THE NIGHT WE SAID YES by Lauren Gibaldi

by TPS reader hunth19

A story about being brave, first loves, and second chances, The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi is a sweet Young Adult book that takes the reader into the life of a girl named Ella.  In the summer before her senior year of high school, she met her dream boyfriend named Matt. Matt is the bassist in her friend’s band.  He is a little dorky but super sweet. The night they met, along with Ella’s friends Jake and Meg, they say yes to everything and end up going on many adventures. Matt and Ella quickly develop a close relationship.  

Everything changes when Matt suddenly leaves town with no explanation, leaving Ella clueless and heartbroken.  For a while, she wonders why he left, and more importantly, why he did not trust her enough to explain why. She decides to try to forget him and move on with her life.  She makes up her mind to graduate from high school without any more distractions, move away from Orlando, Florida, and start a fresh new life in college.

One day, out of the blue, Matt comes back, throwing off all of her plans and bringing back the heartache.  He eventually comes clean about secrets he had been hiding. Be warned: there are quite a few plot twists. In alternating then and now chapters, the story follows Ella and Matt as he tries to recreate their first night together.  Will Ella have the courage to give him a second chance? Read this book to find out. 

WAR STORM by Victoria Aveyard

by TPS reader goodisg22

War Storm, the last book of the series Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard, is a great conclusion to the series. In the first book, Red Queen, it describes a girl named Mare Barrow who lives in a world divided by blood. She lives in the Kingdom of Norta where those with Red blood serve Silver bloods who are gifted with supernatural abilities. Reds don’t usually have these abilities but every so often one does; they are called newbloods. Mare is a new-blood who has electrokinetic abilities. In War Storm, Mare recently was betrayed by someone she trusted, the Silver blooded prince of Norta, Cal. Cal’s younger brother, Maven, has a driving obsession over Mare due to his mother’s manipulation to his brain. This eventually left his permanent damage to his brain which seems to be captivated by Mare. With Maven in pursuit of her and the betrayal of Cal, Mare has her eyes set on saving Reds and Newbloods like herself.

In the book there are five different POVs meaning you are able to see multiple points of view from the characters.

The first POV is Mare, who is the main character of the book. Another POV is Evangeline, a Silver blooded, contemptuous girl who is Cal’s fiancée. She is a magnetron, that has the ability to control metals, and is stubborn and cruel to most people. The third POV is Maven who is the brother of Cal and Silver-blooded Prince of Norta. He is mostly a lonely child, being that his brother always outshines him leaving their father to mostly ignore him. It is later learned that Maven’s mother has manipulated his brain since his birth, forbidding him to have certain feelings and emotions. He is a Burner, which allows him to manipulate fire. The forth POV is the heir to the throne of Norta, Cal. Cal always tries to do what’s best for his kingdom no matter the cost. Overall he is kind and like Maven is a Burner as well. The fifth POV is the younger princess of Lakelands, a neighboring kingdom to Norta, Iris Cygnet. Iris is a nymph and has the ability to manipulate water. She is said to be kind and in the third book the series, King’s Cage, is betrothed to Maven as a declaration of the ending war between Norta and Lakelands.

War Storm is a great book and an amazing conclusion to the series. If you like fantasy books and are looking for a series to read, I would definitely suggest the Red Queen series.

A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC by V.E. Schwab

by TPS reader lutzr22

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab is book mainly following the character Kell and Lila and their story. Kell has one completely black eye a mark of an Antari, meaning blood magic, as an Antari he is able to control earth, water, air, fire, and bone, unlike everyone else who at most can control three. He is also able to travel between the Londons, a skill only possessed by him and Holland. Holland lives in White London where magic is dying and the people with it, ruled by a cruel king who controls him. Whereas Kell lives in Red London, a city ruled by his adoptive family where magic thrives and is celebrated. Lila Bard belongs to Grey London where there is little magic and is most similar to our own. Lastly is Black London a city which is impossible to go to as it has been destroyed, over run with magic and consuming its people. Lila is a cross dressing thief who runs into trouble and meets Kell who is carrying a stone, one of the last remnants of Black London. It must be returned but the rulers of White London are eager to have it, forcing Holland to go after them. The pair travel through the cities trying to return it to Black London before Holland gets it.

I love this book. The characters are three dimensional, dynamic, and interesting. They don’t feel like cliches and are genuinely likeable. The relationships formed by these characters are complex and not rushed into. The book seems very different then other books of the genre and has a unique plot. The idea of alternate universes may not be original but the book is unlike anything else I’ve read.

LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD by Ava Dellaira

by TPSreads tuj22

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira is a young adult book about a girl named Laurel and her struggle to figure out everything after her sister passed away. Her sister, May, was worth the entire world to Laurel. Laurel viewed May as a beautiful, loveable person who cared about her family even after her parents divorced. May was always there for Laurel, no matter what. When she passed away, Laurel has to move to a new high school. In her English class, she receives an assignment to write a letter to a dead person. She chooses Kurt Cobain, but continues the assignment by writing more letters to other dead people she admires.

Each letter tells a piece of Laurel’s life; she writes about the struggles she’s facing and the realizations she makes. She opens up about her family issues, her love for her sister, and how she feels about the events that are taking place in her life. Along with this, she usually talks about the dead person’s childhood, their accomplishments, and she tries to find a good reason why some of them died. Near the climax of the book, she starts talking about a horrifying period of time that lasted until her sister passed away. The book becomes even more darker than it once was as Laurel reveals why her sister passed away and a secret she has kept since her childhood.

