Fiction

In the third and final book of The Hunger Games series, Katniss is in her new home of district 13. After Katniss returned from the quarter quell Peeta was left to the capitol. Katniss misses him dearly and is mentally out of it. Katniss now also has the stress of leading the rebels in a rebellion and being their mockingjay. Katniss will need to show the people of Panem how much she cares for them and Panem’s future. Will Panem become better than ever, or crumble to pieces?

After reading the two previous Hunger Games books before this one, I was disappointed. It was a well written book, but

In the second book of The Hunger Games series Katniss is dealing with the aftermath of surviving The Hunger Games. She is very glad to be back home but nothing feels quite right. People in district 12 are being beaten, she is supposed to get married soon, a rebellion is starting, and her relationship with Peeta is almost invisible. Katniss and Peeta need to truly convince the citizens of Panem that they are madly in love. Katniss is dealing with all of this when the Quarter Quell challenge is announced. She is going to have to go back into the arena and fight for her life once again in The

After crash landing off the coast of Maine, The Iron Giant (Vin Diesel) finds himself at a power plant, where he is rescued by Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal). After discovering him, Hogarth practically adopts the giant and helps him evade the public and especially a nosy government agent, Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald).

This movie was absolutely stunning. It holds a special place in my heart and is definitely a staple of my childhood. The 2-D animation style still holds up today and the music pairs beautifully. No place feels boring or misplaced and the pacing is great. The ending

In The Silent Patient, a well named painter named Alicia murdered her husband six years ago. However, she does not speak a word about the murder. Her therapist, Theo, wanted to understand the real reason why Alicia murdered her husband. But can he ever understand Alicia's ways?

I loved the book! The Silent Patient is really an amazing book to read if you like mystery/suspense books. I loved this book because the plot line was absolutely shocking. I do not want to spoil it for others, but let me just say that The Silent Patient is one of the best books I have ever read in my entire life! My

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is a romantic fiction novel that is extremely realistic. The book is told through the perspective of Lily who is a woman that moved to Boston and is ready to start her own flower shop. As she lives in the aftermath of her father’s death, Ryle Kincaid enters her life. Ryle is a handsome neurosurgeon who works long hours and is against romantic relationships. However, Lily may just be the exception to his aversion. Their relationship becomes complicated when Atlas Corrigan shows up. Atlas was Lily’s high school love who moved away years ago, but his appearance

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a realistic fiction novel. The book follows the character Kya as she navigates growing up alone and apart from the rest of society. The novel details her journey and her constant growth of knowledge through the highs and lows of friendships, romantic relationships, work, etc. She lives in an area called “the Marsh” and enjoys her lifestyle being one with the wilderness. Kya learns how to be independent, yet two men named Tate Walker and Chase Andrews desire to change Kya’s lifestyle with a romantic relationship. She faces the ridicule of society, which

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid, is a Mystery/Thriller. Evelyn Hugo is ready to tell the audience about her secret life. She chooses Monique Grant, a reporter, to write her biography. Many people wonder why she chose Monique. When Evelyn tells Monique about her success, struggles, and her seven husbands, Monique listens with curiosity and is determined to write a good biography. However, when Evelyn is about finishing her story, Monique realizes that both Evelyn and her lives are very similar.

I think The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is an incredible book because

Welcome to 2022's first edition of #NewTitleTuesday, where we take a look at a new title released today that hits the publishing world - and patrons' holds lists. One of January's standouts, heralded by prominent literary voices including Publisher's Weekly and the New York Times, is FIONA AND JANE, a striking literary debut from Jean Chen Ho. 

A novel in stories centered around the friendship of two young Taiwanese-American women that stretches over twenty years as they navigate love, relationships, careers, and ambition as they begin as friends in grade school and grow up over remarkable

In this gripping novel, Katniss Everdeen is a 16-year-old girl living in a hopeless world. Her father has passed away. Her family barely has enough food to survive. Then it gets even worse. Katniss’ sister Prim gets selected to be a part of The Hunger Games. Katniss takes her sister's place and has to fight for her life in a game of death. Katniss is competing in the Games when her fellow contender Peeta, also from District 12, expresses his fondness of her. How will Katniss balance the need to live for her family and the way she feels for Peeta?

The Hunger Games would have been more

Wink is a weird and not so enjoyable fiction novel by Rob Harrel. This book is about a kid named Ross, one day in the middle of summer he finds a big lump on his right eye. Ross gets diagnosed with a rare eye cancer, at school, he is known as the cancer kid. Ross has to deal with a lot of stuff like his eye goo, winking, and bullies. I love the way the author adds funny comics and pictures to describe the story, but the way the author presented the book wasn’t enjoyable to me. I recommend this book to people who like funny comics, pictures, and weird storylines. That is why I rate Wink a 1/5.

