Teen and Staff Reviews

Teen Review
A Separate Peace book cover

A Separate Peace

By John Knowles
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
May 3, 2024

“It seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart.” 

Teen Review
The Salt Grows Heavy book cover

The Salt Grows Heavy

By Cassandra Khaw
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
May 3, 2024

“There is nothing wrong with being a monster.” 

The Salt Grows Heavy follows a silent mermaid, abused and tired of captivity, who leaves her castle to wander the dying the world. Her daughters, thousands of horrible teeth-filled creatures roam what’s left of the world. The mermaid finds companionship in an androgenous plague doctor, who’s spend their life being pulled apart and pieced back together. What kind of chaos will the two get into together? 

Teen Review
A Certain Hunger book cover

A Certain Hunger

By Chelsea G. Summers
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
May 3, 2024

“Female psychopaths, researchers eventually realized, don't present like the males. To which I respond: No shit. We women have an emotional wiliness that shellacs us in glossy patina of caring. We have been raised to take interest in promoting healthy interior lives of other humans; preparation, I suppose, for taking on the emotional labor of motherhood - or marriage; either way, really. Few women come into maturity unscathed by the suffocating pink press of girlhood, and even psychopaths are touched by the long, frilly arm of feminine expectations.

Teen Review
Throne of Glass book cover

Throne of Glass

By Sarah J. Maas
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
May 3, 2024

Throne of Glass is a novel written by Sarah J. Maas. The main character, Assassin Celaena Sardothien, is given a chance to earn her freedom from grueling labor in the Endovier mines. Her one shot at freedom depends on her winning a competition that will make her the kingdom of Adarlan’s Royal Assassin. After a year in the mines, she is already weak and malnourished putting her far behind the rest of the competition. 

Teen Review
One of Us Is Back book cover

One of Us Is Back

By Karen McManus
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Lilyana G.
May 3, 2024

One of Us Is Back by Karen M. McManus is the third and final installment in the Bayview High YA mystery/thriller trilogy. Following the resolution of the previous book, One of Us Is Back opens with a reunion of all of our favorite characters.

Teen Review
Mad Honey book cover

Mad Honey

By Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
k_the_great
May 3, 2024

Mad Honey is a fiction novel by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. Olivia McAfee is a beekeeper in a small New Hampshire town, living with her son, Asher. The new girl, Lily Campanello was found dead and her boyfriend, Asher is put on trial. Throughout the book, the perspective switches between Lily and Olivia. Many things are questioned in the book and trust is on the line. 

Teen Review
Betting on You book cover

Betting on You

By Lynn Painter
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by
Leilani G.
May 3, 2024

Betting on You, by Lynn Painter, is the quintessential young adult romance novel. Bailey is dealing with her parents’ divorce and move to a new town when she meets Charlie, a witty and cynical boy who doesn’t believe in love. They are forced together on an hours-long plane ride, and by the end can’t be more thoroughly annoyed with each other. They part ways, expecting never to meet again, until they find themselves working together at the same waterpark.

Teen Review
The Inheritance Games book cover

The Inheritance Games

By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Likhita
May 3, 2024

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a young adult novel. Tobias Hawthorne, a billionaire, dies and instead of leaving his fortune to his blood relatives, he leaves it to Avery Grambs, an ordinary teenager. In order to claim her inheritance, Avery must move into his mansion which is filled with secret passages and riddles. The twist is that the relatives of Tobias Hawthorne, who all thought they would inherit his fortune, have to live in the mansion too.

Teen Review
Shatter Me book cover

Shatter Me

By Tahereh Mafi
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Likhita
May 3, 2024

The book Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is a young adult dystopian novel which follows Juliette, a girl whose touch can kill. She’s locked away in prison and is suddenly needed by the Reestablishment who fear war. She doesn’t know how to control her power, or her curse, which is what she thinks. She doesn’t know who to trust either. Now Juliet must make her own choices, and make sure she makes the right ones.

Teen Review
If He Had Been With Me book cover

If He Had Been With Me

By Laura Nowlin
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Sumedha S.
May 3, 2024

If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin is a moving story about self-discovery that follows childhood best friends who grow apart but continue to have a shared connection. Autumn and Finn have been raised as family since childhood with their mothers being best friends and living next door to each other. After they began middle school, popular Finny and alternative Autumn found different friends, styles, and relationships as they stopped interacting with one another.

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