Top Ten Tuesday: Books with My Favorite Color on the Cover

By Marley 

My favorite hue is blue and it is colorfully displayed in the novels listed below:

 

1. A book cover that includes my favorite color goes to We Were Liars. The cover dons a beautiful light blue sky and matching seascape. This book is the perfect summer thriller that will make you hold your breath after every page. It's a perfect read for a beach day!

2. All the Bright Places is one of my go to reads! The cover leaves a lot to the imagination and is sure to take you on an emotional ride. Have tissues near because this one is a real tear jerker. 

3. You’d Be Home Now will pull on your heartstrings. It addresses addiction and mental struggles among young adults. This book is as tumultuous as the Florida weather. 

4. Live Your Best Lie takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. It addresses the physiological damage that social media can cause.

5. Where Things Come Back does a great job of making you feel like you're part of this small town setting. You can’t help but to get caught up in the character's growth and development.   

6. Unwind is the epitome of a dystopian novel! I'm typically not a fan of book series, but I truly couldn’t get enough of the world Neal Shusterman created.

7. Whether your team Jeremiah or team Conrad The Summer I Turned Pretty is the book of the summer! It's your classic love triangle that makes you feel like you're in a rom-com.

8. They Both Die At The End is an eye-opening read. It really makes you think about how you would spend your last moments and how we live through experiences. 

9. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter handles the struggle of grief and finding yourself within your culture. With a colorful array of personalities and the right amount of drama, this novel is hard to put down.

10. Last but definitely not least is Five Feet Apart. This book has my favorite cover of ALL TIME and the romance to match! A couple devastated by illness finds love in a dark place.

Epic Reading Challenge: June

Written by Grace H.

Welcome back to the Epic Reads Challenge 2024, where each month some of the TBG members choose a book that fits a specific prompt. Provided by Epic Reads, these prompts inspire new and unique book choices among readers. We encourage the community to join in this challenge with us and participate each month!

The prompt for June was… a book genre outside your comfort zone.

Most readers have a genre (or maybe a couple) to which they are loyal readers. Maybe your bookshelf is largely disproportional with a ton of books of a single genre (Romantasy, I’m looking at you). But this month the Teen Book Guild encourages you to step outside your comfort zone and try a different genre than you normally read, whether that’s romance, thriller, or even non-fiction!

This month I chose The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst, which is a YA thriller. I read a small amount of thrillers, but usually it’s not my favorite genre.

This exciting novel follows Claire, an anxious teenager who is spending the summer at a remote camp with people she’s never met before. But when she arrives at the camp, Claire and her new acquaintances discover that the entire facility has been burned. But that’s not all, something or someone in the woods has killed the camp director, and now is hunting the three girls.

This thriller really surprised me. It started off just like any other, with a scary problem for these teenagers to solve, but as the story went on, it took twists and turns that I’m not sure any reader could have predicted. The ending really surprised me, and I think if I was the author, I might’ve taken it a different direction, but all in all, I was happy I picked up this thriller.

I would certainly recommend this one to any readers who are looking to expand their genre horizons into the thriller/mystery category.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2024 To-Read List

Written by Grace H.

Welcome back to TBG’s Top Ten Tuesday! Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday encourages book bloggers to create and share a “Top Ten” list in response to a different topic each week.

This week’s theme is…Books on My Summer 2024 To-Read List!!

Now that summer is here and school is out, teens have a lot of extra time on our hands, and I plan to make a big dent in my TBR stack. Here is a list that I’ve compiled of my most anticipated reads for the summer!

 

BOOK VS FILM! Turtles All the Way Down

 by Helena M.

Turtles All The Way Down, written by award-winning author John Green, focuses on the life of Aza Holmes. Aza has severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) about germs and bacteria. It hugely affects her well-being and plagues her life with constant irrational thoughts and behaviors that she cannot control. Her life changes when she and her best friend Daisy hear about a missing billionaire on the news who is the father of her childhood friend, Davis Pickett. Daisy and Aza’s need for the award money ($100,000 for people with relevant information) causes the pair to meet Davis again. Aza and Davis begin to connect and face the challenges in their lives together, one thing at a time. On May 2, 2024, a movie based on the book was released to Max and carries a 6.7/10 rating on IMDb.

