Andye Reads

Review by Sara Thanks to Disney for sending a copy, and for providing a prize pack! A LIST OF CAGES by Robin Roe Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (January 10, 2017) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian--the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years. Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he...

Review by Sara... GIRL IN PIECES  By Kathleen Glasgow Series: No Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press (August 30, 2016) Grade Level: 10 Up Language: English Goodreads | Amazon For fans of  Girl, Interrupted, Thirteen Reasons Why,  and  All the Bright Places  comes Kathleen Glasgow’s debut novel about a girl who has lost everything—almost even herself.     Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The broken glass washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.   Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the ...

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... AND I DARKEN  By Kiersten White Series: The Conquerors Saga #1 Hardcover: pages Publisher: Delacorte (June 28, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets. Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s fin...

Review by Sara... THE CROWN'S GAME By Evelyn Skye Series: The Crown's Game #1 Hardcover: 399 pages Publisher: Balzer + Bray  Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side. And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death. Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has? For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chanc...

Review by Sara... THREE TRUTHS AND A LIE By Brent Hartinger Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Simon Pulse (August 2, 2016) Grade Level: 9 and up Language: English Goodreads | Amazon A weekend retreat in the woods and an innocent game of three truths and a lie go horribly wrong in this high-octane psychological thriller filled with romantic suspense by a Lambda Award–winning author. Deep in the forest, four friends gather for a weekend of fun.  Truth #1: Rob is thrilled about the weekend trip. It’s the perfect time for him to break out of his shell…to be the person he really, really wants to be.  Truth #2: Liam, Rob’s boyfriend, is nothing short of perfect. He’s everything Rob could have wanted. They’re perfect together. Perfect.  Truth #3: Mia has been Liam’s best friend for years…long before Rob came along. They get each other in a way Rob could never, will never, understand.  Truth #4: Galen, Mia’s boyfriend, is sweet, handsome, and incredibly char...

Review by Sara... LEARNING TO SWEAR IN AMERICA By Katie Kennedy Hardcover: 346 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury (July 5, 2016) Grade Range: 9 up Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Brimming with humor and one-of-a-kind characters, this end-of-the world novel will grab hold of Andrew Smith and Rainbow Rowell fans. An asteroid is hurtling toward Earth. A big, bad one. Yuri, a physicist prodigy from Russia, has been called to NASA as they calculate a plan to avoid disaster. He knows how to stop the asteroid: his research in antimatter will probably win him a Nobel prize--if there's ever another Nobel prize awarded. But Yuri's 17, and having a hard time making older, stodgy physicists listen to him. Then he meets Dovie, who lives like a normal teenager, oblivious to the impending doom. Being with her, on the adventures she plans when he's not at NASA, Yuri catches a glimpse of what it means to save the world and save a life worth living. Prepare to laugh, cry,...

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...