Difference between revisions of "Newest Teens Reviews"

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[[Category:Teens|*]]
 
[[Category:Teens|*]]
 
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[[Category:New Reviews|Teens]]__NOTOC__  <!-- Remove -->
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1712435728
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|title=Jamie's Keepsake
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|author=Michael Gallagher
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=When we first meet Alex Hannah, he's just being released from the Southern General Hospital.  The nurse thinks he'll come back to visit the other patients but Alex has no intention of doing that: he's been there for a year, on the same ward where his brother died and now, with his hair all shorn off, he's going home in his dead brother's clothes.  He wants to get outside and back with his friends: his brother, Forbes, says that the fresh air will do him good and his mother tells him that he's not to mention TB and to say it was tonsillitis.  Good luck with that one, Alex.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Alice Oseman
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|title=Solitaire
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|rating=4
 +
|genre=Teens
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|summary= Victoria Spring has returned to Year 12 following Christmas break and feels dead to the world. Nothing is interesting. People are stupid and boring.  She has one real friend; the rest are just people she sits near so she's not a complete loner. She hates a lot of things - including herself. But suddenly, a blog called Solitaire has arrived and is pulling pranks throughout the school. And Michael Holden has appeared and is showing up everywhere in Tori's life. Tori doesn't know (or care) why she's involved, but suddenly she is. What does Solitaire want? Who's behind it? Why does it all seem to be linked to Tori? Why does Michael want to be in Tori's life so badly and who is he, really? Things are only getting stranger and darker, and only one thing is certain – Tori isn't bored anymore.
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|isbn=9780007559220
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Alice Oseman
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|title=Loveless
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|rating=5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary= Georgia is a teenager who's embarking on her first year of university and is in a desperate struggle to figure herself out. She's always been in love with love. With the idea of love, the idea of falling madly for someone and finding bliss. But the reality for her has always been different. She's never had a crush. She's never been kissed. And she's desperate to feel something and fall for someone. But when the opportunity presents itself in any kind of real, tangible and physical way for her - she's disgusted by it. But isn't that what she's supposed to want? Isn't that what everyone is supposed to do? How come everyone else can do it? Why can't she?
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|isbn=000824412X
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Arvin Ahmadi
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|title=How It All Blew Up
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|rating=4
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=18 year old Amir is American Iranian, a muslim, and gay.  He struggles with his identity, unable to face telling his parents who he really is, so when another student at his school starts blackmailing him, threatening to show his parents photographs of Amir kissing his boyfriend Amir panics and runs away...to Italy!  So begins a journey for Amir, and his family, where they all discover more about him, and who he really is, and who he really wants to be.
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|isbn=1471409929
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
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|title=The Black Kids
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel is set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a reaction to the absolution of four police officers for beating a black man, Rodney King, nearly to death. Told from the perspective of Ashley Bennett, the novel follows her evolution from a silent bystander when confronted with matters of race, to a woman finding her voice and embracing her heritage.
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|isbn=1471188191
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Suzanne Collins
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|title=The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary= Coriolanus Snow is refined, charming, and one of the only surviving members of the affluent Snow family. But their world was destroyed by the war. Their riches gone, his parents dead - and yet the facade must be maintained. As the 10th Hunger Games begins, Coriolanus and other students of the Academy become the first Mentors of the tributes in the games. This is his chance to prove himself to the world and secure his place in the Capitol for good. But when he is assigned a tribute with no hope - a girl from District 12 - he thinks all chances of winning (both for her and for him) are gone. But Lucy Gray Baird proves herself to be a spark in his world, in a way he could never have imagined. As the Games commence, Lucy Gray fights for her life in the arena - but behind the scenes, in the sly, complex and strangely dangerous world of the Capitol, Coriolanus is fighting for his life too. Will she survive the Games? Will he? And what happens then?
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|isbn=0702300179
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=James Patterson
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|title=Hawk: A Maximum Ride Novel
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|rating=4
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=Hawk has been waiting on the same street corner, every day, for years.  She is waiting for her parents to come and get her.  They left her there when she was just tiny, and although she's almost certain that they are never coming back for her, she continues to head back there each day, just in case.  Hawk isn't your ordinary street urchin though...she has wings, and can fly!  Since she was abandoned she's been living with a group of other children, all with interesting characteristics of their own and together they've made their own family.  But now the city is seemingly even more troubled than usual, there's a mysterious child-killer who has been brought to the prison next door to where the children live, and then one day Hawk comes home to find her family have been taken away.  Where have they been taken, and can Hawk rescue them before it's too late?
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|isbn=1529120004
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Samira Ahmed
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|title= Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know
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|rating= 3.5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=''In the end, we all become stories''
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 +
