Smart Girls Get What They Want

Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer follows Gigi a super smart girl who decides to make a change in her life after discovering how much of a nobody her friends older sister was in high school.  Gigi and her friends slowly loosen up and become part of the high school community while maintaining their strict academics and experience some love on the side.

This was a fantastic book.  Gigi is smart and a strong and unapologetic.  While she does change during the break she never at any point allows herself to compromise her ideals or what is important to her.  The romance was sweet and had me smiling until the end with a love triangle that really worked.  I finished this book quicky and couldn't put it down.

Appropriateness:  This book is able to maintain an older teen feel while still remaining completely innocent and appropriate for younger readers.  There is no adult content.   Gigi is the girl that all of us wish our daughters would be, smart and demanding and unwilling to give up anything for a boy.  The romance is sweet and limited to a few kisses.   I'd recommend this book to readers 13+ who are fans of romance and chic lit.

Review Copy Provided by Amazon Vine

Croak

Croak by Gina Damico follows Lex who is sent to live with her uncle after a turbulent year where Gina's anger consistantly gets the best of her.  When she arrives in her uncles hometown she finds that things are not as she thought they would be.  Her uncle is a Grimm Reaper and he is going to teach Lex how to kill.

I loved this book.  The mythology was original and interesting.  I loved tough girl Lex and the other teens that she worked with.  The mystery was interesting and kept me guessing.  The ending is clear and fulfilling enough to not feel like a cliffhanger but there is still plenty of mystery to be explored.

Appropriateness:  This is a great book for teens that is mature enough for older teens to enjoy.  There is no real adult content although the teens do drink a mythological substance recreationaly while hanging out in a bar like setting.There is a bit of a romance but not enough to turn off readers who are not interested in romance.  I would recommend this book to readers 13+

Review copy provided by Amazon Vine

The Way We Fall

The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe is told in journal format by Kaelyn a girl who is stuck on an island which has been quarantined because of a horrible virus that kills everyone that contracts it.  When Kaelyn's friend's father gets mysteriously sick it starts a chain reaction that leads to the island being quarantined as more and more people die every day.  The quarantine gets worse and worse everyday as the islanders are cut off and abandoned  by the rest of the country.

I really enjoyed this novel.  The author did a good job creating a situation that is both terrifying and believable.  Kaelyn is a great character and loved the interactions with her friends and family.  There are enough new revelations as the story goes on to keep the reader interested.   I did find the story to be a little slow at times and I was very frustrated by the sudden ending.

Appropriateness:  There is no adult content in this book.  The romance is limited to a few kisses.  There is a lot of death making this a very emotional book.  I would recommend this book to teens who are a fan of dystopian and post apocalyptic novels.  

Review copy obtained from netgalley

Frost

Frost by Wendy Delsol is the sequel to Stork.  Stork follows Katla who finds out that she is a member of the stork society which helps deliver souls to the right mother. Katlya has to decide who a lost soul should go to and she has to figure out the mystery of her missing past.  I loved the first book.

Frost starts with Katla and Jack spending Christmas together.  After Jack makes a horrible storm things start to get weird.  A seemingly perfect weather researcher comes to town and mesmerizes everyone.  When she takes Jack away Katlya must rescue him and save the world.

I was looking forward to this book so much.  I love love loved the first in the series.  This book however was a total disappointment and I had to force myself to finish it.  It was filled with all these mini-plots that were not that interesting and instead of the big plot point being about Katla's Boyfriend Jack being mysteriously enamored with an adult.  The ending was weird and disappointing.  I was looking forward to a story of Katlya the stork and instead I got a girl who sits by while her boyfriend ignores her and then has to rescue him with a weird Icelandic twist.

Appropriateness:  This novel doesn't have any adult content.  There is an implied adult/teen relationship but it's part of a spell so. . .   I would recommend this book to teens 12+

Review copy obtained from netgalley

My Double Life

My Double Life by Janette Rallison stars Alexia Garcia who has always known that she looks strangely like pop star Kari Kingsly.  When she is approached by Keri's publicist to act as a stand in she takes the job much to the disapproval of her Mother.  Her mother however does tell her the truth of her conception and that Alexia is Keri's half sister.  Keri is soon thrown into an unfamiliar world and develops a crush on a pop star that turns everything into a mess.

