Tag: young adult fiction

Book Review: The One That Got Away with Murder, by Trish Lundy    

Image belongs to Macmillan/Henry Holt and Co.

Title:  The One That Got Away with Murder     
Author:  Trish Lundy      
Genre:  YA, thriller  
Rating:  4 out of 5

Be careful who you fall for…

Robbie and Trevor Cresmont have a body count—the killer kind. Handsome and privileged, the Crestmont brothers’ have enough wealth to ensure they’ll never be found guilty of any wrongdoing, even if all of Happy Valley believes they’re behind the deaths of their ex-girlfriends. First there was soccer star Victoria Moreno, Robbie’s ex, who mysteriously drowned at the family lake house. Then, a year later, Trevor’s girlfriend died of a suspicious overdose.

But the Crestmonts aren’t the only ones with secrets. Lauren O’Brian might be the new girl at school, but she’s never been a good girl. With a dark past of her own, she’s desperate for a fresh start. Except when she starts a no-strings-attached relationship with Robbie, her chance is put in jeopardy. During what’s meant to be their last weekend together, Lauren stumbles across shocking evidence that just might implicate Robbie.

With danger closing in, Lauren doesn’t know who to trust. And after a third death rocks the town, she must decide whether to end things with Robbie or risk becoming another cautionary tale.

I enjoyed this thriller! (It kept me entertained throughout a day of boring meetings.) The people of Happy Valley—especially the soccer girls—were pretty mean, and they were horrible to Lauren. I liked how the author interspersed chapters from Lauren’s past with the present-day storyline, without giving away what really happened. I thought the mystery was well-done, and I didn’t figure out who the killer was until just a little bit before Lauren found out.

Trish Lundy lives in California. The One that Got Away with Murder is her debut YA novel.

(Galley courtesy of Macmillan/Henry Holt and Co. in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  What’s Eating Jackie Oh?, by Patricia Park   

Image belongs to Random House Children’s.

Title: What’s Eating Jackie Oh?   
Author: Patricia Park    
Genre:   YA   
Rating:  3 out of 5

Jackie Oh is done being your model minority.

She just hasn’t told her second-gen Korean American parents yet. They would never understand her unconventional dream to become a professional chef. Just ask her brother Justin, who hasn’t heard from them since he was sent to Rikers Island.

For now, when she isn’t avoiding studying for AP World History, Jackie is improving her French cooking techniques and working at her grandparents’ Midtown deli Melty’s.

Then the most unexpected thing: Jackie gets recruited for a casting audition for the teen edition of Burn Off!, her favorite competitive cooking show. Even more unexpected, Jackie becomes a contestant.

Jackie is thrown headfirst into the cutthroat competitive TV show world filled with psych outs, picky mom critiques, and dreaded microaggressions to lean into her heritage.

All Jackie wants to do is cook her way. But is her way to cook traditional French cuisine? Lean into her heritage? Or is it something more? To advance through the competition, Jackie must prove who she is on and off the plate.

Jackie Oh herself just didn’t work for me. I didn’t like her much at all. She had the whole I’m-a-special-snowflake mentality—but God forbid anyone treat her like a special snowflake—just let her do whatever she wants, already. It was perfectly fine for Jackie to judge everyone around her based strictly on appearances, but when someone dared judge her? Then they were narrow-minded, ignorant, and racist. While the things Jackie was so against are real issues, she was unlikable enough to make me skim over them.

The only reason I kept reading this was because of the food. Not all the food, but Jackie’s menus sounded fascinating and tasty, and I liked how she eventually got her act together and showcased the different cultures she was surrounded by. The ending was a total dud, as there was no resolution, merely a transcript of a social media posting. As a reader, I feel like the author broke my trust by leaving this story without a resolution.

Patricia Park is from Queens. What’s Eating Jackie Oh? is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House Children’s in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  The Reappearance of Rachel Price, by Holly Jackson   

Image belongs to Random House/Delacorte Press.

