Review: The Boarding School Experiment - Book #1 Experiment Series - Emily Evans - September 2012 There's a particular kind of joy in curling up with a new Emily Evans book, and I'll admit I went into this one already grinning before I'd even cracked the spine. Emily is one of those authors whose name on a cover is basically a promise.  I know I'm in for something fun, fast, and full of heart and pair that with a boarding school setting, my absolute weakness as a reader, and this felt like it was written just for me. The premise had me hooked immediately. There are three steps to taking revenge on the most popular, hottest guy in your senior class: stealth, planning, and execution. Poor Elena manages precisely none of them, and instead of getting her satisfying payback, she ends up shipped off to a government-run boarding school out in the wilds of Alaska. And because the universe has a sense of humour, Thane Trallwyn  her sworn enemy and the very target of her failed...

Review: Tragedy Girl - Christine Hurley Deriso - April 2016  There are some books that feel like they would be right at home on a quiet afternoon, curled up on the sofa with a cuppa and a blanket, and Tragedy Girl was one of those reads for me. What makes this one particularly interesting is that it was originally published a decade ago, back in 2016 . Picking it up in 2026, I found myself enjoying this little trip back to a style of YA mystery that feels both familiar and refreshingly uncomplicated. Anne has already been through more heartbreak than anyone her age should have to endure. Her parents have died in a car accident, leaving her trying to find her way through life while carrying that enormous loss with her. Then she meets Blake. He’s good looking, friendly and, perhaps most importantly, he understands grief. His girlfriend, Cara, drowned, although her body was never recovered. It seems almost inevitable that Anne would be drawn to him. After all, they have something in ...

Review: Connected - Rori K. Pierce - March 2021 There’s something wonderfully familiar about Connected . It feels like the kind of story that could be happening quietly in the house next door,  behind a bedroom door, in late-night messages, and in the complicated world of a teenager trying to figure out who she really is. Bethany  is a high school wallflower who has found herself caught in a relationship that has slowly become anything but healthy. Trevor started out as someone she fell for hard and fast, but his controlling behaviour gradually strips away pieces of the girl she used to be. He encourages her to distance herself from friends, experiment with drugs and make choices that leave her increasingly isolated. With Homecoming approaching, Bethany knows something has to change before she loses herself completely. What I particularly loved about Bethany is that her journey doesn’t feel magically easy. Breaking away from someone who has manipulated and cont...

Review: Who I Am - ML Rice - March 2014 You know those evenings when you're curled up with your Kindle, scrolling aimlessly because nothing quite calls to you? That was exactly where I found myself when I stumbled upon Who I Am by ML Rice. It had that quiet, unassuming quality of a book that isn't shouting for your attention and those, in my experience, are often the ones that end up meaning the most. The story centres on Devin, a military kid and a bookworm,  honestly, already my kind of character. After losing her father, Devin and her mum pick up and move to the city, the kind of upheaval that would knock anyone sideways. It's there that she meets Melanie Parker, and the two of them click instantly in that lovely, easy way that feels completely real. Best friends from the off. There's just one complication: Mel's twin brother Jason, who makes it his mission from day one to make Devin's school life miserable. What unfolds over the course of the novel is a co...

Review: Gemini Falling - Eleanor Wood - October 2013 As part of my 2026 mission to finally clear out the "digital dust" on my Kindle, I dove into Gemini Falling by Eleanor Wood. I went in expecting a sharp, Mean Girls -style drama set in an exclusive private school. The opening hooked me immediately: ‘First of all, let’s get something straight. This is not going to be one of those stories where the school bitch turns out to have a heart of gold.’ I love a book that promises a complex, unrepentant protagonist! But oh boy, "complex" doesn't quite cover where this story went. The story starts with Amie, the reigning Queen Bee, and her loyal second-in-command, Lexy. It’s that classic social hierarchy we all know (and maybe secretly love to read about). But the status quo is shattered when the mysterious twins, Elyse and Melanie, arrive mid-term. These twins aren't just new students; they have this "magnetic power" that completely disrupts the school’...

