My Review
Here I am again, in love with yet another graphic novel. I know, it seems like I really love every one that I read, but I promise, Spinning is so much more than just a graphic novel – it’s a … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: August 2017
Synopsis
Poignant and captivating, Ignatz Award winner Tillie Walden's powerful graphic memoir, Spinning, captures what it's like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know. It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark. Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again. She was good. She won. And she hated it. For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden's life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. It was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But over time, as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the figure skating team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. It all led to one question: What was the point?The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she'd outgrown her passion--and she finally needed to find her own voice.
Ferocious Author: Paula Stokes Series: Vicarious, #2 Publication Date: August 15th, 2017 Publisher: Tor Teen Synopsis: Paula Stokes returns to the world of Vicarious in this sequel, a high-action psychological thriller with a protagonist out for vengeance. When Winter Kim … Continue reading
A Map for Wrecked Girls Author: Jessica Taylor Publication Date: August 15th, 2017 Publisher: Dial Books Synopsis: We sat at the edge of the ocean—my sister Henri and I—inches apart but not touching at all. We’d been so sure someone … Continue reading
The First Rule of Punk Author: Celia C. Pérez Publication Date: August 22nd, 2017 Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers Synopsis: From debut author and longtime zine-maker Celia C. Pérez, The First Rule of Punk is a wry and heartfelt exploration of … Continue reading
Synopsis
From bestselling, award-winning author Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), an eagerly anticipated, gutsy, exciting novel that looks honestly at the erotic lives and impulses of an all-too-typical young man. Cole is a boy in high school. He runs cross country, he sketches in a sketchbook, he jokes around with friends. But none of this quite matters, next to the allure of sex. "Let me put it this way," he says, "Draw a number line, with zero is, you never think about sex, and ten is, it's all you think about, and while you are drawing the line, I am thinking about sex." Cole fantasizes about whomever he's looking at. He consumes and shares pornography. And he sleeps with a lot of girls--girls who seem to enjoy it at the time and seem to feel bad about it afterwards. Cole is getting a reputation around school--a not quite savory one--which leaves him adrift and hanging out with his best friend. Which is when something startling begins to happen between them--another kind of adventure, unexpected and hot, that might be what he's been after all this time. And then he meets Grisaille. A companion piece to Handler's Why We Broke Up, the bestselling Michael J. Printz Honor novel, All The Dirty Parts is an unblinking take on the varied and ribald world of teenage desire in a culture of unrelenting explicitness and shunted communication, where sex feels like love, but no one knows what love feels like. Structured in short chapters recalling Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation or Mary Robison's Why Did I Ever, the novel gives us a tender, brutal, funny, and always intoxicating portrait of an age in which the whole world is tilted through the lens of sex. "There are love stories galore," Cole tells us, "and we all know them. This isn't that. The story I'm typing is all the dirty parts."My Review
We’ve all read contemporary romance novels that were either slow burn romances or we learned every single detail about the relationship, including the dates, the conversations, and the special moments. But what happens when we read a book that skips … Continue reading
Synopsis
As debutantes in 1890s New York City, cousins Dacia and Lou knew little about their mysterious Romanian relatives, the Florescus. Now, upon turning seventeen, the girls must journey to Romania--a journey that seems to be both reward and punishment--to meet their cousins and their tyrant of a grandmother and to learn the secrets of their family. Secrets spoken of in whispers. Dangerous secrets known as the Claw, the Wing, and the Smoke. But as dangerous as those family secrets might be, even more dangerous is the centuries-old bond between the Florescus and the royal Dracula family, and it seems that it's time for Dacia and Lou to give up their life in New York society and take their place among the servants of the Draculas. When the devilish heir, Mihai Dracula, sets his sights on Dacia as part of his evil, power-hungry plan, the girls must accept or fight against this cruel inheritance. Do they have the courage to break the shackles of their upbringing and set the course of their own destiny?My Review
This book has been on my to read list for ages – probably since I started my book blog back in 2015. The thing is, I never got around to reading it because I’ve seen so many negative reviews about … Continue reading
This is Not the End Author: Chandler Baker Publication Date: August 8th, 2017 Publisher: Disney-Hyperion Synopsis: I wonder if for the rest of my life, I’ll be haunted by beautiful days. On one cloudless, radiant summer afternoon, Lake Devereaux lost … Continue reading
Synopsis
It’s what we do after the hurt that matters. “Troubled.” That’s seventeen-year-old Genesis Johnson, according to her small New Jersey town. She finds refuge and stability in her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter—until he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The betrayal causes Gen to question everything. As Gen pushes herself forward to find her new identity without Peter, she must also confront her most painful memories. Through the lens of an ongoing four act play within the novel, the fantasy of their undying love unravels line by line, scene by scene. Digging deeper into her past while exploring the underground theater world of New York City, she rediscovers a long-forgotten dream. But it’s when Gen lets go of her history, the one she thinks she knows, that she’s finally able to embrace the complicated, chaotic true story of her life, and take center stage.My Review
“The Thing I Wish I’d Known: -I love you doesn’t come with any guarantees.” Aftercare Instructions was one of those books that I went into expecting to like, but not love as much as I did. It was probably … Continue reading
Spellbook of the Lost and Found Author: Moïra Fowley-Doyle Publication Date: August 8th, 2017 Publisher: Kathy Dawson Books Synopsis: If you’re not careful, you can spend your whole life looking for what you’ve lost. One stormy summer in a small … Continue reading
When I Am Through With You Author: Stephanie Kuehn Publication Date: August 1st, 2017 Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers Synopsis: “This isn’t meant to be a confession. Not in any spiritual sense of the word. Yes, I’m in jail at … Continue reading
