MONDAY’s NOT COMING – Tiffany D. Jackson

by TPS reader shermanp27

Tiffany D. Jackson’s Mondays Not Coming is filled with thrills, excitement, and a splash of romance. This story takes place in a small town in Washington D.C. called Ed Borough. Claudia, a young girl, comes home from a summer trip to her grandma’s to find her best friend Monday not responding to any of her phone calls or letters since she has been gone. Monday and Claudia have been almost inseparable since the day they met, so when Monday doesn’t respond, Claudia becomes worried. Claudia hopes Monday will be at school the following week and tries to forget. But she doesn’t show up to school, and soon a week goes by with no sign of Monday. Now it’s been a month with no Monday. Considering Monday was Claudia’s only friend without her at school, Claudia has no one to help her face her enemies. In an attempt to find Monday, Claudia tries telling her family she’s concerned, but they just shoved her away. When she can’t seem to get any help, she tries to do some digging on her own. The true mystery starts to appear. Is Monday really at her dad’s or her aunt’s or is it all just a lie? When Monday’s story unfolds, the more jaw-dropping the story gets. Throughout the book Jackson puts effort  into highlighting the issues of domestic abuse and bullying all while keeping the plot intriguing. Once you start to read Mondays Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson, you won’t want to put it down.  

MONDAY’S NOT COMING – Tiffany D. Jackson

by TPS reader znosko27

This story is seen from Claudia’s point of view. Claudia is a 13-year-old girl, whose best friend, Monday, goes missing. It seems nobody cares to find her. Claudia shares and does everything with Monday. She knows something is up when Monday doesn’t come to school one day. Her suspicion grows when Monday doesn’t respond to any of  her letters. What makes this story so amazing is that it is from the perspective of Claudia, someone that a young adult reader can relate to in the story. Claudia’s journey to find Monday goes beyond their friendship, as she slowly finds out more and more things about Monday and her life. She learns things she didn’t know before Monday went missing and secrets that later put her in danger. This story demonstrates things that can happen to young people in real life, and how friendships are so important. Readers relate to Claudia more and more, from her boy issues, to her learning disabilities. Tiffany D. Jackson writes about real issues happening today, like domestic abuse and bullying, that are only lightly touched upon by other YA books. This story helps readers understand people better, and how we should always be kind to others, as we may not know what is happening in another person’s  life. While Monday is gone, Claudia has to go through life on her own, missing her only friend, and other half. Claudia faces bullies, her learning disability issues, boys, dance practice, and the lonely search to find her best friend. At many points, she is not sure if she can handle everything alone. But her deep friendship and loss of this friendship give her the strength she needs and empowers her to find Monday, no matter what. The many lessons that the book will teach, and the roller coaster of emotions that it provokes, is why you should definitely read this book.

IF WE BREAK UP – Cheyanne Young

by TPS reader sealyq26

I really enjoyed reading If We Break Up by Cheyanne Young because as a young person I kind of felt like I could relate to it. It also taught me lessons like not to rush into a relationship so young and to find the right person for myself. You have all of your life to find someone right for you, but if you think the person is right, then go for it. I really understood and felt closest to Honey’s feelings in this book. I felt that she just lost her spark for Luca because they were together for so long, and I don’t blame her being with the same person for that long can be really underwhelming and sometimes boring. That’s why personally settling down earlier would not be my goal. I think it’s good that Honey and Luca went on dates with other people because that really tests their relationship to see if they really are meant for each other. Many people don’t like trying new things sometimes because it can be scary, but in some situations you have to just to see if you are making the right decision for your future. It’s always important to try new things, and I think that is an important theme in this book. You have to experience a lot of things before settling down, and I respect Honey for her choices in this book. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to young readers who enjoy romance novels with a bit of a twist!

