Tag: Young Adult

I’ve been trying so hard to remember, I never thought about the repercussions when I do. Will it all be worth it?

Book Review | With Every Memory by Janine Rosch

I am a sucker for amnesia plots, and this is one of the best I’ve read. While amnesia is serious, many of the novels I’ve read have taken more of a rom-com approach, literary equivalents of Fifty First Dates. With Every Memory is more serious, although there are humorous moments.

Lori lost her memory ten months ago in the car accident that killed her teenage son.

Now she’s heading home after rehab to a sterile house she doesn’t remember, a distant husband, a rebellious teen daughter, and friends she no longer knows. What she does know is that the happy marriage she remembers has disappeared, and she has no idea why.

Avery lost her twin brother in the accident and has been lost ever since.

She’s flunking school and now the principal has threatened that she won’t be able to graduate with her class. He suggests a tutor—the annoying Xander, her brother’s best friend and the guy who put gum in her hair as well as a bunch of other stuff.

With Every Memory is written in first person point of view from Lori and Avery’s points of view. Two characters in first person does take a little getting used to and turns the story into a mix of women’s fiction (Lori’s story) and YA romance (Avery’s story).

Both women’s voices are equally strong in their own way, which is great.

I often find I prefer one character over another in stories like this. Lori’s story is strong, because it’s the amnesia story, and we get to see her gradually recovering her memories and rediscovering herself. Avery’s story is poignant, but also has touches of needed humour.

My favourite character was Xander, Austin’s best friend and Avery’s unwanted tutor, the guy who’s had a crush on her for half of forever. He sticks by Avery even when she’s pushing him away with her words and her actions. I admired him even while I felt sorry for him, because he understood (perhaps better than Avery) that her actions were borne out of grief. Xander wears his heart on his sleeve and is just plain wonderful—the guy any mom would want for their daughter.

Michael, on the hand, is more reserved, and is a workaholic. He justifies himself by saying he’s providing for his family, but Lori can’t help wonder if there’s something more, especially given what her friends say. that adds a tension to their relationship that kept me reading and made the book impossible to put down.

Overall, I loved With Every Memory, and it’s one of those books I’ll enjoy even more the second time through because I’ll know the ending so I’ll be reading with a different mindset.

However, it won’t be right for everyone. It is written in first person, and that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Also, Lori’s grief over losing her son (and Avery’s grief over losing her twin brother) is a big part of the story, and some people won’t want to read that. There is also a reference to sexual assault.

But forewarned is forearmed, and it’s definitely worth reading for a story of enduring love even in the most difficult times.

Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Janine Rosche

Janine Rosche - author photo
Janine Rosche is the author of the Madison River Romance and Whisper Canyon series of novels. Prone to wander, she finds as much comfort on the open road as she does at home. This longing to chase adventure, behold splendor, and experience redemption is woven into her stories. When she isn’t traveling or writing novels, she teaches family life education courses, produces The Love Wander Read Journal, and takes too many pictures of her sleeping dogs.

Find Janine Rosche online at:

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About With Every Memory

Is the Life She Can’t Remember One She’d Rather Forget?

One year after her family was in a tragic car accident that killed her teenage son, Lori Mendenhall returns home with a traumatic brain injury that has stolen the last eight years of memories from her. She is shocked to find that the life she was leading before the accident is unrecognizable. Her once-loving husband, Michael, is a distant workaholic she isn’t sure she can trust and her once-bubbly daughter, Avery, has spent the last year hidden away in her room.

For Avery, life stopped when she lost her twin. Now, if she wants to graduate high school, she’ll have to accept help from Xander Dixon, her brother’s best friend and the boy who relentlessly teased her for years. And if Lori wants to reconnect with her husband, she’ll have to grapple with information her brain is trying to keep secret. With every memory that returns, she can’t help but wonder if the life she can’t remember is one she’d rather forget.

Find With Every Memory online at:

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Nulla was about as close to the apocalypse as a place could get, and that was saying something, because the world had already ended once.

Book Review | Calor (Nightingale #1) by JJ Fischer

Miss Sephone Winter is a twenty-year-old slave with a gift. Not only can she read other people’s memories, she can alter them. A slave since her parents died when she was a small child, she wants to be able to remember them.

Dorian Ashwood, Lord Adamo, recently lost his wife and daughter. He can’t bear the  memories, and wants Sephone to remove them, which means finding an ancient relic from the world that was.

But Sephone is a slave, which means she has an owner … who isn’t keen to let her go.