 

The Movie

The movie is surprisingly good. Before I watched it, I unfairly assumed that it would be very different from the novel (which is sadly often the case). I was surprised while watching because of the added complexity and detail. Some of the best parts of the film were enhanced and barely anything was neglected.

The movie was very well made. The filming, the music, and the effects were tied together perfectly. The combination improved the story greatly. The only thing I did not like about the film was that it was a bit excessive in some parts. A few of the scenes were stressful and hard to watch, but that may be fine for other people.

 

The Book

Turtles All The Way Down was my first book by John Green, and it helped me get back into reading with its beautiful plot and detail. Additionally, the writing is splendid. The characters are nicely developed and feel like real people, which is only sometimes common. It can be a bit of a heavier read because of the subjects that are presented in the book, but I often find myself coming back to it again and again. In my opinion, it is a great read for most people and a must-read.

The Verdict

After comparing and contrasting the two works, I believe that the book is the superior way to savor the exquisite story. It was a tough decision, but the book is so breathtaking. The movie is as well, but not at the same level. I would recommend either the book or the movie, depending on your mood, to anyone interested in a captivating drama.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish WIshes

 by Grace H.

Welcome back to TBG’s Top Ten Tuesday! Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday encourages book bloggers to create and share a “Top Ten” list in response to a different topic each week.

This week’s theme is…Bookish Wishlist!!

This is a list I have put together of the top ten books that I wish I could add to my ever-growing collection!

1. The Cruel Prince trilogy by Holly Black (this is one of my favorite YA series and I wish I had physical copies so I can read them over and over again!)

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2. Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi (this is another one of my all time favorites!)

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3. The Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy by Stephanie Garber (a really popular series that I haven’t read yet + the covers are gorgeous!

4. Swarm by Jennifer Lyle (an intriguing sounding YA sci fi)

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5. Five Survive by Holly Jackson (one of the best YA thrillers I’ve read within the past year!)

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6. The Temptation of Magic by Megan Scott (newly released supernatural/fantasy novel)

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7. Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon (I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and this next installment sounds like a good read!)

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8. Paper Towns by John Green (one of the few John Green books that I have yet to read)

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9. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh (I’ve had this series on my TBR for a while and I’m very excited to read it)

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10. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (this one isn’t being published for almost an entire year, but I’m already adding it to my wishlist!)

      

Let us know which books you are eager to add to your collection!

Epic Reading Challenge: May

written by Grace H.

Welcome back to the Epic Reads Challenge 2024, where each month some of the TBG members choose a book that fits the prompt. Provided by Epic Reads, these prompts inspire new and unique book choices among readers. We encourage the community to join in this challenge with us and participate each month!

May’s prompt was… A book with a gorgeous cover design!

I’m sure you know the classic saying that advises readers to avoid judging a book by its cover, but let’s be honest, we all do it. 

This month I chose One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus

This thriller/mystery YA novel follows four teenagers who are suspects in the murder case of their classmate, Simon. 

Simon is the creator of the Bayview High School gossip app, and he has the deepest secrets about each of our four main characters, all of which were about to be posted onto the app when he died. The motive for each of our main characters is made clear as the story progresses, as the secrets begin to be revealed to the reader. 

Not only is the plotline of this novel enticing and jaw-dropping, the cover is also a work of beauty. It is divided into quarters, one for each of our characters. Their faces are hauntingly blank, with only lined notebook paper to replace it, and the title of the novel is written in a striking blood-red color. I think the cover does a good job of conveying the thriller/mystery vibe of the book.

With this novel, both the cover and the story are incredible, and well worth the read!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Quotes

by Holly K.

For this Top Ten Tuesday, I decided to put ten of my favorite quotes in YA books. I highly recommend these books. Sailor Moon is a manga collection; A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a murder mystery; Children of Blood and Bone is fantasy; and the Shatter Me series is dystopian. Disclaimer: These are not in ranked order!