Spending the summer in Paris sounds like a dream for most people, especially art-lovers, but Khayyam can't relax and stop thinking about the mess she left behind in Chicago. On a chance encounter with a descendant of Alexandre Dumas, Khayyam finds herself on a historical journey with him to unveil the truth about the 19th century Muslim woman who may have crossed paths with Alendre Dumas, Eugene Delacroix and Lord Byron. As the two teenagers travel the city they not only discover themselves, but uncover the true story of the woman and why it was one that should never have been forgotten.
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|isbn=0349003556
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Angela Mack
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|title=I Am Unworthy
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|rating=4
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|genre=Teens
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|summary= Isabel is determined to start fresh. Start again. Sixth form will be different. Her tormentor doesn't go to Gilleford Secondary School anymore. She can escape the hurt, the fear, and the person she became. Josh is determined to keep going, even through the rage, the pain, and using his fists to solve any problem or situation. But he has secrets that threaten to tear him and his brothers apart. When Josh and Isabel's worlds collide, can they make their relationship work? Can they both finally be happy? Or will Josh's time run out?
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|isbn=B089FL7H4H
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Non Pratt
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|title=Every Little Piece of My Heart
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|rating=4
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|genre=Teens
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|summary= Freya was a beautiful, popular and complex girl, loved by many and seemingly stable in her existence as a queen bee 16-year-old student, complete with best friend and the promise of the end of GCSEs just months away. But one day, on January 1st, she just... left. No explanation. No warning. No goodbye. No one heard from her since. A once active social profile left deserted. So, when her best friend Sophie receives a mysterious parcel from her 5 months after, she expects it to contain answers of some kind, but is surprised to find the parcel contains another layer addressed to a complete stranger, and then another layer to another person and another, each containing an item unique to them and Freya, connecting 4 strangers through her mystery and the promise of 'treasure' at the end of it all. With each parcel, a new layer of the story and of Freya is unwrapped - and painful truths come to light that threaten to break bonds, both new and old. Can what's been broken be fixed? And why did Freya leave?
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|isbn=1406366943
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Kat Ellis
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|title=Harrow Lake
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=When we first meet 17-year-old Lola, daughter to legendary horror movie director Nolan Nox, she is saying goodbye to New York City - by sneaking out and stealing from its residents. But when she is found by her father's assistant and forced to come home, she arrives to find an unlocked door, a trail of blood, and her father dying in his study. And so, while he recovers, she is sent off to live with her grandmother in Harrow Lake, the small 1920s town in Indiana that served as the location for the film that made her parents famous. But something about this place isn't right. There's a darkness inside the people here. Secrets about her mother and dark tales of the town's cannibal monster 'Mister Jitters' fill every corner, and disturbing happenings plague Lola. But with every passing hour, secrets long buried come painfully to light and she begins to think that these stories may not be stories at all, and something very real and sinister lurks in Harrow Lake.
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|isbn=0241397049
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Holly Jackson
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|title=Good Girl, Bad Blood
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|rating=5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=A month on from the explosive conclusion to the Andie Bell mystery, a new normal has settled over Little Kilton. Max Hastings' assault trial thunders on, Pippa's viral podcast detailing her journey of discovering the truth about Andie and Sal's deaths has gained massive media attention, Cara and her sister Naomi are reeling from the realisation that their father, Elliot Ward, had murdered Sal Singh and kidnapped a girl he thought was Andie after she stumbled out of his house, bleeding, and disappeared into the night. As the town tries to heal again, six years on from the events of that night, tragedy strikes again. Jamie Reynolds, older brother to one of Pippa's best friends has gone missing. And so, alongside her difficult life as a semi-famous eighteen-year-old, she is once again taken down a dark, twisted path to discover the truth.
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|isbn=1405297751
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Maggie Tokuda-Hall
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|title= The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea
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|rating= 5
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|genre= Teens
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|summary= On the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl has assumed the identity of Florian the man in an attempt to fit in with the crew. Life is hard as a pirate, trust and empathy are the first things to be discarded, but anything has to be better than starving on the streets. Meanwhile, the young Lady Evelyn Hasegawa boards the Dove, headed off to be married to a military man she's never met on some far-flung colony of the Nipran Empire. Neither of them expects to be thrown together by fate, never mind fall in love…
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|isbn=1536204315
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Holly Jackson
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|title=A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
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|rating=5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=5 years ago, the tiny town of Little Kilton was rocked when beautiful, popular Andie Bell disappeared without a trace, presumed murdered. Her boyfriend Salil Singh was everyone's number 1 suspect – especially after Sal sent a 'confession' text to his dad and died in an apparent suicide just days after her disappearance. His guilt was sealed and the case was closed, so the town and its families tried moved on. Now Pippa is determined to prove that Sal was innocent, with the help of his brother Ravi. What started out as an innocent school project quickly turns into something much more sinister, and Pippa begins to unearth the dark truth about the beautiful, innocent queen bee of Kilton Grammar School and what really happened all those years ago. But the closer she gets, the more dangerous it becomes.
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|isbn=1405293187
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}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Kat Dunn
 
