Johnson County Library
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Reviews by Category: Fiction
Staff Review
Monday, Mar 25, 2019
An engrossing story narrated by a wonderfully entertaining, snarky protagonist.
Teen Review
Thursday, Feb 21, 2019
Lena Wise is your average high school book nerd, just coasting through life until college, always looking for tomorrow to be better. Though she faces some complications in life with her dad, and beside the fact that she is in love with her best friend, Lena's life is pretty normal. That is until tragedy strikes and Lena begins to realize that for some people, there is no tomorrow.
The most compelling part of this book was the way it approaches teen drinking and survivors guilt. I was happy with the ending and the way all of the events progressed.
Teen Review
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2019
Dino's ex-best friend, July, just died. Or so Dino thinks. Dino's family owns a funeral home, and Dino's family tries to make dead people look like they're peacefully resting in their coffin before their burial. Dino is preparing for July's funeral, putting make-up on her, doing the usual, when suddenly, July bolts upright and starts screaming. She's not dead, but she's not quite alive, either. Dino then learns that July's awakening has made it so that nobody, and I mean nobody, is able to die anymore! This compelling, coming-of-age story about friendship will suck readers into it.
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Teen Review
Tuesday, Feb 12, 2019
Zach Mays is notorious for having the worst luck in Orilly, a small oil town. His father has died and left him and his older brother to care for the family. Zach is lost trying to put his bleak life together until Vanessa, a confident, radiant girl who's planned her whole future, comes into his world.
I absolutely loved this book! The way that the love between Zach and Vanessa is portrayed in such a sweet, mild way is truly irresistible.The most compelling aspect of the book is the amazing character development that the author portrays throughout the whole story. It really makes you...
Teen Review
Friday, Feb 8, 2019
Analee in Real Life is about a teenage girl who recently lost her mother. Soon after, she loses her best friend as well. About the only friend she has is in an online game. His name is Harris, and she has a crush on him. So when the most popular boy in the school, Sebastian Matias asks her to pose as his girlfriend to make his ex jealous, she agrees.
This book is very relate able, for teens everywhere. Many kids have the same problems Analee does, and seeing someone else go through it helps. The reality of the...
Teen Review
Friday, Feb 1, 2019
The Similars is a fantastic literary tale of understanding actions and feelings of others while simultaneously exploring the concept of clones that may be a future reality. Emma is dealing with the aftermath of a friend's suicide when six clones, dubbed 'The Similars', begin attending her high school. One of them wears the face of her recently deceased friend, but she is quick to understand that he is not Oliver and will never be Oliver.
I really like the idea of clones and how society would interpret the...
Staff Review
Monday, Oct 29, 2018
Raw and real.
Both the contents of the story and the telling. Macy's aggressive, powerful voice assaults and engages readers immediately from the first page. By the third, her actions emerge similarly:
His nostrils twitch.
Yeah. He's pissed.
"What you're not picking up on is how much is at stake here, Macy. Nobody's gonna give you a lollipop anymore just because you throw a tantrum."
"What did you say, motherfoe?" I throw my desk.
Teen Review
Thursday, Aug 23, 2018
Pip is a young boy who lives with his older sister since both of his parents died. He is raised in a depressing and abusive manner, but seems to rub it off quite well. He has high hopes of becoming a rich gentleman and living in London, but his dreams are all crushed as his sisters husband (Joe) is only a blacksmith, and Pip by law needs to follow in his steps. This all changes when one of the most unexpected characters sponsors him, and pays for his journey to become a gentleman.
Although this book has some suspenseful and interesting chapters, the bulk of it is quite filler. Since...
Teen Review
Tuesday, Aug 21, 2018
A girl named Kennedy Rhodes has an awesome teenage life- with the perfect boyfriend, an awesome best friend, and is editor of her school's awarded newspaper. All turns around when, she finds her best friend kissing her perfect boyfriend. She suddenly wishes she had had excepted the place at Windsor Academy, an elite private school. Kennedy rushes to the Academy to see if she could get her place, but than she bangs her head. She wakes up in an another life- a life where she does go to Windsor Academy. Kennedy navigates the life of her other version, and starts to wonder if she is any...
Teen Review
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2018
Joe hasn't seen his brother Ed in ten years, not since he was locked up for murder. But now he's on death row, and his execution date has been set. Joe is determined to spend the last weeks with his brother, no matter if Ed committed the crime. But did he? And in the end, does it really matter? What can't be forgiven?
This book is at times both beautiful and heartbreaking. It forces you to think about and question the justice system, which is rife with injustice. The plot really worked with the verse form, although the shift between past and present events was sometimes confusing,...