Newest Teens Reviews
Teens
The Emerald Atlas: The Books of Beginning by John Stephens
Whisked away from their parents in the dead of night ten years ago, Kate, Michael and Emma have seen more than their fair share of orphanages. Nobody wants to adopt three children together - least of all when the youngest has a strong penchant for using her fists whenever she can - and so when we meet them, they're on their way to yet another. But the orphanage at Cambridge Falls is unlike any other. They're the only children in residence, the housekeeper seems to think they are members of the French royal family, and the town is in the middle of a barren wasteland and is bereft of children. Full review...
Dark Mirror by M J Putney
Born around a hundred years after the nobility decided that magic was a tool which should be used only by commoners, when Tory Mansfield discovers she can float in the air she knows she must keep it to herself. Until a terrible accident leaves her powers as the only thing that can save one of her family, and she's forced to reveal herself and face disgrace and humiliation. For an outed mage in London's high society there's only one thing that can be done – a spell in Lackland Abbey, the school which can cure youngsters of magic. Not everyone at Lackland wants to be cured, though… and Tory needs to decide whether her powers are a curse or a gift. Full review...
The Stranger by Sarah Singleton
After the the events of The Island, Otto, Jen and Charlie have gone their separate gap year ways. Otto is in Mumbai but isn't having nearly such a good time as he'd anticipated. Jen has moved on from the retreat and is travelling with Kumar, but is getting itchy feet. She's not sure she wants to take things with Kumar any further. But Charlie is ecstatic in her dream job at the tiger sanctuary. It's challenging - poaching and corruption are big problems standing in the way of the sanctuary's funding - but she loves it. Full review...
The Nature of the Beast by Janni Howker
Bill Coward is mature for a child his age – cooking for his father and grandfather (Chunder), undressing his father and putting him to bed when he comes home drunk. So when the mill his father and grandfather work at is closed down, their world is thrown into turmoil. Mike's (Bill's best friend) father has a nervous breakdown. Bill's father goes off to Scotland to work in the oil fields. Full review...
Twilight Robbery by Frances Hardinge
Mosca and her companions will be familiar to readers of 'Fly By Night', but it is in no way necessary to have read the first volume of her adventures to thoroughly enjoy this book. She is a twelve-year-old orphan, who travels the roads with her homicidal goose, and a rather shifty poet called, charmingly, Eponymous Clent. We meet them just after a particularly energetic display of destruction by the said goose: Eponymous has been thrown into jail until he can pay for the damage, and Mosca is trying to raise some cash by reading aloud an old newspaper to illiterate townsfolk. Full review...
NLP For Teens by Judy Bartkowiak
NLP For Teens is part of the Engaging NLP series and is a follow-on from NLP for Children. Many a parent has been tempted to leave home when their children are teenagers; difficult as it is for the parents it's a traumatic time for the teens and anything which makes it a little easier is to be applauded particularly when the changes will come from the teens rather than being imposed by the parent. Full review...
Birthmarked by Caragh M O'Brien
Sixteen-year-old Gaia lives in a post-climate change America, near one of the Great Lakes - or the unlake as its waterless hollow is now known. Gaia is a midwife-in-training, following after her mother. For this family, the cool age - that is, our age - is almost forgotten. There is no power in Wharfton, and both water and food is in short supply. But Wharfton sits outside the walled city of Enclave, and things are entirely different there - the scenes of leisure, wealth and plenty are played out on the Tvalter's big screen, which serves as entertainment for Wharfton's residents. Full review...
The Opposite of Amber by Gillian Philip
Jinn was quick and shining bright; Jinn was motor-mouthed and nurturing... Actually she catered for my every whim to the point where she anticipated it asked for it, spoke for me There was never any need for me to speak and I know I could never say anything as well as she did, so I didn't bother. I didn't resent her or anything. I was proud to be spoken for by Jinn, sparky and bold. I was spoiled voiceless.
Spoiled voiceless - isn't that a whole world of meaning contained in just two words? Full review...
Robin Hood Vs the Plague Undead (Mash Ups) by James Black
In 1194 AD, strange reports reach Robin Hood and his men in Sherwood Forest. There's an outbreak of plague in Nottingham and its victims are refusing to stay dead...
