3.5 Stars

In the Manhattan of the future, a thousand-story skyscraper dominates the New York City skyline in the space that used to be Central Park. In this intensifying, character-driven novel, a group of teenagers struggle to find their place in a society where the higher you live in the tower, the more social currency you possess. While the characters are at times gossipy and dramatic, this novel has a strong ending that sets it up for the next installment in the series.

-Erin
Posted 8/15/2019

4 Stars

Ezra believes there is one pivotal moment in everyone’s life where things change. He calls it the beginning of everything. Readers will be sucked into this intensifying, character-driven novel that explores how one teen grows after he experiences his own “beginning of everything” moment. The novel features a coming of age story about a teen living with a visible disability after a car accident and is filled with authentic and sometimes brooding characters that most can relate to.

-Erin
Posted 5/28/19

4 Stars

After the Fire is the nonlinear, often heart-wrenching, tale of Moonbeam—a wary and conflicted young girl with a biting wit and a cautious sense of humor who recently survived a confrontation between the government and the cult she grew up in. She’s often terrified, but she’s strong—which is good, since it seems she’ll be staying at the hospital until she finishes relating her story for the police and her new psychiatrist deems her ready for the Outside world. This story is emotionally intense with disturbing and sometimes violent elements. If you liked The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, Starbird Murphy and the World Outside, or My Life with the Liars, you might like this book.

-Julie P.

Posted 1/17/2019

5 Stars

Howl’s Moving Castle is a wonderful, offbeat fantasy novel with a bit of romance. The world-building is fantastic, the characters are flawed and complex, and the story is compelling. Sophie is resigned to life as an apprentice in her family’s hat shop, when a witch comes in one day and casts a spell on her–turning her into an old woman. Knowing she can’t stay where she is, Sophie leaves town and winds up in the castle of Wizard Howl who is said to eat young women’s hearts. If you enjoyed Tales from Earthsea, Graceling, or A Court of Thorns and Roses, you might like this book.

-Julie P.

3 Stars

Joey became deaf at the age of six and yearns to learn ASL, but her mother won’t allow it. One day Joey meets a neighbor and his chimpanzee, and begins to learn to sign. This is a heartwarming book about a girl wanting to express herself and communicate with others.

-Laura

4 Stars

And The Ocean Was Our Sky is a thought-provoking tale of fate and revenge inspired by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Bathsheba and her pod live only for the hunt. Led by Captain Alexandra, they fight in the ongoing war against the world of men, sinking ship after ship—until they find the trail of a devil. The story that follows is haunting and reflective. Rovina Cai’s illustrations are beautiful and change with the tone and plot of the story—from delicate and atmospheric to rough-edged and impressionistic. If you enjoyed The Falconer, I Am Apache, White Fang, or A Monster Calls, you might like this book.

-Julie P.

4 Stars

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a fantasy book (the first in a series of the same title) about Feyre Archeron, a human girl who unknowingly murders a faerie, and consequently must either forfeit her own life or leave behind everyone and everything she knows to live in Prythian. If you like your fantasy books to have a little bit of mystery and romance along with your epic, action-packed adventure, you might enjoy this book. Readers who liked The Iron King, Throne of Glass, and Snow Like Ashes have also liked this book.

-Julie P.

3 Stars

This tale highlights Ireland’s potato famine from 1846 to 1847, and follows Lorraine and her family of tenant farmers. They depend on their potato crop to feed their family, but when it comes up rotten there is little to eat. They must find the strength to keep going, even when it seems hopeless. In this intense story, you are placed right in the heart of the time period and shown how devastating the potato famine really was.

-Laura