YA novel – Cannonball Read 17

Music and dragons

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

October 31, 2020 by teresaelectro Leave a Comment

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman follows a young girl who lives for music. An excellent pick for the music square for CBR 12 Bingo. The novel is set in a fictional kingdom of Goredd where dragons and humans have found a fragile peace. The dragons in this book are scholars who love cold logic and have a hankering for math too. They can transform into a human form to take up these pursuits. A murder mystery unfolds that opens up old wounds between the two races. A […]

An Exercise in How Not to Write Post-Apocalyptic Gender Segregated Societies

January 17, 2017 by MisterRobit 16 Comments

This book is festival of horrors. If I could give it negative five stars I would. If for some terrible reason you want to read it don’t read this there will be spoilers. It’s a YA novel and as such there is a certain amount of teenage angst that has to be begrudgingly accepted. I understand that there is a formula to YA novels I have read quite a few myself, but I had just read two pretty lengthy nonfiction books, 100 pages of microbiology, […]

One Sees Clearly Only with the Heart

December 22, 2016 by Jenny S Leave a Comment

Right after finishing and loving The Sun is Also a Star, I ran out to the library and got Nicola Yoon’s first novel, Everything, Everything. Though I didn’t love it quite as much as her second book, I thought it was engaging, moving, and well-constructed. I also can see Yoon starting to think through some minor themes that become major themes in The Sun is Also a Star. This novel is a love story, but it’s not your typical teen romance. Madeline Whittier, who is […]

Pardon Me, My Curmudgeon is Showing

July 4, 2015 by Jenny S 2 Comments

Arghhh. If this book hadn’t been on my I-pad, I would have thrown it across the room as I read the last line. I know that I’ve said this before, but I’m really getting tired of YA books that simply stop mid-storyline—to be continued. It feels alternately like a money grab (instead of giving you one longer book, we’re going to split this puppy into three parts—otherwise known as The Hobbit effect) or simply lazy storytelling. I want to simply say, “Go watch the first […]

Holly Black Gives Stephenie Meyer The Bird

June 12, 2015 by Jenny S Leave a Comment

I apologize in advance for those of you who are fond of sparkly vampires, but one of the biggest problems I had with the whole Twilight series was the sheer passivity of Bella and the fact that when she actually became a vampire, she wasn’t a monster struggling with blood thirst but simply a stronger, more sparkly version of herself. My favorite vampires (Angel, the heroine of Sunglasses After Dark whose name escapes me, Nick Knight, etc.) all struggled with the weight of the killing […]

By the Numbers (or I miss Tony and Tia)

March 9, 2015 by Jenny S 2 Comments

About six weeks ago, I caught the tail end of the movie version of I am Number Four on TNT or USA or one of those other cable networks. I had seen it before and found it a mindless way to spend 90 minutes, but not particularly great. (Though Timothy Olyphant is always appreciated.) The movie ends with a set-up for future movies and this made me wonder about the book—whether there was more to the story and whether the book had done it better. […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

Help Our Mission