Reviews written by Kim Baccellia, Staff Reviewer

For a small town, Callabrese High has a lot of secrets. When Junior Robin Brisset accepts an invitation to go to an exclusive party, she doesn't know how far someone would go to exact revenge. This is a case of bullying to the extreme that has deadly consequences....

I'm a huge fan of analogies. Why? They are perfect for those who feel that they're too busy or have the time to read a novel. What worked: This is a fun collection of shorts based on an Alice in Wonderland theme....

It's been over 120 years, but the horrific murders of Mr. Borden and his wife still are unanswered. The media throughout time has painted Lizzie Borden as a crazed person who got away with the murder. And everything does point out that she did do it. ...

Alex Flinn has a gift of breathing into classic fairy tales. She does the same in her latest MIRRORED. Violet knows she's different and not very pretty. After a playground incident, in which she brings back to life a dead crow, she becomes friends with...

I'm a fan of time travel novels especially ones that bring an intriguing twist. The Edge of Forever is set in two different times with two different characters who end up meeting in 2013 with surprising results. It's 2146 and seventeen-year-old Bridger...

Think REVENGE meets YA. I was a huge fan of the first season of the TV series REVENGE. The Count of Monte Cristo influence of where a wronged person later comes back to seek revenge against those who wronged him has always intrigued me. In...

PANDEMIC had my full attention right at the beginning. I love how the author spins her own unique twist into what might have been yet another deadly-disease-plague-that-kills-everyone story. No, the voice is very engaging with a character that deals not only with a deadly flu that kills most...

As a Cybils 2014 Speculative Fiction panelist, I was lucky to read the apocalyptic novel THE LIVING. The edge of the seat action set on a luxury cruise ship was gripping with the vivid images of a deadly tsunami and earthquakes that hit the Western coast. ...

Fourteen-year-old Audrey is battling anxiety and after an unpleasant incident at her school, stays home with her colorful family. She loves them and knows they're only looking out for her but that doesn't make her plight any easier. Her way of coping is wearing dark glasses and of...

Most so-called memoirs can come off dry or not too interesting. POPULAR isn't that book. Rather it's an enchanting journey of a fifteen-year-old as she uses a copy of a 1950s Popularity Guide for her eighth grade school year. What worked: I totally loved the...

Vic Howard is invisible at his high school and tries not to be noticed. When his best friend Brett asks him to come to a party, he decides to go. Once there, he runs into Callie, a girl from high school, who is very drunk. Feeling bad,...

In the year 2052, India now has a ratio of 5 boys to 1 girl. Girls are now a valuable commodity. There are a series of tests that every boy goes through in order to be 'chosen' by a girl to be her husband. One such girl, Sudasa,...

Higgs Boson Bing has it made. It's the last week of his senior year in high school, he's going to Harvard, and is dating Roo the prettiest girl at Sally Ride High School. That all changes when his best friend's girlfriend poses a hypothetical question--would he give a...

Some sequels have a hard time living up to the first book in the series. I hate if after a year or so of reading the first book in the series, 'I forget' what happened. This doesn't happen in CHILDREN OF THE EARTH. The author does a...

Only a few are able to escape an upcoming meteor attack on Earth by winning a place on one of five Arks, massive bioships designed to protect them on their way to a new home. Sixteen-year-old Char, isn't one of the lucky ones. She's in prison and her...