ya Archives

Oasis

"The desert . . . . it’ll devour you whole if you display any sign of weakness." Author: Katya De Becerra While I was reading Oasis, Trav and I were housebound by the Snowcrete, so a book set in a lovely hot desert with supernatural overtones sounded like the perfect way to break the ice and free me to adventure, if only in my mind. It starts, as these things inevitably do, with a band of young friends, freshly graduated from high school and looking for their last hurrah before going off to separate colleges. Alif is our main character. Her [...]

Frances Carden2026-04-09T17:50:16-07:00April 9th, 2026|Tags: book of the month, book review, botm, fantasy, legend, read, reading, ya|

Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk, The

The Fierceness of 1940s Nancy Author: Carolyn Keene In the 1940s version of The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk, Nancy, Bess, and George are planning to take an exclusive girl’s school tour trip to South America. In preparation for the trip, Carson Drew has gifted Nancy a beautiful brass bound trunk with her initials carved into them. But this trunk ends up being the catalyst for many different problems – even attracting armed thieves into the Drew’s home. Meanwhile, one of the students’ mothers, Mrs. Joslin, discovers that Nancy will be present for the trip and demands that the gumshoe [...]

Frances Carden2026-03-21T15:36:45-07:00March 21st, 2026|Tags: classic, cozy mystery, mystery, Nancy Drew, The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk, ya|

Prisoner’s Throne, The

Oak's Side of the Story Author: Holly Black At the end of The Stolen Heir, Oak is left at Wren’s sadistic pleasure. She is slowly torturing him with the bridle and iron prison bars, making him pay for his betrayal. She is growing into her own, and all that was soft and compassionate is dying as her power matures. And now, she’s starting another war in Faerie. Can Oak atone in time? Can he regain Wren’s trust? Can he stop the inevitable tide of despair and vengeance that started generations before his birth? In The Stolen Heir we see the story [...]

Frances Carden2024-06-18T15:29:57-07:00June 18th, 2024|Tags: book review, fantasy, Holly Black, read, reading, ya|