Young Adult Books

This is a good book. I don't agree with all it says but that is ok it still has a lot of thought provoking information

This book is a great resource for any astronomy lover who wants to know more about the background and history of astronomy. It has lots of information on historical people in astronomy as well as great stories about their discoveries. Great book, must have for history of astronomy.

Excellent chronology of physics from Aristotle to the present. I will use it as a reference. Excellent index and other aids to finding what you want in physics and other sciences.

An Excellent exposition of the history of astronomy and astrophysics. Mr. Ferris writes with a lucidity and thouroughness not often found in books on this fascinating subject.

What a story! And yes, I said story because the author has taken subjects most of us take for granted (the size of the heavens, the age of the Earth, the intricacies of the atom) and turned these into a wonderful almost joyous tale of intellectual achievement. I am still stunned at the depth of scholarship, the vast research and the almost magical manner in which Ferris manages to make what appears to be an arcane dry topic into an intriguing saga.

Ok, I admit it. I love science books written for the educated layman - from "The Singularity is Near " to "Wonderful Life" to the philosophical tomes of Pagels and Hardison. But this is more than science - it is also a history of who we are and our physical, mental and dare I say it, spiritual evolution. In this sense it reminds one of "The Discoverers" by Boorstin with its chronological structure, emphasis upon individual genius and captivating storyline. Beginning with the ancients, we see how our ideas fashion our intellectual quests. The overwhelming success of Western culture depended on our ability to break with age-old traditions, to absorb ideas from the outside and most importantly, to challenge the traditional religious beliefs. Very few cultures have been able to accomplish this and their lack of scientific prowess is evidence.

The individual tales could occupy a volume themselves - mind-boggling examples of thought that are so rare we have trouble believing them. Not only are Darwin (Evolution challenged the prevailing age of the Earth) and Newton (the greatest human who ever lived?) are found but all the unknown heroes of the ages are given their due. The author has an uncanny way of simplifying tremendously dense concepts into language for the layman. This was never truer than his discussion on the weird world of quantum physics with its seemingly magical and nonsensical qualities. I would say that this should be required reading for all high school graduates except that a vast number would be bewildered by the concepts presented, unaware that science has a history of more than video games and cars. My grade - A+++

Sorry, I just didn't find this book realistic at all. The author tries very hard, but does not succeed in writing a well written book about childhood cancer.

It is extremely hard to do and the author was very unsuccessful with this book.

Skip it!

As if being a 13-year-old, eighth grade male isn't bad enough, (there's girls to impress, homework to catch up on, drums to practice), try finding out your five-year-old brother has leukemia. It started the morning Steven left his little brother, Jeffrey, on a stool while he made his "moatmeal." Jeffrey fell and the bleeding started. Their mother races out the front door to take Jeffrey to the emergency room with an ice pack on his nose. Steven dreads the lecture he knows he'll get once he's home from school. Instead he's told his mother and brother will be leaving for Philadelphia and tests.

Steven tries to hold it together. But before long, he's feeling invisible, left out, guilty, angry. lonely, helpless, and wondering "what's the point?" His mother is totally wrapped up in caring for Jeffrey, his dad has become a worried zombie, and there's nothing Steven can do to help. Or is there?

For me, the single most important criteria for a gold star book is that it must make me "feel". It must make me reevaluate life as I see it, and wonder if I'm doing all I can to 1)appreciate my own blessings, and 2)make life better for others. This book does that and more. Jordan Sonnenblick gives the reader an honest, gritty look into the life of a family dealing with childhood cancer. He does it with amazing sympathy and humor. My 13-year-old son recommended this book to me. Two of his friends read it as well. If you haven't had the chance to read DRUMS GIRLS & DANGEROUS PIE, I highly recommend it.

This book is about an 8th grade kid trying to deal with life: school, girls, and playing in the band. He is the lead drummer for the all-city band. However, this all changes when his brother gets cancer. His whole life is turned upside-down. now he has to deal with school, girls, band, and a brother with cancer. It is an intriuging book and easy to read. I would reccomend it to someone in middle school or, maybe, in the early years of high school.

