Gilt by Katherine Longshore

Gilt, by Katherine Longshore
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Rating: 1.5/5 stars

When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

Review:

• I didn't finish this book, by the way. I don't usually like historical novels, but I thought that this one would be good, truth is, it wasn't.
• I didn't see a big concept in this one and nothing really happened. I wish something better happened, more drama.

After The Snow by S.D. Crockett

After The Snow, by S.D. Crockett
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Rating: 0.5/5 stars

The oceans stopped working before Willo was born, so the world of ice and snow is all he’s ever known. He lives with his family deep in the wilderness, far from the government’s controlling grasp. Willo’s survival skills are put to the test when he arrives home one day to find his family gone. It could be the government; it could be scavengers—all Willo knows is he has to find refuge and his family. It is a journey that will take him into the city he’s always avoided, with a girl who needs his help more than he knows.

Review:

• Is this even a young adult book? Because it seemed like the main character was 5. 
• I was so, so, so disappointed with this book because I had big expectations for this book. This book had no sense at all and I didn't see any point in it.
• This is a short review because I'M SO DISAPPOINTED AND don't even want to talk about this. 

This Star Won't Let Go by Esther Earl, Lori Earl and Wayne Earl

This Star Won't Go Out, by Esther Earl, Lori Earl, and Wayne Earl
Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: 5/5 stars

I'm going to dedicate this review/letter to Esther, because she deserves the most for everything she has done for all of us.

 Esther, I'm hoping that you are enjoying your time in Awesome, aka Heaven. I'm sure that the Lord has a definite special place for you there because you are one special person. NO, you are more than that, you are an inspiring beautiful person who might not know that you have changed the world in my eyes, and many other people's eyes. You have struggled and suffered too much, and you have been in peace for almost four years now, and your story has touched many people's hearts, including mine. 

Cancer is something that ruins other people's lives. In your journals, you've described cancer as something that has made you see life differently and it's made you happier. I see why, but in one way, you mustn't need to suffer. 

Your story was absolutely beautiful. You are a bubbly, spectacular person who was very much like myself. I love to read and write, and when you mentioned that you do the same, I was thrilled. There aren't many people out there who think the same as we do, so let's bring on the legacy.

You loved your family so much, and it reminds me of how much I love mine, and I thank them for everything they've done for me. I see life in a whole new way because of you and I thank you so much for that. You must be so pleased to see your life in other people's hands. You are F-A-M-O-U-S Many teens and adults now know about you, your legacy, and what you have accomplished in your suffering life. You have inspired John Green to write another gorgeous novel of his, and people now praise you and what you did. You created a beautiful story and book, and I now see life in many different ways. 

You were always positive, and that's not an easy thing to do when everything is physically hurting you on the inside. You always were there with a smile on your face, and I realized that you are my role model. I want to be like you, Esther Grace Earl! 

Many people will bring on your story and legacy throughout the years and this story will touch many people's hearts forever and always, for infinity. Many people miss you, and I'm 100% sure that you are showing that you're watching them, including to us readers through this amazing story of yours. 

Goodbye Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell

Goodbye Rebel Blue, by Shelley Coriell
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Rebecca Blue is a rebel with an attitude whose life is changed by a chance encounter with a soon-to-be dead girl. Rebel (as she’s known) decides to complete the dead girl’s bucket list to prove that choice, not chance, controls her fate. In doing so, she unexpectedly opens her mind and heart to a world she once dismissed—a world of friendships, family, and faith. With a shaken sense of self, she must reevaluate her loner philosophy—particularly when she falls for Nate, the golden boy do-gooder who never looks out for himself. Perfect for fans of Jay Asher’s blockbuster hit Thirteen Reasons Why, Coriell’s second novel features her sharp, engaging voice along with realistic drama and unforgettable characters.

Review:

• This is a very different and special book. I've never, ever, read a book where the characters form a bucket list. That's so unique and cool! This book is very tragic, but fun all at the same time. Did I mention that this was full of rebellion? 
• Rebel was kind of annoying in the beginning, but I actually ended up liking her by the end. She was very chill and a good character to relate to by the end of the book. I loved this and was the perfect read for any time of the year!

