Skip to main content

Teen SRC 2021 – Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows eBook : Bardugo, Leigh: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

I’m going to be honest, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is a book that I had been highly anticipating for the longest time. It had been on my TBR for months and I was really excited when I finally got to read it. What I didn’t know was that the book would turn out to be quite a big disappointment.

At first I thought the book was pretty interesting, but I think this book introduces a bit too many characters right at the beginning. I thought the introduction/1st sentences were good, but by the time I got to the second chapter, I really didn’t want to read the book anymore. That’s literally all I have to say, the rest of the book was just a repetitive pattern of flipping back, being bored, and pushing through every word.

I have to say though, I did like most of the fantasy aspects of the novel, and honestly after reading They Both Die at the End, nothing can really have a lower rating than that one. I just didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, but it still gets maybe six out of 10.

Teen SRC 2021 – Better Together by Christine Riccio

Better Together by Christine Riccio

I’m not gonna wait for the conclusion. I would give Better Together by Christine Riccio a seven out of ten for the writing and a hundred out of ten for the cover. I’m sorry, try to prove me wrong; there are literally two sides to the cover, each illustrating one sister.

The writing itself was more of a short anecdote that I found to be lighthearted and entertaining. There are no really heavy or deep concepts in this book in my opinion, I think it was just a casual, fun, read. That being said, I really loved the writing style and the character development in this book, along with the plot twists. I absolutely loved the contradiction of the two personalities of the sisters too as it made the book extremely satisfying to read. Overall I just think it was a light sort of book, the type that gets you out of a reading slump; I’d give it- oops, that was already covered in the introduction, wasn’t it?

Teen SRC 2021 – Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen : Aveyard, Victoria: Amazon.ca: Books

Funny story: When I was around eight, I was strolling around at KidsBooks and found a book with an amazingly intricate cover design. I ended up buying it just for the cover.

Four years later, and I find it at the top of my closet collecting dust. I decided to do some research, and quickly came to realize that the book in my hands was the fourth book in Victoria Aveyard’s viral, best-selling series Red Queen.

I CANNOT BELIEVE I WAITED SO LONG TO START THIS SERIES. Red Queen was actually a book I won for the weekly teen summer reading, and gosh am I glad I read it. Writing style was on point, the “red and silver blood” thing is such a creative twist on real-world discrimination, and the ideas for the plot were simply mind-blowing. Even the covers give you something to cry about. 9/10; totally recommend and absolutely worth your time.

Teen SRC 2021 – As Dead As It Gets by Katie Alender

As Dead as it Gets: Alender, Katie: 8601200550580: Books - Amazon.ca

As Dead As It Gets, a mystery/horror book by Katie Alender, is the third book in the Bad Girls Don’t Die series. This is going to be a relatively short review, just because I’ve already written reviews about the first few books which use very similar writing styles, tones, plot lines, etc.

Again, I thought this was a pretty blood-chilling and relatively thrilling read. I won’t go into detail or be too repetitive about that, though, because there were also other things I liked which I haven’t talked about before. For instance, the title. I mean, come on, you’re going to have to be one bland soul if you see a book titled As Dead As It Gets and have the audacity to walk away without picking it up. 8/10 for this novel, again I found it to be a nice read but not too surprising.

Teen SRC 2021 – Things I Should Have Known by Claire Lazebnik

Things I Should Have Known - LaZebnik, Claire Scovell


I absolutely LOVED Things I Should have Known by Claire Lazebnik!

Chloe Mitchell is a wonderfully thought out character, who has excellent development!
Her older sister, Ivy is on the autism spectrum and is reliant on Chloe for a lot of things. Chloe decides that Ivy needs to become independent and get a boyfriend because she’s going to college. Ethan, a boy from Ivy’s special needs class would be a perfect candidate! She arranges the dates between Ivy and Ethan with the help of Ethan’s older brother David, a boy from school who is hated by the “cool kids”. She is worried about her life at school where she is popular but begins to feel like a fake with her boyfriend and amongst her friends. David and Chloe meet every time Ethan and Ivy do and that starts to create problems when rumours begin to fly.

They all bond with each other, but some bonds get stronger than others. 😉

This book has great representations and shocking twists that I didn’t see coming! I rate this book a 10/10!!

Teen SRC 2021 – Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine

30129657. sy475

Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine is one of the best series I ever read. This series is about a futuristic world, where humans have invented intergalactic travel and met a type of aliens called Leviathan. These Leviathan are gigantic aliens that take are living spaceships and they made a program called Honors. In this program, humans are chosen to go on these Leviathan to supposedly explore the outer reaches of space.