Review: That Night - Amy Giles - October 2018 There's something about young adult fiction that doesn't shy away from the hard stuff that always draws me in. Give me a story that tackles grief, trauma, or those impossible questions we all wrestle with, and I'm there. That Night by Amy Giles landed on my radar because it does exactly that, it sits with the uncomfortable reality of mass shootings and asks: what comes after? The story follows Jess and Lucas, two teenagers forever changed by the Balcony shooting in their Queens neighborhood. Both lost siblings that night. Both survived when others didn't. And both are drowning in the aftermath in their own ways , Jess trying to hold her depressed mother together while her own grief threatens to swallow her whole, and Lucas channeling everything into boxing while his parents hover, terrified of losing him too. When they end up working together at Bruno's Hardware, something shifts. Their shared trauma becomes a bridge r...

Review: Don't Look Behind You - Book #1 Don't Look - Emily Kazmierski - May 2021  Hello, my lovely bookish friends! Grab your favorite cuppa and settle in, because today I'm chatting about a thriller that had me reading late into the night with all the lights on. Emily Kazmierski's Don't Look Behind You dropped me right into Megan's world , a girl trying to build a normal life with her Aunty Karen in a quiet smalltown, living under a new name. But here's the twist that got my heart racing: Megan is the one who got away from the Mayday Killer , and he's not finished with her yet. Talk about unfinished business that'll keep you up at night! The Mayday Killer is methodically working his way closer to Megan's new haven, leaving a trail of victims connected to her past. The Mirror Museum scene particularly gave me chills, there's something deeply unsettling about a killer who targets places meaningful to your family. As I read curled up on my...

Review: Beyond Broken Pencils - Julie C. Gilbert - August 2018 I was twelve years old when Dylan and Eric walked into Columbine High School and changed everything. The date April 20, 1999 became seared into my generation's consciousness. For my thirteenth birthday, my aunty gave me a book that would profoundly shape how I understood that tragedy: Rachel's Tears, the diary of Rachel Scott, one of the students killed that day. Rachel had written about sensing she wouldn't have a future, words that haunt me still. As someone who endured bullying throughout my school years, I understood something complicated and uncomfortable: I could see how the bullied might snap, how they might overpower those who made their lives unbearable. When you're a teenager, trapped in what feels like an endless cycle of torment, life can seem genuinely hopeless. Coming from a country where guns aren't readily available, I've found myself drawn to true crime, particularly school shooting...

Review: Saving Six - Book #3 Boys of Tommen Series - Chloe Walsh - February 2023 You know those books that sit on your shelf, waiting for the perfect moment? The ones you can't just casually pick up during your lunch break because you know—you know—they're going to demand everything from you? That's the Boys of Tommen series for me. These chunky, angsty beauties require full emotional commitment, and Chloe Walsh's Saving 6 is no exception. This time, we're rewinding to witness Joey and Aoife's love story from their perspectives, and honestly, it's both devastating and beautiful. If you've already met them through Shannon 's eyes in the earlier books, prepare for familiar scenes to hit different , harder, deeper, more personal. There's something special about seeing the same moments through new eyes, understanding motivations you could only guess at before. One of my favourite parts? Watching Johnny and Gibsie spot Joey in that club, com...

Review: Reinventing Hannah - Jack A. Ori - November 2022 I'll be honest—I've been struggling with romance novels lately. The meet-cutes and happily-ever-afters have felt hollow, so I've been gravitating toward my collection of edgier reads that have been gathering digital dust on my Kindle. That's how I rediscovered Reinventing Hannah by Jack A. Ori, and I'm grateful I did. Hannah starts as the archetypal "good girl"—student council member, rule-follower, someone waiting for marriage (or at least the right person) before having sex. She doesn't drink, smoke, or do drugs. She's the perfect student, the one parents point to as an example. But perfection, as we learn, offers no protection from the worst humanity can offer. When Hannah agrees to be the designated driver for her friend Sasha's party, she's still the responsible one—having fun but staying sober. The next morning, though, she wakes up with no memory of the previous night and the...