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Sheinmel, Alyssa
6 Reviews
(3)
YA
Childhood friends Ellie and Eliza are reunited at boarding school. But Eliza spreads vicious lies about Ellie, turning the student body against her--and later making Ellie the prime suspect in Eliza's suspicious death. Secrets long kept by both girls must be unveiled to clear Ellie's name. Told in alternating first-person narratives, this mystery is intensified by realistic, raw portrayals of both characters' struggles.
Reviewer: Grace Enriquez
(3)
YA
When pretty, "normal" sixteen-year-old Maisie Winters suffers severe burns in a freak electrical fire, she must undergo a face transplant--and then cope with being branded with an unwelcome new identity: the girl with someone else's face. Maisie's compelling first-person narrative traces her challenging journey back to herself. A thoughtful exploration of identity, grief, and healing.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano
(3)
YA
Wendy's quest to find her brothers, Michael and John, leads to a secret Pacific cove where homeless surfers live on the fringes of society. Her attraction to both leader Pete and to Jas, who deals a dangerous drug called "fairy dust," creates an intense love triangle. Sheinmel's overt allusions to Barrie eventually yield to an original story about grief and growing up.
Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac
(4)
YA
For seventeen-year-old Sethie, an Upper East Side high school senior coping with a distant boyfriend, drug use, and an eating disorder, her body is "an endless source of fascination and disappointment." Though parts of the novel send mixed messages and the present-tense narration aims for urgency and misses, the revelation of an element of unreliable narration makes an effective point about body dysmorphia.
Reviewer: Allison Cole
(4)
YA
Brooding, introspective Nick, a Manhattan high school junior, has trouble coming to terms with the recent discovery that his father has a twenty-nine-year-old son from a previous relationship. While Nick's voice isn't always believable and the lessons he learns are contrived, the exploration of issues surrounding adoption is sensitively handled.
Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann
(4)
YA
Sixteen-year-old Connelly knows that her father died, but she's clueless about how. Sensitive to her mother's feelings, she stopped asking; however, an unlikely friendship revives her curiosity. Through a bond with Jeremy, who also seeks comfort, she gains strength to find the truth. Though a plethora of fairy-tale metaphors grows a little tiring, the story is effective in its portrayal of emotions.
Reviewer: Lana Barnes
6 reviews
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