#BookReview & #Giveaway of Ratchet the Reluctant Witch by @pascoesara

Be careful what you wish for. Fourteen-year-old Rachel Hollingsworth ('that's Ratchet to you, mate) is sick of living in foster care. Desperate for her independence, she runs away. But unaware she's a witch, she accidentally travels back in time to the notorious Essex witch trials, along with her social worker-witch mentor Bryony and Oscar the cat. They all face execution, their powers are failing and time is running out. They barely escape, but with Ratchet's powers still out of control, they land in Old Istanbul. Life is good here. In fact it's amazing. And her skills are coming on. She becomes known for her fortune telling, and eventually is invited to the Palace to read the Sultan's wife's future. But the Sultana has something else in mind. She holds Ratchet's friends hostage, until she does 'one small favour'. With her friends' lives in the balance, Ratchet has to make the most difficult decisions of her life, and carry them out - all on her own.

#BookReview of Girl Mans Up by @ME_Girard & #Giveaway via @harpercollins

All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she’s always been. So why does everyone have a problem with it? They think the way she looks and acts means she’s trying to be a boy—that she should quit trying to be something she’s not. If she dresses like a girl, and does what her folks want, it will show respect. If she takes orders and does what her friend Colby wants, it will show her loyalty. But respect and loyalty, Pen discovers, are empty words. Old-world parents, disintegrating friendships, and strong feelings for other girls drive Pen to see the truth--that in order to be who she truly wants to be, she’ll have to man up.

#BookReview of Manifesting Destiny by @sh8kspeare & #Giveaway via @EvernightTeen

Sixteen-year-old Cee has a hopeless crush on her best friend Marcus. Unfortunately for her, he’s gay. In the wake of Marcus’s older brother leaving home to join the Aerie, Marcus has become increasingly distant. When Cee discovers she has a troublesome dragon named Livian living inside her things grow even more complicated. 

Marcus urges Cee to go to the Magi to have Livian removed, but the more Cee becomes attached to Livian, the more she questions the decision. Should she change her natural self for the crush who will never love her anyway?

#BookReview of Girl on a Plane by Miriam Moss & #Giveaway via @AndersenPress

After a summer spent with her family, fifteen-year-old Anna is travelling back to her English boarding school alone. But her plane never makes it home.

Anna’s flight is hijacked by Palestinian guerillas. They land the plane in the Jordanian desert, switch off the engines and issue their demands. If these are not met within three days, they will blow up the plane, killing all the hostages.

The heat on board becomes unbearable; food and water supplies dwindle. Anna begins to face the possibility she may never see her family again.

Time is running out . . .


Based on true events, this is a story about ordinary people facing agonizing horror, of courage and resilience.

#BookReview of The Mighty Odds by Amy Ignatow & #Giveaway via @abramskids

When a sweet nerd, an artsy cartoonist, a social outcast, and the most popular girl in school are involved in a mysterious bus accident, this seemingly random group of kids starts to notice some very strange abilities they did not have before. Artsy Martina can change her eye color. Nerdy Nick can teleport . . . four inches to the left. Outcast Farshad develops super strength, but only in his thumbs. And Cookie, the It Girl of school’s most popular clique, has suddenly developed the ability to read minds . . . when those minds are thinking about directions. They are oddly mighty—especially together.

This group—who would never hang out under normal circumstances—must now combine all of their strengths to figure out what happened during the bus accident. With alternating narratives from each of the heroes, including illustrated pieces from Martina.

#BookReview of Like Magic by @ElaineBVickers & #Giveaway via @harpercollins

This sweet middle grade novel featuring a diverse cast of characters proves that friendship can be just around the corner.

For three ten-year-old girls, their once simple worlds are starting to feel too big. Painfully shy Grace dreads starting fifth grade now that her best friend has moved away. Jada hopes she’ll stop feeling so alone if she finds the mother who left years ago. And Malia fears the arrival of her new baby sister will forever change the family she loves. When the girls each find a mysterious treasure box in their library and begin to fill the box with their own precious things, they start to feel less alone. But it’s up to Grace, Jada, and Malia to take the treasures and turn them into something more: true friendship.

#BookReview of Gap Life by John Coy & #Giveaway via @FeiwelFriends

Cray got into the same college his father attended and is expected to go. And to go pre-med. And to get started right away. His parents are paying the tuition. It should be an easy decision.
But it's not.
All Cray knows is that what's expected of him doesn't feel right. The pressure to make a decision—from his family, his friends—is huge. Until he meets Rayne, a girl who is taking a gap year, and who helps him find his first real job, at a home of four adults with developmental disabilities. What he learns about himself and others will turn out to be more than any university could teach him—and twice as difficult.