Category Archives: Book Review and Content

Review: One Realm Beyond by Donita K. Paul

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

One Realm Beyond by Donita PaulOne Realm Beyond
Donita K. Paul
Zondervan
Published January 28, 2014

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

The day Cantor has been dreaming of has finally arrived: his mentors have released him to make the journey through a portal to a new realm and begin his training as a Realm Walker. A shape-shifting dragon and a wild-haired girl quickly join Cantor as they begin their first mission to free prisoners forced into military service. Though Cantor believes Realm Walkers should be just and good, he discovers many simply are not so. When he’s confronted with the depths of the depravity of those leading the Realm Walkers Guild, he cannot simply sit by while the corruption runs rampant, even if stopping them should cost his life.

While Cantor and Bixby are both fascinating and unique characters, the author’s prowess really shows in her creation of the dragon characters, Bridger and his sister Totobee-Rodolow, who put the fun and pizzazz in this tale. Though at first glance this may seem a heavy story for younger readers, Paul handles the battles and conflicts deftly, shielding the reader from unnecessarily gory details and focusing on character and story. Recommended for readers ages eight to fourteen.

Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Cantor and his friends serve the god Primen in a monotheistic religion similar to Christianity.

Violence
Brief references to physical violence. Cantor and his friends work to thwart a terrorist attack against council leaders. Details are vague and the attackers aren’t featured much.

Drug Content
Cantor and Bixby team up with a healer who uses various potions to patch their wounds.

Save

Save

Review: We Are the Goldens by Dana Reinhardt

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

We Are the Goldens
Dana Reinhardt
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House Children’s Books
Published May 27, 2014

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Fifteen year-old Nell has always been comfortable in her older sister’s shadow. She and Layla are intertwined. Nell begins her first year of high school, delighted to share her school days with her sister again and thrilled by the interest of a handsome boy. Then she begins to sense something strange in Layla. Her sister is pulling away. Keeping secrets. And try as she might, Nell can’t understand why.

Desperate not to lose their closeness, Nell pursues Layla, being supportive and loyal. Earning her way back into Layla’s secrets. But learning Layla’s secrets comes with a price Nell isn’t sure she can pay: should she keep Layla’s confidence even if she believes Layla is doing something wrong and deeply destructive? As she watches her usually sensible sister slide further into her secret life, Nell realizes that the only way to save her sister may be to betray her.

Reading this novel is like taking that first ride on a roller coaster and feeling the adrenaline and rush building over each tick-tick-tick as the coaster inches up to the top of its track until its riders can look out over the imminent fearsome drops and wild loops ahead. Reinhardt nails the emotional turmoil of teen relationships and the anxiety of difficult choices, creating a powerful story about both the healing and destructive powers of love.

Language Content
Moderate word choice, infrequent usage.

Sexual Content
Nell and Layla go to a very liberal-minded school whose students, according to Nell, are more interested in briefly hooking up than actually dating or having relationships. Nell very briefly relates her own experience with boys. Details are scarce and the experiences are few. Nell sleeps over at her best friend Felix’s house while his parents are out of town, but the two are not intimate with each other.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
None.

Drug Content
References to a family friend who was rumored to have a drug problem. Nell and Layla attend a couple of parties at which teens guzzle alcoholic drinks. Nell indicates that a few people retreat to the porch to smoke a joint, but she doesn’t describe further nor does she participate.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Save

Save

Review: I am the Weapon by Allen Zadoff

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

I Am the Weapon
Allen Zadoff
Little, Brown and Company
Published May 13, 2014

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

You will think he’s your best friend. Then, when tragedy strikes someone close to you, he’ll disappear, fade into memory.

Since he was 12, he’s been in the Program. He moves from place to place, from one assignment to another, befriending someone close to his target and then quietly completing his mission: assassination.

But the latest mission is different. Memories swell to the surface of his mind and the daughter of his target sees him too clearly. Instead of honing in for the kill, he hangs back, hovering too close to the raw emotions of this family so recently touched by another loss.

If word of his hesitation reaches his superiors, he is as good as terminated. Despite that risk, he can’t help falling for the beautiful, tragic girl whose father he is supposed to kill. If he could understand why he was sent to destroy this man, perhaps he could still convince himself to follow orders. That’s the thing about information, though: once he starts asking questions, he can’t ignore the answers and what they mean may throw himself and the girl he loves directly in the line of fire.

Readers who like their plots fast and furious will fall face-first into the wild ride of this suspenseful story. Zadoff spools out clues about the protagonist’s traumatic past, his shockingly intense training and his history with the Program who trained him, expertly pacing the first novel of The Unknown Assassin series. Fans of Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave may also enjoy this book.

Language Content
Extreme but infrequent.

Sexual Content
The boy who calls himself Benjamin finds himself caught between two aggressive girls, one of whom is not shy about offering sexual favors, including oral sex. Ben refuses her, but does briefly reference a previous sexual experience and engages in sex with another girl during the timeline of the story. Few details are given about either occurrence.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
The protagonist is a trained and deadly assassin. Though his usual method involves subtly injecting his victim with a powerful serum that causes near immediate death, occasionally he is forced to take on opponents in a much more active manner. The descriptions of these encounters are clinical and brief. Memories of his father’s capture and evident torture haunt him as well. He does not witness any ill treatment of his father, but is traumatized by the memory nonetheless.

