Dante and Aristotle are two characters who will leap off the page and act out their story vividly in your mind. And they will be as real to you as the people you share your life with. They’re flawed but beautiful, vulnerable but strong, scared but loyal. When we first meet Ari, he is
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | CONCRETE ROSE – ANGIE THOMAS
I’m a huge fan of Angie Thomas’ writing. I read The Hate U Give and it became one of my all-time favourite YA books. I read On the Come Up and I found it challenging, unflinching and real. I was just a little bit excited to read her newest book and prequel to The
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | PUMPKINHEADS – RAINBOW ROWELL & FAITH ERIN HICKS
I picked this book up for a quick read and a bit of a light relief. I hadn’t read any Rainbow Rowell books in years, but I really enjoyed some of her novels, particularly Eleanor and Park. I look to her for an entertaining story, but also characters who are, in one way or
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ON THE COME UP – ANGIE THOMAS
Unless you reside under a particularly large and heavy rock, you will have heard of Angie Thomas’ first book, The Hate U Give, which came out in 2017. If you haven’t heard of it, please do yourself a solid, stop reading, go buy it or borrow it or steal it (okay, maybe not that
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | UNDER COVER – CHRIS RYAN
I adore this series. It’s Young Adult, and it’s a series of espionage thrillers. It’s completely unrealistic – often bordering on absurd – but it is just so much fun to read. This is the fifth book in the Agent 21 series, and the first that doesn’t centre on Zak Darke, a teenager who
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CANADA READS REVIEW | THE MARROW THIEVES – CHERIE DIMALINE
This is a post-apocalyptic young adult novel that takes place in a world where climate change has destroyed the land. The coastlines have moved inwards, waterways have become polluted, and populations have become more and more dense as people were forced to migrate inland. In this world, white people have lost the ability to
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BAD BLOOD – JENNIFER LYNN BARNES
I’m a huge fan of the TV show Criminal Minds, and this book is like a YA cross between that and The Mentalist. It’s about a group of teenagers with “special” talents – reading people, profiling, analyzing information and detecting lies. It’s a premise I absolutely love and the plots have been real page-turners.
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE HATE U GIVE – ANGIE THOMAS
This is the story of Starr, a sixteen-year-old from south central L.A. – not the part of L.A. where white people live in big houses, but the part they stay well clear of. But Starr doesn’t quite fit in. She and her brother go to a private school 45 minutes drive from home, where
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | I HUNT KILLERS – BARRY LYGA
I’ve had this on my shelf for a very long time, and when I was going through my hidden books on one of the double-stacked shelves looking for some to get rid of, I figured I might as well give this one a try. It’s the story of Jasper Dent, whose father is the
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE QUEEN OF BRIGHT AND SHINY THINGS – ANN AGUIRRE
I discovered Ann Aguirre via her Razorland Trilogy (Enclave, Outpost and Horde), which I started reading thanks to a tip from a fellow book lover on Twitter and ended up loving. So when this one came out, I just had to find out if her storytelling chops translate from fantasy to contemporary. Lucky for
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | SHADOW AND BONE – LEIGH BARDUGO
If you read YA books and haven’t been living under a rock, this series has been on your radar for a couple of years now. It’s been Tweeted about, quoted, squeed over and highly anticipated. As usual, I put off reading it because I’m wary of hype and worry that books won’t live up
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA – BECKY ALBERTALLI
This book has been on my radar for months, mostly due to the hundreds of pictures featuring it along with packages of Oreos on my Twitter feed. I put off reading it half because I was scared it wouldn’t live up to the hype, and half because if it did, I wanted to save
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | EXTRAORDINARY MEANS – ROBYN SCHNEIDER
I started this book sitting in a bookstore and before I knew it I was in the third chapter. When I finally got my own copy and sat down to read it in earnest, I ended up finishing the entire thing in one sitting. Which is always a good sign. The story is an
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RELEASE DAY REVIEW | EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING – NICOLA YOON
I’ve been hearing about this book for months now, just waiting until I could get my hands on a copy. But I didn’t actually know much about it other than everyone was loving it up. When it arrived in my mailbox, I immediately tore into it. 24 hours later, I was done. It’s the
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ARMADA – ERNEST CLINE
Armada is the long-anticipated (by me, anyway) follow up to Ernest Cline’s futuristic video-game drama, Ready Player One. The first thing I need to tell you is that I’m not a gamer. I’m not even much into sci-fi. But I absolutely loved Ready Player One. Sure, there was a lot about video games, but
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THE *SUNDAY REVIEW | ALIVE – SCOTT SIGLER
From New York Times bestselling author Scott Sigler comes something utterly new: a gripping sci-fi adventure trilogy in the vein of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner. A group of young adults awake in a mysterious enclosed space with no knowledge of who they are or how they got there…and an indomitable young
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE FEVER – MEGAN ABBOTT
The panic unleashed by a mysterious contagion threatens the bonds of family and community in a seemingly idyllic suburban community. The Nash family is close-knit. Tom is a popular teacher, father of two teens: Eli, a hockey star and girl magnet, and his sister Deenie, a diligent student. Their seeming stability, however, is thrown
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THE SUNDAY REVIEW | FINDING AUDREY – SOPHIE KINSELLA
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain. An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey
