KJ's Book Reviews

  The Giver Published in 1993 Page 225 Written by Lois Lowry Rate 8/10 My summary of The Giver     The story follows a young boy named Jonas who lives in a utopian society as he learns his place within the community. Once children turn twelve they are considered adults and are assigned to do the same job for the rest of their lives. There are many rules within the society Jonas lives in, however, when he gets his assignment as The Reciever of Memory, his instructions say he can break almost all the rules he grew up with. With the help of The Giver, Jonas soon uncovers how his utopian society might actually be a dystopian society.  My opinion on The Giver     The narrative was a third-person point of view, because of that it was easy to follow along. The world within this book was pretty well thought out, the community functioned incredibly well, and because of that, it wasn't hard to understand the setting. The third-person point of view was also slightly m...

  That's Not What Happened Published in 2018 325 pages Written by Kody Keplinger Rate 9/10 My summary of That's Not What Happened     After a horrendous school shooting, a rumor about what really happened to Sarah spreads like wildfire. Lee, Sarah's best friend, not only has to deal with the trauma from the shooting, but with the lies that follow her best friend's 'noble' death. After three years, the survivors still keep in touch, aside from one, Kellie, the girl who tried to share the truth about Sarah's death. Lee was too nervous to say anything about what really happened and back Kellie up then, will the truth ever reach the surface, and if it does, will anybody listen? My opinion on That's Not What Happened     When I read the book cover, I thought only six people survived the shooting and that's why I was initially intrigued, soon after, I found out I misread what "survivor" meant. The six survivors were the people who were in the sam...

  Midnight Sun Published in 2020 658 pages Written by Stephenie Meyer Rate 10/10 My summary of Midnight Sun     Bella moves from Arizona to Washington during the middle of the school year unaware of the dangers that now lurk in her hometown. Annoyed by how appealing she smells, Edward leaves the state for a while to form a better opinion on what to do about the new girl and her scent. Eventually, they become friends, then boyfriend and girlfriend.       All seems to be going great until a special type of vampire catches Bella's scent, he fixates on finding ways to kill her. Edward's family has to figure out a way to save his one true love while also not doing the easy thing, turning her into a vampire. (The exact same story as the first book in the Twilight saga (Twilight) but from Edward's perspective.) My opinion on Midnight Sun      This book gave a lot more insight into the Twilight universe than expected. Edward can read minds; a...

  Hate List Published in 2009 400 pages Written by Jennifer Brown Rate 9/10 My summary of Hate List     After Gravin High witnesses a tragic school shooting, many students are troubled with horrendous amounts of trauma. Valerie is one of those students; she not only has trauma from the shooting but she is being bombarded with backlash from her community because of the fact that her (ex)boyfriend was the shooter. Many community members blame Valerie for making the list Nick (ex-boyfriend/shooter) used to pick who to shoot. This is a story about the aftermath of a school shooting, but it does give news reports of the shooting. My opinion on Hate List     Going into this book I thought it was going to share a story about a school shooting. What I was not expecting it to be about was a girl struggling to cope with an extremely tragic event. I didn't realize that a person could write a 400-page book about how someone could cope with the loss of community. I feel like...

  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...