Charlotte's Library

Shine written by Lauren Myracle Lauren Myracle is back with a dark mystery, revolving around a hate crime in a small, Southern town. It's really amazing to see the tremendous scope of writing Myracle is capable of--from lighthearted teen girl drama in the Internet Girls series, to the horror story in Bliss , to this new mystery. Personally, I think she should stick with the latter two, as there are so few writers out there capable of pulling off such captivating, deep writing so well. I've owned this book for a while, but it wasn't until the recent kerfuffle with the Wall Street Journal article that I decided to read the book. The article singled out Myracle's novel for its content, claiming that it is too dark for teen readers. While there are more drug references than you'll find in most other YA novels, I actually learned that meth use/abuse is pretty rampant in small Southern towns, which I never knew before. It becomes a key factor in the events of the st...

Kissing Kate written by Lauren Myracle I suppose this is one of the very few LGBT young adult books I've read, and like any other book, it had its strengths and weaknesses. The thing that definitely stuck out with this book was the vital element of realism. The moments described in the book are very down-to-earth, honest moments that teenagers experience, no matter their orientation. One of the things I didn't really like about Lauren Myracle's Internet Girls series was that, while funny and good reads, they were nothing like what I experienced during my teenage years. Moments of that series were extremely overdone and overdramatic. Kissing Kate was more down-to-earth and, in my opinion, a more genuine portrayal of the average teen's life. On the other hand, while being honest and down-to-earth, this was definitely a unique book in terms of content. It was one of the earlier mainstream LGBT YA books out there, and it goes more in depth covering the full length of...