Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman My name is Shawn McDaniel. I’m 14 years old. I think my father is planning to kill me. This book is short. It’s 114 pages of whoop-ass. It’s intense, man. Shawn McDaniel has cerebral palsy. He has no control over his muscles; not his limbs, his mouth, his eyes, nothing. Because of his complete lack of ability to communicate, everyone thinks he’s got the intelligence of an infant (3 to 4 months, to be precise). Shawn has no way of telling his family that’s he’s in there, and he’s a genius. Stuck in Neutral’s central philosophical conflict is around the idea of euthanasia. Shawn’s father thinks that his son’s life is agony. Is putting his son out of his (supposed) misery ethical? Is it love? Is it cowardice? All of the above? Throughout the immediate danger, Shawn takes us through his memories. All of his family members have different ways of showing love. His brother is angry, and turns violent if anyone messes with his little brother. His sister is kind and softhearted. His mother is the epitome of a protective mother hen. His father is lost; every memory we see of him shows the conflict he’s been struggling with since Shawn was born. I read Stuck in Neutral in less than an hour. It’s an incredible “what if” story that you guys should check out. -Allyx
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Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman

My name is Shawn McDaniel.

I’m 14 years old.

I think my father is planning to kill me.


This book is short. It’s 114 pages of whoop-ass. It’s intense, man.

Shawn McDaniel has cerebral palsy. He has no control over his muscles; not his limbs, his mouth, his eyes, nothing. Because of his complete lack of ability to communicate, everyone thinks he’s got the intelligence of an infant (3 to 4 months, to be precise). Shawn has no way of telling his family that’s he’s in there, and he’s a genius.

Stuck in Neutral’s central philosophical conflict is around the idea of euthanasia. Shawn’s father thinks that his son’s life is agony. Is putting his son out of his (supposed) misery ethical? Is it love? Is it cowardice? All of the above?

Throughout the immediate danger, Shawn takes us through his memories. All of his family members have different ways of showing love. His brother is angry, and turns violent if anyone messes with his little brother. His sister is kind and softhearted. His mother is the epitome of a protective mother hen. His father is lost; every memory we see of him shows the conflict he’s been struggling with since Shawn was born.

I read Stuck in Neutral in less than an hour. It’s an incredible “what if” story that you guys should check out.

-Allyx

Flight by Sherman Alexie Zits is a teenager who has been in foster care for most of his life. To put it mildly, he’s been pretty messed up from living in the system. When he meets Justice in a holding cell after yet another arrest, it doesn’t take much for his new acquaintance to convince him that it’s time for societal payback. Zits commits an act of horrific violence. The police are called. He is shot in the head. And wakes up in the body of an FBI agent named Hank. I don’t even know what genre to put Flight in. The time traveling and body-jumping calls for fantasy or historical fiction. But the emotions and dialogue are so real, and Zits always manages to bring those emotions and themes back to his present-day problems. Like most of Sherman Alexie’s novels, Flight is very much about the plight of the modern-day American Indian. But it’s also about a teenaged boy who doesn’t know how to process the pain from being abandoned, abused, and forgotten. This is a beautiful book, and you should read it. -Allyx
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Flight by Sherman Alexie

Zits is a teenager who has been in foster care for most of his life. To put it mildly, he’s been pretty messed up from living in the system. When he meets Justice in a holding cell after yet another arrest, it doesn’t take much for his new acquaintance to convince him that it’s time for societal payback.

Zits commits an act of horrific violence. The police are called. He is shot in the head.

And wakes up in the body of an FBI agent named Hank.

I don’t even know what genre to put Flight in. The time traveling and body-jumping calls for fantasy or historical fiction. But the emotions and dialogue are so real, and Zits always manages to bring those emotions and themes back to his present-day problems. Like most of Sherman Alexie’s novels, Flight is very much about the plight of the modern-day American Indian. But it’s also about a teenaged boy who doesn’t know how to process the pain from being abandoned, abused, and forgotten. This is a beautiful book, and you should read it.

-Allyx

Sold by Patricia McCormick: a one-sentence review Powerful, though I wish it had an epilogue. -Allyx
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Sold by Patricia McCormick: a one-sentence review

Powerful, though I wish it had an epilogue.

