Category: Reviews

Nantucket Red by Leila Howland | Review

Posted November 4, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 4 Comments
Nantucket Red by Leila Howland | Review

My Review There’s something about Leila Howland’s writing that makes it compulsively readable among the huge selection of YA contemporaries on the market today. I think it’s due to a combination of the dreamy, beachy setting of Nantucket along with her willingness to go just a little farther than other YA authors in her heavier content, from sex to grief to bullying. There’s a rawness around Cricket’s experiences that makes the narrative hit home a little more without compromising its status as a fun, beachy read. The first thing that I, (and many other reviewers, I’m sure), have to bring […]


Celebrating One Year of Book Buddies: A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis (& Giveaway!)

Posted October 29, 2015 in Book Buddies Reviews, Reviews / 10 Comments
Celebrating One Year of Book Buddies: A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis (& Giveaway!)

Cristina, Kaitlin, and Lauren Read: Book Buddies is a discussion style review I participate in every other month with my friend Lauren who runs the blog Bookmarklit. This month marks the one year anniversary of book buddies, and to celebrate Lauren had the fantastic idea of doing a group Book Buddies read with Kaitlin from Next Page Please!, who serves as her other book buddy. In keeping with the spirit of Halloween we chose a book that we had all been curious about that seemed appropriately eerie. You can find the last part of the chat below, but be sure […]


A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston | ARC Review

Posted October 19, 2015 in ARCs, Reviews / 13 Comments
A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston | ARC Review

My Review “Good men fall to monsters every day. Clever men are tricked by their own pride or by pretty words. That is what happened to the king in the tale she tells.” Very rarely do I find myself reading -and finishing- a book that was completely and totally not what I was expecting. Somehow, however, A Thousand Nights slipped through my bookish radar and when I finally got my hands on a much-coveted copy at ALA, I was somehow convinced it was going to be your average, run of the mill, Disney-washed Arabian folk tale retelling that was heavy […]


The Book We’ve All Been Waiting For: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | ARC Review

Posted September 28, 2015 in Reviews / 7 Comments
The Book We’ve All Been Waiting For: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | ARC Review

My Review “Greed may do your bidding, but death serves no man.” Have you ever read a book that totally and completely changes your opinion of an author? For me, Six of Crows was that book. Sure, I enjoyed the Grisha Trilogy well enough. It had some elements I liked, but it didn’t set itself apart, didn’t situate itself as an out-liar in my mind among the copious amounts of other YA fantasy that I read. So I admit to being nervous and more than a bit skeptical when I started Six of Crows (although my excitement was peaked after […]


When Tragedy Becomes Incredibly Important: Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson | ARC Review

Posted September 14, 2015 in Five Star Reads, Reviews / 4 Comments
When Tragedy Becomes Incredibly Important: Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson | ARC Review

My Review When I was at ALA this summer, I was pitched this book by an editor at Simon & Schuster when I asked specifically for heavier contemporary recommendations. The editor had worked on the collection himself and was SO excited about it, and it’s one of those instances in which I’m seriously glad that I asked for recommendations because it may not have been a title I would have picked up myself. I’m so glad that I spoke with that editor at ALA because this book is so intense and so bold in what it does: it doesn’t essentialize […]


Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy | ARC Review

Posted September 9, 2015 in Reviews / 7 Comments
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy | ARC Review

My Review I guess sometimes the perfection we perceive in others is made up of a whole bunch of tiny imperfections, because some days the damn dress just won’t zip. Dumplin’ is a book that completely took me by surprise this summer. I found out it was being signed at ALA and, despite the fact that YA contemporary isn’t always what I reach for first, found myself drawn to it. The simple cover, the tongue in cheek tagline (Go Big or Go Home)…I had a feeling Dumplin’ was going to be a hot mess or utter YA perfection. I need […]


Book Buddies Review: Nantucket Blue

Posted September 3, 2015 in Book Buddies Reviews, Reviews / 3 Comments
Book Buddies Review: Nantucket Blue

Cristina and Lauren Read: Book Buddies is a discussion style review I participate in every other month with my friend Lauren who runs the blog Bookmarklit. We choose a themed book for the month, read it, and the have a discussion where we both discuss themes and aspects that really stood out to us. Book Buddy Reviews are posted during the last week of the month.You can see our review in a Q&A format with half posted here, and half on Lauren’s blog!   1) How big of an impact did the romance aspect of the book have one you? […]


Firewalker (Worldwalker Trilogy #2) by Josephine Angelini | ARC Review

Posted September 1, 2015 in Reviews / 4 Comments
Firewalker (Worldwalker Trilogy #2) by Josephine Angelini | ARC Review

My Review It’s no secret that Firewalker was my most anticipated ARC of the year. I raved about Trial By Fire this January, and I adored the unique world that Angelini created that was a mixture of paranormal and science, with a dash of steam punk thrown in for good measure. It was different and complex and featured one of my favorite, and seemingly underrepresented, paranormal creatures: witches. You can imagine my immense emotional upheaval upon finishing this book and not deeming it worthy of 5 stars, or even 4 stars, but rather relegating it to the rather mediocre side […]


From Plot to Personal: Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer E Smith

Posted August 26, 2015 in Features, Plot to Personal, Reviews / 2 Comments
From Plot to Personal: Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer E Smith

Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between deals with the dilemma that so many young couples face upon graduating from high school: to break up or not to break up. Over the course of one evening, Jennifer E. Smith’s novel explores Aiden and Clare’s last night in their hometown before they embark on their journeys to colleges on opposite coasts. The premise of this novel really struck me because I was in the exact same position when I was there age. I was in a happy relationship and had been for about two years, was going away to school a significant […]


Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon | ARC Review

Posted August 17, 2015 in Reviews / 14 Comments
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon | ARC Review

My Review “You’re not living if you’re not regretting.”-pg 186 Everything, Everything was quiet in its execution but deafening in its impact. It’s the story of Madeline Whittier, who lives in her white room with her white furniture in her white clothes and eats her white food. She’s trapped due to the fragile nature of her own body, struck with an auto-immune disorder that makes the outside world one giant disease. Madeline’s story is one of what ifs: What if she wasn’t sick? What if she could go outside? What if she could go to school like a normal kid? […]