13 Reasons Why
by Jay Asher
- Fiction, Realistic Fiction, YA
- 13+ for complex themes and mature content
- Trigger Warning: suicide, sexual assault, rape, self-harm, bullying, adult content
- Published October 18th, 2007 by Razorbill
- ★★★★★
Showing posts with label young adult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label young adult. Show all posts
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
by Gabrielle Zevin
- Fiction, Coming of Age, Utopian, Sci-Fi
- 10+ for complex themes
- published May 15, 2007 by Square Fish
- available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks
- ★★★★★
"Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It's quiet and peaceful. You can't get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe's psychiatric practice.Opinion
Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver's license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she's dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn't want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?
This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned."-Goodreads
I loved this book! It was so original and I've never read anything like it. I feel the theme of the story is learning to adapt and love yourself. At the beginning of the book Liz finds herself depressed and struggles until finally she overcomes it. Although I completely detest classic romances, (girl meets boy, boy changes girls life, they fall in love, they live happily ever after) I think that Zevin did this expertly. The novel is a coming of age, ironic considering the main character dies right? Liz is a great role model for any young girls struggling with their life. It shows that you can overcome anything with the right people helping you.
I recommend Elsewhere for anyone who enjoys coming of age stories, alternate realities, or complicated love stories. Also, anyone fighting depression should really read this, it could do a lot of help. The novel could also be helpful for people suffering after a death of a loved one. It may be fiction, but it gives hope that there can be life after death, and it can be great. I couldn't wait to finish the book, but now I wish I could read it again for the first time. As someone who doesn't really care for religion I loved this book, however if you're really religious, this may not be your book seeing as it replaces heaven.
Author Bio
"Gabrielle Zevin is the New York Times Best Selling author of eight novels. For adults: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (2014), The Hole We’re In (2010), and Margarettown (2005). For young adults: Elsewhere (2005), Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (2007), and the three books in the Anya Balanchine series, All These Things I’ve Done (2011), Because It Is My Blood (2012), and In the Age of Love and Chocolate (2013). Her books have been translated into over thirty languages.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry has spent over four months on the New York Times Best Seller List, reached #1 on the National Indie Bestseller List, and has been a bestseller in multiple countries. The Toronto Globe and Mail called the book “a powerful novel about the power of novels.”
Her debut, Margarettown, was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program. The Hole We’re In was a New York Times Editor’s Choice title. Publishers Weekly called The Hole We’re In “a Corrections for our recessionary times.”
Her best known young adult novel is Elsewhere, an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book. Of Elsewhere, the New York Times Book Review wrote, “Every so often a book comes along with a premise so fresh and arresting it seems to exist in a category all its own… Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin, is such a book.”
She is the screenwriter of Conversations with Other Women (Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Eckhart) for which she received an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best First Screenplay. In 2009, she and director Hans Canosa adapted her novel Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (ALA Best Books for Young Adults) into the Japanese film, Dareka ga Watashi ni Kiss wo Shita. She has also written for the New York Times Book Review and NPR’s All Things Considered. She began her writing career at age fourteen as a music critic for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
Zevin is a graduate of Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles."-Gabrielle Zevin's Website
Diary of a Teenage Zombie by Kristy Berridge
by Kristy Berridge
- Fiction, Horror, Dystopian, Mature YA
- 15+ for mature content, violence, and cussing
- published September 8, 2014 by Shadow Ink Press
- available on Amazon, MineEye, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks, etc.
- ★★★★★
"Dear Diary. Today I ate the mailman. My bad.Strengths
Being seventeen is hard―Katie Palmer has to deal with school, pimples, hormonal boys, and malicious cheerleaders. After the Zombie Apocalypse, though, she no longer sweats the usual teenage drama.
Athletics star by day and flesh-eater by night, Katie’s done well to hide her transformation from friends and Zone-sanctioned security, but now someone or something’s onto her secret and if she doesn’t feed soon she’ll start falling apart.
