Category Archives: Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Review: Alone by Megan E. Freeman

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Poetry, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,
Alone Megan E Freeman

Alone
Megan E. Freeman
Simon & Schuster/Aladdin
Published January 12, 2021

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About Alone

When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.

With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.

As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life?

My Review

I tend to really enjoy novels in verse, but also feel a little bit inadequate reading them? Does this happen to anyone else? Just me?

Even with that, I really liked ALONE. It’s a bit too dark to say I enjoyed it– lots of moments left me uncomfortable, and I will admit that I even peeked ahead to the end because I just needed to know that I could handle what would happen. (It had been an unusually tough week.)

I liked the connection that Maddie had to her family and the ways she tried to preserve those connections even while she was alone. It was so sweet that she had the dog with her, too. I really liked him and that they took care of each other.

There were a lot of suspenseful moments and some interesting political and social commentary often lurking between the lines. Those are all things I love in a book, so they only pulled me in more deeply into the story.

I often find stories with a solitary narrator to kind of drag on without other characters and dialog to break up the narrative, so I felt like telling this particular story in verse kept it feeling fast-paced and suspenseful.

If you enjoy more contemporary-feeling dystopian stories or novels in verse, definitely add ALONE to your reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used a few times.

Romance/Sexual Content
Maddie sees a group of men and wonders whether they would rescue her or attack her.

Spiritual Content
Maddie tries to pray and at one point writes an angry letter to God.

Violent Content
Maddie sees a man kill a kitten. Maddie learns to shoot a handgun for protection. A tornado rips through Maddie’s town. Lightning sparks a fire that destroys a neighborhood.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of ALONE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay

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

Princess of Thorns
Stacey Jay
Delacorte Press
Published December 9, 2014

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About Princess of Thorns

Game of Thrones meets the Grimm’s fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty’s daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.

Though she looks like a mere mortal, Princess Aurora is a fairy blessed with enhanced strength, bravery, and mercy yet cursed to destroy the free will of any male who kisses her. Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora’s throne ten years ago.

Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it’s too late? Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love?

My Review

This book has been on my reading list for YEARS. I don’t know why it took me so long to read it, since it has a lot of things I like: star-crossed romance, references to familiar fairy tales, alternating viewpoints between Aurora and Niklaas, capricious magic, and political intrigue.

I loved how the fairy blessings that Aurora’s mother passed to her also became curses in their way. She meant them for good, but the magic didn’t work quite the way she and Aurora expected. That created some interesting situations for Aurora to navigate.

PRINCESS OF THORNS spins some darker themes into its fairytale story in othere ways, too. Aurora’s mother is THE Sleeping Beauty Princess from the fairytale, only in this story, the prince wasn’t the hero from the original story. Niklaas bears his own curse– one ordered against him and all his brothers by their immortal father– in which he’ll turn into a swan at sunrise on his eighteenth birthday. I liked the ties to other fairy tales and how even those familiar things were reimagined.

The only thing I struggled with at all was a moment in the climax (which I will try not to spoil) that left me feeling a bit let down. It felt like a thing happened because Aurora wanted it badly enough, and I found myself wishing that there had been something more concrete that she had to do instead.

On the whole, though, I really enjoyed this book and I kind of wish that Aurora and Niklaas would go on to try to break his brothers’ curse and confront his father in another book. It looks like there was some discussion of a sequel at one point (there was a Kicktraq fundraiser for one) but I don’t see any recent news about it.

I think readers who enjoyed A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY by Brigid Kemmerer will love this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to sex between boy and girl. Niklaas hints at past sexual exploits. Aurora remembers a boy she kissed and considered doing more with. A young woman makes a sexual advance at Aurora (while she’s dressed as her brother) and grabs her groin. Kissing and touching between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Aurora has been fairy blessed– received powers her mother meant to protect her, which act more as a curse sometimes. A witch cursed Niklaas and his brothers at his father’s request. Ogres consume human souls for their power. Some have the ability to see the future. A woman with a demon feeding on her ear tells Aurora some details about her future.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Several mentions of and some descriptions of torture. A couple battle scenes.

Drug Content
Aurora and Niklaas drink beer together at an inn.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of PRINCESS OF THORNS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

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Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)
Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic Press
Published September 17, 2013

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About DREAM THIEVES

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he’s not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys – a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan’s secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface – changing everything in its wake.

Of THE RAVEN BOYS, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY wrote, “Maggie Stiefvater’s can’t-put-it-down paranormal adventure will leave you clamoring for book two.” Now the second book is here, with the same wild imagination, dark romance, and heart-stopping twists that only Maggie Stiefvater can conjure.

