My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: 1942
Publisher: Vintage International
Point of View: 1st Person & Masculine
Recommended Age: 16+
Genres & Themes: Adulr, Classic, Life, Psychological
BLURB:
Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.”
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My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: May 16th 2011
Publisher: Wild Child Publishing
POV: 1st person & female
Pacing: fast
Genres & Themes: YA, Contemporary, Romance, Friendship, Family, Music, Celebrity.
BLURB:
Sadie White’s summer job isn’t going to be on the beach life-guarding or working at rental booths like most kids her age. With her single mother’s increasing pregnancy and refusal to work, Sadie has to take over her mother’s job as a domestic servant for one of the wealthy summer families on a nearby island.
When the family arrives at their summer getaway, Sadie is surprised to learn that the owner of the house is Jax Stone, one of the hottest teen rockers in the world. If Sadie hadn’t spent her life raising her mother and taking care of the house she might have been normal enough to be excited about working for a rock star.
Even though Sadie isn’t impressed by Jax’s fame, he is drawn to her. Everything about Sadie fascinates Jax but he fights his attraction. Relationships never work in his world and as badly as he wants Sadie, he believes she deserves more. By the end of the summer, Jax discovers he can’t breathe without Sadie.
Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: September 9th 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
POV: 1st person & female
Pacing: fast
Genres & Themes: YA, Fantasy, Magic, Romance, Friendship.
BLURB:
“I did my best to keep you from crossing paths with this world. And I shall do my best to protect you now that you have.”
Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him.
The Sea of Monsters: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: July 2nd 2013
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Genres & Themes: YA, Graphic Novel, Greek Mythology, Adventure, Montsers, Friendship.
BLURB:
Seventh grade has been surprisingly quiet for Percy Jackson. Not a single monster has set foot on his New York prep-school campus. But when an innocent game of dodgeball among Percy and his classmates turns into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, things get…well, ugly. And the unexpected arrival of his friend Annabeth brings more bad news: the magical borders that protect Camp Half-Blood have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and unless a cure is found, the only safe haven for demigods will be destroyed.
In the follow-up to the wildly popular The Lightning Thief, The Graphic Novel, Percy and his friends must journey into the Sea of Monsters to save their camp. But first, Percy will discover a stunning new secret about his family–one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon’s son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.
Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Format: hardcover
Pages: 384
Pacing: Uneven–fast & slow
POV: 3rd person
Publication Date: September 2nd 2014
Genres & Themes: YA, Fantasy, Witches, Magic, Romance, Friendship, Betrayal, Sisterhood
BLURB:
This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying experiences that others in her hometown of Salem take for granted, which is why she is determined to enjoy her first high school party with her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan. But after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class, Lily wishes she could just disappear.
Suddenly, Lily is in a different Salem—one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruelest of them all is Lillian . . . Lily’s other self in this alternate universe.
What makes Lily weak at home is what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. In this confusing world, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can’t hope to shoulder alone and a love she never expected.
Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: August 5th 2014
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Pacing: fast
POV: 1st person & female
Genres & Themes: YA, Gothic, Steampunk, Romance, Ghosts, Friendship.
BLURB:
There are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally.
Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including their outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the Ghost and learns he has been watching her … for a very long time.
As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen must confront her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the Ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined. She must decide whom she can trust, because as her heart is torn, the factory is exploding around her … and she might go down with it.
The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: October 12th 2010
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pacing: fast
Genres & Themes: Graphic Novel, Adventure, YA-MG, Mythology
DESCRIPTION:
You’ve read the book. You’ve seen the movie. Now submerge yourself in the thrilling, stunning, and action-packed graphic novel.
Mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking out of the pages of twelve-year-old Percy Jackson’s textbooks and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now, he and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus.
Series creator Rick Riordan joins forces with some of the biggest names in the comic book industry to tell the story of a boy who must unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.
The Merciless by Danielle Vega
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: June 12th 2014
Publisher: Razorbill
Genres & Themes: YA, Paranormal, Creepy, Secrets.
BLURB:
Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged. No one outside of these dank basement walls knows she’s here. No one can hear her scream.
Sofia Flores knows she shouldn’t have gotten involved. When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day at school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn’t realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed.
Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation. All Sofia wants is to get out of this house. But there is no way out. Sofia can’t go against the other girls . . . unless she wants to be next. . . .
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: June 10th 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genres & Themes: YA, Supernatural, Witches, Magic, Romance, Action.
BLURB:
If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her?
Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But it’s when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world that she learns her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too.
Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie’s about to uncover the many dark truths about her life—and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.
The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication date: May 27th 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genres & Themes: YA, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Demons, Ghosts, Romance.
BLURB:
Paige Kelly is used to weird–in fact, she probably corners the market on weird, considering that her best friend, Dottie, has been dead since the 1950s. But when a fire demon attacks Paige in detention, she has to admit that things have gotten out of her league. Luckily, the cute new boy in school, Logan Bradley, is a practiced demon slayer-and he isn’t fazed by Paige’s propensity to chat with the dead. Suddenly, Paige is smack in the middle of a centuries-old battle between warlocks and demons, learning to fight with a magic sword so that she can defend herself. And if she makes one wrong move, she’ll be pulled into the Dark World, an alternate version of our world that’s overrun by demons-and she might never make it home.
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