Newest Teens Reviews
Teens
When I Was Joe by Keren David
We meet 14 year old Tyler and his young mother Nicki at the police station as he gives a statement about a stabbing he witnessed. Unfortunately for them, some of the people involved would rather not allow him to testify against them and he's forced to flee for his life, moving into the Witness Protection scheme and starting afresh in a new school. Despite the vicious thugs on his trail, there are certain compensations to life at his new school. Formerly just a face in the crowd at St Saviour's, the mysterious newcomer quickly becomes popular, especially when he gets involved in athletics and is coached by older teen Ellie. Not everyone's happy with the impact he makes, though, and he needs to worry about rivals in school nearly as much as he does about the gangsters who are still trying to silence him. And then he meets a girl with a dark secret of her own… Full review...
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Miranda has quite a bit going on in her life. Since her best friend Sal was punched on the street for no reason, he's been distant, shutting Miranda out of his life. This loss leaves Miranda somewhat adrift, as she and Sal have been inseparable since they were at day care together. So she strikes up a friendship with Annemarie, but that involves coming between Annemarie and the stuck-up Julia. And then Colin joins the group, which adds yet more complications - Miranda likes Colin, but she's worried he might like Annemarie. Full review...
Dark Heart Forever by Lee Monroe
Jane Jonas has been troubled by dreams lately. Dreams so vivid, it's almost like they're real. In them is a green eyed boy who believes they are each other's destiny. But in the real world, Jane has met Evan. Charming, charismatic, damaged Evan – intoxicating, incredibly attractive and just a little frightening. Jane has never been the sort to have friends, let alone boyfriends. And Evan is perfect, isn't he? Full review...
The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Set in Western Africa in 2070, in a world which has been forever changed by Peace Bombs, released years ago by an environmental group to counteract the effects of a US nuclear bomb, teenage heroine Eiji grows up knowing she is different. The Peace Bomb has given many people superpowers, hers being to communicate with shadows. But five years ago, the warrior queen Jaa beheaded Eiji's tyrannical father, and Jaa has returned seeking Eiji's help. While her mother forbids her from leaving her town, the shadows tell Eiji that if she doesn't go with Jaa war is inevitable. What can she do? Full review...
Tyme's End by B R Collins
Bibi feels like a fish out of water. She's right in the middle of the most difficult of teenage years, the ones in which you don't feel as though you belong anywhere. Bibi's feelings are exacerbated because she is adopted. Friends of the family took her in after her parents died and they have done their best by her. They love her and, despite everything, Bibi loves them. But she doesn't feel as though she belongs to this family and she thinks constantly of her real parents and her real home in the Middle East. Full review...
Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen
Right from the fantastic prologue, which tells us this is the story of the girls with their short skirts and bright eyes and big-city dreams, this is a book which had me completely and utterly hooked straight away. Cordelia Gray and her friend Letty Haubstadt run away from their small hometown in Ohio just after Cordelia's wedding, Letty determined to become a star in New York while Cordelia seeks the infamous bootlegger Darius Grey, convinced he's her father. Meanwhile, in the Big Apple itself, flapper Astrid Donal wants to get her boyfriend Charlie to commit to her but isn't sure if she can trust him. This first book in the Bright Young Things series follows the three girls over a few weeks which will change all of their lives. Full review...
The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett
It's Eastern Europe during World War II and orphaned Roma brothers Andrej and Tomas are journeying through war-ravaged countryside carrying a precious and secret bundle. It's an odd kind of journey because they really don't have anywhere to go. They have a great deal to avoid, however, such as soldiers with rifles, bombs, and villagers who would decry them on sight. As Andrej trudges on, worrying about Tomas, he is thinking it's just another night, just another village in ruins. But he's wrong. The boys stumble across a zoo. The cages are still standing, intact and locked. And the animals have no food and water. But they are alive. And they can talk. Full review...
Entice by Carrie Jones
When I got this book I didn't realise it was the third book in a series, and to start with this put me off; I thought I'd be the one stood outside the window watching everyone else at the party and not understand what was going on. However, as I started to read I started to feel more included than I thought I would (there is a nice little reminder paragraph at the start that filled me on what I had missed). So, although I recommend you start with the first book in the series, Entice does have its own legs and is very capable of standing on them. Full review...
How To Get What You Want by Nina Grunfeld
How To Get What You Want is a self help book aimed at young people 'at a crossroads in their life', who are unsure what to do next. The author is a Life Coach who recognises that simply knowing what you want to do is half the battle towards achieving it, and sets out to help the reader identify who they are and what they really want using self awareness type exercises like the 'Balance Chart'. Later on the book deals with how to achieve those goals by giving advice on how to focus and think positively. Full review...
The Dead by Charlie Higson
Ok. I'm writing for two sets of readers here: those who have read the first book in the series, and those who have not.
