Difference between revisions of "Newest Teens Reviews"
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| + | |title=Changers, Book Two: Oryon | ||
| + | |author=Allison Glock-Cooper and T Cooper | ||
| + | |rating=4 | ||
| + | |genre=Teens | ||
| + | |summary=Ethan is a Changer. Changers are an ancient race of humans who change identities four times during adolescence before choosing a permanent persona to inhabit for the rest of their lives. Because of this, Changers gain insight into other people's lives and become better people because of it. They literally walk in another man's shoes, if you will. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349002444</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
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|author=Jennifer Donnelly | |author=Jennifer Donnelly | ||
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|summary=Parker hasn't spoken a single, solitary word for the last five years. He hasn't started applying for college yet, either. Not that he'd likely get in: his grades are rubbish and he spends as much time skipping school as he does attending class. He has also developed a petty theft habit, which he indulges in well-heeled hotels. Oh dear, I hear you saying. It's not as though there aren't reasons for Parker's behaviour, there are, but reasons don't help much. | |summary=Parker hasn't spoken a single, solitary word for the last five years. He hasn't started applying for college yet, either. Not that he'd likely get in: his grades are rubbish and he spends as much time skipping school as he does attending class. He has also developed a petty theft habit, which he indulges in well-heeled hotels. Oh dear, I hear you saying. It's not as though there aren't reasons for Parker's behaviour, there are, but reasons don't help much. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147114612X</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>147114612X</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 12:48, 19 May 2016
Changers, Book Two: Oryon by Allison Glock-Cooper and T Cooper
Ethan is a Changer. Changers are an ancient race of humans who change identities four times during adolescence before choosing a permanent persona to inhabit for the rest of their lives. Because of this, Changers gain insight into other people's lives and become better people because of it. They literally walk in another man's shoes, if you will. Full review...
These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
Jennifer Donnelly wrote one of my all-time favourite books, A Gathering Light, so I was very excited to read her latest novel and see how it compared. Like A Gathering Light, These Shallow Graves is a historical novel with a murder mystery at its heart and a feisty heroine who challenges the standards of the day. Full review...
Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Bond is back, this time authored by international best-selling author Anthony Horowitz. It all begins with a seemingly simple mission (at least for Bond). After a few days training, James heads to Germany to race in the European championship at Nürburgring where he plans to stop the Russians using dirty tricks to secure victory. However, we're not surprised that Bond soon uncovers a much bigger and more serious plot: a scheme by Korean Sin Jai-Seong (otherwise known as Jason Sin) and SMERSH (a top-secret department of the Russian government) to undermine the American space programme whilst simultaneously murdering millions of New Yorkers and toppling the Empire State Building. As the clock ticks down, only Bond and CIA field-agent, Jeopardy Lane, can stop it. But are they already too late? Full review...
Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky
Rupert Pierpont has put his head above the parapet and taken his juggling act onto a Britain's Got Talent-styled TV show, as you do. Bizarrely there were three other Ruperts contesting, and all four got lumped into the same boy band – The Ruperts, as you do. Several massive albums and hugely successful tours later, the four lads are globally known, and have entered the world of true fandom – the realms where girls know to wear incontinence pads and live with it rather than forsake their front-row concert position, and where girl fans (with their own inclusive, tribal nickname, of course) send online death threats to anyone sexually linked to the stars. The band has got a showcase Thanksgiving TV special to perform in New York, and is in town at a hipsterish swanky hotel. And here is Rupert P waking up surrounded by four huge Ruperts fans, and hardly seeing anything other than girls' tights – as you do. But this is through no intent of his own – for he has been kidnapped by four of the very same fans he soon attests to hate… Full review...
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
I'm hardly the first person to comment on the saturation of the young-adult fiction market in recent years. I've several friends who love YA so much they seem to exclusively read this genre, and here's the thing – I really want to like it, too. I know there's good stuff out there, but it seems like the more I look the less I find. I've slogged my way through dozens – maybe even hundreds, who knows – of formulaic, samey and often downright repetitive books which didn't inspire any of that passion in me. Full review...
