Tag Archives: young adult

Provided for Review: The Legend of Black Jack by A.R. Witham

They say he was an outsider. A man with no home, no family, and no friend to call his own. The man with nothing left to love. The empty man.

They say he talked to animals. They say he traveled between worlds. They say he killed a god, and they may be right. He prowled the border between light and dark. He beat the devil himself with a walking stick. He healed a thousand people in a single day and killed a dragon the same midnight.

They say there was a woman. They say he died for her. No one knows the truth.

Those are the legends about him.

If you want to know the truth I will tell you.

This book was provided for review by the author and the kind folks at The Write Reads. Thank you!

Trigger Warning: blood and gore, death of major characters, description of surgery, mentions of child abuse, mentions of alcohol use, battle sequences

Jack Swift is an incredibly brilliant boy. For the last seven years, he has bounced around from foster home to foster home, never quite fitting in wherever he lands. He does what he can to make the best of every situation often losing himself in his precious books. On the eve of his 14th birthday, he wakes to find a talking rhinoceros in his bedroom.

After that things only get stranger.

The Legend of Black Jack is the first novel by Emmy award winner A.R. Witham. It is a grand, sweeping novel on par with such classics as The Neverending Story or The Chronicles of Narnia. The story draws one in from the beginning, taking the reader by the hand and leading them on a grand adventure they are sure to cherish.

While the overall plot is nothing new it is the way Witham handles it that is. Jack is a fourteen-year-old boy and he acts like it. As smart as he is, he has a temper and gets angry and his hormones sometimes get in the way. He is at times frightened and unsure. He is not perfect. But even with his failures and his setbacks, Jack gets up and keeps going. And while yes, he does save the day neither does he do it alone.

The Legend of Black Jack is a story about relationships. The relationships we are born into and the ones we make along the way in life.

I know some of my readers stay away from Young Adult titles for whatever reasons. I encourage them – as I encourage all of my readers – to pick up The Legend of Black Jack and to please give it a try. Yes, it is technically a Young Adult novel but the story is so much deeper and more mature than it is given credit for. It is a well written and beautiful book and I could easily see it becoming a classic.

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Isabelle should be blissfully happy – she’s about to win the handsome prince. Except Isabelle isn’t the beautiful girl who lost the glass slipper and captured the prince’s heart. She’s the ugly stepsister who’s cut off her toes to fit into Cinderella’s shoe … which is now filling with blood.

When the prince discovers Isabelle’s deception, she is turned away in shame. It’s no more than she deserves: she is a plain girl in a world that values beauty; a feisty girl in a world that wants her to be pliant.

Isabelle has tried to fit in. To live up to her mother’s expectations. To be like her stepsister. To be sweet. To be pretty. One by one, she has cut away pieces of herself in order to survive a world that doesn’t appreciate a girl like her. And that has made her mean, jealous, and hollow.

Until she gets a chance to alter her destiny and prove what ugly stepsisters have always known: it takes more than heartache to break a girl.

Trigger Warning: body mutilation, general violence, general blood and gore, character death

There are quite a few Cinderella retellings on book shelves, but there are very few that focus on characters beside Cinderella or the Prince. But that is exactly what Jennifer Donnelly’s Stepsister does. Cinderella and her Prince are merely side characters in this retelling. Instead, the focus is shifted to the “evil” stepsisters and leads the reader to wonder if maybe they weren’t so evil after all.

Who among us has not sacrified part of themself for something they believed they wanted? Who has not changed who they were to make the people they loved happy? Who has not made themselves miserable to please others and done it with a smile?

Isabelle has done all of these things in the belief that one day she will be happy.

Isabelle’s path is one that many will likely recognize and relate to. In order to fit in and make her mother happy she has changed who she fundamentally is even at the risk of destroying herself. When given the chance to have her happily ever after she believes she knows exactly what to do.

The journey Isabelle, her sister, and their mother go on is not an easy one. They are met with the same cruelty and indifference they meted out on Cinderella and some readers might find that hard to take. Their bullying ways are turned back on them making them the ones being bullied. And while it does end up being a worthwhile lesson, it is also a painful one.

I personally enjoyed reading Stepsister. Isabella and her sister Tiva show great character growth from beginning to end. In my opinion it has a good ending and a good message without being too preachy. It is very likely that I will be seeking out more books by this author.

Provided for Review: Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

Ever since Margot was born, it’s just been her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.

But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: a photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for.

Margot’s mother left for a reason. Was it to hide from her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?

The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply in to Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing this book for review.

Trigger warnings: Emotional manipulation, Emotional abuse, Mentions of gaslighting

For as long as Margot can remember, it’s just been her and her mom. The two of them just managing to scrape by. The struggle to make it from one day to the next becomes more and more difficult and at times the line between who is mother and who is daughter is blurred.

