What is it about?  Flipped is a romance told in two voices. The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That’s pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade, when, just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn’t as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see beyond the surface of things and come together makes for a comic and poignant romance. (Summary from Goodreads).

What did you think of it? There really is no other way to describe this book other than positively sweet. It contained everything that a book about young love should and nothing else.

I read a lot of romance/coming-of-age novels where the protagonist is about sixteen or seventeen and that’s fine but at the same time the romance aspect is different. It’s not necessarily going to be cute or innocent, and most times it isn’t. Because I have read those kinds of books my standards and views on love is very different from kids my age. In good and bad ways. I know that since I’m only in eighth grade I’m probably not going to fall in love so I shouldn’t pretend like I am. I also now believe that soul mates exist which isn’t always good because what if I never find that person? What if I end up ignoring someone incredible because my standards were too high? Now you see what I mean when I say that Flipped was a wonderful break from that.

The meaning was very relevant to kids my age, as well. Yes, it was obvious but occasionally subtlety really is overrated. Flipped was about accepting change, growing up and discovering who you are and also seeing people for what they are really made of. Surprisingly, I ended up enjoying Bryce’s chapters’ more than Julie’s. Bryce actually changed quite a bit and being able to catch a glimpse into a boy’s mind as he is making a serious internal change was intriguing. Julie, however, didn’t have to change immensely because she already had an advanced, deep-thinking mind.

The switching point-of-views (POV’s) was the one factor I was a tad iffy on. The chapters often overlap and that can be fascinating, but at times boring as well. Maybe it bugged me slightly because I had already seen the movie which is awesome and exactly like the book. The switching POV’s did help me to see the transformation (or lack of) that each character underwent.

In the end, reading this novel was sort of like reading the Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski. It surprised me with the little details and caused me to realize that I don’t always have to read scandalous romance novels (They aren’t actually that scandalous. I promise.)

Star Rating: 

I would suggest this for: Anyone looking for a quick, sweet read full of nostalgic, old-fashioned middle-school romance.

Review by: Lauren, 8th grade

Thanks for the review, Lauren!

What is it about? One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.

What did you think of it?

The hardest books to review are, without a doubt, your favorites. How can you possibly describe to others how they made you feel? Like there was a balloon in your stomach and it was slowly getting larger and you could feel it making its way into your throat and you’ve become all happy and giggly and you just might explode if you don’t tell the world how incredible this book is.

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

EXACTLY. This is me every single time I discover another book to be added to my favorite’s shelf on Goodreads. Actually, this is me whenever I read a John Green or David Levithan book in general. It was no surprise that I loved this novel, considering it’s written by two of my favorite authors ,but what did surprise me was that I even though I had sky-high expectations, I was never let down, not even once. I suppose this is what happens when two of the greatest, YA authors in history come together to write a book.

After I read books like this I become inspired and feel like writing a novel. Hopefully one of these days I actually will.

I did listen to this on audiobook and that was pretty sensational. I know I already did a post on audiobooks but for those of you who haven’t read it, I’ll repeat myself. I like audiobooks because they are so portable. I’m too cheap to buy a kindle and it’s not like I can pull out a huge book everywhere I go. With audiobooks you can simply put them on your iPod and the world will be at your fingertips. Okay, so the world might not actually be at your fingertips but a great book certainly will. Listening to a book can add depth and actually be quite relaxing if you’re feeling lazy.

The only things I don’t like are that it takes longer to finish and in Will Grayson, Will Grayson they never really introduced whose voice was narrating who’s Will Grayson. Was it John Green who wrote about the Will Grayson who was best friends with Tiny Cooper and made Jane fall for him with his quiet sarcasm? The one who I hoped was actually a real person and would ask me to marry him. Was it David Levithan who was audacious enough to write about the more cynical and hypocritical Will Grayson who wasn’t really sure about his sexuality and occasionally came across snarky and cruel? The one who I thought I disliked but ended up loving. It’s sort of a small thing to fuss over but I would have liked to know, to be able to compare the authors better.

