Twins Albany and Brooklyn keep their telepathic connection a secret from everyone. After all, who would believe them anyway? But when a strange girl shows up on their doorstep with no memory of how she got there and an inexplicable power of her own, the twins begin to realize there may be more people with powers, and not all of them use them for good. They learn about an organization of people with abilities and a terrible plot to destroy it. At first committed to sit on the sidelines, Albany soon realizes she and Brooklyn might be the group’s only hope for survival. She and her sister must decide whether they’ll join the fight, even if it means risking everything.
This is such a fun story. I liked all the silliness and joking between characters. Albany and Brooklyn were both great and easy to root for. The rest of the cast of characters does get a little overwhelming at times, since there are so many of them and their code names to remember on top of everything else.
Twinepathy is a pretty short read—I finished it in just a couple hours—but it’s the perfect length for a reluctant reader, and a great fit for fourth or fifth grade readers who are into Marvel or other superhero stories. This novel made me think a little bit of the Twintuition books by Tia and Tamera Mowry, which also feature gifted twins. It’s different in that Twinepathy focuses on the girls’ role in a larger group of gifted people.
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Cultural Elements
I don’t specifically remember descriptions showing a racially diverse cast.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content The girls’ older brother is dating a girl named Ezra. They do not witness any romance between them, though.
Spiritual Content Brooklyn and Albany share a telepathic connection. Other characters possess special powers like telekinesis, teleportation, the ability to manipulate metal, etc.
Violent Content Battles between the members of the superhero team and the villain and his clones.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Ashton Keller has longed for this moment every day for the last four years: the day he returns home to Gilt Hollow for revenge on the boys who ruined his life. He will do whatever it takes to clear his name and prove he didn’t murder his friend Daniel. But the town doesn’t greet him with welcoming arms, and it’s certainly not going to give up its secrets easily. Harder still, being back reminds Ashton of things he’d rather forget, like his best friend Willow.
Willow spent months writing Ashton every day after his conviction, which she believed false. She stood by him, even though all she ever got in return was silence. Now that Ashton’s back, she’s determined to steer clear. But the affection that brought them together once somehow survived their time apart. With Ashton digging up the past, Willow must decide whether to stay away or risk her own life. As the sinister truth about what happened the day Daniel died begins to emerge, Willow and Ashton realize the next murder victim may be one of them.
This story is a bit darker than the Doon series tales that Lorie Langdon wrote with Carey Corp. I wasn’t sure if there would be some kind of supernatural element here in Gilt Hollow. There isn’t, but I didn’t feel like the story needed it either.
The whole perfect pure girl falls for bad boy storyline is not a new idea. I worried that the romance elements would overshadow the rest of the story, but I think there’s actually a really great balance between the plot of solving the murder and the development of the romance.
I enjoyed the antics between her and her best friend Lisa. She was another character who kept the story from getting too swoony. I wasn’t a huge fan of the way Lisa pushed Willow to wear things outside her comfort zone, especially when the goal seemed to be to impress a boy. It’s definitely something that happens, but I guess I would have had more respect for Willow if she stuck to her guts and wore what she was comfortable with rather than trying to be someone else.
The most difficult part of the story for me was the fact that both Willow and Ashton continue to date other people as the romantic tension between them heats up. Neither of them seemed to have any feelings of guilt or remorse for basically leading their dates on or using them to gather information. I feel like at least a pause for reflection or some acknowledgement that what they were doing was wrong or hurtful would have made me like them more. Ashton’s girlfriend does have a frank conversation with him about not wanting to be used, but he doesn’t come clean with her or seem to feel that bad even when he reflects on it briefly afterward.
On the whole, I enjoyed the story, especially the mystery elements. I don’t read enough stories with this blend of mystery and romance. The suspense elements were light enough that I think even younger teens could handle them. See below for content information.
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Cultural Elements
All major characters are white.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Two instances of mild profanity. Someone urinates on a popular boy’s football jersey. I’m disappointed in the use of profanity in the book. Blink is an imprint of Zondervan publishing books with no overt Christian message, but even so—profanity? Really? Why is this in a book by a Christian publisher?
