Winter

Winter brings The Lunar Chronicles to a satisfying close, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s a bit sprawling as all of the threads get tied up. However, unlike some final books to a series, it feels complete, well thought out, and not rushed. It’s just going to take over 800 pages to get […]

Manners & Mutiny

It’s always nice when the highly anticipated ending to a series is satisfying. (I still haven’t forgiven you, Mockingjay!) Manners & Mutiny, the final book in the Finishing School series, delivers on that front. The book assumes you’ve read the other three novels, and likewise I will assume you’ve read my other three reviews (Etiquette […]

Moving Target

Review written by Clark Valentine. Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure is another in the young adult series of Star Wars novels that fill in some of the main characters’ stories between the movies of the original trilogy. (You might be interested in my reviews of other books in the same series, The Weapon of a […]

Poison

Poison starts out in the middle of things, with our protagonist, sixteen year old Kyra, on the run because she tried to assassinate the princess. Kyra needs to finish the job of killing the princess because this will somehow save the kingdom, but of course she’s now public enemy #1. Luckily she’s a master potioner […]

Black Widow Forever Red

Black Widow Forever Red is a young adult novel about, among other characters, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff. It takes place in a post-Avengers world, where Black Widow, Iron Man, and the rest of the team are celebrities (but Coulson is alive and working with Black Widow? It doesn’t fit the Marvel Cinematic/TV Universe perfectly). It’s […]

A Frozen Heart

You can enter to win a copy of  A Frozen Heart and a Fairy Tale 2.0 prizepack! Contest ends Monday, November 2. A Frozen Heart is technically a novelization of Disney’s Frozen, but it goes well beyond most movie novelizations. SPOILER ALERT: Yes, already. But for the movie. I’m assuming this warning isn’t really needed, […]

The Martian

Review written by Clark Valentine. I hear you. It’s a valid question. “Clark,” you say, “why in the world are you reviewing The Martian for a book review site focusing on 8-13 year old readers?” Yes, The Martian was absolutely written with adults in mind, no question about it. But with the film being released […]

Star Wars: Aftermath

Review written by Clark Valentine Before I get to the stuff parents should know about, I’ll kick this review off with a bit of subjective gushing. I love Star Wars. I have since I saw A New Hope (well, then it was just called Star Wars) in the theater in 1977 at the ripe old […]

Ash

Review written by Jonathan Lavallee Recently in YA/MG fiction there’s been a lot of retelling of classic fairy stories. I think this is great and wonderful because those kinds of stories have a lot of life in them. Especially when you take them and transcend them beyond the original story. I had just finished reading […]

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Beautiful” is a word frequently used to describe Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and that’s the first word that came to my mind as well. It has its painful and brutal moments, but its exploration of coming of age, cultural and sexual identity, and relationships of all kinds is a beautiful […]