en-US Sun, 30 Jul 2023 20:01:04 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 17928147 426 Katie McGarry 0373211627 chloe 1
(This review was written for a school thing, so it's written different than a normal review)


Look, I’m not a romance person, but I haven’t been able to get to the library in two weeks so I have to make do with (my school district's virtual library)’s collection of books. I’ve read some really good books through (my school district's virtual library), like Challenger Deep, but a fun little quirk of it is that everyone can request any book to be bought and added to the library. This means there are some stranger titles among the typical middle school fantasy stories and Hunger Games knockoffs. I truly believe Walk the Edge was one of these.
Walk the Edge had some pretty nice qualities. I actually liked the end and I believed each character was memorable. Our two leads were charismatic and likable. The story was pretty okay. It did, however, fall into some annoying writing tropes.
First of all, the writing of this book and the tone was the equivalent of an overplayed pop song. This is truly evident through the last few pages by the acknowledgments where the author wrote a list of songs as a playlist. Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift, and One Direction did a majority of the songs, which kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Knowing the actual meat of the story, a damaged biker guy and an intelligent and capable young genius falling in love in a small town in Kentucky, I was kind of craving something with more character. Maybe she only listens to obscure 17th-century pianists. Maybe he listens to Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Instead, the writing was generic and marketable, just like the bands each scene was inspired by. I was reminded of every other popular YA romance book. They all sound almost exactly the same. I wish the author had gone for a more southern gothic feel, or maybe something reminiscent of the Outsiders, Thomas being a greaser type and Breanna more of a soc.
There was also a lack of diversity in this book, and in general a bit of ignorance I didn’t like very much. The club for the wives and serious girlfriends of the members of the biker club Thomas belongs to is called the Terror G*psys. The author never says, hey, this is a slur against Romani people, and that is kind of problematic. I can’t recall a single non-white character, but that may have just been the author not describing ANYTHING. Every time we had a new scene, it was up to your imagination to guess what it looked like. I really like imagery so this sort of writing just wasn’t for me. The only character descriptions, appearance-wise, was that Thomas had blond hair and blue eyes, and Breanna had long black hair. Thomas�� dad had a line of dialogue where he mentioned his own red hair, and Breanna looked at a picture of Thomas�� mom and described her blond hair and blue eyes to the reader. That’s literally it. For such a large cast of characters, I was kind of on my own when it came to visualizing them. I think this is so a presumedly female reader can put herself in the role of Breanna easier, like when a boy band compliments the most generic parts of a girl's character so she can see herself in it.
On to Thomas Turner, which is the least threatening name a person can have. This is likely why his road name is Razor. Razor’s character is a jumbled mess. He’s a ~bad biker boy~ character archetype which is, objectively, the worst romance character archetype (I’m joking but also not). One of his character songs is a bad pop-punk (the genre name is an oxymoron) band (I Prevail) covering Blank Space by Taylor Space. The song is just so empty, mostly because it’s commercial, generic pop simply covered by a generic pop-punk band. It’s almost comical to listen to these hardcore voices covering a Swift song. This song does not represent his actual character but the archetype he’s trying to be�� A generic annoying bad boy player. There’s also I Hold On by Dierks Bentley, which is a country song about a truck’s sentimental value. Razor doesn’t even have a truck, and his motorcycle never seemed that important to him compared to the act of riding it, so I don’t even know how this one relates. The last song is Demons by Imagine Dragons. Demons is a really emotional song, and I can get what the author is getting at since Razor is definitely damaged, but she never investigates anything about his mental health deeper than slightly suggesting he may not value his life too much through some dialogue between Rebecca and Breanna. He never holds back his emotional issues from Breanna. She’s kind of the only one he tells his issues to. “Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside,�� is implying that he pushes her away. He doesn’t. I don’t know why this author views her characters so different from how they actually act in the story, honestly. I’m gonna compare Razor to two other characters from a book I liked a lot more, Violet and Theodore from All the Bright Places.
Thomas (Razor is such a ridiculous name I refuse to use it here on out) is grieving his mother’s loss eight years ago, and the loss of Olivia, a sort of surrogate mother type a summer ago. His mom’s death was rumored to be either suicide or orchestrated by the Reign of Terror, the Biker Club Thomas grew up to join. Olivia was not a part of the ROT because women aren’t allowed to join (yikes) but she might as well have been. She was really close to all of the children of the ROT members, including Thomas, so her loss hit everyone really hard. It is implied through dialogue and some of Thomas�� actions that these losses have cut him incredibly deep and he no longer cares about his life. Rebecca describes him as suicidal. Violet Markey in All the Bright Places has just lost her sister a year ago. Since then, she hasn’t climbed in a car, since that’s how her sister died. The grieving process is written realistically, and Violet feels like a real person who really lost a real person that meant a lot to her. In a burst of emotion, she climbs the bell tower at her school and has to get talked down by Theo. Her pain is raw and it feels really real. You can see how, from her perspective, she got there.
Mental health stigma is a real thing, and Walk the Edge was trying to remain cheery enough for it to be a YA romance. I also think that because Razor is supposed to be a tough guy, the author didn’t want to write him as too emotional since it could somehow make him seem weak and not as manly. I kind of wish she committed to the idea of him being actually really significantly hurt and possibly suicidal like she suggested he was because then this book might’ve said something. Maybe she should’ve explored him more. Theo Finch in ATBP was a good example of a tragic, truly important character in my mind. He talked Violet down, but she had to help him too. His mental illness wasn’t just a vague concept like in this book, it was concrete and portrayed. His manic episodes were adventurous, energetic, and dreamlike, and his depressive episodes were slow and sleepy and sad beyond belief. The author didn’t wimp out, and she didn’t portray it as beautiful or whatever crap a lot of YA authors do, she portrayed him as real.
When Theo’s body is discovered and Violet watched the ambulance take him away, it hits hard. Suicide is real. Suicide is sad. Suicide hurts everyone around the person. I was really uncomfortable with how Razor’s suicidal and risky actions weren’t taken seriously by the plot nor anyone around him. ‘Suicidal�� felt like it was used for shock value and that’s really not okay. I just wish the author did more with it than use it for emotionally manipulating the reader.
I’m gonna end on that�� really POSITIVE note. I don’t think this was a really bad book or anything, but it had a lot of issues, especially with sensitivity and tone. It doesn’t have a coherent voice or message. I think there’s potential for a rewrite, though.


Okay, rant over.

(Edit: I wrote this review several days after a friend committed suicide, so I was a bit bitter about the portrayal of mental illness. It's probably not actually that bad.)]]> 4.23 2016
author: Katie McGarry
name: chloe
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2016
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves:
review:
This is a 1 star because I didn't like this book. It was generic and bad. If you continue to read this review, there are some spoilers for All the Bright Places and Walk the Edge. Get ready.

(This review was written for a school thing, so it's written different than a normal review)


Look, I’m not a romance person, but I haven’t been able to get to the library in two weeks so I have to make do with (my school district's virtual library)’s collection of books. I’ve read some really good books through (my school district's virtual library), like Challenger Deep, but a fun little quirk of it is that everyone can request any book to be bought and added to the library. This means there are some stranger titles among the typical middle school fantasy stories and Hunger Games knockoffs. I truly believe Walk the Edge was one of these.
Walk the Edge had some pretty nice qualities. I actually liked the end and I believed each character was memorable. Our two leads were charismatic and likable. The story was pretty okay. It did, however, fall into some annoying writing tropes.
First of all, the writing of this book and the tone was the equivalent of an overplayed pop song. This is truly evident through the last few pages by the acknowledgments where the author wrote a list of songs as a playlist. Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift, and One Direction did a majority of the songs, which kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Knowing the actual meat of the story, a damaged biker guy and an intelligent and capable young genius falling in love in a small town in Kentucky, I was kind of craving something with more character. Maybe she only listens to obscure 17th-century pianists. Maybe he listens to Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Instead, the writing was generic and marketable, just like the bands each scene was inspired by. I was reminded of every other popular YA romance book. They all sound almost exactly the same. I wish the author had gone for a more southern gothic feel, or maybe something reminiscent of the Outsiders, Thomas being a greaser type and Breanna more of a soc.
There was also a lack of diversity in this book, and in general a bit of ignorance I didn’t like very much. The club for the wives and serious girlfriends of the members of the biker club Thomas belongs to is called the Terror G*psys. The author never says, hey, this is a slur against Romani people, and that is kind of problematic. I can’t recall a single non-white character, but that may have just been the author not describing ANYTHING. Every time we had a new scene, it was up to your imagination to guess what it looked like. I really like imagery so this sort of writing just wasn’t for me. The only character descriptions, appearance-wise, was that Thomas had blond hair and blue eyes, and Breanna had long black hair. Thomas�� dad had a line of dialogue where he mentioned his own red hair, and Breanna looked at a picture of Thomas�� mom and described her blond hair and blue eyes to the reader. That’s literally it. For such a large cast of characters, I was kind of on my own when it came to visualizing them. I think this is so a presumedly female reader can put herself in the role of Breanna easier, like when a boy band compliments the most generic parts of a girl's character so she can see herself in it.
On to Thomas Turner, which is the least threatening name a person can have. This is likely why his road name is Razor. Razor’s character is a jumbled mess. He’s a ~bad biker boy~ character archetype which is, objectively, the worst romance character archetype (I’m joking but also not). One of his character songs is a bad pop-punk (the genre name is an oxymoron) band (I Prevail) covering Blank Space by Taylor Space. The song is just so empty, mostly because it’s commercial, generic pop simply covered by a generic pop-punk band. It’s almost comical to listen to these hardcore voices covering a Swift song. This song does not represent his actual character but the archetype he’s trying to be�� A generic annoying bad boy player. There’s also I Hold On by Dierks Bentley, which is a country song about a truck’s sentimental value. Razor doesn’t even have a truck, and his motorcycle never seemed that important to him compared to the act of riding it, so I don’t even know how this one relates. The last song is Demons by Imagine Dragons. Demons is a really emotional song, and I can get what the author is getting at since Razor is definitely damaged, but she never investigates anything about his mental health deeper than slightly suggesting he may not value his life too much through some dialogue between Rebecca and Breanna. He never holds back his emotional issues from Breanna. She’s kind of the only one he tells his issues to. “Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside,�� is implying that he pushes her away. He doesn’t. I don’t know why this author views her characters so different from how they actually act in the story, honestly. I’m gonna compare Razor to two other characters from a book I liked a lot more, Violet and Theodore from All the Bright Places.
Thomas (Razor is such a ridiculous name I refuse to use it here on out) is grieving his mother’s loss eight years ago, and the loss of Olivia, a sort of surrogate mother type a summer ago. His mom’s death was rumored to be either suicide or orchestrated by the Reign of Terror, the Biker Club Thomas grew up to join. Olivia was not a part of the ROT because women aren’t allowed to join (yikes) but she might as well have been. She was really close to all of the children of the ROT members, including Thomas, so her loss hit everyone really hard. It is implied through dialogue and some of Thomas�� actions that these losses have cut him incredibly deep and he no longer cares about his life. Rebecca describes him as suicidal. Violet Markey in All the Bright Places has just lost her sister a year ago. Since then, she hasn’t climbed in a car, since that’s how her sister died. The grieving process is written realistically, and Violet feels like a real person who really lost a real person that meant a lot to her. In a burst of emotion, she climbs the bell tower at her school and has to get talked down by Theo. Her pain is raw and it feels really real. You can see how, from her perspective, she got there.
Mental health stigma is a real thing, and Walk the Edge was trying to remain cheery enough for it to be a YA romance. I also think that because Razor is supposed to be a tough guy, the author didn’t want to write him as too emotional since it could somehow make him seem weak and not as manly. I kind of wish she committed to the idea of him being actually really significantly hurt and possibly suicidal like she suggested he was because then this book might’ve said something. Maybe she should’ve explored him more. Theo Finch in ATBP was a good example of a tragic, truly important character in my mind. He talked Violet down, but she had to help him too. His mental illness wasn’t just a vague concept like in this book, it was concrete and portrayed. His manic episodes were adventurous, energetic, and dreamlike, and his depressive episodes were slow and sleepy and sad beyond belief. The author didn’t wimp out, and she didn’t portray it as beautiful or whatever crap a lot of YA authors do, she portrayed him as real.
When Theo’s body is discovered and Violet watched the ambulance take him away, it hits hard. Suicide is real. Suicide is sad. Suicide hurts everyone around the person. I was really uncomfortable with how Razor’s suicidal and risky actions weren’t taken seriously by the plot nor anyone around him. ‘Suicidal�� felt like it was used for shock value and that’s really not okay. I just wish the author did more with it than use it for emotionally manipulating the reader.
I’m gonna end on that�� really POSITIVE note. I don’t think this was a really bad book or anything, but it had a lot of issues, especially with sensitivity and tone. It doesn’t have a coherent voice or message. I think there’s potential for a rewrite, though.