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie is a realistic- fiction book where a kid named Steven finds out his little brother has leukemia. On top of that Steven has school, drums, and girls to think about. I gave Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie a rating of 5 out of 5 stars because it was one of the best books i have ever read. It makes you cry and laugh at the same time. I like books were i can not predict the ending and this was definitely one of those books. Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is a heartwarming book that left me thinking about the difficulties of having someone with cancer in your family. I mean imagine having cancer or the medical bills that need to be paid. What about the family falling apart? Find out about this and much more in Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.

It is not the typical male YA author who tackles cancer as a dominating subject for a novel. Jordan Sonnenblick takes on the "disease of the week" idea and succeeds heroically with this book geared for the middle school reader.

I, too, am a male middle school English teacher (like Sonnenblick was until recently), and I am impressed that he is able to handle a tragic subject and wrap it up in a humorous first-person journal-like novel. Clearly he has both ends of the spectrum well placed in his book. My feelings that the parts in between these ends -- character development of parents especially -- is not at the same caiber. True, when taken from the perspective of the narrator (thirteen-year-old Steven), his way of seeing things does account for more pointed, if not two-dimensional, characterizations.

I did find the story a tad melodramatic and predictable, but, that said, Sonnenblick creates an honest middle school experience (sans graphic doodlings typical of every thirteen-year-old boy). Steven and Renee and Annette are not stereotypical and that is where the author truly shows his strength. When it is very easy in a humorous tale of middle school angst to go for the caricature, Sonnenblick creates more realistic, three-dimensional teens.

Overall, DRUMS, GIRLS & DANGEROUS PIES definitely deserves a read by the middle school audience, but unlike works like AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS, PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS, ONCE UPON A MARIGOLD, or STARGIRL, it won't break out of the pack and become one of those YA novels that adults pick up and savor regardless of whether they have children or not.

I really really like this... characters are developing, and they are turning out to be different than we expected. It's really a nice change from the first books... things are actually happening. Definitely excellent.

Pascal is a gifted storyteller mixing suspense, mystery, intrigue, and romance into her narrative. I found the plot fast-paced and immensely readable. The series just gets better and better! Fans of VC Andrews & Sherry A. Mauro will enjoy these books, too!

This book contains grahic violence (lots of curse words too). "But then she saw the blood, it had poured into a thick black pool around her head, sacrafice almost like a halo. It was more blood than..." This is sick. Young adults don't need to read this. What kind of ideas do they get from this? Reviewed by the mother of a 13-yr old.

this book starts out with us finding out that ella was only grazed with the gunshot wound. she goes back to her house plotting bloody revenge against gaia. heather and ed get even closer leaving gaia feeling like a fifth wheel. this book has a
lot of action and a very surprise ending. this almost beats number 9 for suspense and drama but not quite. it is well worth reading for all you fearless fans out there.

I have loved all the Fearless books so far, and found this one ecspecially intriguing for two reasons.
#1> this is really for the whole series but it counts for this one too. They cuss, they think about things we think about, and they arent perfect little teenage angels. (i know none of you are) It makes u relate to the characters emotions better. That sounds corny and stuff, but i dont care.

#2> awwwww, ima hopeless romantic. (and i emphasize the hopeless part)but Sam and Gaia get together. yea!

#3> ok i said only two, but i lied its 3 now. Ed and Heather. Thats it. I dont like heather (i guess were not supposed to like her) but Ed and Heather are good together

but just and FYI: dont read this unless u have read all the others, everyone knows its no fun then.

This is probably one of my favorite books in the series (so far). I love how something different actually happened... Gaia is making new friends, she's developing as a character... And it doesn't hurt that her relationship with Sam is changing, either... but still, I'm definitely hooked to the series now. Not like I wasn't before, I'm just even more hooked now.

Its thanksgiving and Gaia is on a runner! This book is a fantastic book and i was hooked. Gaia finds out a hurting secret of her freind. Gaia has a lucky turn from a planned death by an enemie. She had her first kiss but not like i imagined. And i hate ELLE how bitchy can she get. Its very annoying how whenever somethink happens to Gaia it always turns into a bad situation or she thinks it as not a good thing. How bad can her life get! But i enjoyed it it made me cry and smile!

After reading so many great books, I believed that there weren't any more good books out there. WRONG!! The fearless series has quickly become one of my favorite series, and Francine Pascal has become one of my favorite authors. This book in particular stands out among her books, and i know u will enjoy it as much i as did. Happy reading!

I loved this book. It had loads of action and tons of twist. One of the best books in the series so far.

First kisses are one of the most exciting things in a teenage girls life. Gaia has waited 17 long years for her chance to finally be kissed. She's heard so many things about kisses. How when you kiss a man, you can learn everything about his heart. All it takes is one kiss. Now Gaia will see if that myth is true.

This was one of the best FEARLESS books in the series. Gaia is plagued with facing something that all teenage girls worry about, their first kiss. Teen girls across the nation will identify with Gaia's worries, and pleasures about being kissed for the first time. A must-have book.

Erika Sorocco

Judged from a man's point of view, Mistress of Mellyn succeeds on a number of levels, most of them tied in with the "whodunnit" factor of the book.

It is almost as though Victoria Holt gave REBECCA a good read and then thought to herself, "Gee, I could take that same plot and make it much, much better." So some elements of the famous Daphne Du Maurier story repeat themselves here--the forbidding mansion, the sexy master of the house, the elderly servant mumbling gloomy, doleful advice like a Cornish version of Maria Ouspenskaya. You'd think that she (Holt) would have changed the setting a wee bit though, I mean move it away from the cliffs of Cornwall, for heaven's sake, you're just asking for comparisons!

And yet think of how different REBECCA would have been had Rebecca and Max de Winter had a little daughter! Which is pretty much what happens here. Little Alvean is sort of like Miles and Flora in Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW, and Martha Leigh is a bit like the governess who worried about her charges so in James' 1890 novelette. When "Marty" first meets her and tries to find out what her lessons should be, the little girl is rude, disrespectful, and totally spoiled by having been allowed to run free. Plus her father's aristocratic snobbery towards the middle class has infected young Alvean so she feels no compunction about telling Martha that she doesn't have to listen to her.

The whodunnit aspect comes towards the end of a long and suspenseful story. The very last person in the world who you would suspect, turns out to be the killer, a mad monster whose actions seem incalculably cruel. Only later do you begin to piece it together and to feel even a little sympathy for the murderer, who was coming from a very tough place which Victoria Holt sketches out pretty well. Anyhow, I liked it, but I can see how if you read 50 of these books they would all start to seem the same.

Martha Leigh is the central female character of this delightful story. The tale is told, mainly in the first person, with added dialogue.
After the death of their father, 20 year old Martha and her 18 year old sister Phillida, are taken to London by their aunt Adelaide, for 'a season'. At the end of that season Phillida had married, but after four years of living with her aunt, Martha still had not found a husband.
"There are two courses open to a gentlewoman when she finds herself in penurious circumstances ...." aunt Adelaide had said. "One is to marry, and the other to find a post in keeping with her gentility."
Thus, one of aunt Adelaide's friends suggests that Martha should become governess to Connan TreMellyn's daughter, Alvean.
Martha arrives at the house, Mount Mellyn, to find her employer is a cold imposing man, and his daughter is resentful towards her. The house itself is a 'cold brooding house on the Cornish cliffs'.
It was only Martha's growing love for Alvean and an unwilling attraction to Alvean's father that made her stay on and try to solve the mysteries which shrouded their lives.
What eventuates between Martha and Connan TreMellyn is a little predictable, however the journey towards the outcome is a delightful read; and, there is a wickedly surprising 'twist' at the end of the book (which I'm not going to spoil for you).
The book is very well written, and I found the characters very interesting.
The author of my copy of this title was Victoria Holt. This was one of the pseudonyms of Eleanor Alice Burford. After marrying she became Eleanor Alice Hibbert. Others she wrote under included Jean Plaidy, Ellalice Tate, Kathleen Kellow, Elbur Ford, Philippa Carr. She wrote almost 200 books under these names!

Her books are VERY addictive!

Sadly, most of her books are out of print at the date of this review. Some can be purchased on the Internet or from second-hand bookshops.

This is the first Victoria Holt book that I read, and I think it was where I should have started. I have always liked the stories of Jane Eyre and Rebecca, so this one sounded interesting. It lived up to expectations. It is about a governess that finds out she is in much more than she bargained for. The house she is living in is filled with history and mystery. Her employer, with whom she falls in love, is very much the same. With twists and turns, and a huge surprize ending, this book is one you will remember for years to come.

Don't listen the O'Brien review above, this book is far from "campy" (a pretentious term pretentious people use to justify reading romance and popular novels)...yes, this book does owe a lot to Jane Eyre I suppose but the vivid characters, chilling suspense and romance make this a treat you won't forget. Miss Holt proves herself to be a writer of enduring power and imagination. Nothing "campy" about that!

What happened to Alice, mistress of Mellyn? Was she just a high-class skank who ran off with philandering neighbor Geoffrey? And what is the mystery of the leper's squint?

This is a fine combination of "Jane Eyre" crossed with a dash of Du Maurier's "Rebecca." For a romance novel, a genre that I normally despise, this is quite a fine read. Victoria Holt (aka Jean Plaidy) knows how to keep her plots moving swiftly and her surprises juicy.

I have to give this book 5 stars. Mary O'Hara wrote an incredibly beautiful story about a struggling family. Many of the details of the story are so true to life. As an adult reading this story, I found the details about the parents to be more interesting than the story of the horse and the boy. O'Hara really understands the concerns of a parent for a struggling child and it's very true to life in the book. Many important issues are touched upon in this book too; responsibility for our domestic animals, love for people and animals, doing our duty in our every day life are all there with out being mushy and sentimental. O'hara also paints a vivid picture of Wyoming and old-time ranch life. It makes me wish it was still like that, so I could visit it. This is another great book for a read aloud family time.

Although he made his audio book debut just two readings ago, stage, screen and television actor Michael Louis Wells is in full command of the metier with his narration of the classic My Friend Flicka. Many will remember the story as a film with Roddy McDowall, as a TV series or as a current film. Wells is on a par with all of the actors who have undertaken bringing this touching tale to life. The reason for the story's many incarnations is obvious - it is one of our best-loved books and well deserves its place among others that are enjoyed from generation to generation, such as Treasure Island and Mutiny on the Bounty.

Pivotal to O'Hara's story is Ken and his seeming laissez faire attitude. Where his mind is his father, Rob, certainly doesn't know. He's a young boy who would much rather just look out a window than study his arithmetic. He should have studied because his report card is so poor that he's doomed to repeat a grade. Rob undoubtedly wonders whether he'll even catch on the second time around.

Their home is Wyoming's Goose Bar Ranch and Rob is working hard to make a go of it. He doesn't need a son who seems given to daydreams. Then, along comes Flicka, a beautiful chestnut filly, with a wild streak inherited from her sire. Ken is certain he can tame Flicka, and so begins the unforgettable relationship between a boy and his horse.

O'Hara wrote a follow-up to her story, Thunderhead, but it never achieved the popularity of My Friend Flicka, a timeless story to be enjoyed over and over again.

- Gail Cooke

On the Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming, between the World Wars, former Army captain Rob McLaughlin and his Eastern blue-blood wife, Nell, are raising two sons and an ever-growing herd of thoroughbred horses. Rob, a stern but loving father, doesn't know what to do with younger son Ken. The boy daydreams constantly, and for that reason just failed to be promoted at his boarding school. Why should Rob give small Ken a colt of his own, as he already has older son Howard, when Ken can't do anything that demonstrates he's responsible enough to be trusted? Yet a colt is what Ken wants more than anything else in the world. Until he finds out what happens to male horses when they're two years old - after which he decides he'd rather have a filly.

Not just any filly, though. Flicka, born to the half-wild mare called Rocket. Flicka is faster already than her sire, the ranch's stud horse Banner, and Ken believes he'll be able to train Rocket's "bad blood" out of the yearling. Rob thinks his son is (to use his word for it) dumb, for a lot of reasons that now include choosing this filly that Rob is sure will turn out to be just as "loco" as her dam. Untrainable, and downright dangerous to those who try to handle her.

This novel is a perfect example of the type of children's classic that, when read by adults, proves to have depths and layers its target audience never perceives. I know I read it as a young girl, and enjoyed it as both a good "horse story" and coming of age tale. But in reading it again now, I was amazed by the detailed and multi-faceted characters of Rob and Nell. Their love story is one of the most interesting I've read, because the author not only captures the tensions between these two very different people - she also captures the way that raising their children, who are (for better or worse!) a blending of those differences, affects their relationship. No wonder this book is still in print more than 60 years after it was first published. Simply wonderful!

This is a very good book. My granddaughter really enjoyed it.

I am in the middle of lstening to this book. Its detailed descriptions of ranch life and horses are quite compelling. But what surprised me was the absolutely accurate description of a boy with ADD. This book was written some two decades before attention deficit disorder gained anyone's attention, but O'Hara's descriptions of Ken's behavior are absolutely consistent.

And then O'Hara answers the question of what to do about the condition: give the kid something he really wants to do and stand back. Of course, it helps that Ken has two wise and good-hearted parents; but then, maybe that is the start to solving most problems that children have.

A fine book on many levels, and a fine companion on the road for adult and child.

Wow! What an awesome book. My 10-yr-old son had to pick a book of Historical Fiction for a book report for school. We chose this one because it seemed familiar to me, then came to realize that I read it when I was a kid under the title "I am David". We took turns reading the book aloud, my son was so into it. Every boy, actually every kid, should read this book, if only to appreciate freedom and opportunity and the love of family.

a very poignant story of a boy who 'escaped' from a concentration camp. His trip to where, he doesn't know, gives so much insight to what would be going through a child during this era of time. He doesn't know anything about the outside world. This is often times humorous and then sad at others. It is a powerful story that should be read by all. There aren't really any EXCITING parts but plenty of in depth story. Mrs. Holm brings a story to paper that will not be quickly forgotten.

When freedom is near,all, young David has to think about is how to get away without being caught. I will encourage the young people to read this book because it is a really good and easy book. In this book you will find out what David had to go through in order to get his freedom, and what dangers he had to confront on the way.

This book is about a twelve-year old boy named David. For all his life he was in prison and did not know what the outside world looked like. When David finds a great opportunity to escape many problems occur and needs to find a way to be free and safe from his old life.The title of my book was North to Freedom by Anne Holm. This book will catch your attention and will end you up with a thought of children all over the world,
and how they are being abused and kept in prison.

Some good facts about this book were, how David had help
from the guards. " You must get away tonight", the man had told
him" (Holm 1). I liked the fact that David wasn't alone in prison that there were people that cared for him, this shows that not all men that keep children in prison are bad. In David's way to freedom, he found many honorable men that helped him reach his goal. " ...I'll give you a lifebelt, and you must try to drift ashore.." (Holm 25). Here David was found by and Italian man that was headin to Italy, but the kind man left
him on board and gave him a lifebelt were he could reach Italy without being caught.

There were also many bad sides to this book. Some facts I did not like were that it ended to fast and not to much detail was given. The end of the book was kind of "weird", I would have not expect it to end the way it did. There were some points of the book that I did not like, for example, when David was suffering on his way and the fact that he was scared of people. Also that David was a chicken in some parts of the book, he was scared to help other and was a little selfish.

In conclusion, the book was interesting to read. It had many ideas that shows the world about how little kids like David suffer because of mothers errors. I would give this book an eight, form a scale of 10. It is a really good book, I liked the way it was explained even though details were needed it was very good explained and there were a lot of interesting parts. I liked this book because it caught my attention and wasn't hard to read. I learned that David fought for his freedom and this story makes me think about the American dream, freedom.

This is an engaging historical fiction novel. Set in post World War II Europe, it is also published under the titles David, and I Am David. With the help of one of the prison gaurds, 12 year old David escapes from a communist labor camp in Bulgaria with no idea what to do other than go to Denmark. The story weaves in many important themes, such as freedom, beauty, truth, and love. There are many intriguing characters, like Johannes his fellow prisoner, the family of Maria, a Danish lady in Switzerland, and a dog named King. As David crosses countries and borders, his understanding of life, God, and the aforementioned themes grows as his journey progresses. Through it all he is determined to remain true to himself. Truly an engaging read, and a good study on physical and cultural geography for kids.

I have a copy of this book from the UK that is called I Am David. It starts with a man telling David, "You must get away tonight. Stay awake so that you're ready just before the guard is changed. When you see me strike a match, the current will be cut off and you can climb over -- you'll have half a minute, no more." This starts David's journey not just to freedom and home, but also to learning how to live as a regular kid after only living in a concentration camp. It's a serious book but one that should be read.

This is my absolute favorite novel by Victoria Holt. I cannot praise it any more than anyone else has.

But I must correct the amazon description of "However, Holt creates elaborate characters and sets the narrative in the fabled and romantic Black Forest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time of the Napoleonic Wars."

The book is set in the Black Forest, yes, but the Black Forest is in Germany(and technically was in Bavaria, which was a kingdom within the German Empire after the unification of 1870), and the book was set in the Victoria era.

I love it when an author can write a story about two people in love and keep the story clean without explicit sex. This author knows how to write a love story that will keep you reading from one page to the next until the end. I'm very impressed with her work on other novels as well as this one.

I have read some Holt novels I didn't even feel were worth bothering to review because of my lukewarm attitude toward them. This is far from the case with On the Night of the Seventh Moon. If you don't like filthy romance books full of corny, eyerolling garbage like Stephanie Laurens seems to insist on dishing out, complete with their relentless bludgeonings of copulation scenes and weak plots, I urge you to pick this book up instead.

From the beginning I was mesmerized by Holt's characters and rich, complex weaving of romance and the evildoers who would keep Helena and Max apart for a decade until they find each other again. In fact, everything about this book had me so enthralled that I couldn't put it down until the very end. Holt has the ability to write adventurous romantic novels that don't make you want to throw up when you read them, and that's something most authors can't lay claim to. If you like your books clean and well-written, Seventh Moon is destined to become one of your favorites, and I would never steer you wrong about that. I know you will really enjoy this particular novel, because it is just that outstanding.

This is one of my favorite Victoria Holt books. It's romantic, there's intrigue, lies, allies, spies, murder plots, a villain, a hero, and everything in between, using the Black Forest and the mythological characters that the heroine and at times, damsel in distress, Helena Trant, grew up with as a back drop. The forests were in her blood and wasn't afraid when she got lost in the mist.

And here comes a hero to literally sweep her off her feet. A man of many and mysterious identities.

These two discover what Shakespeare knew all along: "The course of true love never did run smoothly".

Both are lied to and deceived by people they thought they could trust, and ironically, some of those same people bring them together again.

No one weaves a story like Victoria Holt. As far as I'm concerned, she only has two worthy peers: Phyllis A. Whitney and Mary Stewart.

If you want to be taken to another place and time, and believe in love and fairy tales, this is the book for you.

This book is a real love, adventure, and mystery story. I have loved this book sense I first read it and I read it at least once a year. If you're one of the people who are picky about what to read and you have many different tastes this is a book that you can read and love.
It has a wonderful plot and a well written one to, it's set in Prussia and in England. It's really hard to explain this book when there are so many things going on (although when it's going on you don't get confused like other books of this time) Murder, Passion, True love, and many rememberable people that you'll fall in love with over and over again. From England, to her mother's home land, to the arms of a hansome Prince not wanting to be known.
It's a beautiful book and I would say that if you read this you'll be very pleased. Hope you like it!

The third book in the Fearless series was fantastic. Just as good as the first two. The plot is really developing, and I am starting to see changes in all of the characters. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

I love these books and its the third time im reading these books and this is one of the better ones!! so yea woot!

Gaia Moore and one of her best - an only - friends Ed are just chilling out at Gaia's house one morning, and then Gaia opens up a HORRIBLE EMail. Her current crush Sam Moon has been kidnapped. And if she doesn't comply with the abductor's wishes in around 24 hours, Sam will die. Because, Gaia doesn't know that Sam is a diabetic and without his insulin he'll die. Gaia has a ton of crazy errands to run for the abductors - showing a pornographic video in her first hour class, and even murder! WIll Gaia get to Sam in time?

In the third book of the Fearless series, Gaia is on her first real adventure since the reader met her and so much happenes that it's hard to believe that all the events of the story occcured in one day. Sam, who is not on very good terms with Gaia (explained in book #2) is kidknapped under mysterious circumstances that not the reader nor Gaia knows about. The story follows her not only going on several tasks to save Sam, but takes the reader deeper into her past and the past of the other characters. I won't ruin the ending, but it isn't wrapped up in a neat little bow and solved happily. After the last page is turned, there are still a million questions the reader has. This was a great book in the series because it takes Gaia on her first adventure since starting in her new life. It puts a new spin on her relationship with Sam as well as some people from her dark past.

Gaia is angry. Sam is gone. He hasn't just disappeared on his own. No, he's been kidnapped. Someone has kidnapped him to get to Gaia. To hurt her. To make her feel pain. Now Gaia only has three hours to find him. Three hours. Or Sam will die. And it will be because of her. There will be no one to blame, except for Gaia.

This was a fantastic addition to the FEARLESS series. Pascal has created enticing and intriguing situations involving Gaia and her friends, that make you want to continue reading. A must-have book for fans of the previous books, FEARLESS and SAM.

(...)

I read this book for the first time over ten years ago, and it still holds up as one of the best YA novels I have ever read. Superficially, the writing is quick and bright, the characters are engaging, and the pace is spot on. Don't even finish this review, just go read the book.

If you're still on the fence, here is my list of three great things about TURoKB:
1. Kate...Here is a protagonist that anyone love, and bookish young women the world over can identify with. She's intelligent, she's a genuinely good person, and she doesn't spill any ink on youthful indulgences like self-pity or unnecessary rebelliousness. Cheers to strong, self-possessed women.

2. Kate's family...At one point in the novel, Kate decides that her parents are simply too darling and sympathetic, so she makes lists of their faults to incorporate. The resulting lists are some of the funniest moments in the book, and only serve to make her parents seem more endearing. It's hard to write convincingly about a good, stable family without making it seem utterly boring. Plummer succeeds, making us believe that the Bjorkmans really could live down the street.

3. Fleur St. Germaine...She is the revelation of the novel. First, we see one of the loveliest depictions of female friendship and generosity in print when she mentors Kate through romance that the title promises (a necessary counterbalance to the supposed friendship between Kate and Ashley). Second, she makes explicit the undercurrent of feminist ideas that Kate and her family subtly embody. Third, if the reader is so inclines, Fleur can be read as a lesbian. Nothing in the text contradicts a queer reading, and several of Fleur's jokes establish the supporting subtext. As a young woman who's access to even the tamest queer material was restricted, this book was a godsend.

I got this book from the library in the eighth grade and absolutely loved it! Kate's story is so easy to relate to and her commentaries are absolutely hilarious! Every teenage girl I know has been in her situation and she makes it so funny that you can't help but love the story. The Christmas backdrop maskes the book perfect. It's romantic, funny, and a great holiday read!

Kate is a ordinary girl whose had a crush on that she has had forever. When Richard, her older brother's best friend, comes for a visit over the Christmas holiday, Kate gets a chance to show Richard what shes made of. The problem(s): her annoying, overly flirty best-friend Ashley, and Richards firlfriemnd (or not), Fluer. But Kate, who every girl can relate to, deals with it all amazingly. This book is fun and fresh, and a nice read any time you want a little break and some refreshing holiday love and mush.

I picked this up today and just finished it. I don't remember laughing that hard in a book for a long time. Wonderfully cheesy in just the right way, Kate's unlikely romance is, in my opinion, one of the best romance books out there. Kate is a great protagonist that is (thank goodness) nothing like a real romance novel heroine. Her honesty as a story teller and character is what makes the book great. Its an easy, enjoyable read. Louise Plummer has done a fantastic job!

I loved this book so much that I read it every winter-- 6 years later I am still captivated by the story...even at 20 years old. It's like reading it for the first time all over again. You can get emotionally interwined in the pages and there are certain parts that always give me this warm fuzzy feeling accompanied by a smile..no matter how many times I read it.