Bibliophile Support Group

The List is a YA contemporary fiction novel by Siobhan Vivian. Every year at Mount Washington High, before Homecoming, a list of eight girls is posted anonymously featuring the prettiest and ugliest girl in each grade. These girls become the center of attention, for better or worse. Prettiest: Abby Warner is delighted with her newfound fame, but it’s overshadowed by her older sister’s resentment. Lauren Finn is stunned, as she has been a loner thus far, having been homeschooled up to this point. She’s suddenly bombarded with friends and doesn’t know whether to be wary or joyous. Bridget Honeycutt takes this acknowledgment as validation of what she believed was a worrisome way to lose weight this summer. While Margo Gable is pleased but is haunted by how she got there. Ugliest: Danielle Demarco is stunned and hurt, but far more worried about what her boyfriend will think. Candace Kincaid is angered at the pure ridiculousness of the label, as she is one of the most attractive gi...

House of the Star is a YA fantasy by Caitlin Brennan. When horse lover Elen, princess of Ymbria, is told her dreams are to come true and she is to go to the House of the Star, a ranch on Earth that houses the most magnificent horses in the world – worldrunners who provide the only safe way to travel between worlds – she does not want to go. Because despite her deep, desperate desire to become a rider of worldrunners and spend her days with horses, she knows that this trip is only a cover for a meeting with a representative of Caledon – the world they’ve been at war with since long before she was born. In the past the Caledon citizen would be a boy of the same age as the girl from Ymbria and they’d usually be forced to marry to facilitate peace. The unhappy marriages only caused the war to get worse, though. This time, Elen is shocked to find that the traditional meeting at the House of the Star is far different than normal. But as much as she tries, her hatred of the traitorou...

The Midnight Tunnel is a middlegrade mystery novel by Angie Frazier. In 1904 Loch Harbor, New Brunswick Suzanna “Zanna” Snow’s family manage the well-to-do Rosemount hotel. And though it’s her duty to help out with the rest of the family, Zanna dreams of being a world-class detective like her Uncle Bruce Snow from Boston. She keeps an observational notebook about nearly everything of interest that goes on, but not much of interest does go on. That is, until the sleepy little town is hit with a case of a missing girl – and Zanna is determined to help in the investigation! And she begins to think there's more going on that what may meet the eye. Problem is, by digging up clues and searching for leads, she’s also putting herself in danger. She sure can't say life is boring now ... The Midnight Tunnel offers us a plucky, clumsy, very relatable heroine as we follow her in her seemingly ordinary life at the quiet hotel. She’s a mystery lover, a girl after my own heart, and ...

A Love Forbidden is a historical romance by Kathleen Morgan. Driven by a resilient aspiration to help Indians, especially the Ute Indians whom she’s had personal contact with over the years; twenty-year-old Shiloh Wainwright accepts a position at the White River Indian Agency in 1870 northwestern Colorado. She’s expects to have a fulfilling, autonomous life on the frontier while teaching the Ute children. When she arrives, however, Shiloh finds a much more reluctant group of people than she was initially presented with. The Utes are rebelling against the government’s demands, the Indian agent is unyielding, and she’s in the middle. And then she crosses paths with Jesse Blackwater, a half-Ute man that she was friends with as a child. Her memories of him are vivid and painful, as prejudice and cruelty were the reasons for his departure. She’s shocked to find her youthful attachment is now a full-fledged attraction – but his loyalty to the Utes makes any sort of relationship betwee...

Throat is a YA supernatural novel by R. A. Nelson. Emma, seventeen, has epilepsy. The erratic seizures are humiliating and have driven away friends and ruined some of her dreams. Even soccer, where she can let out some of her substantial frustration, is starting to be taken from her. She’d do anything to not have epilepsy – until it saves her life. When she wakes up in the hospital with a severe cut on her thigh that caused tremendous blood loss, she can’t remember anything at first. But then small pieces of the puzzle start to come together, until she begins to recall an attack by a man – a vampire, she realizes – named Wirtz. He was going to kill her. But, it seems, Emma’s sudden grand mal seizure somehow enabled her escape. Then Emma’s starts to notice changes. She gets an extreme sensitivity to light, with implausible night vision, and more strength and speed. But she’s not craving blood, and she has no problem going out in daylight. Could she be half a vampire? Is tha...

