Showing posts with label young adult novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label young adult novel. Show all posts

February 18, 2014

Dream by Kyra Selby

Dream is best described as a magical young-love story.

Dream is about two individuals being drawn together under unique circumstances. They are as close to soul mates as you can get.

Miles has been dreaming of Ava for the last four years. Coincidentally, the dreams started after tragic events in both of their lives.
When Ava moves into town and Miles sees her for the first time, he feels like he is seeing a ghost.
After the initial shock wears off, they become inseparable. They are drawn together and cannot get enough of each other. The funny thing is, both of them have doubts about how the other feels about them.
Once the truth comes out about Miles’s dreams about Ava after a near-death experience for her, everything about their relationship begins to make sense and it becomes stronger than ever.

The first half seems to be a character build up for both Ava and Miles. Pixie and Jesse are the supporting characters here and add to the story with friendly dialogue and party experiences.

There is not much action between Ava and Miles in the first have, but from reading the excerpt it was evident that things change for those two eventually.

It is a cute story from the beginning. It is nice for a young adult novel. Sometimes a cute young love story is a nice break from some denser books you may pick up to read.
It was written really well aside from a few spelling mistakes. One more round of editing and it will be good to go.

The characters were really well rounded. Even Jesse and Pixie who were more of a supporting cast had some nice character depth to them.

4/5 Stars.

August 7, 2013

Remember Patience by Shawn Sandhurst

First off, I enjoyed that this book was written by someone close to home here in Illinois!

Now for the review:

When faced with the worst terrorist attack the United States has ever faced, what would you do?

For a small group of high schoolers from Ridgewood, Illinois, their plan is to travel to Turkey and join the Peace Corps to try to spread the word of God and the Bible to the terrorists.

Redemption.

Does redemption work on those whose souls are black and dead inside? Simon and his Little Js can only hope so, otherwise they could end up dead by the hands of a highly dangerous terrorist organization.

This novel reads sort of like a movie. It seems like a YA/teen movie where the young characters are the hero of a story. I believe it is written this way because it is not a 100% serious book, which is first seen through the different personalities of the characters.

If you like movies/books with young powerful lead characters, I believe this would be a good read for you.
What I really enjoyed about it was the short chapters, that will stand out to me in any book I read. I love that writing style, and I feel it helps keep my interest. I finished the whole thing in two sittings, it went pretty quick, and it wasn’t dull.

And don’t forget, Remember Patience.


5/5 stars. The writing style was great, and the story certainly takes you on a journey. 


February 13, 2013

Capella Bright by Tara McCausland


The end of this book is TERRIBL…….Y SUSPENSEFUL!

My jaw dropped as I read the last line.

If you like cliff hangers, don’t even read the rest of this review, just go directly to the link and purchase this book! I promise, you won’t regret it!

But I shall continue this… even though the top part should convince you right away to get it.

Moving on…

This book is geared toward young adults and features romance, family drama (that can be very relatable to some), and….. aliens again? Common theme here in February I see!

Actually, this book was fun to read after the last one I had read because they were both so DIFFERENT! It was kinda cool to compare the way the “others” were portrayed.

Anyways, the main character is Capella Maggie Hart. She meets the new kid in town, Alex, and there is a bond between them right away. One that neither of them could have possibly predicted the outcome of.

Maggie’s best friend has instant interest and is lusting over Alex. But he wants nothing from her. He is more interested in Maggie, quite to her surprise.

As they grow closer, the truth about who Alex really is comes out, and the rest of the book is a wild adventure involving Hunters, Pods, and strange guns.

Will Maggie and Alex be able to grow their budding relationship? Youll just have to read it to find out J

5/5 stars The character development was great. I grew super attached to them, and the story was just as good!



July 7, 2012

My Disjointed Life by Martin Reed

My Disjointed Life is about a young man experiencing his first semester of college. He was never a popular kid, more of a brainiac. He enjoys science and is going into engineering.

Jeep is socially awkward and doesn’t fit in well in social situations. He usually says what’s on his mind – most of the time without meaning to. He also has an inner voice that speaks to him, usually putting him down for being an “idiot”. It brought a lot of humor to the novel which I loved.

As he makes his way through his first semester of college, he has many up and down times involving friends, enemies, girls, family, and extracurricular activities.

The relationships he has with his friends, acquaintances, and significant others are all different in special ways. I will not go into detail on that because it is more fun to read and experience it first hand. 

“Maybe the reason I get stepped on so much by people is because I let them.”

I think all readers can find a little of themselves in Jeep. He is a kind-hearted, yet extremely horny, young adult trying to make sense of life. Things don’t always come easy for him, though.

“The reasons are simple enough, but the truth always comes layered with complexity and consequence.”

Martin Reed did an excellent job writing this novel. It is witty, realistic, and explicit at times, but overall funny and a good, light-hearted read. It was divided up into segments by time. I have never read another book like that, it made it much easier to get through the chapters, because of course I am not a fan of long chapters. So, having that technique as a way to break up the text made it very easy for me to get through.

I found myself actually not wanting to finish the book, because I enjoyed it so much.
I included a few of my favorite quotes from the text in the review above as well.

4/5 Stars! A little slow at some points, but was a very fun read that I enjoyed a lot. 


To hear for from Martin, check out his blog! You wont regret it!
http://pendrum.wordpress.com/

Read ahead for spoilers