Title: The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Author: Holly Jackson   
Genre: YA     
Rating:  4 out of 5

Lights. Camera. Lies.

18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.

But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.

Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And – could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .  

I never quite figured out what was going on here! I suspected some things, but I was never sure. Kudos to the author for that! Bel’s prickly was actually quite appealing to me, although she went a little too far a few times—but at least she realized she’d gone too far, and backtracked. There are a lot of secrets in this novel, and some are very well-hidden. I enjoyed this thriller read and stayed up late to find out what was going on.

Holly Jackson is a bestselling author. The Reappearance of Rachel Price is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Bad Like Us, by Gabriella Lepore

Image belongs to Inkyard Press.

Title: Bad Like Us
Author: Gabriella Lepore     
Genre: YA, mystery     
Rating: 3.8 out of 5 

Spring break is a vibe—until someone gets murdered.

Partying with popular classmates they barely know is not what Eva and her BFFs had in mind for their spring break. But things have been off ever since Miles’ academic career took a turn for the worse (they don’t talk about it), so a trip to a private beach lodge might be exactly what they need. And Eva won’t admit it, but the chance to reconnect with Colton is worth putting up with Piper’s constant livestreams to her thousands of “besties.”

At first, it’s all sand and waves, but tensions run high when an anonymous letter shakes up an already-flailing love triangle.

When someone turns up dead, Eva can’t even trust her closest friends—but she thinks she can trust Colton. As they get closer to the truth, they uncover secrets that upend everything they thought they knew about their fellow spring breakers.

Frankly, Piper got on my very last nerve, and I had trouble keeping the other characters—well, the female characters except Eva—straight. It was a little hard imagining all these parents being okay with their teenagers going off on their own, with no phone service, so that required suspending my disbelief quite a bit. Despite the subject matter, this felt like a fluffy, quick read, and would probably be a good weekend read.

Gabriella Lepore lives in Wales. Bad Like Us is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #269

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

This was a solid writing week: one book review, The Summer She Went Missing, by Chelsea Ichaso, and five fiction writing sessions. Is it bad if I realize, while writing, that I know I’m wandering a bit and the second draft will have to be reigned in a lot? I hope not. I keep telling myself I’m just trying to get a feel for the character…

Happy writing!

Book Review: The Summer She Went Missing, by Chelsea Ichaso

Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Title: The Summer She Went Missing
Author: Chelsea Ichaso      
Genre: YA     
Rating:  4 out of 5

Last summer, they searched for Audrey Covington.

This summer, they’ll search for the truth.

Paige Redmond has always felt lucky to spend her summers in Clearwater Ridge, with lazy days sunning at the waterfalls and nights partying at the sprawling houses of the rich families who vacation there. The Covingtons are one of these families, and beautiful, brilliant Audrey Covington is Paige’s best friend. And last year, when Audrey’s crush-worthy brother Dylan finally started noticing Paige, she was sure it would be the best summer ever.

Except Audrey didn’t seem quite like herself. Then one night, she didn’t come home. Though Audrey wasn’t the first girl to disappear in Clearwater Ridge, she left behind more lies than clues. Now, one summer later, her case has gone cold, and nobody, least of all Paige, can make sense of what happened.

When Paige stumbles across a secret hidden in Audrey’s room, however, it changes everything she thought she knew about last summer. She and Dylan set out on their own investigation, discovering things even the police don’t know about the people of Clearwater Ridge. But tracking down missing girls—girls who might be beyond saving by now—means entering a world far darker than Paige has ever imagined. And if she isn’t careful, she’ll become the next girl to vanish.

I was drawn into this story from the very beginning! I do love YA novels, so there’s that, and the whole crush-on-her-best-friend’s-brother trope is usually a good one, so I was there for it. I actually enjoyed how the rich/not-rich dichotomy played out—and how not all the rich kids were jerks. The mystery was well done, and I did not figure out what was really going on until the reveal, so extra points for that.

