Weekly Reads: Rabbit & Robot

Anytime Andrew Smith comes out with a new book, it gets added to my list to read. And I know it's going to be a weird, wild ride. I absolutely love the cover of Rabbit & Robot, and the premise had me super excited. Unsurprisingly, it was a super weird, wild ride. Definitely read if you're a fan of Smith's books or if you need a strange read to capture a teen boy's attention (probably HS aged).

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Cager has been transported to the Tennessee, a giant lunar-cruise ship orbiting the moon that his dad owns, by Billy and Rowan to help him shake his Woz addiction. Meanwhile, Earth, in the midst of thirty simultaneous wars, burns to ash beneath them. And as the robots on board become increasingly insane and cannibalistic, and the Earth becomes a toxic wasteland, the boys have to wonder if they’ll be stranded alone in space forever.

Weekly Reads: Opposite of Always

I sampled the first five chapters of Opposite of Always and couldn't wait to get my hands on the book. I normally am not interested in stories--books, movies, or otherwise, that allow for redos in life, but this one was so well done, and really had me invested in the story and the characters. Definitely a must read if you're a fan of teen books, or just books in general. SO GOOD.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Jack Ellison King. King of Almost.

He almost made valedictorian.

He almost made varsity.

He almost got the girl . . . 

When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling—hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack. Jack’s curse of almost is finally over.

But this love story is . . . complicated. It is an almost happily ever after. Because Kate dies. And their story should end there. Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Beautiful, radiant Kate. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind. Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone else close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do—and let go—to save the people he loves.

Weekly Reads: Five Feet Apart

I am so over sick teen books. In fact, I refuse to read them anymore. But then I heard that Cole Sprouse was starring in the movie version of Five Feet Apart, so I had to pick it up. And man, I was sucked in, immediately. I absolutely adored this book and will definitely need to catch the movie, but probably on DVD not in a theater with others to witness my ugly crying.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Can you love someone you can never touch?

Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.

The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn eighteen and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.

Will’s exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.

What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?

Weekly Reads: American Panda

American Panda is a new teen/YA book from Gloria Chao. This book came highly recommended from a co-worker, and seems to be on trend with other books I've read recently with parental/cultural expectations and teens rebelling against them to figure out who they are. I think teen girls would love this book. I enjoyed it, and I learned a lot about her culture and traditional upbringing. Give it a read if you want a sweet teen book.

My review: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

An incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.

At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents' master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.

With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can't bring herself to tell them the truth--that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?

Weekly Reads: Little and Lion

Little & Lion is another book that has popped up on my Printz radar and was one that sounded really interesting. I've never read anything by Brandy Colbert, so I was excited to dive into this one. The story itself was really fast paced and had serious moments of sweetness, and I really appreciated a main character who is bisexual. I love that more and more books are featuring lesbian and gay characters; that did not exist when I was a teen, but I love even more when different populations are represented, in this case bisexual/questioning. I just know that the more teens who can get their hands on books that make them feel like weird/strange, and more okay, the better off we'll be. That's the librarian in me talking, obvs. Anyway, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. 

My rating 4.5 stars

summary from goodreads:  

When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she isn't sure if she'll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (along with her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.

But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new...the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel's disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself--or worse. 

Weekly Reads: Far From the Tree

Far from the Tree recently won the National Book Award, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It was told from the perspective of three teens (which I hate) but was done so beautifully and wonderfully that I loved every second of it. Love love love.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment.

Being the middle child has its ups and downs.

But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—

Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.

And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him. 

Weekly Reads: Long Way Down

Anything John Reynolds writes is gold to me. It took our library forever to get this Long Way Down in, and as soon as they did, I dropped everything to read it. I flew through the book, it's written in prose so it's super fast, but it also has you on the edge of the seat waiting to see what is going to happen. Drop whatever you're doing and read it now.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator. 

Weekly Reads: Paper Towns

I'm probably the last John Green fan on the planet to just read Paper Towns, but here we are. I love his books SO MUCH that I didn't want to speed read my way through all of them, and then just be stuck in this world where there isn't another one for me to read. I had tried to listen to this on audio several years ago, and could not get into the narrator, but I chose it for an upcoming book club meeting.

I could not put it down, it was so great, and had a really good mystery element. I love John Green.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer Q gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.

