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by Suzanne Collins

5 Stars

The dystopian, set in the future novel The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is about the protagonist Katniss Everdeen, fighting for her family in the annual competition where members from several districts fight to the death. She volunteers in place for her little sister Primrose after her name was pulled out to fight in the games. There can only be one winner in the hunger games, and that is who remains alive at the end. We follow Katniss, a girl from the poorest district, District Twelve and Peeta Mellark, the boy who had also been selected to represent their district in the annual games. During the games, Katniss tries to stay alive and fight for her life by pretending to be in love with Peeta just for her safety. Peeta is the baker’s son, he has been giving Katniss bread many times to give to her starving family, and she feels as if she needs to owe him for his generosity. Now, they are forced to kill each other for the games to end.

It’s hard to trust anyone knowing that person might soon become your killer. 

Leaving readers flipping pages till the end, the science-fiction novel by Suzanne Collins includes a lot of shocking turns and twists along with intense action. This outstanding novel is definitely suitable for all ages.

Amina F.

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by Karen M. McManus

4.5 Stars

Two Can Keep a Secret is definitely my favourite Karen McManus novel. The ending was something I never saw coming! I highly anticipated this book, and it did not disappoint. McManus writes in a way that hooks you right from the very beginning, and keeps you guessing until the end! 

Two Can Keep a Secret tells the story of two teenagers, Ellery and Ezra, who move to an old town called Echo Ridge. They have to go live with their grandmother, whom they barely know, while their mom is in rehab. Echo Ridge is a small town with a big reputation for mysteries and things going wrong. Many years ago, Ellery and Ezra’s aunt (their mom’s twin) went missing when she was just seventeen. Five years ago, the homecoming queen was killed… and now another girl is missing. The siblings soon become intertwined with the secrets and the tensions of Echo Ridge, while also trying to uncover the truth around all those disappearances. 

This novel is definitely a page-turner. It is impossible to put down once you start reading as you want to figure out what happened to the missing girls. This novel ends on a big cliffhanger, which makes the novel impeccable. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and would recommend it to any teenager or YA!

Emily O.

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by Jennifer Donaldson

5 Stars

Written by Jennifer Donaldson, I Know You Remember, follows the life of 17-year-old Ruthie Hayden, thrilled to move back to her hometown Anchorage and reunite with her best friend Zahra Gaines. Moments after arriving, she learns the devastating news that Zahra had gone missing after vanishing from a party a few days before Ruthie’s arrival. While Ruthie digs deeper into Zahra’s mysterious disappearance, she learns that her once best friend Zahra has had drastically changed her life. Zahra has gone from being the playful, creative girl who loved books and a girl who knew every of Ruthie’s secrets to an athlete, a partier, a girl with secrets of her own. Ruthie desperately tries to unpack the truth as she falls much deeper into her friend’s new world, coming close to a dangerous realization of what Zahra experienced in the days before her disappearance, one that might be better off not spoken about and buried

Ruthie is not ready to give up searching for Zahra as she makes risky decisions in the mission to find Zahra. 

With a very chilling plot twist and keeping readers on the edge of their seats with eyes glued to the pages, Jennifer Donaldson brings the thrilling mystery to a shocking and unexpected conclusion. My favourite part was the twist at the end because it shows that the characters aren’t who they seem to be. I extremely enjoyed and highly recommend this astonishing novel to young adults.

Amina F.

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by Adrienne Kress

Based in the setting of 1946, New York City, seventeen-year-old Buddy is trying to escape the Lower East Side slums. Working as a delivery boy to help support his family, Buddy realizes that he wants to be an artist. A dream that seems to be impossible. That changes when his delivery boy job leads him to a Mister Joey Drew, who is the owner of an animation studio. Buddy starts working his new job in the studio and meets Dot, a writing intern for the animation studio. Buddy starts believing in what Joey Drew says about dreams coming true. But Buddy discovers that Mister Joey Drew’s animation studio is not as simple or perfect as it seems. Buddy and Dot team up to discover the secrets of the animation studio and find something they probably never expected to find, lurking in the studio.

This novel was based in the universe of the video game Bendy and the Ink Machine. As I did play the video game and enjoyed it as well, I was drawn to read this novel. Dreams Come to Life does a wonderful job translating the universe of Bendy and the Ink Machine into it. If you have played Bendy and the Ink Machine, some characters that do appear in that game such as Mister Joey Drew himself, are very similar to who they were in the video game personality wise. Even if you have no experience or prior knowledge of the original video game, this is still a great novel! It has a great plot, good pacing, interesting settings, and a wonderful cast of characters. I would, however, add on to Buddy’s grandfather’s backstory a little more. It seemed very brief. Despite this little flaw, I would highly recommend you check out this novel!

Emily W.

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