By:
On:
In: Mystery & Suspense (YA), Romance (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Dragonfly Girl by Marti Leimbach is a fast-paced thriller.  Although the plot is somewhat disjointed and ends rather abruptly, Leimbach’s novel kept me intrigued with its science fiction elements, espionage-like features, and shady criminal types. I’m guessing a sequel will follow. Set in California, Sweden, and Russia, the novel features seventeen-year-old Kira Adams whose mother is sick and requires constant medical care that draws down the household’s monetary resources. Given that Kira’s preternaturally gifted father turned to alcohol to cope in a world that didn’t understand him and eventually “catches a stray bullet,” Cyril Adams is not in the picture. Therefore, Kira enters science contestsRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Boston, Massachusetts, teen turned Montana transplant, Tella Holloway has taken on the challenge of the Brimstone Bleed to save her brother Cody’s life.  Tella used to be “the girl who catalogued sandwich shops by which had the best oatmeal cookies.  Now [she’s] the girl who catalogs death and the girl who vows revenge” (187).  She’s not the lone Contender in this competition that covers four ecosystems: desert, jungle, ocean, and mountain; each with its own misery, dangers, and threats.  Because it is a sequel, Salt and Stone by Victoria Scott features the last two ecosystems and picks up the plot where Fire and Flood leftRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 1 Comment

 Michelle Gagnon’s first novel for young adults, Don’t Turn Around is unquestionably a thriller, certain to resonate with social activist readers and those who know the power of computers to perform invasive functions.  With echoes of the hacktivism but not the dystopian angle from Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, Gagnon takes on shady big business, the issue of government cover-ups, and the very real plight of children in the foster care system. Gagnon tells her story primarily through the parallel threads of two adolescent lives whose paths cross and eerily connect.  Sixteen-year-old Noa Torson, who lost her parents when she was just an infant, spent severalRead More →