Reviews written by Renae M

It’s always rewarding, when I have massive expectations for a book and they’re met. I wish it happened more often, but with me it’s something of a rarity. However, I’ve been intensely interested in The Ruining ever since I first read the jacket blurb, and, looking back, I rather wish...

When We Wake is, in my opinion, futuristic science fiction done well. (I haven’t read much of it, sure, but I found very little wrong with this novel.) Tegan Oglietti wakes up in the year 2128, a hundred years after her last memory, only to discover she’s part of a...

Road trip novels, especially in the YA age-range, have become a sort of bookish sub-culture. There are funny ones, gloomy ones, in-between ones. There’s a lot you can do with a group of kids driving across America in a car. I’m not enthralled with the typical road-trip plot, but I...

Mary Casanova’s Frozen is a very unique book. The main themes aren’t anything new to me, but the setting and much of the execution were very different from anything I’ve ever read before. Frozen was definitely a very interesting book. The story follows Sadie Rose, the daughter...

In my experience, a lot historical fiction covers too-familiar topics. Tudors, WWII, American Pioneers. In this genre, there are standard go-to locations and time periods. So imagine how excited I was when I found a novel that covered a time and place I’ve never seen written about before. A wannabe-warrior...

I think it’s safe to say that everyone cracks the cover of a new book with some sort of expectation. I, personally, try not to, but it’s a hard thing. I walked into Blink & Caution with my hopes raised to Kilimanjaro levels. You see, I’d happened to peek at...

I think I missed the memo that Circle of Silence e is actually a member of a series; I’m a very strictly chronological reader—I don’t even re-read books outside of series order. However, I found out that Circle of Silence and its prequel, dancergirl , are actually standalones that take...

I’ve never been a big reader of horror, simply because I don’t get scared very easily. Almost every horror novel I’ve ever read has been a huge yawn. White Crow is probably the first “scary book” I’ve read that actually scared me. Real, oh-my-god-help scared. That was a first, definitely....

This book does not sugarcoat its messages, nor does Erin Saldin attempt to make the reader feel good about herself. This isn’t a happy book; you don’t want to cuddle it and if you do end up liking the characters, you probably don’t want to hug them. The Girls of...

I love Amy Reed. She has the unique and beautiful ability to create likable characters and put them in emotional, heartbreaking situations. This is an author that deals with raw emotion and stark realism, and the end result is something worthwhile. It took me a little while...

I think this is a perfect example of why Goodreads is so awesome, because I never would have found this book otherwise. The summary for Mary Hooper’s Newes from the Dead had me hooked, and I went out and bought it right away. A 17th century vivisection gone wrong (or...

Much like its prequel, Glass Heart is far from your typical paranormal novel, and readers should adjust their expectations accordingly. The magic these characters wield is kept low-key and subtle, and Garvey treats it more like an everyday staple than a specialty item on the menu. The major themes in...

One of my friends who’s read almost every recent contemporary YA release recommended this one to me. The concept, a baby in a trash can, sounded a bit iffy to me, and I didn’t particularly like the cover. But I gave it a go anyway. What I...

I read this and remember thinking it wasn’t that good. But then, after I’d finished it, I Am the Messenger started to grow on me. In retrospect, it was fantastic, a five-star read. So naturally, I had to re-read, because the memory I had of Zusak’s writing didn’t match up...

I first read this book for my 8th grade English class, almost four years ago. When I joined Goodread a couple of years ago, I gave the book four stars based on my memories of what I’d read. Now that I’ve reread it with a more mature...