Shadows

Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick


Non-stop action, adventure and gore.

I could not not put this book down because something was always happening.  Instead of focusing on just Alex as Ashes did, Shadows jumps around among different characters.  Some people might have a problem keeping up with all the characters and situations, but I did not have a problem following the different story lines.  I liked the different story lines, and even though the novel does not follow Alex the entire time, I do like following Tom, Chris, and Peter in their various situations.  When my students ask me how I can read several novels at the same time, I ask them if they only watch one television show all year long or are they able to watch different ones and still keep the plot lines separate?  This is the same concept.

If you have not read Ashes, I would not recommend beginning with this book.  You need the background of the first book.

After finishing this book, I feel like I am at the mid-season cliffhanger.  What is going to happen to everyone?

A few years ago, I would not have been interested in this type of series of books, but maybe because my husband has been watching The Walking Dead, and I watch it as I'm reading books or grading papers, I have begun to like the zombie genre. Some reviews I've read complain about the gore, but I didn't notice it or maybe I would read over it to find out how the characters survive this harrowing incident to be able to survive the next one. 

Alex has been banished from Rule and "kidnapped" by the Changed but is still doing everything in her power to find Tom.  Jess's plan to have Chris banished has worked too, so now he has to survive during the winter while looking for Alex.  There is NEVER a dull moment in this novel.

I am looking forward to the third book in the series but will regret when I read the last page because I won't want it to end. 

Rival

Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer



Wealer uses the alternating narrators, Kathryn and Brooke, to show us how they became friends and eventually rivals of each other.  I did not expect the ending that Wealer chose, but that does not mean I thought the ending was bad. 

Kathryn and Brooke are both into singing, so those of you who like Chorus and Honors Choir might like this novel.  Instead of immediately letting us know what the problem is between Kathryn and Brooke, Wealer lets the story unfold with flashbacks leading up to the fatal incident and the repercussions afterward. 

Because we just finished reading Julius Caesar and watched the video comparing Mean Girls to the play, this novel is similar to those two.  This is a good mix of the too with the realism of high schools today.  We all know who our "rival" is and what led up to the rivalry, but does everyone know both sides of the story?

You

You by Charles Benoit
 
This is the first novel that I have read written in second person.  Even though Kyle is the main character, he tells the story as if we the readers are him experiencing the choices he does and does not make.  Kyle is another angry teenager who everyone considers a loser because he does not apply himself at anything.   I see several of my students in this novel.  I even see myself in the novel with the comments that Kyle's parents and teachers make.  I know nothing I say will matter to most students because they have already decided they don't want to amount to anything like Kyle.

Because Kyle "fakes" his way through school and homework, he ends up at Midlands High instead of attending Odyssey high school with the rest of his friends.  He meets Zack, who reminds me of the Paul Finch character in American Pie, who changes Kyle's world.

After you have read the novel, you will realize why Benoit chose to use second person point of view.  Neat idea, and I hope none of you are like Kyle. Would you make the same choices Kyle makes if you were in his shoes?   

Ophelia (revenge)

Ophelia by Lisa Klein
 


This is a book I have been meaning to read for two years, after Cindy read it for a book report I was intrigued.  I have read Shakespeare's Hamlet and always wanted to know more of the background on the other characters.  While Hamlet focuses on revenge, this is a love story between Ophelia and Hamlet.  Even though I know Hamlet's madness causes his death, I still read hoping the ending will change.  As people in our lives today act different around different people, Hamlet has two sides to him too.     

Instead of following Hamlet around, Klein has us follow Ophelia and learn what motivates her and why she acts as she does.  I knew early in the novel how Horatio feels for Ophelia, but she is so in love with Hamlet that she does not see what is in front of her face.  Would Ophelia's story be different if she saw what the readers see? 

I would have liked to have seen Ophelia's immediate reaction to when Laeretes dies, but that would change the ending of the story too much.

This Ophelia is stronger than Shakespeare's Ophelia though.  This is a novel worth reading for girls who have lost a mother and seek a connection with other women in their lives. 

