Anna Bright’s The Boundless, the sequel to The Beholder, is an amazing finish to Selah’s adventure. Selah’s stepmother sends her across the seas to find a husband, and now she is not only worried about finding love, but also helping the resistance to defeat the tsarytysa. Her next stop is the Shvartsval'd, a kingdom inside the Imperiya, to meet Prince Fritz.
The Beholder by Anna Bright has the perfect hints of familiar fairy tales scattered throughout her book, but also has elements that make The Beholder an original adventure story about a girl named Selah. Selah is in line to be the Seneschal of Potomac, but her stepmother sends her away to find a husband without giving Selah much of an option, and her sick father doesn’t really have a choice either.
American Born Chinese, written by Gene Yang, is a graphic novel about a high school boy, an annoying cousin, and a king who doesn't accept himself. Jin, a high school boy, always struggles with racist stereotypes as he is from Chinese background. He meets a boy, Wei Chen, who is also Chinese, but he is considered a FOB (Fresh off the Boat). Jin first judges him, but sooner than later, they become best friends.
The Heir is the fourth book in Kiera Cass’ Selection series. This novel takes place about two decades after The One as America and Maxon’s daughter and heir to the throne, Eadlyn, is of age to marry. During this time, the kingdom is going through a crisis as uprisings are staged to fight the unrest due to the elimination of the castes. Eadlyn is forced by her parents to hold a Selection to distract the people of Illéa while they try to get everything under control.
Kiera Cass’s second installment of The Selection series, The Elite, was good, but it wasn't as good as its predecessor. In this book, America struggles to decide between Maxon and Aspen as the Selection is narrowed down to six girls. Overall, this book was super frustrating.
In The One, the third book of The Selection series and the final installment of the original trilogy, Kiera Cass has managed to write a book that I loved and also frustrates me to my core. While The Elite frustrated me because of things that seemed meaningless, this book frustrated me because there was almost too much happening.
The Selection by Kiera Cass is a dystopian fantasy novel that follows America Singer as she is put into the Selection, a contest of 35 girls competing for the prince’s heart. I have been putting off reading this book for a long time because of its heavily mixed reviews, but I’m happy to say that I was not disappointed.
I Killed Zoe Spanos is a thrilling book by Kit Frick that leaves you on the edge of your seat with an intricate plot. In this book, our main character, Anna Cicconi, takes a summer nanny job in a wealthy neighborhood. Little does she know, Anna looks eerily similar to Zoe Spanos, who has disappeared since New Year’s Eve. As she gets sucked into the mystery, Anna is convinced she is somehow related to Zoe Spanos. Three months into the job, Anna turns herself in after Zoe’s body is found.
This coming-of-age novel is about Steve Harmon, a sixteen-year-old teenager, who is on trial for allegedly murdering a drugstore owner during a failed robbery. He challenges the assumption that he must be a Monster because he is an African-American male on trial for murder. In order to cope and redefine his identity, he distances himself from others and journals his experiences in the form of a screenplay.
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi is the story of a unique and talented group of teenagers and the eclectic leader who holds them together. The characters are already a seasoned group of treasure hunters by the time the story begins, but the mission that the book sends them on is an important one. The acquisition of this ancient artifact has the power to alter each of their individual lives for the better.