The Hunt by Paul Bird
This is Britain after the Very Big Crash. Life is very different, especially if you live in one of the lower suburbs under the Local Government's authority. Cush lives in one such suburb. He works as a detective in the floating Krawczyk building and, though he thinks it himself, is pretty good at his job. His wife Samir doesn't work, even though she'd like to, and spends her days at home reading those most antiquated of things: books. Their son Nim is sixteen and is obsessed with a video game called The Hunt. Cush and Samir fall out constantly over their differing approaches to Nim's obsession. Full review...
The Sword of the Spirit (Spirits 3) by Rob Keeley
There are truths which must be revealed before the battle may commence. You do not yet know the meaning of the sword.
Ooh! Events are moving apace in Rob Keeley's Childish Spirits series. Let me explain... Full review...
Whisper to Me by Nick Lake
Cassie lives with her father in a New Jersey beach town. Dad spends most of his time closeted away with his insect collection. He's an ex-Navy SEAL who suffers from PTSD and its concomitant anger issues. Frankly, Cassie finds him best avoided. Cassie herself is doing ok, despite a recent tragedy. Until, that is, she finds a dismembered foot on the beach, thought to be from a victim of a serial killer stalking the locality. Full review...
Moth Girls by Anne Cassidy
The first seven weeks of secondary school changed Mandy Crystal's life. It was in those seven weeks that she became friends with Petra Armstrong and Tina Pointer. And it was at the end of those seven weeks that she refused to join them when they impulsively decided to explore the house on Princess Street. That was the last time anyone saw either of them – Petra and Tina disappeared, never to be seen again. Labelled the 'Moth Girls' by the media, the two girls have haunted Mandy ever since. For five years she has had to live with the guilt that for many hours she didn't admit where she'd last seen her friends. Were those hours crucial? Would they have been found it she'd told the police where they'd gone sooner? When the house is knocked down, Mandy can't resist visiting. It is during this visit that a chance encounter changes everything. Full review...
Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman
Skye's sister, Luisa, died in a tragic accident last summer and Skye is still struggling to come to terms with both the events she witnessed and the loss of her sister. It's, therefore, not surprising that she welcomes the opportunity to escape – even if it is on a holiday for bereaved teens. She's up for anything that will stop her thinking about the past so she's totally unprepared when she starts receiving text messages from an account only Luisa had access to. Rather than erasing all thoughts of the past, Skye finds herself having to confront her worst fears. Full review...
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
School Frances is a single-minded study machine, with just one purpose: get into Cambridge. She's responsible, studious, and furiously focused on ticking all the boxes needed for a perfect application, boxes with no place for friends and hobbies. And this is the Frances that pretty much everyone sees. Only her mum knows there is more to her than meets the eye, from her distinctive, geeky fashion sense and serious artistic talent, to her fangirl love for the wonderful podcast show, Universe City. When a chance encounter leads to her meeting the creator of University City, Aled Last, she finally has a friend with whom she can genuinely be comfortable around, and celebrate all her weird and wonderful quirks. However, when complications and secrets threaten to shatter this powerful friendship, Francis finds herself at a crossroads, caught between her old secure path of least resistance, and the much scarier option of putting her true self out there and risking it all to discover what she truly wants. Full review...
The Bombs That Brought Us Together by Brian Conaghan
Charlie Law is fourteen. He has always lived in Little Town and he has seen its descent into a difficult place to be. There's no drinking. No littering. No complaining. No being out after dark. Medicine is hard to get, which is a problem when your mum, like Charlie's mum, has trouble breathing. But even breathing is less important than keeping out of the way of the Rascals, the Regime's enforcers. And Charlie is a sensible boy. He has the rules of Little Town down pat and he never, never breaks them. Full review...
The Crystal Run by Sheila O'Flanagan
Running away from a couple of bullies, Joe Hunter suddenly finds himself in the strange world of the Carcassian people. Suspected as a terrorist, traitor or spy, he's attached to Kaia and sent to join her on the 'Crystal Run' – a dangerous journey through enemy Kanabian territory to replace the precious crystals that power the protective Carcassian shield. He really wants to return to Earth but he soon finds himself fighting for survival and forming a close friendship with Kaia. Now he has another goal – Kaia will die when she completes her mission and Joe's determined to find a way to keep her alive. Full review...
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Amber is an inmate at Aurora Hills, a juvenile detention centre reserved for the most serious young criminals. She was convicted of murdering her stepfather but maintains her innocence. Amber speaks to us from the past and she details life at Aurora Hills and the relationships and hierarchies that exist between the inmates and the guards. One night, there is a storm. The prison's electrical system fails and the girls spend a glorious and dangerous night out of their cells. During this night, Amber has a paranormal experience, during which she "meets" Orianna. Full review...