Either way, both characters and each side-character was perfectly developed. The conversations had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions. Green and Levithan use what I call “smart people dialogue.” It’s very clever and sometimes the joke takes a minute to sink in but when you get it you can hardly breathe because you’re laughing so hard. I basically wanted to be these characters. Or at least know people like them. There are some authors that truly understand what it means to be a teenager and write about it so well that it never seems forced or fake. These are those authors.

My favorite part about this book was its relevance. The book dealt with issues that need to be discussed and written about in a way that teenagers and adults can understand. Things like friendship, sexuality, depression, love, and ultimately unity through these things. I’ve been really into this concept lately. The concept that one person has the power to break down walls with a sledgehammer and create unity throughout the world. People like Matt Harding and Eve Ensler. These are the individuals we should be inspired by, these are the ones that push boundaries and change things. Because if you can manage to get two people from opposite sides of the world to feel connected for even a second, you’ve managed to do an exceptional thing.

Star Rating:  It was awesome! Everyone should check this out!

I would suggest this for: REALLY AWESOME PEOPLE, or people looking to update their awesomeness by reading this book, John Green or David Levithan fans, LGBT book lovers, people who like questioning the status quo.

Review by: Lauren

Thanks for the review, Lauren!

What is it about?
Charly St. James is a famous television star that is living it up in the Big Apple…Or, at least, she will be. If she can escape from Bridgette, her lazy mother who steals all her money to spend gambling, and get to New York City in time to be cast in the auditions for a new reality T.V. show. Seems a little impossible, right? Not for Charly. She is game for anything if it means achieving her dreams. Even if it includes leaving behind all her friends and her sister Stormy, getting her money stolen countless times, crashing a car, sneaking into an audition, and overall turning her life into one, big fiasco!

What I thought of it & why I picked it up: 
Let me just say that when I first got a hold of this book I was extremely excited, mainly because it’s an advance copy which just makes me feel super cool. But…then….I realized that just because it hasn’t officially been released to the public yet, it is still just an average book.

Charly’s character was fierce, determined, and maybe a little naïve but I liked her because she was different. No one really writes those kinds of characters anymore; because there are so many ways they can go wrong. Being too selfish, being too stubborn, you get the point. Kelli London actually did manage to prevent Charly from being either of those things. She was genuine. Even if I didn’t ‘love’ Charly, I did like her and I still felt bad for her and I still wanted her to wind up on top. She has the worst luck in the world, who wouldn’t cheer for her? As for the rest of the characters, I thought they were very original but I didn’t fall in love with any of them, either. It was actually kind of hard to keep up with all of them!

The plot was confusing. You would think that a road-trip book with a determined girl like Charly would be really awesome and deep. Instead, the author had too many events for Charly to get past on that road trip for her character to develop depth. I was expecting something more like Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes, or maybe Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. I mean, I get that she is supposed to have multiple fiascos but after awhile I think it starts to get a little complicated and almost dull. Another, more skilled author, might have been able to pull it off, but London just didn’t seem to do the story justice.

Overall, the book was a nice enough read, but not something that will be remembered and read again.

Star Rating:

It was okay

I would suggest this for:  Determined, young women

Review by: Lauren B.

Thanks for the review, Lauren!

What is it about? In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue–Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is–she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are–and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

-Summary courtesy of Goodreads

What did you think of it & why did you pick it up? For some odd reason I have an obsession with dystopian literature. It could be because I’ve always speculated about what would happen in the case of an Apocalypse or maybe its the danger and fear sprinkled with romance here and there that excites me. It certainly gives me an excuse to live vicariously through the characters and pretend I’m in another one of my old childhood games of survivor that my brother and I were fascinated by. Either way, I love it. I do, however, believe that authors get a little (a lotta) leeway in the actual writing department because of their excellent plot lines. But just because the average person (me) could never think of something that crazy doesn’t mean you get to slack off with your writing. I know I already wrote a bunch of reviews ranting about this (*cough* Immortal Rules and The Selection *cough*) but it continues to bug me. My life goal has become all about finding the perfect dystopian novel that has the best of both worlds (yes, I did just quote Hannah Montana).

