Review: Up All Night edited by Laura Silverman

Up All Night edited by Laura Silverman

Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise
Edited by Laura Silverman
Algonquin Young Readers
Published July 13, 2021

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About Up All Night

When everyone else goes to bed, the ones who stay up feel like they’re the only people in the world. As the hours tick by deeper into the night, the familiar drops away and the unfamiliar beckons. Adults are asleep, and a hush falls over the hum of daily life. Anything is possible.

It’s a time for romance and adventure. For prom night and ghost hunts. It’s a time for breaking up, for falling in love—for finding yourself.

Stay up … Continue reading

Review: At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp

At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp

At the End of Everything
Marieke Nijkamp
Sourcebooks Fire
Published on January 25, 2022

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About At the End of Everything

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS comes another heartbreaking, emotional and timely page-turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is ironically named. No one has hope for the delinquent teenagers who have been exiled there; the world barely acknowledges that they exist.

Then the guards at Hope start acting strange. And one day…they don’t show up. But when the teens band together to make … Continue reading

Review: Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

Before I Let Go by Marieke NijkampBefore I Let Go
Marieke Nijkamp
Sourcebooks Fire
Published on January 2, 2018

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About Before I Let Go
Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return.

Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated―and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town’s lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she’s a stranger.

Corey knows something is … Continue reading

Review: This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke NijkampThis Is Where It Ends
Marieke Nijkamp
Publisher

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It begins with the closing of the principal’s speech at Opportunity High. Confusion rustles through the auditorium as students discover the locked doors. Then one door opens, and a boy enters. A boy with a gun.

Four alternating viewpoints, each a student with a connection to the shooter, relate this tense, heartbreaking tale about a community ripped apart by violence. The story spans fifty-four minutes.

This Is Where It Ends includes a diverse body of characters across lines of race, religion, and sexual preference. As a YA reader and reviewer, I’ve commented before that I wish there were more … Continue reading