Desperate to try and stay in her mother’s good graces, Margot decides to try and buy back some of their things from the local pawn shop. Buried at the bottom of a box, Margot finds an old bible and tucked among the pages is a photograph. On the back is a name and a phone number as well as the name of a town – Phalene.

As pieces begin to come together, Margot believes she’s found what she’s been wanting her whole life. A family. It is only that the longer she spends there, the more she realizes not everything is as it seems. Even perfect families have their secrets.

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power is one of those books that while the subject matter made it difficult to read at times, neither could I put the book down.

In the first chapter we are introduced to Margot and her mother Jo, and it is here we get our first glimpses of how dysfunctional their relationship is. Their relationship is not a good one, it could easily be described as toxic. A truth that Power does not shy away from and instead lays bare. In showing the dichotomy between Margot and her mother, we see the abuser and the abused. One feeding in to the other in a never ending cycle.

Burn Our Bodies Down is not an easy book to read. While classified as Young Adult, the subject matter might be a little too difficult for some readers. Truthfully, some adult readers might have trouble as well as some scenes could be considered triggering.

This does NOT mean that Burn Our Bodies Down is a bad book – the truth be told, I thought it was a very good book. It is only that a handful of scenes may hit a little too close to home for some readers and would thus take the enjoyment out of an otherwise enjoyable book.

Under most circumstances, I finish my reviews with the answer to the question of whether I would recommend this particular book to my readers or not. With Burn Our Bodies Down, I do recommend it but I also advise my readers to not go in blind.

Provided for Review: The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

Milly, Aubrey and Jonah Story are cousins, but they barely know each another, and they’ve never even met their grandmother. Rich and reclusive, she disinherited their parents before they were born. So when they each receive a letter inviting them to work at her island resort for the summer, they’re surprised…and curious.

Their parents are all clear on one point—not going is not an option. This could be the opportunity to get back into Grandmother’s good graces. But when the cousins arrive on the island, it’s immediately clear that she has different plans for them. And the longer they stay, the more they realize how mysterious—and dark—their family’s past is.

The entire Story family has secrets. Whatever pulled them apart years ago isn’t over—and this summer, the cousins will learn everything.

Many thanks to the author, Penguin Publishing, and to The Write Reads on Twitter for providing this book for review. Thank you!

You know what you did…

Those five words were the last each of the four Story children heard from their mother before disinheriting them. Those five words, written on a single sheet of paper, one for each child. Five little words and then nothing. Not for over 20 years.

The Cousins is the latest book by Karen M. McManus, author of the equally thrilling One of Us is Lying. Again we are met with secrets and lies. Of half truths and where what lies on the surface is on the beginning. And where even those who proclaim innocence aren’t as innocent as they might seem.

The Cousins is told from a variety of viewpoints. Not only are there chapters told from each cousin’s point of view, there are also several chapters from summer/fall of 1996 – just before the four Story children are disinherited. I will not say just who narrates those particuar chapters, just that their addition gives some very good insight as to why what happened did.

The main characters of The Cousins are the three cousins themselves; Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah. I found them all to be quite likeable. Each is a well rounded and well thought out character. Written in a believable manner where like almost every one else, they too have something to hide. Each one is a product of the background and upbringing and their actions through out the novel reflect that.

My only real complaint was while the main characters of the three cousins were well rounded, the same could not be said of the secondary characters. I honestly would have liked to have seen more of the original Story children as older adults along with the flashbacks that we see them in. The same can also said for the grandmother, I would have really liked to have seen more of her aside from the very brief glimpses we are given. While I understand that McManus could only include so much background before inundating us, I still would have liked to have had a least a little more.

In the end though, I enjoyed reading The Cousins. I found it to be a very entertaining read and had a good time trying to put the puzzle pieces together just as the cousins themselves were trying to do. Readers who have enjoyed McManus’ other books will enjoy this one and those who are new to her work should definitely give it a try. It was a fun read and I look forward to going back and reading more of her stuff.

Book Tour Review: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

She came from nothing.
Avery has a plan: keep her head down and work hard for a better future.
Then an eccentric billionaire dies, leaving her almost his entire fortune. And no one, least of all Avery, knows why.

They had everything.
Now she must move into the mansion she’s inherited.
It’s filled with secrets and codes, and the old man’s surviving relatives –
a family hell-bent on discovering why Avery got ‘their’ money.

Now there’s only one rule: winner takes all.
Soon she is caught in a deadly game that everyone in this strange family is playing.
But just how far will they go to keep their fortune?

This book was provided by the author as part of a book tour with The Write Reads. Thank you!

