Tag Archives: Young Adult Fiction

I stayed up late last night to finish Return the Heart, the YA debut novel by T.K. Richardson. It was a good story filled with adventure, intrigue and a dash of romance, and I liked it a lot. The action was fast paced, the characters easy to identify with, and there were some clever plot twists. I particularly liked the way the author seamlessly worked in a little Russian history and folklore.

Ms. Richardson co-opts the teen angst of no one understands, and puts Lilly, the protagonist, into the Utopian situation of discovering peers who not only “get” her, but are so in tune that they don’t need to use words. Their parents exist, but are largely incidental, the five friends enjoying the freedom and self direction that teenagers only dream about. While combatting kidnappers, double agents and Russian prophesies, the romance between Lilly and Seth blossoms, as does her friendship with his sister, Claire.

I ended up with the feeling that the Fantastic Five will soon be involved in another Russian adventure, with Lilly’s connections to the past proving more complex than first thought. I hope so, anyway, because I want to read it. 🙂

Click here to see the Middle of the Book Review (including summary)

TK Richardson’s debut YA novel, Return the Heart, was released by Yorkshire Publishing in May 2010. I happily won a signed copy through her blog contest, and am enjoying it so much that I decided to write a review — in two parts, as is my habit:

Seventeen-year-old Lilly Paige has always been a loner, because it’s hard to relate to people when you have the gift of instantly knowing everything about them. When her parents go overseas for a year, she moves in with her aunt and uncle, and discovers some new friends with special gifts of their own. Together, they are a force to be reckoned with, but when Lilly becomes the target of an international kidnapping plot, will Seth and the others be able to save her?

I don’t know yet – I’m only on page 145, and she just got kidnapped. So far, I’m enjoying Lilly’s first-person adventure and her sweet romance with the tall, muscular and handsome Seth Vail.

Tune in to my next post for the critique.

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