Newest Teens Reviews

From TheBookbag
Revision as of 14:26, 29 January 2013 by Jill (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigationJump to search

Teens

How to Fall by Jane Casey

4star.jpg Teens

Freya dies after a fall from a cliff. But was it an accident, suicide, or - horror of horrors - murder?

Jess Tennant can't bear a mystery and so she sets out to solve the mystery of the death of the cousin she never met. She meets with nothing but obstruction and hostility, but perhaps it's little wonder. Not only is Jess a stranger in the parochial town of Port Sentinel, she is also the spitting image of Freya. She unsettles everyone for these reasons but, even despite them, Jess is an unsettling girl. She's blunt, direct, and she never takes no for an answer. Full review...

Everbound by Brodi Ashton

4.5star.jpg Teens

This is the second in the Everneath trilogy and picks up two months from where the first book finished. Two months ago the Tunnels of the Everneath came to claim Nikki Beckett, to take her back to the Underworld where she would be used as a human battery forever. That night, Nikki's boyfriend, Jack, made the ultimate sacrifice and took Nikki's place in the Everneath. Now, Nikki is haunted by Jack, who appears in her dreams every night, lost, confused and slowly having the life sucked out of him. On the Surface everybody is blaming Nikki for Jack's disappearance; Jack's Mum has hired a Private Detective who's following Nikki around, convinced that she will take him to Jack. Full review...

The Twyning by Terence Blacker

5star.jpg Fantasy

Efren is a nobody in the kingdom of rats till he witnesses the kidnapping of the king. His future changes in a moment as he's sent up to the human world to rescue him. Talking of humans, 11 year old Peter is abandoned by his parents and left to scrape a living from London's streets. His affinity with animals gives him the name 'Dogboy' and employment with rat catcher Bob and scientist Dr Ross-Gibbon. The Doctor's ambition is to encourage humanity to annihilate the rats by dragging them into a war. Efren and Dogboy, both insignificant in their own worlds, must make both man and rodent see sense; easier said than done. Full review...

The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron

5star.jpg Confident Readers

Little Mishka finds his cosy world turned upside down after the death of his beloved Babushka Ina. Unable to cope, his desperate mother finds solace in the arms of an abusive, alcoholic boyfriend and things go from bad to worse. When his mother mysteriously disappears, five year old Mishka flees to the heart of the city, where he joins up with a gang of street children, begging and stealing to survive. Full review...

The Prey by Andrew Fukuda

4star.jpg Teens

Having escaped the vampires hunting them on the boat left by the Scientists, Gene, Sissy and the boys make their way down the river and arrive at the Mission. Food is abundant, the place is peaceful, and the Elders promise them a trip on the next train to Civilisation. Gene and Sissy can hardly believe it. But it's soon apparent that the Mission is not all it seems and Gene begins to wonder if they haven't simply exchanged one hellhole for another. Although they find out a great deal more about the Scientist - he developed the Origin, a cure for vampirism - understanding his plans is as frustrating as ever. And with the vampires coming ever closer, even to the Mission itself, and the Elders making moves of their own, time is running out and Gene and Sissy must decide what to do... Full review...

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

4star.jpg Teens

Vanessa is just one of many new students at the New York Ballet Academy - but while they're all trying to become the best dancer, she has her own reasons for being there. Three years ago her older sister disappeared from the school, and she's determined to find out what happened to Margaret. Can she find out? And will the two boys taking an interest in her, charismatic Zeppelin and incredibly intense Justin, help or hinder her search? Full review...

Rift by Andrea Cremer

4.5star.jpg Teens

After a mysterious healer saved the life of Ember, and her mother, when she was just a baby, Ember was promised to the mysterious order Conatus. It's a debt her father is not happy about paying - determined to see his younger daughter married to a suitable husband, he tries everything in his power to stop Ember joining the order of knights. Full review...

Irresistible by Liz Bankes

2star.jpg Teens

After finishing her GCSEs, Mia gets a job at Radleigh Castle, working as a waitress. She quickly meets fellow worker Dan, who she likes, but is he the boy for her - or would she be better off with Jamie, son of the owners and all-around arrogant idiot. Incredibly, it's a somewhat harder decision than that last sentence would suggest. Full review...

Hostage Three by Nick Lake

5star.jpg Teens

Amy's family have left on a round-the-world trip. The intention is to mend relationships after what has been a turbulent time. Amy has had a meltdown, messing up her A levels, partied too much and gone a bit too far with the piercings. She can't stand her stepmother and guards a catalogue of resentments against her workaholic, remote father. But the voyage turns into crisis when the family's yacht is kidnapped by Somali pirates. And the family is put under even more strain when a relationship develops between Amy and Farouz, the pirates' translator. As Amy learns more about Farouz and his background, she also discovers a great deal about herself, her family, and about life itself... Full review...

The Blog of Maisy Malone by Eve Ainsworth

4star.jpg Teens

Maisy Malone - not her real name, she's not an idiot, you know - has decided to write a blog. She's 17, has just dropped out of sixth form because her lessons all seemed so irrelevant, and is now waiting for her benefits to arrive while she's looking for a job. And jobs are hard to find in the current economic climate. This makes life even more difficult for Maisy than it is for Maisy's friends. Because Maisy's father hasn't had a job in years and is steadily drinking himself into oblivion and her dog, Dave, desperately needs an expensive visit to the vet to sort out his leaky bottom. Full review...

Undone by Cat Clarke

4star.jpg Teens

Jem has always been madly in love with the boy next door. Unfortunately, while Kai is his best friend, she’s not the girl for him. In fact, there is no girl for him – Kai is gay. Jem is one of the only people who knows this, though, until he’s cruelly outed online by someone anonymous. When Kai can’t live with people's reaction to his outing, and kills himself, Jem resolves to find out who was responsible, and bring them down. Full review...

Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz

4star.jpg Teens

Colin Fischer is just starting high school. It's a time that is both exciting and intimidating to the average student, but Colin is not your average fourteen year old. Colin has Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological condition linked to poor social skills and interpersonal interaction, often characterised by repetitive or obsessive patterns of behaviour. For Colin, a zealot of clear-headed logic and rational deductions (yes, he's a fan of Sherlock Holmes), every social interaction is a mystery that has to be solved. But when a real mystery arrives at school, in the form of a gun going off in the school cafeteria, Colin takes it upon himself to find the real culprit. This leads to a sequence of events which, as his father nicely puts it, involves Colin breaking more rules, starting more trouble and causing more chaos in forty-eight hours, than in all his fourteen years on the planet. Full review...

Zom-B Underground by Darren Shan

4.5star.jpg Teens

Ok. Before we begin. If you haven't read the first book in this series, DON'T read this review. It contains spoilers. Read my review of the first book, read the first book itself, then come back. If you don't, you'll be sorry. Full review...

Deceit by Deborah White

4star.jpg Teens

Thinking the immortal Doctor defeated, Claire has allowed her modern-day London life to return - almost - to normal. Her father has found a new girlfriend, Lindsay, and Claire quite likes her, despite a nagging guilt about disloyalty to her mother, who is depressed about the divorce and struggling to cope with Claire's new baby brother, Matthew. There's even a boyfriend, Joe, on the scene. Last year's adventure involving a girl from the past, an evil magician ancestor and an ancient prophecy, seem like old news. After all, Doctor Robert died, didn't he? Full review...