A good thriller isn't written so much as it's carefully constructed. Out of all the other literary genres - with the exception of romance - a thriller is a constant high-wire act, with the author having to carefully balance the drama on the page against what the reader expects. Not only does a good thriller keeps the reader guessing, but it also keeps the reader WANTING, hanging on every page, until the promise of the book is fulfilled, with the thing in these sorts of books that's always under threat is either saved or brought back to the light.

Thrillers used to be the domain of crime and

What would you do if you were told that an asteroid was going to hit Earth in approximately two months? Peter, Eliza, Andy, and Anita are faced with this daunting issue. Do they want love? Do they want everyone to leave them alone? Do they just want to live? Together they will live the last few months of their lives and begin to figure out what living is really about.

4.5/5- Personally, I loved this book. Coming from a teenager that is constantly worried about living life to the fullest, this book made me think about the way I want to live my life. I was slightly disappointed with the

Will Smith plays Chris Gardner in Gabriele Muccino’s The Pursuit of Happyness, made in 2006. In this film, Chris Gardner, accompanied by his son Christopher Gardner (Jaden Smith), struggle to get by day-to-day life. After putting all of his eggs in one basket, Chris joins a prestigious stock broking firm as an unpaid intern, only having a 0.05% chance of getting picked for the full-time career at the end of a 6 month trial period. He must navigate day-to-day life cautiously, dealing with eviction, tax seizure, and being arrested. This movie was a roller coaster of emotions. It really paints a

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a Young Adult Fiction book.  Speak, told by Melinda Sordino, is about facing the traumas of high school. Before Freshman year, Melinda goes to a party, in which she calls the cops. Therefore, no one talks to her, not even her best friend. At that party, an older guy raped Melinda, so when she goes back to school, she is continually haunted by the guy. But, when she learns to speak for not only herself, but many other teenagers, things change.

Speak is a very powerful book, in which there are very important lessons and topics. I enjoyed reading this book

Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, can fit into the Tragedy/Drama/Fiction genres.  Willy Loman returns back home, while listening to a sweet flute. He realizes that he is a failure, as a father and a husband. Willy’s sons, Happy and Biff, are not successful, and Willy's career is falling. Biff, who constantly argues with his father, has nothing to say to him, even after coming back to his hometown. However, after one incident, everything changes.

*spoiler* I enjoyed reading Death of a Salesman because it portrayed more than you would think. The book felt real to me, almost as if I had

Sour

1.brutal - 3/10 - The song itself is very punk rock and is a great song for this genre, however it does not fit the style of the album. It is different instrumentation and is a completely different genre from the majority of the album.

2.traitor - 8/10 - The song talks about being in a relationship and having the other person move on before it’s over. Rodrigo talks about not being cheated on but being betrayed. The song is an 8/10 because it is so emotional and because of the way Rodrigo really lets her guard down.

3.drivers license - 9/10 - Drivers license by Olivia Rodrigo

All American Boys is told from the perspectives of Rashad Butler and Quinn Collins. The story revolves around Rashad getting beaten by police after being suspected of robbery. Both characters struggle with the aftermath of being the victim and witnessing police brutality. Normally I don't opt to read books with more than one perspective, but I genuinely enjoyed reading the stories of Rashad and Quinn. The authors do a great job distinguishing which character the story is being told from. The two perspectives are wonderfully intertwined and complement each other well, never taking away from the

The Hunger Games follows the main protagonist Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is a sixteen-year old girl, living in District 12 in Panem. Each year, a girl and boy are taken from each district to fight in the Hunger Games. However, one day Katniss’s sister is chosen and without much thought Katniss volunteers herself instead. The Hunger Games to Katniss is a death sentence because she must kill the rest of the competitors to be the ultimate winner and that seems unlikely.

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. There wasn’t any point where it dragged and I couldn’t put it down. My favorite

Taking place in the future, we follow American Singer, a sixteen-year old girl, who is given the ultimate chance of a lifetime. The kingdom has offered thirty-five girls a spot to potentially marry Prince Maxon. American Singer is one of the thirty-five that is chosen, but unlike her peers who would kill for this part, she is unhappy. She cannot bear to think of leaving her lover, Ashton, for some man she doesn’t know at all. However, things start to change when she meets Prince Maxon in real life.

The Selection is essentially The Bachelor, but in book form and for teens. This is probably

The Giver is set in a dystopian society where no one knows the history of the society except for a select few that are assigned to be the receiver of memories. Young Jonas is selected to be the receiver for his generation. He trains with the current receiver, where he uncovers the secrets of his society and the world.

