Teen Frankenstein (High School Horror Story #1)

by Chandler Baker

Pages: 336

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Story starts off with an intriguing premise, what if the high school age girl was the first scientist named Frankenstein to bring someone back from the dead. How would she and her best friend, lab partner, deal with the ethical implications? What would they do with the uh, person? during the day while they were in class? How does she keep Mom from finding out? A good beginning introduction to horror and science fiction for a young teen or even the right pre-teen. Some of the ethical questions brought up could lead to good classroom or book club discussion. Not scary at all for most adults and most older teens. 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1)

 The Forest of Hands and Teeth (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1) by Carrie Ryan

Pages: 310

Rating: 5 out of 5

In Mary's world consists of her small village surrounded by fences and guards. They protect everyone from The Unconsecrated. No one ever leaves the village. But Mary dreams of the far off land her mother tells her about in stories she learned from her mother. Of land bordered by a vast expanse of water as far as the eye can see and were there are no fences. But Mary has learned you must always obey their religious leaders, The Sisterhood and the Guardians who protect the walls. Mary is approaching the age of adulthood and either marriage or a lifetime of serving in the Sisterhood. When the fence is breached Mary must make some fast, hard decisions. Will she stay with the life she has known, with her family, follow the one she loves or risk it all to find a place that may not even exist.

Finale (Caraval #3)

  Finale (Caraval #3)
by Stephanie Garber
Pages: 478
Rating: 5 out of 5

The third and final book in this series, is the best one. It starts two months after the Fates have been freed and Legend has announced he is the heir to the throne. Tella has discovered that the Dante she knew and loved never really existed. Who is Legend really? Is there enough of Dante in Legend that Tella can love him? Tella's sister Scarlett has to decide if she can ever trust Julian again and then learns a secret about herself that throws her entire sense of self into chaos.

Tella, Legend and Scarlett all have several tough, life-defining choices ahead of them in this novel. These choices will not only affect their personal lives but each has a decision to make that will affect the fate of the entire kingdom.

Caraval is over forever, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time—only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.

Legendary (Book two in the Caraval Series)
by: Stephanie Garber
Pages: 451
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 After being swept up in the magical but dangerous world of Caraval, Donatella and Scarlet have escaped their cruel father and Scarlett is free from a marriage arranged by their father. Tella still owes a debt to a mysterious "friend" and the price is to deliver Caraval Master Legend's real name. Tella knows she has to stay and join in the competition again so she can win Caraval and ask for his name as her prize.

Scarlett is not willing to leave Tella alone in the dangerous game, so now they are both on a dangerous path including old family secrets, a murderous heir to the throne, and maybe a love story along the way.

The story picks up right where, Caraval left off and I can't wait for the last installment in the trilogy, Finale.

Caraval (Caraval #1)

 Caraval (Caraval #1)
by Stephanie Garber
Pages: 407
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Scarlett has never left the tiny island she lives on with her younger sister and her cruel and powerful father. She has dreamed of the day when she would receive an invitation to Caraval, a once-a-year performance like no other. The audience members participate in a game that is all too real and magical. Scarlett hopes to go to Caraval to meet the mysterious Legend who runs the games and to win the grand prize.

But her father has arranged a marriage for her to a businessman from across the sea, while she is excited to escape her father and their tiny island and has been promised that she can take her younger sister with her, Scarlett still dreams of Legend.

With the help of her sister and a mysterious sailor, she is given one last chance to attend this year's Caraval, with just enough time to return in time for her marriage without her father ever knowing. But things and people are not always what they seem, especially at Caraval.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1) 
by Sarah J. Maas
Pages: 416
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars 

Feyre is the youngest of a once wealthy family, that is now one of the poorest in their village. Her father was injured so feeding her family rests on Feyre. She teaches herself to hunt and skin the animals to sell the hides for money. Her family lives at the edge of the forest and they are struggling to make it through this long, cold winter. Feyre spots a deer, but then realizes it is being tracked by a wolf. The deer is the only thing she has seen all day so she decides she must kill the wolf to have the deer meat for her family. 


Unknown to her, this is no ordinary wolf and its death starts her on a journey into a whole new world. The world of faerie. 

Chasing Truth (Eleanor Ames #1)

 Chasing Truth
by Julie Cross
Pages: 400
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Eleanor Ames is now living with her older sister and the sister's Secret Service boyfriend. Eleanor's family were con artists but now she's trying to lead a normal life. She is attending Holden Prep on scholarship and at this school, the rich and powerful rule. But like everyone they have secrets.

Eleanor's sure that her best friend didn't commit suicide last year after Homecoming even though that's the official line. She's certain that someone killed him, but how to prove it? Now a handsome young guy moves into the apartment next door. He's arrogant, secretive but Eleanor can't keep her mind off of him. At worst she can't trust him, at the least he's a distraction.

This is a fun, teen read inspired by the Veronica Mars television show. Eleanor isn't Veronica but she's pretty great.

