YA Friday Book Review: War Storm

Red Queen
Victoria Aveyard
Audience: Young Adult
HarperTeen (May 15, 2018)
IndieBound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads:

"Mare Barrow learned this all too well when Cal’s betrayal nearly destroyed her. Now determined to protect her heart—and secure freedom for Reds and newbloods like her—Mare resolves to overthrow the kingdom of Norta once and for all… starting with the crown on Maven’s head.

But no battle is won alone, and before the Reds may rise as one, Mare must side with the boy who broke her heart in order to defeat the boy who almost broke her. Cal’s powerful Silver allies, alongside Mare and the Scarlet Guard, prove a formidable force. But Maven is driven by an obsession so deep, he will stop at nothing to have Mare as his own again, even if it means demolishing everything—and everyone—in his path.

War is coming, and all Mare has fought for hangs in the balance. Will victory be enough to topple the Silver kingdoms? Or will the little lightning girl be forever silenced?

In the epic conclusion to Victoria Aveyard’s stunning series, Mare must embrace her fate and summon all her power… for all will be tested, but not all will survive."

Carolyn's thoughts on the book:

*Warning: this review contains spoilers for Red Queen, Glass Sword, King's Cage (basically the Red Queen series before War Storm) BUT does not contain any spoilers for War Storm itself. Proceed with according caution.*

Do you ever stumble across a book whilst on GoodReads or Twitter and read the description and just know, deep down, that you're going to love this book? That's how I felt when I first heard about Red Queen (way back at the end of 2014). Between the gorgeous cover design and the intriguing and original plot (well, as much as I could discern from the GoodReads description), I was absolutely convinced I would adore Red Queen—and I did. And that adoration has continued throughout the entire Red Queen series. So leading up to War Storm's release, my feelings were naturally mixed—I knew I would love it, but I also knew that having to say goodbye to the series (and quite possibly see some characters killed off) would be painful, at the very least.

As I mentioned recently, I love how different and distinct each book in the Red Queen series is;     I think speaks to how well the series was planned out. Red Queen introduces us to Norta, the social structures of Reds and Silvers (which is more like Reds vs. Silvers), the existence of the Scarlet Guard, provides backstory for Mare, reveals her powers, etc. etc. Then, after Maven's betrayal at the end of Red Queen, Glass Sword sees Mare and Cal rescued by the Scarlet Guard, and (as per most second-books-in-a-dystopian-series go) the two join the resistance and get up to typical resistance shenanigans (training, making battle plans, butting heads with the resistance leaders, etc.), but ultimately Mare ends up captured by the end of the book. King's Cage is thus easily defined by Mare's imprisonment. Notice a pattern here? Big event/cliffhanger at the end of the book (Mare + Cal getting rescued by the Scarlet Guard, Mare getting captured by Maven) sets up the focus of the next book (joining the Scarlet Guard, Mare's imprisonment).

Ergo, Cal's choice (*cough* BETRAYAL *cough*) at the end of King's Cage establishes War Storm's focus: Cal and Mare now being split between two different factions of the rebellion against Maven. Cal, with the help of his grandmother and uncle, seeks to dethrone his usurping brother to reclaim his rightful place on the throne, while Mare and the Scarlet Guard fight against the tyranny of Silver rule in any form (whether it be Maven's brutal and despotic reign or Cal's more benevolent, passive reinforcement of the oppressive status quo). While Mare and Cal being separated is nothing new (hello, Mare spends literally—okay, mostly—ALL of the previous book imprisoned by Maven), and this ship is not unfamiliar with rocky waters (re: the entire series except for like one makeout scene in the rain/mud), the two have now actively chosen opposite sides of the fight. Exploring that tension and Mare's response—finally confronting the dissonance of her love for Cal and her commitment to the Scarlet Guard—is equal parts brilliant and heartbreaking. We first saw echoes of this in Red Queen, when Mare is dancing with Cal in his bedroom and falling for him (aka the same prince who is at best complicit and at worst partially responsible for the oppression of Reds). But then Maven betrays everyone and takes the throne, and the Scarlet Guard rescues Mare and Cal so 1) Cal has to be grateful to the Scarlet Guard and at least somewhat adopt their ideology, which 2) allows Mare to push aside her cognitive dissonance over this situation for a solid two more books.

