Andye Reads

Review by Krista THE SECRET SEA by Barry Lyga Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (August 23, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Zak Killian hears a voice. Could it be a guardian angel? A ghost? No, that’s crazy. But sometimes the voice is so real…It warns him of danger—directs him to safety. Then one day Zak is standing on the subway platform when the voice warns him to run. The tunnel starts to fill with water. His friends Moira and Khalid believe this is more than a premonition, and soon all three find themselves in an alternate universe that is both familiar and seriously strange. As Zak unravels the mystery behind the voice, he faces decisions that may mean the end of their world at home—if they can even get home! The author makes a note that inspiration for this story came about when he read a story that a ship had been unearthed under the ground zero rubble. A boat, so far inland and how it got there and the message is sends to today. After re...

Review by Jackie... THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES By Mindy McGinnis Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (September 20, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. When her older sister, Anna, was murdered three years ago and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best. The language of violence. While her crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people, even in her small hometown. She relegates herself to the shadows, a girl who goes unseen in plain sight, unremarkable in the high school hallways. But Jack Fisher sees her. He’s the guy all other guys want to be: the star athlete gunning for valedictorian with the prom queen on his arm. Guilt over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered hasn’t let him forget Alex over the years, and now her green eyes amid a constellation of freckles have his attention. He doesn’t want to...

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... 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 Krista... THE GILDED CAGE By Lucinda Gray Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (August 2, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon After growing up on a farm in Virginia, Walthingham Hall in England seems like another world to sixteen-year-old Katherine Randolph. Her new life, filled with the splendor of upper-class England in the 1820s, is shattered when her brother mysteriously drowns. Katherine is expected to observe the mourning customs and get on with her life, but she can't accept that her brother's death was an accident.  A bitter poacher prowls the estate, and strange visitors threaten the occupants of the house. There's a rumor, too, that a wild animal stalks the woods of Walthingham. Can Katherine retain her sanity long enough to find out the truth? Or will her brother's killer claim her life, too? The Randolph's lost their parents after moving to Virginia from England. Relying on the friend...

 Review by Natalie THE LONG GAME The Fixer #2 by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Series: Fixer Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens (June 7, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon For Tess Kendrick, a junior at the elite Hardwicke School in Washington D.C., fixing runs in the family. But Tess has another legacy, too, one that involves power and the making of political dynasties. When Tess is asked to run a classmate's campaign for student council, she agrees. But when the candidates are children of politicians, even a high school election can involve life-shattering secrets. Meanwhile, Tess's guardian has also taken on an impossible case, as a terrorist attack calls into doubt who can--and cannot--be trusted on Capitol Hill. Tess knows better than most that power is currency in Washington, but she's about to discover first-hand that power always comes with a price. Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Ally Carter, the second book in this thrilling s...

By Becca.. THE DARKEST CORNERS by Kara Thomas Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press (April 19, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon For fans of Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places and Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars , The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become. There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them. Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good. Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted...

by Andye ZERO DAY by Jan Gangsei Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (January 12, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Eight years ago, Addie Webster was the victim of the most notorious kidnapping of the decade. Addie vanished-and her high-profile parents were forced to move on. Mark Webster is now president of the United States, fighting to keep the oval office after a tumultuous first term. Then the unthinkable happens: the president's daughter resurfaces. Addie is brought back into her family's fold, but who is this sixteen-year-old girl with a quiet, burning intelligence now living in the White House? There are those in the president's political circle who find her timely return suspicious. When a national security advisor approaches Darrow Fergusson, Addie's childhood best friend and the son of the president's chief of staff, he doesn't know what to think. How could the girl he's missed for all these years be a threat to na...

Review by Sara SANCTUARY BAY  by Laura J. Burns & Melinda Metz Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (January 19, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon In this genre-bending YA thriller, will Sarah Merson's shiny new prep school change her life forever or bring it to a dark and sinister end? When Sarah Merson receives the opportunity of a lifetime to attend the most elite prep school in the country-Sanctuary Bay Academy-it seems almost too good to be true. But, after years of bouncing from foster home to foster home, escaping to its tranquil setting, nestled deep in Swans Island, couldn't sound more appealing. Swiftly thrown into a world of privilege and secrets, Sarah quickly realizes finding herself noticed by class charmer, Nate, as well as her roommate's dangerously attentive boyfriend, Ethan, are the least of her worries. When her roommate suddenly goes missing, she finds herself in a race against time, not only to find her, but...

Review by Jackie   The Killing Jar  by Jennifer Bosworth Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (January 12, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon "I try not to think about it, what I did to that boy." Seventeen-year-old Kenna Marsden has a secret. She's haunted by a violent tragedy she can't explain. Kenna's past has kept people-even her own mother-at a distance for years. Just when she finds a friend who loves her and life begins to improve, she's plunged into a new nightmare: her mom and twin sister are attacked, and the dark powers Kenna has struggled to suppress awaken with a vengeance. On the heels of the assault, Kenna is exiled to a nearby commune, known as Eclipse, to live with a relative she never knew she had. There, she discovers an extraordinary new way of life as she learns who she really is, and the wonders she's capable of. For the first time, she starts to feel like she belongs somewhere;...

Review by Leydy NEED by Joelle Charbonneau Age Range: 12 and up Grade Level: 7 and up Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (November 3, 2015) Goodreads | Amazon “No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better.” Teenagers at Wisconsin’s Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes. The body count rises. In this chilling YA thriller, the author of the best-selling Testing trilogy examines not only the dark side of social media, but the dark side of human nature.  I need this! I want that! Human emotions are tricky. The urge of need and want is often confused, just like in Need. People would do anything and everything for something they “need” when in reality it is what they want. This book, Need , holds a nice premise, however the execution was ...