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: Season of the Witch by Mariah Fredericks

Season of the Witch
Mariah Fredericks
Schwartz & Wade Books
Published October 8, 2013

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When she was a little girl in a playground game, Toni learned about princesses and witches. Though being a princess is glamorous, it’s the witch, Toni decides, who has the real power. Later, after the popular Chloe and her entourage make Toni’s high school life a living hell, Toni joins fellow exile Cassandra and performs a spell to stop Chloe and her antics. Only, the results are far worse than Toni expected. And when Cassandra chooses Toni’s best friend as the next target of her wrath, Toni knows it’s up to her to stop the witch from putting another … Continue reading

Review: There You’ll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones

There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. JonesThere You’ll Find Me
Jenny B. Jones
Thomas Nelson
Published October 3, 2011

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Embattled by grief over her brother’s murder, eighteen year-old Finley Sinclaire embarks on a journey, hoping to encounter the God he so powerfully sensed in the beautiful Irish countryside. Though God seems to elude her, she can’t seem to escape the attentions of teen heart-throb and actor Beckett Rush. With mounting pressure to perfect her audition composition for the New York Conservatory, win over her assigned adopted grouch – er, grandmother – and avoid being caught in the web of girls falling for Beckett, Finley’s life spirals out of her control. Only … 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: The Harder the Fall by Lauren Barnholdt

The Harder the Fall (Girl Meets Ghost #2)
Lauren Barnholdt
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
Published September 3, 2013

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Twelve year-old Kendall has a small problem: she sees ghosts, and she can’t tell anyone. Especially Brandon, whose mother has not only been haunting Kendall, but who begins pulling some creepy stunts in an effort to keep Kendall away from her son. So, there’s that. Kendall is also haunted by a girl named Lyra with an attitude whose flaky mom and flirtatious brother have opened a nail salon. Kendall and her bestie endure horrible manicures more than once while Kendall attempts to gather info on Lyra’s death so she can find out how … Continue reading

Review: The Four Seasons of Patrick by Susan Hughes

The Four Seasons of Patrick
Susan Hughes
Red Deer Press
Published March 15, 2014

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Nine year-old Patrick faces troubling changes in his home. Since his mom’s death, Patrick, his brother Trevor and his dad have been on their own. But now Dad’s friend Linda and her pesky daughter Claire keep coming to visit. Worse still, Patrick learns that Dad is going to marry Linda, and she and Claire are moving into the house with Patrick.

Frustrated and unsure, Patrick retreats, spending time away from the family with his best friend. Together they build a treehouse, a safe place to hide away from Claire the pest. But before long, Patrick suspects that Claire isn’t … Continue reading