Little Bits of Sky by S E Durrant
I've put this story together from the diaries I kept when Zac and I were children. I wrote them in the hope that life would get better for the small unloved girl that was me, and my even smaller unloved brother. And if life didn't get better or at least more interesting I was going to make it up - to put witches and castles and rides in fast cars. But I didn't need to. Life got exciting all by itself... Full review...
Love Song by Sophia Bennett
The Point is the hottest rock band in the world, in every sense of the word. While Nina has always enjoyed their music, she isn't one of the millions of fan-girls utterly obsessed with the four 19 year-old boys. She prides herself on being more than just a girl girl. So when a chance encounter ends up with her being offered the job of assistant to the lead singer's diva fiancée, touring with the band, she takes it simply as an opportunity to travel the globe as part of the entourage, and inject a little bit of excitement into her life. Little does she realise the craziness that she is getting herself into, as she finds herself unwittingly drawn into the lives of the boys and all their messy drama. Full review...
Chasing the Stars by Malorie Blackman
Olivia - Vee - and her brother Aidan are trying to get back to Earth after a mystery virus killed everyone, including their parents, on their ship. It's been a lonely three years and a dangerous one, too, as they've tried to avoid the dangerous and xenophobic Mazons. But sometimes the Mazons can't be avoided and this is one of them: when dozens of human beings are being attacked and only Vee and Aidan close enough to launch a rescue mission. Full review...
A Seven-Letter Word by Kim Slater
Finlay has got more than one PROBLEM. He lives alone with his father, who chain-smokes in between trips out to do odd jobs for people, and seems to have reduced his worth to just one recipe since his wife, Finlay's mother, vanished two years ago. Things are still bitter with him – he says she might as well be dead – but the issue manifests itself badly with Finlay, and he has grown into suffering quite a severe STUTTER, which leads to no end of TEASING at school. His one way out, it seems, is for a change an eight-letter word, SCRABBLE – he can hide away from the mismanagement of words that his speaking implies he has over a set of tiles and can play a decent game. But what happens when he is contacted online by a mysterious Alex – is this possibly a way to combine his love of the word game with his quest for the truth about his mother's ABSENCE? Full review...
When We Collided by Emery Lord
Jonah's father died. His mother has locked herself away in grief, leaving Jonah and his two older siblings to not only run their own lives but also take care of their three younger siblings. It's a lot and Jonah is grieving, too. Unsurprisingly, he has fallen into the fog of depression. And then Vivi comes along. Vivi and her artist mother are spending the summer in Jonah's town. And Vivi is bright and beautiful and vivid and amazing and ever-so-slightly eccentric. She bursts into Jonah's life like a shower of meteors and changes everything. But Vivi has her own problems... Full review...
Zom-B Goddess (Zom B 12) by Darren Shan
REPEATING STANDARD WARNING!
If you haven't read the first book in this series, STOP READING NOW! NOW! Spoilers ahoy!
Go on. Run along
Full review...
Underwater by Marisa Reichardt
Morgan has a post-it note in her apartment:
1. Breathe
2. You are okay
3. You are not dying
And if you had escaped a school shooting alive, you might need a note like this too, right?
People died. Kids died. Friends died. And afterwards, Morgan's school closed for a while. Morgan started attending a new school but it was just too much for her. She retreated to her apartment, enrolled at an online high school and didn't leave. Morgan hasn't crossed the threshold for months. If she only stays inside then she's safe. And a shut-in's life has a rhythm. Morgan's day is predictable: daytime TV, online school, grilled cheese and soup for lunch, visits from her therapist. And Mom and little brother Ben to liven up the evenings. Full review...
Fallout (Lois Lane) by Gwenda Bond
Lois Lane is an army brat with a history of, shall we say, oppositional behaviour. Or at least, that's how her army general father sees it. Lois doesn't see it at all like that. Lois just hates injustice, that's all. And if something unjust is happening, she can't let it slide. But this time, her nth time in a new town and a new school, Lois has vowed to herself that things will be different. She'll be good. She'll keep her mouth shut. She'll fly under the radar. Heck, she might even make a friend or two. Full review...
