Young Adult
In the first few chapters, Flip the Script by Lyla Lee seems like it isn’t going anywhere special: heroine Hana Jin has landed a lead role in the K-Drama Fated Destiny opposite K-Pop star Bryan Yoon in his first acting gig, and to boost ratings for their show, they are asked to have a fake relatio ...
Wonderfully brash, brassy and alive, Seven Percent of Ro Devereux is brimming with zest and some surprisingly salty language, as well as a heroine who will not be forgotten by young readers who try out her adventures. Ellen O’Clover has a wonderfully engaging authorial voice, which definitely help ...
Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling is a sweet novel that takes an in-depth look at a high school romance that starts on one New Year’s Eve and ends on another. Teenagers are bound to love and have fun sinking into it, especially if they have a fondness for online Dungeons and Dragons roleplayi ...
B+
Begin Again is a wonderful coming of age YA story that follows Andie Rose, as she starts over at her dream school. It’s great fun to watch her build new friendships and discover more about herself as she takes on new challenges. I also love the good-natured humor that runs throughout the story as ...
In Talia Hibbert’s Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute, we get a relatable, friends-to-enemies-back-to-friends-to-maybe-more young adult story that, while well written, somewhat missed the mark for me. Granted, I had high expectations given the buzz Hibbert has received for her contemporary romanc ...
This one left me grinning. The Love Match is a fun, fast-paced romp through a coming of age tale with a compelling love triangle and a lot of solid material to be had.
Zahra Khan is a princess without a crown. Stuck in Patterson, New Jersey with the rest of her family, she’s hoping to become a ...
I've been excited for The Do-Over, Painter’s new YA novel ever since I read and loved Better Than the Movies (2021) and I’m happy to share The Do-Over was just as good, if not better. It reminded me of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off mixed with a little Groundhog Day and I was quickly swep ...
Susan Dennard brings young readers a smashing good time with The Luminaries, the first in her new fantasy series about things that go bump in the woods and a heroine determined to change her station in life. The book sports characters worth caring for and excellent worldbuilding, but the story is pr ...
The Golden Enclaves is the third in a duology (yes, you read that right) about a deadly, dangerous version of Hogwarts which exists in a universe where magic is more curse than blessing.
Novik dumps readers straight into the action from where the last book left off and the story will not be coher ...
In Laura Taylor Namey’s A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, heroine Lila Reyes finds herself quite literally out of her comfort zone - Miami - as her family, concerned for her mental and physical well-being after a series of life crises, sends her to stay with a family friend in a small En ...