Book Review | WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU, by A. E. Kaplan

We Regret to Inform You, by A. E. Kaplan

Publish Date: August 21, 2018
Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 352
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: ★★★★★ (4.75 out of 5 stars)

**I received an egalley of this from the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.**

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Synopsis:

Mischa Abramavicius is a walking, talking, top-scoring, perfectly well-rounded college application in human form. So when she’s rejected not only by the Ivies, but her loathsome safety school, she is shocked and devastated. All the sacrifices her mother made to send her to prep school, the late nights cramming for tests, the blatantly résumé-padding extracurriculars (read: Students for Sober Driving) … all that for nothing. 

As Mischa grapples with the prospect of an increasingly uncertain future, she questions how this could have happened in the first place. Is it possible that her transcript was hacked? With the help of her best friend and sometimes crush, Nate, and a group of eccentric techies known as “The Ophelia Syndicate,” Mischa launches an investigation that will shake the quiet community of Blanchard Prep to its stately brick foundations.

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My Review:

Okay, so I honestly didn’t think I was going to be in the mood to read this when I started it, but from the first chapter onward I was hooked. The writing was fast, smooth and completely immersing, pulling me in and not letting go for one second. The characters are diverse and full of life, and the plot was both heartaching and beautiful. This book is one of those books that everyone can relate to in some way (re: feeling like a failure despite knowing you did your best), and is unflinchingly real in everything it portrays. 

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Book Review | SANCTUARY, by Caryn Lix

Sanctuary, by Caryn Lix

Publish Date: July 24, 2018
Published by: Simon Pulse
Pages: 480
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
My Rating: ★★★★★ (4.5 out of 5 stars)

**I received an egalley of this from the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.**

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Synopsis:

Kenzie holds one truth above all: the company is everything.

As a citizen of Omnistellar Concepts, the most powerful corporation in the solar system, Kenzie has trained her entire life for one goal: to become an elite guard on Sanctuary, Omnistellar’s space prison for superpowered teens too dangerous for Earth. As a junior guard, she’s excited to prove herself to her company—and that means sacrificing anything that won’t propel her forward.

But then a routine drill goes sideways and Kenzie is taken hostage by rioting prisoners.

At first, she’s confident her commanding officer—who also happens to be her mother—will stop at nothing to secure her freedom. Yet it soon becomes clear that her mother is more concerned with sticking to Omnistellar protocol than she is with getting Kenzie out safely.

As Kenzie forms her own plan to escape, she doesn’t realize there’s a more sinister threat looming, something ancient and evil that has clawed its way into Sanctuary from the vacuum of space. And Kenzie might have to team up with her captors to survive—all while beginning to suspect there’s a darker side to the Omnistellar she knows.

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My Review:

Wow. Okay, let me just say right off the bat – wow. This book completely blew me away. It shook me up in all the right ways, took me on a rollercoaster adventure, had me completely unable to put it down, and was just downright awesome. From the concept to the characters to the action, this book is gripping, suspenseful, thrilling, and quite possibly one of my favorite reads of the year so far.

Book Review | THE BODY FINDER, by Kimberly Derting

The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1), by Kimberly Derting

Publish Date: March 16, 2010
Published by: HarperCollins
Pages: 338
Genre: YA Paranormal/YA Romance/YA Mystery
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.5 out of 5 stars)

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Synopsis:

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her “power” to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay’s intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she’s falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

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My Review:

I have been in a contemporary/paranormal sort of mood lately, so this one definitely fit the bill when I randomly chose to pick it up from my TBR. It was an engaging story, with an interesting main character and premise, a great friend-to-lovers romance, and a captivating and suspenseful plot.

Book Review | SPINNING SILVER, by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik

Publish Date: July 10, 2018
Published by: Del Rey
Pages: 480
Genre: Fantasy
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

**I received an ARC of this from the publisher at BookCon 2018 in return for an honest review.**

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Synopsis:

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders… but her father isn’t a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife’s dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty–until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers’ pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed–and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold.

But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it’s worth–especially when her fate becomes tangled with the cold creatures that haunt the wood, and whose king has learned of her reputation and wants to exploit it for reasons Miryem cannot understand.

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My Review:

Having fallen in love with Naomi Novik from the first chapter of Uprooted , I knew that I had to read her newest book. Not only was it another fairytale-esque reimagining, but it was going to be about my people, Jews, and I all the more loved her for that. Although it took me some time to really get into this story (how I wish this came out in winter and not summer) I eventually found myself really enjoying the plot and the characters. And while it did not capture my utmost love as much as I wished it would have, it still kept me enchanted throughout the novel.

Book Review | WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU DEMONS, by Jennifer Honeybourn

When Life Gives You Demons, by Jennifer Honeybourn

Publish Date: July 17, 2018
Published by: Swoon Reads
Pages: 272
Genre: YA Paranormal
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

**I received an egalley of this from the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.**

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Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Shelby Black has spent the past year training to be an exorcist. Her great-uncle Roy—a Catholic priest and Shelby’s guardian—believes she has a gift for expelling demons, and he’s put her through exorcist boot camp hell, but he still doesn’t trust her to do an exorcism on her own.

High school is hard enough without having to explain that you fight demons for a living, so Shelby keeps her extracurricular activity quiet, especially from Spencer, her cute math tutor. Secrets run in Shelby’s family, though: her mother has been missing ever since an exorcism went horribly wrong, and Uncle Roy is tight-lipped about it. But Shelby’s hell-bent on finding her mom, no matter what—even if what it ends up costing her her soul AND a date with Spencer.

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My Review:

I honestly didn’t think I was going to end up reading this book in two days but that’s exactly what I did. Somehow it sucked me right in and I could not bring myself to put it down until I finished it. With some great Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Mediator vibes, this book was fun, quick, and a completely engrossing read.

Book Review | ADORKABLE, by Cookie O’Gorman

Adorkable, by Cookie O’Gorman

Publish Date: September 20, 2016
Published by: Amazon Digital Services
Pages: 332
Genre: YA Contemporary/YA Romance
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5 out of 5 stars)

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Synopsis:

Adorkable (ah-dor-kuh-bul): Descriptive term meaning to be equal parts dorky and adorable. For reference, see Sally Spitz. 

Seventeen-year-old Sally Spitz is done with dating. Or at least, she’s done with the horrible blind dates/hookups/sneak attacks her matchmaking bestie, Hooker, sets her up on. There’s only so much one geek girl and Gryffindor supporter can take. 

Her solution: she needs a fake boyfriend. And fast. 

Enter Becks, soccer phenom, all-around-hottie, and Sally’s best friend practically since birth. When Sally asks Becks to be her F.B.F. (fake boyfriend), Becks is only too happy to be used. He’d do anything for Sal–even if that means giving her PDA lessons in his bedroom, saying she’s “more than pretty,” and expertly kissing her at parties. 

The problem: Sally’s been in love with Becks all her life–and he’s completely clueless. 

This book features two best friends, one special edition Yoda snuggie, countless beneath-the-ear kisses and begs the question: 

Who wants a real boyfriend when faking it is so much more fun? 

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My Review:

I am going to say right off the bat that I have some mixed feelings about this book. Story and plot-wise, it was very cute and engaging, kept me interested and unable to put it down, moved quickly and decently, and had lots of fun exciting moments as well as some emotional ones. However, some things felt frustrating, the characters especially, and some key symbols/metaphors in the plot.