|author=Kat Dunn
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|isbn=1471184668
 
|isbn=1471184668
 
}}
 
}}
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Akala
 
|title=The Dark Lady
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=''For a street kid from the Devil's Gap, London's most notorious slum, life is short and tough. For Henry, a boy thief with brown skin, inherited from a mother who abandoned him, life is tougher still. The Dark Lady enters his dreams at night. She seems to represent a past, and possibly a future...''
 
Henry and his friends, brother and sister Matthew and Mary, have various ways of getting by. Sometimes they pick pockets. Sometimes they rob the houses of the rich. It's crime or starve - but crime is dangerous and they risk the terrible punishments of Elizabethan England if they are caught. Impossible choices. But there are pleasures too, and for Henry, the chief pleasure is the Globe Theatre and the plays of William Shakespeare. Henry loves language and often makes up sonnets about what he sees around him and how he feels. |isbn= 1444943693
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author= Alyssa Sheinmel
 
|title= What Kind of Girl
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Teens
 
|summary= '' Doing something when you're scared is braver than doing something when you're not''
 
 
When Mike Parker's girlfriend comes into school with a black eye, claiming he gave it to her, her whole world is tipped upside down. Her relationship has just ended and now she's the talk of the school. Mike was the most popular boy in school who was always so in love with her, everyone knew that, so why did he do what he did? Some people believe her and some don't, but one thing is for sure, this isn't going to blow over any time soon.
 
|isbn=0349003297
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author= Ben Oliver
 
|title= The Loop
 
|rating= 3.5
 
|genre= Teens
 
|summary= Set during the aftermath of a Third World War where methods of punishment for criminal activities have been amped up to a horrific level by machines, The Loop follows the precarious existence of adolescent Luka Kane. In a world of Have and Have Nots where Alts [cyborgs] have power over Regulars, he is trapped inside a living hell with no chance of escape. A detonator has been sewn inside his heart connecting him to a trigger held by the guards who can end his life with one squeeze. Luka is taunted by limited access to his memories and relentlessly drained of energy through a gruelling daily torture ritual. Doomed to Delay [a risky medical trial where he is a guinea pig for Alts in place of execution] after Delay he is in despair. His prison is based on the model of an infinity loop designed to make its inmates suffer. With the only glimmers of hope being the rumours of rebellion outside and the visits of sympathetic Alt guard Wren, can Luka ever be free? Why has he been imprisoned? What waits for him if he can break the loop?
 
