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Weyn, Suzanne
8 Reviews
(4)
YA
Four eighth-grade girls enter a local television station's Snapchat Snapstreak contest. Viewpoints shift among the four girls' perspectives; the characters' voices are similar but authentic. Emojis, text messages, and Snaps reinforce the narrative's light tone. This quick read is ideal for reluctant readers but ultimately will have a short shelf life as social media evolves.
Reviewer: Lana Barnes
(4)
YA
Mira has it all: she's a rock band singer and a lacrosse star, and her grades are almost perfect. But then a horrible car accident leaves Mira missing two limbs and her future plans. Doctors offer increasingly experimental surgeries and prosthetics until Mira starts to question her humanity. Weyn's science is more magical than believable, but this quick read offers a satisfying ending.
Reviewer: Jenn Matters
(3)
YA
Seventeen-year-old twins tell their story in alternating diary entries as they journey to claim an inherited castle and learn about their father, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Giselle longs for social grace; Ingrid strives for education. But both are haunted by strange dangers and a series of murders. This curious takeoff on Shelley's classic is ornamented with absorbing gothic elements and a brooding romance.
Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac
(4)
YA
Although definitely not historical fiction, Weyn's novel is set in colonial Salem where Elsabeth, a psychic, inadvertently triggers the infamous witchcraft trials. With the aid of friends who employ various world mystic and religious traditions, order is eventually restored. Readers will either celebrate the imaginative inclusivity of this novel or experience it as an overwhelming multicultural traffic jam.
Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac
(4)
YA
Surviving Southside series.
Kadeem Jones is headed for the NFL--after he snags a college scholarship. While being scouted, he relishes the meals and accolades showered on him at Teller College. Then at practice a stranger confronts Kadeem, claiming the recruiting coach is violating NCAA rules. Though its resolution is too neat by far, the novel offers insight into the complexities of college athletics.
Reviewer: Nancy Hull
(4)
YA
When a superhurricane hits the East Coast, global oil shortages compound the devastation. Three very different teens living in a small New York town fight for their survival and learn how their community might live more sustainably. Set ten years in the future, the characters and their relationships take a backseat to the environmental admonition, but the scenario will draw readers.
Reviewer: Randy Ribay
(4)
YA
Despite predictions of disaster by clairvoyants, narrator Jane finds herself a passenger on the Titanic, along with her four sisters. Science, history, spiritualism, and romance converge in Weyn's text. The story plods along through Jane's early years and her medium mother's spiritualist practices, but the pace slowly picks up, culminating in the sinking of the ship.
Reviewer: Carolyn Shute
(4)
YA
From prehistory to the present day, two people are perpetually reborn into different historical eras. Each time, they fall in love but can't be together, and one of them meets an untimely death. Though it's interesting to trace the common elements in each incarnation, there are too many character names and time periods, preventing readers from really connecting with these star-crossed souls.
Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith
8 reviews
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