BREAKUP SUPPORT GROUP – Cheyanne Young

by TPS reader Nagdar26

For my first book this semester, I chose to read The Breakup Support Group by Cheyanne Young. The book follows a high school senior, Isla Rush, as she navigates through getting her heart broken by her boyfriend of over four years and falling in love again. The story starts by introducing the readers to Isla and her life at the school in Texas she’s attended all her life. She has the perfect football player boyfriend, and her life is excellent up until he breaks up with her at a party a few weeks before school starts up again. Isla’s boyfriend, Nate, breaks up with her because of a rezoning policy designed by the city that forces her to leave her life at her school behind and switch schools before senior year to another school across town. The rest of the book is about her adjusting to her new life and school, including her joining a club called the “Breakup Support Group,” where she makes new friends, including a boy named Emory. While Isla navigates her new life, she also falls in love with Emory while still getting over Nate. This book was a quick and easy read although the cringey lines and overall plot made the book feel lacking. However, it was a light-hearted book with plenty of swoon-worthy moments and dramatic instances which helped cover up for the lack of an actual plot. It felt repetitive with continuous meetings of the Breakup Support Group talking about the same things repeatedly. Overall, I would rate this book a 5/10 and would recommend it to someone who wants an easy, romantic, quick read with light-hearted characters. 

FLIGHT 171 – Amy Christine Parker

by TPSreader rosariog27

This January I read Flight 171 by Amy Christine Parker. I give this book 4.75 out of 5 stars. I stepped out of my comfort zone and read a horror/thriller book, but I have to say, I am very pleased. I had trouble getting into the book at first, but when I started getting into it, I couldn’t put it down. The development of Devon was very pleasing. In the beginning she was very caught up in her grief. We see her in the 5 stages of grief. In the beginning of the book, she was in the third stage of bargaining. She was trying to become her sister, Emily, and was trying to find the person who killed her to give her peace. If she found that out in the beginning of the book, we would have never seen Devon forgive herself and actually be at peace with Emily’s death. 

Towards the middle of the book, she was in the stage of depression. She was so mad at herself that she couldn’t keep her emotions in and she couldn’t even trust herself to lead the group when the old lady took control. In the end she was in the stage of acceptance for Emily and Carter. She knew Andrew killed Emily and she let him handle the problem of telling the authorities and his family because she accepted it. She knew that no one could bring her back and this was no one’s fault. This was an accident and she needed to accept that. I loved how she incorporated alcoholism and how Jack realized how his actions could have ended and used that to show his growth. I love that we can grow to love Jack because we finally see he only wanted the best for Devon. I wasn’t expecting Andrew to have killed Emily. He doesn’t seem like the type to live with that and I feel like that is really something that hooked me to the book. I also wasn’t expecting Yara to be secretly dating Emily. That also shows that Devon definitely did not pay much attention to Emily and that helps us see that. In the end I am left questioning. I think this is a sign that the book was amazing. Was Devon really just seeing things? Is the old lady really dead? Are they next for killing? I am hoping we get a sequel from Amy Christine Parker because this book is amazing. 

FLIGHT 171 – Amy Christine Parker

by TPSreader holts27

Flight 171 by Amy Christine Parker is a horror novel about a group of kids flying to their senior class trip when a supernatural being overtakes the plane and forces the kids to sacrifice one of their fellow students to become their new host body. This is the first ever horror book I’ve read, and I thought it was very good. This book had a great plot that kept you on the edge of your seat the entire time, and the characters were very likable as well. I thought it was interesting how the author included the aspect of having every kid hiding a dark secret because it added another layer to the challenge of selecting someone to be sacrificed to the supernatural force. 

I also thought it was interesting how some of the secrets were easier to see in the characters when you look back to before you knew what they did. One example of this is Andrew. Andrew was one of the students on the plane, and he killed the sister of the main character, Devon. When I found out that he was the one who killed Emily, I was shocked because I had no idea that it was him. Now that I look back to the earlier parts of the book, it is a little more obvious because I could see how he acted around Devon. I think that the best books have little details like this which makes the book that much more interesting if you decide to read it again. Overall, this book was very well written, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in good horror books.

FLIGHT 171 – Amy Christine Parker

by TPS reader nierav26

This young adult novel is called Flight 171 and is written by Amy Christine Parker. The story starts in a very particular way, hooking the reader in the very first few pages. As you read, this book will keep you at the edge of your seat while you try to figure out why Devon’s twin sister Emily was murdered. The police have given up on further investigation about the case and there was really no evidence about who Emily’s killer could have been. A diverse number of characters will be introduced to you with different backgrounds, ideas, and even sins. You will not be able to stop reading when you find out that on the plane flight in which Devon and her classmates are on there is a supernatural creature with a strong desire for taking hold of a new body on board. The teenagers must sacrifice one of their classmates or they will all die. The story has a lot of twists and turns with little bits of romance, mystery, and lots of horror and suspense.

