Ash Reads Stuff

Start Here by Trish Doller Publication Date: August 13th, 2019 Pages:  352 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  4 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Two teens go on a life-changing sailing trip as they deal with the grief of losing their best friend in this heartwrenching, hopeful novel from the author of Something Like Normal and In a Perfect World . Willa and Taylor were supposed to spend the summer after high school sailing from Ohio to Key West with their best friend, Finley. But Finley died before graduation, leaving them with a twenty-five-foot sailboat, a list of clues leading them to destinations along the way, and a friendship that’s hanging by a thread. Now, Willa and Taylor have two months and two thousand miles to discover how life works without Finley—and to decide if their own friendship is worth saving. From acclaimed author Trish Doller comes a poignant tale of forgiveness, grief, and the brilliant discoveries we make within our...

I Have Lost My Way  by Gayle Foreman Publication Date: March 27th, 2018 Pages: 304 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4 stars Goodreads Synopsis: A powerful story of empathy and friendship from the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of If I Stay. Around the time that Freya loses her voice while recording her debut album, Harun is making plans to run away from everyone he has ever loved, and Nathaniel is arriving in New York City with a backpack, a desperate plan, and nothing left to lose. When a fateful accident draws these three strangers together, their secrets start to unravel as they begin to understand that the way out of their own loss might just lie in help­ing the others out of theirs. An emotionally cathartic story of losing love, finding love, and discovering the person you are meant to be, I Have Lost My Way is best­selling author Gayle Forman at her finest. My Review: Sigh. I love Gayle Foreman. She just has a way of pullin...

Nyxia  by Scott Reintgen Publication Date: September 12th, 2017 Pages:  384 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Emmett Atwater isn't just leaving Detroit; he's leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. Forever. Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden--a planet that Babel has kept hidden--where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe. But Babel's ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won't forever compromise what it means to b...

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Publication Date:  February 28th, 2017 Pages:  444 (Hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life. My Re...

Release  by Patrick Ness Publication Date: September 19, 2017 Pages:  288 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Inspired by Judy Blume’s Forever and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway , this novel by award-winning author Patrick Ness is a new classic about teenage relationships, self-acceptance—and what happens when the walls we build start coming down. Adam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life. Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela. But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go...

The Border  by Steve Schafer Publication Date: September 5, 2017 Pages: 364 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: One moment changed their lives forever. A band plays, glasses clink, and four teens sneak into the Mexican desert, the hum of celebration receding behind them. Crack. Crack. Crack. Not fireworks―gunshots. The music stops. And Pato, Arbo, Marcos, and Gladys are powerless as the lives they once knew are taken from them. Then they are seen by the gunmen. They run. Except they have nowhere to go. The narcos responsible for their families' murders have put out a reward for the teens' capture. Staying in Mexico is certain death, but attempting to cross the border through an unforgiving desert may be as deadly as the secrets they are trying to escape...  My Review:  This book is a little out of my genre of YA simply because of the subject matter. While interesting, the writing was ...

Mask of Shadows  by Lindsey Miller Publication Date: August 29, 2017 Pages: 384 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 1.5-2   Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class―and the nobles who destroyed their home. When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand―the Queen's personal assassins, named after the rings she wears―Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge. But the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can have only ...

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake Publication Date: May 2, 2017 Pages: 336 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father. Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But,...

When Dimple Met Rishi  by Sandhya Menon Publication Date: May 30, 2017 Pages:  380 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: The rom-com that everyone’s talking about! Eleanor & Park meets Bollywood in this hilarious and heartfelt novel about two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage. Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right? Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on boa...

In a Perfect World  by Trish Doller Publication Date: May 23, 2017 Pages:  294 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Caroline Kelly is excited to be spending her summer vacation working at the local amusement park with her best friend, exploring weird Ohio with her boyfriend, and attending soccer camp with the hope she’ll be her team’s captain in the fall. But when Caroline’s mother is hired to open an eye clinic in Cairo, Egypt, Caroline’s plans are upended. Caroline is now expected to spend her summer and her senior year in a foreign country, away from her friends, her home, and everything she’s ever known. With this move, Caroline predicts she’ll spend her time navigating crowded streets, eating unfamiliar food, and having terrible bouts of homesickness. But when she finds instead is a culture that surprises her, a city that astounds her, and a charming, unpredictable boy who challenges everything she thought s...

Blacksouls by Nicole Castroman Publication Date: April 11, 2017 Pages: 400 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Nicole Castroman brings the dangerous pirate ports of the Caribbean to life in this vibrant sequel to Blackhearts —the reimagined origin story of history’s most infamous pirate, Blackbeard. Edward “Teach” Drummond is setting sail to the Caribbean as first mate on the most celebrated merchant ship in the British fleet—until he rebels against his captain. Mutiny is a capital offense and Teach knows it could cost him his life, but he believes it worth the risk in order to save his crew from the attacking Spanish ships. Sailing on the same blue waters, Anne barely avoids the Spanish attack, making it safely to Nassau. But lawless criminals, corrupt politics, and dangerous intentions fill the crowded streets of this Caribbean port. Soon, Anne discovers that the man entrusted to keep the peace is quite possibl...

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee Publication Date: June 27, 2017 Pages: 528 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: An unforgettable tale of two friends on their Grand Tour of 18th-century Europe who stumble upon a magical artifact that leads them from Paris to Venice in a dangerous manhunt, fighting pirates, highwaymen, and their feelings for each other along the way. Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’...