As for the book itself, well, I loved it. There is no doubt that Veronica Roth is a talented author. This book lives up to all of the hype and then some. In fact, I might have even liked it more than the Hunger Games. Whoa. Calm down you die-hard Katniss Everdeen fanatics. I can hear your outrage over the internet. There is no need to bring out the pitchforks, it’s just a books guys. Alright, that’s a lie. It’s never just a book. It’s an entire world that you get thrown into. You fight the bad guys, you kiss the sexy love interest. Real book-lovers know this and use it to their advantage. This basically means we have no lives and enjoy sitting at home reading instead of hanging out with humans.

Anyway, the characters were wonderful as well. I totally fell for Four. SPOILER ALERT! (it’s not very large though.) At first I didn’t know that Roth was intending for Tris and Four to get together but once I did and they started to be all romantic I basically melted into a puddle. Although I did feel horribly empathetic and embarrassed for Tris when she went into the fear landscape and Four was there sort of…um, propositioning her. END OF SPOILER. I would die if that happened to me and people actually saw it was one of my fears.

The end was slightly expected. I knew something like that was going to happen. Also, there wasn’t as much build-up to it as I would have liked but it was still sufficient and I have a feeling that Insurgent will be even BETTER! Even though my friend told me that Four and Tris were mega mushballs in the second one.

Other little things that I liked: The idea that bravery can be present in everyday acts, the names of the factions, and going to school and thinking only of finishing the book.

The one thing I did NOT like was the setting. That was badly phrased. I loved the setting, Chicago is great, I went there over the summer, but I did not enjoy hearing them talk about Lake Michigan being a marshland and the city being destroyed without giving any information as to how it became that way. It didn’t even give you any hints or clues. Hopefully in the next book it will because otherwise it’s getting some major points taken off in my book.

Bottom line: Where can I get my hands on a copy of book two?!

Star Rating:  It was really good. I’ve already told my friends about it.

I would suggest this for: Dystopian and Sci-Fi fanatics

Reviewed by: Lauren

Thanks for the awesome review Lauren!

What is it about? Katherine and Michael meet at a New Year’s Eve party. They’re attracted to each other, they grow to love each other. And once they’ve decided their love is forever, they make love.

It’s the beginning of an intense and exclusive relationship, with a future all planned. Until Katherine’s parents insist that she and Michael put their love to the test with a summer apart… -Summary courtesy of Goodreads

What did you think of it & why did you pick it up? I’ve never realized just how privileged my generation is. Besides all of the incredible technology and opportunities we’re given, we also have an amazing selection of books exclusively for our age group. Based on what my mom tells me they didn’t have young adult books back in the “day”. I can see why Judy Blume became so famous. She was the only one writing specifically for teens. I can also see why her book, Forever, was so scandalous. Forever had been on my to-read list for awhile because my cousin recommended it to me, saying that every girl should read this at least once in their lifetime. When I saw it at the book sale I picked up (it was only 75 cents) and read it that night. I was vastly disappointed.

When I first read Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret, I didn’t exactly feel empowered as a growing, changing women or anything but it was cute and reassuring and perfect for those graceless years of 11-13. I assumed Forever would be the same way and be similar to an Elizabeth Scott novel. This ended up being very untrue. For starters, the character development was lacking in many places. It almost seemed as if Judy Blume just threw some people into her book and added a moral to the end of the story. The dialogue was unoriginal and unrealistic in most places. In general everything just seemed a little detached and disjointed. I felt like teenagers wouldn’t actually say or do any of these things. Bottom line is, I never related to Katherine or Micheal and I honestly didn’t care about them.

