Book Review: The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

(img source: goodreads) Star Ratings: Characters: ***** (5 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: *** (3 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) Age range recommendation: 12 and up. (Dark but not scary, though there’s some troubling emotional and domestic abuse.) Be it known that I read an ARC of this book,

Book Review: The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Star Ratings: Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: ***** (5 stars) Plot: **** (4 stars) Writing: ***** (5 stars) Overall: ****1/2 (4 1/2 stars) Be it known that I read an advanced galley of The Buried Giant and some details may change before publication.  The book will come out on March 3, 2015, from Alfred

Book Review: Nightbird by Alice Hoffman

Star Ratings: Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: **** (4 stars) Writing: ***** (5 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) Age range recommendation: 8-14 I’m so excited that Alice Hoffman is putting out another novel for young people!  I loved her books when I was a teenager.  She captures moments of “everyday

Book Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Star Ratings: Characters: **** (5 stars) Character Development: ****** (6 stars. Deal with it.) Plot: **** (4 stars) Writing: ***** (5 stars) Overall: ***** (5 stars) Age range recommendation: 14 and up. Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle will always be the Big Fat Exception to the I-rarely-read-sequels rule.  The third installment of this four book series

Book Review – Lockwood & Co #2: The Whispering Skull

Star Ratings: Characters: ***** (5 stars) Character development: ***** (5 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: ***** (5 stars) Age range recommendation: 11 and up It’s rare and exciting that I read more than one book in a series.  Series aren’t often my thing, and even when I do read a

Book Review: 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith

Toot-tootle-oo! (That’s that medieval trumpet sound of oh-hey-big-news, but you’ll have to imagine it sounding more impressive than the phonetic sounds I just typed out…)  The National Book Award’s long list for Young People’s Literature has been announced!  I’ve read three of the books already: Skink – No Surrender, Brown Girl Dreaming (I reviewed it here), and 100 Sideways Miles.  I really

Book Review of The Thickety: A Path Begins by J. A. White

“Creepy kids’ book delivery!” my co-worker announced when she dropped The Thickety in front of me at the bookshop.  The intricate, foreboding cover of the advanced reader’s copy was enough to move it to the top of my reading list. I seem to have developed a reputation as She Who Reads All The Weird Children’s

Book Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman (coming out May, 2014)

Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) (It is hereby stated that I read the advanced reader’s copy of Bird Box and a few details might change before publication.) When I wrote my preview of Bird Box after meeting Josh Malerman at the

Four New Books from HarperCollins: The Bookshelf Pirate Has Dinner With Authors

People keep making the mistake of letting me out into public. A pirate on cold medicine in a restaurant full of book people: this situation had the potential to end in broken glass, spoiled endings, and elaborate apologies. But, for reasons which continue to befuddle yet flatter me, my coworkers and other literary grown-ups keep

Book Review: The Mark Of The Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson (Coming out in March, 2014)

Star Ratings: Characters: *****(4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Writing: *** **(5 stars) Overall: ***** (5 stars) (It is hereby stated that I read the advanced reader’s copy of The Mark of The Dragonfly and a few details might change before publication.) How pleased am I to be giving this