The Dead is a prequel to The Enemy but both books are set in the same post-apocalyptic world in which the adult population has been decimated by a killer disease. Those that survive roam the streets as zombies, looking for untainted human flesh to eat. The only untainted flesh belongs to children who were fourteen or under when the disease struck, and were somehow immune. The Enemy is set two years after the epidemic, when it's getting more and more difficult for children to find food and shelter by scavenging and they are beginning to realise that they need to band together to start forming the prototype for a new society. Full review...
Beautiful Creatures: Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Growing up there, Ethan Wate always thought Gatlin was a normal enough Southern town, if you could forgive the inhabitants' obsessions with the War of Northern Aggression. That was until he met Lena Duchannes and got plunged into her family's own civil war, as her family fought to get the young Caster to choose either Light or Dark. If you've haven't read Beautiful Creatures, the first novel in this sequence, break off from this review and go out and grab it now! If you have, you'll remember that Lena's 16th birthday left her with a choice to make that would kill half of her family. This book follows Ethan as he tries to support her through that choice but watches her get pulled towards her Dark cousin Ridley and a new boy in town, the mysterious John Breed. While the first novel was more of a romance, this is an adventure story which sees Ethan, his friend Link, new girl in town Liv, and a variety of others embark on a journey to save the day. Full review...
The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan
Sam's just moved to a new school yet again, but this time he's made a good friend really quickly. He and Lloyd get on so well together that they're spending time with each other after school a lot - until they make one horrible mistake and end up trapped in a car speeding far away from their hometown, with a strange and creepy driver. Once they reach a big house, Sam is quickly separated from Lloyd - can he figure out a way to escape alive? Full review...
The Dark (The Dead 2) by David Gatward
We pick up exactly where we left off in this second book in David Gatward's The Dead series. Lazarus Stone has been killed (twice), resurrected (twice), been to the world of the Dead (don't ask), become a Keeper (dangerous job), got himself a personal guardian angel (Arielle, alcoholic), a Dead guide (Red, whose skin's fallen off), and has gone some way to locating his father (prisoner of the Dark and seriously not having a good time of it). Along with best mate Craig and ex-possessed nurse Clair, Lazarus has a mission. Full review...
Matched by Ally Condie
When the Society Matches Cassia to her best friend Xander, she couldn't be more thrilled. Unlike the other girls, she knows her Match – doesn't need to read his details, go through the motions of dating as dictated by the Society, doesn't need to worry they won't get along. Full review...
The Hollow: The Haunted by Jessica Verday
In The Hollow, Abbey tried to cope with the disappearance of her best friend and her feelings for new boyfriend Caspian - only to find herself losing her grip on sanity when she discovered Caspian was dead, a Shade, rather than another real person. After a summer away from Sleepy Hollow, she returns, trying to concentrate on making perfumes and getting science tuition from nice cute Ben - but then Caspian reappears. Will the two find true love? Why are there so many other weird strangers around Sleepy Hollow who Abbey keeps meeting? What exactly DID happen to Kristen? Where do Katrina Van Tassel and Nikolas, the famous Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, fit into all this? And does anyone who missed the first book have any hope of following what's going on? Full review...
Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
Carlos Fuentes isn't interested in living in America with his over-protective brother Alex, but his mother sends him there for his senior year of high school to try and keep him out of trouble. Kiara Westford is happy to help a new guy settle in - at least until the shy stutterer actually meets the bad boy. Despite their initial dislike of each other, they're thrown together when Carlos has drugs planted on him and her well respected father takes him in to stop him being sent back to Mexico. Will these two headstrong youngsters find love? Full review...
The Nowhere Chronicles: The Double-Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood
When Fin's guardian, Judge Harlequin Brown is murdered, life as he knows it becomes a whole lot more exciting and dangerous. In the course of one life-changing day, he learns that there is a pathway between his London in 'Somewhere', and an alternate London of a parallel world called 'Nowhere', and that the fates of both worlds are now under threat from a group of rogue Knights, who have the ability to travel between these worlds using their double edged swords. Full review...
Dark Secrets 3: The Back Door of Midnight by Elizabeth Chandler
Like the first four novellas in the Dark Secrets series - previously released in two 'bind-up' editions - this story features a teenage girl returning to Wisteria, Maryland and trying to find closure on past events. In this case, Anna is summoned there by a letter from her uncle asking her to return to the place where her mother died so that he can tell her something important about their family, but by the time she returns her uncle is dead, his body found in the boot of a burnt out car. Her aunt seems crazy, and her first instinct is to get out as quickly as possible, but instead she's drawn into the mystery along with her cute neighbour Zack. The O'Neill women have always been said to be psychic, and Anna starts getting her own flashes which may draw her towards a solution - but also further into danger. Full review...
