Bibliophile Support Group

Throwback Review from 2012! The Wild Queen: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots is a YA historical fiction novel by the great Carolyn Meyer. When she was only six days old, Mary of Scotland was crowned Queen after the death of her father. Her mother was concerned for her future and set up a match for little Mary – a match that would one day make her the Queen of France as well by marrying the little dauphin. So, at only five years old Mary is sent to France to be raised alongside her future husband and the rest of the royal family. It was unorthodox upbringing for a queen, but Mary grew close as siblings to her future husband and became a French girl through and through. Yet everything fell apart when her young husband dies and Mary, now a young woman of eighteen, sees her life fall apart. All the years in France, away from her mother and her homeland, have come to nothing. She is childless, stripped of her title of Queen of France, and unwanted by her d...

Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration is a non-fiction book by Meera Lee Patel, marketed for a YA audience but appropriate for all. Whether you are undergoing a difficult change, a painful bump in the road of life or doing just fine in a contented place, Start Where You Are challenges you to look inwards and reflect. As both a means of self-acceptance and self-improvement, Patel has put together this interactive, meaningful journal that includes a variety of thought-provoking quotations, stimulating lists and therapeutic abilities to draw out negativity in an artistic manner, through drawing and writing. In developing imagination and positivity, reading through Patel’s book and circumnavigating the activities is memorable and feels like the silver lining on a rough day. It was a truly rewarding experience and I highly recommend it!

Throwback Review from 2012! First Day on Earth is a YA contemporary novel by Cecil Castellucci. Mal is on the outside and doesn’t care much about looking in. School doesn’t matter – why should it? He doesn’t care about grades, about friends, about what people think – about anything. Why should he? After all, he was abducted by aliens’ years ago – and he plans on returning with them the first chance he gets. Of course, no one else believes him. They tell him that disappearing for three days and having no memory of the time period was just a breakdown, something explainable, something real. But he knows the truth. He has to believe it was more. Otherwise he might have to stay in this world where his dad left his mom a broken shell, a woman who drinks the days away and is scorned by others. Otherwise he might have to live this life. He needs to know for sure. He wants proof that he was abducted. He needs that hope. Then one day at his abductee support group he me...

Just released on May 3rd, A Totally Awkward Love Story is a new YA novel that we ALL need to check out. Here's some details about the book: Can you really be friends with your ex? Authors Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison are proof positive that it can be done. Former high school sweethearts and current best friends, Ellen and Ivison have co-created their debut YA novel A TOTALLY AWKWARD LOVE STORY a laugh-out-loud, witty, and sexy novel that features a budding as well as semi-floundering romance that is partially inspired by their own relationship. Despite countless moments where they are utterly smitten with one another, Hannah and Sam find themselves in a number of misunderstandings that veer them off course and into tremendously awkward territory. This raucously funny love story comes alive, with Tom writing Sam’s chapters and Lucy writing Hannah’s. The summer before college Hannah is finally going to find The One. Then again, meeting him in the master bathroom of...

Throwback Review from 2013! Touched is a YA contemporary fantasy novel by Cyn Balog. Nick Cross lives life on a script. Literally. Since he was born he “remembers” his future, the sooner it’ll happen the clearer it is. And if he goes off script, it causes all his future memories to change – and what a painful experience that is. Literally. But Nick cannot ignore someone’s life being in danger. Yet saving one person may mean that he doesn’t save another’s. This adds up to possibly disastrous consequences. For the first time, as the summer in Jersey Shore is winding down, Nick cannot predict what will happen next. Taryn, the girl he decided to save, is… different. When he’s around her, his script quiets down. He feels almost… normal. She holds family secrets that may explain why Nick is the way he is. But their meeting has put Nick on a path that puts him a position of making choices he never wanted to make… Last year I read Cyn Balog’s Starstruck , which ...