This was a very enjoyable and though provoking read for me. Lowry does a great job of world building. I quickly felt like I was a part of the society, and she gave great detail to help imagine what life would be like living there. I also love how the author developed Jonas

The story of love, heartbreak, betrayal, and reunion between the two main characters, Connell and Marianne. Told over the course of a few years, readers follow their journey through high school and college as they navigate their ever-changing relationship. I really wanted to like this book. After everything I had heard about Sally Rooney, I had high expectations for this book, and unfortunately, I feel like it didn’t quite live up to the hype. Normally I am a big fan of romance, but this one just didn’t cut it for me. It was pretty boring most of the time, and a lot of chapters seemed to drag

The House on Mango Street is the coming of age story of a young Latina girl named Esperanza as she grows up with her family in a predominantly white Chicago. We get to see her struggles with friends, family, school, money, racism, and much more. What I love about this story is that it is told in vignettes. Each vignette is a unique portion of Esperanza’s childhood, each with its own lesson and message that can be applied to the lives of the reader. Through each vignette, we get to discover more and more about Esperanza’s life, and her growth as a young woman. The writing style progresses

A story that takes place in New York City in the 1920’s of the narrator, Nick Carraway, as he befriends the wealthy and mysterious Jay Gatsby and helps him try and reunite with his former girlfriend. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this book. On the surface level, it is a very simple and straightforward read. Only 9 chapters, easy to follow, not a very complicated vocabulary. But what I enjoyed about this story was how there were so many aspects with hidden, deeper meanings. This is what really made the story worth reading for me. There was always something that I could analyze, and that kept

The Prestige tells the story of two rivaling magicians, Angier and Borden, both trying to outsmart and outwit the other one, and ultimately attain more fame than the other. Although I really enjoyed the concept of the story, I didn’t care too much for how the author went about telling the story. There were multiple timeline jumps, and most of the story was told through the perspective of the magicians’ ancestors. It was confusing at times to understand what perspective and part of the story I was at, since it wasn’t clarified most of the time. Another interesting aspect was that the parts that

After moving to London, Dorian Gray befriends an artist named Basil Hallward who paints him a portrait. After living with the painting, Dorian soon agonizes over the fact that he will be aging while the painting of himself will stay youthful forever. Dorian will go to great lengths to prevent himself from becoming a different man than the one in the painting.

This was truly a magical read. I had heard about what an amazing writer Oscar Wilde was, but I had never read one of his works before. Let me just say that his writing is some of the best I have encountered in my life. Each sentence

Delirium is the story about a dystopian society where love is a disease and people are forced to take the “cure” when they turn 18 in order to be unable to fall in love. Lena is very excited to get the cure until she falls in love with a boy named Alex only a few months before her 18th birthday. The concept of the book alone was enough to make me love it. I love dystopian stories, and Delirium was a super fascinating take on totalitarianism. Something the author did well was developing the romance between Lena and Alex. The slow burn of them falling in love kept me on the edge of my seat, and

Navigating Early is a story about two boys who meet at a boarding school and decide to go on an adventure through the Appalachian Trail in hopes to heal from past issues. This book was a beautiful read. If you like hearing people engage in deep conversations about any subject under the moon, you will enjoy this. I know I did for sure. I love getting to know the characters’ stories, and this is what this book was full of.  The character development in this story was amazing, I enjoyed seeing the boys transform after being able to confide in and support each other throughout the book. While this

The Color of Lies is a mind-bending story that will keep you hanging by the edge of your seat. When the main character, Ella, meets the mysterious Alec, her world gets turned upside down. Together they will unleash deep family secrets that will change Ella’s life forever. The imagery the book possessed was surreal, it really felt like I was living inside the story. I also loved how the author incorporated Ella’s synesthesia into the story, it was a unique way for the readers to get a glimpse into how the main character processed her thoughts and emotions. This allowed for me to understand the

Welcome back to our (mostly) weekly series, #NewTitleTuesday, where we take a brief look at a book that's released out into the world. We usually don't spotlight books destined to hit the New York Times bestseller list or books already claimed by celebrities with online book clubs, as they already have enough attention. (But seriously, Reese, if you're reading - call us! We'll talk books!) Instead, we like to spotlight books just slightly under the radar. Books with reasonable holds lists that are less than, say, five hundred people long.

Happy book birthday to TELL ME HOW TO BE by Neel

Me (Moth) is a coming of age story told in verse by Amber McBride. Moth lost her family in a tragic accident; she feels alone, scared to take up space. Enter Sani, a depressed boy looking for a place filled with constant love. The two take a road trip together, trying to outrun the feelings that weigh them down; maybe Sani can make Moth feel alive, and she can bring him happiness. I’m not usually a fan of poetry or stories told in verse, but McBride’s writing is absolutely brilliant. Her metaphors and attention to detail made the story incredibly tangible. That build-up only made the plot