Burn For Burn

 By Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Big girls don't cry... They get even.

Kat is tired of it all. Of the rumours, the insults, of having everyone seeing her as trash. All because of one person. And it's time to make that person - her ex-best friend, Rennie - pay.

Mary was pushed to the edge. She left behind her life at Jar Island because of a boy. Reeve. It's his turn to be humiliated now.

Lillia is the older sister everyone wishes for. Honest, stylish, maybe a bit overprotective. She's never had issues with getting boys to like her or with dealing with boys that like her. Until one went too far. She won't let her sister make the same mistake.

I loved Burn for Burn! I've never really read a story about revenge, but this was definitely a good one! Burn for Burn is written from three different perspectives : Lillia, Mary and Kat. I've read books where the different perspectives get muddled together, but not this one. Lillia, Kat, and Mary all had very different, distinct personalities. I was so excited to read this book because I had heard so many good things about it, and I wasn't disappointed! I can't wait until the next book in the series comes out!

Throne of Glass

 By Sarah J. Maas

18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes before she is brought before the Crown Prince of Adarlan. He presents her with an offer: she must compete for him against 23 other killers, soldiers, and thieves in a contest held at the Royal Palace. If she wins, she becomes the King's Champion, and will serve the kingdom for four years before being granted her freedom. If she loses, she is sent back to the salt mines of Endovier, where she will surely die. Celaena quickly agrees, and begins the journey to the kingdom where she will train for the competition. She finds her lessons with the Captain of the Guard exhilarating and begins to develop an interest in the Crown Prince. But suddenly, one of the contestants in the competition turns up dead. Then another... Celaena's fight for her freedom becomes a fight to survive. Can she find out what's killing the other contestants before it gets to her?

One thing that I really liked about Throne of Glass was Celaena. She was the perfect kick-butt heroine. Another thing that I loved was the action! It's definitely a page turner! I could go on and on with praise for Throne of Glass, but I'll stop here. If you haven't read it yet, it's definitely a must read!

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

 By Morgan Matson

Amy's world has been shattered. Her father recently died in a car accident that Amy blames herself for. Now her mother has decided to move the broken remains of the Curry family from California to Connecticut, where Amy will spend her senior year of high school. So Amy sets off on the cross-country road trip to Connecticut. Accompanying her is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's friend. Amy hasn't seen him in years and barely remembers him, so she's not excited to be driving across the country with a near stranger.

Along the way, Amy is trying to accept her father's death, and trying to rebuild her own life after the accident.

I really liked how some of the pages in Amy & Roger's Epic Detour consisted of playlists from their road trip or receipts from various places along the way to their destination. I also really want to go on a road trip now!
Also, even though the book talked about heavier subjects like death, it wasn't depressing. Overall, I really liked Amy & Roger's Epic Detour and I would definitely recommend it!

Second Chance Summer

 By Morgan Matson

Taylor has never been super close with her family--they've all got their own activities keeping them busy, but they all get along fine. When Taylor's dad receives shocking news about his health, the family decides to spend his last summer all together at their lake house. For Taylor, never going back to the lake house that she has studiously avoided for five years would be fine by her, but she does it for her dad. 

Being at the lake house forces the family to be together, and they all begin to get to know each other again. Unfortunately for Taylor, it also means that she has the chance of running into her ex-best friend and her first boyfriend, who she hasn't seen since she was twelve, and would rather not see again.

As the summer goes on, and Taylor and her family become more of a family unit, Taylor begins to realize that even though the clock is ticking, sometimes there is just enough time to have another chance--at love, family, and friendship.

Second Chance Summer was great! There was romance, friendship, and it was set in the summer! Sure, it was sad, but the ending was written so it didn't feel so sad. I really liked watching Taylor change over the summer.

The Probability of Miracles

 By Wendy Wunder

Seventeen-year-old Cam has spent the last five years battling the cancer that has infected her body. So when Cam's mother decides to move to Promise, Maine - a place where miracles are supposed to occur - it's not how Cam invisioned spending her last days of her life.

Cam refuses to believe in miracles, but even she can't ignore the strange, unbelieveable things that happen in Promise. The longer Cam spends in Promise, the more she starts believing - in everything around her, in herself, and in miracles.

I really enjoyed this book. It may be about cancer, but Cam is so funny and sarcastic that it isn't super sad. I loved how it was written, and how realistic it was. It helps us see the miracles that happen around us everyday.

Like Mandarin

 By Kirsten Hubbard

14-year-old Grace Carpenter can't wait to get away from the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, where she has lived her entire life. She can't wait to escape from her sister's beauty pageants, or all the people around her, to find real beauty in the world. Grace knows that the only true beauty in Washokey is 17-year-old carefree Mandarin Ramey. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin.

When they are joined for a project, they form an unlikely friendship: Grace being Washokey's resident genius, and Mandarin being the notorious wild-girl. Their friendship is, like Mandarin, wild. Together they make a plan to run away together, to escape the town they're stuck in.

