Reviews written by Ed Goldberg

Three years ago, Boaz Katznelson stunned his family when he told them he was enlisting in the Marines after high school graduation, insuring he will be sent to a war zone. His younger brother, Levi, always looked up to his older brother and couldnt understand the decision. Nor...

Cassandra and Julia were best friends since third grade. Julia was popular, and by extension so was Cass, with the theater geeks. Despite Casss own accomplishments, she feels the emptiness caused Julias death in an auto accident. She feels their friends are just tolerating her because of...

Andi lives in Brooklyn. Her younger brother, Truman, was killed in an auto accident and Andi blames herself. Her parents are divorced. Her father, Lewis, a famous DNA researcher, lives in Boston with his new young wife. Andi lives with her mother, Marianne, who has withdrawn...

What a Summer!!! When Aurora (Roar) Audley's mother left two years ago, her father needed a life change. He abandoned his San Francisco legal career and bought a farm, dedicated to growing fruits and vegetables organically. It wasn't her choice, but she had no choice....

It was supposed to be a Once in a Blue Moon day. Signe was going to make her famous crab gumbo. Dogie was going to sing his two word song, asking Signe to marry him, without stuttering even once. Mr. Beauchamp was going to sit on his...

A Wendigo is a mythical creature appearing in the mythology of the Algonquian Indians. It is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform or which could possess humans. Well, just how mythical this creature is, is the subject of Rick Yanceys follow-up to The Monstrumologist, the...

Theres a lot to chew on in The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. The year is 1888. Will Henry is awakened in the middle of the night by a knock on the door and Dr. Warthrops cry, Will Henreeeeee. He climbs down from the loft in which he...

Tabby, eleven years old, is the chosen one&chosen by Ms. Winter, also known as the old maid, to leave Ms. Huttons knitting school and travel four days to a new home, Seldom House. She isnt the first girl to leave with Ms. Winter. Izzy left years ago, never...

The fact that author Cheryl Rainfield is a former cutter and an abuse survivor makes Scars even more chilling than it would have been otherwise. Kendra is a victim of sexual abuse but she has repressed her memory of her abuser. She does remember him telling her that he will...

Laineys world is falling apart. A few months after Carl, her mother Lisas boyfriend, is killed when his motorcycle skids off the road, Lisa commits suicide, hanging herself in the basement. Several days later, Laineys older sister, Vallery, who she hasnt seen in ten or more years, appears...

Originally I was just going to tell you exactly what the author, Beth Kephart, tells you about Dangerous Neighbors: It is 1876, the height of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Katherine has lost her twin sister, Anna, and though it was an accident, Katherine remains convinced that...

Amber Appleton is seventeen years old and living in Hello Yellow (her name for the school bus her mother drives) with Bobby Big Boy (aka BBB, Triple B, B Thrice) and her mother, who is drunk most of the time and has gone through a litany of horrendous boyfriends. ...

The wrong kind of love abounds in The Six Rules of Maybe by Deb Caletti. As a general rule, I like her books and this is no exception. Scarlet is seventeen and her older sister Juliet is twenty one. Juliet skipped college and moved away to pursue...

How far will Essie Green go to distance herself from her cousin, Micah? Essie isnt the type of girl you notice. She wouldnt typically be part of the in-crowd. However, as a sophomore, she made the cheerleading squad, those years of dance classes having paid off. ...

How many times can you die? Apparently several but after the first time, it really doesnt count. (Or does it?) So Sam (Samantha) Kingston finds out in Before I Fall, Lauren Olivers debut novel. Sam and her friends Elody, Ally and Lindsay were driving home from...