Whether you love contemporary, sci-fi, light fantasy, realistic, historical, or horror YA fiction, you'll hear about it here. Check out our latest reviews, interviews, commentaries, and giveaways, and be sure to comment about what you love best.
If you’re interested in picking up a really cute, debut f/f romance that also tackles some important issues for queer teens of colour, then don’t miss The Henna Wars. It’s a book that you will, inevitably, want on your bookshelf and will recommend to anyone and everyone…just like I do. Read more →
It’s about two characters who are holding onto life as best they can, but their experiences with CF and depression put them both in a kind of liminal space between life and death, much like the characters in David’s favourite movie, Wings of Desire. While they are very much alive, their chronic illnesses put them a lot closer to death than anyone else they know, and this means that as their friendship grows, they are able to have deep and meaningful conversations on topics that most teens would be incapable of talking about in depth and, likely, really uncomfortable discussing, like David’s girlfriend Sharon. Read more →
If you’re new to YA Book Shelf, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Buy Love… Read more →
Olivia is flawed. She has outbursts that are basically juvenile tantrums, and she gets jealous over her boyfriend’s talent when she isn’t sure that she has what it takes. She’s not perfect, but honestly, neither is Jonah. He lies to his parents, sneaks around, yells at his parents, and sometimes says terrible things to Olivia. Yes, he apologized immediately for the last bit, but still it kind of sucked. And yet, I didn’t see criticism of his maturity level anywhere on Goodreads, so I tend to think it’s because we put female characters at a higher, unfair standard, even if we’re women ourselves. Plus, let’s be honest, Jonah has great parents and Olivia’s basically leave her to fend for herself and to worry about the growing pile of last due bills without ever talking to her about it or reassuring her. If anyone has reason to yell at her parents, it’s her. Read more →