Newest Teens Reviews

Teens

Moon Bear by Gill Lewis

Confident Readers

Tam's village in rural Laos must make way for a new highway. So Tam and his family move to a new village in the lowlands. They've been promised running water, electricity, and even a school. But the ground in the new village is scattered with bombs left over from America's war in Vietnam. And, while Tam and his father are preparing their field for the new rice crop, one explodes and everything changes again. Tam's father is dead and his mother and sisters won't be able to keep their house unless Tam goes to the city and earns money to send home. Full review...

Dead Boys' Club by Geoffrey Malone

Confident Readers

Sam wakes up one morning at dawn. It's strangely quiet. Outside his hut, the village is absolutely silent. No cockerels are crowing. Something is horribly wrong. Stepping outside, Sam's worst fears are realised. A line of children, all armed with AK-47s, are rushing at him, yelling like crazy. It's God's Freedom Army. Full review...

Geekhood: Mission Improbable by Andy Robb

Teens

Despite his efforts with Sarah at the start of term, fourteen-year-old Archie is still as geeky and as clueless about girls as ever. Then he meets Clare, a sixteen-year-old who has relationship problems of her own, and they create a fake relationship to try and get their crushes to notice them. What could possibly go wrong? Full review...

Tide by Daniela Sacerdoti

Teens

After her parents' deaths at the hands of the demons they fought against, Sarah Midnight was left reeling again by the revelation towards the end of book 1 that her 'cousin' Harry Midnight was actually Harry's friend Sean Hannay. Unable to trust Sean following his lies, Sarah turns to Nicholas, new on the scene. But Nicholas has dark secrets of his own - has Sarah placed her faith in the wrong person? And will she find out the truth about the Midnight legacy before the demons attack again? Full review...

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

Teens

In the middle of the forest, Carey and Jenessa live with their mother in a tatty old camper van. Cut off from civilisation, they scrabble to take care of themselves and each other, in a setting where every day is a fight for physical and mental survival. They just about make it through, but the girls’ mother is a drug addict with a habit of disappearing, and she’s done just that. It’s been more than a month since they saw her. Maybe more than two. Then, one day, summoned by a letter sent by the girls’ mother, strangers appear in the woods, looking for Carey and Jenessa. They have come to take them away from the woods, and back to the real world. Full review...

Quicksilver by R J Anderson

Teens

Before I say anything else, I must warn you. Quicksilver is billed as a companion novel to Ultraviolet with the implication that you could read either first. You can't. You mustn't. So if you haven't read Ultraviolet, go no further.

Quicksilver picks up where Ultraviolet left off. But this time, synaesthete Alison is left behind and the story is told from the point of view of Tori Full review...

Firewallers by Simon Packham

Teens

After Jess's dad gets suspended from work, her mum takes her and her older sister out of school. Fleeing from publicity, they go to a remote Scottish island to join a community of people who shun modern technology. The longer they stay on the island, though, the stranger things seem to be. What's going on, and when will Jess see her dad again? Full review...

ACID by Emma Pass

Teens

The UK is now the IRB - Independent Republic of Britain. It's no longer run by elected politicians, who were completely discredited after a catastrophic financial crash. Instead, the IRB is a police state, led by ACID, a fearsomely authoritarian organisation. Marriage has been abandoned in favour of life partnering - the state tells you who to live with and whether or not you can have a child. Contact with the outside world is forbidden. Society is divided, with a tiny wealthy elite and a huge mass of an underclass living in poverty and shortage. Full review...

Heroic by Phil Earle

Teens

Jammy and Sonny McGann are brothers from the notorious Ghost estate. They and their friends are always there for each other - and with the drugs and violence that dominate the place where they live, they need to be. In particular, Sonny needs his older brother to keep an eye out for him and make the plans for their group. Then Jammy and his mate Tommo join the army and go off to Afghanistan, and Sonny's left to hold the fort at home. With his brother no longer there to look after him, can Sonny keep it together? And when Jammy returns, how will things change? Full review...

After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross

Teens

We were looking at a long line of people trudging down a country road. They were loaded with bundles and backpacks and babies and they all looked miserable and exhausted. Refugees, I thought automatically. But they weren't. They were people like us.

