Category Archives: Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Review: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Book Review and Content, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallero

A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes #1)
Brittany Cavallaro
Katherine Tegen Books
Published on March 1, 2016

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About A Study in Charlotte

The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.

My Review

A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE has been on my reading list since before it hit the shelves. (I wasn’t cool enough to get a review copy, but I got a free audiobook version from the first week of Audiobooks Sync summer program.) So I’ve finally had a chance to read it.

Sad, terrible disclaimer: I’ve never read the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I kind of wish I had read them before reading this book. I feel like I would have gotten more of a kick out of the moments which must be a nod to the classic original stories. But I very much enjoyed reading the book even without that insider fun.

I liked that both Jamie and Charlotte have some big flaws (Jamie’s anger management issues and big emotions; Charlotte’s addictions and inability to see past her analysis of a situation) which somehow make them a stronger team. While it’s not really a character-driven story, the relationships between characters evolve quite a bit as the story unfolds. Jamie must give up the idolized version of Charlotte from his childhood, and faces an opportunity to build a relationship with his dad (who has his own flaws) and step-family.

While I wish the language had been cleaner, I really enjoyed reading A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE. The murder mystery kept me on the edge of my seat, and the complex relationships and intriguing cast of characters led me to devour the book from beginning to end. This is a series I want to see through to the end.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Charlotte is (of course) from London. Other characters from Connecticut.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some lusty comments from Jamie – things like noticing a girl’s curves or wondering who’s having sex. A boy makes lewd comments to and about a girl. Later we learn he sexually assaulted a girl (we don’t learn any of the details other than that she was not sober and did not consent.). Brief kiss between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Brief descriptions of a fist fight between two boys. A boy is discovered murdered by poison and snake bite. Someone attacks a girl and shoves a plastic jewel down her throat. A bomb explodes and injures some people. An unknown virus threatens to kill a boy if he doesn’t find the antidote quickly.

Drug Content
A girl takes Oxycodone and smokes cigarettes. Teens drink vodka at a weekly party. References to drug rehab and cocaine use in the past.

Review: The One by Kiera Cass

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

The One (The Selection #3)
Kiera Cass
HarperTeen
Published on May 6, 2014

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About The One
The time has come for one winner to be crowned.

When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

My Review
I picked up The One because I needed a light read, and this The Bachelor meets Cinderella fit the bill. Sometimes the dialog gets a bit superficial, and a few times America comes off as selfish. She criticizes Maxon about his complex feelings for the other candidates when she harbors her own feelings for her childhood bestie, Aspen. But where The Elite left me frustrated by that hypocrisy, America finally faces the truth that she’ll have to choose between the two boys in The One. And not just choose between them—but face the fact that her secret-keeping might destroy any hope of happiness in her future.

The writing is a bit different, but I think this series might appeal to readers who like books by Melanie Dickerson or Victoria Aveyard. See below for content notes.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
One of the girls America competes with is black and another is Asian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used maybe eight or ten times.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. At one point, America invites a boy into her bed. They stop short of having sex, not wanting their first experience to be an impulsive moment. But they do spend the night together.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Rebels attack and kill citizens. The king pressures the remaining Selection candidates to condemn criminals to harsh, violent punishments.

Drug Content
None.

Review: Reached by Ally Condie

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Reached
Ally Condie
Penguin
Published on November 13, 2012

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After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again.

My Review
Reached was my favorite book in this series. Through all three books, poetry has served as a kind of rallying point, encouraging Cassia and Ky and others to oppose the Society. In Reached, though, Cassia takes her love of art further by beginning to create her own and to gather others who do the same. At first, she’s told that creating new things doesn’t matter. Even The Rising, which she values so highly, doesn’t hold any love for creativity. Cassia doesn’t agree with them, so she faces a choice on whether to be totally devoted to The Rising, which she’s always dreamed of, or to be kind of on her own side. A free agent, more like Ky has always been.

In some ways this story reminded me of the Matrix trilogy, where things are not at all as they seem. The Society. The Rising. The pandemic sweeping through the provinces. There’s always more going on beneath what they’re telling Cassia, Xander, and Ky. I loved that layered feeling it gave the story. And I loved that it made the story about more than an uprising and shift in power. The answer wasn’t as simple as swapping The Society for The Rising. Which made the story a lot more interesting to me.