I don't see this as a failure or plot hole on the author's part, but the opposite: I see Mare's affection for Cal, despite him being politically problematic, as an incredibly thoughtful and deliberate way of humanizing and characterizing Mare. It's not until they are quite literally forced to pick sides that Mare has to face the irrationality of their relationship, which is a necessary step in her character development. Seeing the way that plays out, from the subtle and nuanced to the more conscious (like forcing herself to refer to Cal as Tiberius, both out loud and in her head) is an altogether more introspective and idealistic struggle than perhaps anything Mare has faced before. And this is not to say that Mare's most important issue is that of romantic woes; it's Mare examining the relational fallout of her ideology in the wake of her recent recommitment. And lest I forget, since War Storm continues King's Cage's tradition of multiple first-person narrators, we get a glimpse into the headspaces of so many other characters impacted by her decisions. This multi-perspective emotional struggle forms the backbone of the book, a frame into which the plot events are fitted, which makes for a rich and complex view of the events of the book.

Ultimately, War Storm is a perfectly bittersweet close to the Red Queen series. It does its predecessors justice, elegantly tying up all loose ends just enough to get a fair amount of closure without explicitly spelling out the future of the characters or Norta. Although I always want more stories and an epilogue and to find out which characters ended up together, I respect the way War Storm ended the series: it was a clean and elegant send-off, one that squarely places Mare's focus on the resistance and gives an appropriate amount of weight to her romantic situation. War Storm is a masterfully well-written and fitting finale to an excellent series. 

Carolyn is a twenty-something-year-old blogger who shares her favorite YA reads and favorite book-related finds with readers on Fridays.

It's Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA - 6/4/18

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.  Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kid lit focus. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kid lit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Today's #IMWAYR is being hosted by YA Friday blogger Carolyn Gruss. Here's what she has to say: 

This is my first #IMWAYR post, and (to no one's surprise) my recent reading material skews pretty heavily towards young adult. Since I recently returned home for the summer, I've been organizing my room and I've realized just how many unread books I have lying around my room (some of which aren't even mine)! So, to combat this aggressive tsundoku, I've challenged myself to read a book a day this summer; this has been somewhat successful, as I've averaged only about half a book a day so far, but I have a couple of months to catch up before the summer is over. Without further ado, here's what I've been reading so far!

After getting my hands on the Selection series short story collection Happily Ever After earlier in this year, I reread the original Selection series. And since I already owned the sequel series, which follows Princess Evelyn (daughter of the Selection series' protagonist America), I figured I might as well binge all of the Selection series. Thanks to finals, however, I wasn't able to read The Heir and The Crown until I got back from college, but the rest of the series was fresh enough in my mind that I was able to slip right back into Cass' world of futuristic royalty without any confusion. This sequel series is well-crafted, and it offers readers a rare treat: getting to see, in an extended context, how the choices and events of the final book of the (original) series have impacted the world a generation later. Oh, and getting to see Evelyn turn the gendered tables of the Selection process around was also fun.

I originally read The Kiss of Deception when it was first released, but as I was merely borrowing the book from a friend, I never kept up with the series. When The Beauty of Darkness was released, I bought the entire series, but I never got around to reading it until now (partially as The Beauty of Darkness clocks in at a rather intimidating 679 pages). The Remnant Chronicles is a captivating series, filled with fantasy and, as the titles imply, plenty of deception, betrayal, and darkness. And although the hardcover editions are huge, they're well worth every word.

I normally don't gravitate towards books in verse, but when Alyson told me about Hidden's premise—intertwining stories of an accidentally kidnapped girl, the unwitting kidnapper's daughter responsible for keeping her alive, and their conflict-ridden reunion at summer camp years later—I knew I had to read Hidden. In an author's note at the end of the book, Frost reveals the way she wrote hidden messages in one character's verse, and the book was so good that I immediately reread it. Overall, HIdden is a beautifully written and brilliantly crafted masterpiece of a book. 

