B Reviews / Book Reviews1980s / adolescence / code / coming-of-age / computer programmers / computers / First-Person / Young-Adult3 Comments
A dazzling debut novel—at once a charming romance and a moving coming-of-age story—about what happens when a fourteen-year old boy pretends to seduce a girl to steal a copy of Playboy but then discovers she is his computer-loving soulmate. Billy Marvin’s first love was a computer. Then he met Mary ... more >
B Reviews1950s / coming-of-age / immigration / New Adult / racism / reporter / Womens-Fiction2 Comments
Emmaline Nelson and her sister Birdie grow up in the hard, cold rural Lutheran world of strict parents, strict milking times, and strict morals. Marriage is preordained, the groom practically predestined. Though it’s 1958, southern Minnesota did not see changing roles for women on the horizon. Caught in a time ... more >
A Reviews / Recommended Readsclassic gay romance / coming-of-age / Historical fiction14 Comments
Set in the elegant Edwardian world of Cambridge undergraduate life, this story by a master novelist introduces us to Maurice Hall when he is fourteen. We follow him through public school and Cambridge, and into his father’s firm. In a highly structured society, Maurice is a conventional young man in ... more >
B- Reviews / C+ Reviewscollege sports / coming-of-age15 Comments
Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He’s short, he’s fast, he’s got a ton of potential—and he’s the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher. Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like ... more >
A- Reviews / Need A Rec! / Recommended Readscoming-of-age / elves / Emperor / Fantasy / goblins / political intrigue / steampunk34 Comments
Dear Ms. Addison, After a disappointing reading year in 2013, the past four or so months have comprised one of the best reading streaks I’ve had in a long time. And now comes your fantasy novel, The Goblin Emperor, another stellar book. The novel is set in a fantastical industrial ... more >
B Reviews / Featured / Recommended Readscollege / coming-of-age / fan-fiction / twins / Young-Adult18 Comments
“Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what ... more >