Calor is therefore a combination of a search (for the Reliquary) and a chase, which provides plenty of tension, which kept me reading. It also has a unique concept—a post-apocalyptic fantasy world that has a lot in common with the mediaeval-like setting of many other fantasy novels, but where some of the inhabitants have strange gifts.

A lot of things happened in Calor, but there’s also a lot that didn’t happen … so I’m pleased to discover this is the first in a trilogy, which means there is a sequel on the way.

But don’t be put off. While the ending clearly implies a sequel, it does feel like an ending. No, it doesn’t answer al the questions, but it didn’t leave me hanging either (and I say that as someone who loathes cliff-hanger endings).

I was impressed by the writing. I highlighted a lot of lines that don’t necessarily make great quotes out of context, but which are great writing.

Recommended for fantasy fans.

It’s a Young Adult novel, but this not-so-young adult enjoyed it because the plot and characters were original, clever, and well developed, but the story didn’t have any of the explicit content “adult” fantasy seems to include.

Thanks to Enclave Publishing for providing a free ebook for review.

About Calor

What if you could edit memories with a single touch?

The world-that-was is gone, lost to everything except living memory . . . but remembering comes at a terrible price. Sixty-two years after the apocalypse, a new society has emerged from the ashes of the old world where highly valued memories are traded and nostalgia is worth dying—and even killing—for.

Enslaved by a cruel master, Sephone Winter is forced to use her rare ability to manipulate memories to numb the darkest secrets of the ruling aristocracy.

Then Lord Adamo appears, speaking of a powerful relic capable of permanently erasing memories and recovering Sephone’s own lost childhood. But not everything about the young lord is as it seems, and soon Sephone must choose between helping Lord Adamo forget his past or journeying deep into the land of Lethe, where the truth about who she really is might finally be revealed . . . and a long desired future restored.

The Nightingale Trilogy is a fantasy transformation of Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved 1843 tale The Nightingale, with echoes of the myths of Hades and Persephone.

Find Calor online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads | Koorong

About J J Fischer

J. J. Fischer’s writing dream began with the anthology of zoo animals she painstakingly wrote and illustrated at age five, to rather limited acclaim. Thankfully, her writing (but not her drawing) has improved since then. She is a clinically-trained psychologist but no, she cannot read your mind. When she isn’t killing defenseless house plants, pretending she can play the piano, eating peanut butter out of the jar, or memorizing funny film quotes, she and her husband David are attempting to prevent their warring pet chickens from forming factions and re-enacting Divergent. Honestly, it’s a miracle she finds the time to write any books.

Find J J Fischer online at:

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First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #253 | The Upwelling by Lystra Rose

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from The Upwelling by debut Australian Christian author Lystra Rose. Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

Can't trust friends. Can't trust counselling sessions. Most importantly, can't trust who this secret is forcing me to become.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About The Upwelling

The Upwelling by Lystra RoseThree misfits.
Two warring spirits.
One chance to save the world.

Kirra is the great-granddaughter of a truth dreamer, and, like Great Nanna Clara, no-one believes her night-visions are coming true. When an end-of-the-world nightmare forces her to surf where her brother was killed, she time-slips into a place that could ruin her life, here, and in the Dreaming.

Narn is the son of a well-respected Elder and holds an enviable role in his saltwater clan. Though he bears the marks of a man, many treat him like an uninitiated boy, including the woman he wants to impress.

Tarni is the daughter of a fierce hunter and the custodian of a clever gift. Somehow, she understands Kirra when no-one else can. But who sent this unexpected visitor: a powerful ancient healer or an evil shadow-spirit?

When death threatens all life, can a short-sighted surfer, a laidback dolphin caller and a feisty language unweaver work together to salvage our future?

You can find The Upwelling online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

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Congratulate yourselves, Elites, for you have endured until the end.

Book Review | Flight (Collective Underground #3) by Kristen Young

I read an early draft of Flight several years ago. I very much enjoyed the story, but found parts of it confusing, as it felt like I’d been dropped in the middle of something bigger with no idea what the character’s history was. Kristen Young took that feedback on board, and wrote Apprentice and Elite. The characters now feel much more rounded, and the story is stronger for it.

If you haven’t read Apprentice and Elite, I recommend you do.

Otherwise, you’ll probably find Flight as confusing as I did the first time around.