Weekly Reads: When It's Real

When It's Real is a new teen book by Erin Watt. The summary sounded like a perfect escape read, so I was excited to pick it up. It read like Justin Bieber fanfiction and I ATE. IT. UP. It's a really great lighter teen romance that you're not going to completely roll your eyes at. I loved it.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Meet Oakley Ford-teen celebrity, renowned pop star, child of famous movie stars, hottie with millions of fangirls… and restless troublemaker. On the surface he has it all, but with his home life disintegrating, his music well suddenly running dry, and the tabloids having a field day over his outrageous exploits, Oakley's team decides it's time for an intervention. The result: an image overhaul, complete with a fake girlfriend meant to show the world he's settled down.

Enter seventeen-year-old Vaughn Bennett-devoted sister, part-time waitress, the definition of "normal." Under ordinary circumstances she'd never have taken this gig, but with her family strapped for cash, she doesn't have much of a choice. And for the money Oakley's team is paying her, she figures she can put up with outlandish Hollywood parties and a team of publicists watching her every move. So what if she thinks Oakley's a shallow, self-centered jerk? It's not like they're going to fall for each other in real life…right?

Weekly Reads: There's Someone in the House

There's Someone Inside Your House is the newest book by Stephanie Perkins and a completely different type of book than I'm used to reading of hers. It reminded me a lot of R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, and was a fast read.

My rating:  3.5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Scream meets YA in this hotly-anticipated new novel from the bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss.

One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.

International bestselling author Stephanie Perkins returns with a fresh take on the classic teen slasher story that’s fun, quick-witted, and completely impossible to put down.

Weekly Reads: The Unlikelies

The Unlikelies is a teen book that came out earlier this summer that I kept hearing/reading about in all sorts of book publications. I loved the cover, so I put it on hold. I expected it to be a lighter, fluffier read based on the delicious looking covers, but guess what, WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO JUDGE BOOKS BY THEIR COVERS, REMEMBER?! So this one was not a light and fluffy read, but it was still one I flew through and could not put down. Definitely check it out.

My rating: 4 stars.

Summary from Goodreads:

One good deed will change everything.

Sadie is not excited for the summer before her senior year. It will be her first without her college-bound best friend and (now ex-)boyfriend by her side, so Sadie braces herself for a long, lonely, and boring season working at a farm stand in the Hamptons. But things take an unexpected turn when Sadie steps in to help rescue a baby in peril and footage of her impromptu good deed goes viral.

As she’s recovering from “the incident” and adjusting to her Internet fame, Sadie receives an invitation to a lunch honoring teem homegrown heroes. The five honorees instantly connect and soon decide to spend their time together righting local wrongs. Sadie and her new friends embark on escalating acts of vigilante Good Samaritanism, but might be in over her heads when they try to help a heroin-addicted friend. Are good intentions enough to hold unlikely friendships—and an even unlikelier new romance—together? 

Weekly Reads: We Are Okay

We Are Okay is the newest book by Nina LaCour and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I was surprised at how small the book it was for the type of heavy material it was covering. I really enjoyed the way the story was slowly revealed; it had me very invested. I did feel like the story could've been longer than it was.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

You go through life thinking there’s so much you need…

Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother.

Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.

Weekly Reads: Whisper to Me

Whisper to Meis a hefty book, clocking in at 530 pages. I was down to the wire to finish the story as the last book I needed to read and review for the young adult book committee I am on. But I flewwwww through the book. It was such a page turner that I was almost 200 pages into it before I came up for air. It was a love story, a mystery, and a story about mental illness.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Cassie is writing a letter to the boy whose heart she broke. She’s trying to explain why. Why she pushed him away. Why her father got so angry when he saw them together. Why she disappears some nights. Why she won’t let herself remember what happened that long-ago night on the boardwalk. Why she fell apart so completely.

Desperate for his forgiveness, she’s telling the whole story of the summer she nearly lost herself. She’s hoping he’ll understand as well as she now does how love—love for your family, love for that person who makes your heart beat faster, and love for yourself—can save you after all.

Weekly Reads: A Step Toward Falling

A Step Toward Falling is the latest teen book I finished as part of the young adult book committee I serve on. I listened to it on audiobook due to time constraints (I was down to the wire on the last three books I finished!) and would've probably preferred it in book form. Regardless it was such a good story, a good depiction of friendship and not judging people until you get to know them.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Emily has always been the kind of girl who tries to do the right thing—until one night when she does the worst thing possible. She sees Belinda, a classmate with developmental disabilities, being attacked. Inexplicably, she does nothing at all.

Belinda, however, manages to save herself. When their high school finds out what happened, Emily and Lucas, a football player who was also there that night, are required to perform community service at a center for disabled people. Soon, Lucas and Emily begin to feel like maybe they're starting to make a real difference. Like they would be able to do the right thing if they could do that night all over again. But can they do anything that will actually help the one person they hurt the most?