-Allyx

A Decidedly Non-YA Review The first time I read it Howl I was 14. Jess Mariano read it and I wanted to be Jess Mariano. At 14 the rawness and sexual references blew my head off. I didn’t understand any of the thematic significance, I just thought it was really cool. Now reading it as an adult with more experience with poetry it’s the rhythm that impresses me. The repetition that makes reading it feel you are walking down a staircase and keep expecting it to end, so your foot falls heavy and too far.  By the time I got to “I am with you in Rockland” it felt like I was reading in a dream. I still don’t understand many of the themes or metaphors. I thought I would this time, with my acquired knowledge and trauma. But great difference between knowing what something is about and understanding. And in reading Howl I am hugely aware of that gap.  -Becky
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A Decidedly Non-YA Review

The first time I read it Howl I was 14. Jess Mariano read it and I wanted to be Jess Mariano. At 14 the rawness and sexual references blew my head off. I didn’t understand any of the thematic significance, I just thought it was really cool.

Now reading it as an adult with more experience with poetry it’s the rhythm that impresses me. The repetition that makes reading it feel you are walking down a staircase and keep expecting it to end, so your foot falls heavy and too far. 

By the time I got to “I am with you in Rockland” it felt like I was reading in a dream. I still don’t understand many of the themes or metaphors. I thought I would this time, with my acquired knowledge and trauma. But great difference between knowing what something is about and understanding. And in reading Howl I am hugely aware of that gap. 

-Becky

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie I’m reading Flight, another one of Sherman Alexie’s books right now, and suddenly remembered reading this book in high school. I had a horrible English teacher junior year, this young blonde woman with an unpronounceable name who probably became a teacher because she couldn’t figure out what else to do with her life. This woman systematically ruined almost every book we read that year, but somehow, I still enjoyed reading Reservation Blues. This book is great. -Allyx
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Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie

I’m reading Flight, another one of Sherman Alexie’s books right now, and suddenly remembered reading this book in high school.

I had a horrible English teacher junior year, this young blonde woman with an unpronounceable name who probably became a teacher because she couldn’t figure out what else to do with her life. This woman systematically ruined almost every book we read that year, but somehow, I still enjoyed reading Reservation Blues. This book is great.

-Allyx

Haiku Reviews: The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl Flawed characters tell Painfully human stories Impressive and weird
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Haiku Reviews: The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

Flawed characters tell

Painfully human stories

Impressive and weird

How To Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford  This is a highly spoilerable book, so I am going to avoid that by talking about the Central Plot in code. This will be helped by my uncomfortable dislike of the Central Plot. When Beatrice moves to Maryland her senior year, she falls into an unexpected friendship with Jonah, who has been called Ghost Boy by his peers since childhood. Together the uncover a mystery concerning Jonah’s dead twin brother (Central Plot). The main character is lovely. Beatrice is the kind of charming weird that gets you tumblr famous. I would follow her blog in a heartbeat. And it is easy to see why she is charmed by Jonah. Readers will notice everything off about him, but understand why Beatrice follows his hazardous trail. I don’t quite buy the circumstances of Jonah and Beatrice’s friendship. It is kicked off with the reveal of the Central Plot, but it seemed to me that the closeness that resulted was too instant to be genuine.  The writing is solid, as are the characterizations of Beatrice’s background friends, who could easily be cardboard dolls. And after some time I really loved and believed in Jonah and Beatrice’s friendship. But the Central Plot seems to be a device for resulting character development. While Jonah was fully invested, Beatrice’s involvement didn’t feel genuine, leaving me less interested than I otherwise might have been. I’m going to say 2.7/5 stars and apologize for every unclear part of this review. There’s a reason it took me a week to write. -Becky
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How To Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford 

This is a highly spoilerable book, so I am going to avoid that by talking about the Central Plot in code. This will be helped by my uncomfortable dislike of the Central Plot.

When Beatrice moves to Maryland her senior year, she falls into an unexpected friendship with Jonah, who has been called Ghost Boy by his peers since childhood. Together the uncover a mystery concerning Jonah’s dead twin brother (Central Plot).