Chelsea Ichaso lives in California. The Summer She Went Missing is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: One Night In A Thousand Years, by Craig Cunningham

Image belongs to BooksGoSocial.

Title: One Night In A Thousand Years (audio)   
Author: Craig Cunningham   
Genre: YA     
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Senior year was supposed to be the time of Colt’s life, but when he meets Lucas Oliver, a college-aged vagabond with a mysterious past, Colt’s life takes an unexpected turn.

Lucas mentors Colt and a group of eleven other senior guys, guiding them through a series of rites of passage over the course of the year. They are challenged by the power of sacred questions, courageous acts, and vulnerable authenticity, but the question remains: can Lucas be trusted with his unorthodox ideas about God, life, and death? Along the way, Colt’s feelings for Noa—a “band dork” he has known for years, deepen as he falls for her bright green eyes and charming honesty.

As Colt and the group of young men explore the wonders, romance, and adventures of their senior year, they are confronted with an event that challenges everything they hold true.

I really enjoyed this audio book! It felt like Dead Poets Society, with its whole coming-of-age vibe, although a teeny bit less sad. I loved how Colt came to realize there was more to life he’d ever imagined—and more that he wanted out of it. The friendships in this book are fantastic and realistic, with the good, the bad, and the ugly. I didn’t expect to enjoy it this much, but I was truly engrossed and listened to it straight through in one day.

Craig Cunningham lives in Waco, Texas. One Night in a Thousand Years is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of BooksGoSocial Audio in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Somewhere in the Deep, by Tanvi Berwah

Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Title: Somewhere in the Deep  
Author: Tanvi Berwah     
Genre:  Scifi, YA    
Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Seventeen-year-old Krescent Dune is buried under the weight of her dead parents’ debt and the ruinous legacy they left behind. The only way she can earn enough money to escape her unforgiving island is by battling monstrous creatures in an underground fighting pit. After a fight goes terribly wrong, she’s banned from the pits. Now hopeless, she is offered a deal: in exchange for the erasure of her debts, she must join and protect a hunting party for a rescue mission deep within the mining caves beneath the island.

Krescent is determined to keep her head down and fulfill her role as the dutiful bodyguard, even though she is trapped underground with her childhood enemy and a company of people who would gladly kill her if they knew who her parents were. As they come across creatures she believed only existed in legends, it becomes clear they are in far more danger than she could have imagined. But someone doesn’t want her to make it out alive. And she’ll have to figure out who before she’s left alone… in the dark.

I enjoyed this author’s first novel, Monsters Born and Made, but this one felt quite a bit more jumbled and chaotic. I loved Kress and Rivan and their friendship/potential for more, but I felt bombarded with new characters, new cultures, new historical “facts” that hadn’t even been mentioned in passing but were new suddenly key plot elements—deus ex machina. It just didn’t feel like a cohesive story, more like the author was grasping at straws.

Would a character and his culture, who had lived underground for generations in the dark and previously thought of as myth, really be able to speak coherently to surface dwellers able to use technology? I highly doubt it. But an inability to communicate didn’t work for the story, so they could—perfectly, no less—and there was no explanation for that bit of nonsense.

Tanvi Berwah graduated from the University of Delhi. Somewhere in the Deep is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Our Cursed Love, by Julie Abe   

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:  Our Cursed Love      
Author: Julie Abe    
Genre:  YA   
Rating:  4 out of 5

Six days to remember.

Love or lose him forever.

Remy Kobata has always wished she was destined to be with her best friend, Cam Yasuda. All the way from being neighbors from birth to mixing up magical prank potions together to their “just friends” homecoming date during their senior year in high school, nothing’s a secret between Remy and Cam―except for how much she is in love with him.

Remy is trying to work up the courage to confess her feelings during their winter break trip to Japan, when she gets selected for a mystical tea leaves reading and it reveals that they’re not meant to be together. After they stumble upon a secret magical apothecary in the back alleys of Tokyo, Remy and Cam are offered an ancient soulmate elixir, created before all love potions were banned by the magical government. They each have their reasons for wanting to take it, but what could go wrong with finding your soulmate a little earlier?