Trigger Warning: Physical and emotional abuse (Avery’s sister Libby receives a black eye from her boyfriend) both past and present, alcohol consumption, mentions of stalking

“…Hawthorne loves a good puzzle as much as he loves a good whiskey. And he loves his whiskey.”

Avery Grimes is your typical teenager. She studies hard and works hard, all with the aim of giving herself and her half sister a better life. So what if she has to sometimes sleep in her car because her sister’s boyfriend is being a jerk again? Avery knows that one day things will be better.

Avery’s “one day” happens sooner than expected. A well tailored, handsome young man comes to Avery’s school, informing her that he comes on behest of his family and she is wanted in Texas for the reading of a will. Avery doesn’t know any one in Texas, least of all any one who would be naming her in a will…

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the first book in the series with the same title. Much like the acclaimed movie Knives Out (great movie, btw), it centers on a ridiculously rich family and the patriarch’s Last Will and Testament.

The Inheritance Games is a tense, puzzle filled, nail biter of a story. Everyone seems to have a hidden agenda of some kind. With nearly every person holding on to one secret or another, Avery (and the reader) have a hard time knowing who to trust. Even Mr. Hawthorne himself though he’s dead. The puzzles he’s left behind seem to point at something but no one is sure of what.

I deeply enjoyed reading The Inheritance Games. Because of how it is written, the reader goes along with Avery as she tries to unravel the clues and puzzles left behind. We learn the answers as she figures them out – and she is very good at figuring puzzles out.

I wasn’t too fond of the love triangle Barnes introduced between Avery and two of the Hawthorne grandsons. Such a thing seems common in many YA books, so much so as to have become a kind of trope. However since it was such a small part of the overall plot and didn’t really figure in to the story, it was also easy to overlook and ignore.

On the whole I quite enjoyed this book. Not everything was tied up neatly at the end, leaving it open for the next book in the series. It is something I am eagerly looking forward to and will likely review it here given the chance.

Provided for Review: The Die of Death (The Great Devil War II) by Kenneth B. Andersen

Philip’s adventures as the Devil’s apprentice have changed him—in a good way. Although he misses his friends in Hell, he has made new friends in life.

But when the future of the underworld is threatened once again, Philip’s help is needed. Death’s Die has been stolen and immortality is spreading across the globe.

Philip throws himself into the search—and discovers a horrible truth about his own life along the way.

This book was provided for review by the author and The Write Reads. Thank you!

The Die of Death by Kenneth B. Andersen is the second book in his very popular The Great Devil War series. Picking up roughly six month after the events of the first book in the series – The Devil’s Apprentice – we are once again reunited with the main character Philip.

Much has changed for Philip since his time in Hell. No longer the ‘goody two shoes’ that he was in the first book, he has made new friends from old enemies. He still remembers his old friends from Hell though and after a terrible storm one night, he is reunited with them on an all too familiar staircase.

As in the first book, the majority of the story takes place in Hell. And again, as with the first book, Andersen has out done himself in bringing the place to “life”. His descriptions of the places Philip and Sabine visit make it quite easy to picture. The addition of the lands of Purgatory and of Death’s domain also serve to expand this particular universe.

While the actual setting of The Die of Death is wonderfully rounded out further in this second book, it is the changes that the actual characters go through that truly help move the story along. Mortimer – aka Death – is better rounded out and as the book goes on we truly see the kind of person he is. And we come to realize, just as Philip does, that death is a part of life and is not something to be feared.

Sometimes, the second book of a series is not as strong as the first. This is simply not true with The Die of Death. It easily holds its own and is as enjoyable as the first book. I loved reading it and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Reboot (Reboot #1) by Amy Tintera

Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

The perfect soldier is done taking orders. 

Reboot by Amy Tintera is a new and unique take on the well known trope of individuals returning from the dead. When a person dies, while there is a chance that they do not come back to life, if they do they are not a mindless zombie. They instead come back as a Reboot – a person just like they were only they are now stronger, faster, and less emotional. The longer a person is dead before they “reboot”, the less emotions they have and the less human they seem.

The problem I had with the book was that while the premise was so interesting, it just did not reach its full potential. What caused the virus that creates Reboots is barely touched on. It’s mentioned in an off handed manner that could be easy to overlook. When the book opens we are given a tantalizing view of the world the book is set in but once the romance aspect begins, the setting is forced to take a back seat.

Aside from the setting, another issue I had was with the main character herself. Wren 178 is heralded as one of the deadliest reboots known. She is cold and emotionless and follows orders without question. So why then does she become a completely different person when she begins to train Callum 22? She begins to disobey orders and at one point completely forgets her training. I would say it’s unrealistic but this is a book about people coming back from the dead.