Romance/Sexual Content Ashton and Willow get a little bit fresh with each other in comments that hint at sexual contact. They’re fairly oblique. A boy and girl kiss several times. Both Ashton and Willow date someone else as a means to gather information. They aren’t faithful and don’t really seem to have much remorse about it.
Spiritual Content Willow’s pastor makes a brief appearance and offers her some spiritual advice. It’s a small moment that doesn’t drive the story, but it felt authentic.
Violent Content A couple boys have a brief fist fight.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Alicia’s hallucinations are only getting worse: more frequent and more intense. Despite that, she doesn’t want to give them up because the hallucinations are the only place she sees her father. Then he shows up in real life, warning Alicia of incredible danger, and suddenly everything shifts. The people Alicia trusted most have been lying to her, and now she’s on the run from them. The hallucinations are real. In them, Alicia journeys to other universes, ones where more than her life is at stake. She must find an atlas, a map to all of them and stop one critical universe from dying if she’s to save the people she loves and her own life in her home universe.
When I first started reading this book, I was worried it would be too confusing. I wasn’t really hooked by the whole hallucination bit—it seemed like asking a lot for me to invest in the most exciting parts of the story believing they were fake. But once I realized that they were real, I definitely wanted to keep reading. I loved Alicia and Hafeez. Jax, the boy from another universe that she meets, wasn’t my favorite—he’s kind of stubborn and I just didn’t really connect with him very well. I’m totally team Hafeez.
I liked how she had an opportunity to revisit the relationships in her life in other universes. Things were often different in other places than they were in her home universe, but often there was some lesson hiding in those moments or some kernel of truth she could grab onto. I also really liked the references to Sylvia Plath’s poetry and Alicia’s connection with her.
The only thing I really consistently struggled with is the fact that Alicia is so young—almost fifteen—which seems to place the story in the lower end of YA, yet there’s a LOT of profanity. I feel like aging Alicia up a little or reducing the profanity would have made it easier to recommend to readers.
The story ends with lots left unresolved, which hopefully means there will be a sequel. If you liked Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton or Life at the Speed of Us by Heather Sappenfield, you need to read this one. I think the characters are more even than Seeker, and I liked the way The Infinity of You and Me handled the multiverse better than the way it was in Life at the Speed of Us.
Recommended for Ages 15 up.
Cultural Elements
Alicia’s best friend Hafeez is Middle Eastern. Other characters appear to be white.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Brief boy/girl kissing.
Spiritual Content Alicia jumps between universes to other realities similar and different to her own.
Violent Content In one reality, a man shoots Alicia and appears willing to hurt her further. Her mother discusses a surgery that could prevent Alicia from experiencing the jumps to other places. She intends to force Alicia to have the surgery without her consent.
A bully picks on Alicia and Hafeez at school. He punches Hafeez.
Drug Content
Alicia’s therapist tries to regulate her experiences with medication. Later, a therapist sedates her and restrains her. She believes her dad may be on drugs—maybe that’s why he’s gone from her life.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
It starts with a book. A beloved teacher gives Nanette his copy of an out-of-print novel called The Bubblegum Reaper, about a Holden Caulfield-type boy who falls in love with a girl who shares her secrets with a turtle. As Nanette reads and rereads the novel, she becomes impassioned. She reaches out to the author and discovers another boy who loves the book, and in him, a potential soulmate. But when his vigilante attitude takes him too far, Nanette must learn find the courage to be herself despite the expectations of others on her own.
Part The Fault in Our Stars and part The Bell Jar, Nanette’s journey follows two misfits struggling to find a way out of the parts of life they find so smothering, a story sure to resonate with anyone who has ever been bullied or felt out of place. As Nanette slips closer to the edge of her own sanity, it’s easy to feel her fragility and desperation. Though not quite as dark as his earlier novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, this tale lacks none of the emotional punch and wry quirkiness that readers have come to expect from Quick.