After Armageddon Monday - the collapse of all the major banks in the UK - life has become increasingly difficult for Matt and his family. Money is worthless. Food is the main currency. People who have it are resented and hated. They're named and shamed on hoarder websites and subject to violent raids by those who don't. Matt's family has more food than most because they have an allotment and have set up a trading network. But the raiders don't care about how they got their food. They just want it. Full review...

Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne

Teens

Adamma Okomma, daughter of a Nigerian diplomat, isn't keen on moving to boarding school, even the exclusive Crofton College in Wiltshire. However, after arriving there, she quickly makes friends with the beautiful but unpredictable Scarlett. What seems like a beautiful friendship, though, is torn apart when both girls fall for the same guy. After Scarlett goes missing, can Adamma put their problems behind her? Full review...

The Maleficent Seven by Derek Landy

Teens

The arrival of Darquesse, the sorcerer destined to destroy the civilised world, is on the horizon. For most people, the obliteration of billions of lives might be something to worry about. In times gone by, Tanith Low would've been on the forefront of the side of good, fighting to protect the world from Darquesse. But now that she has a Remnant bonded to her soul, her conscience has been erased and she has become one of the worst of the bad guys, and all she wants to do is to usher in the end of the world. There are four weapons with the power to kill gods, scattered around the world, and two teams desperately hunting them down. Tanith Low leads a group of dangerous villainous misfits determined to find the weapons and destroy them, and it is up to Dexter Vex, good friend of Skulduggery Pleasant, along with a team of renegade sorcerers, to find these weapons before the others. Full review...

LIGHT by Michael Grant

Teens

The dome has become transparent. The teens, and kids, in the FAYZ, are still trapped inside, but now they can see out - and their parents, and others, can see in. With interviews taking place by primitive methods, the outside world are starting to find out just how violent life has been, and this is just adding to the worries of Sam, Astrid, and the rest. How will the world receive them when they get out - or rather, if they get out? The gaiaphage, having taken human form as Caleb and Diane's rapidly-maturing daughter, is as evil as ever, and with Drake as its servant, is destroying anyone in his path. Can those left alive inside the FAYZ survive? Full review...

The Secret of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen

Teens

Ella and Micha haven’t seen each other for months, quite unusual for a couple who have been best friends forever. Ella’s been away at college, in Vegas, but Micha didn’t know this as she upped and left without so much as a wave goodbye, so he’s been trying to track her down. But, just as he does so, she shows up back home anyway as it’s summer break and she’s back at her dad’s, the house she grew up in, the house next door to Micha. Full review...

The Hit by Melvin Burgess

Teens

Manchester. About thirty years from now. Hardly anyone has a job that pays enough to live on. Life is mean and limited for most people. And then a rock star gives his final concert. Jimmy Earles dies on stage after taking Death, a new drug that gives the ultimate high at an equally high price - it kills you after seven days and there is no antidote. Full review...

Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

Teens

After finding out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her with a girl he met online, Mallory decides that the best way to make her life less complicated is to get rid of the boy, and of the new technology that's the cause of her woes. Finding a list her grandmother wrote as a teen in the Sixties, she decides to go vintage, and live as her grandmother did. Will she find the answer to her modern-day problems in the past? Full review...

Don't Look Back by S B Hayes

Teens

Ever since they were children, Sinead has been taunted by her older brother Patrick. Always their mother's favourite, he constantly plays games with her, trying to force her to follow him. When he goes missing, it seems to be his most sinister game yet - as he leaves a trail of clues which lead to Benedict House, a strange place where time seems to stand still. Full review...

Department 19: Battle Lines by Will Hill

Teens

The wheels have been set in motion for Dracula to rise. Department 19 is in disarray, dealing with deaths, the disappearance of their chief Henry Seward, and the dreadful knowledge that there could be yet more traitors in the ranks. Jamie Carpenter is trying to train rookies into a fighting force who can take on vampires more dangerous than any newly-turned ones that have ever been seen before, Matt Browning is desperately trying to find a cure for vampirism, and Larissa Kinley is in the USA trying to help in the fight against her own kind. With Zero Hour coming ever closer, can the department save the day? Full review...

