KJ's Book Reviews

  Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda Published in 2015 300 pages Written by: Becky Albertalli Rate: 10/10 My summary of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda     Simon is a seventeen-year-old boy who is not openly gay, yet . He has been emailing back and forth with 'Blue' who is also a closeted seventeen-year-old boy who happens to attend the same school as Simon. Simon accidentally leaves his email open and Martin Addison (a boy who goes to Simon's school) finds his private messages with 'Blue' and threatens to out Simon unless Simon helps him get a date with Abby (one of Simon's best friends).  My opinion on Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda     This book had me smiling almost every second I read it. Whether it was the funny one-liners or the cute romantic gestures. I felt like this book definitely deserves all the awards it has received.     I loved the dialogue within the book, I loved the characters, and I just loved reading the book in general. ...

I Killed Zoe Spanos Published in 2020 380 pages Written by: Kit Frick Rate: 8/10 My summary of I Killed Zoe Spanos      Anna gets a summer job in Herron Mills, babysitting an eight-year-old named Paisley. Soon she realizes Paisley only chose her for the job because she looked like her old babysitter, Zoe who had disappeared on New Year's Eve. Every time Anna goes out in town she's bombarded by people double-taking, sometimes even asking whether she is  Zoe. That is until Zoe's body turns up in the local lake. All at the same time, Anna can't help but wonder why everything in this town seems so familiar.       Martina is best friends with Aster (Zoe's younger sister), she's been creating a podcast to try and get to the bottom of who killed Zoe Spanos. Martina helps Anna uncover secrets that help lead to who really killed Zoe.  My opinion on I Killed Zoe Spanos      The chapters go back and forth from: then to now, as well as fi...

  Broken Things Published in 2018  408 pages Written by: Lauren Oliver Rate 9/10 My summary of Broken Things :       Mia is cleaning up her mother's hoarding problem and stumbles across one of Summer's  (the friend everyone thinks Brynn and Mia murdered five years ago)  old spelling quizzes. Which has a lot of red marks noting how terrible Summer was at spelling.      Mia goes to Brynn's rehab and signs her out because it so happened that it was the end of Brynn's time at rehab. Mia shares her discovery with Brynn, they realize Summer couldn't have written the parts of the fan-fiction she used to bring them. (The fan-fiction that described how Summer died and was the reason Brynn and Mia were the number one suspects on the list.) Someone else was writing the story for Summer to share with them.      Together, Mia and Brynn uncover the hidden truths about what happened to Summer with the help of old friends, new friend...

Love & Olives Published in 2020 with close to 500 pages Written by: Jenna Evans Welch Rate: 10/10 My summary of Love & Olives : Olive (Liv) Varanakis starts receiving postcards from her father (Nico) who she hasn't heard from in well over nine years. The last time Liv saw Nico, they were talking about finding the lost city of Atlantis, more importantly, how they were going to find the city together -- then he left.  Throughout Love & Olives Liv struggles with a lot of anxiety, especially when she finds out she has to go to Greece to visit her father and help him make a documentary for National Geographic (about the lost city of Atlantis.) Liv makes it to Greece only to discover her father made a whole new life for himself. While in Greece she meets a teenage boy named Theo, who is as obsessed about finding Atlantis as her father is. Liv not only discovers herself but also discovers how history rewrites itself without people realizing it.  My opinion about Love ...

  Sophie's World  Published in 1991 with close to 507 pages Written by: Jostein Gaarder Rate: 10/10 My summary of Sophie's World : Sophie finds a letter addressed to her written by a mysterious self-proclaimed philosophy teacher named Alberto. Alberto begins to teach Sophie about philosophy through multiple letters, then they end up meeting face to face after a while. Through this philosophy course, Sophie learns not everything is what it seems to be. Together Alberto and Sophie make a discovery that leads them into a very different world.  My opinion about Sophie's World : For my philosophy class my professor chose this book for our textbook and I was surprised that it wasn't in a textbook format. I was also surprised that it wasn't a textbook at all, it was a real fiction book. The class wasn't required to read the whole book, but because it was so interesting I had to finish it. I had a hard time reading it because I am such a slow reader, but I did and I am ...

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place Published in 1991 close to 290 pages Written by Terry Tempest Williams Rate: 5/10 My summary of Refuge : Terry journals about her family and their trials, specifically her mother's cancer story. During this time, The Great Salt Lake is rising which seemed to be a very important event to Terry. The majority of the story was either about birds (and or the Bear River Migratory Refuge), Terry's family, "Mormon" culture, the Utah government, or the Great Salt Lake rising. My opinion on Refuge : The journalistic element Terry brought into the writing of Refuge found me well (the way she treated the book like her own personal journal.) However, some elements of the story did not sit well with me (maybe I could have misinterpreted her entries.)  The ending of Refuge seemed random, though it was very interesting.  Who is Terry Tempest Williams? To read more about William's work and who she is visit:  Terry Tempest William...

The Cheerleaders Written by: Kara Thomas Genres: Mystery, contemporary, fiction, young adult, coming of age Rate: 9/10 Summary:  Five years ago there was a mass killing of the cheerleaders of Sunnybrook high and Monica's sister, Jennifer was one of them. Due to the fact Monica is older now, she starts to question the murder story about the five cheerleaders deaths. What really happened to those cheerleaders, were the killings all connected or not? On top of all the questions, Monica's life has not been the same since her sister's death: her mother doesn't talk to her as much and Monica's gotten herself into some trouble with an older guy.  My Opinion On The Book: Honestly this was a really good book for me to read at this point in time. I had been reading a lot of romance novels and having a change was perfect for me. The plot of The Cheerleaders was good but the start of the book felt super slow. I liked how everything was wrapped up at the end of th...