Robin Hood vs. The Plague Undead is a 'mash up' of the Robin Hood myth with contemporary zombie tales. All the usual Robin Hood characters are there - Friar Tuck, Little John, the Sheriff of Nottingham - but with loads of zombies thrown in as well. It must be very difficult to bring the two strands together and I don't think the author has quite succeeded. The problem is that both mythologies endure for different reasons and it's hard to fuse them together without compromising the strengths of both – zombies may work better in an urban setting, and having Robin Hood fighting zombies rather than the rich tends to undermine his leftwing credentials.
Full review...
Evercrossed (Kissed by an Angel) by Elizabeth Chandler
Evercrossed picks up where Kissed by an Angel left off. After her boyfriend Tristan was killed in a car accident, Ivy took up with Gregory, who turned out to be a serial murderer and all-round bad guy. She was saved from him by a combination of Tristan in angel form, her psychic best friend Beth and stalwart admirer Will. Now the three of them are working at a holiday inn for the summer, alongside Beth's cousin Kelsey and her friend Dhanya. Will is now Ivy's boyfriend but it's almost a year since Tristan died and Ivy is finding herself thinking about him more and more. Full review...
I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan
A year ago, four teenagers committed a shocking crime after a party where they all had too much to drink, and overwhelmed by indecision, fear and desperation they made a pact to keep the incidents of the fateful night a secret. However, someone knows their secret and that someone is determined to make them face up to the consequences of their actions. Their binding pact has held together for a year, partly out of the friendship they shared and mostly out of guilt, but when it becomes apparent that there is someone who is looking for revenge, it suddenly becomes deadly important that they face up to the truth, for their own sakes. Full review...
Department 19 by Will Hill
Jamie Carpenter lived a normal, happy, suburban life until the night strange creatures arrived at his house and men in black combats with strange, ultra-violent weapons burst in and executed his father. Since then, Jamie and his mother have lived in a succession of miserable, dour little houses and Jamie has become less and less interested in a succession of miserable, dour little schools. He resents his mother, like all good disaffected teenagers do. Full review...
Belle's Song by K M Grant
Chaucer was a fascinating bloke. Not only did he write the famous Canterbury Tales, but he also found the time and courage to be a spy for the king at a time of civil unrest and political intrigue in Britain. So a story set during one of his journeys, one which combines his secret work and some of the more memorable characters from the tales, is an intriguing proposition, metaphorically as well as literally. Add a dreamy, motherless girl whose guilt at causing her father's accident only reinforces her tendency to self-harm and obsessive behaviour, and a cracking good plot emerges. Full review...
The Devil's Triangle by Mark Robson
A rebellious boat journey into the Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, prompted by Sam's annoyance at his father's obsession with the area's notoriety, turns out to be very ill-advised as Sam and his friend, Callum, find themselves lost and stranded on an island that is terrifyingly different from anything they have witnessed before. Meanwhile, Sam's twin sister Niamh is caught up in the search for the boys, co-ordinated by their father, Matthew, who is desperate to rescue Sam and Callum from the same mysterious phenomenon that took his wife nine years ago. As the search for the boys threatens to disintegrate under allegations that Matthew may be responsible for their disappearance, Niamh goes on the run, desperate to keep searching for her brother, but with only their rather ambiguous twin bond to guide her. Full review...
Firelight by Sophie Jordan
Jacinda was singled out as special by her Pride when she manifested with the ability to breath fire. A fire-breather hasn't been born to the Draki for generations, and there are those in the Pride who would use her for their own ends. Craving freedom, Jacinda takes a risk that nearly costs her life. Now Jacinda's mother has dragged her and twin sister Tamra from their mountain home, sneaking away in the middle of the night, leaving everything they knew behind. Full review...
Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
Meet Jenna and Jonah, Charlie and Fielding – they're the stars of the hit TV show 'Jenna and Jonah's How To Be A Rock Star'. On-screen they're next-door neighbours in a will they, won't they plot. Off-screen they're every bit the perfect couple they are on TV, romantic dinners, flowers – the lot. The problem is they hate each other. You heard me right, they loathe each other. Full review...
