Home of innovative and original Young Adult fiction
Title: FangirlAuthor: Rainbow RowellEdition: PaperbackRating: 4/5 This is another YA novel I should have read ages ago! The setup for Fangirl is very clever. Cath is starting her first year of university. She’s shy, socially awkward, and she’d rather stay in her room and write fan fiction than go to parties. Her twin sister Wren embraces the …
Title: Ruin and RisingAuthor: Leigh BardugoEdition: PaperbackRating: 4/5 Shadow and Bone, Book One of the trilogy, is reviewed here, and Siege and Storm, Book Two, is reviewed here. After the cliffhanger at the end of Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising begins with Alina and her allies taking the chance to stop, breathe, and regroup. …
Title: Siege and StormAuthor: Leigh BardugoEdition: PaperbackRating: 4/5 Shadow and Bone, Book One of the trilogy, is reviewed here. The second book in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy picks up the story from the end of Book One, and quickly drops the characters back into trouble, and back into action. Mal and Alina have escaped …
Title: The Cost of KnowingAuthor: Brittney MorrisEdition: KindleRating: 4/5 Alex Rufus is sixteen. He lives with his Aunt Mackie and his younger brother Isaac in an upmarket neighbourhood in Chicago – the only black family on their street. After the accident that killed his parents, Alex woke up in hospital and discovered that everything he …
Title: Tales from the HinterlandAuthor: Melissa AlbertEdition: PaperbackRating: 4/5 Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood (reviewed here) and the sequel The Night Country (reviewed here) feature a world where fairytale characters are trapped in their stories, living out their plotlines over and over. The stories are collected by Althea Proserpine, the grandmother of the protagonist, into …
Title: Blanca & RojaAuthor: Anna-Marie McLemore Edition: AudiobookRating: 3/5 A modern-day retelling of Snow White and Rose Red, this book focuses on the relationship between sisters Blanca and Roja Del Cisne, and their attempts to break their family’s curse. Every generation of the family is destined to have two daughters, and one of them will always …
Title: Shadow and BoneAuthor: Leigh BardugoEdition: PaperbackRating: 4/5 We chose this novel to read at YA Book Club because the Netflix adaptation is coming to our screens in April, and we wanted to read the book before watching the series. This is the first of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse novels, and having read Six of Crows …
Title: This WinterAuthor: Alice OsemanEdition: KindleRating: 4/5 This is a sweet, emotional novella in the Heartstopper series, following Charlie through a difficult Christmas Day. Big sister Tori, little brother Oliver, and Charlie himself narrate sections of the story, as Charlie faces his first family gathering after spending several weeks on a psychiatric ward being treated …
We reviewed 38 YA and mid-grade books on the Taller Books blog in 2020! Here’s the roundup – click through to read the full reviews, and use the comments to tell us about your favourite reads from last year. Sentinel – Joshua Winning4/5The blurb on the back of Book One of the Sentinel Trilogy promises …
Title: The Girls I’ve BeenAuthor: Tess SharpeEdition: Paperback ARCRating: 5/5 Probably my favourite read of the last twelve months, this book has everything. A fast-paced, thrilling plot; interesting, engaging characters; a clever and intriguing back story for the protagonist; and some genuine, how-are-they-going-to-get-out-of-this peril. The setup is simple. Nora is seventeen. She’s spent most of …