Tag: young adult fiction

The Sky Between You and Me, by Catherine Alene

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Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Catherine Alene is a teacher who has battled an eating disorder. Her new novel is The Sky Between You and Me.

Raesha wants to win Nationals. It’s not just about competing and how great her horse is, it’s also about honoring the memory of her mother and they dream they used to share. This year, it’s also about beating the new girl on the team, who keeps flirting with Raesha’s boyfriend and hanging out with her best friend.

Lighter. Leaner. Faster.

This is all Raesha thinks about. She knows minus five on the scale will give her an edge in competition, will make her horse faster. It will also make her more like her mother. So Raesha focuses on minus five to the exclusion of all else, until she is no longer sure of who she is without it.

The Sky Between You and Me is a free verse novel, which I didn’t realize before I started reading it. I almost put it down, but I’m so glad I didn’t. The free verse puts the reader firmly in Raesha’s head, allowing them to see everything from her perspective, where Lighter. Leaner. Faster makes sense. But the reader can also see the destructive path Raesha is on, and wants desperately for her to fight her way free of the eating disorder that has consumed her whole life. A great read!

(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley.)

You Don’t Know My Name, by Kristin Orlando

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Image belongs to Swoon Reads.

Kristin Orlando has a degree in English literature and loves, words, bacon, and PJs. You Don’t Know My Name is her new novel.

Seventeen-year-old Reagan Hillis isn’t used to having friends and a normal life. She’s used to secrets, combat, and weaponry, having spent her life training to follow her parents’ footsteps in the top-secret Black Angels. Now she has a life, a group of friends, and feelings for the boy next door, Luke. Reagan isn’t even sure if she wants to be a Black Angel. Wouldn’t a normal life be so, well, nice?

When a rescue mission goes bad in South America, Reagan’s parents are right in the middle of it, and trouble follows them home, threatening to capsize Reagan’s normalcy and sink it without a trace. Reagan is tired of leaving her life in the middle of the night, and desperate for her parents to understand. But sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to, to save others, and Reagan finds herself on a mission with high stakes, a mission her normal life pales in comparison to.

I was expecting a fun type of story, like the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter. (I don’t know why I was expecting this, I just was.) That is not what I got. Instead, I got adventure, action, anxiety…and romance. Reagan has had a challenging life, and until recently, she’s been happy to follow her parents’ footsteps. But now she sees just how thrilling normal can be, and wants it more than anything. She’s so normal, so real, that I just loved her. Her relationship with Luke felt natural and charmed me. This is a fantastic read, but the ending was not what I expected. Looking forward to the next book in the series!

(Galley provided by Swoon Reads via NetGalley.)

 

All Darling Children, by Katrina Monroe

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Image belongs to Red Adept Publishing.

Katrina Monroe lives in Minnesota and loves spoiling her cat and writing. Her newest novel is All Darling Children.

Madge Darling hates her life. She lives with her cruel Grandma Wendy who rules with an iron fist, but she dreams of running away and finding her mother, who Wendy claims is dead. When Wendy has a heart attack, Madge seizes the opportunity and heads to Chicago, in a search of a woman she believes to be her mother.

On her way, Peter Pan entices her to Neverland, where children never grow up, and Madge finds herself in a place where magic is around every corner and fun is the name of the game. But it’s not all fun and games in Neverland, and Peter’s twisted ideas of reality reveal the darker side of Neverland, a Neverland that is no longer a place of the light.

All Darling Children is a sort-of sequel to Peter Pan, but readers looking for a Disney version of the tale beware. This is not your parents’ Neverland, and Peter Pan is not a happy-go-lucky leader looking out for the welfare of his boys. Madge is a great character, far more adult than her age, fourteen, indicates, and she fights hard when thrown into a situation far beyond her experiences. I really enjoyed reading this, but it makes me look at the cartoon version a little bit differently.

(Galley courtesy of Red Adept Publishing via NetGalley.)

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett, by Chelsea Sedoti

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Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Chelsea Sedoti lives in Las Vegas, but hates casinos. She prefers the Mohave Desert, animals, and writing about flawed teenagers who refuse to grow up. Her novel, The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett, just released.

