Compulsion is an insightful young adult novel about the struggle people prescribed with OCD go through daily. Jake Martin, a high school soccer star is obsessed with numbers. His habit of manipulating digits on the clock mathematically to result in a prime number is slowly leading to the end of his social life. Through reading Compulsion, readers are introduced to the world of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a world that many -- myself included -- fail to truly understand.
Orly, 13
The Miracle Stealer was eerie, but not in a way that made me excited to find out the ending. The plot had serious potential, but it was executed in a way that I didn't find myself drawn to. Parts of the book made my skin crawl, but not (if there is such a thing) in a desirable way. The power to evoke such strong feelings is definitely a special skill to have, but the way author Neil Connolly did so was not something I enjoyed. To be fair, I'm sure my disinterest for the story is related to a specific aspect of my life, namely that I attend a Catholic school and found the religious overtones in The Miracle Stealer too preachy, possibly because there is a lot of preaching at school. I’m sure that enjoying The Miracle Stealer is far from impossible.
Orly, 13
Anyone who fell in love with Werlin's previous book Impossible as I did, will definitely enjoy her most recent novel Extraordinary. Both are clever takes of the fairy tale genre. In Extraordinary, a girl from a prominent family is sought by fairies to repay a debt owed by her ancestor. In the fashion of Impossible, the mythical beings don't have good intentions and they use their magic to manipulate her. For fans of classic fairy tales, this dark one with a modern setting is sure to be enjoyed.
Orly, 13
The Mockingbirds, by Daisy Whitney is a bittersweet story of a girl gathering the courage to fight for the truth. When Alex, a junior at an elite boarding school, is date-raped, she consults a group of vigilantes known as The Mockingbirds to punish the student who hurt her. I learned so much about date rape from the novel, and the power of students when they put their minds to it. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a realistic fiction novel that is by no means a cookie cutter romance.
Orly, 13
