Review: The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

My rating: 1.5 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group
Publication Date: June 29th, 2010
Publisher: Hyperion
Point of View: 1st Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 11+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Ghosts, Stereotypes (!)

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Alona Dare–Senior in high school, co-captain of the cheerleading squad, Homecoming Queen three years in a row, voted most likely to marry a movie star… and newly dead.

I’m the girl you hated in high school. Is it my fault I was born with it all-good looks, silky blond hair, a hot body, and a keen sense of what everyone else should not be wearing? But my life isn’t perfect, especially since I died. Run over by a bus of band geeks—is there anything more humiliating? As it turns out, yes—watching your boyfriend and friends move on with life, only days after your funeral. And you wouldn’t believe what they’re saying about me now that they think I can’t hear them. To top it off, I’m starting to disappear, flickering in and out of existence. I don’t know where I go when I’m gone, but it’s not good. Where is that freaking white light already?

Review: The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, #1) by James Patterson

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group
Publication Date: April 11th, 2005
Publisher: Little, Brown
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 10+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Action

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Six unforgettable kids — with no families, no homes — are running for their lives. Max Ride and her best friends have the ability to fly. And that’s just the beginning of their amazing powers. But they don’t know where they come from, who’s hunting them, why they are different from all other humans… and if they’re meant to save mankind — or destroy it.

Review: Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group
Publication Date: October 14th, 2014
Publisher: Little, Brown BFYR
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Death, Magical Realism, Feminism

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BLURB:

In this masterpiece about freedom, feminism, and destiny, Printz Honor author A.S. King tells the epic story of a girl coping with devastating loss at long last–a girl who has no idea that the future needs her, and that the present needs her even more.

Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities–but not for Glory, who has no plan for what’s next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she’s never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way…until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person’s infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions–and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying: A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women’s rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she’ll do anything to make sure this one doesn’t come to pass.

Review: Wildlife by Fiona Wood

Wildlife by Fiona Wood

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group
Publication Date: September 16th, 2014
Publisher: Poppy
Point of View: 1st Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 14+
Pacing: Normal
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Death, Contemporary, Friendship

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During a semester in the wilderness, sixteen-year-old Sib expects the tough outdoor education program and the horrors of dorm life, but friendship drama and love that gets complicated? That will take some navigating.

New girl Lou has zero interest in fitting in, or joining in. Still reeling from a loss that occurred almost a year ago, she just wants to be left alone. But as she witnesses a betrayal unfolding around Sib and her best friend Holly, Lou can’t help but be drawn back into the land of the living.

In this tender, funny story of first love, good friendship, and going a little bit wild, Fiona Wood introduces two unforgettable girls who discover that before you can be true to yourself, you have to figure out exactly who you are.

Review: I See You by Clare Mackintosh

I See You by Clare Mackintosh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Random House Canada
Publication Date: November 29th, 2016
Publisher: Berkely Books
Point of View: 1st & 3rd Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 14+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Adult, Mystery

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BLURB:

Every morning and evening, Zoe Walker takes the same route to the train station, waits at a certain place on the platform, finds her favorite spot in the car, never suspecting that someone is watching her… It all starts with a classified ad. During her commute home one night, while glancing through her local paper, Zoe sees her own face staring back at her; a grainy photo along with a phone number and a listing for a website called FindTheOne.com.

Other women begin appearing in the same ad, a different one every day, and Zoe realizes they ve become the victims of increasingly violent crimes including murder. With the help of a determined cop, she uncovers the ad s twisted purpose…A discovery that turns her paranoia into full-blown panic. Zoe is sure that someone close to her has set her up as the next target.

And now that man on the train the one smiling at Zoe from across the car could be more than just a friendly stranger. He could be someone who has deliberately chosen her and is ready to make his next move.

Review: Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group
Publication Date: October 23rd, 2012
Publisher:Little, Brown BFYR
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Normal
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, LGBT, Contemporary, Reputation

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BLURB:

Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother’s pushiness and her father’s lack of interest tell her they’re the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn’t know the passengers inside, but they’re the only people who won’t judge her when she asks them her most personal questions–like what it means that she’s falling in love with a girl.

As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. She can’t share the truth with anyone except the people at thirty thousand feet, and they don’t even know she’s there. But little does Astrid know just how much even the tiniest connection will affect these strangers’ lives–and her own–for the better.

In this truly original portrayal of a girl struggling to break free of society’s definitions, Printz Honor author A.S. King asks readers to question everything–and offers hope to those who will never stop seeking real love.

Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2013
Publisher:Little, Brown Books for young Readers
Point of View: 3rd Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Slow
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Vampires, Urban Fantasy, Romance

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Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

Review: Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Received: HarperCollins Canada
Publication Date: March 28th, 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, LGBT, Contemporary, Friendship

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What if everything you set yourself up to be was wrong?

Frances has always been a study machine with one goal, elite university. Nothing will stand in her way; not friends, not a guilty secret – not even the person she is on the inside.

But when Frances meets Aled, the shy genius behind her favourite podcast, she discovers a new freedom. He unlocks the door to Real Frances and for the first time she experiences true friendship, unafraid to be herself. Then the podcast goes viral and the fragile trust between them is broken.

Caught between who she was and who she longs to be, Frances’ dreams come crashing down. Suffocating with guilt, she knows that she has to confront her past…
She has to confess why Carys disappeared…

Meanwhile at uni, Aled is alone, fighting even darker secrets.

It’s only by facing up to your fears that you can overcome them. And it’s only by being your true self that you can find happiness.

Frances is going to need every bit of courage she has.

Review: Lucy by Randy Cecil

Lucy by Randy Cecil

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Publisher
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2016
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Recommended Age: All
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Children, Picture Books, Animals, Family

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BLURB:

A tiny dog, a kindhearted girl, and a nervous juggler converge in a cinematic book in four acts.

Lucy is a small dog without a home. She had one once, but she remembers it only in her dreams. Eleanor is a little girl who looks forward to feeding the stray dog that appears faithfully beneath her window each day. Eleanor’s father is a juggler with stage fright.

Review: Invaded by Melissa Landers

Invaded by Melissa Landers

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group
Publication Date: February 3rd, 2015
Publisher:Disney-Hyperion
Point of View: 3rd Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Slow
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Romance, Aliens

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BLURB:

Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her.

Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life.

The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?