A Map for Wrecked Girlsby Jessica Taylor
Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook, audiobook
Pages: 368
Publisher: Dial Books
Publication date: August 15, 2017
Suggested tags: young adult, contemporary, survival
From Goodreads:
"We sat at the edge of the ocean—my sister Henri and I—inches apart but not touching at all. We'd been so sure someone would find us by now.
Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce, magnetic queen bee of an older sister, and the two had always been best friends. Until something happened that wrecked them.
I'd trusted Henri more than I'd trusted myself. Wherever she told me to go, I'd follow.
Then the unthinkable occurs—a watery nightmare off the dazzling coast. The girls wash up on shore, stranded. Their only companion is Alex, a troubled boy agonizing over his own secrets. Trapped in this gorgeous hell, Emma and Alex fall together as Emma and Henri fall catastrophically apart.
For the first time, I was afraid we'd die on this shore.
To find their way home, the sisters must find their way back to each other. But there’s no map for this—or anything. Can they survive the unearthing of the past and the upheaval of the present?"
Pretty much anything that's a "lost on a deserted island" story will end up on my TBR. I love survival stories. And I was really intrigued by the sisters storyline in the synopsis for this one. But... I don't know. It wasn't for me. It wasn't bad, it was just not really my style of writing (the synopsis gives you a good idea of what it's like - kind of choppy and sparse, which some readers may really like), and the flashbacks interspersed in the story didn't really work for me. I kind of felt like I was reading two separate books instead of a story with flashbacks. Also, I feel like this story would have been
Overall rating: I liked it! I may not buy it for myself but I'm glad I read it. I would probably recommend it to others.
{ Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. }
Spirit's Key
by Edith Cohn
Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication date: September 4, 2014
Suggested tags: middle grade, mystery, paranormal
From Goodreads:
"Spirit's Key is a mystery with a bit of magic for fans of Savvy and Because of Winn Dixie.
By now, twelve-year-old Spirit Holden should have inherited the family gift: the ability to see the future. But when she holds a house key in her hand like her dad does to read its owner's destiny, she can’t see anything. Maybe it’s because she can't get over the loss of her beloved dog, Sky, who died mysteriously. Sky was Spirit’s loyal companion, one of the wild dogs that the local islanders believe possess dangerous spirits. As more dogs start dying and people become sick, too, almost everyone is convinced that these dogs and their spirits are to blame—except for Spirit. Then Sky's ghost appears, and Spirit is shaken. But his help may be the key to unlocking her new power and finding the cause of the mysterious illness before it's too late."
I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but it turned out to be good! I loved the island setting, the talent that Spirit and her dad have for telling the future, and the idea of ghost dogs?? I want one!! It was a little heavy, with the dogs on the island dying, but it was a decent mystery story (although the reveal of whodunnit was a little meh for me). Nice themes of friendship, belonging, and doing what's right. I'd recommend this to middle grade readers who need a little something supernatural in their books (like my younger self... I would have loved this kind of book as a tween!), but who won't be too heartbroken over dying animals.
Overall rating: I liked it! I may not buy it for myself but I'm glad I read it. I would probably recommend it to others.
{ Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. }
Starstruck
by Rachel Shukert
Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 339
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication date: March 12, 2013
Suggested tags: young adult, historical fiction, 1930s, California
First in the Starstruck series. From Goodreads:
"Every week they arrive in Los Angeles--beautiful and talented young hopefuls who dream of becoming stars. It's all Margaret Frobisher has ever wanted—and when she's discovered by a powerful agent, she can barely believe her luck. She's more than ready to escape her snobby private school and conservative Pasadena family for a chance to light up the silver screen.
The competition is fierce at Olympus Studios and Margaret—now Margo—is chasing her Hollywood dreams alongside girls like Gabby Preston, who at 16 is already a grizzled show-biz veteran caught between the studio and the ravenous ambition of her ruthless mother, and sultry Amanda Farraday, who seems to have it all--ambition, glamour . . . and dirty secrets. Missing from the pack is Diana Chesterfield, the beautiful actress who mysteriously disappeared, and there are whispers that Diana's boyfriend—Margo's new co-star—may have had something to do with it. Margo quickly learns that fame comes with a price, and that nothing is what it seems.
Set in Old Hollywood, Starstruck follows the lives of three teen girls as they live, love, and claw their way to the top in a world where being a star is all that matters."
I'm so into historical fiction, and also books that follow the storylines of multiple characters, so this one made my TBR with no second thoughts. It reminded me a lot of the Luxe series by Anna Godberson, where you get a peek at the lives of different girls, which includes much secrecy and gossip and romance and etc that keeps me flipping the pages long past my bedtime. The setting in 1930s Hollywood was really interesting to me and seemed accurate enough, from the limited knowledge I have of it. It's probably not something I would reread, but I liked it well enough and I think anyone interested in this time period or this type of dirty-little-secrets book should give it a read.
Overall rating: I liked it! I may not buy it for myself but I'm glad I read it. I would probably recommend it to others.
{ Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. }
{ My reviews are honest and my opinions are my own;
your reading experience may vary, so give it a read and see what you think. :) }