The main character is lovely. Beatrice is the kind of charming weird that gets you tumblr famous. I would follow her blog in a heartbeat. And it is easy to see why she is charmed by Jonah. Readers will notice everything off about him, but understand why Beatrice follows his hazardous trail.

I don’t quite buy the circumstances of Jonah and Beatrice’s friendship. It is kicked off with the reveal of the Central Plot, but it seemed to me that the closeness that resulted was too instant to be genuine. 

The writing is solid, as are the characterizations of Beatrice’s background friends, who could easily be cardboard dolls. And after some time I really loved and believed in Jonah and Beatrice’s friendship. But the Central Plot seems to be a device for resulting character development. While Jonah was fully invested, Beatrice’s involvement didn’t feel genuine, leaving me less interested than I otherwise might have been.

I’m going to say 2.7/5 stars and apologize for every unclear part of this review. There’s a reason it took me a week to write.

-Becky

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr In Once Was Lost, Sam’s faith is fading. The daughter of a pastor, she felt unquestioning faith in God from a very young age. But when her mother goes to rehab and a child from the church choir is kidnapped, she is left with nothing but questions.  Sara Zarr excels at writing girls. I can’t imagine her writing a male protagonist, because to me her greatest strength is writing the voices of girls. Sam’s feelings of frustration are evoked in the reader through frustration over Sam’s inaction and fear. I felt very connected to the characters and story. I wanted to badly for things to work out, for Sam’s mother to recover and Jody to be found safe. It really is a book you can’t give up on.  The actions and dialogue was stronger than Sam’s narration. I found the complex ideas and themes weren’t spoken of very well, but they were plotted beautifully. At the end the epiphany moments felt a little weak. This is the first YA book I’ve read that dealt with faith, and I found it wasn’t an overwhelming theme, and I believe those uninterested in theology would still enjoy this book. However I may be biased because of my own religious life.  I think this book has Zarr’s best plot. It is a wonderful and very emotional read.  -Becky
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Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

In Once Was Lost, Sam’s faith is fading. The daughter of a pastor, she felt unquestioning faith in God from a very young age. But when her mother goes to rehab and a child from the church choir is kidnapped, she is left with nothing but questions. 

Sara Zarr excels at writing girls. I can’t imagine her writing a male protagonist, because to me her greatest strength is writing the voices of girls. Sam’s feelings of frustration are evoked in the reader through frustration over Sam’s inaction and fear. I felt very connected to the characters and story. I wanted to badly for things to work out, for Sam’s mother to recover and Jody to be found safe. It really is a book you can’t give up on. 

The actions and dialogue was stronger than Sam’s narration. I found the complex ideas and themes weren’t spoken of very well, but they were plotted beautifully. At the end the epiphany moments felt a little weak.

This is the first YA book I’ve read that dealt with faith, and I found it wasn’t an overwhelming theme, and I believe those uninterested in theology would still enjoy this book. However I may be biased because of my own religious life. 

I think this book has Zarr’s best plot. It is a wonderful and very emotional read. 

-Becky

The Believing Game by Eireann Corrigan The Believing Game takes the cliche teenage love story and turns it on its head. After being caught shoplifting for the umpteenth time, Greer is sent to McCracken Hill; a therapeutic school for teens with serious problems. There, Greer meets Addison, a handsome, intelligent recovering alcoholic who is as attracted to Greer as she is to him. They quickly become the it couple at this school for troubled youth, and it seems like the story is going to revolve around their Bella-and-Edward-like love story. Luckily, things pick up quickly once Addison introduces Greer to his sponsor and mentor Joshua, a charismatic and manipulative man who worms his way into their circle of friends. The story goes from being about love to being about manipulation and deceit. One thing I really like about The Believing Game is that every character seems to have depth, no matter how minor they are in the story. I read a lot of books where the protagonist and a few other characters are completely fleshed-out, while everyone else is little more than a cardboard cutout. A lot of the characterization is very subtle, like the few allusions to Greer’s eating disorder. Greer is a great narrator. She’s intelligent and sarcastic (my favorite kind of narrator) and most of it is from her inner-dialogue. Sometimes it feels like the reader is the only person who sees her true character, as she spends a lot of the story keeping her mouth shut and trying to only say things that she thinks will win Addison’s favor. Even when she sees Joshua as he really is, a manipulative creep, she doesn’t say so for fear that Addison, who is completely under Joshua’s spell, will choose him over her. And Joshua is a creep. There were several scenes in the book that are just too squicky for words, like every time he made lewd jokes about Greer and Addison. Gross. The only real complaint I have about The Believing Game is that it wrapped up a bit quicker than seemed reasonable. Things gets very complicated and weird (and squicky), and the characters are able to resolve most of their problems in one chapter. It seemed like it happened way faster than it should’ve. I did like the resolution, though. Corrigan went for realism over fantasy when it came to Greer and Addison’s relationship with each other and their friends, who all got sucked into Joshua’s creepy cult. This was a dark book, y’all. Good thing I love the dark. The Believing Game is in bookstores as of today. -Allyx
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The Believing Game by Eireann Corrigan