Pregnant Pause

Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan

The first page of the novel hooks me with what type of person Eleanor is.  She is an angry teenager who does not make the right decisions and anything anyone tells her to do or she needs to do, she does the opposite.  All she and her boyfriend, Lam, want to do is drink, get high, and have sex.  Sound like anyone you know?

Eleanor thinks she cons her's and Lam's parents into letting them marry so that they can raise the child together, but realizes that their parents let them marry just so that they will fail. Lam's parents own and run a "fat camp" in Maine, where Lam and Eleanor have to work to help support themselves and their future child.  I would not want to live the way they live.  Both Eleanor and Lam find out marriage is not what they thought it would be and throwing a pregnancy in the middle and it really isn't as fun as they thought it would be.

Nolan makes the characters realistic for me because I have had these types of students sitting in my classroom each year.  I was angry with Eleanor at the beginning of the novel but begin to feel sympathy for her at the end.  Lam is a total JERK, and girls, if you meet a guy like him.....RUN AWAY!

   

 

Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruyta Sepetys

This book is not to be confused with Fifty Shades of Gray.  

Sepetys researched her family and what happened during World War II to people in the Baltic States.  In 1941 during World War II, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are transported from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to the gray cold landscape of Siberia.  After watching the film My Way, I can understand the pain, torture, work and dealing with the cold in the Siberia.  I am amazed that so many people were able to survive in this climate without adequate clothing. 

I knew the Soviets killed people during World War II, but until reading this novel and Unbroken, I did not  realize that other countries besides the Germans had concentration and work camps during the war.  I guess my head has been buried in the sand, and Sepetys wants us to let others know about what has happened. 

I cannot imagine someone coming in and removing my family and me from our home, trying to split us up and making us work while only giving us a few grams of food to survive on.  As a mother, what would I do to make sure that my family survives?  Would I be like Lina or Andrius's mother to save my own children and my own life?

Shine

Shine by Lauren Myracle

When her best friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover the culprits in her small North Carolina town. She thinks her brother's posse is involved in the beating, and she is determined to find out the truth since the police don't seem to be working to solve the crime.  Cat doesn't fill us in until later in the novel why she is a loner in this small town, where "there aren't many people to choose from" to be friends with. 

Myracle's description of how meth begins to take over  the town Cat lives in reminds me of the presentation our school had during Red Ribbon Week about meth.  I don't understand why people would try a drug like this, but Jason explains: "'Whatever you don't have in here'--he thumped his chest--'meth give it to you.'"  I only see it making more holes in your body.  Why would someone be willing to destroy their looks, body and mind for this?    

Because Cat narrates this story, we are putting together the pieces of the puzzle along with her waiting for the light bulb to go off and shine the answer for us.  

Bitter End (dating violence)

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown

I think every girl should read this book about dating violence.  Jennifer Brown likes to write about difficult subjects that teens will deal with.   She is the author of Hate List that several of my students recommended that I read.

Alex has not had a boyfriend before, so when Cole, a good looking new student at school, pays attention to her, she thinks she has found the perfect match for her.   Even when Cole begins to abuse her and apologizes after, she justifies that it was her fault, he didn't mean it, it will never happen again.   I have told my own daughter and students that I had to date several frogs before I found my prince charming, and I hope other girls will know that someone who is physically or mentally abusive is not worth spending time with.

When I was in high school, I saw some of my classmates deal with abusive boyfriends.  I dealt with a mentally abusive boyfriend, who would put me down and convince me that no one else would want me.    Alex and I experienced the same fear: "I will never find anyone else who loves us."  Boy, were we both wrong. 
 

I am looking forward to reading Brown's next novel about another difficult subject.  

This Thing Called the Future

This Thing Called the Future by J. L. Powers



This is another book that I didn't think I would like, but I did enjoy reading a book from the point of view of a fourteen year old South African, and what her life is like every day living in a shantytown.  She has to deal with the prospect that her mother and father have the disease (AIDS) that is killing everyone in Africa and fighting off old men who believe if they rape a virgin, they will be cured of AIDS.  I can tell that Powers has done the research to make this novel so believable. 