Okay, rant over.

(Edit: I wrote this review several days after a friend committed suicide, so I was a bit bitter about the portrayal of mental illness. It's probably not actually that bad.)
]]> 52190991 Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong.

In Any Way the Wind Blows, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward.

For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages -- and if he doesn't, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she's smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn't sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough.

Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet.

This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest.

Carry On was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; Any Way the Wind Blows is an ending about endings. About catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us.]]> 579 Rainbow Rowell 1250254337 chloe 4 4.11 2021
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: chloe
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/09/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 16640 149 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 0812969901 chloe 0 currently-reading, dnf 3.71 1774
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: chloe
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1774
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/21
shelves: currently-reading, dnf
review:

]]> 5148 A Separate Peace is timeless in its description of adolescence during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to the second world war.

Set at a boys boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world.

A bestseller for more than thirty years, A Separate Peace is John Knowles crowning achievement and an undisputed American classic.]]> 208 John Knowles chloe 5 3.60 1959
author: John Knowles
name: chloe
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1959
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/09/20
shelves:
review:
This book accomplished exactly what it had to. The relationship between Gene, Finny, and the world around them is extremely complex and interesting. I think you have to be older than the characters to really get this book, which is why I'm lost on how many eighth graders have left reviews here... Of course you don't get it, the book is about growing up and puberty hasn't even hit yet.
]]> 41086169 Ma cosa succederebbe se i ruoli si ribaltassero? Se non fosse lui la creatura straordinaria, l’eroe meraviglioso dotato di capacità sovrumane ma�� lei? Beaufort è un ragazzo alto e dinoccolato trasferitosi dall’Arizona. Quando incontra la bellissima Edythe, non sa che la fortissima attrazione che prova per lei potrebbe essere la sua rovina��

Spettacolare riscrittura di Twilight, Life and Death riapre le porte del piccolo mondo di Forks. Ricalcando il palcoscenico della storia d’amore più amata degli ultimi anni e ardenti di quella stessa passione che ha stregato milioni di fan in tutto il mondo, Beaufort e Edythe conquisteranno il lettore con il calore rassicurante di un’atmosfera conosciuta e la sorpresa di un finale completamente nuovo.]]> 387 Stephenie Meyer 8893259559 chloe 4
Wow, I'm honestly shocked. Upon going back and re-editing, Meyer is fixing a bunch of the issues with her book. Nice!]]> 3.43 2016
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: chloe
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/03
date added: 2021/11/03
shelves:
review:
I'm 21% of the way through this book at the moment:

Wow, I'm honestly shocked. Upon going back and re-editing, Meyer is fixing a bunch of the issues with her book. Nice!
]]> 52879429 A fiercely funny, queer romantic comedy about two girls who can't stand each other, but join forces in a grand feminist plan to expose harassment and inequality at their elite private school.

Harriet Price is the perfect student: smart, dutiful, over-achieving. Will Everhart is a troublemaker who's never met an injustice she didn't fight. When their swim coach's inappropriate behavior is swept under the rug, the unlikely duo reluctantly team up to expose his misdeeds, pulling provocative pranks and creating the instantly legendary Amelia Westlake -- an imaginary student who helps right the many wrongs of their privileged institution. But as tensions burn throughout their school -- who is Amelia Westlake? -- and between Harriet and Will, how long can they keep their secret? How far will they go to make a difference? And when will they realize they're falling for each other?

Award-winning author Erin Gough's Amelia Westlake Was Never Here is a funny, smart, and all-too-timely story of girls fighting back against power and privilege -- and finding love while they're at it.]]> 368 Erin Gough 0316450685 chloe 0 dnf 3.88 2018
author: Erin Gough
name: chloe
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/03
date added: 2021/11/03
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 35742701 From an author Amy Tan calls "a gem," this is a witty, highly acclaimed novel that's "part Mean Girls, part Lord of the Flies" (The Bulletin, Starred review) about navigating life in private school while remaining true to yourself.

Lucy is a bit of a pushover, but she's ambitious and smart, and she has just received the opportunity of a lifetime: a scholarship to a prestigious school, and a ticket out of her broken-down suburb. Though she's worried she will stick out like badly cut bangs among the razor-straight students, she is soon welcomed into the Cabinet, the supremely popular trio who wield influence over classmates and teachers alike.

Linh is blunt, strong-willed, and fearless--everything Lucy once loved about herself. She is also Lucy's last solid link to her life before private school, but she is growing tired of being eclipsed by the glamour of the Cabinet.

As Lucy floats further away from the world she once knew, her connection to Linh--and to her old life--threatens to snap. Sharp and honest, Alice Pung's novel examines what it means to grow into the person you want to be without leaving yourself behind.


An NPR Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection
A Texas Tayhas Reading List Selection
A Bank Street College of Education and Children's Book Committee Best Children's Books of the Year with Distinguished Outstanding Merit


"A bracing, enthralling gut-punch and an essential read for teens, teachers, and parents alike." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred review

"This daring work with an authentic protagonist teaches important lessons about being yourself while navigating through life."--School Library Journal, Starred review

"Lucy's struggle to find her place and sense of self will have a wide appeal for teen readers and is a welcome addition to the prep-school canon."--Booklist, Starred review

"Lyrical, enchanting prose from a narrator with perception so acute she cannot help but share it immerses readers into the very heart of every scene. This is highly recommended for classrooms and libraries [and] a superb choice for book discussion groups and world young adult literature survey courses."--VOYA, Starred review

"Part Mean Girls, part Lord of the Flies, and part Special Topics in Calamity Physics, this well-observed and unsentimental novel taps into what is primal within privileged adolescent girls."--The Bulletin, Starred review

"Lucy's narration pulls readers alongside her uncertain navigation of two worlds, and we can't help but cheer in solidarity as Lucy recognizes assimilation masquerading as inclusion, refuses to back down, and instead embraces who she is."--Horn Book Magazine

"In a novel filled with strong visual images, Pung draws a sharp contrast between authenticity and deception, integrity and manipulation. Against the vividly painted backdrops of two very different communities, she traces Lucy's struggle to form a new identity without compromising the values she holds closest to her heart."--Publishers Weekly]]> 352 Alice Pung 0399550518 chloe 0 dnf 4.16 2014
author: Alice Pung
name: chloe
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/03
date added: 2021/11/03
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 33295690
But when Janie Lee confesses to Billie that she’s in love with Woods, Billie’s filled with a nagging sadness as she realizes that she is also in love with Woods…and maybe with Janie Lee, too.

Always considered “one of the guys,�� Billie doesn’t want anyone slapping a label on her sexuality before she can understand it herself. So she keeps her conflicting feelings to herself, for fear of ruining the group dynamic. Except it’s not just about keeping the peace, it’s about understanding love on her terms—this thing that has always been defined as a boy and a girl falling in love and living happily ever after. For Billie—a box-defying dynamo—it’s not that simple.]]> 357 Courtney C. Stevens 0062398539 chloe 0 dnf 3.88 2017
author: Courtney C. Stevens
name: chloe
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/03
date added: 2021/11/03
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 2657 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.]]> 323 Harper Lee 0060935464 chloe 5 to-read 4.25 1960
author: Harper Lee
name: chloe
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1960
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/11/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55780548
1964. Houston, Texas.