One thing Forever did do right though, was capture the utter awkwardness of being a teenager and experiencing sex for the first time. I’m not sure if that was purposeful or if it came about because of the missing character development but it was there. I did find the sex scenes to be sort of unromantic and indifferent and that sucked. Although, now that I think about it, did she do that deliberately? I’m sure that most teenage sex is quite unromantic so it’s probable.

Gosh. This is such an awkward subject. How am I even reviewing this? I admit that there was one scene that I couldn’t help but crack up at. When I showed two of my friends they were appalled and then collapsed into giggles. For anyone who’s read it, it was the bit where Katherine meets ”Ralph”. That’s all I’m saying.

Alright, now that I’ve thoroughly slammed an important milestone in YA literature, let me redeem myself. I’m not saying this was a terrible book. Why? Because I accept that it was one of the first of it’s kind. The book and the plot is old and slightly boring and gawky but, so is everything else in life. This was quick read and I don’t regret it, but it’s definitely made me realize just how happy I am to have John Green’s and Sarah Dessen’s out there in the world.

Star Rating: This was like doing homework. I finished it, but I didn’t like it.

I would suggest this for: Young girls, Judy Blume lovers

Review written by Lauren

Thanks for the review Lauren!

What is it about? “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

-Summary courtesy of Goodreads

What did you think of it & why did you pick it up? I’ve been avoiding this review for a while now. Why? Because my love for the Raven Boys was complex. I knew exactly what would happen in the end and so the entire time I kept trying to smash my hopes of a Gansey/Blue relationship in the first book. It just wasn’t happening. I might even go as far to say that I knew from the first few chapters that it would end on a cliffhanger without Gansey or Blue having so much as hugged and would leave me rolling around on my floor, cursing Maggie Stiefvater and her spectacular novels.

As I was waging this inner war with myself I was also trying desperately to figure out what all of the rather large and ambiguous (Ha! There’s one right there) words meant. I understand that the town was filled with rich people who talked like only the wealthy and over-educated do, but Maggie took it a tad too far in this novel. Don’t get me wrong here, I love great word choice. It certainly makes or breaks an essay. Concise word choice is everything, as my English teacher loves to tell me. At the same time, there is this thing called “common language” that authors need to be aware of. It helps readers actually understand what’s going on even if they haven’t taken the SAT test. I never had any trouble with the Shiver series, or even The Scorpio Races. It’s possible The Raven Boys was simply written at a higher level. It was evident in every page that Stiefvater got her chance to flourish in this novel.

Either way, I will definitely be re-reading this before the second book comes out. Maybe I’ll actually go back and look up what all of the words mean. That might be helpful. Because not only was the word choice confusing, so was the plot. Kind of. I’m not used to reading mysteries. In fifth grade I devoured them, but now they’ve lost some of their appeal. There’s just so much to absorb. Admittedly, reading YA novels is remarkably easy because for the most part they give you everything. I can sit back and enjoy the ride without worrying about missing something. In The Raven Boys, this is far from the truth. It takes a close read to catch everything but it’s worth it. This is one of those that kept me up at night, wanting more. Wishing I could speed-read to the last page while simultaneously hoping that it wouldn’t end.

I was glad it had an ending climax though. This means that Stiefvater had the entire book to build up each character so that I was thoroughly in love (or in hate, for villains) with each one. Noah, the shy, introverted one in the group was adorable, especially as he became more comfortable with Blue. Ronan was spicy, to say the least. Adam was also cute, but his story was a terribly sad one. Finally, Gansey…oh Gansey. He was…delightful, blunt, slightly selfish, and incredibly rich. Every time him and Blue were together I felt all warm and tingly. As I said, they didn’t even hug, but Maggie has this wonderfully subtle way of creating chemistry between two people in one sentence. It might be the way one character describes the other’s eyes, or the way that the dialogue is strung together. Each word a hidden romance unto itself.

