Small Town Sinners by Melissa C. Walker

Small Town Sinners by Melissa C. Walker

This book took me completely by surprise.  I had read that it was about the Hell Houses that evangelical Christian groups put on yearly to scare young people into joining their churches.  I was expecting an indictment of these sorts of events, not the well-balanced view Walker portrays in her new YA novel.  High school junior Lacey Anne is the story’s protagonist, with her father being the children’s pastor at her church, the House of Enlightenment.  She’s just about to get her drivers’ license and is  hoping her super strict parents will loosen the reins once she is able to drive herself and her two best friends around their small hometown.  She plans to audition for the Hell House’s most challenging part, that of Abortion Girl, who goes through a mock bloody abortion and dies as part of the production.  but, when she see’s a super hot new guy at the DMV, it takes her awhile to realize that he’s really Tyson Davis who moved out of town ten years ago.  But Ty seems to have secrets of his own, and is full of thoughtful questions about religion, beliefs and morality.  While he and Lacey Anne begin to secretly see each other, she begins to question her certainty about the strict biblical interpretations she’s been taught by her parents and church.

I literally could not stop reading this book until I finished it.  I expected it to be pretty one-sided against the controversial Hell Houses, but it showed the humanity of the people who put them on and their true desire to help other people by “saving them.”  Although I disagreed with many stands taken by Lacey’s church, they were portrayed fairly, with Walker going to pains not to demonize them.  It forced me to look at my own prejudices and make room for other perspectives, even those with which I strongly disagree.  This, I think is one of the strengths of this book.  It reminds us that just because we all have different beliefs, it doesn’t mean the people on the opposite side of the fence are the enemy.

I would recommend this book to all teens, especially those who like books that encourage them to think about the big issues–religion, morality, war, etc.  It’s a short, fast read so it’s perfect for that last minute book project or long car ride with the family.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

This intriguing title weaves together the themes of romance, suspense, historical research and genetic studies into a surprisingly cohesive story. The main character is historian Diana Bishop, related to Bridget Bishop made famous by the Salem Witch Trials.  While doing research in one of the Oxford University libraries, she stumbles across an enchanted manuscript from the seventeen hundreds.  Since Diana has always avoiding learning to use her own magic, despite her very talented parents, she dismisses its quirks and has it returned to the stacks by the clerk at the end of the  day.  This simple discovery starts a series of events that will impact Diana, not just professionally but personally, too.  Suddenly, she has attracted the entree paranormal world f Great Britain, including witches, daemons and vampires.  A handsome, charming vampire named Matthew Clairmont has an interest in the manuscript, too, but seems to be just as interested in Diana, pursuing her until she finally agrees to dinner with him, even though her aunt who raised her taught her that witches (even non-practicing ones) and vampires cannot even be friends, much less date.  As you can imagine, more than dating soon develops.

Harkness’s debut novel has much to speak in its favor: it’s suspenseful, fast-paced, hard to put down and even has a forbidden romance story thrown in for good measure.  For my taste, it was a little heavy on the romance, but I’m sure that will be a positive for many readers.  I recommend this book to fans of paranormal romances, horror fans, and readers who liked the Twilight series before we all got tired of it.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This engaging teen romance is the perfect book to read in the spring, as the pink blooms start opening on Shattuck Avenue here in Berkeley.  I found it totally fun and a perfect escape from all the “deep” realistic fiction I’ve been reading lately.  It takes place in the world’s most romantic city, Paris.  Anna’s been sent there to boarding school for her senior year by her father, who’s become rich writing “these novels set in a Small Town Georgia about folks with Good American Values who Fall in Love and then contract Life-Threatening Diseases and die.”   The last thing Anna wants to do is leave Atlanta, her best friend Bridgette and the hottie she works with at the local multiplex movie theater.  Imagine being forced to spend a year in Paris?

