It all started way before that, though, in junior high, when I correctly guessed who would win the million-dollar prize on every reality-TV show out there. Since freshman year, I've correctly predicted the futures of dozens of students at Stevens. I know that probably makes me sound like a total snob, but it's simple fact. A pleasantly entertaining novel that won't stick in the mind much past the final page. She and Pip have a bit more, but it's spoiled by her frequent observations of how hunky he's becoming. There's not much chemistry between Morgan and Cam beyond her frequent professions of love (that mostly amount to her not being able to imagine what she'll do without him in her life, a dubious model of love). As Morgan's self-centeredness becomes increasingly dangerous to both Cam and Pip, readers may grow impatient for her to reach the obvious conclusion. The characters are rather flat and superficial, the emotions distant, the ending all-too predictable. The same phenomenon happened a few years earlier, and continues today, with Harry Potter and the fantasy genre.īut there's not much involvement here. The supernatural teen romance, a genre that barely existed for young adults just a few years ago, is now hugely popular, as authors and publishers hope to produce the next Twilight.

Mini Review Monday Nantucket Blue by Leila How.This has a few things going for it: an amusingly sardonic narrator, a few interesting tweaks of the formula, and a writing style that keeps the pages turning even when there's little happening.

REVIEW: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny.

Author Spotlight: Cyn Balog and Nichola Reilly.REVIEW: The Monster Within by Kelly Hashway.PrePub REVIEW: One, Two, Three by Elodie Nowodazkij.Two more young adult paranormal novels, STARSTRUCK and LIVING BACKWARDS, will be released in 20. Her first novel, FAIRY TALE (Delacorte), is a 2009 RITA finalist in the young adult category, and her second novel, SLEEPLESS, which School Library Journal calls 'an interesting, quick-paced, and compelling paranormal romance' and Kirkus calls 'a lovely read,' released this year. She rarely listens to 'wise elders' anymore, still eats pasta regularly and is currently looking for a way to get back her figure, possibly by taking up Zim Zam or freeze tag. She'd wanted to major in Writing, but certain 'wise elders' in her life told her that career writers must learn to subsist on three Saltines a day, and being part-Italian, Cyn adamantly refused to give up Pasta Sundays.Ĭyn now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with her husband and daughters. When she emerged, with her growth only slightly stunted, she graduated from Rutgers with a degree in Shoelace Tying or something.

While the other neighborhood children were out getting fresh air and sunlight playing Zim Zam and freeze tag, Cyn Balog preferred to be locked in her bedroom, writing.

Cyn balog fairy tale