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Rage: A Love Story by Julie Anne Peters |
Johanna hasn't had the best life, but it's not all bad, either. Her parents have both recently died, she lives with her sister & brother-in-law, she's finishing her senior year of high school with a best friend, a job at the mall, and a volunteer position at the hospice. One thing would make her life complete--if Reeve Hartt fell in love with her. Johanna has been noticing Reeve and fantasizing about her for ages. When Reeve finally notices Johanna, there is nothing that will make Johanna believe this isn't the best thing that's ever happened to her. Not when she loses her job, her friends, her brother-in-law's trust. Not when she's asked not to come back to her beloved hospice. Not when Reeve hits her. This story of Johanna's isolation and abuse is hard to read, but it will make you understand why some people stay in relationships where they are constantly being physically and emotionally manipulated and hurt. Johanna thinks that she can save Reeve with her love. Will she be able to save herself? Includes resources for you to use if you our someone you know is experiencing dating violence.
-Review by Becker |
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Stolen Children by Peg Kehret |
Amy is looking forward to making some money during summer vacation. Her babysitting course taught first aid, bathing, diaper changing, and how to make bedtime pleasant. When Amy gets an urgent call from a mother needing a sitter immediately, she hopes it might turn into a regular summer job. Toddler Kendra is a dream -- she's a sweet, happy toddler who easily takes a nap. While Kendra is napping, Amy falls asleep too, but when she wakes up, Kendra is gone! Amy discovers a kidnapping in progress and tries to stop it, but two dangerous men take her hostage, too. Smokey and Hugh take the girls to a remote cabin in the woods. Each day Smokey makes a video of the girls to send to Kendra's family so they'll pay the ransom. Can Amy somehow use the videos to get help without the kidnappers catching on? Should she take Kendra and try to escape? What should she do with Smokey's gun? Amy has seen the men's faces and they've made it clear that they won't be letting her go. Amy knows she only has a few days left to either escape or get help.
-Review by Elizabeth |
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A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn |
Talia is a spirited Sleeping Beauty who refused to believe that she would ever touch a spindle. But she did, and it put her to sleep for 300 years. In 2009, Jack was stuck on a tour of museums in Belgium and escaped to hit the beach. Instead, he found an enchanted castle and kissed this hot babe who was just lying there. What a mistake! Now Jack feels totally responsible for Talia, who is confused and lost in the modern world. Her father, the king, is furious with her, so Talia flees home to Florida with Jack. The two must learn to deal with culture shock, true love, and the evil Malvolia, who is trying to put another spell on Talia.
-Review by Gwen |
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The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford |
It is the summer after senior year, and Christopher takes a job cleaning the morgue because he thinks he wants to be some kind of investigator, CIA or something. Well, contrary to his expectations, Christopher finds himself knee-deep in a murder with the medical examiner and the sheriff in on the deal. Joined by a foxy newspaper reporter, he unravels clues and follows surprising twists to a satisfying conclusion. This mystery has all the best elements with memorable characters, moody settings, and colorful language.
-Review by Gwen |
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Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater |
Ever since she was attacked by wolves in her backyard at age 11, Grace has been obsessed with the wolf pack that lives in the woods behind her house. Rather than being afraid, she's drawn to them. Especially to the one with the golden eyes. When she meets Sam for the first time, she looks into his golden eyes with shock and recognition. Who is this boy and where did he come from? Why does she feel like she's known him forever? In this stunning romance, Grace and Sam come to terms with the reality of his life as a both boy and wolf and try to make their complicated relationship work.
-Review by Gwen |
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The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones |
Mimi really needs to get away from a bad relationship, so her father has given her the key to his cabin in Canada, where he hasn't visited in years. When Mimi gets there, she finds a guy her age, Jay, already living there. She and Jay hit it off immediately, but Jay tells Mimi that sinister things have been happening at the house - a dead bird placed in the kitchen, someone's been messing with his recording equipment, and there's a tunnel under the house that's being used. Mimi and Jay team up to figure out why someone would be doing bizarre things and who it might be. The outcome of their search is shocking. Written with gorgeous language and creepy undertones, this is a perfect chilling, but not terrifying read.
-Review by Gwen |
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Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan |
It was a day when everything changed for everyone. Find out how 9/11 affected the lives of 3 NYC teenagers in this novel that yes, will make you cry, but is ultimately about hope, human connection, and love. Claire was in school when the attacks happened. She immediately went from imagined worries about her mother to very real ones, and sprung into action to comfort her 2nd grader brother. Jasper slept through the attacks, enjoying his freedom while his parents are in Korea visiting his grandmother. When he leaves the apartment, he starts to collect papers, files from the World Trade Center that have blown all the way to Brooklyn in the explosions, he realizes. Peter is cutting school, waiting for Tower Records to open so that he can buy the new Dylan CD. But there is no music that can make this day make sense. Peter goes to school with Claire. Jasper and Peter had made a tentative date for this night. While they hardly knew each other before, their interactions on this day and in the days, months, and years following show that connection can be forged from events that seemed designed only to tear apart, and that one of humanity's worst days has many individual stories, and many other sides.
-Review by Becker |
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Ash by Malinda Lo |
Ash's mother died when she was young, and after her father remarries, she loses him to illness, too. In a world where the king's philosophers try to move people away from their belief in fairies and Wood magic, Ash turns to this other world to escape from her stepmother and stepsisters whenever she can. Still longing for her mother, she develops a friendship with a handsome fairy named Sidhean. Ash's attentions turn towards her own world when she meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress. As their friendship develops, she finds herself making a bargain with Sidhean in order to spend more time with Kaisa, a bargain that she realizes will mean entering a fairy tale world but losing her true love. This retelling of the Cinderella story has fantasy, romance, adventure, and the promise of making you rethink fairy tales and their lure.
-Review by Becker |
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Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim |
Nina Khan is the only Asian, the only Muslim, at her small town high school in Deer Hook, NY. She has good friends, but as she gets older, it feels like the differences between her and them get more and more pronounced. They're allowed to date. She's not. Their free time is spent at high school parties and after school jobs, Nina spends her time studying (trying to live up to her genius older sister's example) and at gatherings of the local Pakistani Muslim community, where her mother is on the lookout for prospective marriage matches for her. The tug between making her parents happy (which means following the rules of her religion and the cultural norms of a country she's never even been to) and wanting to do things like act on her crush on Asher, the new Italian guy at school has Nina thinking a lot about who she is and how she wants to be in the world. And don't get her started on the body hair! Nina's struggle to navigate her two cultures is both realistic and humorous.
-Review by Becker |
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Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress by Maria Padian |
Junior high is a time when everything seems to be changing. That's certainly how it is for Brett (don't call me Bettina) McCarthy. Friends since elementary school are finding different interests and drifting away. People from the periphery are becoming more important. Her beloved grandmother, creator of giant brownies and garage sale inventions, is undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. And Brett suddenly finds herself going from soccer star to suspended, from one group of friends to another, from thinking she knows exactly who she is to having to redefine that on what seems like a daily basis. Junior high is a great time to learn that change is inevitable, but it isn't always a bad thing. Join vocabulary-obsessed Brett as she starts figuring out that she'll always be a work in progress.
-Review by Becker |
