Genre: Young Adult

Review: Firstlife – Gena Showalter

Review: Firstlife – Gena Showalter

Firstlife is set in a unique world with very strong mythology and factions fighting each other for power over the realms, not only in the first life, but in the ever life as well. In the very complex universe of Firstlife, there is a lot of darkness, and Ten’s story starts with horror. She’s a prisoner in an asylum, where her parents have sent her in order to make her sign her everlife with Myriad. She, however, wants to make her own choice, and she still isn’t sure if Myriad or Troika will be the best place to spend the rest of her existence. War between the two realms doesn’t make her decision any easier, and even in the asylum, […]

Posted 22 February, 2016 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 21 Comments
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Review: This Is Where It Ends – Marieke Nijkamp

Review: This Is Where It Ends – Marieke Nijkamp

This Is Where It Ends is an intimate account of what happens in a high school in Opportunity when a former student comes back and locks all his friends and teachers in the auditorium before he opens fire. In the news, school shootings are far too common, and it becomes like a media circus, both while it is happening, and in the aftermath. This Is Where It Ends manages to tell the story of a school shooting from four different students’ point of view, three of them on the inside of the school, and one just outside, training for track instead of being at the assembly. The fact that the story is told in these different perspectives, each in first […]

Posted 12 January, 2016 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 28 Comments
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Review: Firsts – Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Review: Firsts – Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Firsts is an emotional read, told from Mercedes’ point of view. Mercy keeps everyone she knows at arms’ length, and wants to be in control. As the story unfolds, it becomes very clear why that is, and my heart broke for her. The ending was a little ‘too easy’ for me, wrapped up too nicely for such a dark and gritty story. Mercy’s story in Firsts is one of an abandoned teen, where after her father left, her mother more or less checked out, and she was left to tend for herself with the strangest parental guidance I have ever read about. Kim, Mercy’s mom, was more interested in how Mercy dressed – for success with the boys – than anything […]

Posted 7 January, 2016 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 18 Comments
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Review: A Study in Charlotte – Brittany Cavallaro

Review: A Study in Charlotte – Brittany Cavallaro

A Study in Charlotte is a very clever re-telling, where Sherlock is a young girl, Watson is a young boy and they end up across the Atlantic in the same, small boarding school in Connecticut. My A Study in Charlotte review: It has been a very long time since I read anything Sherlock Holmes connected, and A Study in Charlotte was a great way of entering this detective universe from a completely different angle. Because Charlotte and James are the great-grand-children of the famous Holmes and Dr. Watson, their story appealed to me in a different way than the original did. I also enjoyed that Charlotte was Holmes’s descendant, she was a very smart, sharp-minded young woman, and her power […]

Posted 11 December, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 25 Comments
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Review: Their Fractured Light – Amy Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Review: Their Fractured Light – Amy Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Their Fractured Light definitely brings the Starbound story full circle. And it’s a story of true hope, hope for humankind, for love, and for faith. I think I really needed this kind of story right now, too. Where choices are important, and where making the right choice can be the most difficult situation of them all. My Their Fractured Light review: The whole Starbound series has had me completely starstruck! This dystopia set several hundred years in the future, and where some of the characters have had to make some very difficult choices brought many important issues to my mind. In Their Fractured Light, the main characters from the prior books were all present, as were Sofia and Gideon whom […]

Posted 10 December, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 14 Comments
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Review: If You Wrong Us – Dawn Klehr

Review: If You Wrong Us – Dawn Klehr

If You Wrong Us is a chilling psychological thriller, where the characters feel entitled to revenge, not thinking about how revenge could lead to much more hurt for everyone involved. My If You Wrong Us review: If You Wrong Us started out innocently enough, with Becca and Johnny trying to heal together after a car accident took the lives of Becca’s twin sister and Johnny’s mom. Both of them had trouble believing it was an accident, though, and they put a plan in action to make the guilty party pay as much as they felt they had paid, too. Becca was a very smart girl straight A student, and she tutored Johnny to help him with chemistry to help him […]

Posted 2 December, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 24 Comments
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Review: Need – Joelle Charbonneau

Review: Need – Joelle Charbonneau

Need is a chilling tale about how far the anonymity of the internet could go if we let it. Putting others behind wants for new and shiny things is not new, but the way this was facilitated in Need made the story quite horrifying. My Need review: Need takes social media stalking and bullying to a whole new level, and it’s very hard to see who can be trusted, and who the main character should stay very far away from! With a layered plot, a solid story and characters that are realistic and flawed, Need appealed to me in many ways! Everybody who has a social media account knows how important it is to be polite and show respect online… […]

Posted 3 November, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 16 Comments
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Review: Lair of Dreams – Libba Bray

Review: Lair of Dreams – Libba Bray

The plot thickens in Lair of Dreams, with more players in the big game of Diviners, and several sub-plots to bring the main one to light. Well written with many characters who do their best to stay true to themselves, it was an exciting story. My Lair of Dreams review: There are even more things going on in the lives of the characters in Lair of Dreams than there was in The Diviners! Evie has her own radio show, but that plus the partying is more tiring than exciting to her as time goes on. Especially Henry and Ling are more present as they have to navigate the dreams of others to try to find out what is really going […]

Posted 12 October, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 20 Comments
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Review: Very in Pieces – Magen Frazer Blakemore

Review: Very in Pieces – Magen Frazer Blakemore

Very in Pieces is a whimsical and a little sad tale, in which Veronica has to deal with more than the loss of her grand-mother, while at the same time growing up quite a bit. My Very in Pieces review: Very in Pieces follows Veronica, who has a good head for science, but not so much when it comes to art. However, her whole family is filled with artists, from her eccentric grand-mother who has published several poetry books to her mother, the painter, and her sister who is good with all things artistic. Very thinks that science is much easier to understand, because there is proof in numbers and scientific laws, where art is more open and where imagination […]

Posted 29 September, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 7 Comments
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Review: Rules for Stealing Stars – Corey Ann Haydu

Review: Rules for Stealing Stars – Corey Ann Haydu

Rules for Stealing Stars is a poetic story about four young sisters, and how they, and their family, deal with the difficulties life sometimes throw our way. Beautifully written, with a lot of imagery and a fairy-tale like feel, it was a solid story that left me satisfied. My Rules for Stealing Stars review: Rules for Stealing Stars follows Priscilla – Silly – and her sisters during a summer. This summer, their mother is not doing so well, and the four sisters need every distraction they can find, especially because their father is not always fully present, even when he is physically with them. Silly is feeling left out, especially because she is the youngest, and her older sisters all […]

Posted 25 September, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 6 Comments
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