But then she meets Etienne St. Clair, who’s half British but raised by his mother in San Francisco.  He is smart, gorgeous and charismatic; but he has a long-time girlfriend named Ellie who attends the nearby Parsons art college.  Still, as the year goes by, the two become best friends, although Anna can’t deny the way she feels as she sits next to him in the dark cinema watching her favorite classic movies.

This book was a joy to read–light, funny and full of anticipation about what would happen next between Anna and Etienne.  I woudl definitely recommend it to all teen girls looking for a fun, escapist romance.  Fans of Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti will not be disappointed.

By the way, you can search the subject heading Love Stories to find over 100 teen romances in our online catalog.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Lena will turn eighteen in 95 days, and undergo the procedure that her dystopian world feels will cure the most dangerous disease: amor deliria nervosa, or love as we commonly call it. According to the government this disease creates all types of problems in humans:  anxiety, depression, insomnia, uncertainty and all types of dangerous, strong feelings. The leaders believe the surgery will create societal harmony, and matches up the teenagers with their future spouses shortly after the procedure.  Lena is anxiously looking forward to “being cured,” as her mother went through the surgery three time without any success, and finally killed herself.  Lena and her sister have had to live with this legacy, and she can’t wait to become normal and settle into her adult life.

As she’s preparing to finish high school, she accidentally meets Alex, who it turns out lives outside the cities electrified fence and is “uncured.”  Through her friendship and developing illegal romance with him, Lena begins to question the government she has always believed in and even visits the Wilds with Alex outside the fence.

Oliver, who wrote last year’s amazing book Before I Fall, does an fabulous job bringing readers into Lena’s mind as she falls in love, wrests with how the ideology of the government fits inwith what she’s learning with Alex, and makes decisions about her own future.  I recommend this title to fans of her first book, dystopian fans, science fiction fans, and even romance fans.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I’m predicting that this will be one of our favorite books of 2012, even though the year is less than a month old.  John Green is amazing writer who’s able to capture the smart and sardonic teen attitude and voice with perfection.  Be forewarned that although this sounds like a sad story, most readers will find it totally uplifting because the story of first love counter-balancing the teens’ tragedy of cancer is told with effortless simplicity.  The story is narrated by Hazel, who has stage IV thyroid cancer that is in remission due to some new, miraculous chemotherapy drug. At sixteen, she’s already lived two years longer than her doctors originally predicted, but is finding living with cancer both painful and depressing.  That is until she meets Augustus Waters in a support group her parents coerce her into attending.  He is tall, gorgeous and in remission from his cancer, but comes to support his pal Isaac, who’s lost one eye to the disease already.  It’s the way the characters think and talk that make this book so awesome. Upon first seeing Augustus, Hazel thinks:

“I looked away, suddenly conscious of my myriad insufficiencies.  I was wearing old jeans, which had once been tight but now sagged in weird places, and a yellow T-shirt advertising a band I didn’t even like anymore.  Also my hair:  I had this pageboy haircut, and I hadn’t even bothered to, like, brush it.  Furthermore, I had ridiculously fat chipmunked cheeks, a side effect of treatment.  I looked like a normally proportioned person with a balloon for a head.  This was not even to mention the cankle situation.  And yet–I cut a glance to him, and his eyes were still on me.  It occurred to me why the called it eye contact. “

Hazel and Augustus fall tentatively in love, each one nervous about the other and the repercussions of their feelings.  Their feelings, relationship and sickness give them both have the opportunity to rethink the importance of life, heaven, disease and the mark one leaves on the world.

