Reviews written by Renae M

I have a confession to make: I am a Grinch. No, not the “You’re a Mean One” kind; I’m a Grinch with an oversized heart who serves Roast Beast and makes snowmen with Cindy Lou. I am an irredeemable sap and the only excuse I have to offer is my...

As other reviewers have said, readers in search of a murder mystery should not pick up Paper Valentine in hopes of an enthralling chase to unmask a serial killer. Personally, I came into this with that expectation, and it took a bit of adjustment for me to realize that Yovanoff’s...

To say that Blood Red Road is an underhyped, undervalued, and underappreciated piece of post-apocalyptic fiction is a massive understatement. I picked this book out of a list of 5 titles (for a buddy read), not really knowing what I was getting into and more interested in bookish discussion than...

n 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...

This review is going to be difficult to write, in much the same way that The Mockingbirds was a difficult book to read and, I’m sure, to write. In young adult fiction, not enough attention is given to rape; what rape is, how it affects the victim, how it is...

The Paranormalcy series is complete guilty pleasure, and by all common sense, I should probably hate these books, but I don’t—quite the opposite. I might be slightly embarrassed to like Endlessly and its prequels as much as I do, but I’ll probably get over myself. Because it...

Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy series is completely unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s funny, light, cute, and surprisingly heartwarming. The pace is fast and the narrative voice is wholly engaging. Except for a few slight issues, this series is as close to perfection as I’ve seen in the paranormal genre,...

I’m currently convinced that Kiersten White is some kind of YA genius. I mean, YA paranormal romance is “the genre” these days (well it was before dystopians came along)—everyone and their pet turtle is writing something paranormal. And for my little historical fiction loving self, I’ve always been on the...

In my experience, Second Book Syndrome is a serious entity in the reading world. Sequels are rarely as good as what came before; I don’t know why, but it’s true. Feedback by Robison Wells is one of the few books in my experience that outdistanced its prequel. I was a...

Variant by Robison Wells is a sort of combination between Uglies by Scott Westerfield, Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne, and Divergent by Veronica Roth (more on Divergent later). Altogether, I think it’s a pretty good mix, and while I don’t feel that Variant is “unique” strictly speaking, I did really...

I don’t preorder books. I don’t purchase hardbacks. And I especially don’t stalk the mail lady in order to get my hands on a preordered hardback ASAP. I don’t get fangirly over authors, and I don’t get the strange urge to sleep with a book underneath my pillow and/or hug...

This book has one of those vague yet intriguing cover blurbs that tell you a book is going to be good. Only a truly good book can afford to give half-truths about its contents. That, combined with the extreme amount of hype for this enigmatic little book, had me completely...

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...

Warning (and small spoiler): This Is Not a Test does not have a happy rainbows-and-butterflies ever after ending. That’s not what this books is about, and had Summers ended things in any other way than how she did, the entire story would have been ruined. I, personally,...