Bibliophile Support Group

Starstruck is a YA contemporary/light fantasy novel by Cyn Balog. Gwen Reilly has spent the last three years, since her best friend Wish left their small New Jersey island hometown, eating doughnuts. It's kind of hard not to when your Mom owns the place, you live above the doughnut shop, and you run it during the day without all that much help from your little sister. The doughnuts are just so good . During the last three years Gwen and Wish have been emailing back and forth. In fact, the first email he sent her (when he first left and they were both thirteen) was a profession of his love and hope that she'd be his girlfriend. So, for these last three years Gwen's has been in a long distance relationship with her childhood best friend... Only problem? Now he's coming back. This throws Gwen into a panic since, well, she hasn't exactly told Wish that she's gained seventy pounds or become a social pariah. She likes their relationship as is - he's sweet and...

In the Forests of the Night is the second book in the YA fantasy Goblin Wars trilogy by Kersten Hamilton. I reviewed the first book in the trilogy, Tyger Tyger , last year - and nearly had an overdose of bibliophile book love! If you haven't yet read it, you really, really need to. My thoughts on Tyger Tyger can be found here . And avoid this review unless you've already read Tyger Tyger - it's just too awesome to spoil!!! I'm warning you - my bibliophile heart will break if you don't read Tyger Tyger before reading the synopsis and review of In the Forests of the Night ! Last chance to turn away... We rejoin Teagan, Finn, and Aiden at the exact moment we left them. Thank you, Kersten Hamilton! I'd hate to miss even a minute of this fantastic, electric story. To be honest, if you've read Tyger Tyger and loved it like I did (how could you not?), then you really don't need to know what In the Forests of the Night is about. It's just a continuati...

A Lasting Impression is Tamera Alexander's newest historical fiction novel. This story begins in 1866 in New Orleans, Louisiana, which is where we meet Claire Laurent. Claire is not yet twenty but already mourning her mother, whom she was close with. She's also desperately trying to match Francois-Narcisse Brissaud's style of painting - her father wants the forgery to be good enough to sell. Claire hates it. She knows what her father insists she do is wrong - and she'd rather explore her own talents anyway. She wants to sign her own name on her own painting - to make an impression on the art world she loves with such a passion. She wants to get out from under her father's thumb. When tragedy hits suddenly, Claire finds herself being shipped off to Nashville, Tennessee where she is to wait for her father and his business partner Antoine DePaul, the two who actually fake the "authenticity" documents and sell her copies, to join her. To start again. To conti...

Overbite is Meg Cabot's answer to the vampire craze, and the sequel to her adult-oriented paranormal novel Insatiable . As always with a sequel, it's definitely a must to read Insatiable before reading the review of Overbite . You don't want to spoil yourself, do you? Go read my review of Insatiable here and then read the book! After you do that, go ahead and come back and see what I think of the second book, okay? :) For all of you who have already read Insatiable : read on... Meena has never had a normal life. She's always been a bit odd to people - after all, she tends to be a bearer of bad news. She can tell if you're going to die - and her conscious doesn't allow her to keep her mouth shut about it. This has always led to problems - but not as many as when she decided to fall for a vampire. To be fair, Meena didn't know Lucien Antonescu was a vampire when she fell for him. She only knew he was an incredibly handsome, magnetic, intelligent man th...

Ready Player One is a futuristic, '80s nostalgia, video game-esque novel by debut author Ernest Cline. In 2044 things are even worse than they are now - economically and environmentally. Eighteen-year-old Wade Watts, like many others, lives in a precariously stacked mobile home with many other people - one of whom is his not-so-loving Aunt who took him in after his mother died from a drug overdose when he was young (never knew his dad). It's not very pleasant. But because of his technology smarts, he's able to fix up old laptops and devices and sell them in his free time in order to have enough to eat, despite his Aunt taking his government-issued food vouchers, which is more than others can say. But where he spends most of his time is OASIS. It's a vast, incredibly detailed, brilliant virtual reality created by a now deceased genius: James Halliday. OASIS allows you to be whomever you want - whether that may be just a better, wealthier, more attractive version of yo...

The Highest Frontier is a sci-fi novel by Joan Slonczewski. Jenny, still mourning the loss of her twin brother who died in an accident, is entering her first year of college at Frontera. Frontera is the first college built in orbit, away from the environmentally wrecked Earth and the ultraphyte alien species, a still mysterious plant-like creature that has killed many with its cyanide defense system, which has invaded almost every area of the world. She just wants to feel safe and live a semi normal life. She has interesting, if odd, professors and begins to become quite involved in her classes. But she soon realizes that though Frontera is far away from familiar problems, it also presents new ones. New dangers that may place her already fragile mind in a state of near constant nervousness... As well as place her in the midst of a political mess... The Highest Frontier presents us with a futuristic world that is fascinating and not all that pleasant. The world seems ravaged. Polit...

Floors is a quirky middle-grade novel by Patrick Carman. The Whippet Hotel is the creation of Merganzer Whippet, an eccentric yet brilliant billionaire. There's no place quite like it. It sits, small and incredibly exclusive, on a huge patch of land that seems unnecessarily large, surrounded by enormous bush sculptings of ducks (a favorite of Mr. Whippet's). Each floor (of which there are only nine) has a wacky, specific design that tends to only be occupied by fellow wealthy oddballs. But Leo Fillmore, the janitor's son, loves it. He and his dad have access to every corner of the masterpiece, and Leo helps keep the air conditioning working in the Cake Room and the ponds circulating right in the Room of Ponds and Caves. He helps walk the ducks and keep the smartest of all the ducks, Betty, happy and less likely to bite the guests. But something hasn't been right about the Whippet Hotel for the last many weeks. Mr. Whippet is missing. He is always a very active part ...