Dead bodies are piling up and all the evidence points to Katie’s blood-stained hands. Will she end up killing the competition before security discovers she’s rotten underneath?"-Kristy Berrige's Blog
Characters
The characters are strongly built and realistic. (Besides the whole zombie thing!) Katie acts like a normal teenage girl struggling to fit in. Haven't we all had rumors spread about us? Or been teased? I know I have! Berridge brings these fictional characters to life.
Intensity
Diary of a Teenage Zombie is the perfect blend of action and description! Berridge knows when to keep the action going and when to slow down and describe the scene a little more. This is a quality that more authors should use in their writing.
Originality
I've never read anything like this book! A soda infecting a whole race, almost to extinction. Who could've guessed that? Not to mention the way that the zombies live among them unknown!
Writing
The writing is good throughout the whole book. I did find a couple of errors, but they were barely noticeable. The reading level changes as Katie goes along, I believe this is to show how she ages and her knowledge expands.
Weaknesses
The Ending
The ending was MY weakness! It had nothing to do with Berridge. She completed a great book with a perfect ending. A cliffhanger again! Why do these authors keep doing this? I really hope there's a next book. If there isn't, I might cry!
Author Bio
"Born in Perth, Western Australia in 1982, Kristy Berridge was ushered into the world in a decade of bad hair, parachute pants, and blue eye shadow. Fortunately, she managed to avoid all three influences by immersing herself in the business of growing up, and hitched a ride with her fun-loving and adventure-filled parents to the sunny state of Queensland. Here she completed most of her education.
Besides learning that boys don't have cooties, and that algebra wouldn't kill her, she pointedly set
the path of her high school career towards success in Art and English-based subjects, and won numerous awards for her efforts.After high school she went on to study Graphic Design and Illustration at James Cook University, and then furthered her studies at the local TAFE College with an Interior Design course. With this knowledge under her belt, she also decided to undertake a three year Design course at Rhodec International in London, to complete her education and propel her towards the successful career she now enjoys.
She currently resides in Cairns, procrastinates constantly, and tries desperately to avoid the delicious temptation that is the peanut butter aisle at the supermarket."-Amazon
Also by Kristy Berridge
DNF's: What It Takes
If you're a reader you probably know what it's like to not finish a book. Whether you get distracted or don't like it, there's bound to be at least one DNF in your pile. So what exactly does it take to give up on a book?
A Few Quiet Beers With God
A Few Quiet Beers With God
by John Perrier
by John Perrier
- Published February 3, 2015 by JP Publishing Australia
- 282 pages
- Science fiction, humor, adventure, futuristic
- English
- &&&&&
"When Dave, a hopeless but lovable rogue, meets Alexandra, the girl of his dreams, he feels as though his luck has finally changed. But due to his ineptness with technology, he tragically loses touch with her.
Meanwhile the lust for supremacy of two powerful Americans ignites a bitter feud. Their fight reaches around the globe and soon entwines not only Dave and Alexandra but also a superstar football player nicknamed 'God'.
Witch Wood (Excerpt Included)
 |
| Click for Harvesting Series on Amazon |
*Do not read this book until you've read the previous three books, The Harvesting, Midway, and The Shadow Aspect.*
Witch Wood
A "Harvesting Series" Novella
Melanie Karsak
- Published October 1, 2015 by Clockpunk Press
- Post Apocalyptic
- 13+ Interest level
- 5/5 ★★★★★
- Includes mild language, zombies and witchcraft.
Bittersweet Blitz
Bittersweet (Faerie Song Trilogy, #2)
Release Date: 03/24/15
Goodreads Summary:
To save the Faery world and her mother’s life, Lorelei sacrificed
everything, and the dangerous bargain she made in Nevermore had lasting
repercussions. Now safely back in her own world, Lorelei seems the same to her
highschool friends and her supernatural boyfriend. Yet love across dimensions
is complicated, especially when an invisible Veil between the two worlds—the
only bridge that links the pair, is sealing, threatening to separate Lorelei
and Adrius forever.
Determined to find a solution, Lorelei resorts to using her new found
powers. But when her friends succumb to the same mysterious illness that nearly
took her mother’s life, Lorelei can’t help but wonder if her own dark magic is
responsible. Still, the nightmares from Nevermore continue their icy hold.
