Reviews written by Angela Blount, Staff Reviewer

I like to think of this book as 'The Odyssey'...but for little people with furry feet. A pleasure to read—and in a way, the most idyllic of bedtime stories! As timeless as it is peerless, Tolkien's iconic and regal prose carries you along through a fantastic...

One can't possibly claim the title of this book isn't fitting...or exceedingly literal. >.> The story does indeed revolve around a graveyard and its tenants. When a toddler unwittingly wanders away from the scene of his family's murder before the killer finishes his task, he ends up as the protected...

Maze Runner has an intriguing premise. Readers start out with a blank slate—or nearly—in the teenage character of Thomas. Thomas awakens in an elevator-like box, unable to remember anything personal about himself aside from his name. He is then thrust into a contained farm-like environment with somewhere around sixty other...

This was a quick read, with minimal emotional investment—despite the heaviness of the premise. 17-year old cello prodigy, Mia, faces an inexplicable choice in the aftermath of a horrific car accident. With her entire family dead and her consciousness seemingly thrown from her mangled, comatose body, will...

This was a unique, twisting, and complex story—one of the more difficult I’ve tried to review. Now that I’ve let its full (and somewhat disorienting) effect simmer a while, I’m giving it a go. Let’s get one thing out of the way: Yes, this is an ‘issues’...

Character-driven from the start, Fangirl is a niche coming-of-age contemporary story centered around the Freshman year of college for a semi-stereotypical geeky girl named Cather (Cath). Cath is a mixed bag of anti-social neuroticism, insecurity, and self-loathing. She's glaringly unenthusiastic about moving away from home and...

Considering my own personal Midwestern experience with riding on a bus full of belligerent kids from the undesirable part of town (which actually took place in the late 80's-mid-90's) I started out with a solid connection to the more cringe-worthy elements of this story. Heck, I was having flashbacks! (That...

Again, the concept itself was intriguing... a futuristic/fantasy fairytale retelling with the bonus of a (potentially) redemptive take on an age-old villain. But this reader ultimately found the execution a bit exasperating. It started out with great promise. Somewhere in Southern France, seemingly far removed from the...

Firstly, I want to (hopefully) save some readers the confusion and label this book as Syfy-Fantasy-Lite, with a feel on the middle-grade end of the YA spectrum. If I'd looked at it this way up front, I'm sure I would have been in a better mindset to enjoy the read...

A worthy conclusion to this epic dystopian fantasy series. Climbing down off of that cliffhanger Deception left us on, we find Rachel still injured and being dragged across the Wasteland by Rowansmark trackers—one of whom is especially bent on killing her. Logan, meanwhile, is forced to forestall...

As a wolf-oriented YA paranormal, 'Unleashed' started out with a lot of promise. The prose is clean and the setting descriptions are vivid. Pacing begins at a steady clip, with a grieving teenage main character who is being shipped from California, the only home she's ever known, to the middle-of-nowhere...

Let me start out by admitting there was no way I could look at this book with the kind of objectivity I normally cling to. Allow me to put my perspective into context: 1.) I'm a registered nurse, and the daughter of registered nurse. I recognize that...

It's probably blasphemous to fall short of loving a classic, but I'm afraid that's what I'm having to admit to in this instance. In some sense, I can respect this book as one of the first coming-of-age tales. Bravery, honor, and courage are embodied in the character...

I found it vaguely reminiscent of 'My Side of the Mountain', from a distinctly female perspective, and facing a harsher landscape. The wolves and their social structure, of course, were my primary draw to this book. The idea of a human (and a 13 year old girl, at that) could...

I have to credit my early love of this book for a phase of reclusive nature-loving, and much fantasizing about running away from home to live off the land. I did actually go out and attempt to locate and consume all of the potential food sources mentioned in...