|isbn=1912626551
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Mark Lingane
 
|title=Degrade (Tesla Expansion)
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary= ''Degrade'' opens as it means to go on - with inyerface, banging action. Poor Arid, alone in the desert since his parents were killed, has a narrow escape as two mega-rigs fight it out and his is pretty much destroyed. He finds himself rescued by the mysterious-but-fascinating Ella and on board the ''Moonlight'' under the suspicious eyes of its leader, Queen Bea. Bea's eyes flash with recognition when he tells her his name - Arid Geiger - but before he can find out why that is, there's an assassination attempt and Arid is under suspicion and imprisoned. An escape facilitated by Ella - Queen Bea's daughter - sees Arid and her other daughter, Frey, stranded in the desert....
 
|isbn= 099461649X
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Akwaeke Emezi
 
|title=Pet
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=The people of the town Lucille believe that all the monsters are gone.  Their children are raised to understand that they were saved by the angels, those who rid the town of evil, and there are no monsters anymore.  But one day, Jam accidentally cuts herself, and bleeds a little onto one of her mother's paintings.  The blood awakens a bizarre, terrifying-looking creature named Pet, who somehow comes to life and declares that it is here to hunt the monster.  Though Jam tries to convince it that all the monsters are gone, Pet is certain that there is one, still, and that the monster is hiding in the home of her best friend, Redemption.
 
|isbn=0571355110
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Leigh Bardugo, Louise Simonson and Kit Seaton
 
|title=Wonder Woman: Warbringer: The Graphic Novel
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Diana, being unique on her island, is the victim of a lot of taunts, and claims of nepotism.  It's only her unique status, and her mother being Queen, that has her with any standing at all, her naysayers declare – even though she has clearly fought to be a strong young woman.  Perhaps too strong for the island, however – for every Wonder Woman origin story has her quickly leaving home for the World of Men, and this Diana is the heroine of yet another Wonder Woman origin story.  A shipwreck disturbs her leading performance in a running race, but the survivor she drags from the waters is only going to disturb a lot more...
 
|isbn=1401282555
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Tanya Landman
 
|title=Jane Eyre: a Retelling
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=A young woman, fresh from living with horrid relatives who could care less about her, and years in a dreary school, moves into Thornfield Hall with only one intent – to have something like the life she wants – and with only one job, to tutor a young half-French girl, whose father is almost always absent.  When he does turn up he seems to be dark, brooding and troubled – but that's nothing compared to the darker, more broody and even more troubled secret in the house.  Yes, if you know Jane Eyre then you know the rest – but if you don't, for whatever reason, this is a wonderful book to turn to.
 
|isbn=1781129126
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Mary H.K. Choi
 
|title=Permanent Record
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Pablo, a college drop-out, is working at a New York bodega.  He's massively in debt, he's avoiding his mother, and he finds his joy in creating unusual snacks with random ingredients!  Whilst working one evening, he's surprised to discover that the girl he is chatting with as he serves is a super-famous pop star and, as unlikely as it may seem, they start a relationship.  With one character who is trying very hard not to be seen or noticed by anyone, and the other who is seen and followed and hounded by everyone all over the world, it's an interesting clash as they come together.  This isn't just a love story though, and actually it's really just Pab's story, about the journey he takes in his life via his meet-up with Leanna Smart.
 
|isbn=0349003459
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author= Alexandra Christo
 
|title= Into the Crooked Place
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Teens
 
|summary= In the city of Creije, Tavia, a magical con-artist, specialises in wowing gullible tourists with cheap charms and trickery. However, when a new and powerful form of magic unlike anything seen in decades begins trickling onto the streets, nearly killing her close friend Saxony, Tavia begins to worry. At the same time, her childhood best friend Wesley, the youngest underboss in the city, discovers that Dante Ashwood, kingpin of the Creijen criminal underworld, has his sights set on world domination. It's now up to the four unlikely allies to bring down his plans...
 
|isbn=1250318378
 
}}
 
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
 
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===[[Batman: Nightwalker: The Graphic Novel by Marie Lu, Stuart Moore and Chris Wildgoose]]===
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]]
 
