"Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell, a Reivew by Mia

Fangirl

by Rainbow Rowell (Goodreads Author)

Fangirl 4.47 of 5 stars 4.47  ·    

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Han...more A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? - Goodreads.com

 

This is going to be a short review, because there's nothing I didn't like about Fangirl. The characters, the plot, the style... Every part of Fangirl is exciting to read. Even if though it's not fantasy, and Cath's life is pretty normal, it's still exciting and you still care. This book is a good summer beach/pool read, but it's a good read anytime. All I know is I'll be fangirling over Fangirl for a while.

Review by Mia, a YBR Teen Book Group Member

"Asylum" by Madeleine Roux a Review by Taya

Asylum

by Madeleine Roux (Goodreads Author)

Asylum 3.09 of 5 stars 3.09  · 

Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arriv...more Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity. - Goodreads.com

 

I found this book to be chilling, in a good way. How the author incorporates insanity into a somewhat sane mind was brilliant. There were times when I was reading it and I found myself feeling scared of going into my own places of insanity. It was definitely a nightmarish book that made it hard to go to sleep. The beginning had a certain aspect of reality to a teenage mind which helped later on in the book for getting absorbed into the story and characters. Some of the transitions from chapter to chapter were kind of rough, and there were times when I didn't know if it was being written in second or third person. But in all I really enjoyed this book and the way it consumed the reader.

 

Review by Taya, a YBR Teen Book Club member

"The Eye of Minds" by James Dashner a Review by Taya

I personally did not enjoy this book. The storyline revolved mostly around gamers and the game they were in and as I am not a gamer myself I could not really relate to the story and what was going on. I also did not know a lot of the language they were using because I am not a gamer. Compared to his series The Maze Runner I thought it was weak and did not have a good hook. I also did not find the end of the book to be much of a twist because I guessed that was going to happen fairly early on in the book. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy playing video games because it does have a lot of interesting concepts they just are not concepts that I am interested in.

"The Beginning of Everything" by Robyn Schneider a Review by Taya

"The Beginning of Everything

by Robyn Schneider (Goodreads Author)

The Beginning of Everything 4.02 of 5 stars 4.02    

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra fi...more Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

Robyn Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything is a lyrical, witty, and heart-wrenching novel about how difficult it is to play the part that people expect, and how new beginnings can stem from abrupt and tragic endings." Goodreads.com

 

I loved this book. It was very relatable and the characters reminded me a lot of some of my friends. Each chapter had it's own reality to it, which helped in it's relatability. I am not usually someone to like sappy love stories, at least not when it comes to reading, but each sentence was so well written and placed that you didn't feel like it was unrealistic as in most sappy books. It was a book that made me have emotions towards the characters, it made laugh and tear up, and to me that is the test of a good book, is if it can make you feel, or bring memories to the surface that were once long forgotten. This book is definitely a keeper and I know I will probably read it more that once.

 

Review by Taya, YBRTeen Book Club Member

"Far Far Away" by Tom McNeal: A Review

It says quite a lot about Jeremy Johnson Johnson that the strangest thing about him isn't even the fact his mother and father both had the same last name. Jeremy once admitted he's able to hear voices, and the townspeople of Never Better have treated him like an outsider since. After his mother left, his father became a recluse, and it's been up to Jeremy to support the fa...more "It says quite a lot about Jeremy Johnson Johnson that the strangest thing about him isn't even the fact his mother and father both had the same last name. Jeremy once admitted he's able to hear voices, and the townspeople of Never Better have treated him like an outsider since. After his mother left, his father became a recluse, and it's been up to Jeremy to support the family. But it hasn't been up to Jeremy alone. The truth is, Jeremy can hear voices. Or, specificially, one voice: the voice of the ghost of Jacob Grimm, one half of the infamous writing duo, The Brothers Grimm. Jacob watches over Jeremy, protecting him from an unknown dark evil whispered about in the space between this world and the next. But when the provocative local girl Ginger Boultinghouse takes an interest in Jeremy (and his unique abilities), a grim chain of events is put into motion. And as anyone familiar with the Grimm Brothers know, not all fairy tales have happy endings. . ." Goodreads.com

"Young adult veteran Tom McNeal (one half of the writing duo known as Laura & Tom McNeal) has crafted a novel at once warmhearted, compulsively readable, and altogether thrilling--and McNeal fans of their tautly told stories will not be disappointed." Goodreads.com

