Young Adult

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

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Lola and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Dutton Books (29th September 2011)
Blurb:

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit – the more sparkly, more fun, more wild – the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighbourhood.

When Cricket – a gifted inventor – steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

Stephanie Perkins writes the kind of contemporary romance that I enjoy. Lola and the Boy Next Door is a companion piece to Anna and the French Kiss – which I loved (you can find my review here) – so I thought I’d give it a try, and I was NOT disappointed.

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Review: If I Die by Rachel Vincent

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Soul Screamers #5 Cover

If I Die by Rachel Vincent, UK edition cover.

Title: If I Die (Soul Screamers #5)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: MiraInk (3rd February 2012)
Blurb:

KAYLEE CAN SEE DEATH COMING. NOW SHE MUST FACE HER OWN.

As a teen banshee, Kaylee’s blood-curdling screams are a death knell for others. Yet she never expected to see her own name at the top of a reaper’s list.

Scheduled to die within days, Kaylee knows her magic can’t change her fate. Worse, on top of worrying about her own demise, she needs to save mortal best friend Emma from the clutches of a deadly Netherworld creature.

As Kaylee’s time on earth slips away, troubled banshee boyfriend Nash and his reaper brother Tod refuse to give up on Kaylee. They’re ready to unearth murky family secrets to give her a last chance at life, as their fight to save Kaylee becomes a battle for her love.

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

I have enjoyed reading the first four books in Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamer series, so of course I had to get this – the fifth – book. If I Die continues teen banshee Kaylee’s story as she discovers that she is on a reaper’s list.

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Review: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby

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Shotting Stars by Allison Rushby

Title: Shooting StarsAuthor: Allison Rushby
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Publisher: Walker & Company (28th February 2012)
Blurb:

Behind the flashing lights, the camera reveals all . . . even love.

Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s known in the biz. The best pint-sized paparazzo out there, Jo loves shooting stars, and she certainly doesn’t mind doing whatever it takes to get that one perfect picture.

But then Jo is sent on a major undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett – teen superstar/heartthrob and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her – at an exclusive retreat facility in Boston. Among the cheesy group therapy sessions and embarrassing “team building” exercises, Jo finds there’s more to the reclusive Ned than meets the eye – and maybe more to herself too.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

What first drew me to this book was the cover – I think it looks absolutely gorgeous! Then I read the blurb, and I was sold. It took me a while to get around to buying this book, but I am very glad that I did. It is a brilliant piece of light fluff.

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Review: The Duff by Kody Keplinger

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The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Title: The Duff (The Designated Ugly Fat Friend)
Author: Kody Keplinger
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books (5th April 2012)
Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper knows she’s not the hottest girl at school, but when school jock and resident moron Wesley casually refers to her as a Duff – Designated Ugly Fat Friend – the gloves are off!

If there’s a think line between love and hate then Bianca has crossed it. She just never thought she was capable of breaking anyone’s heart . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

I first heard of this book through The Book Rat. Misty had written a really interesting review about the book (which can be found here), and I really wanted to see what I thought of it myself.

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Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

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Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Publisher: MiraInk (3rd August 2012)
Blurb:

THEY SAY BE A GOOD GIRL,
GET GOOD GRADES, BE POPULAR.
THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME.

I can’t remember the night that changed my life.
The night I went from popular to loner freak.
And my family are determined to keep it that way.

They said therapy was supposed to help.

They didn’t expect Noah.

Noah is the dangerous boy my parents warned
me about. But the only one who’ll listen.
The only one who’ll help me find the truth.

I know every kiss, every promise,
every touch is forbidden.

BUT WHAT IF FINDING YOUR DESTINY MEANS BREAKING ALL THE RULES?

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

Pushing the Limits is Katie McGarry’s debut novel. It tells the stories of Echo and Noah who are both going through difficult times in their lives when they collide.

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Review: My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

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Soul Screamers #4

My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

Title: My Soul to Steal (Soul Screamers #4)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: MiraInk (21st October 2011)
Blurb:

SOMETIMES DREAMS
DO COME TRUE . . .
AND THAT’S THE LAST
THINK KAYLEE NEEDS

Working things out with Nash – her maybe boyfriend – is hard for Kaylee. She’s already coping with being a teenage banshee. Worse, Nash’s gorgeous ex-girlfriend just transferred to their school.

Sabine’s no ordinary girl. She’s a mara, a real-life walking nightmare. Draining people’s energy through their darkest dreams sustains Sabine . . . and makes her Kaylee’s top suspect in a cluster of sup-creepy deaths.

To win back Nash, Kaylee’s determined to unearth the truth. But Sabine knows the deathly secrets of Kaylee’s subconscious – and she’s not afraid to use them to get whatever and whoever she wants . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

My Soul to Steal is the fourth book in Rachel Vincent’s brilliant Soul Screamers series. It continues the story of Kaylee and her friends as they struggle against the forces of the Netherworld.

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Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

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Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Title: Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1)
Author: Kiersten White
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Harper Collins (date)
Blurb:

VAMPIRES
WEREWOLVES
FAERIES
SHAPESHIFTERS

Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shapeshifter and she’s the only person who can see through paranormal’s galmours, but stil. Normal.

Only now Paranormals are dying and Evie’s dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She begins to suspect there is a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths, and even worse, that she is a the centre of a dark prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

Paranormalcy is the first book in Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy trilogy. It tells the story of Evie, who thinks she is as ‘normal’ as every other human being – except for being able to see through paranormal’s glamours .

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Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

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Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Sword and Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury (2nd August 2012)
Blurb:

MEET CELAENA SARDOTHIEN.
BEAUTIFUL. DEADLY.
DESTINED FOR GREATNESS.

In the dark, filthy mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament – fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her  assassin’s heart be melted?

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

Throne of Glass is Sarah J. Maas’s brilliant  debut novel. In it we are told the story of Celaena Sardothien, an assassin, who is offered the chance of earning her freedom by entering in a tournament that could mean her death.

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Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

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Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin USA (4th August 2011)
Blurb:

Can Anna find love in the City of Light?

Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she’s not too pleased when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new friends, including a handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately he’s taken – and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she’s been waiting for?

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

Anna and the French Kiss tells the story of Anna Oliphant; an American teenager sent to Paris by her father to go to boarding school for her senior year.  Stephanie Perkins relates a brilliant tale of contemporary romance for Young Adult readers in this book.

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Review: I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

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Gallagher Girl's 1

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

Title: I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1)
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: Spy, Young Adult
Publisher: Orchard Books (6th May 2010)
Blurb:

“Do you ever feel like you’re invisible? I know I do – just call me Cammie the Chameleon. But at my [blank] school, that’s seen as cool. Why? Because Gallagher Academy might say it’s for geniuses, but it’s really a school for spies.”

Cammie Morgan might be capable of killing a man in seven different ways, but she’s about to begin her most dangerous mission yet: falling in love.

Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You is the first book in Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series. The series is about a group of girls who go to an all-girl boarding school, where they just happen to learn how to be spies. The series stars, and is narrated, by Cammie Morgan.

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