Khosi is torn between the old Zulu traditions her grandmother follows and the modern beliefs and medicines her mother believes in.  She does not want to upset either of them, but she also wants to be her own person like Jing-mei in "Two Kinds."   

After reading this novel, I am glad that my own children do not have to endure this type of lifestyle, but I know other children in America do have to deal with parents dieing of AIDS, rape, and poverty. What type of future do these people have, and will they make the right choices to help them have the possibility of a future?

The Probabilty of Miracles

The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder














Campbell (Cam) has been in and out of hospitals with cancer, but she is the only one in her family who has accepted the fact that she will not survive.  Her mother searches for a "miracle" to cure Cam, and when she finds out about Promise, Maine, where miracles happen, they leave Disney World where her mother is a Polynesian dancer to find a cure for Cam.

Cam is pessimistic about moving to Promise, but after her best friend Lily sends her a list of things Cam needs to do before she dies (kind of like a bucket list), she begins to see the miracles that can occur. Lily also plays a joke on Cam by applying to the Make a Wish Foundation, in which Cam and ten of her friends can visit Disney World.  Oh, the irony. 

This is not a tear jerker like The Fault in Our Stars, but it was a nice read to help me see the miracles around me and to believe in the possibility of miracles. 

Anna Dressed in Blood (ghosts)

Anna Dressed in Blood  by Kendare Blake





 Of all the ghosts books I have read--and I haven't read many--this is the best one.  Blake begins the first chapter with Cas Longwood on a mission to kill a ghost who has been killing humans.

Cas's father killed ghosts before him, and Cas thinks that is his destiny in life too: to rid the world of ghosts who murder humans.  Cas travels around the world with his witch mother and spirit-sniffing cat using his father's athame to destroy these ghosts, and he even tells us he doesn't know what happens to the ghosts because they are all ready dead.

When he arrives in Thunder Bay, Canada, to kill Anna, he finds out that she is not the typical ghost he has encountered before.  When he meets her, she beats the "you know what" out of him.  She has killed everyone who has entered her house (that at times is like Monster House) but allows Cas to live when she  kills another person who is with Cas.  Cas is intrigued by this and begins to research who Anna is and what really happened to her.

I didn't think this was a book that I would like, but once I started reading, I didn't want to put it down because I wanted to find out who the next person to be killed would be and if Cas would be able to "save" Anna so that no more blood would be shed. 

Ashes (survival, zombies)

Book Title: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick



If you like gore and The Walking Dead, this book will appeal to you.  The first part is gory when Alex witnesses teenagers eating another human, and the novel ends with gore.

Alex has a brain tumor and has decided to hike toward Lake Superior.  We don't find out until later in the novel why that is her destination.  While hiking she meets a grandfather with his granddaughter Ellie, who is a brat.  While they are talking, something happens and Alex has a major headache and nosebleed.  Ellie's grandfather dies, and the animals around go crazy and commit suicide.

Now Alex is stuck with Ellie, and they both travel toward a ranger's cabin for help.  On the way they are attacked by wild dogs and a zombie but are saved by Tom a former soldier.  Those three travel together trying to survive.  At one point Ellie is kidnapped, Tom is shot, and when Alex goes to try to find help, she is held against her will.  Alex struggles to find Tom and Ellie, and Bick ends the novel with Alex in another predicament that I am going to have to read the next book to find out what happens. 

Shelter (mystery)

Book Title: Shelter by Harlan Coben

Thoughts: Coben pulled me in with the first chapter of this book.  To me it doesn't seem like Mickey Bolitar's life could become any worse: he saw his father die in front of his eyes in a car wreck; his mother is in rehab because she cannot deal with life without Mickey's father; he has to move in with his uncle Myron who he doesn't like; and he makes an enemy of the senior basketball team captain, whose father happens to be the sheriff of the town who also holds a grudge against Mickey's uncle Myron.

