Teen

Book Review: 'Devoted' by Hilary Duff

11/29/2011
Kinsey Roberts
Book two in the author's Elixir series

Devoted, the second novel in Hilary Duff’s Elixir series, picks up right where her first book left off. We meet the protaginist, Clea, back home in Conneticut trying her best to deal with the abduction of her soulmate Sage, at the hands of the Saviors of Eternal Life, a group that Clea thought would keep Sage safe but now she isn’t so sure. Unfortunately, she’s also struggling with the fall out of her friendship with Ben, whom she feels is partly responsible for Sage’s kidnap.

Book Review: 'Elixir' by Hilary Duff

11/26/2011
Hilary Duff signs copies of 'Devoted: an Elixir Novel, Vol. 2' at Barnes & Noble on October 10, 2011 in New York City.....

Sugar And Spice

10/14/2010
Donald Hadfield
Conrad Serves a Final Helping of Her Sweet Series

While her second book, Sweet Little Lies may have been slow and uneventful, Lauren Conrad returns to serve up some juicy drama with Sugar and Spice, the third and final book in the LA Candy series.

The Magicians

11/7/2009
J. M. Cornwell
An intricate and complex story with a simple theme.

The Magicians: A discontented, talented, but unfocused Harry Potter goes to college ? sort of.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.00Stars
ASIN: 
0-670020559

Evermore

10/17/2009
Tracy Elledge
It's not what you think . . .

Ever isn't like other teenagers. She was the only survivor of the car wreck that claimed the lives of her parents, sister and beloved golden retriever. During the crash, Ever saw everyone in the car walking over a bridge. Instead of following, she lingered behind and couldn't get to the bridge when she finally wanted to cross. She was brought painfully back to her broken body instead, and somehow managed to survive.

Before the accident, Ever was a popular, beautiful member of her Oregonian high school's elite.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.00Stars
ASIN: 
031253275X

Fairy Tale

10/6/2009
Angela Garner McCabe
Suprisingly funny and very moving tale.


Morgan Sparks, the fifteen (almost sixteen) year old main character in "Fairy Tale" by Cyn Balog, is a psychic, yet she definitely could not have predicted that her boyfriend Cam Browne would end up being a fairy - a real fairy with wings and a wand. It all comes out when Cam's cousin Pip Merriweather shows up on the Browne's doorstep with a fairy named Dawn in a paper sack, and proclaims with absolute certainty that Cam has to go back to "Otherworld" to marry Dawn and become the king of the fairies.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars
ASIN: 
0-385737068

Along for the Ride

8/1/2009
Casey Blackwell
One spontaneous summer of friendship and family will change Auden forever.

Sarah Dessen's 'Along for the Ride' is a truthful examination of death and divorce, as well as the ties that bind. Auden has grown up as a perfectionist, trying to live up to her successful and strong mother's expectations. Living in someone's shadow has socially stunted her and she's never really had the chance to be a kid; plus, she's developed insomnia because of the late-night fights of her parents' divorce. When she goes to live with her dad, stepmother and brand-new baby sister for the summer, she finds a house in chaos.

Reviewer Rating: 
5.00Stars

Dreamland

7/29/2009
Casey Blackwell
First loves are always intense and Caitlin's is no different, but what can she do when the one she loves is also the one she fears?

Dreamland,' by Sarah Dessen, is the heart-wrenching story of many teenage relationships. Caitlin O'Koren's whole world shifts the day she turns 16. That morning, she wakes up to find her older sister, Cass, who was set to start Yale in the fall, has run away, not leaving any contact information at all. Caitlin's parents are devastated and start letting Caitlin slip through the cracks. When Caitlin joins the cheerleading squad, it seems to cheer her mother up, so Caitlin sticks with it, even though she hates it. One night, on the way home from a game, Caitlin meets Rogerson.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.00Stars

That Summer

7/29/2009
Casey Blackwell
Haven's life is changing and her future is uncertain, but when someone from her past unexpectedly returns, she begins to see the long and winding road that led her to where she stands today.

Sarah Dessen's novel, 'That Summer,' is the heartfelt story of a young girl just trying to find her way in a world that's coming apart at the seams. Haven knows her life will never be the same. Her father leaves her mother for his young TV News co-host, her sister is getting married to the most boring man on the planet, and Haven herself is rapidly becoming a giant. Haven thinks longingly of the summer of Sumner ? her sister's old boyfriend that, for one summer, brought their family together. When Sumner unexpectedly shows up in her life again, Haven feels like things are changing ?

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars

The Other Half of Life

7/22/2009
J. M. Cornwell
A tale of innocence, confusion, fear, guilt and hope that lingers in the heart and the mind.

The Other Half of Life': A compelling and poignant YA novel of children on the verge of adulthood at the dawn of Nazi Germany.

Thomas's mother can only afford for one of them to leave Germany on a liner going to Cuba at the beginning of World War II. Although she married a Jew, Thomas's mother is blonde, blue-eyed and Christian. She's not at risk. Thomas goes to Cuba to be with his half brother already waiting for entry to the United States.

On the MS St. Francis, 900 Jews board to go to Cuba, leaving Germany and the armbands and hatred behind them.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars
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