Difference between revisions of "Newest Teens Reviews"
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| + | |title=Noggin | ||
| + | |author=John Corey Whaley | ||
| + | |rating=5 | ||
| + | |genre=Teens | ||
| + | |summary=''Listen. I was alive once and then I wasn't. Simple as that. Now I'm alive again. The in-between part is still a little fuzzy, but I can tell you that, at some point or another, my head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado.'' | ||
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| + | Erk! That's how ''Noggin'' begins and I defy you not to want to read on. Travis Coates was terminally ill. In a last ditch Hail Mary, he consented to cryogenic preservation. And now, he's back, his head grafted onto a donor body. Of all the original volunteers, Travis is one of only two patients successfully brought back to life. It's a cause for celebration, right? | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471122891</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
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{{newreview | {{newreview | ||
|title=Shimmer | |title=Shimmer | ||
Revision as of 09:53, 19 July 2014
Noggin by John Corey Whaley
Listen. I was alive once and then I wasn't. Simple as that. Now I'm alive again. The in-between part is still a little fuzzy, but I can tell you that, at some point or another, my head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado.
Erk! That's how Noggin begins and I defy you not to want to read on. Travis Coates was terminally ill. In a last ditch Hail Mary, he consented to cryogenic preservation. And now, he's back, his head grafted onto a donor body. Of all the original volunteers, Travis is one of only two patients successfully brought back to life. It's a cause for celebration, right? Full review...
Shimmer by Paula Weston
Gaby is still struggling to come to terms with the many major revelations that have been thrown at her in the past few days - not least that the brother she's believed dead for a year is actually alive. Oh, and they're both Rephaim, half-Angel children of the Fallen - angels that fell from grace after seducing human women. Full review...
Minty by Christina Banach
Fourteen-year-old twins Minty and Jess are barely ever parted, until a fateful trip to the coast ends in tragedy. Minty tries to rescue her dog but is soon fighting for her life. Full review...
Sex and Violence by Carrie Mesrobian
Seventeen-year-old Evan is a player who, when he moves to a new town, has always found it easy to find a girl to have sex with. Then he ends up in the wrong place, with the wrong girl, at the wrong time, and suffers a brutal assault. Retreating to a quiet community in Minnesota with his father, he meets many new people, including a girl who may be there for more than 'just' sex. But can he recover from the trauma he's suffered? Full review...
Head Over Heart by Colette Victor
Like many other British thirteen-year-olds, Zeyneb is struggling with her feelings as she grows up, and with juggling her friends and family. However, she has an extra dilemma - she's a Muslim girl who's attracted to a non-Muslim boy whom her family would never approve of. Additionally, she needs to decide whether to wear a headscarf or not. What should she do? Full review...
ZOM-B Clans by Darren Shan
WARNING! If you haven't read the first book in this series, STOP READING NOW! NOW! Spoilers ahoy!
Go on. Run along. Full review...
Winger by Andrew Smith
Fourteen-year-old Ryan Dean West is at boarding school. His roommate is a bully, his closest male friends are idiots, and his best friend is an older girl he's madly in love with who doesn't seem to see him in the same way. But this could be a year that changes everything for him. Full review...
Decay: 2 (Tesla) by Mark Lingane
The city has been rebuilt for war. The waves of cyborg attacks are just the beginning – what follows is more devastating. Not only that but also the flood of refugees surging in daily is as much of a problem as a resource. Actually in one or two cases the word 'problem' is a bit of an understatement. In the middle of this hell Seb and Melanie are doing their best to fight and survive, although survival doesn't look like an option once they realise they have to go into the enemy's hive and bring the battle to the cyborgs. Full review...
Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski
Something weird happens after 10B get their flu shots - they develop telepathy. There are good points - they know what other people think of them, they can cheat on tests, and they have the upper hand in conversations with others. But there are some drawbacks as well - not only do they no longer have any secrets from each other, but also, knowing what other people think of them can be a two-edged sword! High school is hard enough to survive when you're normal - will being an Espie make it even more difficult? Full review...
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Sloane and Emily are best friends. Until Sloane disappears. She and her parents have vanished. There’s been no phone call, text, or e-mail. Then, two weeks later, Emily gets a list in the mail from Sloane, giving her tasks to do. If she does them all, can she find her way back to Sloane? Full review...