I definitely recommend the series to readers looking for clean dystopian books. The second book was a little draggy to me, but on the whole, I thought the series was good.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Cassia wonders about what people experience after death as she’s flying and seeing the sky and clouds.

Violent Content
A vicious illness spreads rapidly through the population, unleashed by one group as part of a battle strategy.

Drug Content
The Society gives each person a case with three pills in it. The red pill causes memory loss, and is used by the Society to make people forget things they’ve done or seen.

Review: Whisper of the Tide by Sarah Tolcser

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Whisper of the Tide
Sarah Tolcser
Bloomsbury
Published on June 5, 2018

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About Whisper of the Tide
Caro Oresteia spent her life waiting to be called by the river god, as those in her family had been for generations. But when she’s swept away on an adventure to save the Akhaian royal prince, Markos, her destiny is sealed by the sea god instead.

For now, Caro is landlocked, helping Markos reclaim his throne after nearly his entire family was assassinated in a political coup. Without any financial or military support, Markos is desperate for allies, and Caro has fought off more than one attempt on his life. When a powerful Archon offers his army in exchange for Markos’s marriage to his daughter, Caro must choose: Her love for Markos, or the fate of Akhaia? And more importantly: How much is she willing to risk to defy the sea god’s wishes and chart her own course?

With shipwrecks, lost treasure, old and new enemies, dark magic, and breathtaking romance, Sarah Tolcser weaves another epic story about chasing your fate.

My Review
I forgot how much I love Caro’s character in this series. She’s so spunky and strong. All the sailing stuff and love for ships and such make Whisper of the Tide a fun read, too. It’s all my favorite things about Pirates of the Caribbean but tossed with some political intrigue and additional strong female characters. Delicious!

It always makes me nervous to read the sequel to a book I loved. I’m always torn because I want to know what happens next, but I’m so afraid it won’t be as good as the first book and will somehow diminish my good memories. No worries here. Whisper of the Tide stands alone as a great love story and a tale about how you have to understand who you are before you can hope to have a happy romantic relationship. It’s very different than Song of the Current, but I really enjoyed the high adventure and race against assassins. I’m so glad I read it. Unfortunately, it does have some references to sex (see below for details), so some sensitive readers may want a heads up on that. The tone and scope of the story will probably appeal more to older readers. You can find my review of Song of the Current here.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Caro has brown skin and red hair—an oddity where she lives.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of strong profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Two scenes show Caro and Markos getting into bed. One cuts to the next morning, letting us know they had sex without showing anything. The other gives some limited details.

Spiritual Content
Caro has been chosen by the god of the sea, and then asked to make a choice between her calling and her life with Markos. The sea god is a capricious one, who has destroyed followers who’ve disappointed her in the past. Caro’s cousin has learned some magic associated with stealth and assassination.

Violent Content
Some combat between Caro and enemies involving knives and guns.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

The Opposite of Here
Tara Altebrando
Bloomsbury
Published on June 5, 2018

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About The Opposite of Here
Natalie’s parents are taking her and her three best friends on a cruise for her seventeenth birthday. A sail-a-bration, they call it. But it’s only been a few short months since Natalie’s boyfriend died in a tragic accident, and she wants to be anywhere but here.
Then she meets a guy on the first night and sparks fly. After a moonlit conversation on a secluded deck of the ship, Natalie pops down to her cabin to get her swimsuit so they can go for a dip. But when she returns, he’s gone. Something he said makes her think he might have . . . jumped? No, he couldn’t have.
But why do her friends think she’s crazy for wanting to make sure he’s okay? Also, why do they seem to be hiding something from her? And how can she find him when she doesn’t even know his name? Most importantly, why is the captain on the intercom announcing the urgent need for a headcount?
With her signature thrilling storytelling, the author of The Leaving and The Possible explores our vulnerability to the power of suggestion-and the lies we tell others and ourselves-in a twisting, Hitchcock-inspired mystery with high stakes and dark secrets.