Weekly Reads: Illuminae

Illuminae is the first book in a series. It's a crazy, adventure, dystopian novel with all sorts of twists and turns. It's told in a crazy format, instant messenger conversations, emails, dossier files, random graphics. And that was super cool. The story itself took a little bit to get into, but once I was into it, it was a wild ride!

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

BRIEFING NOTE: Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes. 

Weekly Reads: A Sense of the Infinite

A Sense of the Infinite is one of the last books on my list of books to read and review for the young adult book committee I'm on. Usually the last books I get to are a slog, because I tend to read the ones I'm most excited about right away. I was shocked at how my I loved this one! I read it in 3 sittings. It was a fast-paced, intense book. There was some content in there that may be triggering for some individuals (eating disorder, discussions of rape, abortion), but the way they are discussed is in an honest and mature manner, which I really appreciate. They weren't just thrown in for shock factor (which I can't stand! And is becoming more prevalent in teen books,  unfortunately). Loved this book!

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

It’s senior year of high school, and Annabeth is ready—ready for everything she and her best friend, Noe, have been planning and dreaming. But there are some things Annabeth isn’t prepared for, like the constant presence of Noe’s new boyfriend. Like how her relationship with her mom is wearing and fraying. And like the way the secret she’s been keeping hidden deep inside her for years has started clawing at her insides, making it harder to eat or even breathe.

But most especially, she isn’t prepared to lose Noe.

For years, Noe has anchored Annabeth and set their joint path. Now Noe is drifting in another direction, making new plans and dreams that don’t involve Annabeth. Without Noe’s constant companionship, Annabeth’s world begins to crumble. But as a chain of events pulls Annabeth further and further away from Noe, she finds herself closer and closer to discovering who she’s really meant to be—with her best friend or without. 

Weekly Reads: Love and Gelato

Love & Gelato is a book I have been wanting to read since it came out. To be honest, I was 100% attracted based on the cover alone. So cute. It was on the list to be reviewed for the Young Adult Reading Program I'm a member of so I added it to my list. It was amazing.

First of all the girl is a runner. Love it. Second of all, the girl's mother dies of pancreatic cancer (all the sads, all the feels, I can totally relate), and at one point in the story we see the mother's journal entry on her birthday and it's the same day as MY mom's crazy! Unfortunately I didn't get to take a sweet trip to Italy after my mom passed. Sweet sad love story with a bit of adventure.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

Weekly Reads: History is All You Left Me

History Is All You Left Me is the newest book by Adam Silvera. I adored his previous book More Happy Than Not. (My review for that here.) I loved this story. Many teen books deal with death and dying, but typically that is the culmination of the story. It is more rare for the story to delve into the grieving process, and I appreciated the way this book took that on, especially as I'm currently still dealing with grief myself. The book would've gotten 5 stars, but the end was a little too neat and tidy for me.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:


When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Weekly Reads: Scythe

Scythe is the newest book by Neal Shusterman. It recently won a Printz Honor for distinguished books for teens. I read it for my book club. This book reminded me of a grittier, more disturbing version of The Giver which is my favorite book of all time. I wasn't thrilled that it was the first book in a series as I'm all about the stand alones these days. The story started off very strong, slowed down a little bit in the middle, and then picked up in a fierce and ferocious way. I couldn't put it down the last 100 pages!

My rating: 4 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

Weekly Reads: The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love

The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love has an amazing book cover. I love using this book on my library displays. I picked it up at the end of the summer, and it was a perfectly nerdy love story. I enjoyed it so much. Definitely a must-read for comic con fans and nerds in general.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Archie and Veronica. Althena and Noth.…Graham and Roxy?

Graham met his best friend, Roxy, when he moved into her neighborhood eight years ago and she asked him which Hogwarts house he’d be sorted into. Graham has been in love with her ever since.

But now they’re sixteen, still neighbors, still best friends. And Graham and Roxy share more than ever—moving on from their Harry Potter obsession to a serious love of comic books.

When Graham learns that the creator of their favorite comic, The Chronicles of Althena, is making a rare appearance at this year’s New York Comic Con, he knows he must score tickets. And the event inspires Graham to come up with the perfect plan to tell Roxy how he really feels about her. He’s got three days to woo his best friend at the coolest, kookiest con full of superheroes and supervillains. But no one at a comic book convention is who they appear to be…even Roxy. And Graham is starting to realize fictional love stories are way less complicated than real-life ones.