Fangirl
Category: Junior Fiction
bulk3-29
Shrinking Violet
colby?
Along For The Ride
Auden is a brilliant student living with her academic mother in the wake of her parent’s divorce. She’s feeling out of sorts and lonely with her brother traveling abroad and all her friendships broken after a move to an elite prep school. She surprises herself by accepting an invitation to stay over summer with her dad, her stepmother and newborn half-sister in their seaside town.
The summer changes Auden’s life and opens her up to a whole new world of possibilities.
This YA novel is solidly written and succeeded in making me want to smack Auden’s parents heads together. Which means that it connected with me more than a lot of this teen/romance stuff I’ve been reading of late.
I would certainly recommend this if you’re into contemporary YA family relationship stories.
pizza?
Will Work For Prom Dress
Quigley Johnson and her best friend Anne have a plan. They’re going to work every spare hour they have working to earn money for a truly great prom dress.
This particular YA novel is a predictable mix of teen romance and angst but it does have a dash of celebrity secrets to enliven one of the plots.
It’s a quick read and while there’s nothing awful about it the book just has nothing to recommend it.
If it sounds like your kind of thing and you have plenty of spare time to waste then go for it.
lipring?
Keeping The Moon
When Nicole “Colie” Sparks is farmed out to live with her Aunt in small town America for the summer by her weight loss guru mother she’s forced to look at life from a new perspective.
This YA novel is well written and features a very likeable lead character. Even though it’s a pretty entertaining read the story just seems stop rather than have an actual ending. I found this pretty annoying.
Still this does mean that it’s ripe for a follow-up with so many plot threads and character acts left hanging at the end.
techno?
Just Listen
This is an enjoyable YA book. Annabel used to be the ‘girl who had everything’ – at least on the surface – popular at school, a model away from it. Then things go wrong and she finds herself isolated at school, sick of being a model and feeling trapped by her complicated family life. She finds escape with another school misfit called Owen, whose anger management issues and vehement interest in music brings out something new in her.
This book is about learning to be honest with yourself and facing your problems. Though it’s handled with a light touch by the author there is a lot of dark stuff going on beneath the surface.
This was an entertaining, speedy, read. It just wasn’t original, exciting or eloquent enough to be rated any higher.
Defintely recommended to fans of female led, contemporary young adult fiction. Whether it appeals to anyone else is another matter.
boo?
The Name Of The Star
This is a thoroughly enjoyable YA supernatural thriller.
Rory, an American girl, has moved to London from Louisiana for school while her parents teach in Bristol.
On the day of her arrival a murder very much in the style of Jack the Ripper is discovered.
Just as she begins to make friends and starts to adjust to living in a strange country she finds herself caught up the murderous events.
This book is really entertaining and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel even though I’ve heard rumours that it has the worst cliffhanger in the world!
basset?
The Disreputable History of Franke Landau-Banks
Frankie Landau-Banks is one of the most interesting characters I’ve come across in a book in ages.
A sophomore at an elite Preparatory called Alabaster she discovers that her boyfriend is a member of a secret society. After he balks at every opportunity to tell her about it she takes an opportunity to use the group to her own ends.
I really enjoyed this book and I really like Frankie and share her frustration with the double standards which are applied to women. I would love to read another book set later in her career to see where that stylishly twisted and pin-sharp mind takes her.
Recommended.
idlewild?
Anne Of Green Gables
This much loved novel tells the story of the irrepressible orphan Anne Shirley who is adopted by sober elderly siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert in late Victorian Prince Edward Island in Canada.
It’s an enjoyable read and it’s hard to not love the three lead characters for their various strengths and faults.
I basically only read this because various Lizzie Bennet Diaries fans really love it.
You can find yourself a copy at the Gutenberg archive – it’s well worth a read if you like a good bildungsroman.
egress?
The City of Ember
This is a quirky YA science fiction novel that was turned into a film a few years back.
While I quite liked the film general opinion online was that the book was much better.
To be honest, while different in ways, the book is pretty much the same thing.
The thing I liked most about the book was the world building. The general air of everyone muddling along and not really knowing how anything works in a city that’s falling apart and running out of resources really worked.
It’s worth reading I just didn’t feel it was at all exceptional.