YA – Bookmarked!

#cybilsreads: Nimona

“Wow” was all I could say as soon as I finished Noelle Stevenson’s “Nimona.” Very few books manage to surprise me these days, and I must say Nimona blindsided me — I wasn’t expecting to fall completely in love with this book!

Nimona is a young girl with the ability to shapeshift, and she signs on to be the sidekick of the evil villain Lord Ballister Blackheart. Nimona and Blackheart scheme to expose the treachery of the kingdom’s champion (and Blackheart’s nemesis) Ambrosius Goldenloin and the Institution of Law Enforcement.

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The Year We Became Invincible

I met Mae Coyiuto sometime last year to discuss a project, and we’ve been corresponding on that for some months now when she asked if I would be interested in reviewing her upcoming YA novella. I knew she has been writing since she was very young, but I’ve never actually read any of her work so I told her to go ahead and send me the manuscript.

Set for release later this month (under Anvil Publishing), “The Year We Became Invincible” is about high school senior Camille Li, whose life is planned out to the last detail. She’s a ballerina who plans to major in chemistry, and go on to med school to become a doctor like her dad. But when Camille meets Ian, a “smart ass slacker” and his group of adventure-loving friends, she finds herself doing things she never would have dared to do before, and she starts to reconsider what she wants to do with her life.

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P.S. I Still Love You

I was hedging on whether I would read this book or not, but I’ve been seeing ~~violent reactions~~ reviews on my feed and curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to bump it up my TBR this weekend.

“P.S. I Still Love You” is the sequel to Jenny Han’s “To All the Boys I Loved Before,” which I thought was pretty charming. In this sequel, Lara Jean has a boyfriend (DON’T read after the cut if you don’t want spoilers!), and she finds out being in a relationship is not as simple as she thought it would be.

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Vendetta

I had loved The Godfather when I read it two years ago, so my curiosity was piqued when I got an ARC of “Vendetta,” a mafia-themed YA romance, which I had especially reserved for a session at a nail salon (I swear, one of the best places to get reading done!)

The debut novel of Catherine Doyle, “Vendetta” (the first in the Blood for Blood series) is set in the small town of Cedar Hill, where Sophie Gracewell’s life takes an exciting turn when a family of five Italian boys move into the abandoned mansion in her neighborhood.

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Catching up: The Raven Cycle

Maggie Stiefvater is best known for her Shiver (“Shiver,” “Linger,” “Forever”) trilogy, but I do think her best work is showcased in her succeeding books, the standalone novel “The Scorpio Races” and the ongoing Raven Cycle, with three books out: “The Raven Boys,” “The Dream Thieves,” and “Blue Lily, Lily Blue.”

I loved “The Scorpio Races ,” and the Raven Cycle is growing more and more fascinating with each installment, with lots of characters to fall in love with and a strange and beautiful world to explore. The series is an unusual mix of paranormal and fantasy, with a dash of mystery, romance (of course), and all the awkwardness of growing up.

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