The Ward by Jordana Frankel

The Ward is a dystopian YA book with a sequel about disease, lies, and magical water. Due to the Wash Out, a flood, Manhattan is overrun with dirty water. Renata (Ren) and her foster sister Aven live together, barely getting by. Aven has the Blight, an incurable illness caused by pollution. They live in the Ward, an area in downtown Manhattan that is home to the poor, and little is being done to help. 

But when the disease reaches the Upper Islets, the government recruits Ren to search for fresh water in the hopes of it leading to a cure or remedy. She takes the job only to help Aven. While on the job, she finds magical water that could solve everything. However, people protect that water, and she finds herself caught up in a huge mess of lies, and trusting in others could be her biggest mistake- one that would destroy everything.

I have to say how awesome the cover is! I love having her being inside the letter A in the title. All the buildings going towards the edge of the waterfall is very scary, but it really captures your attention. I also really enjoyed the characters. Good or evil was a struggle in this book as well as trust. Trusting in the wrong people made for many changes along the plot. 

While I enjoyed the characters, struggles, and the cover art, I have two major problems with The Ward. First of all, I had barely any background knowledge of the situation. Readers were not given any information about anything outside of Manhattan. The book did not have any specific information about the Blight, just basics. I have many questions, and I could probably write a whole book about the missing information! Secondly, there was not much imagery. I had a hard time picturing the events and there were very few setting descriptions that were significant. 

While I did not enjoy this book, I would like to read the sequel, The Isle. 

Title: The Ward

Author: Jordana Frankel

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Pages: 365 Pages

Series: Yes, Book 1 of 2

Rating: 3 Stars

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The Storm (H2O Book 2) by Virginia Bergin

The Storm is the sequel to the YA dystopian book H2O, the American title for The Rain. Three months ago, before the rain started, an asteroid hit earth with space bacteria. It got in the clouds and infected them. If the rain hit you, then the bacteria gets in your body and destroys you from the inside out.

Now 97% of humanity is dead. Ruby is not convinced she can continue on her own. She accepts the army's protection, but soon Ruby is wishing she never came. She finds out the ultimate secret that she can't keep. Ruby must fight back to save the rest of the population. At the same time, Ruby also wants to finish the quest she originally wanted to accomplish- to find her dad, the only family she has left. 

The Storm was very disappointing. One thing I did not like very much was the change from the butterflies to the ink blotches. If you read the first book, you might remember how when a character was saying a bad word, the author put a butterfly in the space instead. This time, it was splatters of ink. It looked like a tiny explosion. While the imagination of what it could be was cool, it was distracting and it make the tone of the book more negative. 

The part about her dad was way shorter than I expected it to be, and not what I was expecting. For what it was worth, I wanted it to be better. There were events that could be left out and took up too many pages. The plot was confusing and certain events did not add up. There was a huge twist that made no sense. The ending was okay, but was not very good for ending a series. 

I do not recommend that you read this book or series. It was a cool idea, but was not developed well. I regret buying this book.

Read my review of the first book, H2O.
 

Title: The Storm (H2O Book 2)

Author: Virginia Bergin

Publisher:  Sourcebooks Fire

Pages: 336 

Series: Yes, Book 2 of 2
Rating: 1 Star

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Losers Take All by David Klass

Losers Take All is a funny realistic fiction book where sometimes losing is winning. Jack Logan's high school has a new rule that all students must play on a sports team. Jack's whole family are football stars, and the new principal is not happy at all that Jack will not play football. Instead, he and his other anti-sports friends start a soccer team where their goal is to lose. At their first game, they make so many mistakes that a video of them went viral, and they have fans all over the world laughing and admiring what they are doing. They soon are winning in ways they don't quite know how to handle.

While they enjoy their fame, there are also many problems. Secret information has been leaked to news reporters, their principal and football team is out to get revenge, and tension heats up with Jack and his dad. On top of it all, Jack is good at soccer, which proves an internal conflict. They soon learn that they are in more trouble than they accounted for.

I liked the internal conflict with Jack. His whole family are huge football players and his family members are legends except him. Then when he gets noticed for playing soccer so well, he starts getting recruited. Jack has to decide what means more to him and where his loyalties to the team actually stand. I liked how he balanced both feelings.

This was the funniest sports book I have ever read! The team made hilarious mistakes, some staged, but most accidental, including the goalie falling asleep! I liked how things backfired on them, and it was really hilarious when they did! Even the principal being mean was funny, as the insults were so crazy.