 
The young man called Bruce Wayne is a very noticeable one – he can hardly go anywhere without people – bystanders, paparazzi, and suchlike – reminding him he's a billionaire at the age of eighteen.  Feeling rather stuck with the legacy he's inherited from his murdered parents, he wants to do charitable deeds.  But one night, when he speeds off in his posh new car in pursuit of a criminal, he goes too far as far as the authorities are concerned, and gets given the most unlikely stretch of community service instead – cleaning in the home for violent criminals that is Arkham Asylum.  There he learns of some other people who also allege charitable intent – the Nightwalkers, a gang who steal any ten-figure bank account contents they can, and murder the owner.  Can he get close to one of them and get the truth of their schemes, or will the manipulative Madeleine be a step too far for the young do-gooder? [[Batman: Nightwalker: The Graphic Novel by Marie Lu, Stuart Moore and Chris Wildgoose|Full Review]]
 
 
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===[[Lighthouse of the Netherworlds by Maxwell N Andrews]]===
 
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
 
The phrase about never trusting a book by its cover is something I put on a par with comments about Marmite.  You're supposed to love it or hate it and I'm halfway between, and likewise the old adage is halfway true.  From the cover of this I had a child-friendly fantasy, what with that name and that attractive artwork of an attractive girl reaching for an attractive water plant.  That was only built on by the initial fictionalised quotes, with their non-standard spelling, as if texts of scripture in this book's world predated our standardised literacy.  But why was I two chapters in and just finding more and more characters, both human and animal, and more and more flashbacks, and no proof that this was what I'd bought in for? [[Lighthouse of the Netherworlds by Maxwell N Andrews|Full Review]]
 
 
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===[[Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh]]===
 
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]]
 
 
Harleen Quinzel is new in town.  She always, to me, seems new in town, even if she's been around a long time, for she always has a very fresh attitude, and seems to look out of those large eyes at everything anew each time.  But here she is new in town, and the town is Gotham City.  Expecting a year-long furlough from life with her mother, she finds her gran dead and herself with no option but to stay with a bunch of drag queens.  She also finds school is a drag, she also finds the whole neighbourhood is being redeveloped by a large and uncaring corporation – but she also finds two characters that will have a big impact on her life.  One is a civil-minded lass called Ivy, the other someone she only meets at night – a lad with a singular graffiti tag and a mind for violence and chaos, who calls himself The Joker… [[Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh|Full Review]]
 
 
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===[[Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson]]===
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]
 
 
Amara's twelfth birthday is coming up and she wants nothing more for it than a trip to New York to meet her father's side of the family. But her father hasn't spoken to Amara's grandfather for many years - Amara doesn't know why - and both her parents are resistant to the idea. But Amara is nothing if not persistent and a school family history project provides her with the perfect wedge. Eventually, her parents give in and off she goes... with a secret mission from her mother: to bring her father and Grandpa Earl back together again.  [[Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson|Full Review]] 
 
 
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===[[Somebody Give This Heart a Pen by Sophia Thakur]]===
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]
 
  
Sophia Thakur's debut anthology is a collection of poems that are all unique, whether in relation to their style, length or theme. The collection is split into four sections, titled 'grow','wait','break'and 'grow again', guiding you through a process which is one of the foundations that the anthology is built on. Each section begins with a foregrounded title page containing various small pieces of writing, ranging from a quote by a Nigerian playwright, to African proverbs. This provides a nice introduction to the section before you are immersed into the beautifully written and eloquent poems that Thakur has clearly put her heart and soul into.  [[Somebody Give This Heart a Pen by Sophia Thakur|Full Review]]
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Move on to [[Newest Thrillers Reviews]]

Revision as of 13:13, 7 September 2020

1712435728.jpg

Review of

Jamie's Keepsake by Michael Gallagher

4.5star.jpg Teens

When we first meet Alex Hannah, he's just being released from the Southern General Hospital. The nurse thinks he'll come back to visit the other patients but Alex has no intention of doing that: he's been there for a year, on the same ward where his brother died and now, with his hair all shorn off, he's going home in his dead brother's clothes. He wants to get outside and back with his friends: his brother, Forbes, says that the fresh air will do him good and his mother tells him that he's not to mention TB and to say it was tonsillitis. Good luck with that one, Alex. Full Review