Devon must battle through the plane flight in order to try to figure out how to save everyone from the demon on board. Throughout this journey you will get to learn about the different ways every character thinks and how they react to different situations brought on by their horrifying experiences on flight 171. Some characters are selfish and only willing to save themselves. Others want to try and initiate a plan in order to save everyone. Then, of course, there are those who are terrified and glued to their seats because of the supernatural activity flying through the air. Devon will have to make some major decisions in order to survive. The question is will she actually succeed in saving the rest of the people on board, or will she make one wrong move resulting in the death of everyone boarding the plane? Devon must make some very risky decisions while others judge what she does and why she does it. Will Devon be successful or will she fail?

Amy Christine Parker will not let you stop reading this, especially when you start seeing how the teenagers suggest who to kill based on sins shown on the plane’s TV screens. The horror never ends and the fight or flight response that characters have never stops. You will be left with curiosity as to why certain things happen, and in the end you will be left wanting more of the story. Flight 171 is a must read, and it is guaranteed that it will keep you entertained.

#action, #FLauthor, #highschool, #yalit

#action, #FLauthor, #highschool, #yalit

THE DREAM HEIST – Christina Farley

by TPS reader alchc27

The book that I first chose to read was The Dream Heist by Christina Farley. It is a book filled with mysteries, adventure, drama, and a little bit of romance. The book follows the adventure of Aria Hale and her friends. They all work together with her dad at MAXlife. I enjoyed the book from the second I started it. There wasn’t a dull moment and that is what kept me reading. Once you really got into it and things started to connect, it was hard to put down. The friendships between Aria, Jake, Sun, Tony, and Javier grew throughout the entire book. Aria and Jake were classmates but never talked until they were forced to after she went into his dreams, and they developed feelings for each other. He helped solve the mystery, and they wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. As she went across the country, she found things she never thought she would, new beginnings, and even love. When the final plot twist happens, it makes the book even better. Looking back there is a lot of foreshadowing that you wouldn’t catch the first time you read it. Trying to solve the mystery with the characters is really fun. Bad things happen, but they always find a way around it and work together to do so. Overall I really enjoyed The Dream Heist, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves mystery filled with lots of drama. I would read this book again and would love to catch even more foreshadowing within everything that happens.

ODD ONE OUT by Nic Stone

by TPS reader princem27

I read Odd One Out by Nic Stone for my first book. This young-adult
book shows multiple perspectives on different relationships and how they
affect other people. I thought that it was interesting how they all had
feelings for each other, but they didn’t all know until the end of the book and
then it was too late, and it caused friendships to fall apart. The three friends
learn to navigate through their feelings as well as accepting existing
relationships or new ones. It shows how they balance their friendships, as well as their
romantic lives all while going to school and doing countless community
service and extracurricular activities. Courtney Cooper whose nickname is
Coop has known he’s been in love with his gay best friend, Jupiter Charity-
Sanchez, for a while now. Jupiter starts hanging out with this new girl Rae
Evelyn Chin. Rae’s dad works with Coop’s mom so they also start hanging
out. Jupiter starts to have feelings for Rae and thinks that Rae felt the
same because of how clingy she was to her. Coop started to have secret
feelings for Rae while still liking Jupiter. This is where things start to get
complicated; this twist in the book keeps the reader hooked through to the
end of the book. I highly recommend this book to people who like romance
and specifically in the romance genre, best friends to lovers. I enjoyed the
book and stayed intrigued. I loved how the pages just made me want to
keep reading. Overall, this was a great book that I highly recommend and
that I loved.

10 BLIND DATES by Ashley Elston

by TPS reader ballit24

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston is such a good book. Sophie’s parents are out of town, and she spends Christmas time with her Grandparents and family. She breaks up with her boyfriend, and her family plans for her to go on 10 blind dates. Each member of the family picks someone for her to go out with and where they go. Each family member picks some weird and interesting places for Sophie’s dates. As a result, she really gets to know her family and what each person thinks best suits her and what is best for her by the date choices they make. I feel like she makes deeper connections with her family members. I feel like Sophie understands herself a lot better because she meets so many different people with different personalities, so she has to really think about herself before others. This book has such a good plot because each different date is suspenseful, and you can’t stop reading the book once you start. You just want to get through each day to see what happens with Sophie. Sophie goes through a lot of ups and downs in the book but that is what makes her such a good character. If I had to recommend this book to someone, I would say all positive things about it because I think I have found one of my new favorite books.