Andye Reads

Review by Kaitlin CARAVAL by Stephanie Garber Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Flatiron Books (January 31, 2017) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Welcome, welcome to Caraval―Stephanie Garber’s sweeping tale of two sisters who escape their ruthless father when they enter the dangerous intrigue of a legendary game. Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over. But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner. Scarlet...

Review by Jackie SPINDLE by E.K. Johnston Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (December 6, 2016) Language: English The world is made safe by a woman...but it is a very big world. It has been generations since the Storyteller Queen drove the demon out of her husband and saved her country from fire and blood. Her family has prospered beyond the borders of their village, and two new kingdoms have sprouted on either side of the mountains where the demons are kept prisoner by bright iron, and by the creatures the Storyteller Queen made to keep them contained. But the prison is crumbling. Through years of careful manipulation, a demon has regained her power. She has made one kingdom strong and brought the other to its knees, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When a princess is born, the demon is ready with the final blow: a curse that will cost the princess her very soul, or force her to destroy her own people to save her life. The threads of magic are tightly ...

Review by Jackie SPARE AND FOUND PARTS by Sarah Maria Griffin Print Length: 416 pages Publisher: Greenwillow Books (October 4, 2016) Publication Date: October 4, 2016 Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers Goodreads | Amazon Nell Crane has never held a boy’s hand. In a city devastated by an epidemic, where survivors are all missing parts—an arm, a leg, an eye—Nell has always been an outsider. Her father is the famed scientist who created the biomechanical limbs that everyone now uses. But she’s the only one with her machinery on the inside: her heart. Since the childhood operation, she has ticked. Like a clock, like a bomb. And as her community rebuilds, everyone is expected to contribute to the society’s good . . . but how can Nell live up to her father’s revolutionary ideas when she has none of her own? Then she finds a lost mannequin’s hand while salvaging on the beach, and inspiration strikes. Can Nell build her own companion in a world that fears advanced technology? The deeper...

Review by Sara... LAST SEEN LEAVING By Caleb Roehrig Series: No Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (October 4, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Flynn's girlfriend has disappeared. How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own? Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January's boyfriend, he must know something. But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.  I don't even know when or how to begin with this book. The blurb makes it seem like a YA version of  Gone Girl  and I was all about that. I'm sad to report that is  not  the case with this book.  When the book starts, the MC, Flynn, comes home to find police at his house. Flynn is ...

Review by Sara... JULIA VANISHES By Catherine Egan Series: Witch's Child #1 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (June 7, 2016) Language: English Grade Range: 8 up Goodreads | Amazon Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people's senses.  It's a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it's a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned--crime pays. Her latest job is paying very well indeed. Julia is posing as a housemaid in the grand house of Mrs. Och, where an odd assortment of characters live and work: A disgraced professor who sends her to fetch parcels containing bullets, spiders, and poison. An aristocratic houseguest who is locked in the basement each night. And a mysterious young woman who is clearly in hiding--though from what or whom? Worse, Julia suspects that there's a connecti...

Review by Sara... THE GIRL I USED TO BE By April Henry Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books (May 3, 2016) Language: English Grade Range: 7 and up Age Range: 12 and up Goodreads | Amazon When Olivia's mother was killed, everyone suspected her father of murder. But his whereabouts remained a mystery. Fast forward fourteen years. New evidence now proves Olivia's father was actually murdered on the same fateful day her mother died. That means there's a killer still at large. It's up to Olivia to uncover who that may be. But can she do that before the killer tracks her down first? This is the first book by April Henry that I have read and if all of her books are like this one, I may sit them out. My initial reaction was to give this book 3.5 stars but I may drop that down to 2.5 stars. The more I digest this book, the more I realize things just don't add up. This is the story of Olivia Reinhart, who is actually Arial Be...

Review by Sara... FRANNIE AND TRU By Karen Hattrup Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: HarperTeen (May 31, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon When Frannie Little eavesdrops on her parents fighting she discovers that her cousin Truman is gay, and his parents are so upset they are sending him to live with her family for the summer. At least, that’s what she thinks the story is. . . When he arrives, shy Frannie befriends this older boy, who is everything that she’s not–rich, confident, cynical, sophisticated. Together, they embark on a magical summer marked by slowly unraveling secrets.   All of these debut books are starting to read as if they are the same. This was no different than the rest I have read recently. It started promising and then turned boring, leaving me to wonder what I just read. This is the story of cousins Frannie and Tru(man). Frannie overhears her mother talking one day and mentions that Truman (who goes by Tru) is gay. Tru'...