Other little things I liked:

-The Raven Boys was told in third person omniscient and was highly enjoyable. This allowed the novel to be written much more elegantly and mysteriously. It’s wonderful to be able to see every character up close, their thoughts and feelings and schemes, in some cases.

-Blue’s family/extended-family! Reading about large families and their crazy antics is sure to get a laugh from me so a book about a large family of psychics was even better.

-The premise. By golly it blew my socks off! (Har-dee-har-har, see what I did there? ’Cause, you know, the protagonist’s name is Blue? I thought it was clever….) Really though, how did she come up with this stuff?

-Blue’s power to increase other psychic’s abilities. Even though she wasn’t actually clairvoyant herself, Blue has her own little charm to her and it made her feel extra special.

-The cover. I’ve become awkwardly obsessed with covers lately and this one is just as sweet as the rest of Maggie’s cover’s. She must have a kick-butt cover artist.

Overall this novel was thrilling and lovely to experience, Stiefvater book-veteran or not. I suggest immediately purchasing all of her books right now and moving to Virginia, where she lives.

Star Rating:  It was awesome! Everyone should check this out!

I would suggest this for: Honestly, anyone. It has something for everyone.

Name: Lauren

Thanks for the review Lauren!

What is it about? How can you make someone love you when they won’t?

And what if that person happens to be your mother?

Sayre Bellavia grew up knowing she was a mistake: unplanned and unwanted. At five months shy of eighteen, she’s become an expert in loneliness, heartache, and neglect. Her whole life she’s been cursed, used, and left behind. Swallowed a thousand tears and ignored a thousand deliberate cruelties. Sayre’s stuck by her mother through hell, tried to help her, be near her, be important to her even as her mother slipped away into a violent haze of addiction, destroying the only chance Sayre ever had for a real family.

Now her mother is lying in a hospital bed, near death, ravaged by her own destructive behavior. And as Sayre fights her way to her mother’s bedside, she is terrified but determined to get the answer to a question no one should ever have to ask: Did my mother ever really love me? And what will Sayre do if the answer is yes?

Summary courtesy of Goodreads

What did you think about it and why did you pick it up? Laura Wiess is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She captured my heart in Such a Pretty Girl with its vivid imagery, strong female lead, and gritty theme and she did it again with Ordinary Beauty.

Originally I was worried that the protagonist, Sayre, would be exactly like Meredith from Such a Pretty Girl but in the end the premise of both books were just so different that it never seemed that way. Yes, they were similar. Each book centered on a child that had been physically and emotionally hurt by an unstable and crazy parent. But Such a Pretty Girl centered more on defeating the parent where as Ordinary Beauty focused more on understanding and accepting the past. Another difference was that Meredith was, for the most part, a static character. In the beginning she was determined to put her father back in jail, despite still being afraid, and in the end she kept her determined attitude but was no longer afraid. Sayre, however, changed a lot. She went from hating her mother for never helping either of them in life to accepting the life she was given and changing it for the better. Besides, even if they had been similar, it wouldn’t have mattered that much because ! I quickly became distracted by Wiess’s gorgeous language.

Another quality that I adore about Wiess is her world-building. Usually you would only see a word like “world-building” in science fiction or fantasy novels, but this trait is definitely evident in all of Wiess’s books as well. The two I read both had a large cast of characters, and each person had a past and a relevance to the story. I love books with lots of characters, at least the ones done well. This is probably because I enjoy creating multiple side-characters in my own writing. You can do almost anything with them. They are everything the protagonist isn’t allowed to be (un-relatable is the big character trait I’m talking about here) and that’s extremely fun to play with.

There were a lot of characters that I hated in this book, though. And I don’t mean, I hated them because they were badly developed and sucked, I mean that some of the people in this novel were so terrible it made me want to hit them REALLY HARD. For example, Candy Fee, Dianne’s (Sayre’s mother) best friend. The woman that made sure to drag her down, the person that was always there to say “HEY! We’re doing drugs and being idiots, so you should come.” I despise people like this, who are so pathetic they feel the need to make other people be pathetic with them. Yes, Candy did stay with Dianne until the very end but she’s also the one that gave her a lot of the drugs that killed her. What a great friend, huh? This proves that Laura Wiess is once again, a wonderful writer for creating villains so realistic I had issues not screaming at them out loud.

