Tag Archives: Random House Children’s Books

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

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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.

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Review: Tandem by Anna Jarzab

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

Tandem (Many-Worlds Trilogy #1)
Anna Jarzab
Random House Children’s Books
Published October 8, 2013

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An ordinary teenage girl and a runaway princess from another universe have only one thing in common: They are identical, analogs of one another.

When a special forces soldier kidnaps Sasha from her senior prom on planet earth and drags her across time and space to Aurora where she will replace his missing princess, her only choice is to cooperate. Only Thomas, the solder who kidnapped her, has the power to return her to home and family on earth.

As Sasha desperately tries to impersonate the princess, she uncovers a truth Thomas can’t stomach. A truth that changes everything.

Worse still, Sasha begins to empathize with Thomas and value his sense of honor and his devotion to her. If she were forced to remain in Aurora, impersonating the princess forever, would it be so truly terrible?

The first book in the Many Worlds series introduces readers to a world divided into many parallel universes. Many contain analogs, or alternate versions of a person. It’s a fascinating premise and the idea is carried consistently throughout the story. At times, Sasha’s emotions and reactions are relayed with less consistence. For instance, in a scene in which she is nearly choking to death, she pauses in her panic to analyze a conversation she’s overhearing which indicates Thomas has lied to her. The romantic thread between Thomas and Sasha follows a wobbly course, not nearly so well-crafted as the layers of politics and intrigue Jarzab weaves between the rival nations of Aurora and Farnham. The plot resolves neatly and yet leaves plenty of room for anticipation of a second novel to come. Tether, book two in the Many Worlds trilogy is expected to release in the spring of 2015.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Moderate frequency of moderate profanity.

Sexual Content
A few moments of intense kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
Sasha is kidnapped and dragged to another universe and later imprisoned. Thomas injures his hand when he punches through a security door lock.

Drug Content
Sasha receives an antidote to an allergic reaction. A Farnum boy is poisoned.

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Review: Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Middle Grade 8-12, , ,

Sky Jumpers
Peggy Eddleman
Random House Children’s
Published September 24, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

In a small town scratching out survival beyond Word War III, twelve-year-old Hope Toriella vows to make a place for herself among the townspeople as an inventor. Despite the horrible flops her past attempts have been, she is certain that this time, she’s got a winner ready for unveiling. While Hope hasn’t developed a talent for inventing yet, she certainly has a gift for trouble, and that’s just what she gets when she answers the challenge put forth by the mysterious newcomer, Brock, who dares her to jump through a deadly pocket of Bomb’s Breath that surrounds the town in the aftermath of war.

While Hope and her friends have attempted this feat before, most consider it certain death, and Hope has to lie to keep herself and her friends from getting into trouble. Just as she wiggles out of one mess, another drops into her lap. Strange men threaten to hurt the townspeople unless they turn over an irreplaceable antibiotic. With an outbreak of disease already beginning, Hope knows her people cannot turn over the medicine. Instead, she and her friends must escape through ice, snow, and the deadly Bomb’s Breath to a neighboring settlement to bring back help.

Eddleman creates a fascinating post-apocalyptic world in which the earth’s magnetic fields have been disrupted by the use of a Green Bomb during a massive world-wide war. Many of the technological advances of the last several hundred years have been lost, and the surviving settlements in the story are largely agricultural and isolated. What is left unexplored is what happened to the winning nations of the war? Are they as decimated as American cities seem to be? Are other more important areas occupied by soldiers of this other group? Or has the change in the earth’s atmosphere destroyed those in power as well? The reader is left with little time to wonder, however, because the rest of the story moves at a rapid pace, and is filled with other creative elements which are tightly woven into the story.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
A few brief and pretty sterile references to death. Some scenes contain brief instances of violence on the part of bandits attacking townspeople. One man is shot in the leg.

Drug Content
Hope and her classmates are tasked with finding a local plant which is then turned into a valuable antibiotic.

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

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