This time, the whole story made a lot more sense because I had the background. Apprentice Kerr Flick (aka Cadence) is only weeks away from graduation when what seemed like a random assignment reveals information that could get her killed. Cadence escapes, but will the Muse protect her and help her find refuge, or will her enemies betray her and get her killed?

Flight picks up where Elite left off, but picks up both the pace and the tension. the story moves quickly (which is why it’s advisable to read the earlier stories first). Cadence is thrown into new situations where she comes face to face with an old enemy and has to figure out who to trust. Her life depends on making the right decision. And I don’t want to say any more because of potential spoilers.

The Collective Underground trilogy has strong underlying Christian themes.

The Muse is clearly the Holy Spirit, and the songs Cadence is tasked with remembering are the scriptures. At least, that’s obvious to me, reading as a Christian. Science fiction and fantasy novels often build their own religion, so a nonChristian reader might think the Muse and the songs are simply the religion created for the story. But I hope they’ll be able to see the underlying allegory.

Kristen Young has created a fascinating and scarily believable dystopian society in which children are raised in government-run dormitories which make the average prison look welcoming and flexible. The children then graduate to participate in a society where citizens are encouraged by their leaders (called “Lovers”) to turn in anyone they suspect of being a “Hater”. It’s a twisted system of doublethink that’s rather Orwellian.

The trilogy is unique in Christian fiction, and recommended for fans of Divergent, The Hunger Games, or similar Young Adult titles with dystopian themes.

Thanks to Enclave Publishing for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kristen Young

Kristen YoungKristen Young was born (and spent a memorable first few months of her life) in the UK, grew up in Sydney, but now lives in the Central West of NSW with her husband, three children, and slightly neurotic dog. She has been involved in church-based ministry for over 20 years, and loves helping people of any age to see how awesome Jesus is.

Kristen has had a number of books published, beginning with The Survival Guide series of devotions for teens. What if? Dealing with Doubt is a book for anyone from high school age onward, and aims to help anyone struggling with doubts about God, Jesus, or faith. In more recent years she has been writing fiction. Apprentice is her first published novel.

Find Kristen Young online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

About Flight

The fight for what is right is also a fight to survive

On the cusp of graduation, Cadence is finally feeling in control. She’s about to become one of the prestigious Elites working in the Hall of Love. Plus she can take her place as a full member of the underground Sirens who meet secretly in Love City. She’ll finally be able to use her memory skills for good, instead of reporting people as a Watcher.

But a dangerous trap is set, throwing Cadence into unwelcome and unfamiliar territory. Someone in the Collective remembers things that could very well get her killed. The Muse is by her side, after all, but will she be protected when someone powerful wants her dead?

Cadence just wants to be normal, free from politics or squad intimidation. Will she be able to achieve her Elite dreams, or will sinister forces leave her running for her life?

Find Flight online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads

 

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #246 | Flight (Elite Underground #3) by Kristen Young

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Flight by Kristen Young, the third book in her dystopian Elite Underground series. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

They tell me my name is Kerr Flick, Elite Apprentice #540/187503. They tell me I belong to the Love Collective - body, mind, and soul - for as long as I shall live.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Flight

The fight for what is right is also a fight to survive

On the cusp of graduation, Cadence is finally feeling in control. She’s about to become one of the prestigious Elites working in the Hall of Love. Plus, she can take her place as a full member of the underground Sirens who meet secretly in Love City. She’ll finally be able to use her memory skills for good, instead of reporting people as a Watcher.

But a dangerous trap is set, throwing Cadence into unwelcome and unfamiliar territory. Someone in the Collective remembers things that could very well get her killed. The Muse is by her side, after all, but will she be protected when someone powerful wants her dead?

Cadence just wants to be normal, free from politics or squad intimidation. Will she be able to achieve her Elite dreams, or will sinister forces leave her running for her life?

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #236 | Under the Magnolias by T I Lowe

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Under the Magnolias by T I Lowe, a new-to-me author.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

At eighty feet tall with a spread of forty feet, the southern magnolia was known to get out of hand in our part of South Carolina.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Under the Magnolias

Austin Foster is barely a teenager when her mama dies giving birth to twins, leaving her to pick up the pieces while holding her six siblings together and doing her best to stop her daddy from retreating into his personal darkness.

Scratching out a living on the family’s tobacco farm is as tough as it gets. When a few random acts of kindness help to ease the Fosters’ hardships, Austin finds herself relying upon some of Magnolia’s most colorful citizens for friendship and more. But it’s next to impossible to hide the truth about the goings-on at Nolia Farms, and Austin’s desperate attempts to save face all but break her.

