Young Adult

Carry On

1 Comment / 2016, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Queer, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I was looking for audiobooks to take with us to Florida and noticed a new Rainbow Rowell book, so I reserved it. We started listening to Carry On and we were immediately confused. It sounded like a sequel and I hate reading books out of order.

Turns out it’s not a sequel, it’s just a book about fictional characters from her previous book (which I didn’t actually realize existed.) So, we went ahead and listened to it. Harry Potter fan fic type of thing. It was amusing, as Rowell’s books are, and a good choice for the car ride.

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The Curse of the Wendigo

2016, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I reserved The Curse of the Wendigo in audio, right before we went on our house hunting trip. It seemed like it would be a fun book to listen to, the Gainesville connection and all that. But, it didn’t arrive til we got home. (Figures, right?)

Oh boy. This was one hell of a graphic horror novel — I wasn’t expecting that. I mean, I know we read the first book a zillion years ago but I do not remember it being like this. I even wondered a few times if I was wrong and this wasn’t a YA series because it was… wow. Shudder. Don’t read it if you have scary monster kind of nightmares, sheesh.

Read it if you like good writing and interesting characters, because it has both.

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Infandrous

2016, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

It was a bit of a mistake to read Infandrous right after reading All the Rage… all the bad things that can happen to girls can get a little overwhelming and depressing when you’re reading about it constantly.

But, I really liked Infandrous except I’m not sure it read as YA. The myths scattered throughout the book went a long way towards making this one hell of a dark and deep novel. Not to mention “Felix”… I wonder if teens reading this would have realized who Felix was without having it spelled out at the end. I wish I knew a teen who might read it so I could find out, lol.

Anyway. I really liked this one. It’s one of my favorite books of the year, so far.

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All the Rage

2016, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Young Adult /

Courtney Summers, y’all. Some of you will know why I say that. Some of you won’t, (sorry!) All the Rage is exactly the right title for this book.

Romy has rage, as she should. And that rage wreaks havoc with her relationships with everyone and especially with herself.

I’m not sure I liked Leon’s character… liked might not be the right word. I liked his character well enough, I’m just not sure it was the right character for this particular book. I get that Romy needed someone sort of like Leon but I am not convinced that the story line between the two of them really worked. Might just be me, though…

Ultimately, this is one of my favorite Courtney Summers books so yay?

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Every Last Word

2016, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Young Adult /

I was really enjoying Every Last Word — very interesting story about a teen girl with Pure-O OCD. I had some questions that weren’t being answered but that was ok, the story was good and the characters were interesting.

And then I got to something like page 282 and wanted to throw the book across the room. (I didn’t, it’s a library book, after all.) I did NOT see that coming and I did NOT think it was good for the story…

Still, I stuck with it and mostly liked it after that, too. Mostly. I’m still not really happy with that little Caroline twist but whatever. It’s not all about me, is it?

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Three Graphic Novels

2015, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

Through the Woods was excellent. Creepy but not overly scary and not silly, as kids’ scary stories sometimes are.

I loved, loved, loved, The Shadow Hero and I didn’t expect to. The afterword, with info about the 1940s Green Turtle just made it even better.

To This Day: For the Bullied and the Beautiful was very well done. Great illustrations, great stories.

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