Daughter of Smoke & Bone is a one-of-a-kind YA fantasy by Laini Taylor. Karou is an enigma to all who know her. Her sly smile is her only answer when questioned about where she goes for days at a time, why it seems that she lives without a guardian though only seventeen, how her hair is always a perfect shade of blue, where she got her strange tattoos... Prague does not contain Karou. The monsters that fill her sketchbooks are real - and the only family she's ever known. And unease seems to be stronger than usual as she steps into the shop that they live in. Before she knows it, black handprints begin appearing on the different doorways that gain access to their shop throughout the world - and unknown danger lurks. A war Karou had no knowledge of seems to threaten all she knows and loves, yet may bring to her a supernaturally good-looking, winged stranger that she feels an intense, frightening connection with. But she may lose it all, without ever knowing how she came to be...

To Have and To Hold is an inspirational historical fiction novel by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller. In late August 1886, Audrey Cunningham finds herself displaced to Bridal Veil Island, Georgia with her father. She didn't really want to move there, and considering she's quickly nearing thirty she didn't have to - but her loyalty to her father runs deep. After all, she did love their ancestral home when she was young. They only moved away for financial reasons. Now with her mother gone, Audrey's father feels his attachment to the land is more about making sure Audrey is provided for than some misplaced pride, as before. All Audrey knows is that her father's sobriety is being strengthened by his newfound faith in God, and if living in Bridal Veil helps to keep him on the right track after years of heavy alcoholism - she's all for it. But there is competition for the property that they weren't aware of. Wealthy investors are looking to buy up the land to ...

A Heart Revealed is an inspirational historical fiction novel by Julie Lessman. Emma Malloy has been living in Boston for ten years now, having left Ireland because of an abusive husband. Charity O'Connor (now Dennehy) helped persuade her to leave, and Emma is now fully a part of the O'Connor family - practically a surrogate sister. She loves the big family, and is happy to call them her dear friends. It's 1931 and the depression is hitting them all hard. Emma is working long hours at Dennehy's, the store she manages. After a mishap at his last job, Sean O'Connor, one of Charity's brothers, comes to help out. She's known him for years, and their mutual respect and admiration is strong. But soon his charm turns more than brotherly... but Emma's still married. She's come to term with her situation long ago, and knows that she will never again be romantically involved with another man. But now that the spark has been ignited in her heart and body, ho...

Today we have an extra special guest! Joanna Philbin, author of The Daughters series, is here to tell us about the fourth and (*sniff*) final book in the series - The Daughters Join the Party - as well as answer some other questions! Welcome to the Bibliophile Support Group , Joanna! We're happy to have you! So, for anybody who hasn't read the first three books in The Daughters series (read my reviews here: The Daughters , The Daughters Break the Rules , The Daughters Take the Stage ) can you give everybody a general idea of what they're about? Lizzie, Carina, and Hudson are best friends who are normal fourteen year-old girls in almost every way. Except for one: each girl has a parent who is incredibly famous. And her parent’s fame complicates her life in a big way. Lizzie’s mom is a supermodel, but Lizzie isn’t what most people would call “beautiful” – in fact, she’s what most people might call “unusual-looking.” How do you deal with having a supermodel mother when y...

The Faerie Locket is a middle-grade high-fantasy book, a companion novel to A Practical Guide to Faeries , written by Susan J. Morris. It's Jade's 12th birthday but so far no one seems to be remembering. Her sister Vira isn't around to play, as she's off being important at her Ranger training, hanging out with elves all day. But Jade is determined to have fun. Vira's the one that got her obsessed with faeries, what with the abundance of stories of a faerie world in which Jade was a pixie and Vira was an elf - stories where Jade got to be the heroine sometimes. So Jade slips off to the treehouse that is one of her favorite places and hopes to get a peek at real, live faeries. In the treehouse there is a locket! She's convinced it's a birthday present from the faeries. But when all of a sudden a pixie appears and begins to lead her on a dangerous adventure to Feywild (the faerie land), Jade doesn't realize that the pixie believes her to be Vira. But it...

Set Me Free is the fourth book in the futuristic middle-grade series Tomorrow Girls by Eva Gray. If you don't want to be spoiled for the earlier books, I suggest you avoid this review and look into the first three books: Behind the Gates , Run for Cover , and With the Enemy . You've been warned - synopsis starts... NOW! Maddie is still reeling. She's only just been rescued from the clutches of the Alliance, where she was brainwashed and persuaded that she wanted to stay - until her awesome friends didn't take no for an answer. And then, well... she found out her mother is the LEADER of the Resistance! The mysterious "Hornet", those that all who fight against the Alliance follow = her Mom. Wow. And now she has a little device thing, shaped like a honeycomb, that seems impenetrable but apparently carries super-important information for her mother. She's been tasked with getting it to her ASAP. Only problem? She has no idea where her mother is! Not to ...

Anna Dressed in Blood is a YA paranormal ghost story by author Kendare Blake. Cas is a teenage ghost killer. He has inherited his father's powerful athame, the knife he uses to send deadly ghosts out of this dimension, after he died. And with each kill he is training himself to hunt down the one that brought down his Dad... His Mom is a kitchen witch, selling mystical stuff on the go, and helping to keep the two of them safe. She's along for the ride somewhat reluctantly, but she knows that just like with her husband - this is Cas's choice, and he's good at it. They move from place to place following legends and leads - and the latest brings them to a town harboring a ghost that is more dangerous than ever - Anna Dressed in Blood. She's unlike any other ghost he's encountered before. She's fascinating, extraordinary and wears the same dress she was wearing in 1958 when she was brutally murdered. And it drips, neverendingly, with blood. Cas witnesses what...