Monster High by Lisi Harrison
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting a bit fed up of all the vampires, werewolves and other creepies that seem to have popped up since the explosion of hype around Twilight. So, when this book landed on my doorstep, I can't say I held much hope for it. Full review...
Burning Secrets by Clare Chambers
Daniel, his mother and his sister Louie are escaping the city to spend six months on the isolated island of Wragge. They're all escaping something: Daniel's mother is still getting over a broken marriage; Louie is prone to black depressions and self-harming; Daniel has just been released from a youth offenders institution after a conviction for fire-setting resulting in the death of an old itinerant. There's plenty to leave behind. Full review...
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
Ben's thirteen and an only child. You'd think he was entirely used to being the centre of attention, then, wouldn't you? But this isn't really the case. Ben's parents are academics. His father is a fiercely ambitious behavioural psychologist and his mother is both completing her doctorate and acting as her husband's research assistant. Ben is used to coming second to the advance of science. He can cope with that. Usually. But then his parents up sticks and move him all the way across Canada. Why? Because his father's new university is prepared to underwrite his new project - raising a chimpanzee as human and trying to teach it American Sign Language. Full review...
Sigrun's Secret by Marie-Louise Jensen
It must have seemed to Sigrun that she had an ideal life in Iceland, breaking and training the colts on the family farm or helping her mother, Thora, who was a healer. Life seemed to be complete when her father's ship returned home and the family was together again. It was not to last though. Sigrun's parents were hiding a dreadful secret and when it caught up with them, Sigrun, her father and Asgrim, her brother were forced into exile in Jorvik for three years. She was completely unused to the busy city life and disliked the violence and cruelty she found around her. But – at the same time – her own skills as a healer and midwife began to blossom. Full review...
Birth of a Killer (The Saga of Larten Crepsley) by Darren Shan
Larten Crepsley leads a hard, hard life. One child amongst many, born during an industrial revolution, he works horrendously long and dangerous hours in a silk factory even though he's yet to see his teens. If the family is to eat, there is little choice. The foreman is a violent bully, issuing regular beatings, and nobody dares challenge him and if it wasn't for his orphan cousin, Vur, Larten's life would be grim indeed. But things never seem quite so dark when you have a true friend, do they? Full review...
Learning to Scream by Beate Teresa Hanika
Malvina is thirteen years old, the youngest of three children in a dysfunctional family. Her father is a very grumpy teacher, with little understanding of children, whilst her mother seems to suffer permanently from migraine. She has a good friend, Lizzy, and they play together as much as they can, united in their dislike of the 'boys from the estate'. Her grandmother died last year, leaving her granddad on his own and it's Malvina's job to go and visit him and take him his meals. The family think this is a great arrangement because they know how much Granddad loves Malvina and looks forward to her visits. There's a problem though. Malvina doesn't like going, particularly on her own. Granddad kisses her on the mouth. Full review...
The Joy of Spooking: Unearthly Asylum by P J Bracegirdle
The district of Spooking is still a problem for the evil diplomats from Darlington, the city that surrounds it. It was in the way of their waterpark last time, and now puts a stop to a new sewage plant. Actually, chiefly in the way last time was Joy, who still calls it home. A cold, decrepit, run-down and gothic home in her instance, but home nevertheless. But the evil diplomats are still making their plans to redevelop the place. If only Joy could claim historical prestige for it with her beloved author E A Peugeot as a son of Spooking. Full review...
The World Turned Upside Down by Leila Rasheed
Stratford upon Avon 1642 – The English Civil War has come to the town. Mary is a young Catholic at a time when her religion was regarded with deep suspicion. She is drawn to Jack, even though he is a Roundhead soldier with no money, land or status, and he is from an inferior background to her. Full review...
The Monstrumologist: The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
While the celebrated monstrumologist Dr Peregrine Warthrop has spent his life tracking down dark and mysterious creatures, the existence of some of these fiends is too much for him to believe. In fact, there's a split between Warthrop, his former close friend John Chanler, and their mentor Von Helrung over whether there really are such things as vampires, werewolves, and the terrifying wendigo, rumoured to be the ultimate predator. Warthrop scoffs at the other men's belief in this creature - and at one point in the book gives an interesting lecture on why it's impossible for it to exist - but nevertheless goes in search of Chanler when he disappears searching for it. It's not just friendship that drives him to look for his colleague though, as he's asked by Chanler's wife Muriel - who is Warthrop's former fiancee. The search for Chanler takes the monstrumologist and his young assistant John Henry deep into the Canadian wilderness, but when they return to New York they bring back someone - or something - that can endanger their lives. Full review...
Moorehawke Trilogy: The Rebel Prince by Celine Kiernan
After spending the entire of The Crowded Shadows, the excellent second book in this series, looking for it, the Protector Lady Wynter Moorehawke has finally discovered the hidden camp of her childhood friend Prince Alberon. Can she, along with her travelling companions Razi Kingsson - Alberon's brother - and Christopher Garron, persuade the Rebel Prince to make peace with his father, or is their quest to end in bloodshed and failure? Full review...
