Tag Archives: realistic fiction

Book Title:
The Chosen One
Book Author:
Carol Lynch Williams
Page Count:
224
Publishing Date:
May 12th, 2009
Publisher:
St. Martin's Griffin
Date Read:
September 1st, 2023
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much---if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle---who already has six wives---Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.

My Review

Anyone who knows me (or who has read through some of the reviews on my blog!) knows that I am absolutely obsessed with young adult fiction that involves cults. I am fascinated with the idea of cults, and how they … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Speak: The Graphic Novel
Book Author:
Laurie Halse Anderson
Book Illustrator:
Emily Carroll
Page Count:
384
Publishing Date:
February 6th, 2018
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Date Read:
October 26th, 2019
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Library

Synopsis

The critically acclaimed, award-winning, modern classic Speak is now a stunning graphic novel.

"Speak up for yourself—we want to know what you have to say."

From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless—an outcast—because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. Through her work on an art project, she is finally able to face what really happened that night: She was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her.

With powerful illustrations by Emily Carroll, Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak: The Graphic Novel comes alive for new audiences and fans of the classic novel.

My Review

I recently read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson again. When I first read this book, I was completely blown away by how powerful that book was. It was not just emotional, it was raw, it was painful. So when I … Continue reading

5 stars
1 Comment
Book Title:
Wintergirls
Book Author:
Laurie Halse Anderson
Page Count:
278
Publishing Date:
March 19th, 2009
Publisher:
Viking Books for Young Readers
Date Read:
March 3rd, 2019
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.

“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.

I am that girl.

I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.

I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.

My Review

It had been a long time since I read Speak – I read it years ago when it was first published. I always enjoyed that book, and this was on my to-read list for a long time, and finally I … Continue reading

5 stars
1 Comment
Book Title:
Speak
Book Author:
Laurie Halse Anderson
Page Count:
224
Publishing Date:
May 10th, 2011
Publisher:
Square Fish
Date Read:
March 12st, 2019
Format:
Paperback
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

The first ten lies they tell you in high school.

"Speak up for yourself—we want to know what you have to say."

From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication.

In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

Speak was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature.

My Review

Speak is one of those books that I read a long time ago, and I recently reread after reading Laurie Halse Anderson’s new book, Shout. I really enjoyed that book, so I really felt that it was time to go … Continue reading

5 stars
1 Comment
Book Title:
Clean
Book Author:
Amy Reed
Page Count:
272
Publishing Date:
July 19th, 2011
Publisher:
Simon Pulse
Date Read:
March 25th, 2019
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Trade

Synopsis

You’re probably wondering how I ended up here. I’m still wondering the same thing.

Olivia, Kelly, Christopher, Jason, and Eva have one thing in common: They're addicts. Addicts who have hit rock bottom and been stuck together in rehab to face their problems, face sobriety, and face themselves. None of them wants to be there. None of them wants to confront the truths about their pasts. And they certainly don’t want to share their darkest secrets and most desperate fears with a room of strangers. But they'll all have to deal with themselves and one another if they want to learn how to live. Because when you get that high, there's nowhere to go but down, down, down.

My Review

Clean is one of those books that I honestly wasn’t sure that I would love as much as I did! I haven’t read Beautiful by Amy Reed, but I have heard some really good things about it, so I grabbed … Continue reading

4 stars
3 Comments
Book Title:
Good Enough
Book Author:
Jen Petro-Roy
Page Count:
272
Publishing Date:
February 19th, 2019
Publisher:
Feiwel & Friends
Date Read:
February 25th, 2019
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Before she had an eating disorder, twelve-year-old Riley was many things: an aspiring artist, a runner, a sister, and a friend.

But now, from inside the inpatient treatment center where she's receiving treatment for anorexia, it's easy to forget all of that. Especially since under the influence of her eating disorder, Riley alienated her friends, abandoned her art, turned running into something harmful, and destroyed her family's trust.

If Riley wants her life back, she has to recover.

Part of her wants to get better. As she goes to therapy, makes friends in the hospital, and starts to draw again, things begin to look up.

But when her roommate starts to break the rules, triggering Riley's old behaviors and blackmailing her into silence, Riley realizes that recovery will be even harder than she thought. She starts to think that even if she does "recover," there's no way she'll stay recovered once she leaves the hospital and is faced with her dieting mom, the school bully, and her gymnastics-star sister.

Written by an eating disorder survivor, this is a realistic depiction of inpatient eating disorder treatment, and a moving story about a girl who has to fight herself to survive.

My Review

Last year (it’s so hard to believe it was actually last year already), I read P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy, and I thought it was one of the most beautiful middle grade books that I’ve ever read. Of … Continue reading

4 stars
1 Comment
Book Title:
People Kill People
Book Author:
Ellen Hopkins
Page Count:
448
Publishing Date:
September 4th, 2018
Publisher:
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Date Read:
September 6th, 2018
Source:
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review - Thank you!

