Reviews written by Christina Franke, Editor
| Overall rating | 3.7 | |
| Plot | 4.0 | |
| Characters | 3.0 | |
| Writing Style | 4.0 |
A Hard-Hitting Contemporary on Dealing with the Loss of a Parent
What I Loved: Courtney Summers is one of those authors I come to for a really depressing read, and she really delivers in Fall for Anything. Eddie Reeves' has not been the same since her photographer father committed suicide. Of course, who would be with a loved parent dead and...
| Overall rating | 3.0 | |
| Plot | 3.0 | |
| Characters | 3.0 | |
| Writing Style | 3.0 |
An Enjoyable Historical Romance
What I Loved: Eve Edwards' Lacey Chronicles offer up historical romance for a young adult audience. I enjoyed both the previous two novels in the series, and was eager to break into this one. As with the rest of the series, The Rogue's Princess is a quick, light, romantic read,...
| Overall rating | 4.0 | |
| Plot | 5.0 | |
| Characters | 4.0 | |
| Writing Style | 3.0 |
An Even More Intense Read Than Legend
What I Loved: The plotting of Legend follows a pretty standard dystopian outline, but, in Prodigy, Marie Lu really does something different. The first book set the pieces perfectly for her to branch out. Without spoilers, I really cannot tell you much specifically about what is awesome, but just believe...
| Overall rating | 3.0 | |
| Plot | 3.0 | |
| Characters | 3.0 | |
| Writing Style | 3.0 |
Frankenstein's Daughters Join the Family Business
What I Loved: No matter my opinions on the source material, I cannot resist retellings. I read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in high school, and I loathed pretty much every bit of it. Perhaps I might be able to appreciate its wordiness and lack of action more now, but, at the...
| Overall rating | 3.7 | |
| Plot | 4.0 | |
| Characters | 3.0 | |
| Writing Style | 4.0 |
Action-Packed Dystopia!
What I Loved: Marie Lu's debut is jam-packed with action. Where the derring-do in Divergent comes across as over-the-top and done merely because of how cool it sounds, the action scenes in Legend belong. Both Day and June commit seemingly impossible acts all of the time, but they also have...
| Overall rating | 3.8 | |
| Writing Style | 3.0 | |
| Plot/Story | 4.0 | |
| Illustrations (if applicable) | N/A | |
| Characters (if applicable) | 3.0 | |
| Editing/Design Quality | 5.0 |
A Quality Self-Published Novel
What I Loved: You know what? I don't read too many self-pubs, because there are so many that are poorly edited or have truly nightmare-inducing covers. I could never make it a policy to not read any, though, because there are self-published authors like Trisha Leigh who totally work it....
| Overall rating | 3.0 | |
| Plot | 3.0 | |
| Characters | 3.0 | |
| Writing Style | 3.0 |
A Quick Read for Fans of the Contributing Authors
What I Loved: Anthologies are ever a mixed bag. Rarely will a reader love every single story, and, in this case, I didn't even like most of them. However, I can give this anthology some higher praise than some where I liked more of the stories: it's more consistent. The...
| Overall rating | 4.0 | |
| Plot | 4.0 | |
| Characters | 4.0 | |
| Writing Style | 4.0 |
Focuses More on Family Than Romance
What I Loved: As I began reading Kiss Me Again, I was initially highly concerned. I really liked the direction that Charlie was heading in at the end of If We Kiss. She had finally managed to make a step away from her unhealthy crush on boy-flirt Kevin Lazarus, which...
| Overall rating | 4.3 | |
| Plot | 4.0 | |
| Characters | 4.0 | |
| Writing Style | 5.0 |
An Excellent Choice for Fans of Bacigalupi and Star Wars
What I Loved: As happens from time to time, I've read a book that is wonderful, but that does not work perfectly for the kind of reader that I am. Rootless by Chris Howard is a true dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel set in a nightmare landscape. The writing is beautiful and the...
| Overall rating | 4.3 | |
| Plot | 5.0 | |
| Characters | 4.0 | |
| Writing Style | 4.0 |
A Solid Sequel to Breaking Point
What I Loved: Simmons' series actually belongs under the heading of a dystopia. As long as the people follow the rules of the lawmakers, the society is perfect, but, for those who break the articles, the society is a hell. Unlike most YA dystopian series, the resistance is hardly a...
| Overall rating | 3.7 | |
| Plot | 4.0 | |
| Characters | 4.0 | |
| Writing Style | 3.0 |
A Surprisingly Sweet, Strange Book
What I Loved: Despite not ever having heard anything about Couloumbis or Not Exactly a Love Story, I was intrigued. I mean, how many YA books do you hear about set in the 1970s? That's just not a popular era for historical fiction yet. At first, I wasn't too sure...
| Overall rating | 5.0 | |
| Plot | 5.0 | |
| Characters | 5.0 | |
| Writing Style | 5.0 |
There's a Reason Everyone Loves This Series
What I Loved: I will do my best to refrain my flailing and fangirling in this review, but it's going to be really difficult, because this series gives me so many feels. SO. MANY. FEELS. Seriously, if you like contemporaries at all and are not easily offended, then you really...
| Overall rating | 4.3 | |
| Plot | 5.0 | |
| Characters | 4.0 | |
| Writing Style | 4.0 |
Even Better Than Ultraviolet
What I Loved: Ultraviolet begins largely as a contemporary, then making a dramatic twist to science fiction. As I said in my review then, I really preferred the first half of Ultraviolet, with its focus on synesthesia and mental illness. Quicksilver does not have this issue, and is a...
| Overall rating | 4.0 | |
| Plot/Characters/Writing Style | 4.0 | |
| Illustrations/Photos (if applicable) | N/A |
As Beautiful and Adventurous as the Cover
What I Loved: For those who like to indulge wanderlust with fiction, Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green is a real treat. Set in the jungles of Central America, the descriptions are as lush and verdant as the landscape being described. Phillips captures both the beauty and the danger inherent...
| Overall rating | 4.0 | |
| Plot | 4.0 | |
| Characters | 4.0 | |
| Writing Style | 4.0 |
Two Touching Novels for the Price of One
What I Loved: Prior to this omnibus, I had never read any of Deb Caletti's works. Obviously, I am familiar with her name, but I never used to read much contemporary fiction, so I just was not interested. Now that I've discovered my love for contemporaries, it was the perfect...
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