Queen & Commander (A Hive Queen Novel) by Janine Southard

Science Fiction

In Rhiannon's world, your entire future depends on your final school test results. Everyone is classified according to personality type and entry to any career or university depends upon your personality type. It's impossible to cheat the test... unless you're Rhiannon. Rhiannon should really be a Perceiver. But all her life she has wanted her own hive. And to achieve this, she must test as a Queen or Commander. And this she does. The only person to ever have manipulated the test. Rhiannon's future is set: leadership training, followed by a choice of Devoted to serve her, followed by command of a prestigious space ship and hive. Full review...

Fractured by Teri Terry

Teens

As a teen criminal in Lorder-run Britain, Kyla was slated - her memories erased and her personality "reset". But Kyla wasn't like the other Slateds - she retained tantalising memories of her previous life. Fractured picks up Kyla's story after she's lost Ben and just as a mysterious man from her past comes back into her life. It seems that Kyla's memories represent more than just a failed slating. She has a role to play in the fight against the Lorders. But it's not as easy as that. Is Kyla a victim? A freedom fighter? A terrorist? And can the end ever justify the means? The more Kyla learns about her history, the more such questions burn. And the more danger she finds herself in... Full review...

Siege by Sarah Mussi

Teens

Leah Jackson is miserable and in detention. This is particularly infuriating because the detention means she's likely to be late for her fame and fortune interview, one of the few chances kids at YOP schools have to make it into college and to get a life worth having. But Leah's worries are about to become much, much more immediate. Year 9 kids storm into the room. They're armed. And they're shooting. Leah escapes the melee by hauling herself up into the roofspace. But only just. Kids are dead. Teachers are dead. Everyone else is rounded up in the gym. Only Leah and Anton are free, but they are trapped above the ceiling tiles. Full review...

Losing It by Cora Carmack

Women's Fiction

Bliss is a drama student, but what else would you expect with a name like that? And yet, when we first meet her, I would never have guessed that was her major. She just doesn’t seem the type. She’s also not the type to pick up random men in bars, but that’s exactly what she does as the book starts. It’s her friend Kelsey’s fault. She’s determined to get Bliss out there, because that’s not where Bliss normally is. About to graduate at the end of the year, Bliss has made it through college without one key college experience: sex. And it’s time to change that. Full review...

What The Spell by Brittany Geragotelis

Teens

Brooklyn just wants to be noticed by someone – the popular kids at her high school, the cute guy she likes, anyone other than the guidance counsellor who’s her only real friend. Luckily for her, she’s counting down the days until her sixteenth birthday - when she’ll have her powers as a witch finally unbound. When this happens, though, even though it initially seems like it will give her everything she wants, her new abilities could have caused more problems than ever. Full review...

Through Dead Eyes by Chris Priestley

Teens

After an unfortunate episode at school, Alex has joined his father on a business trip to Amsterdam. He had been hoping to spend some time with his father, but instead he is palmed off on Angelien, daughter of his father's new girlfriend. But Angelien is pretty and so Alex is quite happy to be shown around by her. When her boyfriend Dirk isn't around, that is. At an antique market, Alex finds himself drawn to an ancient-looking mask. He can't help but buy it. And once bought, he can't help but put it on. Full review...

Killing Rachel: The Murder Notebooks by Anne Cassidy

Teens

Rose's mother and Josh's father - both members of the police cold case squad - have been missing for more than five years now. Although their bodies were never found, the authorities have always insisted that they are probably dead. But in the first book in this series, the step siblings find information that suggests Kathy and Brendan are still alive. So Rose, Josh and friend Skeggsie are pursuing every lead they have - including trying to decipher the cryptic notebooks they have discovered. Full review...

One Seriously Messed-Up Weekend: In the Otherwise Un-Messed-Up Life of Jack Samsonite by Tom Clempson

Teens

Two years after the messed-up week described in the first Jack Samsonite book, things aren't all that different for our hero. He's still trying to get together with a girl - despite having ended book 1 in bed with someone, things didn't go as he would have wanted after that. He's also struggling at school again, and it's even more important than his attempts to pass his GCSEs were. This time, he needs to get into film school. He has a weekend to make a film, and he needs a girl to kiss, and at least one enemy to fight. Full review...