Another thing I enjoyed was the tone. The tone was relaxed and laid back. I also liked that the book was only a little bit about sports. Mostly it was about getting along with others, problem solving, and having fun in life. Losers Take All is a very funny, relaxed great read for everyone of all ages!

I highly recommend this book!

Title: Losers Take All
Author: David Kass
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Pages: 320
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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Anywhere but Here by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Anywhere but Here is a realistic fiction YA book that deals with adjusting to change and the death of a parent. Cole lost his mom to cancer, and he misses her. He often pretends that he is talking to her and that she is right beside him. His dad has moved on and has a new girlfriend now, and that angers Cole. Cole also broke up with Lauren because she didn't understand him anymore. Unfortunately, she does not have a good response, especially when he starts dating Hannah. All the more reason to leave the town of Webster, but soon he discovers a secret that changes his perspective.

Anywhere but Here had a lot of conflicts. Every character had some sort of issue, and it was sometimes confusing what was happening in each. I felt like the characters did not really learn much from what happened, and I would have liked more of "I'm sorry."  Also, the breakup between Cole and Lauren was not as clear as I would of liked it to be. Cole was very self-centered, and I would have liked him to be nicer.

The plot was kind of twisted due to the variety, and so it lacked focus on a specific thing. I did like Cole's documentary, and it really summed up the book quite well. I also liked that the book brought up a lot of issues, but I feel there were just too many.

I do not regret reading this book, but I do not recommend it.

Title: Anywhere but Here
Author: Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 320
Series: No
Rating: 2 Stars
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Firefight (The Reckoners Book 2) by Brandon Sanderson

Firefight is the second book in the fantasy and sci-fi YA trilogy The Reckoners. 12 years ago, Calamity appeared in the sky, a bright red star or comet. It gave regular people superpowers, and they were called Epics. When they use their powers, their personality changes for the worse. David has a fascination with Epics, and has kept notes and journals about each one, landing him a position with The Reckoners.

Ending Steelheart was supposed to make David feel better. Instead it made him feel worse, and have more questions than ever. On top of that, Megan left him heartbroken, and David is determined to find her, and prove that not all Epics have to be bad.

One thing I liked was that the places they went to are actually places that exist today, but they called them different names. For example, Babylar, which we know today as Manhattan. 

I really liked that David still used crazy metaphors. For example, a potato in a minefield. I also liked the self-conflict with David. He was sworn to ending Epics, but Megan has changed that, and he finds himself challenging his beliefs which becomes an issue when he has to end more Epics.  

I highly recommend that you read this book and this series!

Read my review of the first book in this trilogy, Steelheart.

Title: Firefight (The Reckoners Book 2)

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 416

Series: Yes, book 2

Rating: 5 Stars

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Reality Boy by A.S. King

When Gerald was five, his mom had the TV show Network Nanny come into their house and try to fix their family, especially Gerald, who his mother called retarded all the time. She always defended Tasha (his older sister) who does things way worse than he would ever do. The whole world saw his family, and they never forgot about him. The thing is, the show only showed a little bit of what really happened, and made Gerald look like the bad one.

It doesn't help that 12 years later, Lisi (his other sister) is away at college, and Tasha lives in the basement, being very loud in her life. Gerald is close to his dad, but his mom is a different story. Everyone is scared when he will lose control and his anger will take over, and he feels very close to doing that.

Reality Boy had an angry tone, but it faded through the book a little bit. I really liked this book because he was angry for a reason, not just angry to be angry. I think he deserved to be angry about Network Nanny, however I think sometimes he went a little far. Hannah was a complex character. I liked that she did not really care about Gerald's history on the show, but she was really hard to figure out.

I really liked the ending. I think that it wrapped things up really nicely and even though it was not happily ever after, it was pretty close to it! Although the reading level is middle grade, due to some of the language used and some of the content, I feel this book is young adult.

I highly recommend that you read this book!

Title: Reality Boy
Author: A.S. King
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 353
Series: No
Rating: 4 Stars
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Cured (Stung Book 2) by Bethany Wiggins

Cured is the sequel to the YA dystopian book Stung. Since Jacqui and her mother were not allowed to live inside the wall, she has lived most of her life as a boy named Jack. A few years ago, her brother Dean left with Fiona's mother to help her find somewhere to live, but never came back. When she hears the news of a cure, she decides to figure out what happened to them. She runs away to Fiona and her fiance Bowen for help for finding out where they are, and they set out to find them. Along the way they must fight to keep the cure out of the wrong hands and fix their shattered world.