Just when it seems she might have something more waiting for her—with the son of a wealthy local family who she’s crushed on for years—her father makes a choice that will crack wide-open the family’s secrets and lead to a public reckoning. There are consequences for loving a boy like Vance Cumberland, but there is also freedom in the truth.

T. I. Lowe’s gritty yet tender and uplifting tale reminds us that a great story can break your heart . . . then heal it in the best possible way.

You can find Under the Magnolias online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

I enjoy talking to animals. They listen but don’t tell you off when you say or do something dumb. And they never repeat what you say.

Book Review | Running Scared by Susan J Bruce

Fourteen-year-old Melinda Green has just started at a new school after her parents had to sell the family farm. Now her mother is in hospital, her dad is unemployed, and they’re living with her vegetarian aunt.

Mel has made friends with the boy next door, despite being told to stay away from him because his brother has disappeared after being accused of a crime, which means his family are a bad influence. However, Rory is in a wheelchair, so probably isn’t the person who is a bad influence … although he does have an obsession with strange animals and has quite the collection in his back shed.

One of his pets is Lucy, a tarantula.

Mel has a spider phobia, so she and Lucy are not going to get on. I have to say I can totally understand Mel’s phobia. Normal New Zealand house spiders don’t bother me, but Australian spiders are a different matter. They’re bigger and badder and more deadly than New Zealand spiders and being afraid of them seems like a perfectly normal reaction to me.

But Mel’s phobia and Rory’s passion does bring them together. As the boy in the wheelchair and the new girl in school, they are both targets for the school bullies, who happen to be linked to the crime Rory’s brother is accused of. So maybe Mel’s father has good reason for warning her to stay away from Rory and his family.

The whole story is told in first person, from Mel’s point of view.

The best part about this was in kept us in Mel’s head and gave us a chance to really get to know her. I found the teenage voice authentic and accurate, with none of the “old person” words I sometimes see in fiction written for teens and young adults (words like dear and folk). It was also great to see the way the story made somethings clear (like the fact that Mel’s school bully lived in an abusive household) without having to spell it out. For much of the novel, I wasn’t even sure if Mel had worked it out, even though it seemed clear to me.

It was good to see a disabled character as a main character in a Young Adult novel. It was even better to see a disabled character who wasn’t a cliche, either as the object of pity or the effervescent hero, and yet is also a main character who plays a significant part in driving the story forward.

Running Scared by Susan J Bruce is a strong debut Young Adult novel, featuring a lonely teenager, a boy in a wheelchair, and a spider. #BookReview #YoungAdult Click To Tweet

Overall, the writing was excellent, the characters were compelling, and the story was a great mix of home and school, with a good bit of suspense thrown in (and not just from Lucy the spider).

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

About Susan J Bruce

Susan J Bruce

Susan J Bruce is a former veterinarian turned award-winning author, professional copywriter and animal artist. Susan’s veterinary background invades her writing and animals run, fly, or crawl into nearly all of her tales. When Susan’s writing group challenged her to write a story that didn’t mention any animals—she failed! Susan lives in sunny South Australia with her husband, Marc, and their furred and feathered family. This currently includes a fat tortoiseshell cat, a rescue cockatiel, and an irrepressible ShiChi (Shih Tzu x Chihuahua) who thinks her mission in life is to stop Susan writing.

Running Scared is Susan’s first novel and was awarded the 2018 Caleb Prize for an unpublished manuscript.

Find Susan J Bruce online at:

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About Running Scared

My name is Melinda and this has been the worst year ever … We had to leave our family farm, Mum is in hospital, Dad is losing it and my freak-out-and-run arachnophobia is getting worse.

The one good thing in my world is Rory. Maybe he sees things differently because he’s been in a wheelchair for the past eight years, but Rory always knows how to make me laugh.

Problem is, Dad doesn’t want me anywhere near him. He doesn’t trust Rory or his family, especially as Rory’s brother is wanted by the police.

And now even I’m scared about what Rory might be hiding …

You can find Running Scared online at:

Amazon | Goodreads 

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #230 | Running Scared by Susan J Bruce

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Running Scared, the debut novel from Australian author Susan J Bruce. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

The scent of frangipani hangs thick in the air, as does the hum of the late afternoon cicada chorus.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Running Scared

My name is Melinda and this has been the worst year ever … We had to leave our family farm, Mum is in hospital, Dad is losing it and my freak-out-and-run arachnophobia is getting worse.