Someone from Adrius’s past arrives, determined to destroy Lorelei’s world
starting with those closest to her, and Lorelei is forced to choose between her
family and friends and a love that was ill-fated from the start.
“Stay. Just…. Stay.” The
second I said it I felt awful. What was I asking? I knew he couldn’t stay, that
he needed to return to his world to stay alive in mind.
Since the night of the dance we’d carefully stayed away from
discussing our little predicament. We were still at a standoff. He couldn’t
live in my world without magical aids to keep him alive, because of the toxic
nature of our polluted air, and I couldn’t go back to his world, because of a
bunch of angry beings trying to kill me. That left us here. He would have to
return to his world and refuel, to come back to mine. How long the potions
lasted depended upon how much stress he was under. Physical exertion, extreme
emotions all used up the reserve more quickly. Then there was the issue of his
still being tied to Venus, the daughter of the ice witch I killed. A curse had
caused his forced fealty to her. Killing the witch was not only supposed to
save Mythlandria from her destructive wrath, it was also supposed to free
Adrius of the curse that bound him to the ice witch’s commands. Who knew there
was a daughter who would take over the bonds, and that she was also his
ex-girlfriend.
Now she wants me dead in
payment for killing her mother, and as a bonus, I’d be out of the way so she could
get Adrius back in her life. That he could come here at all means the curse is
weakening. I want his freedom, but at which price? Was I willing to kill for
it? I’d have to end her life as well if I was going to destroy the bonds. And I
wasn’t a killer. Even Octăhvia’s death was more of an accident than intended. I
had no idea what awakening the magic would do, or how to wield it. This
arrangement seemed like our only option, for now. And while I hated to see him
leave, there was something comforting in being able to pretend that my life was
normal again. As normal as it ever was. I could enjoy being back home with
friends and back at school which surprisingly enough, I’d missed. It’s amazing
how coming to the edge of your life multiple times will make even the most
mundane routines a welcomed change.
“Think about what you’re
asking me,” he said. “You know why I have to leave.”
He watched me suck in a
breath of regret, as I wished I could take back my self-serving plea.
Pain creased his eyes.
“Sleep soundly, Lorelei,” was all he said. He kissed the top of my head and
turned to go.
The tense set of his jaw
revealed the effort it took to leave. I watched him walk away, biting down on
my lower lip until he reached the driveway.
“How am I supposed to sleep?”
My voice was almost too quiet to be heard over the howling wind. But his
hearing surpassed most mortal’s.
“Warm milk with honey works
well,” he answered my whisper, his back still facing me. “It helps with the
night terrors too,” he added.
“You know that’s not what I
meant.” I moved closer, descending one step at a time until my bare feet hit
the cold of the pavement.
Adrius froze. Electric
pulses crackled between us.
“I was talking about
sleeping without you. Here.”
“You’ve managed to do it
before,” he said cautiously, the strain of his resolve vibrating in his voice.
“I know. But—“
This was wrong. It was
selfish. How could I ask him to stay, when I know that leaving is what would
keep him alive to return to me?
“I’m sorry. I’m being silly.
It’s just I can’t—“
With whipcrack intensity,
his resolve burned away and he rushed toward me and pulled me into his arms.
His touch burned though my shirt as his hands splayed against my back, pressing
us closer. He kissed me, hungrily at first, then it quickly deepened to
ravenous. Matching his fervor, I tangled my fingers in his hair. Every inch of
me was on fire. He gasped, his lips slowing against mine. By the time we
separated, we were both breathless. He leaned his forehead against mine for a
few rapid heartbeats, then pulled back. Our eyes remained locked in a
palpitating stretch of silence that spoke volumes. My head swirled, and all I
wanted was more of where we’d left off.
But he read my intentions. The corners of his lips quirked and he
shook his head. Warm hands slid down my arms with one last caress, before he
disappeared. Gone so quickly I didn’t actually see him leave. Swallowed by the
darkness of the night and the forest that held the secret doorway into
Mythlandria.
GIVEAWAY:
$10 Amazon Gift Card, ebook copy of Fire & Ice (mobi/epub),
signed bookmark, gift card for 5 free ebook downloads from Astraea Press
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