experience.

Van Draanen has also created two four-book series for younger readers. The Shredderman books feature a boy who deals with a bully and received the Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit,” and The Gecko & Sticky books, which are fun read-alouds, perfect for reluctant readers.

A classroom teacher for fifteen years, Van Draanen is married to Mark Huntley Parsons, also an author, and they have two sons.

Review of My Fairly Dangerous Godmother by Janette Rallison

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My Fairly Dangerous Godmother
By Janette Rallison

Star Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult, Fairy Tale, Fantasy
Number of Pages: 396

Date Started: March 1, 2017
Date Finished: March 4, 2017

Synopsis: (From Amazon)my-fairly-dangerous-godmother
Some people bomb auditions. Sadie Ramirez throws up during her tryouts on TV show America’s Top Talent. Her performance is so bad, it earns her a fairy godmother through the Magical Alliance’s Pitiful Damsel Outreach Program. Enter Chrysanthemum Everstar: a gum-chewing, cell phone-carrying, high heel wearing fairy godmother in training. She misinterprets Sadie’s wishes and sends her back in time to be a part of The Little Mermaid story and then makes her one of the twelve dancing princesses. Wishes are permanent, and if Sadie wants to get back to her home, she’ll have to strike a magical bargain–one that involves stealing a goblet from a powerful fairy queen. With a little help from a handsome and talented thief, she might be able to pull it off.

Review:
I had this novel sitting around for a while before I finally decided to read it. It was phenomenal! The music take was pretty neat to start, but I thought it would falter when instead of going into a unique fairy tale story, traditional fairy tales were invoked, but the realistic response that Sadie has to everything going on , and her honest revelations about stars, fame, and Jason Prescott, make this book an amazing novel that will resonate with readers forever. Although the opening is rather hard to get into at first, once you’re past Chrysanthemum Everstar’s report, the book becomes pure gold. While many hopefully won’t experience any of the truly turbulent events the heroes face, many can empathize with the struggles of the characters, their desires and motivations. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves fairy tales,  and anyone who loves music/wants to become a musician.

janette-rallisonAuthor Biography: (From Amazon)
Janette Rallison is old. Don’t ask how old, because it isn’t polite. Let’s just say she’s older than she’d like to be and leave it at that.

Janette lives in Chandler, Arizona with her husband, five children and enough cats to classify her as “an eccentric cat lady.” She did not do this on purpose. (The cats, that is; she had the children on purpose.) Every single one of the felines showed up on its own and refuses to leave. Not even the family’s fearless little Westie dog can drive them off.

Since Janette has five children and deadlines to write books, she doesn’t have much time left over for hobbies. But since this is the internet and you can’t actually check up to see if anything on this site is true, let’s just say she enjoys dancing, scuba diving, horse back riding and long talks with Orlando Bloom. (Well, I never said he answers back.)

Review of Dead and Gone by Norah McClintock

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Dead and Gone
Mike & Riel Mysteries
By Norah McClintock

Star Rating: 
Genre: YA Mystery

Number of Pages: 224

Date Started: January 12, 2016
Date Finished: January 14, 2016dead-and-gone

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
A shallow grave. Human remains. An unsolved murder from years ago. It looks like the past is coming back to wreak havoc on Mike’s new life. What’s making the usually unshakeable Riel so rattled, and what does a beautiful but manipulative girl have to do with it all?

Review:
From the first page I was hooked. I hadn’t read the other books that started Mike and Riel Mysteries, but that didn’t stop me from getting right into this one. All of the characters were well developed with strong personalities and moral compasses (or lack thereof). Mike, despite his faults, is easy to empathize with, because he doesn’t always consider the big picture when deciding to do things, which is something that everyone has to learn.

While this book is a mystery, I found that there were plenty of clues along the way that would lead a critical thinker to the conclusion, while still having far too much more to read. Despite that, I still read to the end, waiting to see if any of the characters might have a dramatic explosion over the major reveal.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
Norah McClintock has won an unprecedented five Arthur Ellis Awards for Crime Fiction for Mistaken Identity, The Body in the Basement, Sins of the Father, Scared to Death and Break and Enter. McClintock has also been nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award for her non-fiction title Body, Crime, Suspect; No Escape was nominated for the White Pine Award; and Hit and Run was nominated for the Red Maple Award in 2004.

Review of Teen Idol by Meg Cabot

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Teen Idol
By Meg Cabot

Star Rating: 
Genre: YA

Number of Pages: 320

Date Started: January 4, 2016
Date Finished: January 5, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)teen-idol
High school junior Jenny Greenley is so good at keeping secrets that she’s the school newspaper’s anonymous advice columnist. She’s so good at it that, when hotter-than-hot Hollywood star Luke Striker comes to her small town to research a role, Jenny is the one in charge of keeping his identity under wraps. But Luke doesn’t make it easy, and soon everyone – the town, the paparazzi, and the tabloids alike – know his secret . . . and Jenny is caught right in the middle of all the chaos.

Review:
Like so many Meg Cabot books, this novel shows that sometimes it’s easier to get along with everyone and blend in than it is to speak up and be yourself. Jenny was an extremely likeable character, and even the characters that were somewhat annoying grew during the novel, developing into people you could empathize with and care about.

Another amazing lesson that this novel shows is that relationships, even chance meetings between people, can be very touching to all involved. No matter age or occupation, there is always something you can learn from others, and what that something is can often be surprising.