I adored this book, and felt as if I were living through their trials and triumphs with this young couple.  I would recommend this to all teen readers, especially fans of John Green.  We have multiple copies of his other most popular book, Looking For Alaska, which is reviewed HERE.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

In the dystopian future created by first time novelist DeStefano, scientists have used genetic engineering to cure all the world’s diseases.  The only problem is that after the first generation, all young men die at 25 years old and women die at 20.  Although most people live in poverty in what’s left of the large metropolises, the wealthy still exist in private guarded estates, secluded from everyone except the other affluent.  But they’re not exempt to the early death rate, so they hire “gatherers” to collect young women to marry to continue the human race.  Rhine, who lives in Manhattan with her twin brother Rowan, is kidnapped by the gatherers and finds herself a prisoner in a mansion, about to be married along with two other girls to  Linden Ashby, the weak twenty-year-old son of a  rich scientist.  But it is the father, Vaughn who really runs the family, intimidating the sister wives and servants, and lying to his son and the facts of their lives.  In the midst of all this, Rhine remains determined to escape, and enlists the help of the servant Gabriel, for whom she’s beginning to feel more than simple friendship.

I enjoyed this book, and wished it had focused more on the society, how it came about and what people were doing to fight against the oppression.  Since this is the first in the Chemical Garden Trilogy, I assume those aspects will be fleshed out in the next two volumes.  The book did keep me thoroughly engaged, and I especially appreciated the way the author took her time developing most of the characters.  I recommend this book to dystopia fans, Margaret Atwood fans, and science fiction readers.

Hunger Games Movie!!!

Since this movie will finally be released on March  23, 2012, the company is sharing posters and other tidbits with us loyal fans.  (Anyone ready to stand over night in line with me???)

Here’s the official trailer from YouTube that you can watch from home:

Here’s a LINK to the official movie website.

And, finallyere are the posters:

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

This is one of those books I had heard great things about from students, but just put off reading for no real reason.  Boy am I sorry now because I loved it!  The story takes place in a town so ideal that when a boy is told by his teacher that he’s “definitely gay and has a very good sense of self” when he’s in kindergarten, his mom’s reaction is that he learned a new word.  Paul is surprised that his being gay is different, and rarely faces any homophobia in his small town, although he knows it exists elsewhere.  In the story, Paul is a high school sophomore, and his school includes a cross-dressing football quarterback, cheerleaders that ride Harley Davidson motorcycles and the Gay-Straight Alliance as the most popular club.  Although he’s had boyfriend’s in the past, Paul can barely catch his breath when he meats the new kid at school, Noah. Naturally, the course of true love is never smooth, especially when Paul’s ex starts coming around again, right after he’s convinced Noah that his feelings are real.

While this book is surely a romantic comedy, Paul’s honest narration keeps the plot feeling realistic as well as honest.  I rate this 5 *’s out of 5, and recommend it to all teen readers.  Fans of Alex Sanchez, Julie Anne Peters and Ellen Wittlinger will appreciate Levithan’s LGBT-friendly world.

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

This fast-paced book is the perfect choice for light reading, either between your finals studying or when you’re avoiding school completely.  One of our students compared Godbersen’s books to Gossip Girl but back in time, and she was right.  Her books are full of gossip, rumors, fashion, friendship and romance.  This book takes place in New York City during the the Jazz Age of the Roaring Twenties.  It’s the story of three young women, not even out of their teens.  Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur have literally escaped from Union, Ohio, Cordelia from a marriage she felt forced into and Letty from her harsh father and up-at-dawn farm family.  Readers find out Cordelia is looking for the father she never knew while Letty hopes to become a star on Broadway.  Astrid Donal is a stylish, flapper whose mother is on her fourth wealthy husband, and lives a life of luxury.  Cordelia will find out that her father is a wealthy alcohol bootlegger, who lives in a mansion and is thrilled to have her back in his life.  Letty will get a job at at a speakeasy as a cigarette girl, making friends with other young women also seeking their fortunes in the Big Apple.  Astrid turns out to be the spoiled girlfriend of Cordelia’s half-brother Charlie.

The girls’ lives become complicated in ways that are hard to imagine, but I promise you that there is never a dull moment in this book.  As you can probably tell, I loved this book just as much as Godbersen’s previous series called The Luxe, which is about young women in Manhattan during the turn of the twentieth century.  I recommend this title to fans of Godbersen’s earlier books, anyone looking for a light and engaging read, and fans of the Clique series and Gossip Girls.