Zara Cole, or main protagonist, is a thief and she got recruited into the Honors program for some reason. There, things take a dark turn, and Zara, her copilot, Beatrice, and her ship, Nadim, must try and survive.

I enjoyed this book a lot because it was fast paced and had many interesting plot twists. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy action packed, sci-fi books.

Teen SRC 2021 – The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer | Little, Brown Books  for Young Readers

The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer in the Land of Stories series is addictive and astonishing. Furthermore, the novel is fast-pacing and keeps the audience at the edge of their seats. The author would use detail and sensories to drive the reader to experience the events and empathize with the characters’ emotions. Each chapter is dynamic and becomes more and more intense at the end. The genres are fantasy, adventure and suitable for teens. I would highly recommend the novel to teenagers because you can recollect the fairy tales and the memories while also getting engaged at a comfortable reading level. The main characters Alex and Conner, get swallowed into a magical book, then end up in the fairy tale world. The main characters have a chance to interact face-to-face with the characters that filled their lively childhood but met antagonists such as wolves, witches and trolls. However, escaping is difficult which so the twins went through an unpredictable and magical journey. In summary, I would rate The Wishing Spell nine out of ten because it’s addicting and astonishing!

Teen SRC 2021 – From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender

From Bad to Cursed (Bad Girls Don't Die, #2) by Katie Alender

From Bad to Cursed, a teen horror novel by Katie Alender, was another one of those books that I just happened to pick up while browsing through the shelves at a library. I’ve mentioned before that my FAVOURITE kind of book is the “fantasy, horror, and psychological thriller mix that keeps you awake past midnight thinking about the plot” type, and this novel fits the above criteria perfectly.

I think it was a great book, or at least the horror aspects of it were pretty amazing. This includes the plot, villains motives, and pacing, which I thought were on pretty on-point. The characters? Wasn’t necessarily so great.

First of all, what is with the sudden mood changes? One chapter you’re reading about Alexis snuggling against Carter watching Twilight Zone, while the next provides you with a detailed description of how she’s in the bathtub vomiting up some evil poltergeist that just possessed her to kill her family. The thing is, the author doesn’t really introduce these things beforehand, so you’ll often find yourself flipping back a few chapters to see if you missed anything. The characters weren’t very realistic and just rather flat, boring, and predictable. They basically did everything that would help the plot move along/make sense, with no sense of personality whatsoever.

I’d recommend this book, but only if you’re into horror/thrillers like I am. Otherwise, there’s really not much else in this novel that’s entertaining nor worth reading. Again, the horror aspects were intense and the plot was well-developed, making it just interesting enough to read. I think a solid 8/10 is reasonable for me!

Teen SRC 2021 – The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

The Prince: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition): Machiavelli, Niccolo, Parks,  Tim, Parks, Tim: 9780143105862: Ethics: Amazon Canada

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli is a meticulous and methodical commentary regarding the roles and responsibilities of how an efficient leader should conduct their own affairs relating to the state. The pragmatic nature of Machiavelli’s psyche is emboldened throughout the book as The Prince seeks to elaborate that the aspects of survival justify the actions of a ruler in achieving glory and establishing a secure nation.

The Prince was originally dedicated to the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici, as a straightforward and logical guide concerning the duplicitous nature of a nation’s subjects, political assertiveness/etiquette, and the desired conduct of a leader during war efforts. Machiavelli also focuses on the personal virtues a successful ruler should uphold, in which specific virtues can be favoured for their merit, but to conform to them would be damaging to the rest of the state. The Prince often uses numerous real-life examples to illustrate the effectiveness of certain forms of government and the strategies they employed to maintain power and the goodwill of the people.

Read More

Teen SRC 2021 – Honor Bound by Rachel Caine

38496253. sy475

Honor Bound by Rachel Caine is the second book of the series Honors. It follows Zara Cole, a thief who was on Earth, but got put into the Honors program to fight an intergalactic war against a species of aliens called phages who prey upon the living starships. Zara’s starship is called Nadim and her co pilot is Beatriz have to exterminate those creatures.

Due to this book being a sequel, I would recommend reading Honor Among Thieves first so you roughly know what is going on. I enjoyed this book a lot because it was pretty fast paced and it didn’t seem as if one character was just carrying the plot. I would recommend this book to people who like reading action books with a bit of romance.