The Demon Collector by Jon Mayhew
Edgy Taylor – a 19th century dog muck collector for a cruel master, Talon – wouldn't claim to have had the best of lives. His only enjoyment of his 13 years or so so far has been setting and solving riddles, while he's spent most of his time avoiding the cruelty of his employer. But when Professor Envry Janus rescues him from Talon, revealing the tanner to be a demon called Thammuz and turning him to stone, Edgy may have cause to look back on his old life with nostalgia. Because inside the Royal Society of Daemonologie, there are people who think Edgy can help them in their quest to find the heart of the legendary demon Moloch, who turned against Satan. There are people who think he's a nuisance. And there are people who want him dead. Can Edgy figure out who's who? He'll have to, because a mistake could cost him his life. Full review...
The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney
Donna has always been an outcast. The arms she hides underneath long gloves are covered in iron tattoos that give her enhanced strength – strength she has tried to hide. But, despite her best efforts, Donna was involved in an incident at school, an incident that means she's now homeschooled and a social pariah. Full review...
The Kissing Game by Aidan Chambers
You don't see that many short story collections in YA circles. But when they do appear, you often wonder why there aren't more of them. And this is absolutely the case with The Kissing Game. Ranging from short pieces of flash fiction to "proper" short stories, each one will incite, surprise and stimulate. Full review...
Brainjack by Brian Falkner
Sam comes to the attention of the CDD (Homeland Security's Cyber Defence Division) when he crashes the entire American internet network because he wants a top spec laptop and one of those super-cool new neural headsets, but doesn't have the money to buy them. Thinking he's been given a hacker network initiation test, Sam then successfully penetrates the White House's security system. It's all the CDD needs to know, and Sam finds himself sprung from federal custody and recruited. Full review...
Private: The Book of Spells by Kate Brian
Following in her older sister's footsteps after May's return from the exclusive Billings School for Girls to marry the handsome George Thackery III, Eliza Williams is expecting that everyone at the school will remember her sister with affection. But Theresa Billings – as powerful as her name suggests – clearly wasn't a great friend of May's, and Eliza must navigate the rivalries and friendships of school as she tries to settle in. Then the girls find a spell book, and bond over frivolous magic as they help each other and embarrass people they dislike. What could possibly go wrong? Full review...
Entangled by Cat Clarke
The story starts on day three of Grace's imprisonment by a kidnapper. She's been given pen and paper to explain her recent actions, including falling in love with her boyfriend Nat, the ups and downs of her friendship with Sal, her self-harming, and her attempted suicide. As we learn more and more about Grace's life, the one thing we're never quite sure of is where the mysterious Ethan, her kidnapper, fits into things… Full review...
Furnace: Execution by Alexander Gordon Smith
And so to the end. Alex and his closest friends have escaped the Furnace Penitentiary, that mile-deep hell-hole cum nightmare scientific experiment writ large. He's arisen to find the country in tatters, as the nasty creatures born there are in charge and decimating the population. There is only one thing to do - kill the man responsible. And Alex, eight feet tall, with an obsidian blade for an arm and muscles upon his muscles, will still face his hardest battle yet. Full review...
Tyranny by Lesley Fairfield
As Tyranny shakes her - I TOLD you not to eat! You are TOO fat! - Anna thinks back. She used to take joy in life. She used to dream of a bright future - a career, boyfriends, children - but it all went wrong when she hit puberty. She wasn't keen on on the curves of her new, more womanly body. When she looked in the mirror, she didn't see an hourglass figure developing; she saw fat and flab. Deaf to the warnings of her parents and her boyfriend, she listened to Tyranny and entered into the desperate, downward cycle of anorexia. Full review...
Running in Heels by Helen Bailey
You'd like Daisy Davenport. Her father might be rich but she's a lot nicer than most fourteen year old girls. She's perhaps a little too attached to the good things in life, such as her mother's Louboutins and her own cracked silver Mulberry bag, but as she's always had that sort of lifestyle it's easy to understand why she sees nothing wrong in them. And besides everyone else at her private school has the same sort of lifestyle: some girls don't even look the side you're on unless you have a swimming pool at home. Full review...
