review – Page 24

Ashley’s Worst of 2018

01.29.2019 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

I really enjoy To Kill a Mockingbird, and I know there are some issues with it and that it’s by no means perfect, but I really do enjoy this novel. I think it’s an important read, but to keep your critical thinking hat on as you do. So, after teaching it for the first time, I decided to read Go Set a Watchman, and boy oh boy, I did not enjoy it. I know it’s not truly a sequel and that certain parts of it are word for word from TKAM, but I really, really didn’t like the plot of Go Set a Watchman. I didn’t like the choices that were made with certain characters, and I just genuinely think it was a poor choice to publish it. (Again, I know there was some controversy when it came to publishing it at all.)

Ashley’s Best of 2018

01.22.2019 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

I read this on a whim after a recommendation of the librarian at my school last school year. I thought it would be a nice quick read, and it definitely was, but I didn’t expect it to really blow me away like it did. I find that modern poetry can be quite hit or miss with me, but I have also discovered that I really, really love modern poetry when it’s telling me a story. This was one of those ones. I absolutely loved the story, and it was deeply moving. I likes the way that Reynolds put a pause on the story, telling the basics of a trip down the elevator but drawing it out to teach his character a lesson he needed to learn. I always recommend this book to students now.

Review | You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn

12.31.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn through NetGalley for review purposes. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this opportunity.

You’d Be Mine is the story of Annie Mathers and Clay Coolidge. Clay is the quintessential country rockstar. He sings songs about beer, babes, and trucks; he’s a superstar. Annie, on the other hand, is an up and coming country star whose deceased parents are country royalty. Clay, who has a bit of a bad boy reputation, is charged with recruiting Annie, and her band, to play on his summer tour so that he can put himself back in his label’s good books. She reluctantly agrees and they end up touring the United States together. But while touring, country music isn’t the only thing that’s brewing. Could there be a bit of love in the air?

Review | Slayer by Kiersten White

11.28.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

***Disclaimer: I received a free early access copy of Slayer by Kiersten White from NetGalley and the publishers for review purposes. Thank you to them!

I was late to the Buffy-verse. I never watched the show when I was growing up, and I still haven’t seen the movie. I started watching the show in university thanks to a friend who had all of the seasons on DVD and got through several seasons which inspired me to go out and seek the rest of the show myself. I still haven’t seen all of Angel, and I haven’t ready any of the comics, and I’ve only watched through the show once, but I loved it. I fell in love with the characters and the stories that they were telling, so when I heard that Kiersten White was writing a novel set in the Buffy-verse, I was super excited. When I saw it on NetGalley, requested it, and actually received an eARC, I was so excited.

Review | The Curses by Laure Eve

11.10.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

***Disclaimer: I received a free, early advanced reader copy of The Curses from the publishers and NetGalley for review purposes.

This is going to be a different kind of review. The Curses by Laure Eve is the second novel in a series; it follows the events of The Graces, though it takes on a different point of view. This is not a review for The Graces, but as the The Curses is a sequel, and I don’t want to spoil any of the events of first novel if you haven’t read it, so I won’t be doing a synopsis like I usually do and I will try to be vague about textual details. I will admit that I was really excited to read this one. I finished The Graces in the summer and I was super impressed, so I wanted to read the sequel immediately. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that it wasn’t coming out until December 31st. However, imagine my excitement when I realized that I had been given permission to read the eARC. I was super happy.

Review | This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher

11.03.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of This Lie Will Kill You from NetGalley and the publishers for review purposes. Thank you to them for letting me read the book.

This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher is a YA mystery novel. The main characters are five teenagers: Juniper, Ruby, Gavin, Brett, and Parker, who are all in their final year of high school and who have all been invited to compete for a mysterious $50000 scholarship by participating in a murder mystery party. Each teen is asked to bring something to the party. The competition is held at a creepy semi-abandoned mansion. Pretty quickly it is revealed that things are not what they seem and perhaps this scholarship isn’t quite as legitimate as it might have seemed. Could it be connected to the fiery death of one of their classmates the previous year? Who knows.

Review | The Similars by Rebecca Hanover

10.14.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

***Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of The Similars from Net Galley and the publisher for review purposes.

The Similars is a Sci-Fi novel set in the future of Earth. The story follows Emmaline who attends the prestigious Darkwood Academy. It is a boarding school for the elite of the elite. Each student is special in some way in that they have some talent that helped them get admitted past just being extra smart. Emma is returning to Darkwood for her senior year but there are two things she is going to have to cope with: the suicide of her best friend, Oliver, and the fact that six clones (the similars) will be attending Darkwood with her. This was fine until it turned out that one of the clones is Oliver’s. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the clones and initially Emma couldn’t be bothered about it. However, she quickly gets sucked into the conspiracy surrounding them and the school.

Review | Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams by Devin Grayson

10.07.2018 by Kari // Leave a Comment

doctorstrangefateofdreams The prose novel, Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams by Devin Grayson has made me a fan of her writing. It’s also wonderful that she was the first female to be a regular writer for Batman. I love seeing progress being made in a prominently male dominated profession because there are just as many female comic readers out there that can give an action-packed storyline.

Review | Sea Breeze Academy by Bryant A. Loney

10.01.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Sea Breeze Academy by Bryant A. Loney from the publishers for review purposes

Sea Breeze Academy by Bryant A. Loney is an interesting story. The basic premise is that it is about these students at a fancy boarding school in California called Sea Breeze Academy. These students are the subject of a television show that gives me a very Zoey 101 vibe. The protagonist of the show is Brooklyn Rivers who is your quintessential main girl: she’s smart, pretty, girly but also tomboyish. Essentially she checks all of the boxes. However, the twist in this story is that the characters are starting to release that they are on a television show.

Review | Alice of the Rocks by E. Graziani

09.13.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

Disclaimer: E. Graziani was kind enough to send me a copy of Alice of the Rocks for review purposes.

Alice of the Rocks by E. Graziani is a novel set in the past and in the future. It tells the story of Alice, a girl from the year 2029, who goes on vacation to Italy with her parents over the summer. Alice seems to have everything going for her. She’s smart, pretty, has a long time boyfriend who loves her, awesome parents, but she’s unfocussed and as she enters her final year of high school is unsure of what she wants to do afterwards. However, she’s excited to go back to Italy, because, as it turns out, Alice was found abandoned as an infant in Italy and adopted by her parents, who later immigrated to Canada. Circumstances summon her parents back to Canada for work, but Alice stays on in Italy, staying with her aunt and uncle and eventually going to stay in a villa near Florence (I think). At this villa, she meets a boy named Claudio and she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him.