"What follows is the strange and fateful tale of a boy, a girl, and a ghost." Thus begins Tom McNeal's new book for young adults, Far Far Away. The narrator of this dark and grim tale is none other than Jacob Grimm himself. He is obligated to watch over young Jeremy Johnson Johnson to keep him safe from the unknown Finder of Occasions. During Grimm's watch, we enter the small town of Never Better and discover the quirks of life in a small town. Not only is this book awesomely creepy, Jeremy is a wonderful character that draws the reader in. He is smart, quiet, and desires a better life, one outside of town. He lives with his father, whom he takes cares of since his dad has withdrawn from the world due to severe depression. The plot moves along with wonderful added details about the Brothers Grimm's life and works. If you are a fan of modern day fairy tales, the Brothers Grimm, or just like a dark and creepy tale, be sure to pick up Far Far Away. Warning, you might just get taken far far away.

Review by Anne Armstrong

"In The Shadow of Blackbirds" by Cat Winters: A Review

"In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?" Goodreads.com

"Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time." Goodreads.com

For some reason, I fought reading this book (too many people told me I had to read it). I finally opened it up and a few hours later, I couldn't put it down. Living in San Diego and knowing some of our history is one of the reasons I enjoyed this book. Winters did a wonderful job of describing 1918 San Diego, Coronado, and Balboa Park. The 1918 photographs inserted in the book added a nice touch to the realities of the horrors of the Spanish Flu and WWI.

Another reason why I enjoyed this book is the main character, Mary Shelley Black. This young lady has a scientific mind, she enjoys taking apart and putting house hold items back together. She believes in the science of the world and when unexplainable events begin to happen to her, she doesn't freak out, she goes on a quest to learn about what is happening to her. This is in a time when women were working in the factories but were still not able to vote or think for themselves. Throughout the story, Mary Shelley never lost touch with who she was and what she needed to do.

I recently finished "Illusion" by T. Brown, very similar to "In The Shadow of Blackbirds" with spiritualism, mediums, and searching for lost loved ones. What Brown was lacking, Winters gave the reader. Throughout the book the reader gets a sense of the true horrors that were happening during this time, the war, the flu, the amount of loss of human lives and the desperation of people trying cope with the loss. The sense of desperation added to the plot, creating a wonderful experience for the reader.

Finally, I know I liked a book when I try to find a way to bring it into my English classes. This book would be perfect for 11th grade English. The detail that is given about War World I and daily live in San Diego (1918) was wonderful. I was horrified about the descriptions of life in the trenches, the way soldiers with PTS were treated, and the images of dead bodies laying on the streets waiting to be picked up. This book is a perfect way to bring in American History to the English class.

Go out and get this book. Devour it, share it, and look forward to the next novel by Cat Winters.

Review by Anne Armstrong

"Game" (Jasper Dent #2) by Barry Lyga: A Review

Billy grinned. "Oh, New York," he whispered. "We're gonna have so much fun."

"I Hunt Killers introduced the world to Jazz, the son of history's most infamous serial killer, Billy Dent." Goodreads.com

"In an effort to prove murder didn't run in the family, Jazz teamed with the police in the small town of Lobo's Nod to solve a deadly case. And now, when a determined New York City detective comes knocking on Jazz's door asking for help, he can't say no. The Hat-Dog Killer has the Big Apple—and its police —running scared. So Jazz and his girlfriend, Connie, hop on a plane to the big city and get swept up in a killer's murderous game." Goodreads.com

"Both the stakes and the body count are higher in this suspenseful and unstoppable sequel from acclaimed author Barry Lyga." Goodreads.com

Holly Cow, what a sequel! Once again, Mr. Lyga did not disappoint me (however he left me on the hanging on a very large cliff). If you enjoyed I Hunt Killers, be sure to read Game. The only suggestion I have for the reader, wait to read this until 2014, when the next book comes out. That way you won't be stranded on this damn cliff for so long.

Jasper is still a great character, he has not solved his internal conflicts, and still questions his motives. This time around we get to know Jasper's girlfriend a bit better. She is feisty, strong willed and only wants to help Jasper; this can be a problem some of the time. We also get to know more about Jasper's background, his mother, his father, and his father's warped sense of the world. The plot moves along at a fast pace with a few sub plots running alongside. Lyga ties in all of the plots by the end of the book, but like I said before, leaves you dangling from a very large cliff.

Read I Hunt Killers and Game. Once again some of the scenes in this book are brutal, but they advance the plot and shows the brutality of Jasper's world.

Review by Anne Armstrong