If I'm being completely honest, this was not my first attempt at reading the wildly popular I'll Give You the Sun. I've picked up the book a couple of times, but never could quite get into it (the first chapter was a little overwhelming for me). Finally, I sat down and told myself I owed it to all the people who gave the book glowing reviews to try it, and lo and behold—I loved it. This isn't the first time I've ended up loving a book it took me a couple of tries to get into—the same thing happened with me with Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl and Eleanor and Park. By no means is it an easy read, but I'll Give You the Sun is touching and beautifully heartbreaking and incredibly important.

While I'm a pretty big fan of historical fiction, I hadn't ever read any historical fiction focusing on Pompeii before, so I was intrigued by the prospect of exploring the tragedy of Pompeii through the lens of its residents. A good work of historical fiction is able to keep the reader guessing (and hoping) what the final fate of the characters will be, even when the reader already knows the historical ending, and Curses and Smoke is no exception. 

If you've been following my YA Friday feature, you know that I loved Red Queen and Glass Sword. So, when War Storm (the fourth and final book in the Red Queen series) was released this past month, I immediately got my hands on a copy. But first, in order to do the book justice, I went back to the very beginning and reread the entire series. I have so much to say about War Storm, which you'll hopefully be reading in my impending review, but let me say this about the Red Queen series: rarely have I seen such a carefully planned and meticulously executed series. Each book has a distinct portion of the overarching story, and other than a switch from Mare's single perspective in Red Queen and Glass Sword to multiple perspectives in King's Cage and War Storm, the series is perfectly precise and smooth while retaining a sense of individuality for each book.

I love short story/novella/prequel/sequel compilations, so naturally, I enjoyed Cruel Crown. I have a little bit of trouble figuring out where to place in terms of reading order—yes, it was published in between Red Queen and Glass Sword, but both short stories are prequels, and yet they both have some minor spoilers for Glass Sword (I think—I elected to wait to reread Cruel Crown until after I had finished War Storm, to better discern where I should place it the series). But regardless of placement, Cruel Crown offers an enlightening glimpse into two previously-unexplored characters and sheds light on their impact in the main novels. For any Red Queen fan, reading Cruel Crown is a must. 

In case you missed these posts from last week...

#Road2Reading Challenge: Early Chapter Books to Share

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Interview with Author Jennifer Thermes

Carolyn is a twenty-something-year-old blogger who shares her favorite YA reads and favorite book related finds with readers on Fridays.

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge Celebrates Books for Ada Lovelace Day!

Today I am turning over my nonfiction picture book challenge to Carolyn G. Thanks Carolyn for stepping in with a fabulous guest post on Ada Lovelace. 

As part of a project for my Literature for Children and Adolescents class earlier this year, I designed a flexible, interdisciplinary picture book–based curriculum focusing on Ada Lovelace. Since today is Ada Lovelace Day, I thought I would share the books I picked out, as well as my corresponding curriculum/activity suggestions. Whether or not you're an educator, I think that these books all offer a fascinating look into the life of one of the most brilliant mathematicians of all time, as well as a valuable, important, and timely lesson about the place for women in STEM.

For those of you unfamiliar with Ada Lovelace, Ada was the daughter of Lord Byron (yes, the famous poet) and Anne Isabelle Milbanke. After her father left her family, her mother implemented a strict, mathematical-based curriculum in Ada's education (in hopes of preventing any creative tendencies from emerging, since her mother feared, as in the case of Ada's father, that creativity would only lead to strife and heartbreak). Using a creative approach to mathematics (and thus synthesizing her parents' talents), Ada became one of the most important mathematicians of all time. Teaming up with the inventor Charles Babbage, the two actually created the blueprints and code for the first computer—in the Victorian era (c. 1837). Tragically, the team could never find enough investors to actually build their 'Thinking Machine,' as they termed it, and Ada died in childbirth when she was only 36 years old. The first computer wouldn't be built until the 1940s (over a century later).

Ada's Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World's First Computer Programmer
by Fiona Robinson
Picture book (nonfiction)
Harry N. Abrams (August 2, 2016)
IndieBound | WorldCat

Though I also adore the other biographical picture books about Ada Lovelace listed, Ada's Ideas is my favorite. The book presents enough biographical material to keep the reader informed, while doing a beautiful and creative job visually expressing, well, Ada's ideas and the way she saw the world of mathematics. The art is also gorgeous—all the illustrations are made by watercolored components that were individually cut, arranged, and photographed.

Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science
by Diane Stanley
illustrated by Jessie Hartland
Picture book (nonfiction)
Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books (February 2, 2016)
IndieBound | WorldCat

Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science presents a straightforward and depiction of Ada Lovelace's life alongside charming illustrations. Something that I appreciated about this book is that it chose to explicitly link Ada's discoveries to our modern technology, which serves to underscore just how critical Ada Lovelace was in the development of technology.

Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine
by Laurie Wallmark
illustrated by April Chu
Picture book (nonfiction)
Creston Books (October 13, 2015)
IndieBound | WorldCat

This book is probably the one that reads the most as an upfront biography, though it still entertains as it informs. Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine delves more into Ada's relationship with Charles Babbage and their resulting plan for their 'Thinking Machine' (hence the title). Overall, this book provides the most details about Ada's life and her work (whereas the other books tend to include only information relevant to the story, and focus more on the narrative itself). 

Ada Twist, Scientist
by Andrea Beaty
illustrated by David Roberts
Picture book (fiction)
Harry N. Abrams (September 6, 2016)
IndieBound | WorldCat

While the other picture books were all nonfiction, Ada Twist, Scientist is fiction loosely inspired by Ada Lovelace (namely, by naming the main character after Ada Lovelace). Continuing the Rosie Revere, Engineer series (whose titular character is inspired by/named after Rosie the Riveter), Ada Twist, Scientist follows a young, curious girl who decides to investigate and empirically derive the source of a mysterious smell in her house—as any young, self-respecting young scientist would do. Showcasing modern examples of little girls who want to be scientists is a great way to take Ada Lovelace's precedent as a woman in science out of the past and continue her legacy. Paired with any of the previously mentioned Ada Lovelace specific picture books, Ada Twist, Scientist is a fun way to show that science is for everyone.

The Case of the Missing Moonstone (Wollstonecraft Detective Agency #1)
by Jordan Stratford
illustrated by Kelly Murphy
Middle grade fiction
Knopf Books for Young Readers (January 6, 2015)
IndieBound | WorldCat

The Case of the Missing Moonstone is a delightful and enchanting work of pure speculative fiction that imagines a (very fictional) friendship between a young Ada Lovelace and a young Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (who would go on to become Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein). While historical accuracy may not be the main point of the novel, it certainly takes these two important literary and scientific figures off the shelf of history and into the realm of relatability. The rest of the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency series seems to be just as wonderful as their predecessor, though I haven't yet had a chance to read them all.

Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science and the World
by Rachel Swaby
Nonfiction
Broadway Books (April 7, 2015)
IndieBound | WorldCat

Anytime anyone asks me about examples of women in STEM, I always throw out the names of Ada Lovelace, Heady Lamarr, Marie Curie—and then I tell them to read this book. Broken up into short chapters, each profiling an important woman in STEM (grouped by their fields of study), this is the perfect resource to discover the (often unrecognized) women who revolutionized math and the sciences. Each chapter in Headstrong is written in an engaging yet informational style, so it's accessible to a wide variety of reading levels and age-ranges.

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
by Sidney Padua
Graphic Novel—Fantasy/Speculative HIstorical fiction
Pantheon Graphic Novels (April 21, 2015)
IndieBound | WorldCat

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage is by far the most wildly fictitious of any of these books. Echoing the mathematical fantasy lands of Lewis Carrol (who based his Wonderland off of new mathematical theories at the time, by the way), this graphic novel imagines that Ada didn't die in childbirth and that the two actually build the first computer...and all of their resulting adventures. The book is chock full of wry, self-aware footnotes, complex mathematical concepts, and hilarious escapades.