Although this book originally came out in 2004 it seems a bit dated, perhaps because technology has evolved and cell phones have become almost essential to today’s youth. Despite that, the book was still a pleasure to read, and had great morals.

meg-cabotAuthor Biography: (From Amazon)
Meg Cabot was born in Indiana during the Chinese astrological year of the Fire Horse, a notoriously unlucky sign, but has been working hard ever since to give herself a happy ending. Her books for both adults and tweens/teens have included multiple #1 New York Times bestsellers, selling well over 25 million copies worldwide. Her Princess Diaries series has been published in more than 38 countries and was made into multiple hit films by Disney. Meg’s numerous other award-winning books include the Mediator series and the Heather Wells mystery series. Meg Cabot (her last name rhymes with habit, as in “her books can be habit forming”) currently lives in Key West with her husband.

Review of Twisted: The Girl Who Uncovered Rumpelstiltskin’s Name

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Star Rating: 
Genre: Young People/Young Adult

Number of Pages: 306

Date Started: December 19, 2016
Date Finished: December 22, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)twisted
The mystery of Rosamund Hodge’s Crimson Bound meets the romance of the best Beauty and the Beast retellings.

An old tale tells the story of how a little man named Rumpelstiltskin spun straw into gold and tricked a desperate girl into trading away her baby. But that’s not exactly how it happened.

The real story began with a drunken father who kept throwing money away on alcohol and women, while his daughter, Aoife, ran the family farm on her own. When he gambled away everything they owned to the Duke, it was up to her to spin straw into gold to win it all back.

With her wits and the help of a magical guardian, she outsmarted the Duke and saved the day.

Well almost…

Her guardian suddenly turned on Aoife and sent her on a quest to find his name, the clues to which were hidden deep in the woods, a moldy dungeon, and a dead woman’s chamber.

Her feelings for one of the men who tricked her from the start threaten to complicate everything. Not the tale of a damsel in distress, this is the story of a tenacious, young woman who solved a mystery so great that not even the enchanted man who spun straw into gold could figure it out.

Not until Aoife came along.

Review:
Aoife is a relatable protagonist who wants to decide what she does with her future, instead of allowing herself to be roped into marriage with a disagreeable gentleman. She is intelligent and understands how to make the most out of what one has, but while she could easily survive elsewhere, her family ties hold her strongly in place. The story began to deviate from the original and I was so excited… just to be smacked back into the regular story.

Unfortunately, while Aoife is a great protagonist, the rest of the characters in the story don’t seem to have personality, and they don’t grow throughout the novel. While one might expect that a being such as Rumpelstiltskin likely doesn’t have many manners because he hasn’t spent a lot of time around people, it seemed that the duke was constantly acting like a petulant child. Luckily, the duke does begin to realize that changing his behaviour does get him the correct attention he craves.

All said, I quite enjoyed this book and when I began it I was almost late to ballet class because I couldn’t put it down. Good read, and one I feel that reluctant readers who enjoyed fairy tales might really like.

bonnieAuthor Biography: (From Amazon)
Bonnie grew up a shy, quiet girl who the teachers always seated next to the noisy boys because they knew she was too afraid to talk to anyone. She always had a lot she wanted to say but was too afraid to share it for fear she might die of embarrassment if people actually noticed her. Somewhere along the line, perhaps after she surprised her eighth grade class by standing up to a teacher who was belittling a fellow student, she realized that she had a voice and she didn’t burst into flames when her classmates stared at her in surprise.

Not long after that, she began spinning tales, some of which got her into trouble with her mom. Whether persuading her father to take her to the candy store as a little girl or convincing her parents to let her move from Los Angeles to Manhattan to pursue a career at eighteen as a ballet dancer with only $200 in her pocket, Bonnie has proven that she knows how to tell a compelling story.

Now she spends her time reading and making up stories for her two children at night. By day she is an English teacher who never puts the quiet girls next to the noisy boys and works hard to persuade her students that stories, whether they are the ones she teaches in class or the ones she tells to keep them from daydreaming, are better escapes than computers, phones, and social media.

Review of The Mirror’s Tale by P. W. Catanese

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The Mirror’s Tale
A Further Tales Adventure
By P. W. Catanese

Star Rating: 
Genre: Young People/Young Adult
Number of Pages: 288

Date Started: December 10, 2016
Date Finished: December 14, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)mirrors_tale_front_cover
Everyone has heard the story — the dwarves, the talking mirror, the evil witch. But this tale doesn’t belong to Snow White anymore….

Bert and Will, the twin sons of the baron of Ambercrest, are best friends. They do everything together and can’t help it if trouble just seems to…find them. But the baron is fed up and has decided that separation will keep them out of mischief. One twin, he proclaims, will stay in Ambercrest for the summer, while the other will be sent to The Crags — a foreboding, rocky outpost on the edge of the kingdom.

It is there, hidden in a forbidden black chamber, that one of the boys discovers a bejeweled and mysterious mirror. What is the precious object? And why does it make him feel so…powerful? Soon the twins’ kinship is replaced by dark magic and deceit, and a kingdom hangs dangerously in the balance. What becomes of one who is ruled by the forces of evil? And can brotherly love conquer a consuming quest for power?

Review:
I love that there are elements of the classic fairy tale of Snow White in this book. I think that the story was perfectly entwined so that it didn’t deal so much with the fairy tale as it referenced it as most stories are– an event that most people don’t know the entire truth about. The depth of characterization was surprising and refreshing for the grade level, giving the villains realistic and understandable qualities and traits that readers might also face.

There are so many morals that one could take out of this book, including but not limited to: sometimes the life path you dream isn’t one that suits you, you can always improve your own behaviour if others find you act inappropriately (which is a far better plan than to act out and potentially hurt someone you care about), that not everything is as it seems.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
If you would like to read P. W. Catenese’s biography, check his Amazon page here.