Sadly, Reboot falls in with numerous other YA novels with a female protagonist. Once she meets that special someone, she becomes a different person, all in the name of love. I cannot count the number of books I have read with a similar premise.

For readers who enjoy books like this – ala The Hunger Games or Divergent – then they very well might enjoy reading Reboot. Personally, I thought it had potential but couldn’t live up to it and will likely not be seeking out the second book in the series.

Provided for Review: The Devil’s Apprentice (The Great Devil War #1) by Kenneth B. Andersen

Philip is a good boy, a really good boy, who accidentally gets sent to Hell to become the Devil’s heir. The Devil, Lucifer, is dying and desperately in need of a successor, but there’s been a mistake and Philip is the wrong boy. Philip is terrible at being bad, but Lucifer has no other choice than to begin the difficult task of training him in the ways of evil. Philip gets both friends and enemies in this odd, gloomy underworld—but who can he trust, when he discovers an evil-minded plot against the dark throne?

This book was provided for review by the author and The Write Reads. Thank you!

In recent years YA fantasy has apparently found a larger audience and books in the category have come out by the score. And while this is certainly a good thing, sadly many of the books sound and read the same.

The Devil’s Apprentice by Kenneth Andersen however is not one of them.

Set in a universe that could easily be ours, the story follows what happens when a very good boy mistakenly ends up in a very bad place. Philip is the poster boy for being good; I’m fairly sure other parents point to him and ask their children ‘Why can’t you be more like Philip?’ He is something of an oddity both in the living world and in Hell. It is that good nature though that ends up helping him and the Devil as well.

Andersen’s version of Hell is a combination of familiar and new. There are tortured souls and demons aplenty but there are also demon families, a demon school that young demons attend. There is a town with shops and homes and other familiar things albeit with a slightly sinister twist. It is a unique version of the realm.

The characters in the book are also an interesting bunch. Not just the humans like Phillip, but the numerous demons that make up the denizens of Hell. Andersen obviously references Dante’s inferno with the demons yet also adds his own ideas in to the mix.

I really enjoyed reading The Devil’s Apprentice. I found it to be more than just a simple story of a misunderstanding gone wrong. It is nuanced and layered in a way that few YA books are. And while it might be marketed at younger readers, I could easily see older readers enjoying it as well. Major kudos to Mr. Andersen, I look forward to reading the rest of the series!

The Ultimate Blog Tour Day 9 – After the Green Withered by Kristin Ward

This book was provided for review from The Write Reads and the author herself. Thank you!

They tell me the country looked different back then. 

They talk of open borders and flowing rivers. 

They say the world was green. 

But drought swept across the globe and the United States of the past disappeared under a burning sky. 

Enora Byrnes lives in the aftermath, a barren world where water has become the global currency. In a life dominated by duty to family and community, Enora is offered a role within an entity that controls everything from water credits to borders. But it becomes clear that not all is as it seems. From the wasted confines of her small town to the bowels of a hidden city, Enora will uncover buried secrets that hide an unthinkable reality. 

As truth reveals the brutal face of what she has become, she must ask herself: how far will she go to retain her humanity? (via Goodreads)

Like many, I have read my fair share of post-apocalyptic books. And while many have kept me on the edge of my seat, After the Green Withered is the first to truly frighten me. Not because of the horror that is the world in this book, but because of how easily our world could follow down a similar path.

In reading After the Green Withered I was reminded of the poem The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot. Like the men described in the poem, the majority of the populace live in a kind of Hell. There is no where for them to go and they are far too afraid to try anything that could possibly help them for fear of retribution. We are shown this when one of Enora’s friends tries to build her own small hidden garden. Water is rigidly rationed and growing one’s own food is strictly forbidden. When the tiny garden is discovered, Enora is horrified to see her friend brutally arrested.

After the Green Withered is unique in that there are not many characters to drive the plot. Aside from the main character Enora, there are only a real handful of others that she interacts with and push the story along. Background characters make recurrent appearances, but it is only a few that make up the core of the story.

I found After the Green Withered to be a massively enjoyable read. It was a bit slow in the beginning as the world that Enora lives in is introduced to us, but once she leaves home the story continues at a breakneck speed. There are numerous twists and turns as Enora tries her best to not stand out while keeping true to herself and as she tries to figure out who she can and cannot trust.

My only disappointment comes in how Enora tends to agonize over every decision. While I cannot completely relate to the world she comes from, I do know that there are times when one only seems to be given a choice.

After the Green Withered is a fast paced book that unfortunately ends on a very awkward note. Thankfully, there is a sequel already out so the reader can immediately jump from one to the other should they wish.

Readers who like dystopian type novels with a well thought out back story and decently rounded characters should give this book a try. If nothing else, it will inspire you to possibly care about the environment around us a bit more.