Sam(antha) is a 17-year-old girl with divorced parents. Her mother, although professionally successful, is severely OCD. Her dad has flown off to live and work in his native England, leaving Sam alone to cope with her. (He says later in… Read More ›
Month: April 2019
In the Neighborhood of True
After her father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack in New York, seventeen-year-old Ruth Robb, her sister Nattie, and her mother say goodbye to their northern, urban, cosmopolitan city to move to Atlanta, Georgia, where her mom’s parents, Fontaine and… Read More ›
This Book Is Not Yet Rated
This is a well-written and entertaining book with many a good and thoughtful point to make about love, loss, communication, finding your tribe, finding your place in life, moving on, etc. Readers who love movies or have ever worked in… Read More ›
Earth to Charlie
Charlie is a sweet kid finishing up his freshman year in high school. His mother left long ago, telling him the aliens were coming to get her but that they would return later for him. His dad has turned into… Read More ›
Since We Last Spoke
Aggi Frank and Max Granger grow up in seemingly idyllic fashion, with a countryside to explore, a beaver dam to watch being constructed each spring, and a nearby lakeshore where they enjoy bonfires and marshmallow roasts. Next-door neighbors, their families have shared… Read More ›
Pretty in Punxsutawaney
The book cover’s byline that says “wake up. go to school. fall in love. repeat” cleverly introduces the plot of this story. Andie is a new girl in town, having moved to Punxsutawaney the summer before her senior year of high… Read More ›
every moment after
It’s graduation day for the seniors of East Ridge High School in New Jersey, eleven years after a shooting in a first-grade class killed eighteen of their classmates. It’s a big media event, of course, but it’s also a pivotal… Read More ›
Four Dead Queens
This 423-page fantasy novel is set in a land called Quadara, a land once ruled by a single king but now devolved into four separate quadrants, each represented by its own queen. The quadrants follow the Henry Ford philosophy of… Read More ›
Enchantee
On the eve of the French Revolution in 1789, seventeen-year-old Camille Durbonne finds herself living in a garret with her fifteen-year-old sister Sophie and older brother Alain, so desperately poor that she turns to the magic taught her by her… Read More ›
The Weight of Our Sky
In 1969 sixteen-year-old Melati Ahmad and her best friend Safiyah (Saf) leave school when classes finish for the day and head to the Rex Theater to see Paul Newman (whom Saf adores) in his latest film. Mel’s mom, a nurse,… Read More ›
Before You Buy YA 