Synopsis

Someone will shoot. And someone will die.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins tackles gun violence and white supremacy in this compelling and complex novel.

People kill people. Guns just make it easier.

A gun is sold in the classifieds after killing a spouse, bought by a teenager for needed protection. But which was it? Each has the incentive to pick up a gun, to fire it. Was it Rand or Cami, married teenagers with a young son? Was it Silas or Ashlyn, members of a white supremacist youth organization? Daniel, who fears retaliation because of his race, who possessively clings to Grace, the love of his life? Or Noelle, who lost everything after a devastating accident, and has sunk quietly into depression?

One tense week brings all six people into close contact in a town wrought with political and personal tensions. Someone will fire. And someone will die. But who?

My Review

Ellen Hopkins is known for her honest, gripping, and raw novels that combine different writing styles, characters, and harrowing experiences that are sure to shock you and will make you think. I fell in love with her writing back when … Continue reading

4 stars
1 Comment
Book Title:
Speechless
Book Author:
Hannah Harrington
Page Count:
304
Publishing Date:
January 26th, 2016
Publisher:
Harlequin Teen
Date Read:
July 30th, 2018
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret.

Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she's ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.

But there's strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way. People she never noticed before. A boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she's done. If only she can forgive herself.

My Review

Speechless was actually published a few years back, but I haven’t even known about it until recently, when I got it from Harlequin on one of their big sale days. Curious, I added it to my order, and it sat … Continue reading

4 stars
1 Comment
Book Title:
White as Silence, Red as Song
Book Author:
Alessandro D'Avenia
Page Count:
272
Publishing Date:
September 4th, 2018
Publisher:
Thomas Nelson
Date Read:
August 20th, 2018
Source:
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review - Thank you!

Synopsis

International bestseller White as Milk, Red as Blood, has been called the Italian The Fault in Our Stars.

Leo is an ordinary sixteen-year-old: he loves hanging out with his friends, playing soccer, and zipping around on his motorbike. The time he has to spend at school is a drag, and his teachers are "a protected species that you hope will become extinct," so when a new history and philosophy teacher arrives, Leo greets him with his usual antipathy. But this young man turns out to be different. His eyes sparkle when he talks, and he encourages his students to live passionately, and follow their dreams.

Leo now feels like a lion, as his name suggests, but there is still one thing that terrifies him: the color white. White is absence; everything related to deprivation and loss in his life is white. Red, on the other hand, is the color of love, passion and blood; red is the color of Beatrice's hair. Leo's dream is a girl named Beatrice, the prettiest in school. Beatrice is irresistible - one look from her is enough to make Leo forget about everything else.

There is, however, a female presence much closer to Leo, which he finds harder to see because she's right under his nose: the ever-dependable and serene Silvia. When he discovers that Beatrice has leukemia and that her disease is related to the white that scares him so much, Leo is forced to search within himself, to bleed and to be reborn. In the process, he comes to understand that dreams must never die, and he finds the strength to believe in something bigger than himself.

White as Milk, Red as Blood is not only a coming-of-age story and the narrative of a school year, but it is also a bold novel that, through Leo's monologue - at times easy-going and full of verve, at times more intimate and anguished - depicts what happens when suffering and shock burst into the world of a teenager, and the world of adults is rendered speechless.

My Review

I had a really difficult time trying to figure out whether or not this book was for me, and even still, while I’m torn about it, I do have to say that White as Silence, Red as Song is definitely … Continue reading

3.5 stars
3 Comments
Book Tour
Book Title:
The Leading Edge of Now
Book Author:
Marci Lyn Curtis
Page Count:
336
Publishing Date:
September 4th, 2018
Publisher:
Kids Can Press
Date Read:
August 6th, 2018
Source:
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review - Thank you!

Synopsis

Just when Grace is beginning to get used to being an orphan, her estranged uncle suddenly comes forward to claim her. That might have been okay if he'd spoken to her even once since her father died. Or if moving in with Uncle Rusty didn't mean returning to New Harbor.

Grace once spent the best summers of her life in New Harbor. Now the place just reminds her of all she's lost: her best friend, her boyfriend and any memory of the night that changed her forever.

People say the truth will set you free, but Grace isn't sure about that. Once she starts looking for it, the truth about that night is hard to find --- and what happens when her healing hurts the people she cares about the most?

My Review

“Family has magnetic properties, it seems, and foster kids know this attraction more than anyone else.” The Leading Edge of Now is a powerful, character driven novel about a girl coming to terms with the truth, even if it isn’t … Continue reading

1 Comment