LaurelLit.com
Writer, Reader, English Teacher
My favorite genres are contemporary romance, women's fiction, suspense, and psychological thrillers. I mostly read books on my kindle, and I listen to audio books every morning when I go for my run.
I do NOT love star ratings for novels. For each book review, I give background, my thoughts, and if I would recommend it. Full disclosure: if I'm not into a book, I don't finish it. Since I review books I finish, most of them will be positive.
Tell Me Everything, by Cambria Brockman, is a riveting novel that can fairly be compared to Donna Tartt's highly esteemed The Secret History.
The protagonist of Tell Me Everything, Malin, goes to college in New England. It's not quite Ivy League, but it's elite and attracts a certain kind of accomplished of student, like the wealthy type who just fell short of getting into Harvard, Brown, or Penn State. …
All Your Twisted Secrets, by Diana Urban, has an intriguing premise. Amber, our main character and narrator, is attending a dinner with the mayor and several of her other classmates, all of whom have supposedly won a college scholarship. All of the classmates have a close connection to Amber, as in they are her boyfriend, her estranged best friend, her current bitchy best friend, her secret crush, and a stoner who always seems to be around. The mayor never …
In my quest to write quality YA fiction, I’ve been reading quality YA fiction, hoping something will sink in through osmosis. They do say that the best way to learn to write is by reading, and with that in mind, Jessica Goodman’s They Wish They Were Us was an excellent choice. It’s a great story with a surprisingly feminist message.
The main character is Jill Newman, who attends a prestigious Long Island private …
Summer Darlings, by Brooke Lea Foster, opens with our protagonist, Heddy, musing about Jackie Kennedy. As Heddy looks out at the waters of Martha's Vineyard, she thinks to herself that the first lady is probably looking out at the same sea. Heddy feels exceedingly lucky to have gotten a summer job as a nanny, working for a wealthy family who seem the epitome of glamour and privilege. Yet, this a novel, so of course nothing is as it appears in the new world …
I love "ripped from the headlines" sorts of novels, and Admissions most certainly qualifies as one. However, as it's written from a kid's POV, this novel also qualifies as YA, which I haven't been reading too much of lately. That's changed though, since I have decided to venture outside my comfort zone and write my own YA novel. So, I thought it would be smart to read whatever YA novels look intriguing and well done. Admissions by Julie Buxbaum was …