Curriculum suggestions:

• Elementary school: have an Ada Lovelace Day or Women in STEM celebration, using the picture books referenced. Or, compare and contrast the three biographical works— —to look at different methods of storytelling.
• Late Elementary School/Middle School (English): using Ada's Ideas as an introduction to background information on Ada Lovelace, have students read The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency to talk about the difference between speculative fiction and historical fiction, and to serve as a launching point to talk about notable literary figures of the time: Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, etc.
• Late Elementary School/Middle School (Science): using Ada's Ideas to introduce Ada Lovelace, hold a class discussion about the historical role of women in STEM. Require students to choose a female scientist profiled in Headstrong, and have them do a short report/class presentation (a couple of pages and a couple of minutes, respectively). The students could all present on one day, as a Women in STEM celebration day, or the report presentations could be a regular fixture in the class schedule—say, one person presents their report each Friday morning.
• High School (Math): use excerpts from The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (using a document camera) to teach specific math concepts (say, imaginary numbers), and use the book as a reward for good behavior—read excerpts to the class when they finish their work early, or allow students to individually read the book if they finish their test/assignment early. 

Why is this important?

Firstly, this provides a chance to share the stories of women in STEM who have had their achievements forgotten, or, in some cases, even stolen from them—an occurance so common that there's a specific term for it, the Matilda effect. Additionally, in case you aren't aware of the gender gap in STEM, only 24% of STEM jobs are held by women (who make up 48% of the general workforce). One of the best ways to get little girls interested in STEM fields is to show them that women have contributed to the sciences, and that they, too, can be scientists. They can succeed in science, because these women have succeeded already.

Are there any Ada Lovelace books I missed out on, or some other great books about women in STEM? Let me know in the comments, or tweet me @YALiTFrenzy on Twitter.

Carolyn is a teen blogger who shares her favorite YA reads and favorite book related finds with readers on Fridays.

Artword by Sarah S. Brannen ©2017

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews...

YA Friday Book Review: The Secret of a Heart Note

The Secret of a Heart Note
by Stacey Lee
Audience: Young Adult
Katherine Tegen Books (January 26, 2017)
IndieBound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads:

"Love chose me, and I tried, but I couldn’t stop the arrow in its flight.

As one of only two aromateurs left on the planet, fifteen-year-old Mimosa knows what her future holds: a lifetime of using her extraordinary sense of smell to mix base notes, top notes, and heart notes into elixirs that help others fall in love.

All while remaining incurably alone.

For Mim, the rules are clear—falling in love would render her nose useless, taking away her one great talent. Still, Mimosa doesn’t want to spend her life elbow-deep in soil and begonias. She dreams of a normal high school existence—taking up a sport and limping away flush from victory, joining the debate club and saying things like “That’s a logical fallacy!” Having a boyfriend.

When she accidentally gives an elixir to the wrong woman and has to rely on the school soccer star to help fix the situation, Mim quickly begins to realize that when it comes to falling in love, the choice isn’t always hers to make."

Carolyn's thoughts on the book:

I adored Stacey Lee's debut novel, Under a Painted Sky, as well as her second book, Outrun the Moon. Both focused on the stories of young women of color within an American historical context, so I was quite intrigued when I heard that her latest book was a contemporary YA love story (with a few twists, of course). But exactly what made Lee's historical fiction come to life - the detailed but careful contextualization and world building, the brilliantly unique characters, the smart dialogue - makes her writing sing in The Secret of a Heart Note.

The story focuses on Mim, the last aromateur left on the planet (other than her overbearing mother). These aromateurs, a mother-daughter line throughout all of history, possess magical (or perhaps evolutionarily advanced) smelling abilities that allow them to determine a person's unique mix of scents - and, once they understand that scent, mix love potions. While it ultimately leaves me unsure whether to classify it as low contemporary fantasy, speculative fiction, or sci-fi, this 'it-could-be-magic-or-science' approach allows the plot and characters, rather than the setting, to drive the book. Mim's character growth is at the center of the book; while she may possess super-smelling powers, at the end of the day, she is an over-committed and exhausted teenager in search of her own identity. Of course, when love potions are involved, nothing is simple; only one love elixir can be made for a person, and the potions are extremely difficult to undo. So when Mim accidentally doses the wrong person, it sets off a chain of wild events neither she - nor her dogmatic mother - could have ever anticipated. Complicating matters further, Mim is forbidden to fall in love herself, as she would lose her smelling abilities permanently; this is more difficult said than done. But perhaps the rules aren't as rigid as Mim has been led to believe...