My Review

This series is one I return to again and again to listen to the audiobooks, because I LOVE listening to Will Patton read the story. So I’ve probably listened to DREAM THIEVES at least three times, but somehow I hadn’t reviewed it until now. I think I kept getting lost in the story and forgetting to make notes on the content for the review.

At any rate, it’s probably obvious that I enjoy the story, since I keep reading it. I love the tension between Blue and Gansey. And I love going with Ronan into his dreams. I’m always fascinated with him as a character because he’s so angry but somehow so loveable? Maybe because he’s so loyal underneath his grouchy exterior. He’s trying to figure things out, to fix things that have been broken either by him or someone else, and I love those things about him.

Gansey’s sister Helen is also one of my favorites. I think I would totally read a spin-off series or fan fiction where she’s the main character. She’s efficient and brilliant, all sharp observations and quick problem-solving. I love it.

On the whole, I think DREAM THIEVES might be my favorite book in the series. I haven’t read CALL DOWN THE HAWK yet, but I love Ronan’s character, and I got a copy of the book recently, so I suspect I’ll be checking it out soon.

Check out my reviews of other RAVEN CYCLE books.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
There are hints that one character is gay, but nothing overtly confirmed in this book.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to kissing between boy and girl. One embrace which is full of tension. Some intense kissing between man and woman and references to going to bed together.

Spiritual Content
Blue’s mother and her housemates are all psychics with varying areas of specialty. They do tarot card readings. They read objects and can tell things about them.

Ronan is Catholic and attends church with his brothers. Ronan can also take objects from his dreams.

Gansey is searching for a fabled king who, legend says, will grant a wish to whoever finds him. Adam has agreed to serve as the hands and eyes of a magical forest. (No one is exactly sure what this truly means, but it’s obvious that he’s changed by this promise.)

Violent Content
Fighting between boys. Monsters follow Ronan from his dream into reality and attack him and his friend. A hired assassin beats up Ronan’s brother (not shown) and later attacks other men. A boy sets cars on fire.

Drug Content
Ronan and another boy drink alcohol and take pills. The other boy seems to do other drugs, too. Adam drinks at a party– at first he thinks it’s ginger ale, and then later things he’s been given champagne.

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Review: We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

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We Hunt the Flame
Hafsah Faizal
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published May 14, 2019

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About We Hunt the Flame

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.

Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.

War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

Set in a richly detailed world inspired by ancient Arabia, WE HUNT THE FLAME is a gripping debut of discovery, conquering fear, and taking identity into your own hands.

My Review

I read some conflicting reviews of this book before actually sitting down to read it myself, so I was pretty nervous about reading it.

Turns out I didn’t need to worry, though, because I enjoyed the story a lot. The very beginning basically reminded me of what I’d hoped A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES would be. (I DNF’d that book because I couldn’t get past the family dynamics between the main character and her sisters and father. I know, tons of people love the series… it just isn’t for me.)

I’m a huge fan of those angsty heroes who, against all odds, still want to do the right thing. I felt like Nasir hit all those notes for me. He’s an assassin, made to be a cold, unfeeling weapon, and yet, he’s so human and so vulnerable underneath his chilling exterior.

Zafira is tough and smart, and she also feels like she has to put aside her emotions in order to succeed at her quest. But is she stronger without her emotions, really? I love stories that explore those kinds of questions, and WE HUNT THE FLAME totally satisfied on that exploration.

For some reason, though, I didn’t expect it to be an ensemble cast. I assumed that at some point Zafira and Nasir would make a necessary but uneasy alliance but that it would be just the two of them. At first I didn’t invest in the rest of the team because I didn’t expect them to be around long. But as I got to know them, I liked them more and more. (It took me the longest to warm up to Altair, but by the end, I am solidly a fan, and I need to know what happens to him next!)

I really enjoyed reading this book. The characters were deep and engaging, and the story of a land cursed and the quest to break that curse and return magic to the people definitely hooked me. I can’t wait to read the second book in the series, WE FREE THE STARS, which is currently scheduled to come out in January 2021. I think readers who enjoyed SIX OF CROWS or AN EMBER IN THE ASHES will love this one.

Content Notes for We Hunt the Flame

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Set in a fantasy world inspired by ancient Arabia.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some faux curses like, “Skies.” Some curses in Arabic used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Strong sexual tension– lots of meaningful glances and obvious attraction. Some sensual kissing.

Spiritual Content
Lots of magic. Six sisters with powerful magic once ruled the kingdom, including one who imprisoned evil on an island. On that island there are creatures who impersonate people to trick or confuse Zafira and Nasir and their allies. Shadows and dark make up some magic. A powerful magical being appears to be possessing and controlling someone else.

Violent Content
Scenes show combat between Zaphira, Nasir and their allies and others. Some descriptions of torture that Nasir endured at the hands of his father and an enemy. Brief descriptions of torture.