Hawthorn Creely has one friend, a brother who ignores her, a mother with an embarrassing past, and enough social anxiety to kill a cat. She and the “in” crowd don’t exactly mesh—Hawthorn got burned by one of them years ago, and is still scarred for life. When it-girl Lizzie Lovett disappears, the whole town turns out to search for her, and that’s all anyone talks about. Except Hawthorn. What’s the big deal? Most of the people obsessing about Lizzie don’t even know her.

But soon Hawthorn finds herself wondering what happened to Lizzie, and comes up with a theory so crazy even she can’t believe it. Or can she?  To find out the truth, Hawthorn gets a job at the diner Lizzy worked at and befriends Lizzie’s boyfriend, who everybody thinks killed her. But that’s just ridiculous, isn’t it? As Hawthorn’s obsession with Lizzie Lovett grows, she soon realizes nothing is as she once thought it was.

I loved this book. Hawthorn is a somewhat-unreliable narrator, but aren’t we all? She is overflowing with life, but relating to people is not her strong point. She says what she thinks—and that often results in misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and/or disaster. The family dynamics in this book are complex, and give the reader a glimpse into just why Hawthorn feels like such an outsider in her life. Obsessive, curious, and awkward, Hawthorn is all of us personified. I highly recommend this!

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley.)

Every Mountain Made Low, by Alex White

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Image belongs to Solaris.

Alex White is a born-and-raised Southern writer who likes Legos, racecars, and, of course, whiskey (He is Southern, after all.). Every Mountain Made Low is his first published novel.

Loxley Fiddleback is haunted.

She inherited her ability to see spirits, but the problem is, they can see her, too. They are drawn to her, and the pain from their touch is excruciating. Seeing ghosts is cruel and painful, and none more so than the spirit of her best friend, alive only a few hours ago.

Loxley isn’t cut out to solve a murder:   she lives near the bottom of a strip-mined pit of a city called “The Hole” and suffers debilitating anxiety and fear of strangers. But Loxley swears to revenge her friend’s murder, and soon uncovers a conspiracy that leads all the way to the top of The Hole. And her enemies are looking for her, too, especially a brutal enforcer named Hiram who will follow Loxley into the strange depths of the city to protect the secrets he’s been hired to safeguard.

Every Mountain Made Low has probably the most unique setting I’ve ever read. I was almost through with the book when I realized The Hole was in the American South (not that that really matters, just an observation). And Loxley is one of the most unique characters I’ve ever read, too. Her mental differences make her viewpoint sometimes-disorienting, but always intriguing, and I found the world both discouraging (because I could see our culture headed that way) and interesting (because it’s just so different). This book is well-worth reading!

(Galley provided by Solaris.)

Unnatural Deeds, by Cyn Balog

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Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Cyn Balog is a young adult author. Her newest novel is Unnatural Deeds.

Victoria Zell has never fit in. Not that she cares. She and her homeschooled boyfriend, Andrew, are inseparable, so Victoria doesn’t care about anyone else. Until Zachary Zimmerman shows up in her homeroom:  he’s gorgeous and popular, everything Victoria is not. Within the first hour, he convinces her to cut class, and now Victoria can’t get enough of that rush.

Even though Vic is loyal to Andrew, she is drawn to Z. But Z has secrets, and soon Vic is lying to everyone as she tries to unravel those secrets. Except Z isn’t the only one with secrets, and Vic’s past will come back to haunt her in its destructive rampage.

This book…I thought I knew where it was going. Seriously. All the signs pointed one way, and then we ended up completely off the map. I never saw the ending coming. Like, at all. Z and Vic are both great characters, and you’ll find yourself drawn into their mystery as they struggle to untangle it. You should definitely read this book!

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks Fire.)

Did I Mention I Miss You? by Estelle Maskame

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Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Estelle Maskame is the author of the Wattpad sensation Did I Mention I Love You? trilogy. Did I Mention I Miss You? is the final book.

Eden hasn’t spoken with Tyler in over a year. After he left her, she started a new life at a school in Chicago, and tried to forget about Tyler. Now she’s just angry at him, and she never wants to speak to him again. But back in Santa Monica for the summer, it’s hard to forget Tyler when she’s surrounded by things that remind her of him.

