Poems and Poets

Publication Date:  June 23rd, 2015 Genre:  Young Adult, Romance, Realistic Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source:  Own Copy Emmy's best friend was kidnapped ten years ago. Life in her small town home has been stilted since Oliver was taken by his father. Her parents are the most over-protective parents in town and she keeps so many secrets from them it's hard to keep count. Then Oliver comes back. After ten years, Oliver finally learns that his father was the bad guy. It wasn't his mother who deserted him, it wasn't a messy separation that led to him never seeing her again. He needs time to figure out his new world. He's back in a place he doesn't remember calling home and his life has changed drastically. In the second grade, Emmy and Oliver pledged to be best friends forever. Has their relationship withstood the test of time and distance? Can they mend their friendship and build it into something greater? Emmy has held onto him for a decade. Has Ol...

Publication Date: September 26, 2017 Genre: Middle Grade My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source: Publisher (Through Edelweiss) Christa loves Christmas. The holiday season is her favorite season of all time- it's just so perfect! Unfortunately, this year, the holidays are stained by her parents separation. She can't imagine spending the vacations without her father, even when her mom tells her she'll be joining her on a trip across Europe for the winter. A cautious, play-it-safe kind of girl, Christa isn't really looking forward to the crowds and new foods. When she gets to her hotel though, there's a package from her father awaiting her. The first of 12, the letter dares to her complete a task she normally wouldn't. As Christa works to finish the dares and make new friends within her mom's acting troop, her father shapes her into a more confident girl, from halfway across the world!

Publication Date: September 19th 2017 Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source: Publisher (Through Edelweiss) Kadi is a young girl in modern-day Timbuktu. Daughter of a scripture librarian. A fan of literature, music and art, she hopes one day to become the esteemed guardian of the scriptures her father currently looks after. Ali is a small-town boy from the villages of Mali. He's joined the Defenders of Faith, a branch of Al Qaeda and is an important player in the take of Timbuktu. As life changes drastically in Timbuktu, Ali and Kadi meet. They hate each other instantly- but something about their natures encourages them to interact with one another. Opening up to each other was a huge mistake- or was it?

Publication Date: September 12th 2017 Genre: Young Adult Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source: Publisher (Through Edelweiss) Wendy's dad was a police officer in Chicago. She always thought he resembled the heroes in movies. That is, until he was arrested. Her life turns upside down when she is ostracized for her last name. To make things worse, she gets threatened on the way back from a party one night. Finally, Wendy meets exactly the right kind of girl to help her build up a defense system. Kenzie is mean, popular, and an alpha. Along with two other girls, Wendy has become part of the school's most popular clique- where no one can touch her. This "toxic friendship" begins to drain Wendy. She knows bullying others to protect herself is wrong. She knows that Kenzie is possibly one of the worst people she has met. But is she so addicted to the safety and power that she should compromise her values?

 Publication Date: September 5th 2017 Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source: Publisher (Through Edelweiss) Leo and Caleb aren't best friends. Then again, most siblings have complex relationships. When Caleb's angry though, his outbursts literally send Leo running. This violent behavior forces the family to relocate, to a new setting where Leo and Caleb both hope to prosper. Over time, Leo develops the ability to run fast and think ahead. He joins the cross-country and track teams at his new school, and even befriends a state champion. Learning from the best runner his age, Leo improves his skills and even meets a girl he has a crush on. Yet Caleb still hasn't managed to settle down in his new life. Leo's newfound peace won't last long, because Caleb's jealousy will soon start to show in violent beatings and scary behavior.

Publication Date: September 5th 2017 Genre: Young Adult Contemporary My Goodreads Rating: 2/5 Source: Publisher (Through Edelweiss) Charlotte and Frankie are ordinary, boring high schoolers who live with their almost-normal parents. They don't have a perfect body, or a soulmate (except maybe each other). They haven't had the perfect romance, the best adventure or the wildest party. They are just teenagers. Until Charlotte decides to document their lives in a book to prove how boring they are. Sophomore year is just the same as freshman year, her friends are still the same and she's the kid she always was. Or is she?