Drug Content
Some social alcohol drinking.

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Review: Alex Approximately by Jenn Bennett

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

Alex, Approximately
Jenn Bennett
Simon Pulse
Published April 4, 2017

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About Alex, Approximately

Classic movie buff Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online by “Alex.” Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.

Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new arch-nemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever-it-is she’s starting to feel for Porter.

And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.

My Review

This is another book that’s been on my shelf for a while, and the second book by Jenn Bennett that I’ve read. I remember hoping to get a pre-release copy when I heard about this book, but I wasn’t able to. At some point I bought the e-book, and it’s been sitting in my Kindle app patiently waiting for me to finally sit down and read it.

Which I did! I read ALEX, APPROXIMATELY right after reading P.S. I LIKE YOU by Kasie West, which might sound weird because it’s a really similar plot line. What can I say? Zero regrets!

I really enjoyed the characters and the cheesy museum workplace. I remember this book being compared to the movie YOU’VE GOT MAIL, and I hoped for a cool reveal moment like that. Happily, I will say that the book delivered on those hopes.

The classic movie references were also awesome. I knew most of them, so it definitely let me feel like I was in on the story a bit more, though I think it’d be plenty enjoyable without understanding the references.

Apparently I love Rom Com. Who knew? This makes two in a row that I really enjoyed and lifted my mood. I liked it a lot.

If you’re new to Jenn Bennett’s books, you may also want to check out my review of STARRY EYES.

Content Notes for Alex Approximately

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Porter’s mom is Hawaiian (Chinese and Polynesian).

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing and making out between boy and girl. Reference to masturbation and brief description of sex.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Description of a brutal shark attack. A character shares a childhood memory of getting shot. Boys get into a brutal fistfight twice.

Drug Content
References to drug use. Bailey notes that teens drink alcohol and smoke pot at a big beach party.

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Review: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

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With the Fire on High
Elizabeth Acevedo
QuillTree Books
Published May 7, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About With the Fire on High

With her daughter to care for and her abuela to help support, high school senior Emoni Santiago has to make the tough decisions, and do what must be done. The one place she can let her responsibilities go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.

Still, she knows she doesn’t have enough time for her school’s new culinary arts class, doesn’t have the money for the class’s trip to Spain — and shouldn’t still be dreaming of someday working in a real kitchen. But even with all the rules she has for her life — and all the rules everyone expects her to play by — once Emoni starts cooking, her only real choice is to let her talent break free.

My Review

It’s probably weird that the first book by Elizabeth Acevedo that I’ve read is the one that isn’t a novel in poetry? I usually gravitate toward those, and I do have hard copies of both THE POET X and CLAP WHEN YOU LAND, but somehow I wound up reading this one first. (Truthfully it happened because I needed to sit in my littlest’s room to make sure she didn’t sneak out of bed, and I needed something to read from my phone.)

I loved Emoni right from page one. Her experience cooking and her understanding of it, her love and instinctive approach all had me spellbound. I loved that everyone has such an emotional experience eating her cooking, too. It’s not quite magical realism, but it made the story feel bigger than just contemporary.

The journey Emoni takes in learning to go beyond cooking by instinct and how to sort of put that together with cooking as part of a team was really powerful and felt so realistic. I wanted to try all her recipes and visit an unusual upscale restaurant to try dishes with unusual pairings (though we are not eating at restaurants right now… someday!).

Also, and many people have already said this, I appreciated her experience as a young, single mom. She tries to do all the right and admirable things. She knows the stakes are high, for herself and for her daughter. I love that she consistently puts Emma first, and that her challenge is learning how to be a mom without limiting herself to being just a mom.

Her relationship with ‘Buela also totally got me. The protectiveness on both sides. The love. I never doubted ‘Buela’s role as the parent in the relationship, and it’s so clear that it’s not easy for her, but she loves her family so much.

On the whole, this is a phenomenal book. I love it so much, and I feel like this is one I might read again soon, just to experience it all again. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who enjoys cooking or stories about following your dreams.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Emoni is Black and Puerto Rican. Her best friend is Black and a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently. Emoni doesn’t like anyone swearing near her daughter, and she tries very hard not to swear at all.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some references to Emoni and her ex having sex. She also talks about how once people know she has had a child, they sometimes treat her a certain way. With men, sometimes this means treating her like she will have sex with anyone, which isn’t how she is. A couple scenes show a boy and girl kissing. One scene shows them taking off shirts and touching and references them doing more, but doesn’t describe.

Spiritual Content
Malachi mentions that he has studied Islam.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Emoni and her friends visit a bar in Spain. It’s legal for them to drink there, but against the agreement in the field trip forms they’ve signed. A couple students get very drunk. One girl gets sick and is super embarrassed about her behavior later. Emoni does not drink alcohol.

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