Marked, Soul Guardians Book 1 by Kim Richardson

Kara Nightingale is on her way to an art exhibition when she dies in a bus accident. She wakes up in a new world called Horizon and has a new job as a rookie for the army of Guardian Angels. Kara now has to save the lives and souls of mortals with the help of her cute partner David. When the Legion's power is threatened by demons, it's up to Kara to save them.

I really liked the idea for this story. It was a unique story and I've never read anything like this book. Kara and David were believable characters and their emotions and feelings were very realistic. One of the few things I disliked was how the story was written in third person omniscient. I would rather have the book be focused on one character's personality instead of hearing the thoughts of both Kara and David. Other than that, I really did like the book.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Brownsburg, Indiana United States of America

Truth from the Shadows (eBook) by Courtney Harvey

Truth from the Shadows is one girl's story of learning to believe in herself and her abilities despite what others think. Alex is a young medium who desperately needs to make sense of her abilities in order to help and rid herself of the young ghost who won't quit till his family knows everything about his suicide. The only problem, Alex's parents ignore her screaming for help. Her mother, a psychiatrist, thinks she is only hallucinating, and decides she's crazy. Her father only tries to keep the peace by siding with her mom. And don't forget the ghost: He is determined to get her to talk with the mysterious new guy, fresh from California who deems her Crazy.

I really enjoyed Courtney Harvey's writing. She managed to take you on the same emotional roller coaster ride as her characters. Between the love, loss, betrayal, and hurt, it kept me wanting to know more. She had a good ending that could make you cry. The beginning was a little slow but picked up about a third of the way in. Overall it made a good summer read.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Glendale, AZ United States

Diary of a Part-Time Ghost by Vered Ehsani

All that 15-year-old Ash wants is to be normal. Then he starts having nightmares. Nightmares of his own death. Ash knows something is up and the arrival of his slightly sane great-aunt Bibi does nothing to ease his worrying. She leaves him a very mysterious birthday present - The Book of History. Ash hates history! He soon discovers that the book is more than just an old, moldy, boring history lesson. It allows him to travel back in time to the American Revolution. Tension is high in the colonies and Ash must stop the evil Kali before it s too late.

Diary of a Part-Time Ghost by Vered Ehsani was a fun, easy, and enjoyable read! Written from the viewpoint 15-year-old Ash, it had the right mix of adventure and humor. As teen myself it was easy to relate to some of the problems that Ash had to deal with like wanting to be accepted by other kids. Diary of a Part-Time Ghost combined the history of the Revolutionary War with a twist of magic. Parts of the plot were dull but for the most part, this book was an entertaining read. I would recommend this book to kids who enjoy reading, history, and magic.

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Harleysville, PA USA

Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Gwen Frost is being forced to attend Mythos Academy, an elite school set apart to train kids who just so happen to be descendants of various mythical warriors. Of course, Gwen doesn't believe in any of the supernatural skills her classmates supposedly possess. The only type of magic she actually accepts is her own and that of her own family. When the school's most popular girl, the icy Valkyrie princess Jasmine, is murdered right in the library next to a stolen mythical artifact called the Bowl of Tears, Gwen is determined to get to the bottom of the entire situation. It's never a good idea to poke your head into other people's business, though. So the results? Who else is to blame but yourself?

Touch of Frost belongs to the new batch of paranormal stories that all seem exactly the same, only with different character names and fantastical elements. This novel's back story is a mishmash of tons of various warriors -- from Norse gods to ninjas. While that is certainly a nice idea, it's never really delved into. Except for a few key warrior gods, all the others felt extraneous and were barely mentioned at all.

The characters aren't especially mind-blowing, either. You have the blonde mean girl clique, the quirky and unpopular heroine, and the
hot bad boy who falls in love with the heroine anyways; just the same formula used over and over and over again. The character with an actual personality was Vic, the ancient magical sword, who has a grand total of about five lines in the entire novel. That is just sad. A sword beats out all those other full-fledged human characters? Sad, sad, sad.

Touch of Frost is a quite a cliche, but lovers of stereotypical teen paranormal stories (I know there are a lot of you out there) will devour it with glee.

Sex is mentioned although not graphically described.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and
Country: Palo Alto, CA USA

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties by Lenore Look

This book is about a boy named Alvin who's afraid of everything. He thinks there are monsters under the bed, aliens at the mall, and other crazy things. In addition, Alvin, no matter how hard he tries, has a string of bad luck. One night, he wishes to go to Howard's party, his friend. Instead, he gets an invitation to a girl's party. Now he has to figure out how to impress Howard in order to get an invitation to his party. Will Alvin get to the right party? Then at school, poor Alvin forgot to wear his collar shirt for the class picture. After a crazy shirt switch disaster, Alvin ends up wearing a dress for his class picture. These and other adventures all take place in the town of Concord, Massachusetts. This book is full of humor that will make you laugh.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me laughing because Alvin gets in trouble in a humorous way. The book is written well. It was satisfying because the author put a lot of care into it. I would recommend this book to a friend in second grade or up.

Reviewer Age:10
Reviewer City, State and Country: Purcellville, VA USA

Alice-Miranda at School by Jacqueline Harvey

Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones is a very peppy girl who turns Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Acadamy upside down! When Alice-Miranda first arrives at Winchester-Downsfordvale she finds a sad cook, and a sad gardener. Can she make them happy with the help of her parents? And when Ms.Grimm makes her take an awful test can she pass it? Maybe with the help of the people she helped she can!