Mickey does eventually acquire a girlfriend, Ashley, who mysteriously disappears. Mickey ends up befriending two social misfits Ema and Spoon, who help him with his investigation to find out what happened to Ashley.

Even though I don't find the plot completely realistic with Mickey's fighting ability, he does not safely escape from all incidents without a few bruises.

I found out this weekend that Mikey was introduced in Coben's Live Wire, so I am going to check out this series and read it too.   While this doesn't have the comedy of Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick, Mickey trying to shelter his friends from being hurt is a page turner that I did not want to put down because I wanted to know what the next incident Mickey would find himself in. 

Cleopatra's Moon

Book Title: Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Thoughts: This novel took me a little while to become interested in, maybe because I knew Cleopatra and Marc Antony were going to die, but I did not know the rest of the story.  Shecter has written a biography on Cleopatra, and this is her first fiction novel.  She admits that she took poetic license to change the story to fit her plot line.  At the end of the novel, Shecter shares historical information about several characters in the novel that are interesting to read. 

Several of us are familiar with the tragic ending of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, but I did not realize that they had four children together. 

This novel focuses on Cleopatra's daughter Cleopatra Selene and what happens to her after her parents commit suicide when Octavius declares war on Cleopatra.  I think after students read Julius Caesar, they may find this interesting to read what happens when Octavius comes into power.  I did not realize that Octavius hunted down and killed Julius Caesar and Cleopatra's son Caesarion.  Octavius removes Cleopatra's children from Egypt and takes them to Rome.  I liked the description of how open and clean Egypt is compared to Rome.  I could visually see the picturesque gardens in Egypt and smell the death, blood, and garbage in Rome. 

Cleopatra Selene struggles to survive in this strange environment and plots how to become queen of Egypt like her mother.  After reading this novel, I would be fascinated to meet either Cleopatra or her daughter as they wanted to learn as much as they could and help their people.  Instead of ruling by fear as the Romans did, these women believed in doing what is right for everyone.  This book is based on historical facts and includes information about both the Roman and Egyptian gods that some will find interesting. 

Something Like Hope

Book Title: Something Like Hope by Shawn Goodman

Thoughts:  "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up?" When I read the first chapter, I was reminded of Langston Hughes' poem "A Dream Deferred."  The more I read this book, I was reminded of Rikers High and Lockdown, in which a male teenager is locked up in juvenile hall, but this story focuses on a girl's experience.  I have a cousin who works in a juvenile facility, but I don't think I could work there because of what I have read about what the adults do.  I would probably lose my job or be beaten up by the guards who are supposed to protect the teenagers but don't. 

Shavonne only feels anger and fear as she deals with living in a juvenile home but wanting to be a mother to her daughter.  She holds a secret within herself but eventually tells an adult who helps her deal with her life choices.  I think of all my students who have the built up anger inside them and wonder if they have experienced the same situations as Shavonne or if they will end up in the same situation.

Goodman writes with the realism of Walter Dean Myers, and this book has pulled me in with the realistic language Shavonne and other juveniles use and made me feel sympathy for all the foster children out in the world. I don't understand how adults who are supposed to protect and take care of children will abuse and molest them. 

This book also has short chapters, which makes it a quick read. Will Shavonne's dreams and hope become real or will they "dry up in the sun"? 

Delirium

Book Title: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Thoughts: I picked this book up to read over the weekend.  This is similar to Matched, Legend and Divergent but has a different ending than those. The way Oliver ends the novel, she could have a sequel, or she could not.

In a futurist America, at the age of eighteen everyone receives the government-mandated cure that prevents people from falling in love.  After the procedure, you will not have a connection with your best friend, and you may not even enjoy hobbies you enjoyed beforehand.  Parents do not even love their children; they just seem to tolerate them.  Lena has ninety-five days before her procedure is to occur, and she cannot wait.  Her mother had the procedure done four times because it did not work, and Lena worries that she will inherit the disease and be like her mother and end up committing suicide.