But Grace begins to realize that while Mandarin is fun, shameless, and carefree on the outside, she's actually troubled, unstable, and broken on the inside. And no matter how hard Grace tries to hold on to the carefree Mandarin, she realizes that being like Mandarin may not actually be all that great.

I think one of the main reasons that I really enjoy Kirsten Hubbard's books are because of the way she writes. It captures you from the first page. It was really easy to read this book because the characters are so relatable. The way that Mandarin was initially described made it so easy to understand why Grace idolized her. 

Thirteen Reasons Why

 By Jay Asher

When Clay Jensen returns home one day from school to find a box with his name on it lying on his porch, the last thing he expects it to be are thirteen cassette tapes, the thirteen reasons why Hannah Baker, Clay's classmate and crush, committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the first tape, Hannah explains that if you received these cassette tapes, you are one of the reasons why she killed herself.

Clay doesn't understand. He doesn't know why he made her list. But if he listens, he'll find out.

What I really liked about this book was how it reminded me that no matter how small and insignificant your actions towards other people may seem to you, they can deeply effect and hurt other people. I also loved how I never wanted to put Thirteen Reasons Why down, because I always wanted to hear the next reason for Hannah's suicide. What was really interesting was the way all of the thirteen reasons connected with each other. Some of Hannah's reasons for suicide may seem small and not worth her even caring about, but when they all came together, you began to understand why she felt the way she did.

Wanderlove

 By Kirsten Hubbard

When Bria Sandoval signs up for a guided tour of Central America, the last thing she expects is to be dragged along with a bunch of middle-aged tourists who don't even seem interested in what they're seeing. So when Bria meets Starling and Rowan, brother and sister backpackers, she decides to accept their invitation to ditch her tour group and go backpacking with them.

Along the way, Bria begins to discover that she has something in common with Rowan: they're both trying to leave behind their pasts and who they used to be.

I completely loved Wanderlove! I read it on my Kobo, and I'm seriously considering buying it in hardcover, just so I can flip back to my favourite parts.

After reading Wanderlove, I really want to go backpacking! I think it would be so much fun to travel around with friends, staying in hostels and going to places I've never been before! I seriously recommend Wanderlove to everyone!

The Book of Blood and Shadow

 By Robin Wasserman

Nora's world is torn apart when she finds her best friend, Chris, dead, in a pool of his own blood. Chris's girlfriend, Adriane, is catatonic, and Nora's boyfriend Max, has disappeared. He is, according to the police, Chris's murderer. Nora knows that Max would never do that, so as she is desperate to prove his innocence, she follows the trail he leaves for her to Prague, where she begins to realize that the murder that shook her world may prove to be more complex than it seems.

Wow.

 I have to say, I've never really been a fan of murder mysteries, but I loved this book! It completely captured my attention and I found myself racing to the end. I was intrigued by this mystery and I was trying to solve it in my head as I was reading. I loved the way the book connected so well to the past, even though it was set in the present.

Before I Fall

 By Lauren Oliver

Samantha Kingston is popular. She rules the school with her three best friends, Lindsay, Ally, and Elody, at her side. She's the typical popular girl: she has the looks and the popular boyfriend. So Friday, February 12th should just be another Friday in Sam's life, except on the way home from a party, Sam and her friends get in a car crash, and Sam's life is over. Sam wakes up the next day, but it's February 12th. Again.

For one week, Sam lives the day of her death over, and she comes to realize everything she will lose when she dies.

I enjoyed this book, and it grabbed me from the first page. I did think that some of the relationships that Sam made over one day were too deep to have been made over a couple of hours.  I really liked reading about Samantha, and her journey to discovering who the people around her really were and what they meant to her, all while living one day over and over.

The List

 By Siobhan Vivian

It happens every year. A list is posted all around the school. The list choses one girl from each grade as the prettiest and one girl as the ugliest. No-one knows who makes the list, but that doesn't really matter. All that matters are the names that are on the list. With the list, all the normal labels, like populars, losers, freaks, disappear. All the girls who are on the list experience it differently.

I really liked this book and I was definitely never in danger of putting it down. I liked that each chapter was written from a different girl's perspective, but since there were eight girls, and eight different perspectives, it got a bit muddled and I felt like the story didn't really capture everyone's feelings, especially towards the ending. Nonetheless, I still really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it.

Blood Red Road

 By Moira Young

Saba has spent her whole life living in Silverlake, a bone dry wasteland left behind by the Wreckers, with her Pa, her younger sister Emmi, and her twin brother Lugh. When Lugh is taken prisoner by four mysterious horsemen, Saba resolves to rescue him, whatever the cost. 

Having never ventured into the world outside of Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh. Accompanied by the Free Hawks, a gang of rebellious girl warriors, and a handsome daredevil named Jack, Saba sets off on the harrowing journey ahead of her, where she will discover her independence and her extreme will to survive.