9780007559220.jpg

Review of

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

4star.jpg Teens

Victoria Spring has returned to Year 12 following Christmas break and feels dead to the world. Nothing is interesting. People are stupid and boring. She has one real friend; the rest are just people she sits near so she's not a complete loner. She hates a lot of things - including herself. But suddenly, a blog called Solitaire has arrived and is pulling pranks throughout the school. And Michael Holden has appeared and is showing up everywhere in Tori's life. Tori doesn't know (or care) why she's involved, but suddenly she is. What does Solitaire want? Who's behind it? Why does it all seem to be linked to Tori? Why does Michael want to be in Tori's life so badly and who is he, really? Things are only getting stranger and darker, and only one thing is certain – Tori isn't bored anymore. Full Review

000824412X.jpg

Review of

Loveless by Alice Oseman

5star.jpg Teens

Georgia is a teenager who's embarking on her first year of university and is in a desperate struggle to figure herself out. She's always been in love with love. With the idea of love, the idea of falling madly for someone and finding bliss. But the reality for her has always been different. She's never had a crush. She's never been kissed. And she's desperate to feel something and fall for someone. But when the opportunity presents itself in any kind of real, tangible and physical way for her - she's disgusted by it. But isn't that what she's supposed to want? Isn't that what everyone is supposed to do? How come everyone else can do it? Why can't she? Full Review

1471409929.jpg

Review of

How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi

4star.jpg Teens

18 year old Amir is American Iranian, a muslim, and gay. He struggles with his identity, unable to face telling his parents who he really is, so when another student at his school starts blackmailing him, threatening to show his parents photographs of Amir kissing his boyfriend Amir panics and runs away...to Italy! So begins a journey for Amir, and his family, where they all discover more about him, and who he really is, and who he really wants to be. Full Review

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Review of

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

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Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel is set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a reaction to the absolution of four police officers for beating a black man, Rodney King, nearly to death. Told from the perspective of Ashley Bennett, the novel follows her evolution from a silent bystander when confronted with matters of race, to a woman finding her voice and embracing her heritage. Full Review

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Review of

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

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Coriolanus Snow is refined, charming, and one of the only surviving members of the affluent Snow family. But their world was destroyed by the war. Their riches gone, his parents dead - and yet the facade must be maintained. As the 10th Hunger Games begins, Coriolanus and other students of the Academy become the first Mentors of the tributes in the games. This is his chance to prove himself to the world and secure his place in the Capitol for good. But when he is assigned a tribute with no hope - a girl from District 12 - he thinks all chances of winning (both for her and for him) are gone. But Lucy Gray Baird proves herself to be a spark in his world, in a way he could never have imagined. As the Games commence, Lucy Gray fights for her life in the arena - but behind the scenes, in the sly, complex and strangely dangerous world of the Capitol, Coriolanus is fighting for his life too. Will she survive the Games? Will he? And what happens then? Full Review

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Review of

Hawk: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson

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Hawk has been waiting on the same street corner, every day, for years. She is waiting for her parents to come and get her. They left her there when she was just tiny, and although she's almost certain that they are never coming back for her, she continues to head back there each day, just in case. Hawk isn't your ordinary street urchin though...she has wings, and can fly! Since she was abandoned she's been living with a group of other children, all with interesting characteristics of their own and together they've made their own family. But now the city is seemingly even more troubled than usual, there's a mysterious child-killer who has been brought to the prison next door to where the children live, and then one day Hawk comes home to find her family have been taken away. Where have they been taken, and can Hawk rescue them before it's too late? Full Review

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Review of

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

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In the end, we all become stories

Spending the summer in Paris sounds like a dream for most people, especially art-lovers, but Khayyam can't relax and stop thinking about the mess she left behind in Chicago. On a chance encounter with a descendant of Alexandre Dumas, Khayyam finds herself on a historical journey with him to unveil the truth about the 19th century Muslim woman who may have crossed paths with Alendre Dumas, Eugene Delacroix and Lord Byron. As the two teenagers travel the city they not only discover themselves, but uncover the true story of the woman and why it was one that should never have been forgotten. Full Review

