Synopsis:
A retelling of the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast.
Review:
I suppose it’s because of all the babysitting I’ve done, but I just couldn’t shake the image of Belle in her big yellow dress as I read Robin McKinley’s Beauty. But setting that aside, I would have loved this when I [...]

Popularity: 28% [?]

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Synopsis:
Deanna’s lived under a dark cloud ever since her dad caught her having sex when she was just 13, and her dreams of getting out just might expire under the weight of his disapproval.
Review:
I’m a latecomer getting to Sara Zarr’s National Book Award Finalist novel Story of a Girl, though it’s been on my radar [...]

Popularity: 39% [?]

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Synopsis:
The concluding adventures of Gemma Doyle, proper Victorian debutante and keeper of the magic of a mystical world called the realms, which is threatened by intruders from the ominous Winterlands.
Review:
The Sweet Far Thing ends the trilogy that began with A Great and Terrible Beauty, followed by Rebel Angels. Gemma Doyle and her friends are [...]

Popularity: 48% [?]

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Found via Rhigirl–
1. When/how did you become an avid reader?
I’ve loved to read as long as I can remember, ever since I was a little girl. I was totally the bookworm nerd that never wanted to do anything else.
2. What is your favorite genre for adult/young adult books?
For YA, I am always a sucker [...]

Popularity: 27% [?]

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Synopsis:
When introverted teen Natalie discovers that she has inherited her mother’s gift for invisibility, she’s caught between her desire to use her powers for good and her fears that her mother will find out.
Review:
Visibility was written when Sarah Neufeld was only 19, and it’s an impressive debut. She’s crafted a fresh take on the [...]

Popularity: 48% [?]

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Synopsis:
When Clay receives a box of cassette tapes recorded by a girl who recently committed suicide, he wonders why he was chosen as one of her thirteen reasons.
Review:
Compelling premise ultimately founders on muddled execution. Asher throws in at least four separate social problems as part of Hannah’s reasons for her suicide, and the construction [...]

Popularity: 42% [?]

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Synopsis:
When Frances’s birth mother contacts her asking to “finish it,” Frances must come to terms with the terrible crime that caused their separation, and learn how to forge her own path in life.
Review:
I devoured Breathe My Name, which will be published in early November 2007 by Razorbill. Not only is it an outstanding coming-of-age [...]

Popularity: 43% [?]

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Synopsis:
A stableboy begins to exhibit mysterious powers that draw attention that could be dangerous, and he finds himself a prisoner on the goblin waste as the princess he’s sworn to serve comes ever closer to a danger that only he is aware of.
Review:
Magic Casement is a fantastic start to a four book series that I [...]

Popularity: 47% [?]

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Synopsis:
After a supremely sheltered childhood, a young woman finds herself without her mother for the first time in her life, and tells her new lover the story of the crime that led to her emancipation.
Popularity: 56% [?]

Popularity: 56% [?]

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My review of The Last Summer (of You and Me), the new book by Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author Ann Brashares is up at Blogcritics:
Ann Brashares is the author of the beloved young adult novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequels, so it’s not a surprise that in her first novel [...]

Popularity: 46% [?]

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