Review by Sara... THE FALL OF BUTTERFLIES By Andrea Portes Hardcover: 386 pages Publisher: Harper Teen (May 10, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Willa Parker, 646th and least popular resident of What Cheer, Iowa, is headed east to start a new life. Did she choose this new life? No, because that would be too easy—and nothing in Willa’s life is easy. It’s her famous genius mother’s idea to send her to ultra-expensive, ultra-exclusive Pembroke Prep, and it’s only the strength of her name that got Willa accepted in the first place. But Willa has no intentions of fitting in at Pembroke. She’s not staying long, she decides. Not at this school—and not on this planet. But when she meets peculiar, glittering Remy Taft, the richest, most mysterious girl on campus, she starts to see a foothold in this foreign world—a place where she could maybe, possibly, sort of fit. When Willa looks at Remy, she sees a girl who has everything. But for Remy, having everything co...

Review by Sara... THE BLOOD BETWEEN US By Zac Brewer Grade Level: 8 up Hardcover: 274 pages Publisher: HarperTeen (May 3, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Growing up, Adrien and his sister, Grace, competed viciously for everything. It wasn’t easy being the adopted sibling, but Adrien tried to get along; it was Grace who didn’t want anything to do with him. When their scientist parents died in a terrible lab fire, there was nothing left to hold them together. After years apart, Adrien and Grace are now forced to reunite for their senior year, at the elite boarding school where their parents were teachers. Being back around everyone he used to know causes Adrien to examine the person he’s become, even while being back around Grace turns him into someone he doesn’t want to be. But all of those questions are cast aside when Adrien starts to suspect that Grace might be stealing their parents’ research and claiming it as her own—or worse, that she had a hand in...

Review by Jennifer FRAYED by Kara Terzis Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire (June 7, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Dear Kesley, My therapist tells me I should write you a letter. Like flushing all my thoughts and feelings out of my system and onto paper. I tell her it's a stupid idea. But here I am, writing a letter to a dead girl. Where do I start? Where did our story begin? From the moment you were born...or died?  I'll start with the moment I found out the truth about you. Your lies and my pain. Because it always begins and ends with you. And that end began when Rafe Lawrence came back to town... Ava Hale will do anything to find her sister's killer...although she'll wish she hadn't. Because the harder Ava looks, the more secrets she uncovers about Kesley, and the more she begins to think that the girl she called sister was a liar. A sneak. A stranger. And Kesley's murderer could be much closer than she t...

Review by Sara... THE LAND OF 10,000 MADONNAS By Kate Hattemer Age Range: 12 and up Grade Range: 7 and up Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Knopf (April 19, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Five teens backpack through Europe to fulfill the mysterious dying wish of their friend. Jesse lives with his history professor dad in a house covered with postcards of images of the Madonna from all over the world. They’re gotten used to this life: two motherless dudes living among thousands of Madonnas. But Jesse has a heart condition that will ultimately cut his life tragically short. Before he dies, he arranges a mysterious trip to Europe for his three cousins, his best friend, and his girlfriend to take after he passes away. It’s a trip that will forever change the lives of these young teens and one that will help them come to terms with Jesse’s death. I was really excited when I received this book to read because the premise sounded like a great read and the cover looked amazi...

Review by Leydy   WHISPER TO ME by Nick Lake Hardcover: 544 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens (May 3, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon A remarkable story of strange beauty and self-discovery from Printz Award winner Nick Lake. Cassie is writing a letter to the boy whose heart she broke. She's trying to explain why. Why she pushed him away. Why her father got so angry when he saw them together. Why she disappears some nights. Why she won't let herself remember what happened that long-ago night on the boardwalk. Why she fell apart so completely. Desperate for his forgiveness, she's telling the whole story of the summer she nearly lost herself. She's hoping that love-love for your family, love for that person who makes your heart beat faster, and love for yourself-can save both of them after all.    This is not going to be pretty so I will make it short. I’m very disappointed with this story. I really wanted to like the book because I l...

Review by Sara.. THE GLITTERING COURT By Richelle Mead Series: Glittering Court #1 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Razorbill (April 5th, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon The Selection meets Reign in this dazzling trilogy of interwoven novels about three girls on a quest for freedom and true love from #1 internationally bestselling author Richelle Mead. For a select group of girls, the Glittering Court offers a shot at a life they’ve only ever dreamed of, one of luxury, glamour, and leisure. To high-born Adelaide, whose wealthy family is forcing her into a loveless marriage, the Glittering Court represents something else: the chance to chart her own destiny, and adventure in an unspoiled, prosperous new land across the sea. After a chance meeting with the dazzling Cedric Thorn, Adelaide poses as a servant to join the crop of impoverished girls he promises to transform into proper ladies. But her familiarity with upper class life comes with a price: she ...