Lena always does what is right and safe because she is scared until her best friend, Hana, convinces her to go to an underground party as their "last chance to do anything."  Lena runs into Alex at the party, and after talking with him, she decides to meet him the next day.  Normally guys and girls cannot socialize, but because Alex has been "cured," Lena is "safe" with him.  Their friendship blooms into a romance, but they have to keep it hidden from everyone. 

In both Matched and Delirium, characters are matched to their ideal mate, but in Matched the government makes the choice for you and in Delirium, characters are given a choice of four people to choose from.  Maybe that's like when the student council sells the love grams (?), in which you answer the multiple choice questions about what you like and don't like, and then a computer determines your top four ideal dates. 

I enjoyed reading the literary techniques that Oliver uses, and she even draws a parallel of Lena's love with Alex to Romeo and Juliet's doomed love.  All four of these novels focus on people finding out the "truth" about their government and instead of accepting it like George and Hazel Bergeron, they decide to retaliate like Harrison Bergeron. 

Fallout (family problems, drug use)

Book Title: Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

Thoughts: After reading this book, Hunter, one of Kristina's children reminds me of one of my students I helped with his book report over this book.  While Hopkins first two books of the Crank series focus on Kristina's addiction to meth, this one focuses on three of her children (Hunter, Autumn, and Summer) who do not know their biological mother, and only one of them knows of her father but doesn't really know him.

I don't recommend reading this book first.  I had this book sitting out at home, and my husband picked it up and began reading it but was confused on the characters and plot.  I told him he needs to read the first two books to know the background on these characters.  Picking up this book first is like watching The Bourne Legacy first.  You will be confused on why characters make the choices they make. 

Hunter is in college.  Autumn and Summer are still in high school but do not have driver's licenses.  I wonder if Summer is old enough to drive but because she is in foster care she can't get her driver's license?

I don't feel as disgusted with the characters in this novel like I did with Kristina in Crank and Glass. I do wonder if her poor choices are hereditary and if the cycle will continue.

Just like their mother, these children are not perfect and make choices that negatively affect their lives and they have to struggle through the fallout of these choices.

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Book Title: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Thoughts: This is definitely a novel geared toward girls.

When female students have read this is the past, I thought it was about how an ugly duckling became the swan.  Boy was I wrong.

I read this book to help a student find the theme of it, and I have to say I did enjoy the stress Belly deals with in deciding which guy to like.  Instead of this just having a ordinary three-way love affair, Han has Belly have to choose between three boys.  Isn't it always the guy we really like as teenage girls, the one who doesn't like us back?  Oh, the heartbreak......

Every summer Belly and her family go to Cousins Beach with her mom's best friend (Susannah) and her two boys: Conrad and Jeremiah.  Belly has had a crush on Conrad for as long as she can remember, but he treats her like a little sister.  The summer she turns sixteen, she is changing from a girl to a young woman and guys begin to notice and pay attention to her.  The guy she wants to notice her, Conrad, doesn't.  After she begins dating Cameron, another summer visitor to the beach, who tells her she is beautiful, Conrad's younger brother Jeremiah lets her know how he feels about her. Which guy would you choose? 

Even though my student told me the plot of the novel, I did cry toward the end of the novel when Belly finds out the secret everyone has been keeping from her.  I cried more than I did when I read The Fault In Our Stars but less than I did when reading The Sky is Everywhere.  I guess the parent and child relationship hit me because what happens is one of my greatest fears as a parent.

This is not a formulaic Nicholas Sparks book that teenage girls like to read.  The summer teenage girls turn pretty is when boys begin to notice them.  Will you choose the guy who compliments you on your beauty,  the guy who is your best friend,  or the unavailable guy?

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick (adventure, assassins))

Book Title: Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

Thoughts: This book was funny.  I began laughing while reading the first page and did not stop until the last chapter.  I can visualize Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Mclovin) as Perry, but I haven't figured out who would play Gobi--maybe Rooney Mara.  The last chapter doesn't lend itself to a movie though; we need to know what Perry thinks.  Maybe if the director has Perry directly speak to the camera like in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, we would know his thoughts.  I can see Perry introducing each chapter with a quick introduction to the camera.   