Before it Gets Better  by Erica Cope Publication Date: December 27, 2016 Pages: 25 4 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 stars Goodreads Synopsis: ALL proceeds will go to Love is Louder (A project of the JED Foundation)* Anthology includes: Forget Me Not by Erica Cope Collins Bell is used to things not going her way. Abandoned by her mom as a small child, she's spent most of her life in and out of foster homes. Starting a new school is never easy, but she’s just hoping to get through the day completely unnoticed--and preferably without a trip to the principal’s office. The last thing she expects is to bump into the one person from her past that she thought she had a real connection to. Only it’s not the reunion she dreamed it would be, because he seems to have completely forgotten all about her. If You Knew Me (and Other Silent Musings) by Mary Crawford Sadie Anderson used to being considered different and a little strange. Having the soul of an ar...

The Sun is Also a Star  by Nicole Yoon Publication Date: Novembe 1, 2016 Pages: 384 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story. Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us. The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? My Review:  This...

The Year We Fell Down  by Sarina Bowen Publication Date: March 20th, 2014 Pages:  270 (kindle) Genre:  New Adult My Goodreads Rating:  4 stars Goodreads Synopsis:  The sport she loves is out of reach. The boy she loves has someone else. What now? She expected to start Harkness College as a varsity ice hockey player. But a serious accident means that Corey Callahan will start school in a wheelchair instead. Across the hall, in the other handicapped-accessible dorm room, lives the too-delicious-to-be real Adam Hartley, another would-be hockey star with his leg broken in two places. He’s way out of Corey’s league. Also, he’s taken. Nevertheless, an unlikely alliance blooms between Corey and Hartley in the “gimp ghetto” of McHerrin Hall. Over tequila, perilously balanced dining hall trays, and video games, the two cope with disappointments that nobody else understands. They’re just friends, of course, until...

Lucky Boy  by Shanthi Sekaran Publication Date:  January 10, 2017 Pages: 480 (hardcover) Genre:  Fiction  My Goodreads Rating:  4 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Solimar Castro Valdez is eighteen and dazed with optimism when she embarks on a perilous journey across the US/Mexican border. Weeks later she arrives on her cousin's doorstep in Berkeley, CA, dazed by first love found then lost, and pregnant. This was not the plan. But amid the uncertainty of new motherhood and her American identity, Soli learns that when you have just one precious possession, you guard it with your life. For Soli, motherhood becomes her dwelling and the boy at her breast her hearth. Kavya Reddy has always followed her heart, much to her parents' chagrin. A mostly contented chef at a UC Berkeley sorority house, the unexpected desire to have a child descends like a cyclone in Kavya's mid-thirties. When she can't get pregnant, this desire will test her marriage, it will tes...

The Summer I Wasn't Me  by Jessica Verdi Publication Date:  April 1, 2014 Pages:  346 (paperback)  Genre:  Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Lexi has a secret. She never meant for her mom to find out. And now she's afraid that what's left of her family is going to fall apart for good. Lexi knows she can fix everything. She can change. She can learn to like boys. New Horizons summer camp has promised to transform her life, and there's nothing she wants more than to start over. But sometimes love has its own path... My Review:  This was my second book by Jessica Verdi, but definitely not my favorite. I had the privilege of reading What You Left Behind  as an ARC and loved it. This one was kind of difficult for me to love.  I guess it all begins when Lexi's father dies and her mother finds out she's gay. To appease her mother and save their relationship Lexi agrees to go to New Horizons, a s...

The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson Publication Date: February 16, 2016 Pages: 352 (hardcover) Genre: Women's Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Born in Alabama, Paula Vauss spent the first decade of her life on the road with her free-spirited young mother, Kai, an itinerant storyteller who blended Hindu mythology with Southern Oral Tradition to re-invent their history as they roved. But everything, including Paula’s birthname Kali Jai, changed when she told a story of her own—one that landed Kai in prison and Paula in foster care. Separated, each holding her own secrets, the intense bond they once shared was fractured. These days, Paula has reincarnated herself as a tough-as-nails divorce attorney with a successful practice in Atlanta. While she hasn’t seen Kai in fifteen years, she’s still making payments on that Karmic debt—until the day her last check is returned in the mail, along with a cryptic letter. “I am going on a jou...

The Law of Moses  by Amy Harmon Publication Date:  November 27, 2014 Pages:  333 (kindle)  Genre:  Fiction/Romance My Goodreads Rating:  5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  If I tell you right up front, right in the beginning that I lost him, it will be easier for you to bear. You will know it’s coming, and it will hurt. But you’ll be able to prepare. Someone found him in a laundry basket at the Quick Wash, wrapped in a towel, a few hours old and close to death. They called him Baby Moses when they shared his story on the ten o’clock news – the little baby left in a basket at a dingy Laundromat, born to a crack addict and expected to have all sorts of problems. I imagined the crack baby, Moses, having a giant crack that ran down his body, like he’d been broken at birth. I knew that wasn’t what the term meant, but the image stuck in my mind. Maybe the fact that he was broken drew me to him from the start. It all happened before I was born, and ...

This Is Where It Ends  by Marieke Nijkamp Publication Date: January 5, 2016 Pages:  285 (hardcover)  Genre:  Contemporary/Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars  Goodreads Synopsis: 10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity High School finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve. 10:02 a.m. The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class. 10:03 a.m. The auditorium doors won't open. 10:05 a.m. Someone starts shooting. Told from four different perspectives over the span of fifty-four harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival. My Review:  This book has been on my list for a while, but I've just managed to pick it up from the library. In light of recent events I almost set this one aside...but I didn't.  This is an interesting book. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. I di...