Dragon Shield by Charlie Fletcher
"Dragons don't exist,"whispered Jo. But even those three short words sounded more like a wish than a statement of fact.
Something dark and sinister is going on at the British Museum. An ancient power has awoken and it has stopped time. People are frozen like statues. Only Will and his sister Jo are still moving. The only humans still moving, that is. The dragons are moving. They're spitting real fire, too. And they're attacking Will and Jo. A glorious golden girl comes to their rescue, followed by an angel and a muse. And Will and Joe are plunged into a world where statues are alive and where good battles evil. Why are they still moving? Who is behind the stopping of time? And will they ever get Mum back? Full review...
The Winner's Curse (The Winner's Trilogy) by Marie Rutkoski
Kestrel has two alternative futures ahead of her. As the daughter of a general of a vast, expansionist empire, she can make a politically advantageous marriage or she can enlist in the military. Kestrel doesn't want either and her life is spent in a delicate game of manoeuvres with her father as she tries to put off the decision. Full review...
Boy In The Tower by Polly Ho-Yen
Wonderful, wonderful story about a lonely boy, his agoraphobic mother and building-eating plants. That could never work, right? Wrong! It's a must read and you won't ever have read anything quite like it before. Full review...
Secrets of the Tombs: The Phoenix Code by Helen Moss
Egypt – a land of mystery and beauty, where history surrounds you and death is always present. There are treasures to uncover, riddles to solve and a colourful and exotic world to explore. A perfect setting for this, the first in a new series of thrillers which combines intriguing landscapes, archaeology and adventure. Much of the architecture and scenery in this book really exists and can be visited, including some of the tombs and museums, and many readers will feel inspired to seek further information about this most exciting and dramatic of locations. Full review...
OMG! I'm in Love with a Geek! by Rae Earl
Hattie Moore is determined that this year she’ll find true love - could it be with Goose, the boy next door who she's starting to think of as more than just a geek, or will he only ever see her as a friend? If she finds another boy, will he get jealous? And now she's found her real dad, will she get to know him properly? Full review...
War Girls by Adele Geras, Melvin Burgess, Berlie Doherty, Mary Hooper, Anne Fine, Matt Whyman, Theresa Breslin, Sally Nicholls and Rowena House
This collection of short stories written by some of the leading writers for young adults today is a moving and engaging account of an aspect of the First World War not often covered in teen fiction. Each story explores how the war changed the lives of young women of that time forever as they learned to cope with loss and grief. Full review...
Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor
River is everything to Sky. Since her mother and Helmut died, this girl and boy are the only two human beings on the Island. River is the only boy Sky has ever known. Their life is simple, calm and fulfilling. Until, one day, a boat comes and everything changes.
Taken back to civilisation, to the world her mother left behind, Sky is separated from River. Sky hates everything about California - its houses, its rules, its people who don't tell her the truth. And so she sets out to find River. But when she does, she discovers the truth and why it is keeping them apart. Can anything make it right? Full review...
Department 19: Zero Hour by Will Hill
Zero Hour is approaching. Dracula has risen, betrayal has left Department 19 and their allies from across the world not knowing who they can trust, and rightly or wrongly, every hero seems to have at least one secret to keep. Valentin is away searching for his brother and Dracula, Frankenstein is coming to terms with lycanthropy, and the secrecy which the department has always relied on is becoming a thing of the past. Full review...
High and Dry by Sarah Skilton
Charlie Dixon is having a bad week. Still struggling to get over being dumped by his girlfriend, he’s turned to alcohol, and now finds himself the lead suspect in the near-fatal drug overdose of a schoolmate. Offered an alibi by an ex-girlfriend who needs him to find her a missing flash drive, he takes the chance to investigate – but quickly finds that the truth is hard to come by and a lot of people seem to have been doing some dark dealings. Can he solve the case and win the girl back? Full review...
Flora in Love: The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby by Natasha Farrant
After a shocking announcement from Bluebell’s family, Bluebell thinks everything could be turned upside down. She’s desperate for au pair Zoran to come back to them but Zoran has problems of his own – including new guitar protégé Zach. Then Zach meets Blue’s sister Flora and the two immediately hit it off, but Blue’s enthusiasm over filming everything leads to her putting her foot in it. Will Flora ever talk to her again, and when Zach goes missing, can the sisters and the rest of their family help find him? Full review...