Perry is a senior in high school who always does what his dad wants him to do.  His parents make him take the geeky Lithuanian exchange student to senior prom when Perry would rather play a gig with his band.  He decides he will be able to do both, but Gobi has other plans.  She forces Perry to drive her around New York City so that she can assassinate people.  This book is full of car chases, blood and gore, and fights. Schreiber uses situational irony throughout the novel to help with the humor. 

Even though Schreiber uses "chick" in the title, and we know females are not barnyard animals, I did enjoy the humor and wanting to know what the next funny situation Perry would be in.  I can't imagine many people saying "au revoir" to this book after the first page. 

Ashfall (survival)

Book Title: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

Thoughts: After reading this book, I did some research to find out more about supervolcanoes and checked to see if the ash would fall on where I live.  You might want to check out the pictures of what parts of Earth look like when covered in ash.  This book is based on the idea if a supervolcanoe erupts how a teenager would survive.

If you have read Life As We Knew It, this is like it, but Alex, the main character goes in search of his parents instead of staying at home and trying to survive.

Alex is a fifteen year old who constantly fights with his mother but convinces her that he should be allowed to stay at home in Cedar Falls, Iowa, instead of going with his family to visit his uncle in Warren, Illinois.  Three hours after his family leaves, the supervolcano erupts, and Alex is on his own in trying to survive.  He decides to use his father's skis to travel cross country (110 miles according to Google maps) to find his family.  Alex meets escaped convicts (no electricity means prisons cannot hold prisoners), cannibals, parents dragging dead children behind them, and Darla who becomes his companion in his journey.

This book kind of makes me not want to leave my own children at home in case some catastrophe occurs, and we are split apart without cell phones or landlines to be able to communicate with each other.  This book does have a sequel like Life As We Knew It, so we will have to see how Alex survives the ashfall during winter. 

Stupid Fast (football, dealing with puberty)

Book Title: Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Thoughts: When I read the reviews for this, I thought this was going to be a funnier book than it was.  I didn't laugh.  I felt sorry for Felton Reinstein and would not wish this type of turmoil on any teenager.  I guess I still can't laugh at the meanness of teenagers. 

Fifteen year old Felton narrates about how terrible his life is: puberty kicks in; none of his clothes fit; his mother has locked herself in her bedroom and taken his TV; his younger brother dresses as a pirate; the football coach wants him to play football; the football coach's son does not want Felton to play football; because his best friend went to Venezuela for the summer, Felton has to take over his paper route; and he has no girlfriend.

I guess I just know that some of my students have parents who check out and refuse to help and support their child that I could not laugh at this situation.  Maybe teenagers who live in this type of situation can find the humor it in, but I couldn't.  I'm not saying it is a stupid book because it isn't.  It's just if you are looking for a humorous book, I don't think this is it. 

Legend (rebelling against government)

Book Title: Legend by Marie Lu

Thoughts: I did like Divergent better than Legend, but this is not a bad book in which teenagers rebel against their government.  Like "Harrison Bergeron" the government has a strong control over the people.

Lu has two main characters, Day and June, who tell their side of the story in alternating chapters.  Day is from the poor part of town, and June is from the wealthy part of town.  Day, a criminal wanted by the Republic, is hunted down by June after her brother Metias's murder.  I did keep expecting Metias to reappear in the novel thinking that the government just made him look like he was dead to spur June to want to find and bring Day to justice.   

When Day and June meet, they do not tell each other who they are, and they end up caring for each other.  Then they have to decide if their feelings for each other are worth risking their lives. 

I did find the various escapes the characters make too Hollywood, in which they easily escape, but Lu does have the characters suffer injuries, so it is not completely unbelievable.  Day and June make a legend of themselves, and I wonder what type of legend we will be remembered for? 