Here is a LINK to the author’s website, which includes videos, photos, games and even a blog.

Click HERE for a review of Luxe.

Beastly by Alix Flinn

Beastly by Alex Flinn

For sure, it’s another take on “Beauty and the Beast,” but Flinn brings something new to her story, by making the two main characters teenagers at an exclusive prep school in New York City. Junior Kyle Kingsbury is so superficial and downright mean to his fellow students, that readers won’t be too sad when a goth-looking witch turns him into a werewolf type beast. He slowly transforms into a caring, thoughtful human being with the help of his blind tutor, housekeeper, and Lindy, a scholarship student from his old school. The changes in him and his relationship with Lindy make the book hard to put down, despite the happy ending we all know is coming.

We’re posting this review again since the movie just came out a couple weeks ago.  It’s getting pretty decent feedback and below is a preview you can see from home:

Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie

Cassia Reyes’ futuristic society has always taken care of everything– from things as simple as meals prepared specifically for each person’s nutritional needs, to calculating each eighteen year old’s perfect match for their lifelong marriages.  When Cassie is matched with her best friend Xander, she’s pleasantly surprised, even though it rarely happens that a person is matched with someone they already know.  Later at home, when she puts the microcard with his biographical data on it into her port (computer) to admire him, a quick flash of another boy’s picture shows up on the screen for just a second.  She recognizes the picture from school, an orphan named Ky who was adopted at 10 by his aunt and uncle.  How can she have two matches?  An officer from the government explains that it’s just a computer glitch, but Cassia’s mind has already started wondering.  Add to this the illegal poem her grandfather slipped to her on his deathbed, and the young woman is in for a world of confusion.  Cassia begins to want all kinds of forbidden things: more poetry and music than the government-approved 100 titles of each, a growing romance with Ky, more time by herself thinking.

Writer Condie skillfully tells this dystopian tale without giving the readers time to gasp for air.  The fast-paced plot is intricately tied together with specific details: a Dylan Thomas poem, secrets whispered while hiking up a forbidden hill, and descriptions of the three pills each citizen must keep on their person at all times.  This engaging story is one of the best I’ve read this school year!  I love that it blends a unique dystopia with a forbidden romance.  I highly recommend it to dystopia, science fiction and romance fans.

Here’s a book trailer you can watch from home:

Happy Valentine’s Day

I’m sending my love and hugs to all our Berkeley High School readers and our other blog followers.  Because a great book can never get enough love (or buzz), I’m including a review of my favorite book that included a romance from 2010.

---

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

The book came recommended to me by a number of friends, and I’m sorry I put off reading it over Spring Break.  It is absolutely wonderful -  funny, heartfelt, first love, grief–so many emotions in one story.  Lennie’s older sister Bailey has died suddenly and unexpectedly, and Lennie is completely unable to deal with her grief.  Bailey has always been the star of the Walker sisters, outgoing and vivacious.  But Lennie has her own talents, although she tends to downplay them in favor of letting her beloved sister bask in the spotlight. After Bailey dies, Lennie’s family goes into a dark place -she, her Gram (who raised her) and her Uncle Big barely talk, and all the food Gram so lovingly prepares tastes like ashes to Lennie.  Lennie doesn’t even answer texts or calls from her  best friend Sarah.  The only person who seems to understand her overwhelming grief is Toby, Bailey’s boyfriend.  But their feelings for each other keep getting confused, making them both feel terrible guilt, but they can’t seem to stay away from each other.  In addition, the new talented musician in town, Joe, starts coming over to Lennie’s house every morning to spend time with her, Gram and Big.  She doesn’t understand why he keeps coming around, but can’t help beginning to fall for him.

This is the perfect book for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jodi Picoult.  I think any young woman would be drawn to the story, as the writer captures Lennie’s emotions perfectly, even down the the poetry she jots down on everything from paper coffee cups to blank sheets of music, to park benches.  Don’t miss this title!