Except, after they drink up, their senior year trip flips into the worst vacation: Cam has forgotten who Remy is. If she can’t help Cam remember her by midnight New Year’s Eve, they’ll both be cursed to forget each other. To unravel their past and rewrite the future, Remy and Cam must travel through Tokyo to rediscover Cam’s memories and make new ones―and maybe even fall in love all over again.

I enjoyed this setting a lot! This Tokyo with a hint of magic was fascinating and believable, and I wanted to hop on a plane! I really enjoyed Cam and Remy’s friendship—in both realities—and loved all their memories of past experiences together. Even the secondary characters were a lot of fun, making this a sweet, engrossing read.

Julie Abe lives in Southern California. Our Cursed Love is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

What I Read in November (2023)

Books Read in November: 17
Books Read for the Year:  188/200

Topical Books/Monthly Goal Books:

Echo Island, by Jared C. Wilson (TBR). I wasn’t too impressed with this, honestly. An okay read, but that’s it.
The Dead Don’t Dance, by Charles Martin (audio, TBR). Awesome, just like everything else by this author.
The Iron Queen, by Julie Kagawa (re-read). Loved it, again.
Need, by Carrie Jones (re-read). This was an underwhelming re-read, but I think I’ll give the second one a try and see if it gets better.
Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater (re-read). This re-read was as good as I remembered it.
Dancing on the Head of a Pin, by Robert Benson (TBR). This was an interesting glimpse into a writer’s life.
English Lessons, by Andrea Lucado (TBR). I really enjoyed this narrative nonfiction read!
Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis (TBR). I really enjoyed this re-telling of a myth!

For Review:

The Fiction Writer, by Jillian Cantor. This was a little too meta for me, and the MC kept doing phenomenally stupid things.

Shards of Glass, by Michelle Sagara. I love this series of books, and I was excited to read this one, even if it wasn’t about Kaylin. Another excellent adventure that kept me glued to the page!

The Curse of Penryth Hall, by Jess Armstrong (review forthcoming). I enjoyed this quite a bit. Ruby was a lot of fun to read, and I liked the setting and everything going on in the novel at all times. I never figured out who the killer was, either.

This Cursed Light, by Emily Thiede (review forthcoming). I loved this! Alessa and Dante! They have the best relationship, and I loved how they both grow and change during this story.

Our Cursed Love, by Julie Abe (review forthcoming). I really enjoyed this romance/fantasy/hidden-world-of-magic read.

Just Because:
Spirit of the Wood, by Kristen Britain (TBR). I really enjoy everything in this series.
On Writing, by Stephen King (re-read). I’m not sure how many times I’ve read this, but I still love it.
Dirty Thirty, by Janet Evanovich. Man. Talk about a cliffhanger ending!
gods in Alabama, by Joshilyn Jackson. this is probably one of my top ten favorite books of all time… and it was just as good on this read. This is the book in which I discovered Southern fiction was a thing.

Left Unfinished:

Plot Twist, by Erin LaRosa. I’m not into frivolous and obsessed-with-what-people-think-of-them main characters. This is the second one of LaRosa’s books I’ve DNFed, so I probably should just accept that no matter how appealing her books sound, they’re just not a good fit for me.

Artifacts of an Ex, by Jennifer Chen. I completely appreciated the MC’s obsession with planning, but wasn’t a fan of her careless and juvenile behavior.

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, by Celeste Connally. Look, if I’ve read a third of the book and the MC says she doesn’t care about the ton and societal expectations but that’s all she can think about, and if all the male characters seem to be either foolish, demeaning, or borderline evil, well, I have no interest in finishing reading

This Spells Love, by Kat Robb. I liked the idea of this, but Gemma moping around and feeling sorry for herself—and repeatedly getting drunk—just didn’t do it for me. People like that annoy me, so I didn’t want to spend any more time with her.