Books and Sensibility

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The School of Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

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  • Release Date: May 2013
  • Hours: 13.75
  • Genre: Middle Grade/Fantasy
  • Publisher: HarperCollins

Every four years the villagers of Gavaldon will stop at nothing to protect their children from a shadowy figure who whisks them away to a magical school,  never to be seen again. Except maybe in the pages of your favorite storybook.

This magical school us  where students are trained to become the villains and heroes in your favorite fairytales. When best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves on different sides of the divide, they must fight to hold on to their friendship and who they truly are.

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More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

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Release Date: 6/2/16

Audiobook Length :  8 Hours 25 minutes

Genre: Contemporary 

Publisher: Soho Press

The expectation to be happy can be overwhelming, but Aaron Soto is going to try. He is going to happily spend the summer hanging with  his friends, nerding out over comics and finally telling his girlfriend he loves her. He won’t think about the things that threaten his happiness like his father’s suicide or Tomas, a neighborhood boy whose friendship could spark something more. Looming in the background of this happy summer is the divisive Leteo Institute, a facility that claims that can make memories go away.

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The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon

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  • Release Date: November 1, 2016
  • Pages: 384
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Publisher: Crown (Random House)

Tasha Kingston’s family is 24 hours away from being deported to Jamaica after her father drunkenly tells a police officer they’ve been in the country for over a decade on expired travel visas. Tasha isn’t ready to leave America, she has a fake social security number and was prepared to go to college and become a data scientist. She resolves to spend her last day doing everything she can to find a way to delay the deportation. What she doesn’t plan on is meeting Daniel Bae, the idealistic aspiring poet  who believes their meeting was an act of faith. Tasha is pragmatic and doesn’t believe in fate or soul mates but as they spend the day together Daniel starts to change her mind and get inside her heart. But what does any of it mean when in 24 hours she won’t be allowed back in the United States ?

Honestly, I was kind of lukewarm on the romance, I just have a hard time investing in romances in such a condensed timeline. To me the most interesting thing about this book is how the story is structured. Not only do we get Daniel and Tasha’s POVs we also get these mini sections called “brief histories” that give you a minor characters past and future or give you a history on a certain subject. I liked the way these sections broadened the 24 hour timeline a little bit.

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The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Adieh

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May 12th 2015 | Pages: 388  | Genre: Historical/Fantasy | Publisher : Penguin Random house

I’m going to go ahead and reuse a .gif from my Red Queen Review

I mean we have the cold boy king Khalid, his protective cousin Jalal, the boyfriend Tariq  and then his best friend Rahim.

Let me back up here. This YA novel is an adaption of  the Arabian story of Scheherazade, a woman who tells the king a captivating story  for 1001 nights to keep him from killing her and they eventually fall in love. You know kind of a Netflix and chill situation.

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Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

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  • Release Date : September 1st 2015
  • Genre : Contemporary
  • Pages : 320
  • Publisher : Delacorte Books For Young Readers

 

To Madeline Whittier the world is a stranger. She suffers from a rare illness that makes her allergic to…everything. She has classes, the internet and mom to keep her connected, but when a troubled family with a curious boy moves next door she realizes she could have more.


I went into this novel thinking it would focus on a romance between Olly and Maddy, but the story focuses more on Maddy’s coming-of-age.  For me this book was all about Maddy and the romance didn’t quite do it for me. I  was more drawn to how Yoon wrote Maddy’s inner conflicts. As the reader you know the risks she takes to be normal are bad for her, but you still want her to take the chance….

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Audiobook Review: Fake ID by Lamar Giles

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  • Release Date: January 21, 2014
  • Genre: Contemporary/Thriller/Mystery
  • Length: 7 hours 58 minutes
  • Publisher: Harper Audio

In Lamar Giles debut novel, new kid in town Nick Pearson finds himself mixed up in a murder with a side of corruption. As Nick searches for answers to a murder that could upend all his secrets he dodges bullies, crashes a party and tries to keep his parents together.  Move over Veronica Mars, Nick Pearson is on the case.

Lamar Giles writing is clever. He lays out tension, plot and conflict in front of you while still sneaking in a bit of misdirection. He has a great way of ending chapters on mini cliffhangers and you just HAVE to know what happens next.  I totally did not see the ending coming. I was like “what !?” This isn’t really a spoiler but. . .literally anyone can die. Which takes the tension up to eleven

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