Overall Ordinary Beauty was a great book. I didn’t like it as much as Such a Pretty girl but it still had all the elements that really draw me into a novel, although I do wish that the romance would have developed a little more. That’s just me being an old sap though. I liked that by the time I reached the last page I actually began to sympathize for Sayre’s mother. That doesn’t mean I stopped hating her and all the things she’d done but I did see that it was necessary for Sayre to forgive Dianne in order for her to be able to move on with her life.

P.S. I almost forget to mention that I’m very jealous of the way that Laura Wiess begins and ends her chapters and books. It’s a small thing but it’s a great quality to have and it certainly stood out.

RATING: ★★★★ It was really good. I’ve already told my friends about it.

I would suggest this for: Mature teenage readers

Review by: Lauren

What is it about?

From acclaimed YA authors Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff comes The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories.

- A vampire locked in a cage in the basement, for good luck.

- Bad guys, clever girls, and the various reasons why the guys have to stop breathing.

- A world where fires never go out (with references to vanilla ice cream).

These are but a few of the curiosities collected in this volume of short stories by three acclaimed practitioners of paranormal fiction.

But The Curiosities is more than the stories. Since 2008, Maggie, Tessa, and Brenna have posted more than 250 works of short fiction to their website merryfates.com. Their goal was simple: create a space for experimentation and improvisation in their writing—all in public and without a backspace key. In that spirit, The Curiosities includes the stories and each author’s comments, critiques, and kudos in the margins. Think of it as a guided tour of the creative processes of three acclaimed authors.

So, are you curious now?

Summary courtesy of Goodreads

What did you think of it & why did you pick it up?

To understand this review, you need to understand how much I adore Maggie Stiefvater and everything she writes. When I first read her werewolf series, Shiver, I thought it was pretty good. When I read the sequel, Linger, I thought it was great. After finishing the series conclusion, Forever, it solidified my respect for her. If I could choose one person to write like, it would be her. Of course, there is always the incredible John Green, but he is in a league by himself. Honestly.

The wonderful thing about Maggie is that she is very multi-talented. Somehow she managed to write beautifully, have four main characters with their own POV’s, branch off in other directions after the Shiver trilogy, and become one of my favorite authors in the process. I like that she gives an equal amount of time and effort to each character and none of them ever seem under-developed. It boggles my mind when authors write in multiple POV’s. Two point-of-views, is one thing, but FOUR?! Insane. She also wrote a stand-alone novel and has started a new series. That is even more impressive. After an author finishes a major series they can get into this rut. Maggie didn’t do that. She continued to branch out and try and succeed.

The main point of me telling you all of that is for you to see that I am very biased towards her. I can’t help it. I’ve read all her books, and even met her in person (along with Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff, but we’ll get to that later). I’m not sure if I would’ve loved The Curiosities had she not been one of the authors.

Actually, I’m still not sure if I loved it. Maybe it’s because I had never read an anthology of short stories before that drove me crazy or maybe it was the short stories themselves. I liked them all and some I loved but in short stories you don’t get the time to invest yourself in the characters, even when you really want to. This killed me. There were so many spectacular ideas in those stories I would want to read individual novels for. I am undoubtedly a novel person but I’m very pleased that I read this. I learned a lot as a write from all of the drawings and advice scribbled in the margins. It was lovely to be able to witness these famous authors develop and grow before they were famous. Writing can be overwhelming and having someone right there sharing stories that are unedited and previously used as tools to improve their writing, was very reassuring.

After finishing, I felt motivated to write. Crazy, huh?! I had never thought about short stories as “novel playgrounds.” I always become so afraid to “waste” an idea on a short story so I don’t write and pretend I’m saving it for a novel. Needless to say, discovering that my philosophy sucked was a huge revelation.