Crush by Eve Ainsworth
Anna's mother has left her father - and her brother, and Anna herself. That's how Anna sees it and although her mother wants contact, Anna is refusing it. It's not as though Anna sees this as some heroic defence of father and brother either: she's fed up with them, too. Her father is always distracted and he isdefinitely favouring little brother Eddie, who, as Anna sees it, is a spoiled brat. School has picked up on the fact that all is not right with Anna and has signed her up for counselling sessions... Full review...
The Secret Life of Daisy Fitzjohn by Tania Unsworth
Daisy Fitzjohn lives with her mother in the crumbling but grand Brightwood Hall. The house is full of antiques and treasures and hoardings - because Daisy's mother does like to hoard - and Daisy is rarely at a loss for something to look at or investigate. Which is just as well, because Daisy has never gone outside the house and its grounds. We understand why Daisy's mother keeps her secluded - she's terrified of loss because of a family tragedy in her own childhood. Despite this, Daisy has a loving relationship with her mum and makes up for the isolation by developing friendships: with her pet rat, with the peacocks and rabbits in the gardens, and also with paintings and topiary and other creatures of her imagination, all in the knowledge that she's being kept safe from The Crazy that once ran in her family. Full review...
Eliza Rose by Lucy Worsley
Eliza's family isn't as wealthy as it once was. And she is well aware that her duty is to marry well in order to repair the Camperdowne fortunes. To this end, Eliza is sent from her family home at Stoneton Castle to Trumpton Hall, to be educated in the ways of noble ladies. Here, she meets the infamous Katherine Howard while she too is still a young girl. And from there, it's on to the Tudor court of Henry VIII, who is currently married to Anne of Cleves. Full review...
Defender of the Realm by Nick Ostler and Mark Huckerby
Alfie does not feel like he's the right person to be heir to the throne. He's awkward, bullied and always in the front page of the news for his latest mishap. His brother Richard, as the papers love to remind him, would be much better suited to the part. But when their father the King suddenly dies, ready or not, suitable or not, Alfie is no longer the heir, he is the king and with that defender of the realm. Together with an unlikely ally in the anti- royalist Hayley, Alfie learns his true heritage, protecting the kingdom from all the monsters no one knows exist... Suddenly all the royal duties he'd been expecting don't seem so onerous in comparison. Alfie must quickly grow into the King the country needs, or who knows what will be left of the country? Full review...
The Reluctant Journal of Henry K Larsen by Susin Nielsen
Susin Nielsen is adept at conveying how you shouldn't judge someone on a first impression and how it's who you are that matters not what you look like. When we first meet Henry he is in counselling and dealing with an emotional trauma by speaking in a monotonous robot voice. His family has been fragmented by the cataclysmic 'IT' which he refuses to talk about. Ripped away from his comfortable life in Port Salish, Henry is struggling to readjust whilst living with his dad in a cramped apartment in Kitsilano, Vancouver, Canada. Gradually he starts to come out of his shell as he discovers new friends and interests but the road to recovery is not straightforward. Luckily he has his journal, albeit reluctantly. Full review...
Maladapted by Richard Kurti
Cillian isn't an average teenager. He knows he's a mathematical genius, he's already at university studying advanced theory, but Cillian doesn't realise quite how above average he is until he's the sole survivor of a train explosion. With his father is dead and his last words to Cillian a riddle, Cillian's existence is thrown in a whole new light. Full review...
Book of Lies by Teri Terry
As teenage fiction Book of Lies has all the usual themes -- confused sense of identity, relationship troubles, difficult family backgrounds... But it also has another element: the supernatural. The story starts when identical twin girls (the charmingly named Piper and Quinn) are reunited as teenagers, having been separated at birth. We follow their journey as they discover each other and reveal the complexities of their shared family, their terrifying dreams and sinister non-human abilities. As with all good supernatural stories, there are hints of witchcraft, hounds of death and family curses. Full review...
Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach
Parker hasn't spoken a single, solitary word for the last five years. He hasn't started applying for college yet, either. Not that he'd likely get in: his grades are rubbish and he spends as much time skipping school as he does attending class. He has also developed a petty theft habit, which he indulges in well-heeled hotels. Oh dear, I hear you saying. It's not as though there aren't reasons for Parker's behaviour, there are, but reasons don't help much. Full review...
