Author Archives: Kasey

About Kasey

Reads things. Writes things. Fluent in sarcasm. Willful optimist. Cat companion, chocolate connoisseur, coffee drinker. There are some who call me Mom.

Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books by New Authors I Read in 2022

By | | , , , ,
18 Comments

Best New Authors I Read in 2022

Top Ten Authors New to Me that I Read in 2022

2022 was a great year for me in terms of finding debut authors whose books I loved and finally trying books by authors that I’d had on my TBR for a while. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, I’m sharing the top ten best books by new authors (or new to me authors) I read in 2022.

Out of the 171 books that I agreed to review in 2022, 121 of them were authors who were new to me. That doesn’t include the backlist titles that I read, which I am not doing a good job keeping track of right now. I would … Continue reading →

Review: The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan

By | | , , ,
Comments Off on Review: The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan

The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan

The Buried and the Bound
Rochelle Hassan
MacMillan
Published January 24, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Buried and the Bound

A contemporary fantasy YA debut from Rochelle Hassan about monsters, magic, and wicked fae, perfect for fans of The Darkest Part of the Forest and The Hazel Wood.

As the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts—an uncommonly magical place—Aziza El-Amin has bargained with wood nymphs, rescued palm-sized fairies from house cats, banished flesh-eating shadows from the local park. But when a dark entity awakens in the forest outside of town, eroding the invisible boundary between the human world and fairyland, run-of-the-mill fae mischief turns into outright … Continue reading →

Review: Seven Percent of Ro Devereux

By | | , , , ,
2 Comments

Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O'Clover

Seven Percent of Ro Devereux
Ellen O’Clover
HarperTeen
Published January 17, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Seven Percent of Ro Devereux

A clever, charming, and poignant debut novel about a girl who must decide whether to pursue her dreams or preserve her relationships, including a budding romance with her ex-best friend, when an app she created goes viral.

Ro Devereux can predict your future. Or, at least, the app she built for her senior project can.

Working with her neighbor, a retired behavioral scientist, Ro created an app called MASH, designed around the classic game Mansion Apartment Shack House, that can predict a person’s future with … Continue reading →

The Minus One Club by Kekla Magoon

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on The Minus One Club by Kekla Magoon

Minus One Club by Kekla Magoon

The Minus One Club
Kekla Magoon
MacMillan
Published January 17, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Minus One Club

From the Coretta Scott King and Printz Honor-winning author of HOW IT WENT DOWN, LIGHT IT UP, and REVOLUTION IN OUR TIME comes a moving contemporary YA novel about the bonds between a group of teens whose lives have been upended by tragedy.

Fifteen-year-old Kermit Sanders knows grief and its all-encompassing shadows. After losing his beloved older sister in a tragic car accident, nothing quite punctures through the feelings of loss. Everywhere Kermit goes, he is reminded of her.

But then Kermit finds a mysterious invitation in his locker, signed anonymously with “-1.” He … Continue reading →

Review: Heartstopper: Volume Four by Alice Oseman

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Review: Heartstopper: Volume Four by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper: Volume 4 by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper: Volume Four
Alice Oseman
Graphix
Published January 4, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Heartstopper: Volume Four

Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fourth volume of HEARTSTOPPER, for fans of THE ART OF BEING NORMAL, Holly Bourne and LOVE, SIMON.

Charlie didn’t think Nick could ever like him back, but now they’re officially boyfriends. Charlie’s beginning to feel ready to say those three little words: I love you.

Nick’s been feeling the same, but he’s got a lot on his mind – not least coming out to his dad, and the fact that Charlie might … Continue reading →

Review: The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh

By | | , , ,
2 Comments

The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh

The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukranian Famine
Katherine Marsh
MacMillan
Published January 17, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Lost Year

From the author of Nowhere Boy – called “a resistance novel for our times” by The New York Times – comes a brilliant middle-grade survival story that traces a harrowing family secret back to the Holodomor, a terrible famine that devastated Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s.

Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable. His journalist dad is stuck overseas indefinitely, and his mom has moved in his one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother to ride out the pandemic, adding to his stress and isolation.

But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his … Continue reading →