As for the actual stories in the book, I had many favorites and, yes, I did enjoy Maggie’s the most. But, I will say that after I while I stopped trying to identify who wrote what and whose handwriting belonged to whomever. Although after meeting Brenna and Tessa and hearing about some of their other books, I will definitely be checking those out to get a better idea of their style.

For those of you who have read the book a few of my favorites were:

“A Murder of Gods” by Maggie Stiefvater – I love mythology stories and groups of kids rebelling against adults. When I was younger I was always the kid who thought she was going to start a revolution on the playground.

” Beserk” by Tessa Gratton – I would have sobbed if this had been a novel.

“Girl Raised by Wolves” by Brenna Yovanoff – This story was shocking. Everything made sense, it’s just that one minute the girls were talking and the next…

Of course, there were many more by Maggie that I adored but I’m starting to feel bad that I spent the whole tie talking about her. Brenna and Tessa were really wonderful as well, I promise. I wish I had bought a copy of the book when at the signing my library hosted because I know that this is a book I will want to flip through again and again.

Star Rating:  It was really good. I’ve already told my friends about it.

I would suggest this for: Teens that LOVE paranormal/fantasy YA

Review by: Lauren B

Thanks for the review, Lauren!

This review is also posted at Books that Smolder.

What is it about? What if the apocalypse happened and you didn’t find out until the next day? What if this is the type of disaster is the kind that you cannot feel? You can’t hear it or smell it coming, like animals can before a storm. You are rendered defenseless by this invisible phenomenon, forced to watch and wait for the effects to reach you. What if the Earth’s rotation slowed until the daytime hours lasted weeks and the night hours lasted just as long. Eleven-year-old Julia could tell you first-hand what this feels like. How everything was normal and then suddenly it wasn’t and how her whole life and the world started to deteriorate afterwards. Because in the midst of disaster, Julia still has to deal with the everyday troubles of growing up and discovering who you are.

What did you think of it & why did you pick it up? The Age of Miracles caused me to be terrified that if I peered out my window I would discover it was dark in the middle of the afternoon. For me this would have meant imminent death. I’m one of those people that enjoys being out in the sun. Actually relishes feeling it warm me until even my pinky toes are toasty. Without the sun, I tend to wilt. I get depressed and cranky and I tell people I’m busy if they ask me to hang out when in reality I am swimming in a pool of self-pity.

Despite, the paranoid feeling it gave me I loved the premise. It’s so outside of the box. In a way though, it stuck very close to our society’s problems today which is slightly disturbing. Who knew that the speed of the Earth’s rotation and the amount of sun we receive at one time has such a huge effect on our planet? It blew my mind how many problems this tiny, invisible, difference made. All of the problems were relevant though, and made sense.

This book also blasted me to the past. The past being two years ago, in sixth grade. Although Julia’s sixth grade was obviously nothing like mine, I definitely remember feeling as if the world were ending. Everything becomes all about boys, popularity, bras, curves (or the lack of), maturity, and immaturity. And all of that is just starting, meaning no one has any idea what they are doing. The whole puberty thing is awkward enough without the apocalypse going on and Karen Thompson Walker really captured this. Or at least most of it. I did have problems with this book, which is unfortunate because you can tell by reading the first page that Walker is an excellent writer. She is very literary and uses a lot of expressive writing.

One issue I had was the narrator and protagonist, Julia. She was only in sixth grade, so I didn’t really understand why she was so mature and stoic. Sure the world was ending, so that would probably mature any kid up real fast but this also caused her to have almost a lack of emotion. Maybe I just have a problem with Julie being so young. I read so many novels where the characters are sixteen or over that I tend to stereotype younger characters as babyish.

It’s true though, as a twelve-year-old you can’t do nearly as much as a sixteen-year-old. You simply don’t have that kind of freedom. The entire book would have been much more dynamic if Julia were older. All of the events would be more interesting and overall capture and hold my attention more.