Divergent (Identity, dystopian society)

Book Title: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Thoughts: If you liked the Hunger Games, you should like Divergent.  At the age of sixteen, teenagers have to decide which faction (society) they want to live with for the rest of their lives, kind of like in Harry Potter in which the hat chooses what house a person will live in.  But if a teenager chooses a different faction from their family, they will only be able to see their family one more time: "faction before family."

Trish has a conflict trying to decide which faction to belong to

• Abnegation--selfless people who put others' wants and needs before their own.
• Amity--people who will lie and manipulate others to keep peace.
• Candor--honest people who only tell the truth.
• Erudite--the intelligent people who are scientist and computer geeks.
• Dauntless--people who like taking risk.

Even though I don't agree with all the manifestos of each faction, I can pick out bits and pieces that I do agree with.  Maybe that's why we live in an imperfect society.

Trish has grown up as an Abnegation but wants to be selfish.  She has been upset with her parents and brother, so she knows she won't fit in with the Amity.  She has lied to her parents (what teen hasn't lied to their parents), so she doesn't feel like she fits with the Candor group.   She doesn't consider herself smart, so she won't fit in with the Erudite.  The only group she feels she will belong to is the Dauntless because she wants to live a free life on her on, so she chooses the Dauntless.

The novel focuses on Trish's trials to become a Dauntless--nineteen people chose that faction, but only ten will make the final cut.  The first trial she has is to fight another person and be the last person standing.  I know I'm not tough enough to withstand these challenges. 

This book has several conflicts, action, and a little romance--not too much that male readers would diverge from the story though. 

City of Lost Souls (angels, demons, adventure)

Book Title: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Thoughts:  When I talked to one of my former students the other day and let her know where I was in the novel, she told me she had finished it, but had put off reading the last chapter for awhile because she didn't want it to end.  I was dreading finishing because I thought this would be the last book; needless to say when I finished the last chapter I thought "Yeah, this series is not over yet!"

Clare begins this where City of Fallen Angels ends.  Because I had read the Infernal Devices series, I have to make sure that I do not mix up the characters.  I need to go back and refresh my memory about the connection that Simon and Maureen and Jordan and Maia have with each other.

In this part of the story, Lilith is dead, Jace and Sebastian are missing, and Clary and her friends are going crazy that the Clave has stopped searching for Jace.  We all know Jace would not die, Clary and him have to end up together......  When Jace and Sebastian come for Clary, she realizes whatever happens to Sebastian will also happen to Jace; they are connected now.  Clary, Simon, Izzy, Alec and Magnus have to come up with a plan to separate Jace from Sebastian but not kill Jace in the process. 

Clare does not just focus on Clary and Jace's relationship in this segment.  We are drawn into other relationships too: Alec and Magnus; Izzy and Simon; Jordan and Maia.  I am looking forward to the next adventure in the Shadowhunters defeating Sebastian, and I'm sure Maureen will become a major problem too.  Clare's writing effectively makes readers lose their souls while reading this series.

Exposed (photography, friendship)

Book Title: Exposed by Kimberly Marcus

Topic: photography, friendship

Thoughts: Marcus writes this in free verse like Ellen Hopkins novels.  I love her use of figurative language the expresses the pain and confusion Liz experiences during this trying time.

I had just read a little blurb about the book that Liz's life is turned upside down when her "forever-best friend" Kate begins to avoid her after a fight.  I don't want to give away the plot, but Liz does express her frustration of not knowing what is going on and how she cannot make amends with Kate.  I can see this situation happening in any high school, and I know how teenagers can be cruel to others without knowing the whole story or classifying someone because of what their family members do.

None of us want to be exposed or in the spotlight when a tragedy occurs, but can we show empathy to others in trying times? 

The Limit (conspiracy, science fiction)

Book Title: The Limit by Kristen Landon

Topic: conspiracy, family, science fiction

Thoughts: My husband thinks our children should read this so they will have more of a clue about spending money.  I wonder if Landon came up with this idea because of the financial crisis in our country.