I really liked this book, but it took me awhile to get into it, mainly because of the way it's written. There aren't any quotation marks, and the 'g' on the end of most words is missing, and words like 'And' become 'an'. I did find that even though it took me awhile to really get into the story, once I was in, there was no turning back. The more I read, the harder it was to put it down.

Revolution

 By Jennifer Donnelly

Andi Alpers is torn apart by the death of her younger brother. She's constantly on the edge, angry at the world. Her father, a Nobel prize winning scientist, is barely part of Andi's life anymore, and Andi's mother has gone crazy with depression for her son. Andi is failing school, and doesn't care.

So when Andi's father decides that taking Andi to Paris with him over winter break and forcing her to write her senior year thesis will fix all of Andi's problems, the last thing she wants to do is go with him.  

When Andi finds Alexandrine's centuries old diary, she finds solace and distraction in the girl's words, until one night, in the catacombs, Andi finds herself living the words she has read in the diary.

I really enjoyed this book, but I found that the beginning was a bit slow and it took me awhile to really get into the story. If you're looking for a quick read, this probably isn't the book for you, but it's definitely a book worth reading, and it made the French Revolution so much more interesting for me.

The Fault In Our Stars

 By John Green

Sixteen-year-old Hazel was diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer when she was thirteen. When she was fourteen she had a miracle. That miracle bought her a bit of time. And even though the doctors say that Hazel could live for a long time, she lives tethered to an oxygen machine, never to breathe by herself or live a full life.

Then comes Augustus Waters. He's seventeen, in remission from osteosarcoma cancer, and gorgeous. Being with Augustus gives Hazel a new outlook at life. Hazel's life is about to change for good.

Do you ever read a book where you immediately NEED to talk to someone about it after you finish it? This is one of those books. I felt like I had to tell someone the story of Hazel and Augustus. This book is so hard to describe. How can you explain a book that has you laughing one moment and crying the next? This book is funny, honest, complex, and beautifully written. After staring at the pile of unread books in my bookshelf, I realized that I didn't want to start any of them just yet, because I wanted to stay in the world of Augustus and Hazel for just a bit longer and because I didn't think that any of them could live up to The Fault In Our Stars.

Shadow and Bone

 By Leigh Bardugo

Alina Starkov is an orphan. The only person she can rely on is her best friend, Mal.  Together, they are sent into the army, and into a perilous journey into the Fold, a sea of darkness, festering with monsters. Alina knows how dangerous this journey is, even with the Grisha, people with special powers, to protect them. So when the group Alina and Mal are in gets attacked by monsters in the fold, the chance of survival is next to none, until Alina reveals a power that amazes everyone, including herself. She is rushed away from the only life she's known, to be trained as a Grisha. But when Alina discovers a secret that rips her new life apart, she is forced to use her power to its full extent, as she is the future's only hope.

I completely agree with Veronica Roth's comment on the front cover of Shadow and Bone. This book is definitely unlike anything I've ever read. I loved how much detail was put into the description of landscapes and areas, making the story so easy to imagine and become a part of. I loved the ending! It was somewhat uncertain and I loved how the epilogue was written from someone else's perspective.

Eve

 By Anna Carey

The book Eve is set in a futuristic world where a deadly plague has wiped out 98 percent of the population. Eve is an eighteen-year-old girl who has spent the majority of her life inside the walled perimeter of her school. She has been taught the dangers of the outside world and of men. The night before her graduation, where she will cross the bridge to her future and learn a trade, she discovers the terrifying reality of what really happens to the graduates. Eve escapes the walls of the School, fleeing the only life that she's known after the plague. But where will Eve go, with a horrifying fate awaiting her inside the walls of the school, and danger lurking around every corner in the outside world?

I really liked this book. I loved watching Eve grow to trust Caleb, even after all the warnings she's received about men. Its soooo good.

The first book I'm going to review is The Selection by Kiera Cass.

I loved this book! In this futuristic world, people have been separated into castes, with the people in the upper castes being more fortunate, the first caste being the royal family. The main character, America Singer, is a five, meaning she belongs in the fifth caste. Every time a male royal comes of age, there is a competition called the Selection, where 35 young women, between the ages 16 and 20, get selected, one from each province, to compete for the heart of the royal, and ideally, the crown. America doesn't even want to enter the selection, on the rare chance she'll win. But when the love of her life, Aspen, convinces her to, saying he won't be able to forgive himself if she doesn't even try for a better life, America agrees, figuring there is zero chance she'll actually get selected. But when Aspen breaks her heart, and America is devastated, being selected isn't the worst thing that could happen, as long as she's away from Aspen. America is sent into the competition, and into a life that she's never imagined, a life of luxury. When she meets Prince Maxon, and begins to grow on him, she realizes that the competition she's scorned may not be so bad after all.

 I loved the way it was written, especially how it was in America's point of view.
I can't wait for the next book!

Read it. It's so good.

Hi! This is my blog, and I'm going to review books on it. So if your ever looking for a good teen lit (young adult) book, you're welcome to visit my blog! Enjoy!