Reviews written by Alison Hong

Though there are concepts taken from the beloved 1810s novel of a similar title, TEEN FRANKENSTEIN is a whole different monster. It has a different plot, different set of characters, new set of murders/dead bodies, and a much different setting. But the narrator does bring back a dead body to...

YA Contemporary, THIS IS MY BRAIN ON BOYS has caught my attention from the very beginning of the story. It is told from the narrator, Addie Emerson, who is on a plane with a boy. (And yes, I think it's an adorable meet cute that will make rom-com writers and...

YA Contemporary Romance, THE NEW GUY (AND OTHER SENIOR YEAR DISTRACTIONS) will be shortened to "THE NEW GUY" for this very review. Let's admit it. The title is a bit long, but it is amusing. Now let's dig into the book. (Enough talk about the title.) The...

YA Contemporary, KISSING IN AMERICA explores Eva's adventure/road trip into a lot of things. It has all the makings of a pretty romance novel. Will meets Eva. Boy meets girl. Will disappears and leaves for the opposite coast without a distinctive goodbye, and Eva begins to make her plans to...

Heroes and villains. Villains and heroes. I admit that I haven't read a lot of superhero comics or books, and reading this is a breath of fresh air from the constant stream of fantasy, paranormal, supernatural books that comes out every single week or so. Kenna is...

Everytime! Everytime! I always, always tell myself to not read a scary book right before going to bed and guess what happened a few days ago? I read the book, finished it, and then stayed awake for too long while fearing for my life. Oh, yes. I did. I also...

No! This book can't end on a cliffhanger! But it did. And I'm upset. Denied, the ending smirks. Denied. Denied. Denied. It's such a misfortune that they don't get together, and I'm sure that you all can figure out what's going on. Let's...

Lauren Kate returns in WATERFALL. I admit that it has been at least two or three years since I have read the previous book, but I'm sure that I remember enough of it to get by (if only just barely). (And do I? I amazingly do remember enough! Boo, yah!...

I think I want to lay off Apocalypse stories for a little while. (But I'm not going to, because they are really exhilarating and exciting to see. As horrifying and blood-curling as a horror movie, and it's irresistible. It's a wreck, but I can't glance away. I need to know...

THEIR FRACTURED LIGHT is the final installment in this series. Despite the fact that the book centers on a whole new couple (Gideon and Sofia), readers will have to read the previous two books in order to gain an understanding of what's going on. There is not a single way...

Wow. This book is uniquely put together. How did it even get published in the first place? My goodness. The amount of work and sweat must be totally uncountable, and I think the authors and creators deserve a healthy round of applause. Just wow. ILLUMINAE is a...

Second generation! Hanson Alister is back. (In my mind, he is always Handsome Alister, but that's not the point of this paragraph.) Anyway, he's back. Sort-of. It is always nice to see a familiar face come back, even only for a few pages or so. The Grey Wolf Queen, on...

YA Fantasy, DREAMWIELDER surprises me with a lack of romance. Given that the main character is very young, the book isn't shocking when it doesn't dive into a (possibly cute?) romance plot. Still, the book's synopsis misleads me a little bit and I end up predicting a much different plot...

"A grief novel" is the phrase I will use to quickly and easily sum up this book. Tallie, the narrator, struggles to overcome her brother's death, but she is far from ready to let go of him especially with her feelings, her sadness, and her guilt. The day she gets...

I think "What the?" is my prevailing thought while reading this book. The story involves a 14 years old boy who is a father of a young, young daughter. The narrator is Jack, who is Joseph's foster brother and who agrees to help him find his daughter named Jupiter. ...