Hooked is a YA contemporary fiction novel by Catherine Greenman. Seventeen-year-old Thea Galehouse has long ago learned how to take care of herself. Her Mom used to own a rather scandalous club and tends to be a bit flighty. Her Dad is a recovering alcoholic, workaholic, and overall not the most relaxing person to be around. They’re divorced, of course. Then Thea starts her first serious relationship with Will, an attractive and funny senior. They fit perfectly. She’s hooked on him and barely cares about school anymore, despite her Dad’s prodding. When Will goes to college, Thea is happily relieved that their relationship seems stronger than anybody guessed. Her comfort level with him is off-the-charts and she finally starts to think he might love her as much as she loves him. But when Thea discovers she’s pregnant – things go on a roller-coaster ride. Thing is, it’s not so much causing problems with Will as much as their parents. Because Thea wants to keep her baby. And nob...

The Pursuit of Lucy Banning is a historical romance by Olivia Newport. Twenty-one year old Lucy Banning’s life has been mapped out for her since she can remember. Especially when it comes to marrying Daniel, the son of lifelong family friends. Their engagement recently became official and Lucy is on her way to being everything her upper class parents want as the 1893 World’s Fair begins to draw near. Only problem? Lucy isn’t so sure she’s content with the life laid at her feet. She has dreams that she knows her parents, good and kind people but set in their ways, wouldn’t understand. Neither would Daniel. That’s why she keeps the fact that she’s taking art classes at the local college a secret to all but her Aunt Violet, whom is helping to pay. Then she meets Will, an up-and-coming architect of the working class. Lucy begins to wonder how life would be if she lived life on her own terms… The main character in The Pursuit of Lucy Banning is scrumptiously feisty and ambitious a...

The Fire Opal is a YA fantasy historical by Regina McBride. Maeve O’Tullagh lives a simple life on Irish shores of Ard Marcha with her Da, Mam, and two brothers. She plays among the ancient Celtic ruins and envisions the legendary, enchanted land of the Holy Isles –a place ruled by a goddess instead of a god, something almost preposterous in the late sixteenth century. When Maeve’s sister Ishleen is born to her mother under enigmatic circumstances, her Mam enters a stupor. She can walk, very slowly, if prodded and eat. But she is otherwise completely absent from her body. Her eyes stay open, unseeing. She is like a vegetable almost. Maeve’s heart is broken, but from time to time she believes she can hear her mother and she talks to her. He Da and brothers begin to look at her in fear – they’re scared they’re losing her too. As Maeve grows older, she feels strongly that there is something keeping her Mam from returning to them. Something connected with a woman that once appeared ...

Prom & Prejudice is a YA contemporary novel by Elizabeth Eulberg. I am such a HUGE Jane Austen fan. Though somehow I’ve yet to read Persuasion . Isn’t that insane? I so need to rectify that ASAP. Anywho, Prom & Prejudice is based on Pride & Prejudice . And if you haven’t read it yet – why? Really, you should! And by reading it BEFORE Prom & Prejudice , you’ll have a ton more amusement, in my opinion, reading this little, quick-bite of a novel. Moving on from my rather forceful advice (bibliophiles can be forces of nature!), let’s find out some of the basic summary details of Prom & Prejudice , shall we? Lizzie Bennet is a scholarship student at the esteemed Longbourn Academy. She’s using her good fortune to further her hopes of being a renowned pianist. But being a scholarship student among all the snobby rich girls that consider you scum is like a daily hazing ritual. If she didn’t have Charlotte, the other scholarship student, and uncommonly kind Jane, ...

Witch & Wizard: The Fire is the third book in James Patterson’s supernatural YA series. This one is co-authored with Jill Dembowski. If you haven’t read the first two books in the series, this review will contain inevitable spoilers. I’d suggest – strongly – that you not read it. Instead, read my reviews of the first book, Witch & Wizard , here and the second, Witch & Wizard: The Gift , here . I am super-duper happy to announce that moi here at the Bibliophile Support Group is actually quoted on the back cover of Witch & Wizard: The Fire ! How awesome is that? Very. ;) Anyway, if you are still reading I hope you have read the previous books and aren’t about to spoil your fun! I’m trusting you… Whit and Wisty Allgood have powers. And apparently they are the stars of a prophecy having to do with getting the world out from under the tyrannical thumb of The One Who is The One. He dictates everything and has pretty much outlawed anything you like or believe in: relig...

Prize of My Heart is a historical romance written by Lisa Norato. In Massachusetts 1815 a man searches desperately for his son… It was three years ago that young Captain Brogan Talvis’s now-deceased wife told him she’d given their son to someone else to raise and delightfully declared that he’d never find him. But he couldn’t make it through growing up in a cold orphanage without gaining determination. After searching relentlessly he believes he’s finally found his Ben in the guardianship of a New England shipbuilder. Lorena, though only nineteen years old, acts almost as a mother to little Drew who is just as much a part of her family as she is, despite the dark truth of his arrival. When Captain Talvis becomes a guest at their home, she finds herself drawn to him. Not only is he ruggedly handsome, but his loving manner toward Drew touches her. Both are holding secrets from the other, yet they find that there is something between them. But how can Brogan end up with both hi...

