Category: Books Reviews

Books Reviews, Children's Books

Sky Ropes book review | A girl’s journey to overcome trauma

Erin Sluka
Sky Ropes book follows one girl's journey to overcome trauma

Sky Ropes is a book for ages 10 and up from Chronicle Publishing. It comes in Hardback or Kindle and is a story about a girl’s journey to overcome trauma and her bravery. The girl is Breanna and she is attending her school’s teambuilding camp. The major exercise will be ascending Sky Ropes—the highest ropes course in the state. She has zero plans to accomplish this.

Breanna’s trauma is her Father’s abuse. Somehow, the fear from her past is colliding with her fear of that Sky Ropes at the end of camp week. She makes the most of camp with friends. You will get to know her prankster and fun personality, you will feel her trauma and the tense moments she is feeling as the Sky Ropes challenge nears. You will cheer for her and go along the journey of all her internal struggles and realizations in the end. This book is great for those struggling with anxiety, fear and who love adventure stories.

Sky Ropes is written by Sondra Soderborg, a former practicing attorney, child advocate, and teacher at both a high school and a prison. But now on Amazon.

Books Reviews

Two Books for Tweens for their summer reading

Erin Sluka
Two Books for Tweens for their summer reading

2 new release books for tweens sure to keep them reading this summer are available from Simon & Schuster Publishing. One is a sequel for ages 8-12 and the other explores the perils of youths and gang violence for ages 14 and older.

The One And Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate

The original book The One And Only Ivan stole and even broke our hearts about a silverback gorilla. Then came The One And Only Bob where we followed this dog’s survival story. Now we meet Ruby, the Elephant and not only do we get some elephant facts and glossary but a story about ecological devastation of the ivory trade, circus and zoo life woes. This book is for animal lovers with a heart big enough to break a little as they move through the pages. But, Ruby tells her horror story in a playful way to show how she has overcome. Buy The One And Only Ruby on Amazon!

Borderless by Jennifer De Leon

Synopsis: For seventeen-year-old Maya, trashion is her passion, and her talent for making clothing out of unusual objects landed her a scholarship to Guatemala City’s most prestigious art school and a finalist spot in the school’s fashion show. Mamá is her biggest supporter, taking on extra jobs to pay for what the scholarship doesn’t cover, and she might be even more excited than Maya about what the fashion show could do for her future career.

So when Mamá doesn’t come to the show, Maya doesn’t know what to think. But the truth is worse than she could have imagined. The gang threats in their neighborhood have walked in their front door—with a boy Maya considered a friend, or maybe more, among them. After barely making their escape, Maya and her mom have no choice but to continue their desperate flight all the way through Guatemala and Mexico in hopes of crossing the US border. Buy Borderless on Amazon.

Books Reviews

Retro is a young adult thriller of a dangerous challenge

Erin Sluka
Retro is a young adult thriller of a dangerous challenge around modern technology

How appealing would it be to earn a college scholarship by participating in a challenge? It is called the Retro Challenge, where contestants live without modern technology, wear vintage clothes, party as if the future weren’t already written, and fall in love as if they were living in a movie. Easy, right?

Well, some very unexpected situations start occurring. It actually begins to get fairly dangerous. Friends are starting to disappear and there are voices and blood stains near trees. Things are getting very strange and our character, Luna, begins to fear for her safety. It is like someone is sabotaging the challenge and she better find out who, real fast!

Retro is a young adult thriller and is now available at Amazon and book stores near you. The Authors are Jarrod Shusterman and Sofía Lapuente. Jarrod is New York Times bestselling coauthor of novel Dry and Sofía is an author, screenwriter, and avid world traveler who immigrated from Spain to the United States.

Order your copy of Retro today!

Books Reviews

7 Popular Books for Teens and Young Adults to gift

Erin Sluka
7 Popular Books for Teens and Young Adults to gift

If you have young readers on your gift list this season, consider these young adult novels from Simon & Schuster Publishing that are great books for teens or gifts for their high school library! Let’s take a look below at each title!

Road of the Lost by Nafiza Azad – Perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince, this young adult fantasy follows a girl who discovers she’s spent her life under an enchantment hiding her true identity on her quest into the magical Otherworld to unlock her powers and discover her destiny until she is gifted a book about magick from the Otherworld. Buy on Amazon.

The With Haven (book 1) and The Witch Hunt (Book 2) by Sasha Peyton Smith – In 1911 New York City, seventeen-year-old Frances Hallowell spends her days as a seamstress, mourning the mysterious death of her brother months prior. Everything changes when she’s attacked and a man ends up dead at her feet—her scissors in his neck, and she can’t explain how they got there. The story of sisterhood, mystery, and interesting magic continues in book 2 where a new character is introduced. Frances travels to Paris with her friends to see if she is able to determine why her magic is suddenly going haywire. It is going to take all of them working together to unravel the mystery. Working with Finn may be the end of everyone. Buy on Amazon.

Bloodmarked, Book 2 after Legendborn by Tracy Deonn – The sequel to the New York Times bestselling and award-winning Legendborn. Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected. Buy on Amazon.

The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix – young adult debut about a witch whose dark powers put her at the center of a brewing war between the only family she’s ever known and the enemy who makes her question everything. This is an instant best-seller! Buy on Amazon.

The Do-Over by Lynn Painter – After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another nightmare V-Day. Buy on Amazon.

A Path To The World by Lori Marie Carlson-Hijuelos – A book of essays from a variety of voices, backgrounds, and experiences, exploring what it means to be human and true to yourself. All speak to the common thread of humanity, the desire to be your truest self, and to belong. Buy on Amazon.