Insecure girl meets mean girl—and learns to be herself—in this appealing tale.
In this YA novel, a student discovers that honesty is indeed the best policy.
It’s the beginning of summer, and Sara Hawthorne, a high school freshman, joins a club called the Fearless Foursome in hopes of becoming popular. She and her fellow club members—trouble-making, boy crazy Laurel Atwater; studious Adalynn Stevenson; and Sara’s best friend, Ella Taylor—have their first official meeting and sleepover at Ella’s house. After receiving a mysterious note, the girls sneak out of the house around midnight to meet a group of popular jocks—aka the Warriors. Unfortunately, one of the guys falls and breaks his leg. The boy gets help, but a policeman escorts the girls back to Ella’s house—and two angry parents. The next day, Ella’s mother informs Sara that she must tell her parents what happened. Unable to bring herself to confess, Sara is in agony. To make matters worse, Ella and Adalynn are hanging around with big mouth Laurel all the time. One bright spot in Sara’s life is one of the Warriors, Matt, who seems to like her a lot. And while volunteering at the zoo, she meets a new friend, Kristen, who’s too busy being herself to care about being popular. Nelan’s fast-paced novel is packed with perfectly cute characters and young teen angst—when Matt goes on a family vacation for two whole weeks, conniving Laurel follows him. For the most part, the dialogue flows smoothly and realistically portrays teen anxieties. For example, while talking to Sara, Kristen exclaims: “I’ll probably go all through high school without a boyfriend, so I might as well enjoy it when it happens to my only friend!” Though Laurel is supposed to be the bad girl, Sara is not very thoughtful herself—she lies to Kristen and ditches her party to attend Ella’s bash. Later, Sara regrets her choice. A sweet side story is the special relationship the teen has with her grandmother.
Insecure girl meets mean girl—and learns to be herself—in this appealing tale.Pub Date: May 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-973657-69-9
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tightly written, fast-paced prose supernova.
Budding starship captain Ryan Thompson helps battle an alien invasion in Miller’s (The Kronos Interference, 2012) inventive sci-fi tale.
In 2012, fighter jets scrambled to intercept a UFO above Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base. The rectangular object flew erratically, displaying no hostile behavior, and the jets followed as it crashed. Now, 150 years later, 2162 sees the United Earth Defense Fleet patrolling space, with outposts on Mars and Pluto. Cadet Ryan Thompson is a brash youth whose willingness to break the erules is matched only by his desire to win the Golden Cadet Award. Unfortunately, his brilliant ex-girlfriend Amanda just might win instead. They can’t stand each other since their romance ended the day Ryan’s mother died—a tragedy for which he blames himself. They must attempt to reconcile, however, when Earth’s fleet leaps to action against alien ships approaching from beyond Pluto. The menacing Altarrans, led by Supreme Commander Granthaxe, want something impossible—their wrecked envoys that crashed to Earth 150 years ago, perhaps with survivors. While the fleet dwindles in battle, Ryan, Amanda and their fellow cadets try to save lives with creative defense tactics. Quick thinking reveals that the strange amulet necklace Amanda wears—a family heirloom from her great-great-grandfather—may be more than it appears. With clever ideas and agile prose, Miller builds a world reminiscent of Star Trek: Ryan is a rebellious young Capt. Kirk who knows that “sometimes going by the book [isn’t] the best course to take.” Amid the pop-culture references to Star Wars and comic books, Miller’s believable, motivated characters shine, as Ryan’s brashness conflicts with Amanda’s search for peaceful solutions. In tight spots, they innovate: For instance, they create a solar-flare weapon by “overloading [a ship’s] light-speed generator and shutting it down milliseconds before detonation.” There’s also a secret connection between the Altarrans and Earth that honors the concept of a peaceful, inclusive universe. Nevertheless, right before someone survives a dose of radiation (à la Spider-Man), Ryan thinks they’re “going to need a damn super hero or something.”
A tightly written, fast-paced prose supernova.Pub Date: June 13, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615805580
Page Count: 338
Publisher: Pop Culture Zoo Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Teenage readers might be swept up in the passion between Therese and Than, though the story is unlikely to inflame any sort...
In this teen fantasy novel and love story, an orphaned girl finds herself at the center of a war brewing among the gods of Olympus.
When a book opens with a bang like this, readers might expect great things. Fifteen-year-old Therese is riding in a car with her parents when a gunman opens fire, hitting her mother and causing her father to careen off the road into a pond. Before Therese can free herself from the submerged car, she watches helplessly as both her parents die. Pohler’s (The Mystery Box, 2012, etc.) description of their deaths is gruesomely clear and heartbreaking. While Therese is still in a coma following the accident, she travels through the dream world and meets two alluring young men, Hypnos, or Hip, and Thanatos, or Than, twin sons of Hades. Hip is a cad—he says things like “Are we going to make out now, or what?”—while Than is quiet and sensitive. Than, whose job is to eternally guide the souls of the dead to the entrance of the underworld, is immediately drawn to Therese. After this fast and eventful introduction, things slow down—way, way down. Than makes a deal with his father: 40 days among humans to try to make Therese his bride, with some stiff and arbitrary conditions attached; these are Greek gods, after all. As Than and Therese flirt with one another, the story plods along with unnecessary subplots and minor characters, as well as turgid descriptions of everyday actions. Things pick up again about two-thirds of the way through: The entire pantheon of Greek gods picks sides, and, in an arena battle sure to thrill Hunger Games fans, Therese shows her mettle. The outcome neatly tees things up for the three books (at least) in the series still to come. But Pohler’s straightforward storytelling might not appeal to many teenagers, and the book’s central metaphor, a dying tree, feels like an afterthought.
Teenage readers might be swept up in the passion between Therese and Than, though the story is unlikely to inflame any sort of literary fervor.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615685960
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Green Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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