Teen and Young Adult Fiction Reviews
Books for Young Adults
T.J. Akers describes The Final Paladin as “urban fantasy.” I would amend that to historical urban fantasy given that its real-world setting takes place at the turn of the 20th century.
Filled with crusaders, murders, a mysterious key, and a host of fantastical creatures, I recommend this YA novel for older readers of the genre.… Read the rest
Synopsis
After a series of bad choices rocked his world, seventeen-year-old Preston charts a new course as far from his ladies’ man ways as he can get. He distances himself from the dating scene and avoids his party-loving friends—the things that once dominated his life.… Read the rest
Third in a series of reviews about deaf characters and their siblings, Of Sound Mind zeroes in on the burdens a CODA (child of deaf adults) carries when his parents cannot or will not connect with the hearing world.… Read the rest
Lady Selene is the heir to the Great House of Ravenwood and the secret family gift of dreamwalking. As a dreamwalker, she can enter a person’s dreams and manipulate their greatest fears or desires.
When Antony John’s wife challenged him to write a book about rock music and its personalities from a deaf person’s point of view, Five Flavors of Dumb was the result.
Synopsis
Eighteen-year-old Piper Vaughn lost her hearing in fifth grade, so her speech is pretty clear, and she’s mastered the skill of reading lips.… Read the rest
Power has its Price…
Madeline Oliver is dying from lung disease and there’s no cure. Jason Wu, after tragedy strikes, is left grief stricken and promises to only speak the truth from that point on. … Read the rest
Sun and Moon by Desiree Williams is a good, summer romantic fantasy appropriate for middle grade and young adult readers. It’s short, easy to digest, and has an assured happy ending, like a bag of popcorn at the movie theater.… Read the rest
Synopsis
Set in Appalachia of northern Kentucky along the Ohio River, M.C. Higgins is the oldest son in an African American family, proud of his great grandmother’s mountain and proud of his skills as a swimmer, a hunter-tracker, and how he can shimmy up his forty-foot steel pole to view the hills.… Read the rest
I kind of fell in love with Sylvester and Huxley and the story world. I read an ARC of The Electrical Menageries, and when the blog tour sign ups came around, I raised my hand.… Read the rest
Before she was the Queen of Hearts she was just a girl in love…
In Heartless, Catherine just wants to open a bakery with her best friend. But the King of Hearts wants her as his wife.… Read the rest