Reviews written by Kelsey Slemp

BLACK SPRING is one of those books that is hard to define into a neat category. It has magic in it, with wizards and witches and the likes, but it doesn’t come across as that sort of book. It also has a certain amount of romance aspects, although I wouldn’t...

JUST LIKE FATE has a lot to do with the consequences of the choices you make. The main premise of the story is that Caroline has to choose whether to stay with her dying grandmother, who she lives with, or to go a party and unwind. She hems and haws...

THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is one of those stories about how the awkward, friendless teenager comes to love herself. The main character is Elise, who spends her summer trying to turn herself into a new girl, a “popular” girl, before the new school year. This attempt to be...

KINDNESS FOR WEAKNESS is meant to teach the meaning of manhood and what has to be done to acquire it, and it started out pretty well. The main character, James, is wandering around, contemplating his messed up family, life and such. It was intriguing, but...

SHUTDOWN has some major improvements from the first two books in the series. It has far more original twists and ideas; it doesn’t have the same patchwork feel as GLITCH and OVERRIDE. Zoe was so much more genuine in this book as well, her motives and...

Everything about DEFRIENDED sets it up to be a horror story, mysterious, over the internet, possibly undead girlfriend, right? But it’s not, not at all. Sure it’s a bit creepy at times, but all good books are. What it really is is a mystery, one of the what-the-heck-is-going-on-here variety. And...

I’ve never really liked short stories. They’re hard to get into and once you are in it’s not for long, and frankly, they're just not much fun. But what I do like is Neil Gaiman, he’s dark and he’s disturbing, there’s a certain wit and mysterious charm about his writing...

This book is the proud owner of what is probably the worst tagline of all time, so my suggestion to you is don’t read the back cover, glance at the front cover, and then just read the book. ‘Cause it’s a darn fine book. There is your...

DEAD SILENCE has a prologue, which usually I don’t care for, because they’re kind of long and are about people whose existence is as of yet unknown to you. This, however, was the prologue that when other prologues read it they give up and go home - crying. It’s short...

THE LOOK is trying to say something, it really is. It tends towards the theme that inner beauty is more important that outer beauty. Unfortunately this wasn’t done very strongly, so I got what was trying to be said but I didn’t actually believe them, it seemed more like an...

THE TURNING is written completely in letter form, mostly from a boy, Jack, to his girlfriend Sophia. The only problem I have with that is they are very impersonal, written more like a journal entry with her name tossed in here and there. Jack doesn’t really talk to her about...

This is the third book in the Body Finders, and sadly probably my least favorite. That’s not to say that it isn’t good, because it is, very much so. It’s just that it shifts its focus away from all the characters that I grew to love in the first books...

So here we have it, Body Finders book two! Very exciting. This is definitely one of those series where you really should read them in order, so, if you haven’t read BODY FINDER, get yourself over there and read it first. One thing I really love...

Here is someone who knows how to end a chapter. It’s one of those deals when no matter how many times you tell yourself that you’ll stop reading at the end of the chapter, it just doesn’t happen. They end so compellingly and with such suspense that it just seems...

THE BOOK THIEF is the kind of book that’ll make you cry; bawl your eyes out in the middle of the night because you can’t sleep until you finish it. Then it turns right around and makes you alternately laugh and sit in awed silence until you have to cry...