In the future, families have a spending limit that they cannot go over.  When Matt's mother is in a Walmart type of store, she picks up items she thinks they cannot live without.  At the checkout line, she finds out that they have spent over their limit, but instead of being able to return items like we can today, the government freezes the account. Matt ends up being taken away to work at a workhouse to help pay off the family debt.

Besides not being able to see his family, Matt's living conditions are better than most people today.  He has a gym, an indoor pool, big screen TV with satellite access, video games, maid service, and challenging classes, which he enjoys. Some of the children there want to stay forever; others want to go home as soon as possible.

Even though Matt is taken away to help pay off the family debt, the parents are just as bad about spending money on credit instead of saving up for it.  After reading this, will you think twice about the amount of money you and your family spend?  Do you have a "limit"?

Bruiser (friendship, supernatural)

Book Title: Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Topic: friendship, supernatural

Thoughts: Mrs. Berger recommended this book to several teachers during her in-service this summer.  Shusterman is one of my favorite authors, and I knew I would not be disappointed in this book.

Twins Tennyson and Bronte (parents are college literature professors) befriend a troubled and misunderstood outcast, Brewster, and try to help him come out of his shell to live a normal life.  Everyone thinks Brewster is a "Bruiser", but Tennyson the literary athlete is the real bully.  He even uses his bullying to save Bruiser from his classmates who enjoy torturing him.  

Brewster is kind of a Christ figure: when he likes a person, he ends up taking on their pain, both physical and emotional.  But Tennyson and Bronte do not realize that the more they try to help Brewster, the more they are hurting him. 

While I wasn't sitting on the edge of my seat worrying if the characters would live or die, I did feel for each of them and was able to put myself in their shoes. 

Held (kidnapping)

Book Title: Held by Edeet Ravel

Topic: Kidnapping

Thoughts: When my husband began reading this before me, he thought he had seen a movie like this but the narrator followed the girl who wasn't kidnapped instead of the one who is.  Neither he nor I can remember the movie, so if you do, let us know.

Angie and Chloe have finished their volunteering in Greece and have a couple of days before the plane leaves for the United States, so they decide to do some sightseeing.  Angie likes winging it (like my husband); Chloe likes having a plan (like me).  Chloe and Angie end up having a fight about it, so Chloe decides to go by herself to see a Greek temple.  Chloe's guilt gets to her and while texting Angie to apologize and met up later, Chloe is kidnapped and held hostage.

Her kidnapper tells her they will trade her for prisoners.  Chloe writes a journal of her "real" experiences that she does not plan on sharing with the authorities, through newspaper clippings, Angie's Facebook account and a web page, we read what is happening states side.

I thought this was interesting to read what goes on in Chloe's mind as she is held hostage, and why she does what she does.  I don't know if I was in the same situation if I would do what she did, but this does make me appreciate having windows that I can see the time of day and change in weather and doors that I can freely enter or leave through.  I was held by this book wishing for a happy ending.

A Dog's Journey (dogs, mother-daughter relationship)

Book Title: A Dog's Journey by W. Bruce Cameron

Topic: Dogs, human relationships

Thoughts:  I was crying before the third chapter ended.  Just like A Dog's Purpose, this book made me feel empathy for my own dog.  I was looking forward to reading the sequel to A Dog's Purpose, and I was not disappointed.  Great writing again!

At the end of Buddy's life, he thinks he has accomplished his goal and is ready to die in peace, but God has other plans for him. He ends up being reincarnated again to help "save" Ethan's grand daughter Clarity (CJ).   While A Dog's Purpose focuses on Buddy's purpose in life, A Dog's Journey focuses more on CJ's life and how her "dog" helps her survive.  Cameron effectively shows how pathetic CJ's mother is in the first chapter.  If I could have reached through the novel and slapped her I would have.  I keep reading hoping that CJ would end up at the farm Ethan loved so much, but Cameron makes this realistic that everything is not happily ever after, but I was satisfied with the ending.  

This is a journey you will want to take.