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Don’t let the title of this book give you the wrong impression–it’s definitely not about “girls gone wild” over summer break!  It IS an amazing story of one summer in the life of Anna, when she goes to California on vacation with her best friend Francesca, or Frankie as everyone calls her.  But, of course, it not as simple as it sounds.  Frankie’s brother Matt, who was actually the girls’ other best friend,  died suddenly a year  earlier from a heart abnormality.  And Frankie can’t get past her grief.   As hard as this sounds, Anna is having an even worse time of it, because she and Matt had realized they were in love about a month before he died.  They had been having a secret romance since he wanted to tell Frankie and his family about it when they  had more time together over the summer vacation.  So Anna’s sadness is so much deeper than anyone knows, but she had promised Matt she would “keep their secret.”  Consequently, she can’t really grieve as much as she needs to, and spends her time supporting Frankie instead of dealing with her own pain.

Add to all of this the the fact that Frankie seems to have completely changed her personality  in response to her grief–it now takes her hours to get her hair and make-up just right to leave the house, she goes to the weekend parties that kids all gossip about on Monday, and there was even an incident on the field with a soccer-playing exchange student that Frankie says made her into a “real woman!”  So her plan for the three week beach vacations is for her and Anna to meet at least twenty boys , and relieve Anna of the burden of her virginity.  You can only imagine that life rarely goes they way we plan it, but the girls have an amazing vacation anyway.

I adored this book!  It dealt with so many issues in such an honest and heartfelt way: grief and loss, first love, friendship, virginity, and family. I heartily recommend to all teen readers, especially fans of Sarah Dessen, John Green, and Deb Caletti.

Paranormal Romances – Moving Beyond Bella and Edward

Ok, so you’ve read all the Stefanie MeyerTwilight books and are looking for something similar.  Or you hated Bella’s obsession with Edward and are looking for a more independent heroine who still has a weakness for those vampires, werewolves or fairies.  We own all the books described below, and I promise they will fill your need for romantic and unusual love stories with supernatural beings.

The very brief descriptions are taken directly from WorldCat, the world’s largest  library catalog.

Ash by Malinda Lo.

In this variation on the Cinderella story, Ash grows up believing in the fairy realm that the king and his philosophers have sought to suppress, until one day she must choose between a handsome fairy cursed to love her and the King’s Huntress whom she loves.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday.  Click here for our review

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

A mentally ill sixteen-year-old girl reunites with her estranged mother in an East Texas town that is haunted with doors to dimensions of the dead and protected by demon hunters called Mortmaine.

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

Having fallen for a human boy, a beautiful teenage werewolf must battle both her packmates and the fear of the townspeople to decide where she belongs and with whom.

City of  Bones by Cassandra Clare

Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizzare world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster. Click here for our review

Fallen by Kate Lauren

Suspected in the death of her boyfriend, seventeen-year-old Luce is sent to a Savannah, Georgia, reform school where she meets two intriguing boys and learns the truth about the strange shadows that have always haunted her.  Click here for our review

Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the Unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.  Click here for our review

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world.

House of Night series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird’s world, vampires have always existed. In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire–that is, if she makes it through the Change. Not all of those who are chosen do. It’s tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampire Goddess, Nyx. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny–with a little help from her new vampire friends.  We also own this in Spanish. Click here for our review

Immortal : Love Stories with Bite edited by P.C. Cast and Leah Wilson
In Immortal: Love Stories With Bite, edited by New York Times bestselling author of the House of Night series P.C. Cast, seven of today’s most popular YA vampire and contemporary fantasy authors offer new short stories that prove that when you’re immortal, true love really is forever. Rachel Caine (the Morganville Vampires series) revisits the setting of her popular series, where the vampires are in charge and love is risky. Cynthia Leitich Smith (Tantalize) gives us a love triangle between a vampire, a ghost and a human girl, in which none of them are who or what they seem.