And she’s not the only one who returns to Santa Monica. Tyler has made a new life for himself, and he wants Eden in it. Eden is confused by this new Tyler, and she’s not sure if she can ever forgive him. But when family conflict draws them together, Eden must decide if Tyler is worth everything he’s put her through.

Okay, I’ll admit it:  cheesy high school movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. Think Ten Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance. I also love reading books like that, and the DIMILY trilogy fits nicely in there. It’s been fun seeing Eden and Tyler change and grow throughout the books, and this is an enjoyable ending to a series I liked.

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley.)

One Was Lost, by Natalie Richards

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Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Natalie Richards used to work in a boring office cubicle before she discovered the art of making things up and became a young adult author. Her newest novel is One Was Lost.

Sera did not want to go on her senior camping trip, but she didn’t have a choice. She especially didn’t want to go with Lucas, with whom she has a history. But there she was, hiking through the woods with a group of teenagers, and the only thing she has in common with them is this stupid trip.

Until the group is split in two, and her group wakes up groggy and disoriented, with words scrawled on their wrists. Their supplies are gone. Their chaperone is unconscious. And they find four dolls acting out a murder…four dolls dressed exactly like them. Someone stalks them in the woods, and since Sera has the only positive word on her wrist, soon everyone is suspicious of her. They have to get out of the woods before someone else winds up hurt or dead, but their stalker is always one step ahead.

So, this book….I’m a bit of a chicken sometimes, and this book creeped me out several times. Things kept getting worse for Sera and her friends, and the setting was spooky enough to make me swear off camping in the woods. Like, forever. I never did figure out what was going on, right up until the action-packed ending. One Was Lost kept me flipping pages until I finally found out what was going on.

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley).

The Cabin, by Natasha Preston

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Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Natasha Preston is a New York Times bestselling author from England. Her newest novel is The Cabin.

It’ been a rough year for Mackenzie and her friends. They lost two of their group in a car accident months ago, and things have not been the same since. Now, with graduation looming, they decide to celebrate at Josh’s parents’ cabin in the woods. Sounds fun, right?

Right up until the moment when they find two of their group brutally murdered. And with no signs of forced entry, that means one of the five survivors is the killer. With all eyes upon them, Mackenzie’s life—and those of her friends—will never be the same. She can’t stand not knowing what happened, but when her efforts to figure it out result in another death, Mackenzie starts to wonder just how well she really knows her friends.

The Cabin is creepy in a spine-tingling, looking-over-your-shoulder way. The characters are great, vibrant with life and their relationships are complex. Like Mackenzie, I didn’t want to believe one of them was the killer. Unlike Mackenzie, I’m positive I wouldn’t have gone back out into the woods looking for clues. If you’re looking for a read that will suck you in and keep you flipping the pages, grab this one!

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley.)

Heir of Thunder, by Karissa Laurel

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Image belongs to Evolved Publishing.

Karissa Laurel is the author of The Norse Chronicles. Her newest book, Heir of Thunder, is the first book in The Stormbourne Chronicles.

Evelyn Stormbourne is left reeling by the sudden death of her father amidst an attack by revolutionaries. Her only ally is Gideon, her father’s horse master, who helps her conceal her identity as they flee to the safety of the coast to find a ship to the Continent.

When a horrific storm washes Evie overboard, she finds herself “rescued” by slavers collecting girls from all cultures. Though Evie escapes, she’s determined to save her fellow captives, with the aid of nomads who live in airships fueled by lightning. Add in a cabal of Dark Magicians intent on using her to create a new god, and an ancient family intent on claiming Evie’s birthright, and the likelihood of disaster is high, as Evie struggles to embrace her identity as well as her powers.

Heir of Thunder is an engaging read set in an intriguing world. The airships are fascinating, as is the culture of the people who live in them. Evie starts off as a sheltered, spoiled brat, but grows so much as a character throughout the novel. A great epic fantasy read for YA or adult readers alike.

(Galley provided by Evolved Publishing via NetGalley.)