Evie Barnes is a bad girl. So are all her friends. They’re the sort who wear bold makeup, laugh too loud, and run around with boys. Most of all, they protect their own against the world. So when Evie is saved from a sinister encounter by a good girl from the "right" side of the tracks, every rule she's always lived by is called into question. Now she must redefine what it means to be a bad girl and rethink everything she knew about loyalty.

In this riveting story of murder, secrets, and tragedy, Jennifer Mathieu puts a female twist on S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders . Bad Girls Never Say Die has all the drama and heartache of that teen classic, but with a feminist take just right for our times.]]> 304 Jennifer Mathieu 1250232589 chloe 0 to-read 3.68 2021
author: Jennifer Mathieu
name: chloe
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 44017627
Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after��

So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch?

What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light��

That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West.

They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place��

With Wayward Son, Rainbow Rowell has written a book for everyone who ever wondered what happened to the Chosen One after he saved the day. And a book for everyone who was ever more curious about the second kiss than the first. It’s another helping of sour cherry scones with an absolutely decadent amount of butter.

Come on, Simon Snow. Your hero’s journey might be over �� but your life has just begun.]]> 356 Rainbow Rowell 1250146070 chloe 5 3.89 2019
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: chloe
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 32768522
That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right.

Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here �� it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.

Carry On - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.]]> 522 Rainbow Rowell 1250135028 chloe 4 4.17 2015
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: chloe
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves:
review:
this book doesn't try to be something it's not, which is nice. carry on takes some of the base aspects of harry potter and does something interesting with them. however, it kind of reads like a wattpad fanfiction.
]]> 53180089 Felix Ever After meets Becky Albertalli in this swoon-worthy, heartfelt rom-com about how a transgender teen’s first love challenges his ideas about perfect relationships.

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script.]]> 391 Emery Lee 0063038838 chloe 1 childrens, lgbtq-stories 3.23 2021
author: Emery Lee
name: chloe
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2021/10/29
shelves: childrens, lgbtq-stories
review:

]]> 1722717 320 Gemma Malley 1599901196 chloe 0 to-read 3.71 2007
author: Gemma Malley
name: chloe
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 13597728 Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.]]> 317 Madeleine Roux 0062220969 chloe 2 Yes.


This book looks incredibly unpromising. There's an obvious shtick, spooky old pictures, that doesn't really have the intended effect. I know I just found them boring, cheesy, and awfully edited. At least with Ms. Peregrine, they are real pictures or look real enough to pass. The author's name is also painfully artsy and French which is usually a sign that we're getting into cringy YA territory.

I really like the storyline, which gets stronger in book two. The character of Dan is very interesting and it's nice to kind of figure out as a reader what is going on in his head. Things weren't totally spoonfed.

Writing could definitely use some work, as it was bland and boring.

Still a pretty good book/series.]]> 3.64 2013
author: Madeleine Roux
name: chloe
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2019/05/20
date added: 2019/11/26
shelves:
review:
Was I expecting a lot worse?
Yes.


This book looks incredibly unpromising. There's an obvious shtick, spooky old pictures, that doesn't really have the intended effect. I know I just found them boring, cheesy, and awfully edited. At least with Ms. Peregrine, they are real pictures or look real enough to pass. The author's name is also painfully artsy and French which is usually a sign that we're getting into cringy YA territory.

I really like the storyline, which gets stronger in book two. The character of Dan is very interesting and it's nice to kind of figure out as a reader what is going on in his head. Things weren't totally spoonfed.

Writing could definitely use some work, as it was bland and boring.

Still a pretty good book/series.
]]> 769483
The 7th son of the 7th son, aptly named Septimus Heap, is stolen the night he is born by a midwife who pronounces him dead. That same night, the baby's father, Silas Heap, comes across a bundle in the snow containing a newborn girl with violet eyes. The Heaps take this helpless newborn into their home, name her Jenna, and raise her as their own. But who is this mysterious baby girl, and what really happened to their beloved son, Septimus?

The first part of this enthralling new series leads readers on a fantastic journey filled with quirky characters, clever charms, potions and spells, and a yearning to uncover the mystery at the heart of this story...who is Septimus Heap?

Angie Sage writes in the tradition of great British storytellers. Her inventive fantasy is filled with humor and heart: Magyk will have readers laughing and begging for more.]]> 564 Angie Sage 0060577312 chloe 5 3.85 2005
author: Angie Sage
name: chloe
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/11/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 33803157
What does it mean to be crazy? Is using the word crazy offensive? What happens when such a label gets attached to your everyday experiences?

In order to understand mental health, we need to talk openly about it. Because there’s no single definition of crazy, there’s no single experience that embodies it, and the word itself means different things—wild? extreme? disturbed? passionate?—to different people.

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy is a conversation starter and guide to better understanding how our mental health affects us every day. Thirty-three writers, athletes, and artists offer essays, lists, comics, and illustrations that explore their personal experiences with mental illness, how we do and do not talk about mental health, help for better understanding how every person’s brain is wired differently, and what, exactly, might make someone crazy.

If you’ve ever struggled with your mental health, or know someone who has, come on in, turn the pages, and let’s get talking.]]> 228 Kelly Jensen 154907461X chloe 0 to-read 4.02 2018
author: Kelly Jensen
name: chloe
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18465591 A heartfelt, laugh-out-loud-funny story of romance, family, and self-discovery.

Alek Khederian should have guessed something was wrong when his parents took him to a restaurant. Everyone knows that Armenians never eat out. Between bouts of interrogating the waitress and criticizing the menu, Alek’s parents announce that he’ll be attending summer school in order to bring up his grades. Alek is sure this experience will be the perfect hellish end to his hellish freshman year of high school. He never could’ve predicted that he’d meet someone like Ethan.

Ethan is everything Alek wishes he were: confident, free-spirited, and irreverent. He can’t believe a guy this cool wants to be his friend. And before long, it seems like Ethan wants to be more than friends. Alek has never thought about having a boyfriend—he’s barely ever had a girlfriend—but maybe it’s time to think again.]]> 255 Michael Barakiva 0374356459 chloe 2 -Becky was cute, I liked her when she was just being herself. She was also pretty relatable.
-Alek is a good guy.
-Ethan is also relatable in the way that he reminded me of some of my friends and even myself.
-This book's focus on Armenian culture was definitely one of the best parts.

Dislikes:
-Ethan and Alek's relationship makes me uncomfortable. I'm Alek's age, and I would be pretty weirded out if anyone older than 16 liked me. The ages were just, very strange. What made it worse was that Alek was kinda forced by the narrative to serve as the girl in the relationship, which is also gross because it's heteronormative and nasty.
-Slutshaming and otherwise sexist tropes. Becky was seen as 'not like other girls' because she wasn't shallow and whatever. Most of the women I know are complex, multi-faceted human beings. Even my girlier friends will hang out in the woods and get their hands dirty. Because I'm a feminist, this struck a chord and I couldn't really enjoy the book the same way.
-Bisexuality was dismissed and unrepresented. Not that big of a deal, but it's annoying when there are multiple gay people in a story and bisexuals aren't so much as mentioned when we're a majority of the LGBT community.
-Alek is too young to be an interesting protagonist in a book like this. He's fourteen, but it feels like he should be in college or something. The way sexuality was discussed seemed way too much. It's not like that's not a thing in kids that young, but the maturity was way overstated.


Ages were actually my biggest issue with this book. I really wish the characters were older so it didn't have such a creepy undertone (and that's coming from someone Alek's age).]]> 3.85 2014
author: Michael Barakiva
name: chloe
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/11/05
shelves:
review:
Likes:
-Becky was cute, I liked her when she was just being herself. She was also pretty relatable.
-Alek is a good guy.
-Ethan is also relatable in the way that he reminded me of some of my friends and even myself.
-This book's focus on Armenian culture was definitely one of the best parts.

Dislikes:
-Ethan and Alek's relationship makes me uncomfortable. I'm Alek's age, and I would be pretty weirded out if anyone older than 16 liked me. The ages were just, very strange. What made it worse was that Alek was kinda forced by the narrative to serve as the girl in the relationship, which is also gross because it's heteronormative and nasty.
-Slutshaming and otherwise sexist tropes. Becky was seen as 'not like other girls' because she wasn't shallow and whatever. Most of the women I know are complex, multi-faceted human beings. Even my girlier friends will hang out in the woods and get their hands dirty. Because I'm a feminist, this struck a chord and I couldn't really enjoy the book the same way.
-Bisexuality was dismissed and unrepresented. Not that big of a deal, but it's annoying when there are multiple gay people in a story and bisexuals aren't so much as mentioned when we're a majority of the LGBT community.
-Alek is too young to be an interesting protagonist in a book like this. He's fourteen, but it feels like he should be in college or something. The way sexuality was discussed seemed way too much. It's not like that's not a thing in kids that young, but the maturity was way overstated.


Ages were actually my biggest issue with this book. I really wish the characters were older so it didn't have such a creepy undertone (and that's coming from someone Alek's age).
]]> 41217088
Lennon Davis doesn’t believe in much, but she does believe in the security of the number five. If she flicks the bedroom light switch five times, maybe her new L.A. school won’t suck. But that doesn’t feel right, so she flicks the switch again. And again. Ten more flicks of the switch and maybe her new step family will accept her. Twenty-five more flicks and maybe she won’t cause any more of her loved ones to die. Fifty times more and then she can finally go to sleep.

Kyler Benton witnesses this pattern of lights from the safety of his treehouse in the yard next door. It is only there, hidden from the unwanted stares of his peers, that Kyler can fill his notebooks with lyrics that reveal the true scars of the boy behind the oversized hoodies and caustic humor. But Kyler finds that descriptions of blonde hair, sad eyes, and tapping fingers are beginning to fill the pages of his notebooks. Lennon, the lonely girl next door his father has warned him about, infiltrates his mind. Even though he has enough to deal with without Lennon’s rumored tragic past in his life, Kyler can’t help but want to know the truth about his new muse.]]> 405 L.D. Crichton 1368023967 chloe 2 4.12 2019
author: L.D. Crichton
name: chloe
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/11/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 23228
When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right.

