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Destefano, Lauren
11 Reviews
(3)
4-6
At Brassmere Academy for the Extraordinary, every student possesses a special ability. Plum has a unique connection with three other students with whom she dreams in unison. Lately, there've been more monsters in their dreamworld--harder-to-kill ones at that--and when one of their collective goes missing, their safe, regulated life unravels. DeStefano's latest is a simple but satisfying entry point for fledgling supernatural readers.
Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant
(4)
YA
Princess Wilhelmina, the king's only daughter, is kept secret to work as a spy for her power-hungry father. Wil relishes her anonymity until an attack reveals her touch has the power to turn people into gemstones. Banished from her kingdom, this cursed princess meets a cursed prince, and love blooms. The touching romance and a journey toward self-discovery lighten up an overly complicated high fantasy.
Reviewer: Jessica Bushore
(2)
4-6
When Emmaline's mother dies suddenly, her father attempts to invent a machine that can bring her back. Neglected, Emmaline resents the "ghost machine"; then, with help from friends, twins Gully and Oliver, Emmaline discovers its secret: you can bring someone back, temporarily, by giving up a specific memory of them forever. Packed with emotion, the narrative offers a quiet approach to understanding different ways of grieving.
Reviewer: Sarah Rettger
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2017
(3)
YA
Internment Chronicles series.
The floating city of Internment is ruled by a cruel monarch, but Morgan and her friends discover an equal threat in the manipulative king of war-torn Havalais. It is up to the teenagers to save Internment from falling from the sky. Though the plot is sometimes hampered by Morgan's lack of agency, her loving, complicated relationships will keep readers glued to the page.
Reviewer: Siena Leslie
(3)
4-6
Nine-year-old orphans Marybeth, "a very normal girl," and wild Lionel, more animal-like than boy, share a bond. When a blue, glowing creature saves Marybeth from drowning and inhabits her body, slowly taking away the real Marybeth, Lionel must channel his humanness in order to save her. Suspense builds as a mystery of decades-old violence at a nearby farm unfolds. A taut, haunting ghost story.
Reviewer: Nancy Sheridan
(2)
4-6
Pram's pregnant mother committed suicide, but the doctors managed to save the baby. Eleven years later, eccentric Pram talks to the dead, and her best friend is ghostly Felix. When she enters the memories of the dead, Pram learns more about her own past, and Felix's, than she bargained for. Fans of Holly Black's Doll Bones may well enjoy this creepy, character-based tale.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2015
(3)
YA
Internment Chronicles series.
After being forced to flee their floating city of Internment, Morgan (Perfect Ruin) and her friends have finally reached the land on the ground, only to discover that the foreign kingdom is at war. The Jazz Age–feeling world is vividly realized, but most compelling are the complex relationships between the main character, her brother, and her companions.
Reviewer: Siena Leslie
(4)
YA
Chemical Garden Trilogy series.
Rhine (Wither; Fever) learns that her twin brother Rowan is behind the bombings of laboratories investigating a deadly virus. Although she often resents her ties to her former husband (through forced marriage) Linden and "sister wife" Cecily, she needs their help to find Rowan. Rhine's poignant and complex relationships with fragile Cecily and curmudgeonly father-figure Reed balance her still-unbelievable attachment to Linden.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
(2)
YA
Internment Chronicles series.
Internment, a city floating above Earth, is a narrow, careful society--that crumbles with shocking speed after a murder. Suddenly, protagonist Morgan's quiet life begins to fall apart as well, as a chance encounter with the "murderer" leads her to question nearly all she thought she knew. A cliffhanger ending will likely leave readers agonizing until the next entry.
Reviewer: April Spisak
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2014
(4)
YA
Chemical Garden Trilogy series.
This sequel to Wither follows Rhine and Gabriel (after they have escaped from the mansion in which they were near-enslaved) as they attempt a new life together. Rhine leads Gabriel to Manhattan in search of her long-lost brother, but complications leave the story with a cliffhanger ending; only die-hard fans will be eager for the third volume in this dystopian trilogy.
Reviewer: Natasha Gilmore
(4)
YA
Chemical Garden Trilogy series.
In a future where men die by age twenty-five and women by age twenty, Rhine is kidnapped and sold as an unwilling wife/breeder to wealthy Linden. Rhine, plotting her escape, reluctantly grows close to her "sister wives," her attendants, and even to Linden. Rhine's relationships with the other young women feel authentic, but her implausible attachment to her captor adds forced romantic tension.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
11 reviews
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