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott

Miracle, by Elizabeth Scott
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 4/5 stars

Megan is a miracle. At least, that’s what everyone says. Having survived a plane crash that killed everyone else on board, Megan knows she should be grateful just to be alive. But the truth is, she doesn’t feel like a miracle. In fact, she doesn’t feel anything at all. Then memories from the crash start coming back.
Scared and alone, Megan doesn’t know whom to turn to. Her entire community seems unable—or maybe unwilling—to see her as anything but Miracle Megan. Everyone except for Joe, the beautiful boy next door with a tragic past and secrets of his own. All Megan wants is for her life to get back to normal, but the harder she tries to live up to everyone’s expectations, the worse she feels. And this time, she may be falling too fast to be saved...

Review:

• I've never read a book about a plane crash. This happens rarely. I was so happy that I did because it was so good. I wish that there was more history and mystery to the side of the story but it still was okay.

The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

The Infinite Moment of Us,  by Lauren Myracle
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now... not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?
Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.
And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them...
Sexy, romantic, and oh-so-true to life, this is an unforgettable look at first love from one of young adult fiction’s greatest writers.

Review:

• Please, please, please DO NOT listen to the negative reviews. This book was seriously amazing and it touched my heart.
• I see Wren as a person like myself, we both like school and want to please others. But you know, Wren's had enough of all that and it's time for her to come out of her shell and do things beyond the boundary. It's beautiful to see the romance Lauren Myracle created.
• I knew it that I'd love this book because I've been reading Lauren Myracle's books since I was a tween. She is a special author that means a lot to me.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss. She wouldn’t have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn’t have hit her head on the steps. She wouldn’t have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place. She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her “Chief.” She’d know about her mom’s new family. She’d know about her dad’s fiancée. She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future, who tells her he once wanted to kiss her. She wouldn’t have wanted to kiss him back.
But Naomi picked heads.
 After her remarkable debut, Gabrielle Zevin has crafted an imaginative second novel all about love and second chances.

Review:

• I love amnesia, period. Not that I want it, but I find it such an interesting topic. Picking up this book made me the happiest person alive.
• This book was so good. I loved the characters and the concept all together. Naomi was a great heroine. She had sass and was doing everything the way she wanted to. She didn't listen to other people telling her what to do. Naomi was one of the best heroines I've read about in a while.
• This was the first book that i've ever read with three love interests. Gabrielle Zevin did a great job of making that possible. 
• There was so much drama and romance in this novel, it was basically everything I was looking for in a book, and that doesn't happen a lot. Awesome!

Parallel by Lauren Miller

Parallel, by Lauren Miller
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.
With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.
As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

Review:

• This was a mixture between contemporary and something a little supernatural. I thought and I wanted it to be good... but this disappointed me a lot. Something big was missing, but I still can't figure out what that was wrong. It was just boring all the time and NOTHING BIG happened at all.
• It was a dull book, but the concept was okay, that's just about it.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvellous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice.

Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?

This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

Review:

• I love afterlife books. Elsewhere could've been better but I really liked the whole idea. Everyone in this world dies a certain way and they still get to have fun living in the afterlife, watching over their loved ones who are stuck in the real life.
• It became boring at times, that's my confession. I wish it was more deeper, I wish the novel had some meaning to it... it's definitely not the best contemporary novel I've read. No way.

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Perfect Ruin (The Internment Chronicles #1), by Lauren DeStefano
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopian
Rating: 3/5 stars

On Internment, the floating island in the clouds where 16-year-old Morgan Stockhour lives, getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though Morgan's older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. She tries her best not to mind that her life is orderly and boring, and if she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in best friend Pen and her betrothed, Basil.
Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially when she meets Judas. He is the boy being blamed for the murder — betrothed to the victim — but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find — or who she will lose.

Review:

• Lauren DeStefano is one of my most favourite authors. I loved her trilogy, Wither, and I was so excited to hear that she is beginning a new dystopian trilogy. New characters and a new beginning was exactly what I was looking for. 
• Where was the goodness here? This book didn't end up the way I expected it. I wanted a deeper story with more happening whatsoever. The characters were very boring and they didn't seem heroic at all. 
• This is classified as a dystopian book, but I don't think that it was a good idea at all. It seems like some of the lower class ones with no big idea just random things happening.
• I wanted better! More romance, more dystopian, more drama!