Warped is a YA modern fantasy by Maurissa Guibord. Tessa Brody is just an average seventeen-year-old in most ways. She has just one best friend, no boyfriend, and some academic pursuits. One of the big differences between her and most teens, though, is that she doesn’t mind hanging out with her dad. After all, since her mom died they’ve had to take care of each other and run the bookstore that they live above. That’s how they end up at the auction, bidding on crates of ancient books. Tessa’s dad gave up because the bid got too high, but then the auctioneer opened one of the bolted crates and pulled out a tapestry that the bidder would get as a bonus. Something unexplainable happens to Tessa as she stares at it. It’s beautiful, almost alive, and features a wild-looking unicorn with a slightly bloodied horn. She’s never been a fantasy fanatic or a unicorn lover, but she finds herself pushing her dad’s hand up and winning them the bid. When she puts the old, dusty, yet, to her, b...

The Clockwork Three is a middle-grade mystery adventure by Matthew J. Kirby. Giuseppe is an orphaned street musician under the control and guardianship of a legal enslavement in the late 1800s. He sees no way to ever get away until one day he finds a green violin that makes his music even sweeter. His dreams of returning home to Italy seem slightly more possible, if only he can keep the violin a secret… Frederick is an apprentice to a kindly clockmaker. He was rescued from a cruel orphanage with no memory of why his mother left him there. Despite his change in status, his bitterness drives him to make sure he doesn’t need to rely on anybody. He is working on an incredible clockwork man, automaton, and plans of showing the world his worth. Hannah is a maid in a grand hotel and her family’s only source of income. Ever since her father got sick their relatively comfortable life has fallen into one of barely getting by. Any hopes of her family ever seeing better days seems impossibl...

Croak is a YA supernatural novel by Gina Damico. Lex is not your average angsty sixteen-year-old. For the last two years she has morphed from a sweet, good girl into an angry, physically violent troublemaker with a penchant for punching almost anybody who annoys her. The change is alarming and has no apparent cause. And deep down, Lex is conflicted and confused by her own actions. But it doesn’t take long for the irritation and exasperation to lash out yet again. When her parents decide, after another near-expulsion, to send her away for the summer to her Uncle Mort’s in up-state New York, their hope is that some time with dirty farm work and good old-fashioned discipline may turn Lex back into the daughter they remember. The daughter her twin sister Cordy still is. Leaving her family, especially her twin, is difficult for Lex. And it all seems a little odd to her since she hasn’t seen Uncle Mort for years. Her perspective of odd was about to change dramatically. Because U...

Scary School is a humorous middle grade supernatural series starter by Derek the Ghost (a.k.a. Derek Taylor Kent). You might not like school – but at least you don’t face the high probability of not returning home alive each day! Scary School is unlike any other – it’s very teachers pose a serious threat to their students mortality. There’s Ms. Fang, and 850-year-old vampire, Dr. Dragonbreath, a self-explanatory threat with an insistence on following rules, Mr. Snakeskin, a science class teacher that can show students all the different layers of anatomy by using his own half-zombie body, and many, many more. Then there’s even the high population of Scary students. There’s werewolves and Sasquatch, etc. So, when Charles Nukid, entirely human, becomes the “New Kid” at Scary School, we follow him as he encounters all sorts of dangerous situations – while finding out Scary School is far more comical than frightening! At least, most of the time… All the while Derek the Ghost, an ...

The Forgetting Curve is a YA sci-fi/dystopia novel, and the sequel to one of my Stand-Out Books of 2011 Memento Nora , by Angie Smibert. Memento Nora was really quite fantastic, and I don’t want you spoiling it by reading this review – if you haven’t read Memento Nora yet, that is. If that’s the case for you, check out my review of the first book here. Otherwise, if you have read the aforementioned title, please join me in the enthusiasm of reading the sequel, which will come out for everybody on May 15th (mark your calendars!). Aiden Nomura is more skilled than the average hacker. It’s like an art, what he can do. He likes to open doors and see what’s hidden inside – his own personal game. But his abilities can become dangerous, he soon realizes. He’s been going to school in Bern, Switzerland where they are almost untouched from the popular-in-the-US Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic. But when one opens, something about it disturbs him. Things are changing. And then a bomb go...