Reader: Sophie L.
Age: 14
Title: Awake
Author: Natasha Preston
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pub Date: 08/04/15
Galley: No
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: First off, I love the genre Natasha Preston writes in. I've read The Cellar so there was an expectation to be met by this book, and it was. The plot was really creative. The only big problem I had with the plot was that a lot of the book revolved around the main character not remembering what happened in her life before the age of 4. I have maybe 2 or 3 memories from before the age of 4. I really would have prefered an age like 6 or 7. Otherwise, I loved the unexpected turns the story took. However, I didn't so much like the writing itself. A lot of the dialogue seemed like what people don't actually say. I know some of the characters were in a cult and that would have influenced their speech, but the dialogue also wasn't great among the normal characters. I think I spent about 2/3 of this book internally screaming, "HOW CAN YOU WANT TO KILL YOUR CHILD OR ANYONE AT ALL FOR THAT MATTER!!" Good books give me emotions, so this book is good.
Memorable or Forgettable: This book has so many things that most other books don't have, really memorable characters and the way they feel about each other (such as wanting to kill your child).
Cover: Great cover! It was just enough like The Cellar so I could recognize the author. Very aesthetically pleasing and reflective of the contents.
Age Range: 14 through 18 and up
Quality: 4Q - Better than most
Popularity: 4P - Broad general teen appeal
tags: thriller / cult / ya lit
Reader: Sophie L.
Age: 14
Title: Finding Audrey
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Pub Date: 06/09/15
Galley: No
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: I'll be honest, the only reason I took this book was because the author's name is Sophie (my name) and the main character's name is Audrey (my twin sister's name). The summary was not at all what the book turned out to be. I thought it would be about a romance that somehow heals Audrey, but I felt that so little time was spent on the romance that it seemed like a side plot. Also, the side plot involving Audrey's brother and his computer took over the story. I got bored of hearing about it. The topic of the book is one I've seen much more recently, and seems to be the new thing to write about. I think that it is an important subject to discuss and the book did a good job with that. It never said what exactly "happened". I would have liked to know but as it may have been intentional, I can accept that I don't know.
Memorable or Forgettable: The topic of the book and what can be learned from it was memorable, much less the plot.
Cover: The cover was wonderfully soft which is great to have in a book cover. Great colors, very noticeable. Having the author's name bigger than the title doesn't always work, but this cover does pull it off nicely.
Age Range: 12 through 15
Quality: 3Q - Readable
Popularity: 3P - Some teen appeal
tags: romance / comedy / drama / mental health / ya lit
Reader: Sophie L.
Age: 14
Title: Beyond Clueless
Author: Linas Alsenas
Publisher: Amulet Books
Pub Date: 08/18/15
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: This book wasn't too original. After I got a little bit into the book I realized that the story was going to be the opposite of Clueless. Instead of hitting on the boy who turns out to be gay, a guy who the main character thought was gay, wasn't actually gay and liked her. So the ending to this book was predictable. It also felt a bit like a mixture between Glee and Clueless, with the musical happening. One surprising thing was all of the drinking and smoking. For the most part, the kids in this book are a few months into my future (I'll be a freshman this fall) and it was shocking to see all the bad things these kids do. Those were the only negative things about this book, the romance sections were very relatable to teens and the flow of the writing was good. I didn't ever feel like I wanted the book to just finish already!
Memorable or Forgettable: It was memorable because of the relevance to my life/near future. I also liked the way I could relate to some parts of the book.
Cover: The cover was reflective of the book. I love the colors and find it eye catching but not too much to look at.
Age Range: 14 through 17
Quality: 4Q - Better than most
Popularity: 4P - Broad general teen appeal
tags: romance / comedy / ya lit
Reader: Sophie L.
Age: 14
Title: A Little Something Different
Author: Sandy Hall
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Pub Date: 08/26/14
Galley: No
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: Before reading the book, I thought that having 14 viewpoints would not work. Transitioning between viewpoints was actually good and it wasn't confusing. One thing I didn't like was that it was frustrating to not know what the 2 lovers were thinking because it was told from everyone's view but theirs. Also, not much happened for most of the book other than the beginning and end. It would have been better with more plot in the middle.
Memorable or Forgettable: It was memorable in the sense that I haven't ever read a book with this many viewpoints. The plot wasn't too original, but the way it was told was original.
Cover: I didn't really like the cover. I don't think that shade of pink exactly fits the story, but the design was fine. It did reflect the contents.
Age Range: 12 through 15
Quality: 3Q - Readable
Popularity: 4P - Broad general teen appeal
tags: romance / ya lit
Reader: Sophie L.
Age: 14
Title: Elena Vanishing
Author: Elena and Claire B. Dunkle
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Pub Date: 05/19/15
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: Overall, I liked this book. The beginning was a
little confusing, the setting wasn't explained very well in the beginning but
eventually it made sense. The character descriptions were good throughout the
book. Elena Vanishing is about a girl
who has an eating disorder-it was a very heavy topic and it was hard to read at
some points. Not only was it hard to read, but the fact that this story is true
made it even harder. This book made me look at eating disorders in a new way,
and I've never read a book like this. I don't think most people know the risks
and consequences of eating disorders and this book explained that and was a
look into the mind of someone with an eating disorder. Throughout the book,
Elena had a voice in her head telling her that she was fat and very negative
things about her. This was interesting for me to read and understand more about
eating disorders.
Memorable or Forgettable: This book is very memorable because it was
unique, and also because it was true and all of the bad things that happened to
her actually happened. It made me think a lot about how it can be very hard to
overcome obstacles in life, but it is possible to get through it.
Cover: I like the cover design and it reflected the
contents well because it was a spoon and the book is about eating disorders.
Age Range: 16 through 18 and up
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
tags:
memoir / anorexia / ya lit
Reader: Sophie L.
Age: 13
Title: Falling into Place
Author: Amy Zhang
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pub Date: 9/09/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: I thought that this was a very thoughtful book. The plot is a stereotypical high school mean girl who commits suicide and the reasons why she does this. I loved how it switched from present to past. That reminded me of If I Stay and other books that I've read, so it wasn't the most original story but I liked the way it was told. The narrator was very surprising - I was guessing who it was until the very end. The whole book shows that even the meanest people also have issues that can possibly cause them to commit suicide. One thing I didn't like was the ending. I thought that with so much sadness in the book the ending should also be sad, but it was not.
Memorable or Forgettable: Who the narrator was is memorable to me, as well as the topic of suicide, which is hard to forget.
Cover: I think that the cover fit the book well, but not great.
Age Range: 14 through 17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
tags: bullying / suicide / ya lit
