Sya
As a teen Sya read mainly adult books and now, as an adult, has had enough of the grown-up world and loves nothing more than to escape into YA fiction. The only thing that is as good as reading these books is discussing them with other like-minded lovelies, hence the creation of her book review blog, The Mountains of Instead.
Torn, by Cat Clarke
Reviewed on January 3, 2012
When Alice King heads from Londonto the Scottish countryside for a school trip, her biggest concern is leaving her widowed father at home alone. When her group arrive in Scotland, though, things take a turn for the problematic when Alice, her best friend Cass, emo Rae and outsider Polly are roomed with uber mean queen, [...]
Ashes, by Ilsa J. Bick
Reviewed on October 24, 2011
Alex is half way up a mountain when it happens; she’s been undertaking a personal quest and coming to terms with a terminal illness – a monstrous brain tumour that she is tired of fighting. Alex, really, is all fought out. After a chance meeting with an old man, his granddaughter and their rather frightening [...]
There Is No Dog, by Meg Rosoff
Reviewed on September 16, 2011
Meet Bob. Teenage, male, over-sexed and under-appreciated (well, if you ask him), often troublesome, perennially petulant and… oh yes, God. Certainly, the fact that Bob is behind creation explains an awful lot about the state of the planet, never mind the sorry lives of those who live upon it. After a rather hurried spurt of [...]
Red Glove, by Holly Black
Reviewed on September 12, 2011
Red Glove is the second book in the Curse Worker series by Holly Black. If you have not read the first book in this series (the fabulous White Cat then this review will contain spoilers. After the startling, transforming (yep, I went there) and violent events of White Cat, Cassel Sharpe is surely due a break. [...]
Divergent, by Veronica Roth
Reviewed on May 20, 2011
Beatrice has grown up living selflessly in all ways, right down to rarely seeing her own reflection lest it encourage her to focus on herself rather than others. Everything she does, both at home and out in the wider world is to help other people – this is because she belongs to the societal faction [...]
Chime, by Franny Billingsley
Reviewed on April 10, 2011
Briony is a wicked girl, of this she is certain. Her ability to see the strange creatures in the swamp surrounding her home and her tendency to favour her wicked left hand would have had her convinced that she was a witch even without evidence of many her wicked deeds confronting her daily. However, being [...]
Miles From Ordinary, by Carol Lynch Williams
Reviewed on April 1, 2011
When thirteen year old Lacey sets out to start a summer job at her local library, it is not with the dragging of feet and longing for freedom that you might expect from your average teenager. Rather, Lacey is filled with excitement and a desparate hope that this job – and the one that she [...]
Anna And The French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins
Reviewed on March 26, 2011
Anna’s parents, for no discernible reason have deemed that she should spend her senior year of high school studying at the School of America in Paris. Anna doesn’t speak French and has never expressed any particular interest in visiting the City of Light (although she’s not entirely averse to pastries) so can only surmise that [...]
Across The Universe, by Beth Revis
Reviewed on March 20, 2011
Space, as well as being the next frontier, would appear to be the next big thing in young adult fiction. James Frey saw it when he approached Jobie Hughes with I Am Number 4 and I am sure that the publication of the far superior Across The Universe will herald a slew of titles set [...]
My Name Is Memory, by Ann Brashares
Reviewed on March 11, 2011
Daniel is an old soul. Literally. He has lived many lives and, unlike the majority of souls, is able to remember each and every one. And in each and every one his driving force has been his love for another soul – Sophia. In each life he searches for her, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. When [...]
Firelight, by Sophie Jordan
Reviewed on March 5, 2011
Having swithered over Sophie Jordan’s Firelight for some time now, I was afforded the opportunity to read and review it prior to it’s UK release in March and it is a rare beast in the paranormal genre in that it has a premise that I’ve not actually seen before. Sort of. Let me explain… Jacinda [...]
The Mockingbirds, by Daisy Whitney
Reviewed on February 24, 2011
Alex is a student at the progressive Themis boarding school, a liberal institution whose administration believes that treating it’s teenage students like mature adults will encourage them to act likewise (because mature adults are all such paragons of virtue, good decision making and niceness, right?). While Themis may sound like every student’s dream school, the [...]
The Sky Is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson
Reviewed on February 12, 2011
This title had been on my wish list for a while and I thought that it looked like a fair to middling sort of read. When it came out last week I was in the process of reading Looking For Alaska by John Green (fabulous, BTW) and felt that that was enough pondering on mortality [...]
Delirium, by Lauren Oliver
Reviewed on February 2, 2011
In Lena’s world, love is a four letter word – a disease; an infection of which all are cured at age eighteen. After the cure citizens are no longer cursed with the highs and lows that love can bring. In fact, they are no longer inconvenienced by anything much as the cure destroys any intensity [...]
Reviews by kids and teens
Bookbitz likes to hear from young people as much as possible - where you see this symbol on a review, it means it's by one of our young reviewers :)
