Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

GAH...400 pages and we are no closer to finding the damn Kindred than we were in the 1st book!  Talk about a filler novel!  I'm not saying that I will not read the next installment, cause I totally will.  But come on, there better be some Kindred finding, magic wielding and clear romantic partner picking (cause I am old and need concrete answers as to whom I am supposed to ship, stop thinking everyone is hot and every kiss is magical!).   Overall, my biggest disappointment with this book was that while lots of things happened (I mean Morgan Rhodes is NOT afraid of killing characters off).  Nothing actually HAPPENED.  We are no closer in this book to discovering anything or getting anywhere (like actually, that road isn't anywhere close to finished).

Final Recommendations: if you like high fantasy, explosive magic, vaguely bad guys, truly bad guys, a whole lot of blood & if you were invested enough in the first book to continue on regardless of whether anything happens til the 3rd or 4th installment.

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

Eh.  That's kinda how I felt about this one.  It had all the trappings of a good high fantasy: mysterious assassins guilds, magical cat creatures, a girl with above average abilities that make her pretty kick-ass.  But it also fell prey to many of things I do not care for in a high fantasy novel: too many characters (none of which are really developed to a point where I actually care about them), a world which is both too big and too small at the same time (basically, there is a bigger, brighter world alluded to out there, however, we are not privy to much of this info in this book installment.  Keeping fingers crossed for the future, that is if I decide to read on), love triangles (blech.  On a positive note, it's not much of a love triangle. On a sad note, I didn't care enough to like either of the love interests to begin with).

Final Recommendations:  if you like magical creatures, girls who kick butt, jerky class systems (which by the way, there was totally a palace but no mention of any royalty?), sneaky assassin stuff.

100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith

Frankly, Andrew Smith can do no wrong in my book.  From Winger to Grasshopper Jungle, The Marbury Lense and Stick, he writes characters that are both quirky and believable.  He weaves a wonderful story full of heart, history and of course teenage angst.  But it's not your normal teenage angst, well maybe it is, "normal."  It is not cliche, too over the top, too whiny, too unrealistic.  It's perfect, and sad, true and funny.  I loved the main character Finn, and I loved the analogy that he was was quite literally and possibly figuratively stuck inside a book (don't we all feel that way sometimes).  The only qualm I had with this book was that I felt that it ended too soon.

Final Recommendations: if you like contemporary YA, quirky characters, angsty teenage boys, awkward situations, real-life magic