Genre: Young Adult
Lightning Review

Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 1 by Yuki Shiwasu

Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 1

A young woman, Utage Kinoshita, who loves the popular boy band F/ACE, has a job as a house cleaner. When she covers for a colleague who calls out, she discovers the assignment is for her favorite member of F/ACE, Tamon Fukuhara. However, Tamon’s charming, bad boy persona is fake and the poor guy is riddled with imposter syndrome and anxiety. A lot of manga feature teenagers as the main characters; that’s the case with all … Continue reading Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 1 by Yuki Shiwasu

Book Review

Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney

Escaping Mr. Rochester

Escaping Mr. Rochester is not the book I hoped for but it’s OK. This is a YA retelling of Jane Eyre.  If you’ve been reading SBTB for awhile, you know that Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books. I read it annually, and each year it gives me a new experience, ranging from comforting and empowering to deeply challenging. I liked the basic content of Escaping Mr. Rochester, but wished it delved more deeply … Continue reading Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney

Book Review

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing

If you are even remotely on bookish social media, then you are aware of Fourth Wing. It’s been much-hyped and sold out and everywhere I look online there are rave reviews for this YA-fantasy-romance. I am not here to yuck anyone’s yum. If you read Fourth Wing and you loved it, I am totally happy for you. I want people to love what they read. This was not a book that worked for me, though, … Continue reading Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Book, Lightning Review

Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef

Once There Was

If you are into cryptids/imaginary beasts/monsters from mythology and folklore, then you’ll find Once There Was to be a real treat. In this story, a teenager named Marjan is left an orphan when her father, a veterinarian, is murdered. Marjan soon discovers that her father had an unusual clientele consisting of magical animals and that she has inherited a gift of sensing their feelings and needs, a discovery that upends her life in every possible … Continue reading Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef

Book Review

This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang

This Time It’s Real

This Time It’s Real is a YA celebrity romance that focuses a lot on identity and fitting in. Eliza Lin’s mother is a corporate crisis manager, and as a result of her mom’s career she’s spent her childhood living all over the world. Now she’s in Beijing, and even though she’s Chinese, she doesn’t feel like she fits in at her new school any better than her last one. Eliza’s passion is writing, and for … Continue reading This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang

Lightning Review

At Midnight edited by Dahlia Adler

At Midnight

At Midnight, edited by Dahlia Adler, is a creative, inclusive mix of fairy tale reimaginings from a diverse YA perspective. Some of the stories are funny, some horrifying, but all are inventive and subversive. Different people will of course have different favorites, but my favorite story was “In the Forests of the Night.” In this retelling of “Fitcher’s Bird,” author Gita Trelease creates a bloody, vengeful, feminist and anti-colonialist version of the fairytale set in … Continue reading At Midnight edited by Dahlia Adler

Book Review

Threadneedle by Cari Thomas

Threadneedle

Threadneedle was not at all the book I expected, but I found myself engrossed in the story even though I was upset by the content. In this YA novel, Anna, who has been taught to suppress her magic by her abusive aunt, falls in with a group of teens who are all too eager to explore their magical skills. As they hex bullies and dabble in romance, Anna must determine whether her aunt is to … Continue reading Threadneedle by Cari Thomas

Book Review

Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

Our Crooked Hearts

Don’t start Our Crooked Hearts unless you have time to finish it. It’s such a wonderful, spooky, thrilling story that it’s hard to put down. It’s a book about imperfect parents, teenage dissatisfaction, and female empowerment and it unfolds beautifully. It’s also a remarkable ghost story. While this book has horror elements to it, it wasn’t especially scary and would be appropriate for a teen. I do want to warn readers about some violence to … Continue reading Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

Book Review

In Every Generation by Kendare Blake

In Every Generation

Crystal Anne With An E comes to us from a sunny clime, though she is an indoor cat that prefers to remain pale. She is an autism consultant by day, and recently completed a degree in information science, mostly because she could and it was fun. She likes to read (obviously), watch TV while cross-stitching something geeky, play video games, beg her plants not to die in the hell heat of summer, and walk while … Continue reading In Every Generation by Kendare Blake

Lightning Review

So This Is Ever After by F. T. Lukens

So This Is Ever After

Oh my gosh you guys, this book is just as dreamy and adorable as its cover suggests. I’m not usually fond of the trope in which the main conflict between a couple is that neither can bring themselves to admit their feelings. However, I have a soft spot for this charming story in which a young group of questers has to sort out their feelings while managing a kingdom that they didn’t think they’d be … Continue reading So This Is Ever After by F. T. Lukens

Book Review

Being Mary Bennet by J.C. Peterson

Being Mary Bennet

Mary Bennet is my favorite of the sisters in Pride and Prejudice. Her great sin is that she has no sense of humility and no sense of humor, but I’ve always believed that over time she might develop those qualities and just be an awesome nerd who likes reading in the corner. Being Mary Bennet is a modern-day story in which a high school senior at a San Francisco boarding school comes to accept the … Continue reading Being Mary Bennet by J.C. Peterson

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