Sophie from Beware of the Reader recently began a feature called Mini-Me Pick, similar to Baby Chick’s Pick.  We decided a collaboration was in order so, with Sophie’s daughter Julie and Baby Chick’s/Alex’s help, we’ve brought you twice the teenage perspective!

Julie and Alex are strong teenage girls, in every way.  Alex is a 13 year old budding artist, with a love of Hot Topic clothes, Supernatural, YouTube and an impressive array of combat boots in multiple colors.  Julie is 16 years old, with her own shoe obsession, except in sneakers!  She has a love of sports, and animals, and drama… the teenage drama, and theatrical drama.  Both girls are in Twenty One Pilot’s Skeleton Clique.  Now, let’s find out if they have similar tastes in books!

Julie’s pick:

Making Faces by Amy Harmon

I was 13 when I read Making Faces for the first time so that’s 3 years ago. From that moment on it’s been my “best of the bests” books. My mom loved it so much that she bought me the French translation as soon as it’s been released. Sorry I’m working on my English but there’s still room for improvement.

I’m so in love with that book that I convinced my French teacher to let it be our book of choice for a collective work. She agreed after having read the book so I guess she is one more fan for Amy Harmon 😉

I love so many things in this book:

-Amy’s writing is fabulous really poetic and touching;

-we follow the main characters from childhood to adulthood. I loved witnessing their evolution. We have the time to really know them;

-Amy showed us these young people’s reaction to 9/11. How a horrific event changed their destinies. If the attack never happened maybe Ambrose and his friends would never have entered the army…;

-we realize that nothing is won forever. Beauty can fade or bloom. What we take for granted is often fleeting and we have to adapt. Amy has lots of messages and wisdom in this book. It made me think about true beauty. We have to see with our heart not our eyes;

-the real topic of the book is life itself. Amy writes about love, friendship, death, illness. It’s not all rainbow and unicorn. It’s real. It’s life.

Above all else I love Bailey! He is an ordinary boy with an extraordinary courage. He is not only his handicap. He is more than that and forces people to see him as someone else than the sick kid. He is a true hero.

Last words: the synopsis gives an excellent idea of the book but Amy still managed to surprise me.

Just read it!

Alex’s Pick:

Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

Tiger’s Curse was an amazing series.  I loved it so much, and cried so many times while I was reading it.  This book really pulls your emotions out of you.  It just captures you until it’s over.  I didn’t think it had any flaws, except maybe for one.  (One that apparently my mom couldn’t get past.)  The main character Kelsey was portrayed very immaturely.  She was afraid of getting her heart broken, so she did a lot of pushing away, and then pulling in, and then pushing away again!  She treated the men in the book like fish she kept tossing back.  It was annoying.

It’s a good thing I liked Ren and Kishan so much.  The brotherhood in this book was one unlike I’ve read in a series.  They hated each other, but they would also do anything for each other.  My love for the series really had mostly to do with each of them.  Ren in particular was my my favorite.  (It didn’t hurt that he was a white tiger shifter and a Prince!)

I also really loved the Indian lore that was included in this series.  I could tell the author really did a lot of research, because she wanted to get it right.  The scenery was also really beautiful.  The way she described each location really helped me picture the constantly changing surroundings.

It wasn’t until the very last book that I realized how much I loved this series.  When I finished Tiger’s Destiny I cried myself to sleep.  Then, when I woke up, I was still crying!  It was so tragic that I went to my mom for comfort.  I can’t wait until the next book is available, because I still need relief.

Julie’s Pick:

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me is one of my favorite series. Mainly thanks to Juliet and Warner.

I loved the role reversal in this story: the good guy end …not so good and the bad guy is more good than bad. I love when an author surprises me, gives me complex characters. Not black or white.

Warner is a complex character. He is interesting as he is not bad because he IS bad or wants to but because he is forced to be bad.

I also loved the diversity in side characters, in appearances and gifts.

I really liked the author’s choice for Juliet’s power. Usually when a fantasy or dystopian heroine has a power it’s something badass and good like healing, flying etc. Juliet’s power is deadly. One touch and she can kill someone. She fears her power. It’s been her prison and her burden. She chose to keep her distance with others as she does not want to hurt them.

I admire Juliet’s kindness as she’s been shunned and hurt by others nearly all her life. She could be resentful, vengeful and hurt everyone but she’s remained good. She is very powerful and could “rule the world” figure of speech and instead she chose to be good and forgive.

She had to tame her power and open up to others. Let them come closer.

Her evolution was also very interesting as in the first two books she is rather a follower. When book 3 comes she becomes confident, she believes in her powers. She makes her own choices and decide her destiny.

 We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

There’s more from Baby Chick and Julie!  Just pop over to Beware the Readers for more of our girls!

This is our first collaboration, but hopefully not our last!

Let me know what you think in the comment section.