The book artfully weaves together different plotlines - Mim's absent aunt (who lost her own sense of smell after falling in love) and the resulting familial drama, Mim's general high school/teenage angst, the school's resident mean girl blackmailing Mim to make her a love potion (or else she'll out Mim's best friend), and, of course, the chaotic (perhaps A Midsummer Night's Dream-esque) hijinks that ensue after Mim gives a love potion to the wrong person (involving the school librarian, her algebra teacher, and the mother of the school's soccer star) - as well as Mim's budding relationship with said soccer star. However, Mim's journey throughout the book, to find her place and identity in the world, is ultimately the heart and cornerstone of the book. This journey, in combination with Lee's beautiful descriptions of seemingly-infinite numbers of botanical scents, and other methods of contextualization (quotes from aromateurs throughout history to start every chapter, and other bits of important information from this alternative history added in as necessary), makes the book just as brilliantly vivid and character-driven as its predecessors. The Secret of a Heart Note is an achingly exquisite read, perfect for fans of contemporary fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, and Stacey Lee's other novels alike.

Carolyn is a teen blogger who shares her favorite YA reads and favorite book related finds with readers on Fridays.

YA Friday Summer update!

Having completed my first year of college, I am ready to get back into my summer reading patterns (when I spend the day doing very little besides consuming books and food). You can also look forward to a new summer reading challenge (which I'll be posting about shortly), but part of it involves reading as many books that I already own but haven't read. So, I'm focusing on reading series (so that I can finally read the last book), as well as other recent releases - but eventually, I'm planning on shifting over to the massive amounts of stand-alone ARCs I own. Here are some of the books I've been reading since I came home a week ago, as well as the rest of my massive TBR stack (or, at least, just the part of my TBR stack that fits on my nightstand):

The Embassy Row series: 

Ally Carter has long been adored for her YA series (starting with her Gallagher Girls series), but her latest series - Embassy Row - is probably my favorite yet. I reviewed the first two installments in the trilogy, All Fall Down and See How They Run, and am greatly looking forward to finishing off the series with the third and final book, Take The Key and Lock Her Up. 

The Winner's Trilogy:

The Winner's Crime is one of those rare sequels that manages to outshine its predecessor (as I noted in my review), so I'm very intrigued to finally read The Winner's Kiss. However, the complicated politics and history (all a part of Rutkoski's intense world building) are so integral to the plot that I am definitely going back to the beginning and rereading The Winner's Curse.

The Rebel Belle series:

The premise of the Rebel Belle series is pure comedic gold - a Southern debutante turned ancient guardian/warrior of an oracle (who of course is her arch nemesis) - but Rachel Hawkins manages to build a lovable cast of characters, and it is the characters and their emotional development (amidst the crazy-yet-hysterically-funny circumstances) that carries the series.

The Wrath & the Dawn series:

Easily one of my favorite fairy-tale retellings, The Wrath & the Dawn sets up a captivating and complex story that is finished in The Rose & the Dagger. I love trilogies, but I also love duologies - while I always want more books in the series, I do appreciate authors who have a specific plan for their series and stick to it (even if it means less total books). But if two books aren't enough for you, Renée Ahdieh released three different short stories: The Moth & the Flame, The Crown & the Arrow, and The Mirror & the Maze (two prequels, and one short story set in between the two main books, respectively).

The Sky Fall series:

While I do adore Shannon Messenger's Keeper of the Lost Cities series, I tend to prefer young adult books (rather than middle grade); when she released a young adult fantasy series (The Sky Fall series), I was overjoyed. While that joy is now bittersweet, knowing that the trilogy has come to a close, I am very excited to finally finish the series. 

The Metal & Lace series:

Though Arthurian legend is always popular in pop culture (*cough* Merlin *cough*), it tends to be less prevalent in the YA fairy tale retelling genre than other classic stories. So I was thrilled to dive into the first two books of the Metal & Lace Trilogy a couple of summers ago, but I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of the third and final book, Excalibur Reigning - until now. I've been looking forward to finishing this series for a while now (I have a soft spot for steampunk, especially steampunk fairy tale retellings - you can check out more details about the series in my review of Avalon Rising).

What are you reading this summer? Let me know in the comments, or tweet me your summer reads @YALitFrenzy on Twitter.

Carolyn is a teen blogger who shares her favorite YA reads and favorite book related finds with readers on Fridays.