My Review
It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a graphic novel, and since I had the ARC of Bloom, I decided it was time to dive into it. I absolutely adore graphic novels, and this sounded like such a great … Continue reading
Tag Archives: young adult
Synopsis
Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band―if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom . . . that is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything. Writer Kevin Panetta and artist Savanna Ganucheau concoct a delicious recipe of intricately illustrated baking scenes and blushing young love, in which the choices we make can have terrible consequences, but the people who love us can help us grow.
Synopsis
A searing poetic memoir and call to action from the bestselling and award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson! Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society's failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #metoo and #timesup, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. Shout speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice-- and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.My Review
Wait wait wait, back up – Speak was published 20 years ago? Seriously? It’s hard to believe I was only nine when that book was published. Geez. Anyway. I don’t really read memoirs that often (or nonfiction), but this book … Continue reading
Synopsis
Susan is the new girl—she’s sharp and driven, and strives to meet her parents’ expectations of excellence. Malcolm is the bad boy—he started raising hell at age fifteen, after his mom died of cancer, and has had a reputation ever since. Susan’s parents are on the verge of divorce. Malcolm’s dad is a known adulterer. Susan hasn’t told anyone, but she wants to be an artist. Malcolm doesn’t know what he wants—until he meets her. Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are.My Review
I actually just bought a copy of A Girl Like That about two weeks ago because I’ve been wanting to read it for a while and haven’t had a chance to pick it up yet. While I haven’t read that … Continue reading
Synopsis
A captivating world of demons and dark magic from the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician novels. As a human vessel for an ancient spirit, Sandis has never lived an ordinary life. At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon—a raging monster summoned to do his bidding. Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally. A cunning thief-for-hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day—a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom. But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs. Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down . . .My Review
Despite having bought the Paper Magician series on Kindle and owning all the books, I still have yet to pick them up and read them. However, when I heard about this one, got a peek at that awesome cover, and … Continue reading
Synopsis
From the author of the "unputdownable" international hit The One Memory of Flora Banks comes a fast-paced cross-continental journey of identity, family, darkness and light, and the ways in which we define ourselves. Ella Black has always had dark inclinations. She's successfully hidden her evil alter ego from her family and friends, but Bella is always there, ready to take control and force Ella to do bad things. When Ella's parents drag her out of school one afternoon and fly across the globe to Rio de Janeiro with no believable explanation, Bella longs to break free--and so does Ella. Because for all that her parents claim to be doing what's best for her, Ella knows there is something going on that they're not divulging, and she is determined to find out what. Once in Rio, Ella learns a shocking truth about her family that gives way to a mission through the streets and beaches of Brazil in search of her authentic self. But the truth has many layers, and as Ella uncovers more and more about her own history, she struggles to come to terms with just where it is that she came from.My Review
The Truth and Lies of Ella Black was no doubt my most anticipated read for winter of 2019. I absolutely LOVED The One Memory of Flora Banks (and I even made Flora Banks inspired cupcakes, which you can check out … Continue reading
Synopsis
THEY BEGAN AS STRANGERS -- FOUR TEENAGE GIRLS WITH NOTHING IN COMMON BUT THEIR MISERABLE CHILDHOODS. SOON, THEY WOULD REALIZE THAT THEIR SECRET PASTS HAD BOUND THEM TOGETHER FOREVER.... Misty, Star, Jade, and Cat first came together in Dr. Marlowe's group therapy sessions. They trusted no one but each other -- and even that bond was fragile at best. One by one, each of the Wildflowers told her own story and bravely unveiled the inner wounds inflicted by years of lies, deceit, and untold family secrets; each revealed the shocking tales of how their parents hurt them, used them, or simply abandoned them. And as they shared their darkest feelings, they no longer felt like lost souls with nowhere to turn. Finally, years of loneliness and pain gave way to the realization that someone else in this world understood them. But then the sessions ended, and the girls didn't know if they would ever see each other again. Now they are coming together one more time. Jade has sent out invitations to her parents' mansion -- the sprawling, opulent home that served as a battleground for much of her young life. There, the four will rekindle their bonds of friendship and trust. But this time, away from Dr. Marlowe's watchful eye, it will be different. Today, in the mansion's attic, Star, Jade, Cat, and Misty will take each other's hands and swear to tell the real truth -- the shattering secrets that lie deep within them like smoldering coals. And once the darkest secret of all is spoken aloud, there will be no turning back. For there may be some things the Wildflowers should leave buried forever....My Review
Into the Garden is the fifth and final installment in the Wildflowers series, which is written under the V.C. Andrews name. While I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the series, for some reason I have a special place in my … Continue reading
Synopsis
Cat has not yet shared in Dr. Marlowe's therapy group, but she has the darkest secret of all four girls and the most to lose by opening up.My Review
Cat is another one of those books that just seemed to take me forever to sit down and write a review for. I’m not sure why; it was a really good book, and I enjoyed Cat’s story, much like the … Continue reading
Synopsis
Jade had listened to Misty and Star tell their stories. Now it is her time to speak. But she can't. For while the others in Dr. Marlowe's therapy group had exposed their hidden pains and secret pasts, they are nothing like Jade. They don't know what it is like to be a pawn in a courtroom battle too hateful to ever forgive. Or that escaping the madness had lured Jade into an ordeal too traumatic to forget....My Review
Jade is the third novel in the Wildflowers series written under the name of V.C. Andrews. While I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this one because I don’t care much for books that focus on law or legal … Continue reading
Synopsis
In the second volume in the Wildflowers quartet, Star hides her nightmarish secrets from the other girls in her therapy group, until she gradually reveals her story to Dr. Marlowe and the others, allowing her to finally confront the horrors of her past.My Review
After reading Misty, the first novel in the Wildflowers series by V.C. Andrews, I was really excited to dive into Star, because I wanted to see what her story entailed. I was so eager to read it, I read it in … Continue reading
Synopsis
"We lived in such a perfect world. Why were we so imperfect?" All Misty ever wanted was a normal family. But like so many others, Misty's parents didn't stay together. Now they use Misty to hurt each other, to deliver tiny cruelties in an endless stream. Misty knows her parents might love her. But Misty has an unspeakable secret that burns in the core of her very being: she hates them. Misty isn't as alone as she thinks. She's about to meet three other girls who are just like her -- each one with their own dark secrets to share.... The many millions of V.C. Andrews fans, and particularly the younger readers among them, will thrill to the first in a new, four-book series on the struggles and secrets of children of divorce. Misty is the tale of a young girl facing the trials of her devious, divorced parents and the terrors of a deeply-held secret. When she meets three other girls in therapy, also children of divorce, she learns that she's not alone -- and not alone in sharing secrets.My Review
My mom has always had a ton of books by V.C. Andrews in her bookshelf, and to be honest, I think the only one I ever read was Flowers in the Attic. I read that when I was probably like … Continue reading
