Sept 11, 2020
These Broken Stars, The Starbound Trilogy, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
These Broken Stars take us on a wild intergalactic adventure with two very cool characters. I found this book fun to read, hard to put down and fun. In a far distant future, on space crafts, we find our two main characters.
Finding a good book when you are a teenager can be difficult. Finding a good book at ANY age is difficult. You want it to be the right flavour, the right temperature, the right taste? Nothing too deep, no huge life lessons. It should be fun, the perfect amount of romance, clever and interesting characters, an adventure of a plot. The perfect recipe for a book.
Trilogies are great because they follow the overarching storytelling technique, of an introduction, conflict, resolution, but the reader gets to experience it threefold- once within each book and again within the larger story of the trilogy itself.
These Broken Stars, written by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, is a trilogy, and it’s a fun one! Great character development, and many storylines that at first seem unconnected, but (spoiler alert) they all tie in together in the end. Intergalactic space travel, espionage, deceit and family secrets - this trilogy has it all.
August 19, 2020
I’m not going to lie, I’m a big fan of Lynette Noni. With strong bum kicking teenage female protagonists, it’s fun to pretend that you’ve got undeveloped abilities handling crazy situations with ease.
Let’s start with "The Medoran Chronicles". A 5 book series that ends too soon. There is an additional offshoot book, called We Three Heroes, which focuses on the secondary characters, which is fun but not crucial to the plot line.
The first book in the series is Akarnae. In a nutshell, the main character Alexandra, is transported to another world, has no idea why and spends most of the book getting her bum kicked while learning her true (and true to YA fiction) superhuman potential. She’s crucial to the masterplan of a gorgeous otherworldly “elf” (he’s not an elf) and all the while developing great friendships with strong, hunky but sensitive teenage guys.
The teenage boy characters in her books are easily lovable. You’d think that it’s the strength and described looks that makes the boys in the book so fun to read, but they are also just really nice guys. It’s refreshing to read about a strong man being sensitive and aware of the needs of their friends. The teens in the book are typical young adults, but treat each other respect – a solid basis for friendship that anyone would be lucky to have.