While I’m kind of a sucker for this kind of story, I find I’m often left kind of wishing there was more of a triumph at the end of the tale. I did feel that way here, but in a way, it’s kind of the point that I think the author was trying to make. In life, we don’t always get those big moments where things snap neatly into place. Every Exquisite Thing isn’t without its victories. But it’s definitely one of those stories whose goal is to force you to think more deeply about situations in your life rather than to scratch the happily-ever-after itch.
Fans of Belzhar should give this one a try.
Recommended Age 17 up.
Cultural Elements
None.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency. Much of the profanity was in the latter half of the book. There’s also some crude language about sex and male genitals. In one instance, Nanette and her friends are talking about boys and her friends ask about the size of Nan’s boy’s parts. She responds with an exaggeration that’s meant to point out the stupidity of the conversation, but the joke goes over the girls’ heads.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing. Nan invites a boy to touch her boob. (Afterward, her mom comments on the “nice show”.) At one point, Nan decides to have sex with a boy. It’s briefly described. At one point, Nan visits an adult friend only to discover that he and a lady appear to be in the middle of a romance. She doesn’t see anything wholly inappropriate. (I think one character wears a robe when answering the door.)
Spiritual Content Nanette and Alex talk at length about God. At one point they list reasons they don’t believe in God (disasters, pain, negative things like that) and reasons they do believe. Nanette comments that it’s clear they both wish the list of reasons to believe would outnumber the reasons not to.
Violent Content Alex tells Nanette (via his poetry) about being bullied at school. Later, he fights bullies picking on another kid and punches a man in the face.
Drug Content
Nanette goes to parties where her friends get drunk.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
A young woman named Roza disappears from the small town of Bone Gap, and Finn, the only witness struggles to identify her captor. How do you describe someone who looks like everyone else? Everyone seems to believe Roza just up and left Finn and his brother Sean, the same way their mother did. But Finn knows Roza would never just leave on her own. Finn can’t give up. He’s as determined to find her as he is to win over the prickly bee girl with the strange eyes.
This is one of those books that I picked up expecting great writing, but having no idea what I was in for beyond that. As a Michael L. Printz Honor Book and a National Book Award Finalist, I figured it would be right up my alley. And it definitely is. Something about it reminded me of Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (even though there’s no race and the horse doesn’t eat anyone) and Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whalen.
I loved Finn right from the beginning. His complex relationship with his older brother and guardian really rang true, and the nurturing Roza totally drew me in. I was nervous about the magical-realism elements kind of throwing me out of the story. I think generally I like straight contemporary or straight fantasy, and magical realism seems to enjoy blurring those lines.
In this case, I think the fantasy elements were pretty well-grafted into the story. They were strange and a bit dark, but I loved the way Ruby tied everything together in the end, including the revelation about Finn—which I kind of saw coming but still thought was incredibly clever.
Overall, honestly, I felt like some of the sexual content was a little preachy. In one part, Petey, the girl Finn is interested in, recalls her mother giving her information about sex including conversation and an informative book. I liked the nod to parental involvement in sex education—I think that’s really important. I don’t know. Something about the way the relationship between Finn and Petey evolved felt a bit agenda-driven. It could be that I’m just be oversensitive. I like my literary fiction to read a little cleaner than this in terms of sexual content, so maybe it just felt out of place to me.
Despite all that, I loved the themes about love and about what it means to really see someone. The whole town is a bit blind to who Petey and Roza really are, but Finn, despite his other deficiencies, is the one who truly sees and knows them. I found that to be pretty powerful.
If you liked The Secret Life of Bees or the other books I mentioned above, you may want to add this one to your reading list. For more detailed content information, see below.
Recommended Age 16 up.