This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world.]]> 185 David Levithan 0375832998 chloe 1 dnf
In fact, I generally don't think I like David Levithan's writing. But that's not the big issue here.

Look, the LGBT rep is important to me. I am the B in LGBT. Many of my friends are trans or gay or bi, as well. Some LGBT characters have become very close to my heart when they're written well. Prudence from Across the Universe has my whole heart, and I love her. However, the reason I love many of the characters I love is that they are actual characters. Every character in this was the same person. This is an issue in Every Day, too. Every person in this was either bland or a stereotype, which also isn't great.

The thing that's most insulting to me is that David seems to think the world he's created is reality. This is like what conservatives think Sanders getting elected will do to the world. This is the most ridiculously progressive fake world I've ever seen.

I live in a very progressive liberal college town. I go to high school. I may go to church. My church is tolerant and caring of all people, but the biggest churches in our area are anti-muslim and anti-gay conservative propaganda machines. For the last few weeks, we've had anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-muslim protesters at my high school, harassing girls with hijabs and boys with trans flag pins. I've seen kids cry and get comforted by their friends because of some of the things the signs say.

I live in one of the most accepting places on earth, and yet every day I am confronted by intolerance. Biphobia is even a problem in LGBT circles. There are girls out there who think that because I like more than just girls I am faking my attraction to the same gender, and will actively make fun of bisexual people for their identities. I can't go to my school's GSA without hearing something a little off about bi people. So this book, where my and my friend's identities are portrayed so incredibly unrealistically, in which we're paraded instead of ignored, really really bothers me.

I felt like this book slapped me in the face with the phrase 'a few bad apples' instead of recognizing institutionalized oppression for what it is.]]> 3.82 2003
author: David Levithan
name: chloe
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2003
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/10/31
shelves: dnf
review:
I have to be honest, I'm not a fan of this book.

In fact, I generally don't think I like David Levithan's writing. But that's not the big issue here.

Look, the LGBT rep is important to me. I am the B in LGBT. Many of my friends are trans or gay or bi, as well. Some LGBT characters have become very close to my heart when they're written well. Prudence from Across the Universe has my whole heart, and I love her. However, the reason I love many of the characters I love is that they are actual characters. Every character in this was the same person. This is an issue in Every Day, too. Every person in this was either bland or a stereotype, which also isn't great.

The thing that's most insulting to me is that David seems to think the world he's created is reality. This is like what conservatives think Sanders getting elected will do to the world. This is the most ridiculously progressive fake world I've ever seen.

I live in a very progressive liberal college town. I go to high school. I may go to church. My church is tolerant and caring of all people, but the biggest churches in our area are anti-muslim and anti-gay conservative propaganda machines. For the last few weeks, we've had anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-muslim protesters at my high school, harassing girls with hijabs and boys with trans flag pins. I've seen kids cry and get comforted by their friends because of some of the things the signs say.

I live in one of the most accepting places on earth, and yet every day I am confronted by intolerance. Biphobia is even a problem in LGBT circles. There are girls out there who think that because I like more than just girls I am faking my attraction to the same gender, and will actively make fun of bisexual people for their identities. I can't go to my school's GSA without hearing something a little off about bi people. So this book, where my and my friend's identities are portrayed so incredibly unrealistically, in which we're paraded instead of ignored, really really bothers me.

I felt like this book slapped me in the face with the phrase 'a few bad apples' instead of recognizing institutionalized oppression for what it is.
]]> 24157427
When Max receives a mysterious invite from the untraceable, epic prank-pulling Chaos Club, he has to ask: why him? After all, he's Mr. 2.5 GPA, Mr. No Social Life. He's Just Max. And his favorite heist movies have taught him this situation calls for Rule #4: Be suspicious. But it's also his one shot to leave Just Max in the dust...

Yeah, not so much. Max and four fellow students-who also received invites-are standing on the newly defaced water tower when campus security "catches" them. Definitely a setup. And this time, Max has had enough. It's time for Rule #7: Always get payback.

Let the prank war begin.]]> 340 Kurt Dinan 1492630144 chloe 5 3.91 2016
author: Kurt Dinan
name: chloe
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 28595008 �󾱱�����

Eric Connelly is about to combust.

��dzܰ���

His senator father is forcing him to spend the entire summer working a mind-numbing law firm internship. He won’t stop lecturing him about the importance of upholding “the Connelly name.�� He doesn’t know the definition of “blowing off steam.�� But he’s about to find out. Because Eric is ready to blow.

�ճ�������

Then Eric meets Jordan Grant. Super-rich, semi-famous Jordan Grant. The guy of Eric’s (secret) dreams. Jordan likes Eric. And, well, Eric likes that.

�շɴ���

Jordan comes with a group of friends—the Suicide Pack, they call themselves—and they’re sick of the shallow hypocrisy of their exclusive beachside town. So they cook up some simple “fixes�� to right the wrongs that the wealthy elite have committed. But as the fixes escalate, some members of the pack start to panic. Intoxicated by Jordan’s attention, Eric stays calm. Until Jordan starts to build the bombs.

���Ա���

The question is not whether the bombs will go off—but who will be left standing when everything goes up in flames.]]> 528 Owen Matthews 0062336894 chloe 5 3.83 2016
author: Owen Matthews
name: chloe
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 25184383
We were not planning to kidnap one of them. Especially not the most useless one. But we had him—his room key, his cell phone, and his secrets.

We were not planning on what happened next.

We swear.

From thrilling new talent Goldy Moldavsky comes a pitch-black, hilarious take on fandom and the badass girls who have the power to make—or break—the people we call “celebrities.”]]> 320 Goldy Moldavsky 0545867479 chloe 5 3.53 2016
author: Goldy Moldavsky
name: chloe
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves:
review:
I hate most typical boy band music (Brockhampton's an exception) but I had close relations to people in P!ATD and Twenty One Pilots and even My Chemical Romance's weird combined fandom, so this book really spoke to a part of these people I knew closely (and kind of was for a little while). I've never seen a book about fandom that gets it so right.
]]> 22910900
The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions...]]> 348 Patrick Ness 1406331163 chloe 4 3.69 2015
author: Patrick Ness
name: chloe
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 31194576
Time is running out though, because way across town a ghost as risen from the lake. Searching, yearning, she leaves a trail of destruction in her wake…]]> 287 Patrick Ness 1406377279 chloe 4 3.65 2017
author: Patrick Ness
name: chloe
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 27863271
Vigorously independent in many respects, invisible-i-am challenges traditional notions of storytelling in the YA book industry with its dark, idiosyncratic humor, unflinching portrayal of abuse, and plot twists that peel back layers of family and community intrigue to address the impact of oppression in its many forms -- personal, historical, and systemic. Experimental and literary in nature, the book also features Ms. Showman’s art, created from the perspective of protagonist Gregg Davis and a striking cover designed like a scrawled-over Composition notebook. The story is also unique in that it extends beyond the novella into social media and the screen, giving the story a multimedia and interactive dimension. A sequel to invisible-i-am is forthcoming.

invisible-i-am has been accepted into the collection of the South Carolina Center for Children’s Books and Literacy as well as Library Journal's SELF-e indie book online platform, available through participating libraries across the U.S. It has recently been awarded an indieBRAG Gold Medallion, with a 5/5 rating for characters, dialogue, writing style, copy editing, chapters, and formatting.

Read Chapter One for free at invisible-i-am.com.

For updates on Gregg and the invisible-i-am story, follow her on Twitter @iaminvisibleiam, Tumblr via , YouTube at , and Facebook at .

Sign up for the newsletter at ]]> 102 Harriet Showman 1516964055 chloe 2 2.41
author: Harriet Showman
name: chloe
average rating: 2.41
book published:
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 31931941 Her story is a phenomenon. Her life is a disaster.

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.

But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.]]> 385 Francesca Zappia 0062290134 chloe 4 4.14 2017
author: Francesca Zappia
name: chloe
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 44451907 Now in a special edition to mark the twentieth anniversary of a beloved cult classic! Read the #1 New York Times bestselling coming-of-age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Also a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.

The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky follows observant “wallflower�� Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

A #1 New York Times best seller for more than a year, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or “wallflowers�� of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.]]> 240 Stephen Chbosky chloe 5 4.17 1999
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: chloe
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 28686840 every possibility life has to offer. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything.��

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he's got swagger, but he's also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can't recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He's the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything, but he can't understand what's going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don't get too close to anyone.

Until he meets Libby. When the two get tangled up in a cruel high school game—which lands them in group counseling and community service—Libby and Jack are both pissed, and then surprised. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours.]]> 391 Jennifer Niven 0385755929 chloe 4 3.66 2016
author: Jennifer Niven
name: chloe
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/10/22
date added: 2019/10/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 6063554 322 Jeff Kass 0981652565 chloe 0 to-read 3.83 2009
author: Jeff Kass
name: chloe
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 64821 360 Mark Ames 1932360824 chloe 0 to-read 3.81 2005
author: Mark Ames
name: chloe
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 716094
Now, for the first time, Brown, with journalist Rob Merritt, gets to tell his full version of the story. He describes the warning signs that were missed or ignored, and the evidence that was kept hidden from the public after the murders. He takes on those who say that rock music or video games caused Klebold and Harris to kill their classmates and explores what it might have been that pushed these two young men, from supposedly stable families, to harbor such violent and apocalyptic dreams.

Shocking as well as inspirational and insightful, No Easy Answers is an authentic wake-up call for all the psychologists, authorities, parents, and law enforcement personnel who have attempted to understand the murders at Columbine High School. As the title suggests, the book offers no easy answers, but instead presents the unvarnished facts about growing up as an alienated teenager in America today.

