Reviews written by Christina Franke, Staff

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...

What I Liked: As one can surmise from the title, Barrett’s retelling is from the perspective of one of the so-called ugly stepsisters to Cinderella. This alone isn’t especially new; such postmodern spins have been done before. Still, I think that Barrett took it a couple of steps further...

What I Liked: Boomerang is, I think, new adult enough according to the traditional formula to please your general new adult reader. If you’re here for sexy times, incredibly hot characters, and spontaneous boners, then you’re going to leave happy. Boomerang has this in spades. While the sexy stuff...

What I Loved: Miranda Kenneally has completely outdone herself. I’ve enjoyed all of her books. Loved them, in fact. They’re feelsy and shippy and funny and real and sex-positive and basically everything I want. Breathe, Annie, Breathe strikes that perfect balance between fluffiness and delving into powerful issues. When...

The ending of Anna Dressed in Blood meant that the sequel could really go either way for me, depending on how Blake resolved things. Because she’s awesome, I liked Girl of Nightmares just as well as Anna Dressed in Blood, though for slightly different reasons. The books are a bit...

Middle grade hasn’t really been my thing lately, but I recommend this anthology SO highly. For one thing, it’s absolutely gorgeous: the cover, the illustrations, the formatting. It’s just perfection. Even better, the stories within it are wonderful too. Usually in an anthology, I like a couple really well and...

What I Liked: Amazingly, I managed to go into Anna Dressed in Blood knowing nothing whatsoever about the book, despite its immense popularity with my friends. All I knew was that it was a horror novel, but not even anything more than that. Oh, and that this series has...

What I Liked Theo, short for Theodora, makes a lot of really bad choices. She’s definitely riding on the hot mess express for most of Pointe. Despite her intense passion for ballet and dreams of having a professional ballet career, Theo drinks more than is good for her, smokes...

What I Liked: The aspects of Ink that I loved are still present, by and large. Katie’s made the decision to stay and Japan, but she does have to deal with the ramifications of that. In her normal life, Katie has to really try to adjust to life in...

What I Liked: If I’d had to guess, I probably would have said my favorite part of Behind the Scenes would be the romance. While I do think Liam and Ally are shippable, that’s not actually my favorite aspect of the novel. Ally’s family wins that. Ally has a...

What I Liked The narrator, Paige Kelly, known as Bellevue Kelly to the kids at her school, is composed entirely of sass. She’s completely ostracized and friendless, due to her apparent habit of talking to air. Actually, dying briefly in an accident after saving a little boy has given...

17 First Kisses was completely not on my radar, until it showed up in a package from HarperCollins, along with something I’d actually requested. I often side-eye these accompanying books, but I am so glad that Allen’s debut novel showed up on my doorstep. I was charmed right from the...