Another quality I disliked about The Age of Miracles was the nostalgic tone. Since the story was told by Julia as a twenty-something-year-old the whole book had a reminiscent feel to it. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; I’m just not sure if I liked it. Again, I felt like this was another factor that added to the book seeming…muted. Obviously events were happening, emotions exploding, and relationships deteriorating, but you couldn’t really feel that. There was no huge climax. A turning point, yes. But in no way could you compare that to the drop of a rollercoaster or even a surprise.

The reason why I gave this novel four stars, despite its issues, was Julia’s relationship with Seth (the love interest) and the ending. Julia and Seth broke my heart. Their innocence was sweet (SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT) and I felt like crying along with Julia when Seth left. As for the ending it was mainly the last few words that got too me. “We were here.” They held so much meaning and truly tied up the book in a wonderful way. Some authors just know how to end books; Karen Thompson Walker is one of them. Unlike most apocalypse novels, she acknowledged that sometimes there is no happy ending or hopeful revolution. Nothing could be done for Earth anymore and Julia and the rest of the world had to come to terms with this.

Because of the superb resolution, great premise, and the gorgeous language, I definitely recommend this book to younger readers.

This review is also available at Books that Smolder.

Star Rating:  It was really good. I’ve already told my friends about it.

I would suggest this for: 6th and 7th graders

Review by: Lauren B

Thanks for the review, Lauren!

What is it about? Flipped is a romance told in two voices. The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That’s pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade, when, just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn’t as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see beyond the surface of things and come together makes for a comic and poignant romance.

Why did you think of it and why did you pick it up? I chose to read Flipped at this time mostly because of the KU Literature Fest that is going on in October, which I am super excited for because I didn’t go last year and I sort of regret not doing so. Although it has been on my to-read list for a while now. I had already seen the movie (which I desperately wish I hadn’t done. NEVER watch the movie before the book. Especially if you had wanted to read the book before they even thought about making a movie) therefore I knew what to expect, but it was still worth the read. There really is no other way to describe this book other than positively sweet. It contained everything that a book about young love should and nothing else.

I read a lot of romance/coming-of-age novels where the protagonist is about sixteen or seventeen and that’s fine, but at the same time the romance aspect is different. It’s not necessarily going to be cute or innocent, and most times it isn’t. Because I have read those kinds of books my standards and views on love is very different from kids my age. In good and bad ways. I know that since I’m only in eighth grade I’m probably not going to fall in love so I shouldn’t pretend like I am. I also now believe that soul mates exist which isn’t always good because what if I never find that person? What if I end up ignoring someone incredible because my standards were too high? Now you see what I mean when I say that Flipped was a wonderful break from that.

The meaning was very relevant to kids my age, as well. Yes, it was obvious but occasionally subtlety really is overrated. Flipped was about accepting change, growing up and discovering who you are and also seeing people for what they are really made of. Surprisingly, I ended up enjoying Bryce’s chapters’ more than Julie’s. Bryce actually changed quite a bit and being able to catch a glimpse into a boy’s mind as he is making a serious internal change was intriguing. Julie, however, didn’t have to change immensely because she already had an advanced, deep-thinking mind.

The switching point-of-views (POV’s) was the one factor I was a tad iffy on. The chapters often overlap and that can be fascinating, but at times boring as well. Maybe it bugged me slightly because I had already seen the movie which is awesome and exactly like the book. The switching POV’s did help me to see the transformation (or lack of) that each character underwent.

In the end, reading this novel was sort of like reading The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski. It surprised me with the little details and caused me to realize that I don’t always have to read scandalous romance novels (They aren’t actually that scandalous. I promise.)

Star Rating: 3 Stars: It was okay.

I would suggest this for: Fifth and sixth graders looking for a sweet read

Review by: Lauren B

Thanks for the review, Lauren!

This review is also posted at Books that Smolder.