Geek Girl: Picture Perfect by Holly Smale
Harriet Manners is moving to New York. Her head is full of facts about the Big Apple, but will this be enough to allow her to cope with life across the Atlantic. And why does Lion Boy seem so distant? Full review...
Rilla of Ingleside by L M Montgomery
Rilla of Ingleside is an interesting novel for many reasons. Being the only fictional book written by a Canadian woman just after the war, about the war, it is an incredibly important work. It tells of what happened to the women who stayed at home, the limited aspects of war work that they were able to do, the endless fear and dread they felt for their loved ones far away, and all of the emotional highs and lows they experienced during such a heightened time. The novel begins as Europe is on the brink of war, and Rilla is only 15 years old and, still, a rather silly young girl. I have to say, I never much cared for Rilla. In Rainbow Valley' the book that precedes this one, she's just a spoilt baby and at the start of this story it seems that nothing much has changed. However, just as the world goes through a dramatic change during this period of time, Rilla herself grows from a child to a woman. Full review...
Lobsters by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison
It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of teen fiction and I think it does an awful lot of things really well. Amongst other things, it can transport the reader to faraway times and places. It can also let them empathise with people in situations that they’ll probably – and in many cases hopefully – never be in themselves. I think it’s fair to say, looking at the recent Carnegie longlist as just one example, that books which do either of the above things tend to be the most critically-acclaimed. Full review...
Murder Most Unladylike (Wells & Wong Mystery 1) by Robin Stevens
How do you solve a murder with no body when nobody even realises that a murder has taken place?
Such is the task facing the Wells & Wong Detective Society - Deepdean School's most secret society. Society Secretary Hazel Wong found mistress Miss Bell's dead body in the gym. But by the time she returned with President Daisy Wells, Miss Bell's body had disappeared. It's the first decent case the Society has had - who really cared about Lavinia's Missing Tie? - and Daisy has at it with gusto. Hazel follows along at a slower pace but with, it must be said, a great deal more attention to detail. Of course, school life continues unhindered and Daisy and Hazel must conduct their investigation while avoiding Latin prep and lacrosse practice, and enjoying midnight feasts and buntime biscuits. Full review...
The Apple Tart of Hope by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald
Meg's parents think six months away in New Zealand is a great idea. Meg isn't convinced. A big part of the reason she doesn't want to go is Oscar. Oscar Dunleavey is Meg's best friend, the boy next door who makes perfect apple tarts. Full review...
Smart by Kim Slater
Kieran sees the world in a different way from most 14-year-old boys. He’s an artist, inspired by Lowry, and a boy with a strong sense of right and wrong. So when a homeless man called Colin is killed, and the police don’t seem interested, Kieran decides to investigate himself. Can he solve the mystery? Perhaps even more importantly, can he survive his home life with horrible stepfather Tony and stepbrother Ryan bullying him? Full review...
I Predict a Riot by Catherine Bruton
Aspiring film-maker Maggie lives on Coronation Road with her mum, a politician, but without her dad, who's left them. Tokes is another teen living without a father - new to the neighbourhood, he and his mother are trying not to be found by his dad. The pair meet and become friends, but fury is brewing in their town, and a young boy called Little Pea is about to unwittingly set things in motion that will lead to terrible events. Will Maggie and Tokes survive as the streets turn to violence? Full review...
Seven Second Delay by Tom Easton
In the future, the difference between West and East are greater than ever. Europe has evolved into the (British) Isles and the (E)U, linked by a bridge, and immigrants risk everything to pass from the third world of the latter to the first world of the former. Mila has made it across, but the danger is not over, and as she falls into the hands of the Agents, she realises the real price of freedom. Full review...
Code Red Lipstick by Sarah Sky
Jessica Cole is a schoolgirl model with an ex-spy for a father. When he mysteriously vanishes and MI6 are less than helpful, she's forced to use her talents for both modelling and spying to try and mount her own rescue mission. But the bad guys here have some really evil plans, and if Jessica's not able to stop them, she could find that she's not only lost her father, but she's missed the chance to save many more people. With danger seeming to lurk around every corner, she'll need not only all her resourcefulness but also help from her allies. If she can only work out who she can trust... Full review...