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Review of

I Am Unworthy by Angela Mack

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Isabel is determined to start fresh. Start again. Sixth form will be different. Her tormentor doesn't go to Gilleford Secondary School anymore. She can escape the hurt, the fear, and the person she became. Josh is determined to keep going, even through the rage, the pain, and using his fists to solve any problem or situation. But he has secrets that threaten to tear him and his brothers apart. When Josh and Isabel's worlds collide, can they make their relationship work? Can they both finally be happy? Or will Josh's time run out? Full Review

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Review of

Every Little Piece of My Heart by Non Pratt

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Freya was a beautiful, popular and complex girl, loved by many and seemingly stable in her existence as a queen bee 16-year-old student, complete with best friend and the promise of the end of GCSEs just months away. But one day, on January 1st, she just... left. No explanation. No warning. No goodbye. No one heard from her since. A once active social profile left deserted. So, when her best friend Sophie receives a mysterious parcel from her 5 months after, she expects it to contain answers of some kind, but is surprised to find the parcel contains another layer addressed to a complete stranger, and then another layer to another person and another, each containing an item unique to them and Freya, connecting 4 strangers through her mystery and the promise of 'treasure' at the end of it all. With each parcel, a new layer of the story and of Freya is unwrapped - and painful truths come to light that threaten to break bonds, both new and old. Can what's been broken be fixed? And why did Freya leave? Full Review

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Review of

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

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When we first meet 17-year-old Lola, daughter to legendary horror movie director Nolan Nox, she is saying goodbye to New York City - by sneaking out and stealing from its residents. But when she is found by her father's assistant and forced to come home, she arrives to find an unlocked door, a trail of blood, and her father dying in his study. And so, while he recovers, she is sent off to live with her grandmother in Harrow Lake, the small 1920s town in Indiana that served as the location for the film that made her parents famous. But something about this place isn't right. There's a darkness inside the people here. Secrets about her mother and dark tales of the town's cannibal monster 'Mister Jitters' fill every corner, and disturbing happenings plague Lola. But with every passing hour, secrets long buried come painfully to light and she begins to think that these stories may not be stories at all, and something very real and sinister lurks in Harrow Lake. Full Review

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Review of

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

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A month on from the explosive conclusion to the Andie Bell mystery, a new normal has settled over Little Kilton. Max Hastings' assault trial thunders on, Pippa's viral podcast detailing her journey of discovering the truth about Andie and Sal's deaths has gained massive media attention, Cara and her sister Naomi are reeling from the realisation that their father, Elliot Ward, had murdered Sal Singh and kidnapped a girl he thought was Andie after she stumbled out of his house, bleeding, and disappeared into the night. As the town tries to heal again, six years on from the events of that night, tragedy strikes again. Jamie Reynolds, older brother to one of Pippa's best friends has gone missing. And so, alongside her difficult life as a semi-famous eighteen-year-old, she is once again taken down a dark, twisted path to discover the truth. Full Review

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Review of

The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

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On the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl has assumed the identity of Florian the man in an attempt to fit in with the crew. Life is hard as a pirate, trust and empathy are the first things to be discarded, but anything has to be better than starving on the streets. Meanwhile, the young Lady Evelyn Hasegawa boards the Dove, headed off to be married to a military man she's never met on some far-flung colony of the Nipran Empire. Neither of them expects to be thrown together by fate, never mind fall in love… Full Review

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Review of

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

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5 years ago, the tiny town of Little Kilton was rocked when beautiful, popular Andie Bell disappeared without a trace, presumed murdered. Her boyfriend Salil Singh was everyone's number 1 suspect – especially after Sal sent a 'confession' text to his dad and died in an apparent suicide just days after her disappearance. His guilt was sealed and the case was closed, so the town and its families tried moved on. Now Pippa is determined to prove that Sal was innocent, with the help of his brother Ravi. What started out as an innocent school project quickly turns into something much more sinister, and Pippa begins to unearth the dark truth about the beautiful, innocent queen bee of Kilton Grammar School and what really happened all those years ago. But the closer she gets, the more dangerous it becomes. Full Review