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Teens

Out in the Wilds, Lena is now trying to cope with the return of her first love Alex along with her feelings for Julian, but these relationship issues take a backseat as life becomes very dangerous for her, and everyone else. Back in Portland, her friend Hana is set to marry the man who will become Mayor - a perfect pairing, surely? While both girls have changed a lot since the start of book one, the biggest changes are still to come... Full review...

Raining Fire by Alan Gibbons

Teens

Gangs have always dominated the Green, an inner-city estate with an ominous undercurrent of violence. Growing up in the Green, Ethan has never really known anything different; however, he has always harboured a hope to escape from the place, and his position on a professional football training programme might just give him the chance to do so. Unfortunately, the Green won't let him go so easily. Drawn into a violent feud between two major gangs, Ethan will have no choice but to play his part, if he doesn't want a gun put to the heads of everyone he cares about. Full review...

Itch Rocks by Simon Mayo

Teens

Itchingham Lofte, we are told, is the most protected boy in the world. While I hadn't read the first book about him, we are snappily and easily informed that he has previously been involved in an adventure regarding a very rare chemical – element 126 – and the various people that would control it. While it's obvious to all those in his Cornish village and at his school that something major happened, due to him disappearing for a couple of months of specialised medical care, and returning with an MI5 armed guard constantly at watch over him and his family, only those few people (mum, dad, sister, tomboy cousin, and his various guards) have any idea of what has happened. Oh, and of course a couple of enemies resilient enough to turn up for the sequel… Full review...

The Day I Met Suzie by Chris Higgins

Teens

Everyone takes an instant dislike to Suzie Grey, the new girl at college. There's just something about her that makes people's skin crawl. Everyone, that is, save Indie. Indie is a soft touch. She just can't help herself. She's a sucker for a sob story and most of her hard-earned wages from her part-time job at the salon go on bailing out her boyfriend's many disasters. Indie feels sorry for Suzie, this mousy, hard-done-by girl, and she takes her under her wing. Full review...

Waiting For Gonzo by Dave Cousins

Teens

Oz is newly arrived in the sleepy village of Slowleigh. At first, he wishes life there was more exciting, but drawing a moustache on a photo of schoolmate Isobel Skinner - nicknamed Psycho - might bring him the wrong sort of excitement. Someone else who's wishing her life was rather less exciting is his sister Meg, who's hiding a secret which Oz knows but her parents don't - can he survive Psycho and help his sister? Full review...

Between The Lines by Tammara Webber

Teens

Emma is a seventeen year old actress, thrust into the spotlight in a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with a co-star who half of America's teens are drooling over. Reid is a Hollywood heartthrob with an ego the size of Los Angeles and a reputation as a player. When the two meet, sparks fly - but can Emma trust the superstar, or would she be better off going for the less-exciting but more sensible Graham? Full review...

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks

Teens

Linus is taken from the streets simply for having done a good turn. While patrolling his usual haunt at Liverpool Street station - there are often good pickings for the homeless there - he offers to help a blind man loading a van. He wakes up feeling dreadful with vague memories of a pad soaked in anaesthetic held over his mouth and nose. It appears he's in some kind of underground bunker. A lift is the only way in and out. At first, Linus thinks he has been kidnapped for ransom - this particular street kid has a rich and famous father. But then the lift opens and a young girl appears, having been similarly drugged. Over the next few days, four more people arrive. Full review...

Finding Cherokee Brown by Siobhan Curham

Teens

Claire Weeks is timid, lonely, and characterised by a pronounced limp. On the other hand, Cherokee Brown is confident, cool, and unafraid to stand up for herself. On her fifteenth birthday, Claire discovers that her birth name was actually Cherokee Brown, and that her birth father, who had supposedly abandoned her for America, has been living just a tube journey away from her for over a decade. Meeting her father, Claire discovers a whole new side to her life that she couldn't have imagined. Spurred on by this rush of self-discovery Claire decides to embrace Cherokee and all that she stands for. Full review...

Perception by Kim Harrington

Teens

After solving a murder over the summer, Clarity 'Clare' Fern finds herself the centre of attention at school. Mostly it's annoying, but harmless - popular girls wanting her to use her unique gift for show and entertainment - but someone is sending her increasingly creepy messages, and Clare keeps getting the feeling she's being followed. Full review...