Tag Archives: Young Adult

Kalifornia Blu by Kendell Shaffer

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Synopsis:
When dreadlocked and delinquent skater girl Kal’s rock star mom fails to come back to LA for a hearing, Kal finds herself living with the father she never knew, under a strict curfew–and enrolled in a magnet school for teens who aspire to careers in law enforcement.

Review:
Set in the meticulously and passionately described LA town of Venice Beach, Kalifornia Blu has attitude and the plot to back it up. Kal has always been a wild child, the daughter of an aging rock star who’s basically given up on being a mom, leaving Kal alone in a luxury apartment and tended by lawyers. When Kal is caught skateboarding at 3 a.m., the judge sentences her to an immediate transfer into a program for wannabe cops. She has to wear a junior police uniform and everything. Despite her desire to be anywhere else, she can’t help but get involved in the lives of her fellow students, and her unique talents may make her the only person who can really help her ex-gang member classmate before it’s too late. Kendell Shaffer writes the hell out of the story, giving Kal a voice that is funny, wise, foolish, tough, and vulnerable all at once.

The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble

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Synopsis:
After a car accident, Jenna’s stoner older brother starts acting really weird, like all perfect and helpful and otherworldly–and then announces that someone is trying to poison her.

Review:
The plot mechanism behind The Sweet Dead Life was a little clunky in parts, but the voice that Joy Preble came up with for Jenna absolutely won me over. I also loved that the story was set in Houston, not just because my mother-in-law lives there but more because it gave the book a great sense of place that tends to be an afterthought in a lot of YA novels. The book is funny, sweet, edgy, suspenseful, and ultimately satisfying–though a huge part of me wished the door had been cracked a bit wider for a sequel. I loved the relationship between Jenna and Casey and would totally keep hanging with them.

Many thanks to Soho Teen for the review copy.

Dare Me by Megan Abbott

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Synopsis:
When a new coach kicks head cheerleader Beth out of her spot, her sidekick and quasi-faithful lieutenant braces herself for the impact, even as she becomes enthralled with the coach herself.

Review:
I heard about Dare Me from a friend and got really excited over the premise–cheerleader noir–but a day later she said, “Don’t bother, I loved the first half and then it fell apart.” I started reading and it was SO AWESOME that I was like, “What is she talking about? How could this book possibly fall apart?” And then it totally fell apart. Not cool, Dare Me, not cool.

Escape Theory by Margaux Froley

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Synopsis:
After the apparent suicide of a popular senior, boarding school peer counselor Devon starts wondering if there was something more going on and decides to find out the truth about the boy she loved from afar.

Review:
Escape Theory is smart and well-written, with varied characters and an interesting setting. Devon is haunted by an encounter she had with Hutch, the suicide whose friends and girlfriend she’s now counseling, and because that one night stands out in her mind as a defining moment, she can’t let Hutch go without figuring out what exactly happened to him. She just can’t believe he killed himself–and neither can anyone else. It’s a great hook for a story, the burning question of whether a connection you made with someone was as meaningful to them as it was to you, and Devon’s role as peer counselor gives her access to the other characters in an organic and compelling way.

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

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Synopsis:
Three girls plot revenge on three popular seniors in an idyllic resort town.

Review:
Yes, I loved Siobhan Vivian The List and Not That Kind of Girl, and my love affair continues in Burn for Burn. My only problem is that it’s the first in a trilogy and I’m going to have to wait to find out what happens next!

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

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Synopsis:
Student council president Natalie has a lot of pressure on her, and a freshman girl’s provocative behavior starts to unravel the control she’s fought so hard to maintain.

Review:
In many ways I could relate to Natalie, the first-person narrator of Not That Kind of Girl, to the point of being annoyed with her for being so blind to the feelings of everyone around her. I do get frustrated with stories that revolve around a character who either misses something critical, or who others won’t listen to. It all goes back to Mr. Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street. I used to get so upset on Big Bird’s behalf that no one would believe him. It’s why I don’t love Curb Your Enthusiasm even though I think Larry David is a comic genius. In this book, Natalie won’t listen to anyone, nor will she open up to anyone, so she ends up in this hermetically sealed world of angst that could easily be relieved if she would only let other people finish their sentences–or finish one of her own. She lives inside her own head–and I think I know a little bit about what that’s like. If I had read this book when I was a senior in high school, maybe my jaw wouldn’t have clamped shut from stress over college applications. I could’ve learned a thing or two from Natalie about how to relax and let my hair down.

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

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Synopsis:
A bad boy surviving foster care and hoping to get custody of his younger brother falls for a troubled young woman covered with scars and no memory of how she got them.

Review:
Honestly, I don’t know why I kept readingPushing the Limits. I didn’t think Noah was that great a guy, and Echo’s helplessness really got to me. I didn’t get why her scars were such a huge deal, socially speaking, and it bugged me how contrived some of the conflicts were. Yet I kept reading. Why? Because I am a junkie for YA.

Many thanks to Harlequin Teen for the review copy.

The List by Siobhan Vivian

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Synopsis:
When the annual list of prettiest and ugliest girls in each grade is posted, the named girls face their demons and find out who they really are.

Review:
The List is my favorite kind of YA–edgy, sharp, and deeply human. I loved the backstories created for all the characters and how it all came together.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

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Synopsis:
In a world divided into five factions ruled by a defining character trait, a young woman risks excommunication if anyone discovers that she is Divergent–showing tendencies to more than one character trait.

Review:
I initially dismissed Divergent as part of the post-Hunger Games dystopian frenzy and assumed it wouldn’t grip me and enthrall me in quite the same way. I was dead wrong–I actually think Divergent is a better story than HG–at least so far. I felt way more invested in Tris’s dilemma because I didn’t really feel like anyone was protecting her the way that everyone seemed to protect Katniss.

I’m also much more interested in the world created here than in that of Panem because Veronica Roth makes the contrivance of the factions really, really work. This series is a keeper and I’m already reading book 2!

Erebos by Ursula Poznanski

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Synopsis:
When a teenage boy gets a copy of a contraband video game, he soon learns that Erebos and the real world are bleeding together with deadly results.

Review:
Erebos was a fun, fast read with good plotting and a well-realized game world. It was pretty straightforward in its execution and I’m not sure I’m totally satisfied by the ending but it was a fun read nonetheless.