Category Archives: Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Upcoming Reviews: April 2016

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I live! Admit it. You were wondering.

Sorry. Between Spring Break (which was lots more SPRING than BREAK, to tell the truth) and Easter and illness in our house, I’ve let blogging fall to the wayside for the last couple of weeks. I’m hoping that this weekend I’ll be able to get caught up on the things I’ve missed and get into reading some of these awesome books– because FOUR of them come out in less than a week!

Not listed here, but on my agenda to review is Life Animated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind (which I HIGHLY recommend.) As a reminder, I do not accept requests to review non-fiction, but occasionally, I do read and review some non-fiction here.

Now, to business! Here are some of the books you can expect to find here at The Story Sanctuary in April 2016:

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Review: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten

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The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa TotenThe Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
Teresa Toten
Delacorte Press

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Almost-fifteen-year-old Adam meets Robyn at his group therapy session for teens with obsessive-compulsive issues. It’s hardly the setting for romance, but Adam can’t deny how he feels for her. Robyn seems drawn to him, too. Maybe. But while Robyn’s most troublesome days seem to be behind her, Adam’s life continues to spiral out of control. He’s at the mercy of his half-brother’s anxiety issues, and his mother refuses to get help though the threatening letters she receives only seem to be getting worse. As Adam desperately struggles to hold everyone together, he begins to split … Continue reading →

Review: Off the Page by Jodi Picoult

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Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van LeerOff the Page
Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer
Delacorte Press

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Delilah and Oliver can finally be together in the real world. But in order to maintain Oliver’s presence, Edgar had to take his place in the fairytale story where Oliver really belongs. As Oliver struggles to acclimate to the new and unfamiliar setting outside his story, he must impersonate Edgar well enough to fool Edgar’s mother and to fit in at school. When another portal between the story and the real world opens, two more characters swap for real life counterparts, leaving Delilah and Oliver to untangle the mess. For both of them, one … Continue reading →

Review: Finding Hope by Colleen Nelson

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Finding Hope by Colleen NelsonFinding Hope
Colleen Nelson
Dundurn

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Sixteen year-old Hope is trapped in a small town as her family wrestles with her brother’s addiction to crystal meth. After her mom pushes her to apply for a prestigious boarding school over an hour away, she’s shocked to discover she’s been accepted. There’s only one problem: if she moves away, how will her brother, Eric, survive on the street without the money and food she regularly slips to him? When Eric learns Hope has gone away to school, he follows her to the city. Unfortunately, his inner demons only torment him harder as he draws nearer to the memories that pushed his … Continue reading →

Top Ten Books on my Spring TBR List

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TTTTop Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a list of the hottest books on my To Be Read List for this spring. I’m not sure if this means books coming out this spring I can’t wait to read or books I am most eager to read in the next couple of months, so I’m going to include both, because I’m a rebel like that.

Books Actually Coming Out This Spring That I’m Crazy Eager to Read

 

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater1. The Raven King by … Continue reading →

Review: Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

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Belzhar by Meg WolitzerBelzhar
Meg Wolitzer
Dutton Books for Young Readers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When Jam can’t recover from her boyfriend’s death, her desperate family sends her to The Wooden Barn, a boarding school for distraught teens. There Jam finds herself enrolled in Special Topics in English, an elite, invitation-only course. This year, Jam and her classmates will study the works of Sylvia Plath, and will write about their own experiences in special journals given to them by their fascinating instructor, Mrs. Quenell.

As Jam begins to write in her journal, she’s transported to a place where Reeve still lives, and they can be together. A place she calls Belzhar. As the semester winds down, and the … Continue reading →