Troubletwisters by Garth Nix and Sean Williams
Jack and Jaide Shield, twins, are living perfectly normal lives until a brief visit from their elusive father sparks an unexplainable, chaotic, reality-bending storm that destroys their home and introduces them to the mysterious world of the Wardens, a group gifted with diverse powers, and their perpetual struggle against a force known only as The Evil. As young Wardens, or Troubletwisters, just growing into their Gifts, the pair struggle to make sense of the chaos that surrounds them and discover the true nature of their heritage. Full review...
Return to Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan
Before they even get back to Ribblestrop, Millie and her friends singularly or together hitchhike, pay their bus drivers the fare in fags, survive a car crash, set fire to a hotel, survive being eaten by a lion and other big cats, and encourage a Brazilian with a criminal record to take his unemployed circus animals to Ribblestrop. And what is Ribblestrop, you may ask?
"Ribblestrop's a school?" said Flavio.
"Kind of", said Ruskin. "It's trying to be."
Full review...
Everybody Jam by Ali Lewis
Danny lives on a cattle station in the Australian outback. His brother Jonny died in an horrific accident last year and the subject is absolutely taboo. Nobody even mentions his name. But Danny keeps Jonny's room just as it was when he died, and he touches his picture every day. Full review...
The Queen's Lady by Eve Edwards
Although it's not long since Lady Jane Rievaulx's husband died she's already beginning a new life in service to the Queen at Richmond Palace. It's not enthusiasm which is driving her to this but her late husband's children are disputing her dower rights and her own father finds it difficult to accept that she is now an independent woman. In the Queen's service she has a degree of protection. The man she loves – James Lacy – has demons of his own to conquer and he's about to set sail to the Americas. When Jane's family force her into a dreadful situation it looks as though the one man who can save her is at the other side of the world. Full review...
Fallout by Sandra Glover
Hannah tries to object when her so-called friends throw an impromptu party at her house during her parents' absence, but she simply doesn't know how to stand up to them. At first things aren't too bad: her parents will go ballistic when they see the spilt beer on the carpets, but it's nothing that can't be fixed. Then drink and drugs begin to take their toll. A window is smashed during a fight, all manner of things are damaged beyond repair, and the house is burgled. And something terrible, something so bad she can't face it or admit it, happens to Hannah during that eventful night. And it will destroy lives in more than one family. Full review...
Code Lightfall and the Robot King by Daniel H Wilson
Code Lightfall is on a school trip to a prehistoric mound when he falls through a trap into another world, where everything is made of crystal, or metal, and the only living 'animals' are all robotic. It's a world under threat, so can he journey across its bizarre landscapes and save it all? And what is the truth of the mound, where his grandfather disappeared a year ago? Full review...
Buried Thunder by Tim Bowler
On a walk in the woods near the family's new home, Maya is suddenly compelled by a glinting pair of yellow eyes to run away from her brother and deep into the trees. What she finds is shocking - three dead bodies with a figure standing over the third. Terrified, Maya stumbles back and recounts the horror to her parents, who call the police. But the police can't find any bodies, and it's clear they think she's a prankster. Even Maya's parents don't really believe her. They think she's seeing things and they're worried that she's ill. Full review...
Treason by Berlie Doherty
Forced by his power-hungry aunt and uncle to leave the comfort of his modest family home, Will Montague finds himself utterly overwhelmed, as he works as a page to Prince Edward under the keen eye of the temperamental King Henry, just as prone to unexpected bursts of compassion as he is to brutal cruelty. Just as he begins to find his feet in this new position, Will finds himself suddenly on the run, desperately trying to clear the name of his father, convicted of treason for failing to revert to the Protestantism led by the King, and simultaneously gaining more awareness of the world he lives in and the plights of the working class. Full review...
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Gallagher Girls) by Ally Carter
When your average girl wonders what a boy is really like, she and her friends will maybe ask around among brothers and lab partners, or even, if he is majorly good-looking, try to trail him around town on a Saturday morning. But the girls of the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women do things differently. They have access to top-secret files. They have been trained to disguise themselves for covert operations. They know how to read the slightest hints drawn from a person's body language. When they get curious about something, there's very little chance it will stay hidden. But now their skills are really being put to the test. Cammie's room-mate Macey, the daughter of a senator on the campaign trail, has been attacked. It will take everything her friends have learned, and more, to protect her and solve the mysteries which surround them. Full review...
Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
When three angels – Gabriel, Ivy and Bethany – arrive in a quiet town, their mission is to bring good to a world in danger of falling into darkness. They have to conceal their true nature – hiding the glow of their skin, their wings – a task not easy for Bethany, the least experienced of the trio. She's overwhelmed by human life, fascinated by all the experiences available to her in human form. A fascination that leads to a dangerous attraction to human boy, Xavier. Falling in love was not part of the holy mission, and Gabriel and Ivy fear Bethany won't be in the position to save anybody if she continues down the path she's on. Full review...
Siren by Tricia Rayburn
17-year old Vanessa has always been looked after by her more adventurous, outgoing older sister Justine. So when her sister is found dead while they're on vacation in Winter Harbor, and Justine's boyfriend Caleb goes missing, she's devastated. Desperately searching for answers to Justine's demise, she returns to Harbor seeking answers, and teams up with Caleb's brother Simon to find them. Then the weather gets strange, and other bodies start turning up… can they solve the mystery? Full review...
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
Cale is fourteen and his life so far has not been one to envy. Brought to the Redeemers' Sanctuary as just a toddler, he's lived within its militant religious fanaticism for all the years he can remember. Beaten, brutalised and half-starved, Cale and his fellow acolytes are being raised to fight an ongoing and bloody war against heretics. Cale is of special interest to Bosco, a Redeemer Lord Militant, and we soon realise why. Cale is intelligent, ruthless, quick, and has the ability to kill without remorse. He is an asset. Full review...
Wreckers by Julie Hearn
The story of Pandora, whose actions are the cause of all the ills in our world, is well-known. As Julie Hearn has one of her characters say, men remember it because they feel better if they can blame her, and that other female villain, Eve, for all their woes and crimes. But supposing Hope wasn't the last thing in that plain wooden box? What if something else, something slow and ugly and steeped in evil, skulked in the shadows right at the bottom? And what if someone today lifted the lid, as Pandora did, and allowed that last, terrible evil to escape? Full review...
Mouse Guard: Legends of The Guard by David Petersen
To start with, I have never heard of Mr Petersen and his Mouse Guard franchise. But I'm often up for an introduction to a fantasy cycle, and I always relish being welcomed to an author by the most esoteric, unusual, quirky and short route. My first entry to the His Dark Materials world was a collector's spin-off, and I'm just as likely to start the Twilight series, if ever, with the latest brief whimsy. And for those of a similar mind-set, this collection of tales from the pens of guest writers and illustrators, serves as an odd-shaped doorway on to this particular universe. Full review...
Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling
Drew Ferran knows there's a monster roaming the land where his family farm – he just doesn't realise it could be inside him. Until a terrible creature attacks his beloved mother, triggering a transformation in him, and leading his father and brother to believe he’s responsible for her death. Forced to flee to the most godforsaken parts of Lyssia, Drew becomes quickly embroiled in the world of the Werelords. Can he survive? Full review...
Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin
Avery's parents have been murdered, they’ve been literally torn apart, and Avery saw the whole thing. But her minds blocked it out, all she remembers is seeing something inhumanly fast, flashes of silver, and blood, lots of blood. Whatever killed her parents is still out there, and is trying to kill her. Full review...
The Traitor's Smile (Pimpernelles) by Patricia Elliott
Usual spoiler warning for Pimpernelles book one, The Pale Assassin: at the end of that book, heroine Eugenie and love interest Julien had escaped the French Revolution but been forced to leave behind Eugenie's brother Armand to face the wrath of the government over the failed attempt to rescue the King. Eugenie is being followed by Guy Deschamps, who she still trusts, despite Julien's duel with him at the end of the first book, not knowing that he's working for the Pale Assassin himself Raoul Goullet. Full review...
Witchfinder: Gallows at Twilight by William Hussey
After turning from horror comic geek to a cloned Witchfinder and saviour of humanity in the space of a few short weeks, Jake Harker's magic is understandably depleted. Try as he might, the blue light fails to ingite in his hand. But Jake has no time for recuperation or for coming to terms with the loss of his mother. His father is dying, hexed by the evil witch Marcus Crowden. And the Demon Father is at large, summoning a universal coven that will threaten everything Jake has already fought to save. Full review...