In Stung, Jacqui was briefly featured in the first few chapters. I was happily surprised to see her again in Cured, this time as the main protagonist. I really liked her determination and medical skills, which really came in handy. I also liked that there was a lot of action and not a lot of sitting around and doing nothing.

The one thing I do not get and do not like is the fact that she told them she was 12, when in reality she is near 16. I also did not like that almost half the book was flashbacks to her previous years in life. Doing flashbacks is fine, but most of the time they were a couple pages, and I found myself wanting to skip them to just get to the story. 

I recommend that you read the two books in this series!

Read my review of the first book, Stung.

Title: Cured (Stung Book 2)

Author: Bethany Wiggins

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Pages: 320

Series: Yes, Book 2 of 2

Rating: 3 Stars

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Adrift by Paul Griffin

Adrift is a realistic fiction book about being stranded in the ocean. The whole thing was started by a Klondike Bar. That simple, just selling slightly melted Klondike Bars on a hot day in Montauk. Well, selling the bar led to meeting Driana, which led to going to a party with the end result of brothers Matt and John getting stranded in sea with JoJo, Stef and Driana. 

On the boat, Matt and John discover that a tragic event that happened a long time ago still has harsh emotions and tensions rise. Huge mistakes can happen when you are tired and not thinking clearly. Not everyone comes back, and the ones that do are forever changed.

One aspect of Adrift that I really liked is that every couple of chapters there would be a little letter or email about the police trying to find them and their investigation, which I think was a really cool idea.

I also enjoyed the sequence of events. Everything that happened led to something else happening. That was helpful in keeping the story relevant and not going off topic, like some stories do. Another thing is that there were stories within the story. While in the boat, the feelings between Matt and John are shown through dialogue between the boys and Diana, which was helpful to understand without further narration.

I highly recommend that you read this book!

Title: Adrift
Author: Paul Griffin
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 240 pages
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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True Legend by Mike Lupica

True Legend is an inspirational realistic fiction book about being a team player, on the court and in life. Drew Robinson is a famous basketball player at his high school. His teammates call him True, for true talent. He gets passing grades he doesn't deserve so he can play, and his mom's job was given to her because of his skills. Pretty soon, the whole "true" thing starts to go to his head, and gets him in trouble, in school and out.

One night on the playground basketball court, Drew sees someone playing who is amazing. He turns out to be Urban Donald Sellers, a famous basketball player. He is a guy who knows about being a legend and the game of basketball. He teaches Drew how to get back on track, and what it really means to be a legend.

One thing I really liked was that the book taught about basketball terms without flat out saying them. The words used would imply what it meant very easily, which is good for someone who is not familiar with all the terms. I also liked that the book is more than just basketball. True Legend teaches about how to handle jealousy and being a team player and the consequences of not being one.

Drew was a very interesting character. He got easily distracted from real life and often lost himself. Drew did not know who he was, and he let everyone take care of him, so he didn't really take care of himself. Donald helped him come out of his shell, and I really liked to watch how Drew changed and progressed, good and bad, throughout the story.

I highly recommend that you read this book!

Title: True Legend
Author: Mike Lupica
Publisher: Philomel Books

Pages: 304

Series: No

Rating: 5 Stars

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Dead Batteries Tell No Tales by Ian Thomas Malone

When Ian Thomas Malone contacted me to review the prequel to his YA realistic fiction book Five High School Dialogues, I was very excited! In Dead Batteries Tell No Tales, Amber's phone has died, and she has to take the bus, both of which are things she has never had to deal with until now. Lucky for her, her classmate Jason reaches out to her. Amber and Jason learn that how they view life and social rankings are very different and try to figure out how to view people, as well as social status.

I enjoyed reading this funny new release! It is a quick, refreshing read for middle grade and young adult readers. It is not necessary to read this one before Five High School Dialogues, however it helps with background knowledge of Jason and Amber. The book is written in the same format as Five High School Dialogues, however I do not feel that there is a need for separate scenes due to the fact that it is one story. This book can help people change their thinking and views of the people around them.

I liked how their personalities and lifestyles were so different. Amber is rich and helps with cheerleading, while Jason is middle class and is in a money club. Jason is so nice and wants to help out, while Amber is so shocked that he doesn't have a phone! It was very funny!

I highly recommend that you read this book!

Title: Dead Batteries Tell No Tales

Author: Ian Thomas Malone

Publisher: European Geeks Publishing, LLC

Pages: 120 Pages

Series: Prequel to Five High School Dialogues

Rating: 4 Stars

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