My Review
I had no idea when I requested this book for review that it would be so timely! My family has decided to view some Hitchcock movies for our weekly family movie nights this summer, so I was super excited when I realized this story incorporates some of that famous Hitchcock suspense/sense of weird. The way things would happen and be… off… really reminded me of a Hitchcock movie.

While Natalie’s grief over her boyfriend’s death feels very real, the story doesn’t idolize him. Natalie discovers some uncomfortable truths about herself, her boyfriend and the relationship, which the story forces her to confront through the mystery surrounding the new boy she meets.

Twists and turns abound in The Opposite of Here. Every time I thought I had things figured out, the story turned on its head. Even things which seem trivial or unrelated often played an important role—which only added to that dense, old-movie vibe I love!

My only complaint is in the attitude of the girls, who all seem to approach the cruise as a great place to have these one-night or one-week romantic encounters because that’s what a good time looks like. This is not a story about celebrating the importance of girl friends or even moving on from grief to a new love. The total confidence and prowess of the girls didn’t resonate with me.

On the whole, I enjoyed the book and recommend it to older suspense lovers as a nice beach or poolside read this summer. See below for more content information.

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of strong profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Natalie’s friends tell her the cruise is a great place to forget about life on the mainland (including relationships) and get physically involved with someone new, just for the duration of the trip. One scene described Natalie kissing a boy and it’s clear they have sex, but it happens between scenes, so there’s no description.

Spiritual Content
At times Natalie imagines her boyfriend who has died watching her in the clouds, commenting on her choices.

Violent Content
Natalie worries that someone fell overboard. A brief description of a girl who drowned in a pool and other suspicious deaths. A boy falls off a balcony to land on a lower floor.

Drug Content
The girls take advantage of the fact that one of them is over 18 and can order alcohol. They drink beers together.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Book Review and Content, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, ,

Sky in the Deep
Adrienne Young
Wednesday Books
Published on April 24th, 2018

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About Sky in the Deep
OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield — her brother, fighting with the enemy — the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

My Review
I liked this book. Mostly. But I didn’t love it, so that’s why I’m only giving it three stars.

The plot was pretty good, if a little basic: two warring villages must join together to defeat greater threat. While I can’t say that I’ve read this plot before, it still felt kinda cliché. I feel like there could’ve been a lot more exploration into the dynamics between the two villages, and it would’ve been more interesting if there had been greater differences between the Riki and the Aska. (They are pretty much identical, except for the name of their god and minor ritualistic stuff.)

I loved Eelyn as a character. I really felt for her and what she went through, and I could understand her emotions. The author did a great job of building a connection with her. However, none of the other characters were really rounded out, which led to the romance feeling very bland and lust-driven rather than a real rapport built between characters. I didn’t understand Fiske, and honestly felt like he was just a minor character thrown in for a romance subplot.

I’d love to see more of the broader world in this story as well: where did the Herja come from? Are they even human? What is the bigger picture here?

Overall, I found Sky in the Deep to be pretty bland. What could’ve been an incredible, heart-wrenching tale about cultures combing/clashing turned into a predictable fantasy adventure that just didn’t enthrall me.

Recommended for Ages 16 and up

Cultural Elements
The Herja are described as being very pale with white eyes. Both the Riki and the Aska seem to be caucasian. 

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Characters ‘curse,’ but actual words are not given.

Romance/Sexual Content
One character is almost raped. Some kissing scenes, semi-detailed. One intimate encounter in a fade-to-black, off-page type scene.

Spiritual Content
The Riki and the Aska each have their own god, and these gods are supposed to be enemies. Thora is the Riki god, and came ‘from the mountain in fire.’ Sigr is the Aska god, and ‘had risen up from the sea.’ Every five years, the tribes battle in honor of their warring gods. The Aska believe in Sólbjorg, which is an afterlife that is earned by honor and valor. The Riki also believe in an afterlife called Frior. Both tribes perform ritual ceremonies.

Violent Content
Very graphic descriptions of wounds, killings, and attacks. One character graphically rips out another character’s eyeball. One character is almost raped.

Drug Content
Characters drink ale, and use herbs for medicinal purposes.Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.