Kate Spofford, author

Category: young adult

  • reading list April 2016

    This is about a week late, but I’m going to try to make this a monthly column, where I give a brief review of everything I’ve read that month – so here’s April! Series Fiction There are only a handful of series that I’m really into.  The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs is one…

  • New YA Horror Roundup just in time for Halloween

    Note: I received advanced copies of all titles from Netgalley except Sanctum.  All of these titles have been released except Creed, which comes out November 8, 2014. I was quite pleased to discover so many YA horror titles coming out over the summer and fall!  YA horror is my favorite genre, but in recent years it’s…

  • Cheerleaders in YA Horror

    Cheerleaders have been representing the “mean girl” since before the term was coined.  While during the 80s teen literature was full of the popular girls and the girls who wanted to be popular – think Sweet Valley High and the “Cheerleaders” series – once teen horror blew up in the late 80s and early 90s, cheerleaders…

  • books with soundtracks: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

    I’m now reading Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson and it has made me realize: I love a book with a soundtrack.  I have created soundtracks for several of my novels – those are more or less my writing soundtracks or songs that make me think of my story.  Occasionally I find an author…

  • book to real-life connection *spoilers*

    A while back I read this book by Lisa McMann, Dead to You. (You might not want to continue reading if you want to read this book and not have the end spoiled for you!) The story follows a boy named Ethan returning to a family from whom he was kidnapped years ago, and his…

  • Review: Dirty Little Secrets

    Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu Summary: Lucy has a dirty secret – her mom is a hoarder. All her life she’s had to keep friends away from her house, especially after a few kids found out and started calling her “Garbage Girl.” Finally Lucy has a chance at being friends with Kaylie, and a…

  • Review: Forbidden

    Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma Summary: With their mother either off with her boyfriend or drunk, Lochan and Maya have spent most of the last five years since their dad left caring for their three younger siblings. Lochan is cracking under the strain of making good grades at school and dealing with 13-year-old Kit, who has…

  • Review: This is Not a Test

    This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers My rating: 4 of 5 stars Summary: Sloane’s daily routine of parental abuse is interrupted by the zombie apocalypse. Six months ago, Sloane’s sister Lily ran away, and suddenly Sloane is free and after 7 days of surviving, Sloane finds herself barricaded in her high school with…

  • Review: Across the Universe

    Across the Universe by Beth Revis Summary: Amy’s not exactly happy about being cry0genically frozen for 300 years as she and her parents are sent across the universe to a new planet, and she’s not exactly happy about being woken up out of her cryogenic slumber before them. Aboard the ship it’s a whole different…

  • Review: Thirteen Reasons Why (autographed edition)

    Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher Summary: A high school boy, Clay, receives a set of 13 cassettes in the mail, recorded by a classmate who recently killed herself. On the tapes, she gives 13 reasons why she committed suicide, and is sending the tapes to the 13 people she considers the reasons. Mini Review:  This…