Reviews written by Olivia F

"Fawkes" is a YA historical fantasy that sounds so interesting! Unfortunately, I could not get into it. In this alternate reality of the early 1600's in Britain, we follow Guy Fawkes's son, Thomas. Thomas caught the Stone Plague about a year earlier, which turned his eye to stone- it seems...

"Fireblood" was a pretty good continuation of the Frostblood Saga. While the first book took place in the land of the Frostbloods, most of this second book take place in the land of the Firebloods (Sudesia). Here, Ruby travels for answers and adventure, encountering a vengeful queen and strange customs....

“Thief of Lies” is the first in the Library Jumpers series. It had me hooked at the start but lost me a little in the middle/towards the end. Gia is a seemingly normal teenager who likes to hang out in libraries. She goes with her friends Nick and Afton to...

“The Waking Land” is an enthralling YA fantasy that follows Elanna Valtai. The prologue shows us Elanna’s nightmares over the life-changing event that altered the course of her life. Elanna was only 5 years old when the Ereni king came to her house and attacked her family, holding a gun...

"The Adoration of Jenna Fox" is the story of a teenager who wakes up from a coma without any memories of who she is or what happened. Her parents are clearly keeping something from her and don't want to explain the truth. Eventually, she figures it out for herself, as...

"Zombie Abbey" is Downton Abbey with zombies (and characters names changed). Although it's been a while since I watched Downton Abbey, all the characters reminded me of specific characters from the show (just names were changed). The difference here is the zombies in the vein of the "Pride and Prejudice...

"Heartless" is the origin story for the Queen of Hearts (of Alice in Wonderland fame). Catherine, destined to be the queen of hearts, is a young woman who dreams of being a baker and falling in love. As the Marquess's daughter, however, this is not practical. Like most noblewomen, she...

"All the Crooked Saints" is YA fiction with a heavy dose of magical realism. The Soria family lives in Bicho Raro, Colorado, where they are saints who perform miracles. The process of the miracle is perhaps not what you would expect. They pull a part of the person out (their...

"Beastly" is a beautiful and amazing story of second chances, the importance of who you are within, and love. A retelling of Beauty and Beast, Kyle is a shallow teenager who rules his high school with a cruel and iron fist. After witnessing his cruelty, a witch named Kendra, curses...

"Don't Look Back" is a one-off thriller from Jennifer L. Armentrout. It begins with Samantha appearing bloody and beat up with no memory of recent events and with her best friend missing. She soon learns that she doesn't like the person she was before she went missing, and gathers that...

"Seven Days of You" follows Sophia during her last week in Tokyo, where she has lived for the last four years while her mother was on sabbatical from Rutgers (which ends just in time for her senior year of high school). Sophia is particularly upset because her last seven days...

"When the Moon was Ours" is a hauntingly beautiful and lyrical masterpiece. McLemore is an incredible storyteller. The words do more than convey the story, but carry another world and emotions with every sentence. The book begins with a local folktale about Moon and Honey, a surprising but frightened young...

I think this is one of Kinsella's finest books. There is so much heart, struggle, and soul to this book. Mental illness is really difficult to capture, but I think this was a great snapshot of a young woman adjusting to her new reality and slowly growing (on a jagged...

"Reclaiming Shilo Snow" is an even better continuation of "The Evaporation of Sofi Snow" duology. All the story lines are wrapped up in this final/second book. The book begins right where the previous book left off. In this alternate Earth, World War 3 ravaged the planet and made living there...

"Bewitching" continues the story of the witch Kendra and retells multiple fairytales. The book begins with her origin story, losing her family to the plague and discovering her magic in her desperation to save her brother. In fear of persecution, they flee and there is a retelling of Hansel and...