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Laura Whitcomb

Seventeen-year-old Jessica, adopted and raised in Pennsylvania, learns that she is descended from a royal line of Romanian vampires and that she is betrothed to a vampire prince, who poses as a foreign exchange student while courting her.

Lips Touch Three Times by Lani Taylor

Three short stories about kissing, featuring elements of the supernatural.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

In all the years she has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house, Grace has been particularly drawn to an unusual yellow-eyed wolf who, in his turn, has been watching her with increasing intensity. Click here for our review

Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

In The Silver Kiss, a mysterious teenage boy harboring a dark secret helps Zoë come to terms with her mother’s terminal illness.

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Grace Divine, almost seventeen, learns a dark secret when her childhood friend–practically a brother–returns, upsetting her pastor-father and the rest of her family, around the time strange things are happening in and near their small Minnesota town.  Click here for our review

Wake by Lisa McMann

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie’s seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime. She can’t tell anybody about what she does; they’d never believe her, or worse, they’d think she’s a freak.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Seventeen-year-old Aislinn, who has the rare ability to see faeries, is drawn against her will into a centuries-old battle between the Summer King and the Winter Queen, and the survival of her life, her love, and summer all hang in the balance.

Rules of Attraction

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

This great title is the second in Elkeles Perfect Chemistry trilogy.  In this book, Alex’s little brother Carlos moves from Mexico to live with him in Colorado, where he’s at college with his sweetheart Brittany. (These were the main characters from the first book Perfect Chemistry.  You don’t have to read that book for this one to make sense, but it is a fabulous story; in fact, I liked it better than the second one.)  Carlos is a smart aleck who enjoyed his life la vida loca with one of the Mexican gangs.  He can’t believe Alex is trying to mold him into a “whipped” college boy like he is, studying and taking long walks with his Gringa girlfriend.  After getting to some serious trouble with the law, Carlos is forced to move in with one of Alex’s professors, and his life goes from bad to worse.  What’s crazy to him is that he can’t get the professor’s straight-laced, hiking boot-wearing, independent daughter named Kiara off his mind, no matter what he does.  Sound familiar? Yes, this book reminded me a lot of the first in the trilogy, but that won’t stop anyone from being totally involved the the on-again, off-again relationship between the two seemingly opposite teens.  To this mix, throw in a drug lord who wants to use Carlos’ Mexican connections to further his business and the plot can’t get more complex.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend to all types of readers.  Even though it might seem like a typical good girl falls for the bad boy romance, it has deeper themes that will keep you engaged to the end –  family, making choices, acting responsibly.  Elkeles writes well from the teen perspective, using lots of current slang sprinkled with Spanish from Carlos.  She alternates chapters from both characters perspectives, really letting the readers get into their minds and see the conflicts first hand.

Here’s the professionally created video book trailer you can see from home.  It’s amazing and even has quotes from the book!

It’s Not Summer Without You

It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

The sequel to The Summer I Turned Pretty, this fast read continues the story of Belly and her on-again, off-again romance with the boy she’s been in love with as long as she can remember, Conrad.  To make life even more complicated, Conrad’s mom Susannah succumbs to cancer early in this novel, something predicted in the previous novel that readers hoped could be avoided.  Susannah’s death impacts everyone: Belly feels lost every time she thinks about her, her mom has withdrawn into herself unable to cope with the death of her longtime best friend, and Conrad is acting even more moody and unpredictable than usual.

This story is told quite effectively partly using flashbacks.  We learn at the very beginning that Susannah has died and Conrad and Belly broke up at her high school prom, but the details of both events play out slowly in the flashbacks throughout the novel.  Han uses a few short sections told from Jeremiah’s (Conrad’s brother) perspective, as he becomes a major player in this story when Conrad disappears from school and Jere asks Belly to come and help him find his brother.  While not quite as emotional as the first novel, this is surely a must read for Belly fans. I especially love how she realistically gets into the minds of teenagers, imperfections and all.   I can’t wait for the third and final book to come out next year.

