Wall Street Journal: Ms. Alkon delivers sound advice on navigating social-networking sites (she calls them “giant parasites targeting your personal information like tapeworms waiting for a move-in special on your large intestine.”), on observing email etiquette and on texting at the dinner table: “If you’re going to invite somebody to dinner and ignore them, at least have the decency to get married first and build up years of bitterness and resentment.”
Publishers Weekly: McGoran fluidly blends science and suspense in his outstanding second eco-thriller starring Philly cop Doyle Carrick (after 2013’s Drift). Because Doyle’s significant other, Nola Watkins, who’s showing signs of rethinking their relationship, needs a break from city life, the couple take a weekend trip to Martha’s Vineyard. On the resort island, their friend Moose is worried about the dwindling bee population, which may be due to a phenomenon, known as Colony Collapse Disorder, that inexplicably leads to disappearances of whole hives. Even as Moose spearheads a research project on CCD, a corporation has received permission to introduce genetically modified bees into the island’s ecosystem. After they return to Philadelphia, Nola decides to take a job on the Vineyard. When Nola misses her train, Doyle drives her to the ferry and accompanies her to the island, where he agrees to lend Moose a hand. This second visit, predictably, ends up being a busman’s holiday for the detective, who finds himself involved in multiple murder investigations. Top-notch plotting enhances McGoran’s sympathetic, flawed lead.
Publishers Weekly: As the third most popular girl in school, 15-year-old Anika Dragomir worries a lot about her precarious social rank, which means tolerating the casual cruelties of Becky Vilhauer, who rules their Nebraska high school with an iron fist. Morally conflicted, Anika surreptitiously tries to undo some of Becky’s damage (such as dismantling an invented pregnancy rumor), but Anika’s secret relationship with geek-turned-hottie Logan McDonough only adds to her problems. This nascent romance is further complicated when Jared Kline, “the biggest stone-cold fox in the city, possibly in the state,” unexpectedly starts courting Becky and she gets disturbing glimpses of Logan’s home life. In this YA debut, adult author Portes (Hick; Bury This) serves up a self-deprecating and highly memorable heroine whose bawdy, laceratingly funny narration makes her instantly endearing while also revealing her flaws, uncertainties, and ethical quandaries. Throughout, Portes hints that tragedy is in the cards, and while the final chapters flirt with melodrama, the novel will leave many readers dwelling on missed opportunities to take a stand in their own lives.
Publishers Weekly: Bennett (American Elsewhere) ventures into secondary-world fantasy in this action-packed, occasionally numinous, noir-like novel, which combines metaphysical and geopolitical observations. The city of Bulikov, once the sacred seat of a brutal, miracle-fueled empire, now stagnates under the administration of its former colony Saypur, which has become a technology-driven superpower. Exiled operative Ashara Komayd is the privileged great-granddaughter of the last Kaj of Saypur, the man who killed the Divinities, thereby both literally and politically destabilizing an entire continent. While investigating the politically inflammatory murder of a Saypuri professor who was studying Bulikov’s censored history, she finds disquieting evidence that some Divinities—and their legacy—may yet survive. Bennett largely sidesteps questions of colonialism and cultural appropriation in his tightly paced mystery, but supporting characters like Ashara’s indestructible aide, Sigrud, and conflicted ex-lover Vohannes Votrov flesh out the otherwise narrowly focused setting. The open ending promises a sequel.
Shelf Awareness: Just when you thought Cia’s journey couldn’t get any better, it does, in this finale to the Testing trilogy, which recounts the culmination of Cia’s studies and battles in the dystopian United Commonwealth.
Joelle Charbonneau ends her first young adult series on a high note. Cia’s love story with Tomas takes a back seat to the hero’s journey. Much of Cia’s role in the revolt involves a mechanical and technical knowledge that allows her to build devices out of scrap to aid the revolt. It’s this attention to detail in Charbonneau’s writing that engages readers in the action and draws them into Cia’s world.
This is a book like no other. Shreve, a teenage delinquent who is a thief and a dealer of contraband candy, has an enormous power for which he struggles to find a place. His telepathy eventually causes him to join the Society of Extranaturals, and his journey is all mental, an exploration of the human psyche that turns his entire world upside down. This novel is a superb telling of what it means to be different, existing physically and mentally on the outskirts of society. Jacobs is a master of the supernatural story, leading readers along dark and winding paths containing secrets, evil, and unimaginable power. Told from a male point of view, The Shibboleth will appeal mostly to boys and any reader who loves dark tales of action, adventure, and the supernatural.L.A. Times: Out this week from St. Martin’s Griffin, the book breezy and funny, with the sort of joking modernity you’d suspect of an advice columnist who, when asked whether it’s OK to pet on the first date, first responds, “Your dog, or your girlfriend?” – only to quip, “I’m a fan of sex on the first date, actually.” Miss Manners, she ain’t.
She is, though, endlessly engaging.
Read more about Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck at the L.A. Times.
VOYA: In this highly anticipated final installment to The Testing Trilogy, Charbonneau delivers nail-biting suspense that fans of the series have come to love. Readers will finally get the answers they have sought throughout this dystopian thriller. Cia is now a little older, wiser, and tougher and must delicately balance her relationship with government officials and those she considers her friends. Full of even more ethically challenging decisions, deathly encounters, and deceitful characters, the book concludes the series without any loose ends. Fans of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games and Veronica Roth’s Divergent will enjoy this exciting end to another great dystopian adventure. Continue reading »
Library Journal: VERDICT This is urban fantasy par excellence, with magical action, moral dilemmas, and a wonderful cast. Series fans will love this, and there is enough backstory for newcomers.
Butcher (Cold Days) brings back wizard Harry Dresden for his 15th adventure fighting a rogue’s gallery of supernatural villains, but this time in a caper story. Continue reading »
Romantic Times: [4.5 of 5 stars] When it comes to writing historical fantasy that is at once absorbing, exciting and incredibly moving, Kowal is in a class by herself. Just as Kowal’s previous book, Without a Summer, blended elements of fantasy with a very real depiction of class struggle, Valour and Vanity balances the adventure of a heist with a poignant portrayal of sudden poverty. Kowal’s skill for writing characters who have fantastic abilities and yet remain deeply human, as susceptible to their own insecurities as anyone you or I know, is just part of what makes her one of the best talents in fantasy.