Review: How to Be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras

How to Be Brave
by E. Katherine Kottaras

originally published November 3rd 2015
published by St. Martin’s Press
young adult | contemporary | romance

find the book on
Goodreads | Book Depository

Reeling from her mother’s death, Georgia has a choice: become lost in her own pain, or enjoy life right now, while she still can. She decides to start really living for the first time and makes a list of fifteen ways to be brave – all the things she’s wanted to do but never had the courage to try. As she begins doing the things she’s always been afraid to do – including pursuing her secret crush, she discovers that life doesn’t always go according to plan. Sometimes friendships fall apart and love breaks your heart. But once in a while, the right person shows up just when you need them most – and you learn that you’re stronger and braver than you ever imagined.

Review: Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young

Hotel Ruby
by Suzanne Young

originally published November 3rd 2015
published by Simon Pulse
young adult | mystery | contemporary | romance  | horror

find the book on
Goodreads | Book Depository

Stay Tonight. Stay Forever.

When Audrey Casella arrives for an unplanned stay at the grand Hotel Ruby, she’s grateful for the detour. Just months after their mother’s death, Audrey and her brother, Daniel, are on their way to live with their grandmother, dumped on the doorstep of a DNA-matched stranger because their father is drowning in his grief.

Audrey and her family only plan to stay the night, but life in the Ruby can be intoxicating, extending their stay as it provides endless distractions—including handsome guest Elias Lange, who sends Audrey’s pulse racing. However, the hotel proves to be as strange as it is beautiful. Nightly fancy affairs in the ballroom are invitation only, and Audrey seems to be the one guest who doesn’t have an invite. Instead, she joins the hotel staff on the rooftop, catching whispers about the hotel’s dark past.

The more Audrey learns about the new people she’s met, the more her curiosity grows. She’s torn in different directions—the pull of her past with its overwhelming loss, the promise of a future that holds little joy, and an in-between life in a place that is so much more than it seems…

Welcome to the Ruby.

Review: A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

A Madness So Discreet
by Mindy McGinnis

originally published on October 6th 2015
published by Katherine Tegen Books
young adult | historical | mystery | thriller

find the book on
Goodreads

Grace Mae knows madness.

She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

Review: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

A Whole New World
by Liz Braswell

published on September 1st 2015 by Disney Press
young adult | fantasy | retellings | romance

find the book on
Goodreads

Welcome to a new YA series that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. Each book asks the question: What if one key moment from a familiar Disney film was changed? This dark and daring version of Aladdin twists the original story with the question: What if Jafar was the first one to summon the Genie?When Jafar steals the Genie’s lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed Princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.

What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

 

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss
by Stephanie Perkins

published on December 2nd 2010 by Dutton Juvenile
young adult | contemporary | romance | travel

find the book on
Goodreads

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her attention. So she’s less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking of word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend.  Stmart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all… including a serious girlfriend.

Unfortunately, he’s taken—and Anna might be, too.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? And will it be all she’s been waiting on?

Review: Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

Daughter of Deep Silence
by Carrie Ryan

published on May 26th 2015 by Dutton Books for Young Readers
young adult | mystery | contemporary | romance

find the book on
Goodreads

I’m the daughter of murdered parents.
I’m the friend of a dead girl.
I’m the lover of my enemy.
And I will have my revenge.

In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.

Review: The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West

The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West

published on May 5th 2015 by HarperTeen
young adult | contemporary | romance

find the book on
Goodreads

When Gia Montgomery’s boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she’d been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it’s not the real Bradley she’s thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn’t even know. But tracking him down doesn’t mean they’re done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend’s graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

Mini Reviews: New Adult Contemporary Edition

Reclaiming the Sand by A. Meredith Walters

Reclaiming the Sand, #1
published on March 17th 2014
new adult | romance | contamporary

find the book on
Goodreads

Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable.

Particularly Freaky Flynn.

Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger’s. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.

But then Flynn and Ellie grew up. And moved on. Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.

Mini Review: Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

Never Never
by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher

published on January 7th 2015 by Hoover Ink
young adult | contemporary | romance | mystery

find the book on
Goodreads

Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen.
Complete strangers since this morning.
He’ll do anything to remember. She’ll do anything to forget.

Movie Review: If I Stay

If I Stay

based on If I Stay by Gayle Forman;
directed by R.J. Cutler;
screenplay by Shauna Cross;
starring Chloë Grace Moretz (Mia) and Jamie Blackley (Adam);
view full cast and crew →

movie website | the book | IMDb

Life changes in an instant for young Mia Hall after a car accident puts her in a coma. During an out-of-body experience, she must decide whether to wake up and live a life far different than she had imagined.