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Peter Parker, meet Steve Jobs. In a 21st century twist on the superhero genre, Kevin Brooks gives us iBoy.  Tom Harvey is a average teenager living in the lowerclass section of London, in a housing project rife with gangs, drugs, violence, hopelessness and poverty.   Not one to meddle in affairs that don’t directly impact him, Tom keeps his head down and muddles along.  On a day when he’s going to visit Lucy, a girl in the projects he’s known since childhood, Tom’s fate is sealed: an iPhone is thrown from the 3oth floor, hitting him in the head at 77 miles per hour, fracturing his skull andRead More →

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New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater has created something wonderful, enchanting, thrilling, and unique in her latest, The Scorpio Races.  It’s hard to say what I like most about this book – its breathtaking scenery and visceral sense of place; the pulse-pounding thrill of the wild horses racing on the beach; the lovingly crafted, superbly detailed characters (human and horse); the fact that it’s a unique blend of romance, action, coming of age, and fantasy that feels so different from most everything else out on the YA market right now; or maybe, simply, the powerful honesty of a book well written, carefully edited, and lovinglyRead More →

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Best-Selling adult suspense author Harlan Coben makes his young adult debut with Shelter (A Mickey Bolitar Novel).  He joins plenty of other high profile adult writers venturing into the waters of children and teen lit, carrying over his signature style, plot twists and turns, and high-stakes scenarios to the next generation.  Like Kathy Reichs, Coben creates a protagonist for his new series who’s related to an already beloved character.  In this series, Mickey is reluctant detective Myron Bolitar’s estranged nephew.   Readers (especially guys) who like a lot of action, fast pacing, economical prose, and surprise plot hooks will get a thrill from Shelter and will eagerly await Mickey’sRead More →

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I have a rule, inspired by Wallace Wallace from Gordon Korman’s No More Dead Dogs, that I don’t read books about dogs.  Even if the dogs don’t die, aren’t abused, or if live the best life you could ever hope for them, I just can’t read books about dogs. They make my heart ache because I always, always fall in love with the dog and no matter what happens to him (or her) I am too emotional to finish. So, what was I thinking when I broke my rule and read Tim Willocks’ children’s debut, Doglands? I have no idea.  A number of times theRead More →

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“I wondered if this was what it was like when the end of the world came. A sudden overturning that made every day like stepping alone into an empty room, everything you longed for, every handhold you used to pull yourself along, vanished.” (Stephen, from The Eleventh Plague)  Much has been made in recent months about the darker bent of YA lit and the growing fascination with end-of-the-world scenarios and dystopias taking over the once sunny, wholesome world of tween/YA lit (was it ever really so?).  So I thought it particularly interesting that the 2 books next in my stack to read were both post-apocalyptic stories: AaronRead More →

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“Just about the time I was thinking things weren’t turning out so bad after all, events took a turn for the worse.”  So says Jack Catcher, teen protagonist in Joe R. Landsdale’s latest, All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky.  And this remark captures the flavor of this book, and Jack’s adventures in it, perfectly. Set in the deepest part of the Great Depression, in the dustbowl of Oklahoma, Jack’s parents have just died – his mother from a wasting sickness and his father from grief – and now he’s not sure what to do.  He’s got no food and no money, and the bankRead More →

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Sci-Fi Action author Brian Falkner creates another fast-paced, twisting and turning thrill ride in his latest novel, The Project.  Best friends Tommy and Luke like to pull mostly harmless pranks and enjoy horsing around.  Even though their latest prank lands them in some serious trouble at school, they still volunteer with to help the local university library try to save its rare book collection from the impending threat of a fast moving flood.  While helping out, Luke discovers the only copy in existence of a rare book based on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings and theories. Because he’s been researching “the most boring book in theRead More →

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I am in love with this book. Gorgeously detailed, complexly plotted, riveting, sensuous, mysterious and smoldering – and I could go on and on.  Laini Taylor’s 2009 National Book Award finalist Lips Touch, was well-crafted, consuming, and oh-so-delicious, making me very eager to immerse myself in her latest, Daughter of Smoke & Bone.   And I was not disappointed.  Taylor draws her characters with the grace of a painter, flushing them out with shadow and light, giving vivid detail to even the minor ones so that its easy to visualize, empathize, and fall in love with them.  The settings – Prague, Paris, Morocco, and Elsewhere – are luminous with detail and beguiling inRead More →

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In a world where everyone looks like everyone else, no one questions the status quo, technology and all consumer goods are being recycled since there’s nothing new anymore, and the government controls every aspect of its citizens’ lives, there’s virtually no room left for personal expression, uniqueness, or individual freedoms.  Basically, this is the formula for just about every dystopia in recent memory: The Handmaid’s Tale,  The Giver,  1984,  The City of Ember, Maze Runner, Birthmarked,  The Forest of Hands and Teeth,  Matched,  The Hunger Games,  Grace, and the list goes on and on…  The newest entry into this genre is Sara Grant’s Dark Parties, Read More →