• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Blogs We Heart
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Books and Sensibility

We're an Open Book

  • Reviews
    • Young Adult Fiction
    • Young Adult Nonfiction
    • Adult Fiction
    • Adult Nonfiction
  • Features
  • Diverse Reads
    • Asian Stories
    • Black Stories
    • Latinx Stories
    • LGBTQIA Stories
  • Year End Stats

Contemporary YA

Book Review: Shine by Lauren Myracle

March 14, 2012      4 Comments

“I’d heard a saying about meth, that it took you down one of three roads: jail, the psych ward, or death.”

– Shine by Lauren Myracle

Shine first came on my radar with the drama over The National Book Award debacle, where Lauren Myracle was accidentally nominated and asked to back out. The synopsis intrigued me, so I finally picked this book up.

Shine is the story of Cat, a teenaged girl on the journey for answers when her former best friend, Patrick is the victim of an extremely violent hate crime. Along the way  she learns the dark secrets and hidden realities of the town she lives in.

This books starts off brilliantly, there is a certain atmospheric writing style that Myrcale uses that just brings you in to the world of the story.  You very quickly learn the life that Cat leads.The setting, Black Creek, North Carolina is a back woods town with a  lot of backwards thinking. One of the biggest problems plaguing the town is meth.

There are a lot of rich characters in the novel and you start to feel for them. This reminds me very much of To Kill a Mockingbird, where the context of the story is so much involved in learning about the people in the town. The only thing is their  is no Atticus Finch in this story. None of the characters are particularly redeeming or good, not even Cat herself. I think Robert, an eleven-year-old who was born addicted to drugs and yearns for attention from the older teenagers stood out the most for me.

 …

Read this Post

Book Review : The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

February 10, 2012      5 Comments



“I don’t have feelings.” 

― Michelle Hodkin, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

 

 

I wasn’t around the blogging block when buzz for this book began (holy alliteration, Batman !), but I can see why people were so excited. The cover is just beautiful, the name is wonderful and the synopsis is haunting. Unfortunately, what started as a chilling read quickly, turned into a lukewarm novel that disappointed me on one level.

…

Read this Post

Book Review : Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

January 26, 2012      5 Comments

 “I squeeze his hand. “You know what I think about dreams?” 

Ty smiles slightly. “What?” 

“That if you spend too much time dreaming, you’ll stop actually doing. And when you actually do stuff, there’s a good chance things will work out. 
We make things happen by attacking, not by sitting around dreaming.”

 – Catching Jordan, Miranda Kenneally

Synopsis: What girl doesn’t want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn’t just surrounded by hot guys, though – she leads them as the captain and quarterback on her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys, and that’s just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there’s a new guy in town who threatens her starring position on the team… and has her suddenly wishing to be seen as more than just a teammate

 

…

Read this Post

Book Review : The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan

November 11, 2011      Leave a Comment

“Maybe there is hope in the fragments, that what is lost can always be filled in by someone who knows.”

– David Levithan, The Realm of Possibility

 

This  summer I read   Will Grayson,Will Grayson a novel co-written by David Levithan. I got it because I had recently become a fan of  John Green and to be honest I didn’t expect to like Levithan’s writing. However, within a few pages, I fell in love with it. He is an amazing writer. Levithan’s style is so unique and he is one of the few well known YA writers who is writing about gay and lesbian teens.

…

Read this Post

Book Review : Want To Go Private ? by Sarah Darer Littman

November 10, 2011      Leave a Comment

“I can be anyone I want to be when I’m online and I don’t even have to wear makeup.”

– Sarah Darer Littman, Want To Go Private ?

 

Synopsis:  Abby knows she’s not supposed to chat with random guys online. But Luke isn’t random, and he isn’t a stranger. Best of all, he really loves her. So what if she never goes out with her friends anymore and her grades are slipping? All she needs is Luke. Luke is her secret, and she’s his — it’s perfect that way. So when Luke suggests that they meet each other in person, Abby agrees. And then she’s gone. Missing. Without a trace. And everyone is left to put together the pieces. If they don’t, they’ll never see Abby again…

No amount of  Law and Order:  SVU could have prepared me for how deeply disturbing this novel was for me at times. What starts off as a cute scene of best friends arguing over whether Aragon or Legalos is cuter quickly turns into something much darker and more emotional.

…

Read this Post

Book Review : The Next Door Boys

October 28, 2011      4 Comments

“When you’re no longer afraid of death, there are a lot of things you’re not afraid of anymore”

– Jolene B. Perry, The Next Door Boys 

 I received  Jolene B. Perry’s Next Door Boys from NetGalley. I choose it  because the name jumped out at me and the cover art reminded me of a Sarah Dessen novel. Within a few minutes of reading the book, I realized this is a LDS novel. Something I didn’t quite expect

…

Read this Post

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 21
  • Go to page 22
  • Go to page 23

Primary Sidebar

Hello !

Welcome! Here you’ll find book reviews, features and a glimpse into the bookish life of two sisters because here–we’re an open book !

Subscribe

We Review Romance

Reviews by Rating

  • ★
  • ★★
  • ★★★
  • ★★★★
  • ★★★★★

Archives

Grab Our Button

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2022 · Wordpress Theme by Hello Yay!