I chose this book thinking it was written for kids my age, but after reading the book I realized it was written for kids 7-10. It was based on a 7 year old, but even if you are over that age range you will still like the book. I did. It's just written for kids younger than me.

I liked the plot of the book. It was written very well, but what I didn t like about it were all the long confusing names such as- Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones, and Winchester-Downsfordvale. I found it hard to keep everything together since everyone had long name like that.

Reviewer Age:11
Reviewer City, State and Country: Skokie, Illinois U.S. of A.

The Charmed Return by Frewin Jones

Charmed Return is the next book in Frewin Jones' Faerie Path books. The book picks up where the last left off. It starts out with Anita/Tania back at her human home and she had no memory of Faerie or her other half: Edric and her sister. The first part of the book revolves around uniting with her past selves and defeating her evil uncle. The second part talks about her adventures relearning herself again.

Frewin Jones shot high and missed. This book left more questions than answers. The ending left quite a bit to be desired. It lacked the flair that Frewin Jones normally had for her endings. She leaves the ending open and shut. She could have ended and moved on from this mess, or she could try and save this series. The book was rushed and Anita/Tania did a 180 from the previous books. It wasn't one of Ms. Jone's nicer pieces.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Carbondale, Illinois USA

C I N by Christina Leigh Pritchard

Lisa Brown's life has just taken a turn for the worst. Her mother has decided to commit herself to a psychiatric ward, and leave Lisa with her aunt in Lynn, Massachusetts. As if that isn't enough, this city is bizarre. The locals have a saying "Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin. You never come out the way you went in." Lisa must live in the local boarding school for geniuses, which her Aunt owns. There, she meets a dog named Pig, and a cat named Rat. "Mind the cat" everyone says. She also meets Ally and Alex Moody, who are both anti-social and very rude, and she learns that she has to share the house with them. Things just keep getting worse, and then she's hit by lightning...Things begin to get very strange, very quickly as Lisa unravels the mystery of Lynn.

C I N was an amazing read. From the first page to the very last, the tone and writing style captured me as the plot thickened with each turn of the page. The characters were rich and strange, the setting was perfect, and the plot was original. Christina Leigh Pritchard has obvious talent and deserves to go far. There is one problem that permeates this book, however. Since C I N appears self-published, I assumed that the author had no editor. I may be wrong, but if so, I feel that Ms.Pritchard needs a new editor. Her book, while wonderfully written, is full of punctuation errors. I found myself going through with a red pen and correcting every one. It also had several typos, and there were a few paragraphs that needed to be re-written entirely in order to make better sense. Some sentences were very oddly written, and I had to edit in my head to get around them. This book has great potential, but these mistakes really got in the way when I was reading. I give this book an 8/10, but it definitely has the potential to be a 9 if the errors are fixed.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Sykesville, MD United States

Infinity: Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon

This is a fantasy novel about a boy named Nick Gautier. He lives a normal life in New Orleans with his mom and they both struggle just to get by. That all changes when he learns of a whole new side of the world he lives in. He learns that his world is just a mask for all the creatures he once believed to be a myth. Nick has to try to survive in a realm of vampire hunters, werewolves, demons, and zombies and hopefully not get eaten on the way.

Zombies, Werewolves, Vampires, Oh my. Infinity is a fantasy/supernatural novel that will keep you wanting more. I personally am not a fan of zombie books, but this book kept my interest the whole time. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes supernatural books with a few different creatures thrown in. Kenyon did an amazing job with this book and I can't wait to read more.

Reviewer Age:19
Reviewer City, State and Country: mantua, NJ USA

The Jewel and the Key by Louise Spiegler

It was definitely the mirror and the earthquake that started it all. One moment, Addie is strolling through the crumbling streets and frantic crowds of Seattle; and the next, she is amongst weirdly dressed people who apparently make a habit of injuring each other with bricks. It is in this parallel world that Addie meets Reg and discovers the Jewel, a professional theater and any budding actress s dream. When she is offered a job as assistant director, Addie makes every effort to return to this old version of Seattle as frequently as possible. When events in each world seem to almost mirror each other, Addie realizes that there is a lot more at stake than her own desires.

I am often weary of time travel books, as it is very easy to butcher them. However, I enjoyed The Jewel and the Key immensely. The fact that I had never heard of the Industrial Workers of the World, an organization central to the novel s plot, was very surprising considering the long hours I ve spent in various high school U.S. history classes. The author s incorporation of history and theatrical arts sets up a great background for the novel.

Also like every other YA story, there is lurrrve. What seems like a love triangle at first quickly becomes more of a line segment or a diatomic covalent molecule (if you are in a particularly chemistry-oriented mood like yours truly). The object of Addie s affections is young Reg, a flamboyant actor with quite a dramatic personality. Their relationship was adorable, and the conclusion succeeded in stealing a few tears from me. I actually went back and reread the ending a few times after finishing the novel. I guess it can be described as bittersweet without going overboard with cheesiness. Mostly, it was just heartbreaking.

The Jewel and the Key is a quaint historical novel that packs quite a punch. It also contributed to my lack of sleep, as I couldn 't stop myself from reading late into the night instead of sleeping like the rest of the normal human beings in my time zone.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Palo Alto, CA USA