Publication Date: March 31st 2003 Genre: Young Adult Contemporary My Goodreads Rating: 3/5 Source:  Own Copy Francesca has recently shifted to St. Sebastian's, a formerly all-boys school. The school has recently made the shift to co-ed, but students frequently forget that the girls are a part of the school. She surrounds herself with girls, but finds friends only in a dorky musician, passionate activist and rumored slut. She can't find any boy she'd rather hang out with. The burping and farting masters are disgusting and the serious prefects are way too self-absorbed. Just when Francesca needs her the most, her uber-confident mom is diagnosed with acute depression. Her family doesn't want to talk about it, her dad pins everything on her and her younger brother is sent away to live with their grandparents.

Publication Date: February 17th 2016 Genre: Young-Adult (Contemporary) My Goodreads Rating: 5/5 Source:  Own Copy Maddie has just graduated from high school and she plans on spending the summer before college ticking items off her bucket list- or her "loose ends" list, as she likes to call it- with her best friends. Her socialite grandmother, who's young-at-heart and fiercely passionate- calls a suspicious family gathering at her town house one day which changes the way Maddie looks at life forever. Her amazing grandmother has been diagnosed with cancer- and she doesn't want to be treated for it! To spend as much time with her family as she can, the O'Niell Matriarch books an international family cruise. The up-side? Great food, interesting people, amazing destinations. The down side? Grandma O'Niell may not come home at the end of the trip.

Publication Date: March 7th 2017 Genre: Young Adult (Contemporary) My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source:  Own Copy Julia finds something nasty written about her best friend on a wall at the Kingston School for the Deaf. As a true best friend, she covers it up with a beautiful graffiti mural. This so-called best friend snitches, and gets her expelled from her school. Julia's two mothers send her to a "mainstream" school in the suburbs, where she's treated like an alien for being the only deaf student. The only thing she has left is her art- and although she promised her mothers she would give up graffiti, Julia finds herself being more and more dependent on her art. Eager to let the world know that she's willing to declare art turf even in the suburbs, Julia paints everywhere. Soon, she realizes that someone is improving her tags, adding their own style to them. Julia has been dragged into a "full-blown graffiti war".

Publication Date: August 8th 2011 Genre: Middle-Grade, Science Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 3/5 Source:  Own Copy Miranda is a pre-teen living in New York City with her eccentric mum. Her best friend lives only a few apartments away from her, and her mom is auditioning for a reality TV show. Her life begins to unravel, when Sal (her best friend) gets hit by a street-side bully for no reason. Then her mom's spare key is stolen, and a rather mysterious note arrives. The note claims that the writer is coming to save the life of one of Miranda's friends. It asks Miranda to write a letter to the anonymous sender of the notes. The notes keep coming, and Miranda realises that the writer seems to be able to predict-accurately predict-the future. Each message leads her to believe that she can prevent a disaster. The last note however, makes her think she's too late to avert a tragic death.

Publication Date: 4th October 2016 Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 5/5 Source:  Own Copy This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills is the tale of a young girl from New York (Sloane) who moves to Florida and finds herself in a great friendship with twins; Vera is a social-media star with an incredibly bright personality and Gabe a serious and profound boy.  Vera and Gabe's father has recently remarried, and the twins are struggling to accept the loss of their mother. When one of her beloved paintings goes missing, the twins are absolutely crushed. Feeling a fierce sense of protectiveness for her friends, Sloane takes it upon herself to track down the missing painting and secure her friendship with Vera and Gabe.

Publication Date: March 22nd 2011 Genre: Realistic Fiction, Grief My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source:  Own Copy This novel was a recommendation by my mom, and I was surprisingly  interested in the story right from the beginning. I can't say that this book has been on my to-read list for a long time, but I simply can't understand why I didn't pick up this book earlier!  Night Road by Kristin Hannah follows the story of a young teen who's been in the foster care system since she can remember. Alexa (or Lexi) has finally found her permanent home with her Great Aunt. Her social worker enrolls her in a prestigious high school, where she befriends Mia, an introvert who's twin brother is the school's most popular boy.

Publication Date: February 11th 2016 Genre: Friendship, Young Adult Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source:  Borrowed Hello Everyone! It's been a while since I last reviewed a book, so today I'm going to share with you my thoughts on a book I recently read- Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard . It was a great book, and although it may sound like a typical novel about friendship and trust, this book has interesting characters, realistic scenarios, and a great story line.  This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I'll admit that I was a little skeptical about the novel at first. It seems like your everyday friendship and self-destruction novel, but it's so much more than that. Cadman and Rosie have been best friends for ten years, even though they're not in the same school. They embody the spirit of the saying "opposites attract". While Cadman is shy and timid, Rosie is loud and out-going in the best way.