Drug Content
A drug stored in a special pen incapacitates and kills quickly. Teens at a party enjoy alcoholic drinks.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Save

Review: Seekers of the Lost Boy by Taryn Hayes

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , ,

Seekers of the Lost Boy
Taryn Hayes
Maledi
Published May 3, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

A light at the water’s edge prompts twelve year-old Simon to leave his family and return to the shore one last time. There he finds a bottle containing a message that will send his family on an incredible quest. The author of the message, a young boy, simply asks: Who is God and does he care about me?

As Simon’s family discusses their own answers, he can’t help wanting to communicate with this boy who asked the question so many years ago. With their father’s permission, Simon’s mother helps Simon locate the man who wrote the message. His story forces them to face dark moments from the past in a new way and to look on the future with greater hope and peace.

In a charming story set in South Africa, author Taryn Hayes reveals snippets of history along with explorations of one of life’ biggest questions. The result is a sweet story of Believers across lines of races and generations and a message that knowing God and finding hope in Him is the only foundation for inner peace.

Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Simon’s dad believes in God, but his mother does not. The family meets a man who tells them about his own spiritual journey and how he became a Christian.

Violence
A man very briefly tells of a time he and his grandfather were beaten by a policeman.

Drug Content
None.

Save

Save

Review: Shades of Mercy by Anita Lustrea and Caryn Rivadeneira

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

Shades of Mercy (Maine Chronicle #1)
Anita Lustrea and Caryn Rivadeneira
River North Fiction/Moody Publishers
Published September 1, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble |Goodreads

Mercy Millar just wants her father to see her for who she is, instead of the son he wishes he had. She does enjoy the freedom to come and go the way her father’s son would, though. She is even allowed to drive to the edge of town and pick up the Maliseet workers unescorted. She looks forward to that drive each morning because it’s the only place she and Mick, a Maliseet boy, can be together. They steal a few minutes dreaming of a future far from Watsonville and its prejudices, where a white girl and a Maliseet boy can make a life together.

But when a local man’s daughter and another Maliseet boy run away together, racial tensions run high in the tiny Maine town, and Mick and Mercy find themselves right smack in the middle of it all. In an effort to keep Mick from harm, Mercy tries desperately to keep her feelings a secret from the rest of the town. When Mick is falsely charged with a violent crime, Mercy fears the worst. She must find a way to turn the tide of hate to mercy before an innocent man is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.

Shades of Mercy is a simple love story wrapped in the tumult of the Civil Rights Movement in the northeast. While other parts of the country begin to embrace the bold words and dreams of leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr, the people of Watsonville, Maine restrict their Maliseet Indian population to a life in shanties built on the town dump. The story follows those first moments of powerful change as townspeople begin to demand equality for all citizens. The unique and important historical view of this novel makes it an unforgettable, valuable achievement and a worthy read for today’s youth.

Cultural Elements
Shades of Mercy deals with racism in a small Maine town. Mercy is a young white woman. Mick is a young Maliseet (Native American) man.

Language Content
No profanity or crude language.

Sexual Content
Mercy and her boyfriend share a few kisses.

Spiritual Content
Though Mercy and her family live among a strong Christian community, some community members do not believe that the Maliseet people should have the same rights as others. Mercy learns by the example of her parents when to be silent and pray versus when to speak out against wrongdoing.

Violence
A brief altercation occurs when a young Maliseet man is accused of attacking a white man. A terrible storm destroys and floods the town of Watsonville, Maine, leaving many citizens injured.

Drug Content
Alcoholism and apathy run rampant through the Maliseet camp.

Save

Save

Review: A Cast of Stones by Patrick Carr

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

A Cast of Stones (The Staff and the Sword #1)
Patrick W. Carr
Bethany House
Published February 1, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Desperate for coins enough to drown his painful past in drink, Errol agrees to deliver an urgent message to a nearby priest. Then an assassin destroys the message and nearly kills Errol, forcing him to flee with the priest and his companions.

The priest and other members of clergy gather to select a new king, but a deadly enemy opposes them at every step. Still battling lust for ale and past demons, Errol finds himself caught deeper within the church’s web of danger and intrigue. If the enemy wins, the king’s line will end and the border that protects the kingdom will fail. To survive and protect his friends, Errol must conquer his past and uncover the identity of the ruthless ones who pursue him before it’s too late.

Like many Christian fantasy novels, this story contains a monotheistic religion that closely resembles Christianity. What keeps this from being entirely predictable or mundane is Carr’s clever addition of a second spiritual leadership group who balance the power of the priests and reveal the will of Deas (God) through casting lots.

Carr’s deft and thoughtful storytelling can’t help but leave readers eager for the next chapter in the fascinating world he’s created. Errol’s unexpected and expertly crafted transformation from cowardice to heroism makes this novel both moving and memorable.

Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
A woman obliquely propositions a young man. Nothing explicit or overt.

Spiritual Content
Characters follow a monotheistic religion that includes worship of a god called Deas. In addition to priests, Deas also gifts certain followers to become readers, men who cast lots and determine the will of Deas through the results. A woman possessed by an evil spirit tries to attack Errol and Liam.

Violence
Assassins pursue Errol and his companions, at times succeeding in wounding him and his friends.

Drug Content
Errol begins the story as an alcoholic, but devoted friends and companions help him see the self-destruction in that lifestyle.

Save

Save

Save