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Review of

Dangerous Remedy by Kat Dunn

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It's Paris, 1794. The Revolution is five years old and the country in the midst of violent political turmoil between the Revolutionaries, trying to maintain their control by whatever means necessary, and the Royalists, still loyal to monarchy intent. Caught in a no man's land between the two warring factions is the Battalion of the Dead. Led by a disillusioned revolutionary's daughter, the band of outcasts have made a name for themselves rescuing innocent citizens from the violent fallout. But they may have gotten in over their heads with their latest rescue, Olympe, a girl with a disturbing history and powers that might just make her the spark that blows up the powder-keg of revolutionary Paris. Full Review

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Review of

Hello Now by Jenny Valentine

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Jude reluctantly moves to a small, quiet seaside town after her Mum and her most recent boyfriend split (making this their 13th post-breakup move) and settle into a big, old house overlooking the sea - which happens to contain a strange, old sitting tenant named Henry, who stays rooted in the house like a ghost that just won't leave – or can't. As Jude settles into this new, seemingly mundane, reality she is consumed by a longing for her old life in London and anger at another forced change – but this will be the last time, she swears. This world is quiet, dull and yet suffocating for Jude. That is until the day Novo arrives, and her entire concept of the world changes forever. Full Review

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Review of

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

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Set after the ExcelsiCon, we are introduced to Rosie Thorne, a Small Town, USA girl who has recently lost her mother and is entering her final year of high school. Things keep piling up for Rosie, and when she follows a stray dog into what she thinks is an abandoned castle in her town, things just get worse. Rosie accidentally destroys a rare book and with her mother's hospital and funeral costs she has no money to cover the damage. She finds herself working for Vance Reigns, Hollywood royalty on a paparazzi escape, to repay the debt.

For most Starfield superfans this would be a dream but Rosie soon realises Vance is a jerk - and he isn't too fond of her either. However, as the two are forced to get to know each other, their guards begin to lower and they discover that maybe this situation might not be so terrible after all. Full Review

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Review of

Burn by Patrick Ness

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On a cold Sunday evening in early 1957 - the very day, in fact, that Dwight David Eisenhower took the oath of office for the second time as President of the United States of America - Sarah Dewhurst waited with her father in the parking lot of the Chevron gas station for the dragon he'd hired to help on the farm. It's 1950s America but not as we know it. In this alternate US, there is still a Cold War with the Russians, still a concomitant arms race. And the stain of racism is just as crushing - something mixed race Sarah and her Japanese American friend Jason are only too well aware of. As is the deeply unpleasant town deputy, Kelby. But one thing is very different. In this alternate world, there are dragons. The dragons live in an uneasy peace with humans and communication is minimal. But a few of these winged creatures do hire out their labour to human in return for gold - they are dragons, after all. Poor Frankie! Full Review

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Review of

Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson

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Frankie is nearly fourteen. Being nearly fourteen is not easy when your mum has been diagnosed with MS, when your dad has decided to leave her for another woman, when your older sister has turned into the girliest girl who ever lived, and, above all, when Sally and her mates are bullying you at school. Oh, and when Sam, your best friend since forever, suddenly starts sending out signs that he might fancy you - and you don't fancy him back.

Poor Frankie! Full Review

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Review of

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

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We might give it our all and crash and burn. But we might win. We might actually change things. And that maybe makes it still worth going for, don't you think? Jaime has been spending his summer helping his cousin with campaigning in time for a special election. When his mother encourages him to go canvassing, he can't think of anything worse. However, Jaime has always wanted to be a politician and decides there is no time like the present to conquer his fear of speaking to the public. Maya is a Pakistani-American Muslim girl who is having the worst summer of her life. Her parents are going through a separation, she has zero plans for the summer to help take her mind off things and her only close friend is permanently busy. To help occupy her, her parents offer to buy her a car if she agrees to go canvassing. The pair could possibly be the worst canvassing duo in history, as neither of them really want to be there, but as the campaign goes on they discover that they care, a lot, about the election - and maybe even about each other? Full Review

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