Cultural Elements
Roza is Polish. Other characters are more generic white, middle class people.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Kisses between a boy and girl. A girl invites a boy into her bedroom in the middle of the night. It’s clear she’s willing to engage with him. She briefly reflects on the book her mom gave her about sex. References to oral sex. In one scene, a boy intends to have a girl perform oral sex with him and she refuses. In another scene a boy performs oral sex with a girl after the couple kiss and remove some clothing. It’s about a page long, so there are some limited details.
Spiritual Content Things happen in the story that don’t make sense in the context of reality. (This is, after all, magical realism…) For instance, a horse flies. Gaps appear to connect the small town to another dimension of sorts.
Violent Content Roza appears in Finn and Sean’s barn with some serious injuries. Later we learn about the man who caused them while he kept her captive. He’s super creepy. At one point she tries to stab her attacker. A boy attacks a man when he says something cruel about the girl he loves.
Four girls with the power to control the elements and save the world from a terrible evil must come together in the first epic novel in a brand-new series.
When Phantoms—massive beasts made from nightmares and darkness—suddenly appeared and began terrorizing the world, four girls, the Effigies, each gained a unique power to control one of the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Since then, four girls across the world have continually fought against the Phantoms, fulfilling their cosmic duty. And when one Effigy dies, another girl gains her power as a replacement.
But now, with technologies in place to protect the world’s major cities from Phantom attacks, the Effigies have stopped defending humanity and, instead, have become international celebrities, with their heroic feats ranked, televised, and talked about in online fandoms.
Until the day that New York City’s protection against the Phantoms fails, a man seems to be able to control them by sheer force of will, and Maia, a high school student, unexpectedly becomes the Fire Effigy.
Now Maia has been thrown into battle with three girls who want nothing to do with one another. But with the first human villain that the girls have ever faced, and an army of Phantoms preparing for attack, there isn’t much time for the Effigies to learn how to work together.
Can the girls take control of their destinies before the world is destroyed forever?
My Review of Fate of Flames
I think my favorite thing about this book was the way the characters surprised me. As each one was introduced, I had a sense of whether I’d like or dislike them and the way the story unfolded often proved me wrong. I didn’t think I’d like Chae Rin, but as she entered the scene, she totally won me over. And Rhys kind of got on my nerves at first, but by the end, I was totally rooting for him and biting my nails over all the things I won’t spoil.
The story world was a little tougher for me. Sometimes I felt like I had been dropped into the middle of a series or something. I didn’t always feel like I understood the rules of the world or how they impacted the characters and their decisions. I was also surprised by the strong profanity. The story felt like it would be perfect for a younger audience, but then had the language that’s more often present in upper young adult literature. I found myself a little surprised by that.
On the whole, I thought Fate of Flames developed well and kept me turning pages. I felt like there was a good balance of having a complete story but also setting up for a series. This would be a great pick for someone looking to read about strong female superheroes. The boys in the story hold their own, but the girls are the real backbone of the tale.
Recommended for Ages 16 up.
Cultural Elements
Chae Rin is Asian, Belle is French. Other characters have Eastern European backgrounds. Maia has one parent from New York and the other from Jamaica.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently throughout the story.
Romance/Sexual Content A boy kisses Maia without her consent. She feels attracted to another boy.
Spiritual Content Monsters of bone and mist called Phantoms bring death and destruction to cities and people. It appears someone has manufactured a way to control them.
Four girls bear powerful abilities. When one dies, her power passes to another girl who already lives.
Violent Content Battle scenes. Maia remembers a girl’s murder.
Drug Content
Some of the girls drink alcohol, and one is rumored to have been an alcoholic. Maia does not drink.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Sarah Raughley grew up in Southern Ontario writing stories about freakish little girls with powers because she secretly wanted to be one. She is a huge fangirl of anything from manga to SF/F TV to Japanese Role Playing Games, but she will swear up and down that she was inspired by ~Jane Austin~ at book signings. On top of being a YA Writer, she is currently completing a PhD in English, because the sight of blood makes her queasy (which crossed Medical School off the list).
She is represented by The Bradford Literary Agency.
So far, you can also find her on Twitter, where work ethic goes to die.
