Currently Reading: Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers

Remember how much I liked Grave Mercy? It was years ago, and I never wrote reviews for the other two books in Robin LaFever’s excellent His Fair Assassin trilogy, but the stories of Ismae, Sybella, and Annith have stuck with me for ages and have, quite honestly, made other historical fantasies pale in comparison. So

Book Review: Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Star Ratings: Characters: ***** (5 stars) Writing:**** (4 stars) Plot: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) (Be it known that I read an advanced reader’s copy of this book and some things may change before publication.) I liked this book.  It’s realistic, somewhat romantic, somewhat nerdy YA.  It’s Australian, so the seasons were confusing.

Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Star Ratings: Characters: *** (3 stars) Character Development: *** (3 stars) Plot: **** (4 stars) Writing: *** (3 stars) Overall: *** (3 stars) Age range recommendation: 15 and up.  (Definitely not for anyone who isn’t in high school yet, as there’s sex and other grossness.  I would actually recommend this to a lot of twenty-somethings

Book Review: The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

Star Ratings: Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: ***** (5 stars) Plot: *** (3 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 out of 5 stars) I recommend The Game of Love and Death for readers age 14 and up, though there’s nothing particularly terrifying or overtly sexual, so strong younger readers could give it

Summer Camp Rec: Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern (if you liked The Fault In Our Stars)

Oh, right, summer camp is a thing… And the season is upon us! All of a sudden, school is out and young people are being shipped off to learn how to despise teamwork, or shoot arrows at hay bales, or bathe in bugspray to no avail. At least, that’s what I remember about my own

Book Review: Chime by Franny Billingsley

Star Ratings Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Writing : ***** (5 stars) Overall: ****1/2 (4 1/2 stars) Age range recommendation: 13 + Nancy Werlin recommended Chime to me way back in the fall when I met her at the Boston Teen Author Festival. I was one of

Valentine’s Day Special: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Daniel Handler, please be my Valentine.  There’s not a single damn thing you’ve written that I don’t love.  This includes the new picture book 29 Myths On The Swinster Pharmacy, which was authored by some suspicious bloke named Lemony Snicket. (Snicket writes an awful lot like Handler.)  But today is Valentine’s Day, so here is

Book Review: She Rises by Kate Worsley

Star Ratings: Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: **** (4 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) Age rage recommendation: 15+ (some violence and language; unpleasant sexual situations) She Rises was a strange combination of things I love and things I hate, and while I definitely thought it was

Mini Review: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

This is just a tiny little review, mostly copied from my blog, because I don’t have enough time to do a proper write-up of Grave Mercy but I do want to recommend it to anyone who likes historical YA fiction. Star Ratings: Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Writing: