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Review: Rush by Eve Silver (5/5 Stars)

Release Date: June 11, 2013

Author Info: Website

Series: The Game

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 361

Format: Advance Reading Copy

Source: Edelweiss

ISBN: 0062192132 

Rating: 

“So what’s the game now? This, or the life I used to know?

When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures.

There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.”

Check out Rush on Goodreads here. 

Eve Silver’s young adult novel Rush is a very satisfying mixture of adventure, science-fiction, horror, action, romance, and the contemporary world (to an extent, of course).

The premise of alien-hunting teenagers is fresh enough that the reader will crave to know more, and the romance between the characters will have readers swooning over the boys featured in Silver’s novel. Rush is fast-paced, addicting, and features a kick-ass heroine who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, or follow her curiosity. 

Rush is one of my favourite young adult novels of the year simply because it came as such a huge surprise. I went into Silver’s novel with low expectations (this was after one crazy reading binge where I saw nearly every cliche in literature), and came out very pleased. Her characters were flawed in a way that made them realistic, the creep-factor was chilling, and the adventures, though deadly, were exciting. The writing is also strong. The prose pulls you in, while the pacing keeps you hooked.

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Review: Burning by Elana K. Arnold (4/5 Stars)

Release Date: June 11, 2013

Author Info: Website

Series: N/A

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 320

Format: Advance Reading Copy

Source: NetGalley

ISBN: 0385743343 

Rating: 

“Ben: Having just graduated from high school, Ben is set to leave Gypsum, Nevada. It’s good timing since the gypsum mine that is the lifeblood of the area is closing, shutting the whole town down with it. Ben is lucky: he’s headed to San Diego, where he’s got a track scholarship at the University of California. But his best friends, Pete and Hog Boy, don’t have college to look forward to, so to make them happy, Ben goes with them to check out the hot chick parked on the side of Highway 447.  


Lala: She and her Gypsy family earn money by telling fortunes. Some customers choose Tarot cards; others have their palms read. The thousands of people attending the nearby Burning Man festival spend lots of cash—especially as Lala gives uncanny readings. But lately Lala’s been questioning whether there might be more to life than her upcoming arranged marriage. And the day she reads Ben’s cards is the day that everything changes for her… and for him.”

Check out Burning on Goodreads here.

One of the first things a reader has to keep in mind when s/he begins reading Burning by Elana K. Arnold is that this is a novel about character growth, not just romance, differences, or the responsibilities we sometimes think are thrust upon us. I will admit that all of those points fall under some sub-category of character growth, but I just want you to keep in mind that this novel is about so much more than the hot male protagonist, or the exotic female protagonist. 

The importance of character growth is portrayed in every guilt-ridden thought, decision, and opportunities that arise. The future, for some, is an uncertain thing and this novel is a wonderful contrast of how one person can have a future lined up, while the other questions the certainty of the future. 

Freedom is another memorable theme found in Burning. The title itself, Burning, is used as a metaphor—a way of destroying the binds that the future sometimes has on us.

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Review: The Secret Ingredient by Stewart Lewis (3/5 Stars)

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Release Date: June 11, 2013

Author Info: Website

Series: N/A

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 256

Format: Advance Reading Copy

Source: NetGalley

ISBN: 0385743319

Rating: image

“Olivia doesn’t believe in psychics. But the summer before her senior year of high school, she meets one in an elevator.

This summer will be pivotal, the psychic warns. Please remember—all your choices are connected.

Olivia loves her life in Silverlake, Los Angeles, but lately, something’s been missing. And after getting this strange advice, her world begins to change. A new job leads Olivia to a gorgeous, mysterious boy named Theo. And as Olivia cooks the recipes from a vintage cookbook she stumbles upon, she begins to wonder if the mother she’s never known might be the secret ingredient she’s been lacking. 

But sometimes the things we search for are the things we’ve had all along.”

Check out The Secret Ingredient on Goodreads here. 

The Secret Ingredient by Stewart Lewis is a young adult contemporary novel that features a protagonist on a quest of sorts to find not only herself, but the past that has waited for the day her curiosity becomes too much to handle. Wonderful in its portrayal of same sex parenting, first love, identity, and what makes us us, The Secret Ingredient is an interesting, but slightly disconnected tale of adolescence and the hardships we sometimes face when coming into our identities. 

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