Here’s a fan-made booktrailer you can see from home.  It’s made by a Canandian teen who’s YouTube name is eeeverythingyouneed.

The Luxe

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

I just read this book to give myself a break from all the dark titles I had been reading.  Boy, do I regret waiting so long! Reyna (class of 2011) has already reviewed this title HERE, and did a great job.  I just wanted to give it some more publicity and encourage folks to read it.  So far, it has three other titles in the series, all of which we own at BHS.  For me, it is the perfect light summer reading.

The author has even put this book online, so you can read it in the comfort of your own bedroom, Starbucks, etc.  Read this book online for FREE!!!

Watch the official book trailer at home.

The Pact

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Chris and Emily have been joined at the hip since they were born.  Their two families are next-door neighbors in a small New Hampshire community, and their mothers have been best friends since before the kids were born.  When their friendship changes to romance as the two become teenagers, no one is surprised, and in fact the four parents are not-so-secretly pleased.  When the couple are seniors in high school, Emily is killed in an apparent suicide pact, leaving the parents and the entire community stunned.  When the DA latches onto Chris as a murder suspect, the book’s plot begins moving a breakneck speed, interspersing scenes of Chris, Em and their parents from the past with events in the present time, including Chris’s imprisonment and trial.

This book had me in tears for the first 100 pages.  The parents’ raw emotions are exposed, and only a heartless reader would not be drawn into their pain.  Picoult is an enthralling storyteller, not afraid to probe controversial subjects like teen suicide.  In addition, she is able to capture the emotions of teenagers perfectly, even when the readers can see they’re acting completely thoughtlessly.  Her strategy of jumping from the present to the past works to heighten tension, while slowly revealing the true facts of what happened that fateful night Emily was shot.  I recommend this book highly.  Although it’s not specifically written for young adults, they will be engrossed with the story.  This would be an especially good choice for Picoult and Sarah Dessen fans, devotees of realistic teen fiction, and anyone wanting to get swept away by an engrossing story.

The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Belly has been going to Cousins Beach every summer as long as she can remember.  And she’s had a huge crush on Conrad for about the same period of time.  Conrad is one of the two sons of Susanna, her mom’s best friend who owns the beach house they share each summer.  But something is different this this.  Conrad and his brother Jeremiah look at Belly a little too long, and she begins to realize that she really is  becoming a “lovely young woman,” just like her mom and Susanna are constantly telling her.  For some reason, though, Conrad is distant and almost belligerent this summer.  He drinks too much, looks for fights, and just isn’t the same boy Belly has known forever.  He even gets strangely overprotective when Belly meets a boy named Cam and they start spending their days together.

Although there’s a deep secret making this summer different than every other year,  mostly this is a story of summer romance, first love, and a girl growing up into a young woman.

I loved this book and found it a very easy and quick read.  I’d recommend it for anyone who likes romances, coming of age stories and family drama.  By the way, we also own the sequel called It’s Not Summer Without You, which I cannot wait to get my hands on!

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

This great book was co-written by two super amazing YA writers: John Green (Waiting for Alaska and Paper Towns) and David Levithan (Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist with Rachel Cohn and Boy Meets Boy).  This hilarious story is about two different teens named Will Grayson (each written in alternating chapters by one of the two writers) who end up meeting through a series of weird circumstances at a porn store called Frenchy’s in Chicago.  Both Will Grayson’s have tons of issues and seem to work at making themselves miserable.  However, by the end of the story, both have learned some about themselves, each other, life and love.  A huge shout out to character Tiny Cooper, a wonderfully flamboyant 300 lb. gay football player and musical theater maestro extraordinaire.  I hope they decide and write a whole book about him!!!  His humanity, sense of humor and lust for life won me over the first time I met him in the book.

Obviously, I highly recommend this book to all readers, especially fans of Green and Levithan.

Here’s an online interview with John Green you can see from home.  As part of it, he even reads the first few pages of the book to us.