Out For Blood by Alyxandra Harvey
Hunter Wild has always been head of her class at the Helios-Ra Vampire Hunter Academy. Her family takes vampire hunting very seriously – she's called Hunter, after all – and her Grandpa is one of the most infamous vampire hunters of his generation. He believes in staking all vampires, no questions asked. But then, he also believes it's a good idea for Hunter to cut off all her long blonde hair. Hunter isn't so sure on either count. Full review...
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Mackie lives in Gentry, a prosperous but quiet town. People are good and kind and the trials and tribulations of other places have traditionally been absent from Gentry. Recently, however, things have felt less secure. People are getting nervous and it just won't stop raining. Mackie isn't doing too well either. His allergies to blood and steel are getting worse and worse and his health is beginning to fail. It's getting more and more difficult to avoid the truth...
... because Mackie is different. Full review...
Gone by Lisa McMann
Janie's made it through so much. And now she's graduated from high school, has a guaranteed job with the local police after college, and a boyfriend who loves her like crazy. Her future should be bright, but it isn't. Because Janie's a dreamcatcher. She can - has to - inhabit other people's dreams. It's great for a career in crime fighting, but it's burning her out. Janie knows that within just a few years she'll be blind and crippled. Full review...
You Against Me by Jenny Downham
If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If you're brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him, don't you?
It all seems so straightforward, doesn't it? But it's not straightforward at all for Mikey and Ellie. Mikey comes from a tower block. His mother's an alcoholic and Mikey has to shoulder most of the parental responsibility in the house - getting food on the table, getting his littlest sister to school, fending off periodic interest from social services. Meanwhile, he's trying to make something of himself, training as a chef at a seaside pub. Full review...
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Meet Andi, a New York girl on a trip to Paris. She's a talented musician at a school for exceptional students. She's a wisecracking, quick thinking girl who acts on impulse. She's a brilliant people watcher, and her descriptions of what she sees will make you smile. She's also seriously depressed with a pill popping habit that is spiralling out of control. Full review...
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Bryn has lived almost all her life around Werewolves. Ever since a Rabid killed her family – only narrowly escaping herself – she's been under the care of her saviour, the Stone River Pack alpha, Callum. Marked as Pack, but Human, not Werewolf, Bryn is something of an oddity. She lives by Pack rule, but tries at every opportunity to undermine it – to keep her distance and maintain that piece of her that is her true self. She doesn't want to submit to Callum's alpha dominance and lose her last piece of freedom. Full review...
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
World War One looms and Europe's powers are getting ready their armies. In a last ditch attempt at diplomacy, the British air ship Leviathan carries aboard a gift for Sultan Mehmed V, Lord of the Horizons and ruler of the Ottoman Empire. But when things go drastically and dramatically wrong Deryn, a girl posing as a male midshipman aboard the Leviathan and Alek, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, find themselves fighting their own battles. Everyone has their own secrets, but not everyone wants to spark a deadly war... Full review...
The Ring of Solomon (Bartimaeus) by Jonathan Stroud
Barty is back!
Well, he isn't actually back. But we do get to revisit him. Which is good.
I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. But just in case you don't, Bartimaeus is a sarcastic, wisecracking djinni and the star of a wonderful and best-selling series by Jonathan Stroud. Whilst tied to various enslaving magicians, Bartimaeus has had a finger in many pies of world history, particularly that of London. In fact, he's saved the day almost as many times as Doctor Who has. But Bartimaeus is no Doctor Who. He's a rude, sarcastic egomaniac and unselfish behaviour isn't his byword. But he cracks an irresistible one liner. And he usually comes through in the end. Full review...
Furnace: Fugitives by Alexander Gordon Smith
It has taken three books for Alex to get out of prison. He wouldn't have been there if the powers-that-be hadn't framed him for murder, and he would have found it a better experience were it a regular prison. But no. Over those three books we have seen just what lives and works in the completely subterranean nightmare - The Warden, Mr Furnace, and the evil creatures they are both making, breeding and employing down there. But the whole experience has come at a cost. Alex has been around these evil men too much, and they are changing him too - making him one of their tools. It's only now, on the outside for the first time, that Alex gets a clearer picture of just how many tools there are - and just how much evil has been spread. Full review...
Scat by Carl Hiaasen
Nick and his friend Marta are ordinary kids. They don't look for trouble, and they don't cause it. But when an unpopular teacher punishes a difficult classmate by making him write an essay about his pimples, then trouble can't be far away. The teacher goes missing during a wildfire, and Duane (nicknamed Smoke, because he has a reputation for setting fires) gets the blame. But the evidence doesn't add up, and our young heroes decide it's up to them to discover the truth. Full review...
