Elli is perfectly positioned to be the heroine her country (and a YA fantasy novel) needs. Beautiful, with curly red hair and ice-blue eyes? Check. Fortuitously semi-complete prophecy that she will be the greatest and most powerful mage queen of all time? Check. Adolescent onset of fantastical powers? Actually, no. Although Elli is the destined…
The Ocean Herself saves Kahlen from drowning in a shipwreck and promises her a century free of aging and disease. All Kahlen has to do is join her sister Sirens in singing humans and ships to a watery grave when the Ocean’s hunger becomes overwhelming. With twenty years left to her service and a memory…
How dare this book make me love it so much? It had a slow start, and the premise seemed a bit like Harry Potter fan fiction, so I was all ready to toss it aside and give up. I am so glad I didn’t. Rowell’s first foray into fantasy has all of the heart and…
Ghostly sleuths hunt for a solution to a haunting problem in this young adult paranormal tale which asks and answers the question – “can you meet the man of your dreams even after you’ve died?” Phoebe Irving’s family moved from San Francisco to a small English country village when her step-dad inherited The Arnaud Manor…
Glass Sword is the second installment in Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series. Picking up right where book one leaves off, this is a book that will not stand well on its own. It is essential to read Red Queen in order to gain a full understanding of the story. Mare Barrow grew up as a…
When Everything Feels Like the Movies is the arresting début novel from twenty-five year old Canadian author, Raziel Reid. This is not a romance. There is the dream of love, but this is a ‘punch in the gut’ – a ‘wake-up call’, for our society. Already the winner,of the Governor General’s Literary Award in Canada,…
It’s been a long, slow slog but science fiction (of the encounters with aliens variety) is finally making a comeback. I, for one, have been delighted with the quality of the work we are seeing as well as the increase in number. In this novel we have a plot that mixes Invasion of the Body…
When Oliver’s father kidnapped him in second grade, it shattered the neighborhood Oliver left behind. Emmy is still defined as “the best friend of the kidnapped boy,” even to her overprotective parents, from whom she hides her passion for surfing. Oliver’s shocking return, while wonderful on the surface, proves to be more complicated for all…
Every once in a while I will read a book which I am certain is destined to be a big hit. This is such a book. It has everything a YA reader desires – romance, adventure, epic scope, feisty heroine, supportive hero. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about movie rights before very long. When…
Carly Vega works non-stop, desperate to both keep her grades up to earn a scholarship and to help earn enough money to smuggle her parents back to Florida after their deportation to Mexico. Arden Moss, rebelling against his authoritarian father and grieving his sister, refuses to work at all – not in school, not on…