Young Adult

Review: Evening Star (Moonless Night Book 3) by Floriminda Edar Reid

★★★★ Evening Star by Floriminda Edar Reid (Book 3 of Moonless Night)

When catastrophe struck young lovers Alana and Christian, there remained nobody who could look after them but themselves. Christian, an immortal, always feared his strange world of magic and the unknown would hurt his mortal lover, and together they decide it’s finally time they left behind their troubles for the open sea. But their troubles are far from over, as the seas hide even greater troubles than they have faced so far.

Evening Star is the third book of the Moonless Night series by Floriminda Edar Reid, and the direct sequel to Elusive Dreams. The series follows teen-come-young-adult […]

2020-02-21T07:16:26+02:00April 26th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |

Review: Faete (The Blood Moon Series Book 1) by Aimée Oswald Sellars

★★★★ Faete (The Blood Moon Series) by Aimee Sellars

Renny McGuire is the last in a long line of proud seanachies – storytellers of the “old country.” She carries the tales her grandfather once told – stolen from the hall closet when he would wax on at the dinner table late at night – and she continues the tradition with her late night readings at her mother’s Celtic bookstore, Seanachie.

A less-told tale of her heritage comes from a place far more mysterious than the Emerald Isle, as the McGuires have a dark family secret – a secret uncovered by one teenage descendant with just a little too […]

2017-04-21T04:00:12+02:00March 13th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: The Book of Moon by George Crowder

★★★★★ The Book of Moon by George Crowder

Cynical adults may often point to the angst of younger generations and claim that they are being overly dramatic, and that they haven’t experienced enough of life to truly know heartbreak or sorrow. However, in The Book of Moon, author George Crowder reminds readers that pain is relative, and the fact that our capacity for sadness grows as we age does not make it any less potent when we are young.

Moon Landing seems like a normal kid growing up in California, but his musings on misfortune parallels to Job, the biblical whipping boy, suggest that he sees […]

2017-02-17T05:37:23+02:00January 31st, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: Detention Land (Book 1) by Susan Orion

★★★★ Detention Land (Book 1) by Susan Orion

Detention Land by Susan Orion is a wholly unique and affecting young adult novel about Roger Prism, who’s trapped in a prison of his own making. Roger keeps acting out at school, including drawing his teacher on a blackboard in permanent ink, which lands him in the strange zone dubbed Detention Land, in which a woman’s voice behind the wall probes Roger about his misdeeds. This limbo reflects Roger’s own mind, and his feeling of being trapped in his life, and he must come to a better understanding of himself if he’s ever going to be free of Detention […]

2017-02-17T05:40:52+02:00January 14th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |

Tainted by Hate (T. D. Book 3) by Patrice M. Foster

Tainted by Hate (T. D. Book 3) by Patrice M. FosterTainted by Hate by Patrice M. Foster is a harrowing but important book about friendship, racism, drug abuse, self-cutting, and trying to rise above it all. Angela and Jessica are good friends, but Angela’s family comes between them, as Angela’s father is a virulent and abusive racist and forbids their relationship.  Angela turns to self-harm in the form of drug abuse and cutting, threatening not just the friendship, but her own life. Jessica must help her friend, and Angela must muster the strength to transcend her family and all the damage it has wrought.

Though this is a book laden […]

2018-02-27T06:15:46+02:00December 8th, 2016|Categories: New Releases|Tags: , |

Review: Finding Moana by James Halemanu

★★★★ Finding Moana by James Halemanu

Moana is a 13-year-old Hawai’ian orphan from Kau’i. He is an outcast, with his wild hair and ways, but now must survive an attack on his village by cannibal snake zombies and their evil queen! If that doesn’t sound amazing, maybe a rescue party of cave-dwelling beings who teach Moana magical skills, or a time-traveling island and a couple of rather bizarre animal companions might just intrigue readers looking for something completely different.

Will Moana find out what really happened to his parents? What dark and mysterious feelings will he have to overcome to find out the truth about […]

2017-02-10T03:11:09+02:00December 6th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Blowback ’07 by Brian Meehl

★★★★½ Blowback '07 by Brian Meehl

Blowback ’07 by Brian Meehl is a stunning start to an exciting new series.

Time travel is a popular theme in fiction – YA and otherwise – and Blowback ’07 stands out immediately within the sub-genre for its original plot and charismatic heroes, Arky and Iris. The context of the story is revealed rather quickly, and we soon learn that Iris is in possession of a family heirloom – the Jongler cor anglais – a musical instrument with unknown powers that their mother left to the twins before she disappeared.

Arky and Iris don’t always get along very well, […]

Review: Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody by A.A. Freda

★★★★½ Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody by A.A. Freda

Growing up as a teenager in a big city is hard for the youth of any generation, but being an immigrant from Italy growing up on the mean streets of New York City in the 1960s was a bigger challenge than most. In Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody, author A.A. Freda gives us a picture of his own life as an immigrant in the Bronx from that historic time period. This semi-autobiographical tale is strikingly heartfelt and has the ring of deep truth, which makes it difficult to put down.

Joey is an innocent kid trying to make his way […]

2019-01-22T04:36:41+02:00November 2nd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , , |
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