Brooks Brown graduated from Columbine High School in 1999; this is his first book. Most recently, Brooks worked and consulted on Michael Moores latest documentary called Bowling for Columbine. He lives in Littleton, Colorado. Rob Merritt graduated from the University of Iowa School of Journalism in 1998 and currently works as a newspaper writer in Marshalltown, Iowa.]]> 277 Brooks Brown 1590560310 chloe 5 fantastic and eye-opening. 4.01 2002
author: Brooks Brown
name: chloe
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/11
date added: 2019/10/11
shelves:
review:
fantastic and eye-opening.
]]> 333716
Demonstrating, once again, her gift for spellbinding storytelling and the creation of legend, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of witches—a family given to poetry and to incest, to murder and to philosophy; a family that, over the ages, is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being.

On the veranda of a great New Orleans house, now faded, a mute and fragile woman sits rocking... and The Witching Hour begins.

It begins in our time with a rescue at sea.����Rowan Mayfair, a beautiful woman, a brilliant practitioner of neurosurgery—aware that she has special powers but unaware that she comes from an ancient line of witches—finds the drowned body of a man off the coast of California and brings him to life.����He is Michael Curry, who was born in New Orleans and orphaned in childhood by fire on Christmas Eve, who pulled himself up from poverty, and who now, in his brief interval of death, has acquired a sensory power that mystifies and frightens him.

As these two, fiercely drawn to each other, fall in love and—in passionate alliance—set out to solve the mystery of her past and his unwelcome gift, the novel moves backward and forward in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and a château in the France of Louis XIV.����An intricate tale of evil unfolds—an evil unleashed in seventeenth-century Scotland, where the first "witch," Suzanne of the Mayfair, conjures up the spirit she names Lasher... a creation that spells her own destruction and torments each of her descendants in turn.

From the coffee plantations of Port au Prince, where the great Mayfair fortune is made and the legacy of their dark power is almost destroyed, to Civil War New Orleans, as Julien—the clan's only male to be endowed with occult powers—provides for the dynasty its foothold in America, the dark, luminous story encompasses dramas of seduction and death, episodes of tenderness and healing.����And always—through peril and escape, tension and release—there swirl around us the echoes of eternal war: innocence versus the corruption of the spirit, sanity against madness, life against death.����With a dreamlike power, the novel draws us, through circuitous, twilight paths, to the present and Rowan's increasingly inspired and risky moves in the merciless game that binds her to her heritage. And in New Orleans, on Christmas Eve, this strangest of family sagas is brought to its startling climax.]]> 965 Anne Rice 0394587863 chloe 0 to-read 4.03 1990
author: Anne Rice
name: chloe
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23807
Dr. Lecter is a former psychiatrist with a grisly history, unusual tastes, and an intense curiosity about the darker corners of the mind. His intimate understanding of the killer and of Clarice herself form the core of "The Silence of the Lambs"—an ingenious, masterfully written book and an unforgettable classic of suspense fiction.]]> 421 Thomas Harris chloe 0 to-read 4.25 1988
author: Thomas Harris
name: chloe
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 89717 182 Shirley Jackson 0143039989 chloe 0 to-read 3.85 1959
author: Shirley Jackson
name: chloe
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1959
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10675526
Frequently imitated and widely influential, Howard Philips Lovecraft reinvented the horror genre in the 1920s, discarding ghosts and witches and instead envisioning mankind as a tiny outpost of dwindling sanity in a chaotic and malevolent universe. S. T. Joshi, Lovecraft's preeminent interpreter, presents a selection of the master's fiction, from the early tales of nightmares and madness such as "The Outsider" to the overpowering cosmic terror of "The Call of Cthulhu." More than just a collection of terrifying tales, this volume reveals the development of Lovecraft's mesmerizing narrative style and establishes him as a canonical- and visionary-American writer.]]> 420 H.P. Lovecraft 0143106481 chloe 0 to-read 3.98 1928
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: chloe
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1928
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 248596 Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre.

For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon.]]> 293 Ray Bradbury 0380729407 chloe 0 to-read 3.92 1962
author: Ray Bradbury
name: chloe
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 293101
In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their dream home, the same home where Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers and sisters just one year earlier.

The psychic phenomena that followed created the most terrifying experience the Lutz family had ever encountered, forcing them to flee the house in 28 days, convinced that it was possessed by evil spirits.

Their fantastic story, never before disclosed in full detail, makes for an unforgettable book with all the shocks and gripping suspense of The Exorcist, The Omen or Rosemary's Baby, but with one vital difference...the story is true.]]> 315 Jay Anson 0553116606 chloe 0 to-read 3.85 1977
author: Jay Anson
name: chloe
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 228296
Suppose that only after you became pregnant did you begin to suspect the building harbored a diabolically evil group of devil worshippers who had mastered the arts of black magic and witchcraft.

Suppose that this satanic conspiracy set out to claim not only your husband but your baby.

Well, that's what happened to Rosemary... Or did it...?]]> 308 Ira Levin 0451194004 chloe 0 to-read 4.04 1967
author: Ira Levin
name: chloe
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 830502
It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real ...

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name.]]> 1184 Stephen King 0450411435 chloe 0 to-read 4.28 1986
author: Stephen King
name: chloe
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10592
Make a date with terror and live the nightmare that is...Carrie
--back cover]]> 272 Stephen King 1416524304 chloe 0 to-read 4.00 1974
author: Stephen King
name: chloe
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 351018
A sorcery competition is held to discover which witch is the most potent and fiendish, and glamorous Madame Olympia conjures up a thousand plague-bearing rats! Belladonna, the white witch, desperately wants to be a wicked enchantress, but her magic produces flowers instead of snakes. How can she become more devilish than all the other witches?]]> 186 Eva Ibbotson 0330398008 chloe 4 childrens 3.96 1979
author: Eva Ibbotson
name: chloe
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/09/27
shelves: childrens
review:
I really loved this book when I was in third grade. I read it like, four times. Just remembered it now, which made me happy!
]]> 261240
It is set in a nameless Italian city in an unspecified year (possibly during the eighteenth century) and concerns the revenge taken by the narrator on a friend who he claims has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around the possibility of a person being buried alive or enclosed in a small space with not possibility of escape (aka immurement).

Librarian's note: this entry relates to the story "The Cask of Amontillado." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere on ŷ������.]]> 24 Edgar Allan Poe 1594561869 chloe 5 4.09 1846
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: chloe
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1846
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 26836918 The Perks of Being a Wallflower meets Revenge of the Nerds in this tale of a teen misfit who seeks to take down the bro next door, but ends up falling for his enemy’s sister and uncovering difficult truths about his family in the process.

Tom Grendel lives a quiet life—writing in his notebooks, mowing lawns for his elderly neighbors, and pining for Willow, a girl next door who rejects the “manic-pixie-dream�� label. But when Willow’s brother, Rex (the bro-iest bro ever to don a jockstrap), starts throwing wild parties, the idyllic senior citizens�� community where they live is transformed into a war zone. Tom is rightfully pissed—his dad is an Iraq vet, and the noise from the parties triggers his PTSD—so he comes up with a plan to end the parties for good. But of course, it’s not that simple.

One retaliation leads to another, and things quickly escalate out of control, driving Tom and Willow apart, even as the parties continue unabated. Add to that an angsty existential crisis born of selectively reading his sister’s Philosophy 101 coursework, a botched break-in at an artisanal pig farm, and ten years of unresolved baggage stemming from his mother’s death…and the question isn’t so much whether Tom Grendel will win the day and get the girl, but whether he’ll survive intact.]]> 320 A.E. Kaplan 0399555544 chloe 4 3.72 2017
author: A.E. Kaplan
name: chloe
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/09/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 25546710
So Hawthorn comes up with her own theory for Lizzie's disappearance. A theory way too absurd to take seriously...at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie's life? Like getting a job at the diner where Lizzie worked and hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend. After all, it's not as if he killed her-or did he?

Told with a unique voice that is both hilarious and heart-wrenching, Hawthorn's quest for proof may uncover the greatest truth is within herself.
"]]> 387 Chelsea Sedoti 1492636088 chloe 5 3.07 2017
author: Chelsea Sedoti
name: chloe
average rating: 3.07
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/09/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 15715932 5 Eugenia Collier chloe 2
Lizabeth seems, in the text, younger than 14. I'm 14. I don't have the inner dialogue of an 8-year-old. Lizabeth is in high school and she still spends all her time with little kids doing little kid things. A 7-year-old tearing up Miss Lottie's flowers I could get. Little kids do dumb stuff! At this age, though, you know it's wrong and downright cruel. I think most of us have empathy down by seventh grade and yet she doesn't whatsoever.

Miss Lottie never gets closure, and I don't know, it just makes me kind of sad for her. Meanwhile, Lizabeth acts like crushing Lottie's hopes and dreams is just a quirky thing she did.
It's written really well so I'll give it an extra star. Nothing against Collier, she seems like a great writer. ]]> 3.59 1969
author: Eugenia Collier
name: chloe
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1969
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/09/19
shelves:
review:
I just finished this story in school, and I have a lot of thoughts.

Lizabeth seems, in the text, younger than 14. I'm 14. I don't have the inner dialogue of an 8-year-old. Lizabeth is in high school and she still spends all her time with little kids doing little kid things. A 7-year-old tearing up Miss Lottie's flowers I could get. Little kids do dumb stuff! At this age, though, you know it's wrong and downright cruel. I think most of us have empathy down by seventh grade and yet she doesn't whatsoever.

Miss Lottie never gets closure, and I don't know, it just makes me kind of sad for her. Meanwhile, Lizabeth acts like crushing Lottie's hopes and dreams is just a quirky thing she did.
It's written really well so I'll give it an extra star. Nothing against Collier, she seems like a great writer.
]]> 42202082
Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the worst day of his life, and in the three hundred and sixty-four days since then he hasn’t stopped running: from his family, his memories, and the horse-sized farm dogs that chase him to the bus stop every morning.

But he can’t run forever.