The book was a very interesting read, even if it had a slow start. Everyone, including the side characters, had believable personalities that showed even through just letters. Laurel was able to connect what she wrote with the dead person’s story, often talking about their childhood or a song they wrote that she loved. The author was able to make it sound like a teenage girl and gave Laurel her own voice.

There were some features of the book that I didn’t like. The beginning was too slow, it took awhile for me to become truly interested in the book. It didn’t grab my attention quickly like the other books I’ve read. Sometimes I became frustrated with Laurel and I wished that she would realize certain things. I wish that this book reeled the reader in quickly during the beginning instead of waiting until almost halfway through the book to do so.

In conclusion, Love Letters to the Dead is a collection of letters a grief-stricken teenage girl writes to her dead role models. Though slow at first, the events that occur later in the book somewhat make up for the slow beginning.

NIL REMEMBERED by Lynne Matson

by TPS reader drummondc21

Nil Remembered, by Lynne Matson, is the final book in the Nil series. It is not a part of the main trilogy but is a novella. I really like how it is not completely related to the storyline of the other Nil books but provides extra information for the reader. The plot of this book is quite interesting and quick. The book is quite short, but long enough to be engaging and interesting to read. It was well worth my time to read this book.

Nil Remembered follows the story of Scott Bracken, the uncle of Skye Bracken. Skye is a character from Nil on Fire and Nil Unlocked. Scott Bracken writes a journal about all of his deadly encounters on nil to “cope with his imagination”. Doctors tell Scott that writing all of his thoughts down will help him to realise that Nil is not real and it is just in his head. Scott knows otherwise. He knows Nil is a real place, he knows it is reality and is trying to prove it to other people.

I enjoyed how real this book felt to read. It seemed like I was reading his real journal because the font was supposed to look like handwriting. Along with sketches and pictures throughout, this book was really cool to read. It gave me a vibe like I was flipping pages through uncle Scott Bracken’s mind.

I highly suggest the Nil series to anybody who is a fan of mystery, adventure, and action books. Only read Nil Remembered if you have read the first three books in the trilogy. The information and spoilers in Nil Remembered could ruin the plot for the rest of the books. I loved Nil Remembered!

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

by TPS reader desouzay21

I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson is a wonderful and charming book to read through, from the beginning to the end. Throughout the book, we follow fraternal twin protagonists Jude and Noah, one an extroverted and artistic teenage girl and the other an introverted, homosexual and artistic teenage boy. We see the early teenage years of their lives through the eyes of Noah, from the age of 13 to 14, and we see the late teenage years of their lives, from 16 and so forth through the eyes of Jude. One quick thing to note, I personally really do appreciate this change in perspective from time to time throughout the book. It keeps things refreshing and exciting too.

A basic plot summary would be that Jude and Noah’s mother has died, and we follow them as their lives drastically change due to this one accident. However, saying that this is the plot is a terrible understatement, as there are many twists and turns that keep the reader on their toes. The plot is not very deep, but quite gripping at times and fun to read through. It is very fascinating seeing Jude and Noah develop as characters as they try to piece their lives back together again. The story is emotionally driven, and sometimes, you can feel the emotions that the characters themselves are feeling, almost as if the words themselves come to life before you.

Once Jude and Noah’s mother’s life ends, their worlds begin to crumble, and they split apart on separate paths of self-discovery. However, what neither of them know is that they need each other to survive in the world. Without Jude, Noah can be reckless and make very stupid decisions, and without Noah, Jude would have been devastated since that would have technically been the second family member that she lost.

Watching Noah develop feelings, and eventually establish a, albeit short, romantic relationship with brave, but caring, neighbour Brian is a joy to read because of how well written it is and how Noah’s gayness is not seen as abnormal or freaky. It’s just who he is, and that’s that. However, Noah begins to walk down a path of despair once he finds out that Jude has a supposed affair with Brian. Thankfully, this is absolved quickly, but another problem arises once Noah’s mother finds out that he is in a romantic relationship with Brian. One thing leads to the next, and Noah finds out that his mother is cheating on his father with another artist and that she wants to divorce with his father. These things, along with him now hanging out with girls and going to parties more often, leads Noah down a scary path.

After applying to CSA, an Art Academy, Jude is accepted into CSA, an Art Academy, whereas Noah does not get into the Academy. In these first few scenes where we are introduced to Jude, we also find out about their mother’s recent suicide. This drastically affects the whole family in many ways, but I’ll leave it up to the reader to find out how instead of spoiling it for them. She leaves the academy, feeling as if she needs to create a stone sculpture to stop her mother from destroying her artwork. She is told to go to an artist named Guillermo and receive help from him, and she does just that. During her time spent with Guillermo, who has more to him than he seems, she also meets Oscar, who has been living with Guillermo for a long time. They both do fall in love eventually despite the fact that Jude swore never to let any boy back into her life again due to a past “incident”. The plot for both of their stories are not incredibly deep, but enjoyable all the same.

Another thing I love about the book is its artistic style. Many a times would I see a quote from a certain artist, or the world being depicted in a unique way through the eyes of either of the twins. Jude has a phantom friend who is actually her grandmother, Noah and Jude play a game where they divide the world into bits and pieces, they have a “bible” where they keep all of their rules for different situations. It is very interesting to read these things because they offer a fun, new perspective on things that would often be overlooked.