Posted on — Leave a comment

Trine Revelation, The Kinderra Saga: Book 3 by C. K. Donnelly

A thrill ride from the first page to the last… Riveting. Donnely strikes a perfect balance between powerful worldbuilding and rich thematic exploration as Mirana and Teague struggle against their fates in Donnelly’s third in The Kinderra Saga. Though her parents’ lives are…
Posted on — 1 Comment

The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy, Book 8: The Shadows of War by Claire Youmans

A sprawling, heady, engrossing tale… Azuki grapples with mysterious happenings, secrets, and the tumultuous meanings of what it means to stand for one’s family, friends, and nation in the eighth installment of Youmans’s addictive, layered historical fantasy series. Japan, 1877.…
Posted on — Leave a comment

From Brick & Darkness by J.L. Sullivan

A wonderfully imaginative YA urban fantasy… Sullivan’s debut is an exhilarating page-turner, featuring a fully fleshed-out cast and a fantastical world packed with both whimsey and dark. When Bax accepted a ring intended for his estranged father from a decrepit…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Below Torrential Hill by Jonathan Koven

A tender, deeply moving story with depth… Koven’s latest novel is a touching, insightful YA coming-of-age story, filled with poignant emotion and character. All his life, sixteen-year-old Tristen has seen nothing but grief. His father died when he was a…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Hero Maker by Tom Starace

Extraordinary and unforgettable… Starace debuts with this excellent YA supernatural, featuring a teenager with exceptional abilities, trying to make the world a better place. Sixteen-year-old Adam is constantly haunted by strange dreams that leave him exhausted and confused. When Adam…
Posted on — Leave a comment

The Urban Boys: Discovery of the Five Senses by K.N. Smith

Breathless, nail-biting… Brimming with intriguing paranormal details, Smith’s latest, a tale of supernatural action, boasts vividly wrought characters and a satisfying, carefully paced narrative following five teenage boys’ gradual transition from regular high school kids to the saviors of the…
Posted on — Leave a comment

The Stars Forgot Us by R.J. Garcia

A captivating fantasy tale of mystery and intrigue… Garcia’s latest is a dark, complex web of mystery, magic, and supernatural intrigue. Struggling with his parents’ divorce and his older brothers’ diagnosis of schizophrenia, fifteen-year-old Jacob Kelly is less than thrilled…
Posted on — Leave a comment

The Magicians of Ysavar by Z.B. Lee

An entirely fresh and addicting tale… A young man learns what it means to be a true hero in Lee’s debut coming-of-age fantasy. Johan Finley has always dreamt of being a warrior, but when his arrogance and impulsive nature cost…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Omitted Pieces by Stephanie Hansen

A fast, intense, action-packed YA read… Hansen concludes the Transformed Nexus duology with this entertaining, imaginative installment. It is 2164. Sierra is in a new body and on a new planet with a new problem. Cromwell, the mad scientist, has…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Pull by Jaime Winn

Immersive and heartrending… Winn’s debut, the first novel in a YA series set in the same universe as AC Rob’s forthcoming Rock series, is high on emotion, mystery, and intrigue. Seventeen-year-old Mischa Kenning-Elliot, is content being ‘invisible’ in her high…
Posted on — 1 Comment

Rules of Falling by Leslie Tall Manning

Complex and sophisticated…. Absolutely un-put-downable. The award-winning Manning thoughtfully examines the intricacies of living with a chronic condition, love, and identity in her page-turning latest YA romance. Life for high-school senior Erica O’Donnell is hardly ideal: living with syncope, a…
Posted on — Leave a comment

FLICKERING HEART by Tricia LaRochelle

A moving testimony to the enduring power of love… Love, trust, betrayal, and second chances are the themes of this wholly engaging NA romance by the debut author LaRochelle. It’s been six years since eighteen-year-old Sara Browne has lost her…
Posted on — Leave a comment

THE GIRL FROM POTTER’S FIELD (ISLAND TALES) by James Gregory Kingston

A taut, compulsively readable tale… Set in 1944, Kingston’s stand-alone sequel to The City Island Messenger is a coming-of-age tale of love, friendship, revenge, and reincarnation. The world around City Island is caught up in war, and the close-knit community…
Posted on — 1 Comment

The Sociology Project by S J Hendricks

An emotionally resonant and thought-provoking YA romance… Hendricks’s debut has a lot to like with its sensible hero, spunky heroine, and dynamic secondary cast. Trying to find a subject for a project for the semester, Cleo and Stan, a Black…
Posted on — 1 Comment

The MoonStone Girls by Brooke Skipstone

Complex, creative, and captivating… A young queer girl travels to Alaska disguised as a boy, trying to find some kind of inner peace in Skipstone’s engrossing latest. Seventeen-year-old Tracy has always felt awkward in her skin. And it is the…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Rift: Book Three of the Obluvium Series by R. Dawn Hutchinson

A dangerous journey filled with darkness, mystery, betrayal, and intrigue… Troubled characters, complicated bonds, dark supernatural magic, and power politics mark Hutchinson’s third installment in the Obluvium Series. With the tyrannical king of Stromboden and the mad Count Carvil out…
Posted on — 1 Comment

The Perpetual Now by Jerome J. Bourgault

Gripping, powerful, and unforgettable… An emotion-packed must-read. Bourgault infuses his exceptionally well-built world with small town intrigue, old secrets, treacheries, and human drama in his deeply engrossing debut. Ferguston, Ontario. 12-year-old Justin Lambert has seen his father struggling with the…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Someone’s Story by B.A. Bellec

Hopeful and tear-jerking at once… Bellec delves into the intricacies of adolescence in his engrossing latest, taking readers on a teenager’s journey to self-realization. Struggling with mental illness and childhood trauma, Someone is less than thrilled when he is forced…