Kirby and his friends PJ and Jake sneak out of his house to play a prank whose consequences follow them to school the next day, causing a chain reaction of mayhem and disaster. It’s a story that’s touching and funny, an authentic meditation on the pain of loss, and the challenge of getting paint to stick to cows.]]> 330 Doogie Horner 1534427171 chloe 5 3.60 2019
author: Doogie Horner
name: chloe
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/09/19
shelves:
review:
catches the hijinks of high school within a single book in a way i really enjoyed. five stars. and mr. doogie, i give you my condolences for having such a unique name.
]]> 18692431
But then one day, a moving truck arrives. New next door neighbors. I look out the window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black t-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. I want to learn everything about him, and I do. I learn that he is funny and fierce. I learn that his eyes are Atlantic Ocean-blue and that his vice is stealing silverware. I learn that when I talk to him, my whole world opens up, and I feel myself starting to change—starting to want things. To want out of my bubble. To want everything, everything the world has to offer.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.]]> 312 Nicola Yoon 0553496646 chloe 4
I guessed the twist, but I didn't think the author would ACTUALLY do that, but then she did. This was pretty cute!

I still don't like the stereotype of incredibly sick person needs certain safety precautions to ensure their safety but in an act of love they ignore the rules and follow their heart because it gives kind of an unhealthy idea to kids who are severely sick. But still, cute story.]]> 3.96 2015
author: Nicola Yoon
name: chloe
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/09/19
shelves:
review:
I really didn't have high hopes for this book. In fact, I thought it was dumb. However, I was stuck at the beginning of my first-hour class trying to quickly download a book that, even if it was bad, would still be entertaining. I took a chance on this one and was surprised.

I guessed the twist, but I didn't think the author would ACTUALLY do that, but then she did. This was pretty cute!

I still don't like the stereotype of incredibly sick person needs certain safety precautions to ensure their safety but in an act of love they ignore the rules and follow their heart because it gives kind of an unhealthy idea to kids who are severely sick. But still, cute story.
]]> 13132403
With complexity and richness, Nova Ren Suma serves up a beautifully visual, fresh interpretation of what it means to be lost.]]> 353 Nova Ren Suma 0525423400 chloe 0 dnf 3.66 2013
author: Nova Ren Suma
name: chloe
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2019/08/25
date added: 2019/08/25
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 33163378 Moxie girls fight back!

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes and hallway harassment. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.

Viv’s mom was a punk rock Riot Grrrl in the ��90s, so now Viv takes a page from her mother’s past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She’s just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. Pretty soon Viv is forging friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, and she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.]]> 330 Jennifer Mathieu 1626726353 chloe 5 favorites 4.18 2017
author: Jennifer Mathieu
name: chloe
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2019/08/19
date added: 2019/08/19
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> 16068905 A coming-of-age tale of fanfiction, family, and first love.

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan.... But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she's really good at it. She and her twin, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fanfiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.

Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend; a fiction-writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world; a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... and she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?]]> 483 Rainbow Rowell chloe 1 3.93 2013
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: chloe
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/07/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 44453295 The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us. Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with Christopher at her side. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out.

At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six awful days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a tree house in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again.

Soon Kate and Christopher find themselves in the fight of their lives, caught in the middle of a war playing out between good and evil, with their small town as the battleground.]]> 721 Stephen Chbosky chloe 0 to-read 3.46 2019
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: chloe
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 29844228 You can’t stop the future.
You can’t rewind the past.
The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.]]> 352 Jay Asher 1595147888 chloe 1 3.71 2007
author: Jay Asher
name: chloe
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/07/01
shelves:
review:
this book is garbage and the way it portrays suicide and mental health issues is deplorable.
]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling chloe 0 4.57 2005
author: J.K. Rowling
name: chloe
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls�� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins �� someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects�� Harry Potter himself!]]> 352 J.K. Rowling chloe 0 4.42 1998
author: J.K. Rowling
name: chloe
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X chloe 0 4.57 1999
author: J.K. Rowling
name: chloe
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 chloe 0 4.56 2000
author: J.K. Rowling
name: chloe
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 38232369
Life at Eli’s high school hasn’t been the same since his classmate Jordan committed suicide after being tirelessly bullied. Schools now have access to students�� online activities and students have less privacy than ever. Eli just wants to graduate—so he can get out of town, get away from his father’s embarrassingly young fiancée, and get himself a prestigious coding job. But Eli’s hacking skills get him roped into a vigilante website that—while subverting the school’s cybersnoops�� seeks justice for Jordan and everyone else being bullied. Suddenly Eli finds himself in way over his head as his keystrokes start to have devastating consequences in the real world . . . This timely story from the author of Butter is a thrilling tale about the power of the internet, the young people who wield it, and the fine lines between bully and victim, justice and vengeance.]]> 352 Erin Jade Lange 161963502X chloe 3 3.61 2018
author: Erin Jade Lange
name: chloe
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 222304
Max Sumner and his three best friends, Harley, Ernie, and Natalia--who form the secret club The Grey Griffins--seem to be the only people in their very normal Minnesota town to notice that strange things have started to happen. When creatures like goblins and fairies and unicorns, all characters from a card game the Grey Griffins play, begin to make appearances in Max's backyard, Max and his friends know something is terribly wrong. And it's up to them to stop the wicked creatures of the cards from destroying their town-indeed, their world.]]> 384 Derek Benz 0439795745 chloe 0 3.89 2006
author: Derek Benz
name: chloe
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 2133795 As if waiting weren't hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs's birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman's bus . . . only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up-and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.

]]> 342 Ingrid Law 0803733062 chloe 3 3.98 2008
author: Ingrid Law
name: chloe
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/06/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling chloe 4 4.61 2007
author: J.K. Rowling
name: chloe
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/06/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 44652 Trespassers will be turned to stone

For centuries, mystical creatures of all description were gathered to a hidden refuge called Fablehaven to prevent their extinction. The sanctuary is one of the last strongholds of true magic. Enchanting? Absolutely. Exciting? You bet. Safe? Well, actually, quite the opposite . . .

Kendra and her brother, Seth, have no idea their grandfather is the current caretaker of Fablehaven. Inside the gated woods, ancient laws keep order among greedy trolls, mischievous satyrs, plotting witches, spiteful imps, and jealous fairies. However, when the rules get broken, powerful forces of evil are unleashed, forcing Kendra and Seth to face the greatest challenge of their lives, to save their family, Fablehaven, and perhaps even the world.]]> 351 Brandon Mull 1590385810 chloe 3 4.13 2006
author: Brandon Mull
name: chloe
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/06/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 17133624
Jackson Opus has always been persuasive, but he doesn't know that he's descended from the two most powerful hypnotist bloodlines on the planet. He's excited to be accepted into a special program at the Sentia Institute -- but when he realizes he's in over his head, Jackson will have to find a way to use his powers to save his friends, his parents, and his government.]]> 232 Gordon Korman 0545503221 chloe 3 3.87 2013
author: Gordon Korman
name: chloe
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/06/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 3636 208 Lois Lowry 0385732554 chloe 3 4.12 1993
author: Lois Lowry
name: chloe
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/06/28
shelves:
review:
Good book, really good ending. Could use more of an atmosphere, and the writing itself felt lacking.
]]> 42201354
The only problem is, life on his own isn’t exactly what he expected and, soon enough, he finds himself at a crossroads: keep running from his demons, or let them hitch a ride back home with him.]]> 336 Pete Hautman 1534405909 chloe 5 3.15 2019
author: Pete Hautman
name: chloe
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/06/27
shelves:
review:
I really enjoy books like this. I read the first couple chapters with my eight-year-old brother, censoring a lot of the cursing, and he also enjoyed the way things tied together. I love introspection and traveling in books, so putting them together like this was really awesome. Good find for my local library’s YA new release section!
]]> 18460392 The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning!
��
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
��
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
��
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders�� of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.
��
This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.]]> 388 Jennifer Niven 0385755880 chloe 4 4.12 2015
author: Jennifer Niven
name: chloe
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/06/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 170448 Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.

A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh.]]> 141 George Orwell 0451526341 chloe 5 4.07 1945
author: George Orwell
name: chloe
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1945
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/05/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 18812716
Dan, Abby, and Jordan remain traumatized by the summer they shared in the Brookline asylum. Much as they'd love to move on, someone is determined to keep the terror alive, sending the teens photos of an old-timey carnival, with no note and no name. Forsaking their plan never to go back, the teens return to New Hampshire College under the guise of a weekend for prospective students, and there they realize that the carnival from the photos is not only real, it's here on campus, apparently for the first time in many years.

Sneaking away from sample classes and college parties, Dan and his friends lead a tour of their own—one through the abandoned houses and hidden places of the surrounding town. Camford is hiding a terrible past, and the influence of the asylum runs deeper than Dan ever imagined.]]> 347 Madeleine Roux 000753826X chloe 3 3.87 2014
author: Madeleine Roux
name: chloe
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/05/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 46799
Read her diary.

Enter her world.

You will never forget her.

]]> 213 Beatrice Sparks 1416914633 chloe 2
of course the author's a mormon, geez. if a book's gonna have a strong religious message, i'd like if it said so.

end statement: sounds like a hip celeb endorsed d.a.r.e. ad but altogether had a good story, good writing, and a pretty ok message.]]> 3.75 1971
author: Beatrice Sparks
name: chloe
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1971
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/05/15
shelves:
review:
good message, but the narrative voice reminds me of an anti-hippie youth pastor with a penchant for crocheting and being, like, super HIP and RADICAL with the kids. i personally thought she should have recovered at the end and have that be the message, that even when you mess up, you can get better and be okay. a bit of homophobia but that can be excused because she's just a teenage girl in 1970 something. being politically left and being not-christian are overly villainized to the point that i honestly just think it's the authors bias leaking in. i also think that telling these sorts of stories aren't helping kids stay away from drugs. telling the truth should be enough. i think beautiful boy by david sheff did this really well, told from the perspective of a parent and not just a totally straight-edge christian young woman somehow getting addicted to bad stuff. it's usually at risk kids, not random super straight edge nerdy types.

of course the author's a mormon, geez. if a book's gonna have a strong religious message, i'd like if it said so.

end statement: sounds like a hip celeb endorsed d.a.r.e. ad but altogether had a good story, good writing, and a pretty ok message.
]]> 6442769 Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...]]> 305 John Green 014241493X chloe 5 3.68 2008
author: John Green
name: chloe
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/05/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 99561 Before. Miles “Pudge�� Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps�� even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .
After. Nothing is ever the same.]]> 221 John Green 1435249151 chloe 5 3.97 2005
author: John Green
name: chloe
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/05/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 18762415 The fascinating, shocking, and ultimately quite hopeful story of one teen’s downward spiral into mental illness by the bestselling author of Tweak.

