Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection (The Selection #1)
Kiera Cass
HarperCollins
Published April 24, 2012

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All sixteen year-old America Singer wants is to save her earnings as a musician and begin a new life with her secret love, Aspen. Her family, especially her social-ladder-climbing mother would never approve of America marrying a class beneath them, and when Aspen withdraws from the relationship because of the class difference, America despairs. Though she once considered it a nightmare, being chosen for the Selection, a group of girls spirited away to the palace from which the prince will choose a bride, now seems like America’s only escape from her heartache.

She arrives at the palace determined to stay … Continue reading

Review: Viola Doyle or an Unconventional Gift by Amy Lynn Spitzley

Viola Doyle or an Unconventional Gift
Amy Lynn Spitzley
Curiosity Quills
Published March 3, 2014

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Viola Doyle, who rides about town on her bicycle, a feat her mother thinks unbecoming to a young lady, loses a precious jewel when she collides with a young professor’s assistant. Mikhail, the young man she plowed into, returns the jewel and offers to help Viola and her grandmother research the mysterious gem’s origins. Together they learn that the gem is more than simple jewelry and is instead a powerful stone entrusted to a long line of protectors. But its keepers aren’t the only ones interested in the stone.

Another group seeks to find the stone and use … Continue reading

Review: Paper Hearts by S. R. Savell

Paper Hearts by S. R. SavellPaper Hearts
S. R. Savell
Medallion Press
Published April 15, 2014

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Seventeen year-old Michelle Pearce is barely scraping by. Her grades plummet. The bullying she endures at school only escalates. Even the perky high school counselor seems a bit over her head with Michelle and the fury penned inside her.

Enter Nate. He’s just about the last thing Michelle wants hanging around the gas station she works. Impossibly tall and somber, Nate is just too nice to dislike. She tries. Fails.

They begin working together and at first out of boredom, Michelle pries into Nate’s life. She finds more sadness and more compassion than she could have … Continue reading

Review: Perfect Glass by Laura Anderson Kurk

Perfect Glass by Laura Anderson Kurk

Perfect Glass
Laura Anderson Kurk
Playlist Fiction
Published June 1, 2013

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About Perfect Glass

Henry begins his year-long trip to Nicaragua, leaving Meg behind in Chapin to finish her senior year. Henry faces the challenges of assembling a new building for his sister and brother-in-law’s orphan home in a country with limited supplies and deep distrust toward Americans. Meg meanwhile finds herself the center of affection for the new and fascinating Quinn O’Neill and the unlikely companion to a feisty elderly woman wielding a shotgun.

Meg wants desperately to secure admission to the University of Wyoming, so she and Henry can stay together through college and … Continue reading

Young Reader Review: Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris

Eight-year-old Anna calls Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris, “…the best book in the world!” Review and content notes from Anna and her mother, Kasey Giard. Continue reading

Review: Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

Quintana of Charyn
Melina Marchetta
Candlewick Press
Published September 26, 2012

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Hidden in a valley north of her homeland, Charynite princess Quintana waits for the birth of her son. Only in her dreams does she sense Froi, her love and the father of the child she carries. Even there, she is not certain if he survived the attack she barely escaped. Another person haunts her dreams as well, one she can’t place at first. She fights the woman’s presence, certain she is an enemy.

Queen Isaboe of Lumatere wakes with Froi’s name on her lips, an occurrence she can’t explain to her husband satisfactorily. Frustrated and feeling betrayed, Finnikin leaves her and their unborn … Continue reading