1. “And in the name of the moon, I’ll punish you!” Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon, Vol 1, Naoko Takeuchi

2. “He kissed her, and she glowed with that feeling. The one with wings.” A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson

3. “Their entwined hands became a new living thing, her fingertips perfect against the dips in his knuckles, like they’d grown just that way to fit together.” A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson 

4. “‘Do not worry,’ I whisper as he takes his last breath. ‘I will make a far better queen.’” Amari, Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi

5. “I am no longer the little girl he knows. I am a princess. A queen. I am the Lionaire.” Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi

6. “I’m a mess of electricity, humming with life and lightning, hot and cold and my heart is erratic.” Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi

7. “‘You want to be friends with me?’ I blink hard against the stinging in my eyes. ‘You’re not afraid of me?’ ‘Are you going to be mean to me?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Then why would I be afraid of you?’” Juliette Ferrars & James Kent, Unravel Me, Tahereh Mafi

8. “It’s like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It’s fresh rain, a whispered promise, a cloudless sky, the perfect punctuation mark at the end of a sentence.” Unravel Me, Tahereh Mafi

9. “‘Don’t let go,’ I tell him, eyes filling fast with tears. ‘Don’t let go. You don’t have to let go.’” Juliette Ferrars, Ignite Me, Tahereh Mafi

10. “Twice. Once for Adam. Once for Warner.” Ignite Me, Tahereh Mafi

Epic Reading Challenge: April

written by Grace H.

Welcome back to the Epic Reads Challenge 2024, where each month some of the TBG members choose a book that fits the prompt. Provided by Epic Reads, these prompts inspire new and unique book choices among readers. We encourage the community to join in this challenge with us and participate each month!

April’s prompt was… A book that’s been on your TBR forever!

Over the years my TBR has grown rapidly, with a continuous stream of new releases and recommendations that never stop coming. This book has been on my TBR for a long time, and I finally got the chance to pick it up!

Anatomy: a Love Story by Dana Schwartz!

This horror-filled mystery follows Hazel, a 19th-century feminist who is determined to become a surgeon despite the fact that she’s female. She receives help from resurrection-man Jack Currer, who provides the bodies that Hazel uses to practice her skills. But the story becomes a true mystery when strange things start happening at night and secrets start to become unburied. 

This mystery was action-packed and fast-paced. I read it over the course of a single day and the plotline kept hold of my attention. It was quite a unique story, unlike any YA mystery I’d ever read, and the horror elements definitely made for a spectacular read. I also enjoyed the romance elements of the story, and I thought that Jack was a really fun character to read about.

Overall, I’m very glad that this finally made it off of my TBR, and I would definitely recommend it, especially to readers who enjoy horror or would like to expand their reading taste!

 

Top Ten Tuesday: (At least) 10 Comic Book Adaptations That Are Worth a Watch

by Luke M.

While perhaps not the highest regarded medium of telling stories, it's hard to deny the massive impact comics and graphic novels have had on both literature, and pop culture. Whether it be crime-fighting superheroes or depictions of real-life events, comics have established themselves as an innovative way of storytelling, with some even winning prestigious awards (Art Spiegelman's Maus won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980).

Because of the widespread appeal of these books, it's easy to see why TV/film producers will reach out to these companies to pitch adaptations. Some of these adaptations will become fan favorites that will be highly regarded by both fans of the source material and average tv goers, others… simply don’t. Regardless of the quality of these selections, it’s important to give some adaptations a chance, even if it’s not exactly like the book. This is why, I present to you (at least) 10 comic book adaptations worth watching, in no particular order. Also, I’m not including any MCU or DCU content; let's give some other works their time to shine.

Florida Teens Read 2023-24: Our take

Florida Teen’s Read is a list compiled of some of the best books in order to encourage teens to read. Teen Book Guild members read a majority of the books on the list, and share their thoughts below. Enjoy the descriptions, and maybe you’ll gain some fantastic books to add to your to-read list along the way!