I love modern-day witches. I love queer romance. I love mysteries. I’m not typically a huge YA reader, but I like the first three things enough to give queer YA witch romance mystery These Witches Don’t Burn a try. While this book was not without its flaws, there was something quite fresh-feeling about These Witches Don’t Burn that I appreciated. It took a lot of common YA tropes, such as “I’m trying to be a … Continue reading These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling →
By Wingèd Chair is a young adult coming-of-age fantasy romance novel which plays with the Robin Hood story and takes it in some interesting new directions. Set in a fantasy world that has both medieval European and Victorian steampunk elements, the backdrop to the story is the unjust rule of Duke John, who has somehow disposed of his elder brother and now rules the country with the aid of the Sheriff and his Peacekeepers, who … Continue reading By Wingèd Chair by Kendra Merritt →
Note: This review contains minimal spoilers for the first book A Spark of White Fire. The YA SFF trilogy must be read in order. If this review piques your interest, then I recommend that you start with the previous book. If someone asked me what the happiest event of my life has been up to this point, I’d point to the moment when my parents decided to leave Asia and relocate our family to the … Continue reading A House of Rage and Sorrow by Sangu Mandanna →
Unmet expectations are killer. I wanted a kickass bisexual heroine tearing down the corrupt empire and stealing a dragon to rescue her kidnapped girlfriend. What I got was a slow-paced fantasy novel with an additional love interest that I desperately tried to will out of existence. By “slow-paced,” I mean boring. There is a chunk in the middle where I didn’t understand why the plot wasn’t moving. The entire premise is that the rescue mission … Continue reading Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells →
Sherry Thomas is the rare writer that I’ll follow to any genre. I inhaled her gorgeous European historicals as a teen and reread them at least thrice a year (The Luckiest Lady in London remains in my list of Top 10 Favorite Romances of All Time). When she wrote YA fantasy in the Elemental Trilogy, I mourned the loss of her historicals but nonetheless gobbled up those new books as well. When she moved on … Continue reading The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas →
The Lady Rogue is a charming, magical, and exhilarating adventure across 1930s Romania. If the premise seems reminiscent of Indiana Jones, there’s a good reason for it. With treasure-hunting galore and reckless protagonists getting themselves entangled with ancient magical artifacts, The Lady Rogue is a madcap romp like no other. I wasted away a sunny afternoon recently, swaying on a hammock in my backyard while Theodora Fox and her love ex-best friend Huck Gallagher chased … Continue reading The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett →
The Princess and the Fangirl is a romantic YA retelling of The Prince and the Pauper, set at a science fiction convention. This book, the second in the Geekerella series, includes a f/f romance and a f/m romance but is primarily about the personal growth of the two heroines, Jessica and Imogene. It is lighter than a piece of glitter but does a good job of capturing the crowded, crazy convention world. You can certainly get … Continue reading The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston →
This is a difficult book to grade. I finished it because I wanted to see what happened. At the same time, I was easily distracted while reading because I got bored being told everything. I was curious about the rules of the magic and the roles of difference characters, but I was also really uneasy and at times repulsed by the portrayal of those characters. Some existed without connection to context or larger meaning, even … Continue reading Deadly Sweet by Lola Dodge →
Although I used to mainline teen fiction like there was no tomorrow, I’ve largely taken a break for the last couple of years. This is partly because I spent the last two years reading 300+ adult fiction books while I served on a committee which I lovingly referred to as “My Crazy Ass Reading Committee” but which is properly known as The Reading List Committee. Reading Alterations, I was reminded of the other reason teen … Continue reading Alterations by Stephanie Scott →
NB: It’s Flashback Friday! Given Sarah’s recent love of Labyrinth Lost, it seemed fitting to resurrect another YA, urban fantasy with a diverse heroine that she happened to enjoy. This review was originally published July 15, 2015. Shadowshaper is a freaking incredible novel. It’s a bit outside my reading tastes because it’s urban fantasy and it’s for teen readers, a vein of YA I haven’t read much of. But it’s also got a huge portion of my catnip because it includes … Continue reading Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older →
Someone has to say it and it might as well be me: Seriously Wicked is seriously adorable. This is a light YA urban fantasy, suitable for tweens and up (actually it’s pretty G-rated, but I’m guessing it will be most interesting to tweens and younger teens as opposed to younger kids). There was plenty to amuse and delight me as an adult reader, starting with the book’s opening: I was mucking out the dragon’s garage … Continue reading Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly →
