Category: YA

  • REVIEW of Fable and Namesake by Adrienne Young

    REVIEW of Fable and Namesake by Adrienne Young

    Survival is paramount, and only the strong survive. For Fable, a young woman stranded on the island of Jevali, her skills as a diver mean the difference between life and death. Dredging up precious gems from the tropical waters, she sells them to a trader named West, hoping to someday earn enough coin to get…

  • REVIEW of The Peasant’s Dream (Hagenheim #11) by Melanie Dickerson

    REVIEW of The Peasant’s Dream (Hagenheim #11) by Melanie Dickerson

    As the youngest daughter of the Duke of Hagenheim, Adela is never allowed to venture outside the castle walls alone. Disguising herself as a serving girl, she sneaks out to the marketplace where she encounters Frederick, the longsuffering stepson of a loutish farmer who aspires to one day be a woodcarver. Continuing to conceal her…

  • REVIEW of The Winter King by Christine Cohen

    REVIEW of The Winter King by Christine Cohen

    Cora has never loved the Winter King. Ever since her father disappeared and her family was cursed, she has resented the tyrannical god who demands the village’s service and offerings. Working her fingers to the bone for the High Aldorman, she schemes and scavenges to keep her mother and siblings alive amidst cold, famine, and…

  • REVIEW of Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford

    REVIEW of Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford

    Nor and Zadie are twins, identical to each other in every way except for the scar on Nor’s cheek. While diving for pearls (the only resource they can trade for food and water), Nor was scraped by the lethal blood coral, surviving the incident only to retain a mysterious healing agent inside herself. Part of…

  • REVIEW of The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo

    REVIEW of The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo

    Rob Horton lives in a Florida motel with his father, a father who refuses to speak the name of his dead mother, a father who hit him at the funeral to stop him from crying. The school bullies beat Rob up on the bus every day, A rash on his legs makes him the target…

  • REVIEW of Pretty in Punxsutawney by Laurie Boyle Crompton

    REVIEW of Pretty in Punxsutawney by Laurie Boyle Crompton

    When Andie moves to a new town the summer of her senior year, she develops a crush on Colton, the guy who dishes out popcorn at the local movie theater. True, he doesn’t even seem to know what a meet-cute is, but then, not everyone can share her obsessive love of old films. Much to…

  • REVIEW of West (East #2) by Edith Pattou

    REVIEW of West (East #2) by Edith Pattou

    After rescuing her White Bear prince in the previous book, Rose is living happily with Charles and their children Estelle and Winn, but not happily ever after. When she travels to visit her parents, she learns that Charles’ own ship has been shipwrecked. As Rose tries to trace his whereabouts, Winn and Estelle disappear, and…

  • REVIEW of The Warrior Maiden (Hagenheim #9) by Melanie Dickerson

    Mulan, a half-Asian girl who can shoot arrows better than any boy, has grown up as a pariah in her village in Lithuania. When her father dies, she must take his place in the army of the local warlord to ensure that her mother is not kicked out of their house. Concealing her identity as…

  • REVIEW of The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork

    REVIEW of The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork

    Clara Stahlbaum has been practicing her Johann Kahler Sonata for two years. On Christmas Day she will play it at the concert hall, attract the attention of handsome pianist Johann Kahler, and finally have her happily ever after. But when a strange Nutcracker shows up on her piano, she finds herself whisked away to the…

  • REVIEW of The Song of Seven, by Tonke Dragt

    REVIEW of The Song of Seven, by Tonke Dragt

    School teacher Frans van der Steg amuses the children in his classroom with adventure stories about Frans the Red, but he never imagined that he would find himself in the middle of his own adventure story. Shortly after arriving in the quiet village, he receives a letter from a mysterious Count Gradus Grisenstein asking him…