The one good thing in my world is Rory. Maybe he sees things differently because he’s been in a wheelchair for the past eight years, but Rory always knows how to make me laugh.

Problem is, Dad doesn’t want me anywhere near him. He doesn’t trust Rory or his family, especially as Rory’s brother is wanted by the police.

And now even I’m scared about what Rory might be hiding …

You can find Running Scared online at:

Amazon | Goodreads 

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

I am Kerr Flick, Elite Apprentice. But I also used to be a small girl called Cadence.

Book Review | Elite (Collective Underground #2) by Kristen Young

If you are interested in Elite but haven’t read Apprentice, the first book in Kristen Young’s Love Collective series, then please stop reading now and read Apprentice first.

Why? Because Elite starts almost exactly where Apprentice ends, so it’s impossible to write this review without including some information that’s going to be a spoiler for Apprentice.

Click here to read my review of Apprentice.

Still here? Then I’m going to assume you’ve read Apprentice.

As I said, Elite starts where Apprentice ends: with Kerr Flick aka Cadence about to have her memories of her first five years restored. She discovers she didn’t fail her Watcher exam, and has been accepted as a Watcher.

Now she has to navigate endless training under the direct supervision of a senior official, balance that against her newfound knowledge about the Love Collective, the Haters and Lyric, and work out what her new dorm-mate is thinking … Who can she trust?

Sometimes the truth gets hidden when the powerful want to tell a different story.

It’s a fast-paced and compelling story set in a dystopian future that pretends it’s utopian, and keeps the masses quiet with an endless diet of apps and entertainment (bread and circuses, anyone?). As with Apprentice, the story has clear parallels with our own world, and the ending is both an end and a beginning. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

Elite by Australian author Kristen Young is the second book in the Collective Underground series, a fast-paced and compelling story set in a dystopian future that pretends it’s utopian. #ChristianFiction #BookReview Click To Tweet

Thanks to Enclave Publishing for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kristen Young

Kristen YoungKristen Young was born (and spent a memorable first few months of her life) in the UK, grew up in Sydney, but now lives in the Central West of NSW with her husband, three children, and slightly neurotic dog. She has been involved in church-based ministry for over 20 years, and loves helping people of any age to see how awesome Jesus is.

Kristen has had a number of books published, beginning with The Survival Guide series of devotions for teens. What if? Dealing with Doubt is a book for anyone from high school age onward, and aims to help anyone struggling with doubts about God, Jesus, or faith. In more recent years she has been writing fiction. Apprentice is her first published novel.

Find Kristen Young online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

About Elite

Where do you find safety when your world is falling apart?

Apprentice Flick thought the Elite Academy was the answer to all her problems. But the revelation of her past turned everything upside down. Now, she is caught between two worlds set on a collision course.

Will she embrace the chaotic memories that flood her every waking moment? Or will she run to the security of her Elite training?

Discovering her parents’ identities takes her to a secret underground bunker where she finds new friends, opportunities, and maybe even love. But Flick must decide where her allegiances lie soon, or the Triumph of Love festival might bring about her demise.

Find Elite online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

Can you recommend a book that helps younger people deal with difficult issues?

Bookish Question #166 | Can you recommend a book that helps young people deal with difficult issues?

I don’t read a lot of children’s books (well, my youngest has finished high school), so I’m definitely going to focus my answer on Young Adult titles. However, I do have one picture book to recommend:

Marty’s Nut-free Party and Emily Eases her Wheezes by Katrina Roe: picture books which explain allergies and asthma in an age-appropriate  and fun way.

Young Adult

Invisible, Invincible, and Being Jazmine by Cecily Paterson: a compelling trilogy about a deaf teenager that addresses both the difficulties of living as a hearing-impaired person in a hearing world, but also at the challenge all teenagers have with fitting in with their peers and finding their place.

 

This Quiet Sky by Joanne Bischof: a Christian historical novel about a teenage boy suffering from a fatal illness.

Perfect Mercy, Amazing Grace, Love, Mercy (the Beautiful Lives series) by Elaine Fraser: a series set in an Australian high school, with each book dealing with a different issue high schoolers face—peer pressure, body image, social justice, and sexual orientation.

The Boy in the Hoodie by Catriona McKeown: a term’s worth of detentions, an unlikely friendship, and some lessons about life.

That’s my list. Can you recommend a book for children or young adults that helps younger people deal with difficult issues?