Book Beat Reviews

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

Hi, my name is Kate. I am in 11th grade at Wood River High School. I enjoy hanging out with friends and playing soccer in my free time when I am not at school.

In the book It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover, Lily, a young girl in the city of Boston, meets a man. Neither of them knows anything about the other or how to contact them, yet they end up running into each other multiple times. Each time becomes more intense, soon leading to a romantic relationship. With Lily’s past experiences with abuse, she will learn more about things she wished she didn’t and have more appreciation towards others in her life who have been through those experiences.

I really enjoyed reading this book. As I have grown up, I shifted out of reading but this book has made me realize how much I enjoy reading. Lily was a really good main character. She is smart and independent and loves challenging herself. The decisions that she would have to make involved abuse vs. love and what choice she would have to make, were even hard for me to make as a reader. I liked how fast-paced this book was, I was always looking forward to reading more. I recommended this book to multiple other people and all of them have loved it and read it in less than 3 days. By far, this is one of my favorite books that I have read. The ending left me thinking “what would I do in this situation?” because of how complex the situation was. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes reading romance and quick reads

Find it through Interlibrary Loan here.

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Hello! My name is Tess and I am 12 years old. I live in Ketchum and love to ski, bike, fish, and get lost in my books.

In The War That Saved My Life, the struggles young Ada went through were like nothing you could ever imagine. In this sad, hair-raising novel you will experience the troubles of having a disability in a difficult living environment. When you open up the pages of this beautifully written book you might question whether you’ll want to read it, but once you start you’ll crave more.

Ada suffers from clubfoot, a medical condition that prevents the foot from being flat on the ground. She has never been treated fairly or kindly until she runs away and meets Susan, a loving, single woman with no experience with children. Susan cares for Ada and her brother Jamie and teaches them that there is more to life than a small apartment flat. Ada finds a love for horses and meets some friends along the way, and she learns more about her past as her future doesn’t seem so bright. As Ada becomes more involved with the real world, you will want less of it, so you can read this breathtaking novel.

Find it here in print and ebook.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My name is Jasmine. I am 11 years old and live in Ketchum, Idaho. I love ski racing, snow/winter, and many other fun things.

Powerful, unforgettable, and thrilling, this astonishing final installment of Suzanne Collins groundbreaking trilogy of The Hunger Games will keep you up at night wondering what will happen.

In Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen is alive against all odds. She has survived the hunger games twice. Now that she has made it out of the bloody arena twice, she still isn’t safe. Will the game last forever? The Capitol is angry. They want revenge. Who do they think should pay for the rebellion? Katniss? However, Katniss is also angry, coming back from the Capitol’s beloved horror games to find her home destroyed and her loved one Peeta tortured in a way that’s impossible to imagine. What’s worse is President Snow has made it clear no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, friends, or district 12. 

So many questions are asked. Will Peeta recover or ever be the same again? Will Katniss be their Mockingjay? And remain the face of the rebellion? Will she survive the pressure and continue to lead on? Will she kill President Snow or lose hope throughout her journey? Katniss and her crew are forced to see the worst of days. Just how many will survive in what could be their greatest adventure?

Find it here in print, film, and ebook.

The Divorce Express by Paula Danziger

My name is Elizabeth. I love reading, and my favorite book is My Sister’s Keeper. I am in the 8th grade and enjoy dance.

The Divorce Express is about a girl named Phoebe whose parents are divorced. Phoebe lives with her dad in Woodstock during the week, and with her mom in New York City on the weekends. The train she takes from these two places is what she calls: The Divorce Express. Not only does she have trouble traveling between the two places, but she also has trouble living a double life. In New York City she has all her friends and her boyfriend, and essentially her entire life, and she has to pick all of that up to live in Woodstock. Woodstock is a lot different from New York City. It is quiet, there are not a lot of people. As the story progresses, we get to see Phoebe establish a life in Woodstock. She begins to make friends and starts to feel more at home in Woodstock.

This book was an easy read. I thought it was simple and nice to read, however, this book doesn’t leave you thinking. The themes were not too mature, and there also wasn’t a lot of hard vocabulary. . There is not a lot to dive deeper into or analyze. The main Issue Phoebe comes across is getting used to her double life. I related to this a little bit because I moved from a big city to Sun Valley. I would give this book a 7.5/10 because it was simple and sweet, but I felt like it didn’t change me or make me think a lot. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a short and simple read.

Find it through Interlibrary Loan.

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Hello I’m Josy, I love to read and I’m very opinionated when it comes to books. I read all books from Historical to Fiction.

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo is the sequel to Shadow and Bone. In the book, Alina Starkov, the sun summoner, and Mal Oretsev, the tracker, try to outrun their past but The Darkling, king of Ravka, soon emerges with not only his powers strengthened but with magic never seen before. He will fight to capture Alina and use her powers to his advantage by using them to help him control the fold, a strip of darkness that divides the country of Ravka. Alina and Mal, with the help of a privateer, will have to face The Darkling and defeat him once and for all to not only save themselves but the nation of Ravka. With all the twists and turns of the story, I was instantly absorbed into the book but, of course, there were slow parts that made you think, can this go any faster? Luckily this book is filled with shocking moments that make you gobble the book up. 

In summary, I give 5 out of 5 stars to Siege and Storm because of how much the characters and plot progressed to a point in which I could not put the book down. Thank you for reading!

Find it in print here.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

My name is Elizabeth. I love reading, and my favorite book is My Sister’s Keeper. I am in the 8th grade and enjoy dance.

One Of Us Is Lying is a murder mystery that takes place in a high school setting. Five kids are in detention, all for suspicious reasons. Simon, one of the characters, dies in the middle of detention. This causes the four other kids to become suspects in the death. Simon had a gossip website, and he uncovered lots of dirt in everyone’s school lives. The day after Simon’s death, there was a post supposed to go out about each of the suspects from detention. Also, each character had a reason to be angry with Simon, causing them to be even more suspicious.  This causes a very intense investigation to be launched, and there are many secrets revealed about each character’s personal lives. 

I really enjoyed this book. I found it very interesting and I read it very quickly. I didn’t like the ending plot-wise, but I did enjoy the thoughts that came with finishing the book. The ending pushes the reader psychologically and really makes you think. I did not realize the effect this book had on me till about a week after reading it when I was recommending it to my friends and still pondering the storyline. After some time I was not thinking about the ending as much as before, but I was thinking about all of the characters, and if they would have killed Simon. I would give this book a 10/10 because it was so great. I thought it had quite a few mature topics, so I would not recommend this to younger readers. 

Find it in print and eaudiobook.