Reviews for Monday

Let's start off the week with a round of reviews, shall we? The Edge of the Forest online magazine was kind enough to render opinions on a number of Flux books this month--in fact they had so much YA to review they did a special feature in addition to their regular YA reviews.

Some highlights:

Band Geek Love by Josie Bloss: "[Ellie's] not the most sympathetic of narrators, but when four years worth of drama catches up with her, Ellie's insecurities as she negotiates the new world of emotions are pathetic and realistic. Anyone who has tried to control what other people think of them will recognize the flailing and freaking out that Ellie does as she realizes that the world is what it is, and she's not in control of anything."

Or Not by Brian Mandabach: "Though Brian Mandabach creates in Cassie a character very unlike the average middle school student, the voice is real. Sarcastic, self-righteous, and idealistic, Cassie struggles with becoming, and also with being brighter than everyone else and despising them—and herself—for various reasons."

Everything You Want by Barbara Shoup: "Barbara Shoup has written an angsty, funny, poignant novel about confusion and heartache and...life. Read it. Even if you don't win Lotto Cash afterwards, you'll be richer for it."

Snapshots by Paul Buchanan: "Beautifully told in a quiet "snapshots" of the present in the past, this novel is a haunting collage of a friendship, a love and an inconceivable, inconsolable loss. Without resorting to melodrama or a massive climactic scene, this is also a novel about gathering what is broken, and learning to survive what has gone."

Do check out the whole publication (and don't miss Barbara Shoup's interview with Peter Cameron) and sign up to receive notification of new issues.