Miles is the ultimate unreliable narrator—a teen recovering from a schizophrenic breakdown who believes he is getting better . . . when in reality he is growing worse.
��
Driven to the point of obsession to find his missing younger brother, Teddy, and wrapped up in a romance that may or may not be the real thing, Miles is forever chasing shadows. As Miles feels his world closing around him, he struggles to keep it open, but what you think you know about his world is actually a blur of gray, and the sharp focus of reality proves startling.
��
Written by the New York Times bestselling author of Tweak, Schizo��is the fascinating, and ultimately quite hopeful, story of one teen's downward spiral into mental illness as he chases the clues to a missing brother. Perfect for fans of Thirteen Reasons Why, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and It’s Kind of a Funny Story.]]> 263 Nic Sheff 0399164375 chloe 5 3.68 2014
author: Nic Sheff
name: chloe
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/05/03
shelves:
review:
this book kind of seriously blew my mind when i first read it. very well done!
]]> 35504431
Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.]]> 290 John Green 0525555366 chloe 5 3.88 2017
author: John Green
name: chloe
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/02
date added: 2019/05/02
shelves:
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]]> 32336077 They're more than their problems

Obsessive-compulsive teen Clarissa wants to get better, if only so her mother will stop asking her if she's okay.

Andrew wants to overcome his eating disorder so he can get back to his band and their dreams of becoming famous.

Film aficionado Ben would rather live in the movies than in reality.

Gorgeous and overly confident Mason thinks everyone is an idiot.

And Stella just doesn't want to be back for her second summer of wilderness therapy.

As the five teens get to know one another and work to overcome the various disorders that have affected their lives, they find themselves forming bonds they never thought they would, discovering new truths about themselves and actually looking forward to the future.

"]]> 384 Jennifer Yu 0373212305 chloe 2
God, Mason is hateable. Please, please give him a redeeming character trait and I'll like him. Please.

Showing a dude with an eating disorder is awesome! Great rep!

My big issue is melodrama, subpar writing, and misrepresentation of mental illness. I can't say how good the rep is for OCD, BPD, and NPD, because I've never had them, but the OCD specifically seemed really off. The depersonalization episodes were relatable, liked them. Wasn't really a fan of the way depression and EDs were represented, but everybody has different experiences. All in all, not really a fan. The writing was very bland.]]> 3.52 2017
author: Jennifer Yu
name: chloe
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/04/27
shelves:
review:
I really like Clarissa, Andrew, and Ben. Stella was cool, and I felt like we could be friends.

God, Mason is hateable. Please, please give him a redeeming character trait and I'll like him. Please.

Showing a dude with an eating disorder is awesome! Great rep!

My big issue is melodrama, subpar writing, and misrepresentation of mental illness. I can't say how good the rep is for OCD, BPD, and NPD, because I've never had them, but the OCD specifically seemed really off. The depersonalization episodes were relatable, liked them. Wasn't really a fan of the way depression and EDs were represented, but everybody has different experiences. All in all, not really a fan. The writing was very bland.
]]> 17288907
After his parents' divorce, Justin is on rocky mental ground. But when a handful of Tylenol lands him in the hospital, he has really hit rock bottom.

A scandalous photo of Emmy leads to vicious rumors around school, but things get worse when she threatens the boy who started it all on Facebook.

Justin and Emmy arrive at Heartland Academy, a reform school that will force them to deal with their issues. Along the way they will find a ragtag group of teens who are just as broken, stubborn, and full of sarcasm as themselves.

A funny, sad, and remarkable story, A Really Awesome Mess is a journey of friendship and self-discovery.]]> 224 Trish Cook 1606843648 chloe 4 3.64 2013
author: Trish Cook
name: chloe
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/27
shelves:
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]]> 41865
First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight is a love story with bite.]]> 498 Stephenie Meyer 0316015849 chloe 3 3.66 2005
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: chloe
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/04/27
shelves:
review:
This book is HATED, as is the writer, but I never hated it personally. I understand one's issues with the plot and some of the decisions made by the characters but it was never really hate-worthy to me. I watched the movies as they came out when I was younger and loved them, mostly for the Cullen vs Wolves stuff. Alice is still a cool character imo. Bella is an everywoman, but plenty of stories everyone loves suffer from that: take Star Wars and Harry Potter.
]]> 1099301 Warning: this description has not been authorized by Pseudonymous Bosch.
As much as he'd love to sing the praises of his book (he is very vain), he wouldn't want you to hear about his brave 11-year old heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest. Or about how a mysterious box of vials, the Symphony of Smells, sends them on the trail of a magician who has vanished under strange (and stinky) circumstances. And he certainly wouldn't want you to know about the hair-raising adventures that follow and the nefarious villains they face. You see, not only is the name of this book secret, the story inside is, too. For it concerns a secret. A Big Secret.]]> 364 Pseudonymous Bosch 0316113662 chloe 5
Yes, third grade, when I first tore through the original series. I was astounded to find a series with characters I could understand and relate to, as I felt like a real-life Cass with a real-life Max-Ernest for a best friend. The narrator was awesome, and I enjoyed unraveling who they were in the context of the story. The little bit the narrator had in the book where he explained getting a pea stuck in his little baby skin folds has stuck with me to this day...

Coming across the author's real name CRUSHED me. I was too YOUNG, TOO PURE.

Anyway, the LGBT representation was a big deal to an older me, as I was coming to terms with the fact that I was a member of that community.

These books have affected me very deeply, and for that, Pseudonymous Bosch, I thank you.]]> 4.07 2007
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:
Take this review as a review of the full series surrounding Cass and Max-Ernest, my literary heroes from third grade. Spoilers for all the books!

Yes, third grade, when I first tore through the original series. I was astounded to find a series with characters I could understand and relate to, as I felt like a real-life Cass with a real-life Max-Ernest for a best friend. The narrator was awesome, and I enjoyed unraveling who they were in the context of the story. The little bit the narrator had in the book where he explained getting a pea stuck in his little baby skin folds has stuck with me to this day...

Coming across the author's real name CRUSHED me. I was too YOUNG, TOO PURE.

Anyway, the LGBT representation was a big deal to an older me, as I was coming to terms with the fact that I was a member of that community.

These books have affected me very deeply, and for that, Pseudonymous Bosch, I thank you.
]]> 30364545 The final installment of Pseudonymous Bosch's Bad Books trilogy!

At Earth Ranch, Clay encountered a haunted library, a castaway boy, and a fire-breathing dragon--not to mention incredible magic. Now he faces his most dangerous foes yet: the mysterious white-gloved members of the Midnight Sun, whose scheming leads Clay to a dragon reserve. Up against impossible odds, will Clay and his Secret Series Allies be able to triumph over these villains once and for all?]]> 352 Pseudonymous Bosch 031632048X chloe 5 4.11 2017
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
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]]> 25746696 The plot thickens in this New York Times-bestselling sequel to Bad Magic!

Some people have all the luck.

Unfortunately, Clay isn't one of them: He's the only camper at Earth Ranch without a magical talent. As if feeling totally useless isn't enough, Clay has to figure out what to do about Brett, a castaway boy who has just washed ashore and is determined to keep his presence a secret. Even as Clay helps his new friend hide in the remote volcanic island's wilderness, another fiery mystery begins to emerge, with all signs pointing to the impossible idea that dragons once roamed the island... and may still. Can Clay and his friends turn their luck around in time to uncover Price Island's secrets �� and save it from a scorching end?

Danger, adventure, mischief, mystery, old foes, new friends, and a delightfully elusive narrator make bestselling author Pseudonymous Bosch's latest novel completely irresistible.]]> 288 Pseudonymous Bosch 0316320420 chloe 5 4.12 2016
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
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]]> 11508526
Catch up on the adventures of Cass and Max-Ernest with The Secret Series Collection. This boxed set includes all five hardcover novels in the New York Times bestselling Secret The Name of this Book Is Secret ; If You're Reading This, It's Too Late ; This Book Is Not Good for You ; This Isn't What It Looks Like ; and You Have to Stop This .]]> 2000 Pseudonymous Bosch 0316201227 chloe 5 favorites 4.64 2011
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> 20454095 A magical new series from Pseudonymous Bosh, the bestselling author of the Secret Series

Magic is BAD.

As in fake. Cheesy. Unreal. At least, that's what Clay, who has seen one magic show too many, thinks.

When words from his journal appear mysteriously on his school wall as graffiti, he never imagines that magic might be to blame. And when the same graffiti lands him at Earth Ranch, a camp for "troubled" kids on a remote volcanic island, magic is the last thing he expects to find there.

But at Earth Ranch, there is one strange surprise after another, until Clay no longer knows what to expect. Is he really talking to a llama? Did he really see a ghost? What is the scary secret hidden in the abandoned library? The only thing he knows for sure is that behind the clouds of vog (volcanic smog), nothing is as it seems. Can he solve the riddle of Earth Ranch before trouble erupts?

Elusive author Pseudonymous Bosch introduces an extraordinary new series that will have you believing in the unbelievable.

]]> 400 Pseudonymous Bosch 0316320382 chloe 5 4.06 2014
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 10757817 I always feared this day would come. A secret is meant to stay secret, after all. And now we've come to this: the fifth and final (I swear!) book in my saga of secrets.
A class trip to the local natural history museum turns dangerous, or perhaps deadly--and I don't mean in the bored-to-death way--when Cass accidentally breaks a finger off a priceless mummy. Forced to atone for this "crime" of vandalism, Cass and her friends Max-Ernest and Yo-Yoji go to work for the mummy exhibit's curator, only to be blamed when tragedy strikes. To clear their names--and, they hope, to discover the Secret--the trio must travel deep into a land of majestic pyramids, dusty tombs, mysterious hieroglyphs, and the walking dead. Egypt? Or somewhere much stranger . . .

