YA Fantasy Meets Mission Impossible!
Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo
Do you love books with well-woven plots? With armloads of meandering strings that twist and turn and suddenly all come together into one brilliant heist? Then you’ll love this one!
Laugh Out Loud Funny!
That’s Not What I Heard, by Stephanie Kate Strohm
When two high school seniors break up accidentally, the entire school is thrown into mayhem. A single rumor that’s… err, well… almost true takes on a life of its own until half the school won’t even speak to the other half, the teachers are all taking sides, and two of the most responsible students in the district are kicking up more trouble in a single week (without even trying) than most people manage in a lifetime.
A delightful read! Deliciously addictive!
Love à la Mode, by Stephanie Kate Strohm
I read Stephanie Kate Strohm’s Prince in Disguise during the 2017 holiday season and absolutely devoured it. With Love à la Mode, she’s now on my (very short) must-read author list.
Henry is in high school, but he’s been chosen out of thousands of applicants to attend one of the most elite cooking programs in the world—a year in Paris! It’s his wildest dream come true, but his mother is not on board. From an ocean away, she’s going to make the best year of his life into a living hell. But he has to survive it. He has to. Not just for his dreams, but for Rosie.
Rosie’s in the same program, but she’s more of a baker than a cook. She’s failing in class, proving to be terrible at the one thing she loves most in the world, and they’ve made it very clear that not everyone gets to stay the full year. She’s already lost more than any kid should have to, and she’s struggling to hold on to the first thing she’s cared about in a very long time. The first two things—her year in Paris, and Henry.
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A fantastic deal on a 5-star read!
The Inexplicable Logic of My Life, by Benjamin Alire Saenz
We absolutely loved this book. “The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is a brilliant story of youth at an end, adulthood on the horizon, the meaning of family, the many faces of love, and the difficulty of knowing how to hold on while at the same time letting go.” (That’s from our 5-star review of the novel.) It’s one of those reads that just flies by, despite its 464-page length. Think of it as a cross between a journal and a memoir, written by a modern teen with an old soul. At just $2.99 for a limited time, this is one not to miss!
Today only! The Fault in Our Stars is just $2.99 for the ebook!
The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
Despite picking up a terrible cold at the con last weekend, we couldn’t let this deal go by without telling you about it. Today only, the ebook of The Fault in Our Stars is on sale for just $2.99 instead of the usual $9.99. That’s 70% off the electronic price! What more do we need to say?
(Hopefully, nothing, because we’re sick and it’s 4:30 am here. But, hey, this is the kind of book that sells itself.)
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A Quick, Quirky Romp
How You Ruined My Life, by Jeff Strand
Rod’s teenage life isn’t perfect, but things could be worse. He lives with his single mom in a modest home. They don’t have a lot of extras, but they’re getting by. He has a punk rock band called “Fanged Grapefruit” and a beautiful girlfriend. Life is pretty good. That is, until Blake moves in. Blake is Rod’s cousin, and from the moment his privileged mountain of luggage arrives—the day before he does himself—Blake manages to make Rod’s life a living hell. But is he a harmless idiot? Or does this demon-spawn of a cousin know exactly what he’s doing? Continue reading “A Quick, Quirky Romp”
Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm
An Adorable Holiday Slump-buster!
Life is real enough for Dylan—especially as the ordinary younger sister of Dusty, former Miss Mississippi and the most perfect, popular girl in Tupelo. But when Dusty wins the hand of the handsome Scottish laird-to-be Ronan on the TRC television network’s crown jewel, Prince in Disguise, Dylan has to face a different kind of reality: reality TV.
As the camera crew whisks them off to Scotland to film the lead-up to the wedding, camera-shy Dylan is front and center as Dusty’s maid of honor. The producers are full of surprises—including old family secrets, long-lost relatives, and a hostile future mother-in-law who thinks Dusty and Dylan’s family isn’t good enough for her only son. At least there’s Jamie, an adorably bookish groomsman who might just be the perfect antidote to all Dylan’s stress . . . if she just can keep TRC from turning her into the next reality show sensation.
REVIEW:
I was SO excited to be approved for this Disney-Hyperion title on Net Galley, and it did not disappoint!
If you’re in the mood for a fast, slump-buster read–whether to get you back into reading or to kick-start you into the holiday spirit–this is it! I loved Dylan immediately. She’s the awkward, self-conscious, shy younger sister of a beauty-pageant winner, dragged into a high-profile world she never wanted to be part of. When she ends up meeting a boy she might actually LIKE (for the first time, like, EVER), she’s forced to go through the roller coaster of first love on reality television. UGH, right???
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The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
This Book Is Wearing Dignity. So Much More Beautiful Than Pearls.
The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is a brilliant story of youth at an end, adulthood on the horizon, the meaning of family, the many faces of love, and the difficulty of knowing how to hold on while at the same time letting go.
It’s a fitting theme for readers who loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Some of us are having a hard time letting go of that one, and for good reason. But if we hold on to it too hard, looking only to the past, we’ll miss the captivating beauty of this next one. And that would be a tragedy.
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Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
Funny with a Mean Streak
I bought this one as a “blind date” from Malaprops. They wrap books in brown paper and write things like “hilarious” or “pee-your-pants funny” or whatever, and you buy it like that and then open it to see what you bought! It’s so fun! (If you already have it you can exchange it right away, so it’s a much better deal than your usual blind date ha ha!)
So Georgia is 14. She lives in Great Britain and has all kinds of misadventures like dressing up as an olive for a party and wrestling her own rather terrifying house cat. She’s very funny most of the time, but sometimes she’s kind of mean so I didn’t always sympathize with her.
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Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley
Brilliant, Funny, Quirky, Engaging
Solomon is a teenager who has not stepped one foot outside his house in three years. Lisa is a high school junior who decides to “fix” him so she can write the best college application essay in the history of ever. Needless to say, all does not go as planned.
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