The Believing Game takes the cliche teenage love story and turns it on its head.

After being caught shoplifting for the umpteenth time, Greer is sent to McCracken Hill; a therapeutic school for teens with serious problems. There, Greer meets Addison, a handsome, intelligent recovering alcoholic who is as attracted to Greer as she is to him. They quickly become the it couple at this school for troubled youth, and it seems like the story is going to revolve around their Bella-and-Edward-like love story. Luckily, things pick up quickly once Addison introduces Greer to his sponsor and mentor Joshua, a charismatic and manipulative man who worms his way into their circle of friends. The story goes from being about love to being about manipulation and deceit.

One thing I really like about The Believing Game is that every character seems to have depth, no matter how minor they are in the story. I read a lot of books where the protagonist and a few other characters are completely fleshed-out, while everyone else is little more than a cardboard cutout. A lot of the characterization is very subtle, like the few allusions to Greer’s eating disorder.

Greer is a great narrator. She’s intelligent and sarcastic (my favorite kind of narrator) and most of it is from her inner-dialogue. Sometimes it feels like the reader is the only person who sees her true character, as she spends a lot of the story keeping her mouth shut and trying to only say things that she thinks will win Addison’s favor. Even when she sees Joshua as he really is, a manipulative creep, she doesn’t say so for fear that Addison, who is completely under Joshua’s spell, will choose him over her.

And Joshua is a creep. There were several scenes in the book that are just too squicky for words, like every time he made lewd jokes about Greer and Addison. Gross.

The only real complaint I have about The Believing Game is that it wrapped up a bit quicker than seemed reasonable. Things gets very complicated and weird (and squicky), and the characters are able to resolve most of their problems in one chapter. It seemed like it happened way faster than it should’ve. I did like the resolution, though. Corrigan went for realism over fantasy when it came to Greer and Addison’s relationship with each other and their friends, who all got sucked into Joshua’s creepy cult. This was a dark book, y’all.

Good thing I love the dark.

The Believing Game is in bookstores as of today.

-Allyx

Skin Hunger

First of all, this book is nowhere near as dark as the title or the cover. That being said, it is still not a book for the weak of heart. Lots of systematic psychological abuse in school-like environment. Honestly, if you need something to make you feel better about the injustice of high school, the school in this book will make it look like a playground. The book follows two timelines, one of Sadima, a country girl who understands animals’ thoughts and leaves her small town to go to the city and help a young man named Franklin and his master Somiss rediscover magic. Long after Sadima’s time, magic is available to those who can pay. The unloved son of a wealthy merchant, Hahp, is sent to a prestigious, but terrifying wizard school where the entering class is told that only one, if any will graduate to be a wizard. Fun stuff. What I really love about this book isn’t the characters, it isn’t even the unique perspective on magic, it’s the tantalizing way the past and the present begin to converge. By midway through the book, there are characters that are recognizable in both. That’s the really cool part and it makes these books really great for re-reading. Also, quality storytelling and some possible social commentary on the role of class, but not really.

Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey
(sequel, Sacred Scars)

-Leah 


P.S. This author is not extremely famous and thus is really chill and you can talk to her on Facebook and stuff and she posts about her writing.