OMG! Is This Actually My Life? Hattie Moore's Unbelievable Year! by Rae Earl
Hattie Moore has got a nightmare family with an evil brother, a gran who’s a ‘total mental’, and a father who she knows nothing about. As well, she wants to be a total hotness goddess and take down rival Miss Gorgeous Knickers but there’s no boy interested in her (or is there?) Hattie’s diary tells the story of a year that could just change her life. As long as her stepfather doesn’t hate her too much for throwing up in his fish tank, that is… Full review...
Fools' Gold by Philippa Gregory
Sent to Venice, the world's biggest marketplace, Luca Vero and his friends are given strange instructions - to make money for the church by trading and even gambling. It's the only way to expose a possible coin counterfeiting scheme, but it also opens them up to participating in Venice's famous Carnival, where romance and excitement are at a high. While Brother Peter is distressed by the thought of committing usury, Luca has other things on his mind - both his growing feelings for Isolde and the possibility of finally finding his father, who he'd given up for dead. But with dark forces at work, the five friends will need all of their willpower and ingenuity to survive in Venice. Full review...
The Night Raid by Caroline Lawrence
The Trojan War is over and the few survivors have to find somewhere else to live. Rye and Nisus - barely more than children at the end of the war and both with their own burden of guilt and horror - are obsessed by the need to seek vengeance and protect the land on which they have now settled. Full review...
Klaus Vogel and the Bad Lads by David Almond and Vladimir Stankovic
The Bad Lads had been together for years. They were scamps, mischief makers - lads having a bit of fun - and they were led by Joe Gillespie who was a year or two older. The lads thought that Joe was great but there was a niggling feeling amongst one or two of the boys that he was getting a bit more extreme and that some of his pranks were actually - deliberately - going to hurt people. The fire at Mr Eustace's (he was a conchie, you see) happened the same week that Klaus Vogel arrived in the town of Felling. The scrawny refugee from East Germany who knew hardly any English would change things for the Bad Lads. Full review...
Jane of Lantern Hill by L M Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery, the Canadian author, is best known for her classic story, Anne of Green Gables, but in her lifetime she wrote a large number of books that are not so well known. This story is one of them, and is, in fact, one of my favourite stories. Jane Stuart is a wonderful heroine. She is straight-talking, down-to-earth, and funny too. This book follows her journey from a life of misery, closeted in a home lacking in love, through to a joyous happy ending. Full review...
Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek (A Memoir) by Maya Van Wagenen
At the age of 13, Maya Van Wagenen found a 1950 guide to popularity, written by teen model Betty Cornell. Unhappy at school and intrigued by what her dad calls its outdated ideas, she secretly decides to try and change her life by putting the book into practice, a chapter a month. But surely her dad is right, and Betty's words have no place in the modern world? Read this and find out! Full review...
The Serpent House by Bea Davenport
It's 1898 and Annie is living a miserable existence with her aunt and cousins. Not long orphaned, she misses her mam every day. So Annie is overjoyed when her brother's employer Lady Hexer allows him to bring his sister to live with him on a cottage on the estate at Hexer Hall. Lady Hexer takes an interest in both brother and sister. But why? Full review...
Chasing Stars (After Eden 2) by Helen Douglas
Chasing Stars is the follow-up to After Eden - in which Ryan travels back in time to save the world from disaster by preventing the discovery of a far-off planet. In so doing, he falls in love with Eden. In this second story, Ryan travels back once again - this time to save Eden's life. And now Eden must make a sacrifice, too. The boy she loves has given up everything to save her and now she must give up everything to save him... Full review...
Sentinel by Joshua Winning
In many ways this book is not as typical of fantasy and mild horror as the summary might suggest. Unlike a lot of stories where we join the main character in the aftermath of a major event, this one begins before Nicholas is orphaned. The ever-increasing tension as his parents leave for a train journey, coming so soon after a menacing and mysterious prologue, makes it pretty clear to us that they won't be returning, and that Nicholas will soon be in deadly danger himself. Full review...
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
Two boys - no longer a couple, but still friends - are kissing outside their high school. But this is no ordinary kiss. This is a kiss which they intend to last over 32 hours, breaking the world record for longest kiss. Their friend will document it, spreading the world to, and beyond, their community, some of whom will be supportive, others of whom will be disgusted. Two other boys are in a relationship, while two more may be about to start one. An eighth is looking for something he may never find. Two Boys Kissing tells the story of all these different boys, at different stages of love. Full review...
