Reviews written by Christina Franke

What I Liked: The problem I had with most of the prior Stiefvater novels were the leads, who were basically the sort of people who murder banter. They bore me to tears. Cole and Isabel’s narration on the other hand crackles and pops with incendiary wit. They’re rough-edges, tremendously-flawed,...

What I Liked I cannot remember the last time a book made me feel so incredibly, incandescently, indescribably enraged. Seriously, I was filled with anger for most of the book. Loathing. Unadulterated loathing. Right now, I can see you looking at the rating and wondering whether I slipped up....

What I Liked: Despite the fact that Dissonance is almost five hundred pages, Dissonance kept my attention consistently. Considering that I’ve not been able to make it through some much shorter books, this means something. This book is parallel universe awesomeness. I liked it from the start, but the...

What I Liked: There is nothing like the right book at the right time. I mean, obviously, a good book is good whenever, but a good book just when you needed it? Bookish heaven. Magnolia is what I needed in this slumpish mood I’ve been in. I’ve been craving...

What I Liked: First things first, you should know that Lenore is one of my besties. I know some people make the decision not to officially review books by author friends because of conflict of interest and I totally respect that. Personally, though, I still want to be able...

What I Liked: Likely following in the trend of The Fault in Our Stars, Somebody Up There Hates You is about a romance between two teens in hospice. In case, like me, you didn’t actually know what a hospice is, I’ve learned that it’s where people are sent when...

What I Liked: One Death, Nine Stories didn’t really scream Christina book, but I couldn’t resist the premise of the anthology. It actually turned out to be much cooler than I was even expecting. I thought they’d be essentially companion stories by different people associated with the deceased. That’s...

What I Liked: What’s funny about Fiendish is that I was really tempted to DNF after the first chapter. I was confused and it didn’t make any damn sense. Plus, I’ve been DNFing left and right and that’s been working for me. However, I pushed on a couple of...

As it stands, I’d rank the When We Wake series very highly among the YA dystopian novels I’ve read. They’re very focused on the plot and world building, and, perhaps more importantly, they don’t follow the traditional YA path of revolution and happy ending. While We Run is a surprisingly...

What I Liked The Fourth Wish is a delightful, norm-smashing, humorous sequel and all people who enjoy a well-placed pop culture reference simply must read this series. There will be some spoilers for The Art of Wishing, so if you haven’t read that yet, just go do that. ...

What I loved: THIS is how you end a trilogy, my friends. Like a freaking BAMF. Seriously, I had my doubts going in after a favorite trilogy went down in a fiery mess of plotberg, but Dennard’s ending is more than I could have dreamed. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful...

What I Liked: Somehow Fat Cat had been almost entirely off of my radar, which is a shame because this book is pretty damn awesome. It’s one of those books very driven by narrative voice, and I happen to love Cat’s voice. Brande tackles some sensitive issues, like weight...

What I Liked: The comparison marketing did not lie: superpowers plus clever criminal shenanigans are what you’re going to get from Emily Lloyd-Jones’ debut. I make no secret of my immense love of books about people with powers. I just love the idea of humanity evolving...

What I Liked: I don’t know what’s with me lately. Short stories aren’t really my thing, but I’ve been reading so many short story collections lately. This is the second one that I’m kind of in love with. Through the Woods first caught my eye, literally, when the cover...

What I Liked: The fact that The Kiss of Deception is above par became apparent early on. The opening is common enough, with a princess running away from her arranged marriage, willing to marry only for the deepest love. Where this differs is in Lia’s attitude. She feels bad...