This is a fantastic and fun fairytale story.  Alexia is a nice girl with a big heart who wants to do what is right.  The story was fantastical but yet had enough details to make it slightly believable.  I really enjoyed the story and tore through it in a matter of hours.

Appropriateness: Alexia is a good girl who has good values and is a nice role model.  Her sister Keri has celebrity problems including a gambling addiction which are talked about.  The romance is sweet and innocent and only includes kissing.  I would recommend this book to girls 11-15.

Bestest Ramadan Ever

Bestest. Ramadan. Ever by Medeia Sharif follows Almira a Muslim girl who is trying to have her first successful Ramadan fast.  The members of Almira's family differ in how devout they are from her grandfather disapproving of anything American to Almira herself who appreciates her heritage but also wants to be able to have a boyfriend and wear makeup.  The story follows Almira through her month of Ramadan while she tries to balance her families traditions with the American lifestyle that her friends have.

This is a cute and funny book about an immigrant trying to make sense out of the complex world that she lives in.  Trying to figure out how to be Muslim enough for her parents but American enough for herself.  The book doesn't do a great job at showing readers what it's like to be an Islamic teenager.  Islam and her families culture is seen more as a burden and the reader isn't given many positive aspects of the religion to balance out the negatives.  However, I loved Almira and was engrossed in her story and finished the book quickly.  The author did a fantastic job at creating characters that the reader cares about and there are lots of funny moments in the book (like the comments that her English teachers writes on her daily journal entries).

Appropriateness:  There is not any adult content in this book.  This is a light hearted fun contemporary novel that will be enjoyed by readers 11+

Wildefire

Wildefire by Karsten Knight stars Ashline Wilde.  After suffering a traumatic experience involving her wild sister causing the death of a field hockey player though a lightning strike Ashlyn moves to a boarding school in California.  Soon after arriving she finds herself drawn to a group of students and they find out that they are gods which explains odd moments in their past and they quickly gain use of their powers.  While the others are told who they are Ashline's past and powers are still unexplained and her powerful storm goddess sister is inflicting chaos.

This book suffers from a bad publishing decision.  The person in charge of marketing the book spoils a major piece of the plot and the ending in all of the press materials.  An important development in the last thirty or so pages is printed on the back flap.  So while reading the book you know what the big reveal will be which ruins a large chunk of the story.  Aside from that the book was fairly good.  The mythology was well developed and original.  While there were a few snags in the writing that dragged in the beginning (including a section written in second person) and a large number of plot points left dangling I did enjoy the book and I cared about the characters.

Appropriateness:  There are quite a few drinking scenes including the kids drinking in a bar complete with fake ID's.  The sexual content is limited to heavy makeout sessions (and includes a scene where Ashline forcibly kicks a boy out of her room for being too demanding).  Ashline is  in her late teens and acts true to her age.  I would recommend this book to the older end of the YA audience, readers 13+

Forgotten

  Forgotten By Cat Patrick follows London Lane, a girl who remembers the future instead of the past.  Every day she wakes up with no memory of what happened the day before and only the notes that she has written and her memories of the future to guide her through her life.  This can be quite difficult when you're in high school.  When she meets Luke, a boy that she has no memory of she brushes him off at first but slowly builds a relationship for which she is guided by only the notes she has written to herself and falls in love with him everyday.  She slowly starts to develop a few memories of the past and starts to question if she can change the future.  The mystery and romance that develop through her discovery lead to a great story by the author. 

This book is a great one for lovers of YA romantic lit.  The story and background are original and the characters are very likable and behaved in a fairly realistic manner for teenagers.  Making this even more interesting she had no one to lead her through her condition, it wasn't something that ran in the family and there was no group that showed up to help her use her power to become a super hero.

Appropriateness:  There is a bit of sex talk but no actual sex.  The main couple falls asleep on a date and Luke sneaks into London's room at night a couple times (but she makes him sleep in the closet).  The relationship is healthy and sweet.  London gets in a huge argument with her best friend because of her best friend's romantic relationship with a teacher.  There is no substance use.  The reading level isn't challenging and I'd gauge the interest level as 13 and up.

Review copy provided by the publisher