Review: Youngblood by Sasha Laurens

Youngblood by Sasha Laurens

Youngblood
Sasha Laurens
Razorbill
Published July 19, 2022

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About Youngblood

For fans of VAMPIRE DIARIES and dark academia, two queer teen bloodsuckers at an elite vampire-only boarding school must go up against all of Vampirdom when they uncover a frightening conspiracy on campus.

Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a … Continue reading

Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir cover shows a girl with hair blowing in the wind behind a crouching warrior in a hooded cape.

An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1)
Sabaa Tahir
Razorbill Press
Published April 28, 2015

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About An Ember in the Ashes

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired … Continue reading

Review: Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

forbidden-wishForbidden Wish
Jessica Khoury
Razorbill
Available February 23, 2016

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From Goodreads:

When Aladdin discovers Zahra’s jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn’t seen in hundreds of years—a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra’s very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

As time … Continue reading

Review: The Forbidden Wish (Sneak Peek) by Jessica Khoury

The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury Sneak PeekForbidden Wish (Sneak Peak)
Jessica Khoury
Penguin Young Readers Group/Razorbill

When a young thief summons Zahra from her lamp, she must grant him three wishes. But the world in which he lives forbids her presence, and her unwilling allegiance to her jinni kin means she may have to betray him at any moment. Nevertheless, she can’t help falling for the charming, fearless boy named Aladdin.

This sneak peek contains the first few chapters of this novel. If you’ve been lurking around The Story Sanctuary long, you’ll already know I’m a total sucker for fairytale retellings. So this was one I couldn’t resist checking out in advance.

I love that the story is told from the jinni’s perspective and that the … Continue reading

Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe
Beth Revis
Raborbill / Penguin Group
Published January 11, 2011

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Seventeen year-old Amy and her parents join a team of scientists and military personnel who will endure 300 years of cryogenically induced sleep as they travel across space to form a colony on a new planet. Fifty years before the ship’s scheduled arrival at Centauri-Earth, Amy awakens, trapped and suffocating in her cryo-chamber. She cannot wake her parents without risking sabotage to their mission, so she is left to find a place within the strange society of passengers who make their lives aboard the ship Godspeed.

An unpredictable, manipulative man called Eldest rules the populace, and he immediately threatens to … Continue reading