In the midst of it all, the Secret still lurks. You're out there, reading and talking about it, and now my life--and chocolate supply--is in the greatest danger yet. So please, with a cherry on top, I'm begging you: you have to stop this!]]> 352 Pseudonymous Bosch 0316076260 chloe 5 4.32 2011
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 7939759
Cass finds herself alone and disoriented, a stranger in a dream-like, medieval world. Where is she? Who is she? With the help of a long-lost relative, she begins to uncover clues and secrets--piecing together her family's history as she fights her way back to the present world.

Meanwhile, back home, Cass is at the hospital in a deep coma. Max-Ernest knows she ate Time Travel Chocolate--and he's determined to find a cure. Can our expert hypochondriac diagnose Cass's condition before it's too late? And will he have what it takes to save the survivalist?]]> 423 Pseudonymous Bosch 0316076252 chloe 5 4.29 2010
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
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]]> 6464094
In this tooth-rotting adventure, Cass's mom has been kidnapped by the evil dessert chef and chocolatier, Señor Hugo! The ransom...the legendary tuning fork. Can Cass and Max-Ernest find the magical instrument before it's too late? Will they discover the evil secret ingredient to Señor Hugo's chocolate success?

If you're tempted, take a taste, but just remember...this book is not good for you.]]> 394 Pseudonymous Bosch 031604086X chloe 5 4.29 2009
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
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]]> 3359940
Dangerous secrets lie between the pages of this book.

OK, I warned you. But if you think I'll give anything away, or tell you that this is the sequel to my first literary endeavor, The Name of This Book is Secret, you're wrong.

I'm not going to remind you of how we last left our heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest, as they awaited initiation into the mysterious Terces Society, or the ongoing fight against the evil Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais. I certainly won't be telling you about how the kids stumble upon the Museum of Magic, where they finally meet the amazing Pietro!

Oh, blast! I've done it again. Well, at least I didn't tell you about the missing Sound Prism, the nefarious Lord Pharaoh, or the mysterious creature born in a bottle over 500 years ago, the key to the biggest secret of all.

I really can't help myself, now can I? Let's face it - if you're reading this, it's too late.]]> 385 Pseudonymous Bosch 0316113670 chloe 5 4.23 2008
author: Pseudonymous Bosch
name: chloe
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 9460487 9781594744761

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow-impossible though it seems-they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.]]> 352 Ransom Riggs 1594744769 chloe 3 3.92 2011
author: Ransom Riggs
name: chloe
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:
Loved the eerie atmosphere. Once Jacob meets the kids, it goes downhill. Suspense is gone, and I feel like I'm reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory again.
]]> 9520360 PERCY IS CONFUSED. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth.

HAZEL IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. Sure, she was an obedient daughter, even when her mother was possessed by greed. But that was the problem—when the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for an evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Hazel wishes she could ride away from it all on the stallion that appears in her dreams.

FRANK IS A KLUTZ. His grandmother says he is descended from heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery—although not good enough to win camp war games. His bulky physique makes him feel like an ox, especially in front of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely—enough to share the secret he holds close to his heart.

Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment of the Heroes of Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all destined to play a part in the Prophesy of Seven.]]> 521 Rick Riordan 1423140591 chloe 4 4.41 2011
author: Rick Riordan
name: chloe
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
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]]> 12127750 Annabeth is terrified. Just when she's about to be reunited with Percy—after six months of being apart, thanks to Hera—it looks like Camp Jupiter is preparing for war. As Annabeth and her friends Jason, Piper, and Leo fly in on the Argo II, she can't blame the Roman demigods for thinking the ship is a Greek weapon. With its steaming bronze dragon figurehead, Leo's fantastical creation doesn't appear friendly. Annabeth hopes that the sight of their praetor Jason on deck will reassure the Romans that the visitors from Camp Half-Blood are coming in peace.

And that's only one of her worries. In her pocket, Annabeth carries a gift from her mother that came with an unnerving command: Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me. Annabeth already feels weighed down by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find—and close—the Doors of Death. What more does Athena want from her?

Annabeth's biggest fear, though, is that Percy might have changed. What if he's now attached to Roman ways? Does he still need his old friends? As the daughter of the goddess of war and wisdom, Annabeth knows she was born to be a leader—but never again does she want to be without Seaweed Brain by her side

Narrated by four different demigods, The Mark of Athena is an unforgettable journey across land and sea to Rome, where important discoveries, surprising sacrifices, and unspeakable horrors await. Climb aboard the Argo II, if you dare. . . .]]> 586 Rick Riordan 1423140605 chloe 4 4.47 2012
author: Rick Riordan
name: chloe
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
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]]> 4556058
While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it's up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.

In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy's sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.]]> 381 Rick Riordan 1423101472 chloe 4 4.59 2009
author: Rick Riordan
name: chloe
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
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]]> 561456
But when you're the son of a Greek god, it happens. And now my friend Annabeth is missing, a goddess is in chains and only five half-blood heroes can join the quest to defeat the doomsday monster.

Oh, and guess what? The Oracle has predicted that not all of us will survive...]]> 352 Rick Riordan chloe 4 4.37 2007
author: Rick Riordan
name: chloe
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
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]]> 28186
In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book's drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come.]]> 279 Rick Riordan 0786856866 chloe 4 4.25 2006
author: Rick Riordan
name: chloe
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
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]]> 2120932
In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.]]> 361 Rick Riordan 1423101464 chloe 4 4.41 2008
author: Rick Riordan
name: chloe
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 7736182 JASON HAS A PROBLEM. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper, and his best friend is a guy named Leo. They’re all students at the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids," as Leo puts it. What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly? Jason doesn't know anything—except that everything seems very wrong.

PIPER HAS A SECRET. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare about his being in trouble. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out, whether she wants to or not.

LEO HAS A WAY WITH TOOLS. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about, and some camper who's gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god. Does this have anything to do with Jason's amnesia, or the fact that Leo keeps seeing ghosts?

Join new and old friends from Camp Half-Blood in this thrilling first book in The Heroes of Olympus series. Best-selling author Rick Riordan has pumped up the action, humor, suspense, and mystery in an epic adventure that will leave readers panting for the next installment.]]> 576 Rick Riordan 142311339X chloe 4 4.28 2010
author: Rick Riordan
name: chloe
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 chloe 4 4.47 1997
author: J.K. Rowling
name: chloe
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 4
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date added: 2019/04/26
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]]> 28187 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse - Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena - Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.]]> 377 Rick Riordan 0786838655 chloe 4 4.31 2005
author: Rick Riordan
name: chloe
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 1618 226 Mark Haddon 1400032717 chloe 5 3.89 2003
author: Mark Haddon
name: chloe
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling chloe 4 childrens 4.50 2003
author: J.K. Rowling
name: chloe
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/04/24
shelves: childrens
review:
Definitely my favorite Harry Potter book. Rowling has a unique narrative voice, and her books are just as good as you've heard people say they are. The tone of the book is nurtured. This is a wish-fulfillment series, and it should probably be read while sort of inserting yourself into Harry's place. One of my favorite children's books, end of story. Anyway, there is a point where I think you get too old for Harry Potter, so get ready for that.
]]> 13152 445 James Patterson 0446617792 chloe 1 dnf 4.08 2005
author: James Patterson
name: chloe
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2005
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/04/10
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 2235597 He was born with great power
The greatest superpower of all isn't to be part spider, part man, or to cast magic spells--the greatest power is the power to create.

Daniel X has that power.

And a deadly secret
Daniel's secret abilities - like being able to manipulate objects and animals with his mind or to recreate himself in any shape he chooses - have helped him survive. But Daniel doesn't have a normal life. He is the protector of the earth, the Alien Hunter, with a mission beyond anyone's imagining.

Now the fate of the world rests on Daniel X
From the day that his parents were brutally murdered before his very eyes, Daniel has used his unique gifts to hunt down their assassin. Finally, with the help of The List, bequeathed to him in his parents' dying breath, he is closing in on the killer.

Now, on his own, he vows to take on his father's mission - and to take vengeance in the process.]]> 238 James Patterson 0316002925 chloe 1 childrens
Daniel X is an annoying Gary Stu with a barf-worthy romantic plotline that ends up being [surprise! A plot twist!] which was dumb. He fights aliens, but I don't even remember most of what happened directly (don't blame me, it was bland and I tried to purge it from my memory). Please save yourself some time and don't pick this up in the first place.]]> 3.59 2007
author: James Patterson
name: chloe
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/04/10
shelves: childrens
review:
James Patterson has a personal vendetta against me. I swear he conspired with my sixth-grade humanities teacher to get me to read as many of his kids' books as possible. Nevermind the fact that I was reading beyond high school at that point, no, I needed to read James Patterson. This book is so bad and I take the recommendation as a personal offense.

Daniel X is an annoying Gary Stu with a barf-worthy romantic plotline that ends up being [surprise! A plot twist!] which was dumb. He fights aliens, but I don't even remember most of what happened directly (don't blame me, it was bland and I tried to purge it from my memory). Please save yourself some time and don't pick this up in the first place.
]]> 9798177 NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE!

In his acclaimed and #1 bestselling middle-grade comic debut, Children's Choice Award Author of the Year James Patterson has never been more hilarious--or heartwarming.

Rafe Khatchadorian has enough problems at home without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he's got an ace plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off: With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school's oppressive Code of Conduct. Chewing gum in class--5,000 points! Running in the hallway--10,000 points! Pulling the fire alarm--50,000 points! But when Rafe's game starts to catch up with him, he'll have to decide if winning is all that matters, or if he's finally ready to face the rules, bullies, and truths he's been avoiding.

James Patterson's debut middle-grade novel addresses some of middle schoolers' biggest issues: bullies, first crushes, and finding out what makes each of us special, all with a hilarious main character and fantastic in-text illustrations that are sure to have young readers begging for more!

]]> 288 James Patterson 0316101877 chloe 1 4.03 2011
author: James Patterson
name: chloe
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2011
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/04/09
shelves:
review:

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