Inside Out\Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

This is a Harlequin Teen paperback, but looked intriguing.  The premise is interesting - the setting is a completely enclosed cube of four levels, self-sustaining, with most people, 'scrubs', working at boring jobs to maintain 'Inside', while the 'uppers' served as managers and had more space for living quarters.  The main character, Trella, a teen loner, is Queen of the Pipes, or super at her job of following a robot vacuum as it cleans the inside of air ducts.  She's spunky, but has few friends.  However, she quickly gets involved in helping an outcast foment a small rebellion.  Trella ends up as reluctant leader of the rebellion. Of course Inside turns out to be space ship.  This is actually two books combined into one - Inside Out/Outside In - to explain more would give away the plot. The plot constructs and quirks are more interesting than the characters; many of them are rather wooden.  The story is rather slow in places. 608 pages. 

Irises

Author: Francisco X. Stork
pages: 288

This book is about two sisters that have lost everything, both parents and their home. They are trying to make the right decisions for them at this time in their lives while dealing with dreams for the future. This sounds like a good book on apper but it was slow moving and boring to me. I almost gave up but then it started to get interesting and then boring again. I didn't like the ending either. There were too many questions left, good thing there was a short epilogue to answer some of them.
  TWO SISTERS: Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. -- if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood.

THREE YOUNG MEN: Then three men sway their lives: Kate's boyfriend Simon offers to marry her, providing much-needed stability. Mary is drawn to Marcos, though she fears his violent past. And Andy tempts Kate with more than romance, recognizing her ambition because it matches his own.

If Only

Author: Carole Geithner
Pages: 321
 This book follows her through one year after her mothers death. She has so many questions about and for her mother about life. Sometimes she talkes to her mother's urn and other times she asks her Aunt Jennifer. Corinna feels out of place at school because she thinks nobody understands her and what has happened.
I liked this book. It was written for a younger audience maybe pre-teen but was good nevertheless.

Here is the cover blurb: Corinna's world is crushed after her mother dies of cancer. How does she get through the funeral, trays of ziti, a father who can't communicate, the first day of school, Mother's Day, people who don't know what to say, and the entire eighth-grade year? Despite her alienation from many of her peers, including her best friend, she succeeds in finding support. She dares to bare her innermost fears, hurts, and wishes, and even allows herself to have a flowering crush on a boy in the school band. She also finds out deep secrets about her mother which she never knew. It's a year that will change Corinna's life forever.

 

Belles

Author: Jen Calonita
Pages: 352
Following her grandmothers diagnosis with Alzheimer's, Isabelle is jetted off into the world of rich and fabulous! the only problem is everyone at school and even her own cousin hate her. Can she make it?
I actually liked this book, it was a juicy quilty pleasure and will probably read the next book in the series,  Winter White when it is released.
Here is the inside cover blurb:
Fifteen-year-old Isabelle Scott loves her less-than-charmed life by the boardwalk on the wrong side of the tracks in North Carolina, but when a social worker must place her to live with a long-lost uncle and his preppy privileged family, she's taken away from everything she's ever known.

Unfortunately, inserting Isabelle into the glamorous lifestyle of Emerald Cove doesn't go so well. Cousin Mirabelle Monroe isn't thrilled to share her life with an outsider, and, she is ready to pull her hair out of her head over all the rumors and backstabbing that lurk beneath their classmates' Southern charm about her new family member. Like each other or not, Izzie and Mira are going to learn to get along, especially when they learn a life-changing secret that will turn both their worlds upside down.

I Hunt Killers

Author: Barry Lyga
Pages: 360

Jazz is the son of one of the worst and notorious serial killers America has seen, he has groomed Jazz to be the same. Now there is another killer in town and everyone seems to look at Jazz and wonder if he is involved. He has to prove himself  innocent and put his life on the line to catch the criminal and save lives.
Intereseting read, I liked it all in all. This book was suspenseful without being too gruesome as some of these same type of books aimed toward adults can be and kept me interested.

The Disenchantments

Author: Nina LaCour
Pages: 307
I didn't think I would like this book but after a couple of chapters I decided it had something and I needed to finish it. Bev has been Colby's soulmate, muse, and best friend since they were small and now everything seems to be changing. A week trip with the band brings opened eyes and coming of age. A new look at the world in the same company of, " Almost Famous" and Kerouac's " On The Road".

Without Tess

Author: Marcella Pixley
Pages: 280

This is a story about Lizzie, age 15 coming to terms with suicide of her mentally unstable sister who was her best friend. Lizzie has felt guilt and confusion over her sister Tess' death, she can't let go and has turned into herself. She has no friends and her relationship with her parents is distant.
I liked this book, I was reluctant to read t after I found out what it was about, thought it might be too depressing but it wasn't and I recommend it. 

Cover blurb:
Tess and Lizzie are sisters, sisters as close as can be, who share a secret world filled with selkies, flying horses, and a girl who can transform into a wolf  in the middle of the night. But when Lizzie is ready to grow up, Tess clings to their fantasies. As Tess sinks deeper and deeper into her delusions, she decides that she can’t live in the real world any longer and leaves Lizzie and her family forever. Now, years later, Lizzie is in high school and struggling to understand what happened to her sister. With the help of a school psychologist and Tess’s battered journal, Lizzie searches for a way to finally let Tess go.

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Pregnancy Pause

Author: Han Nolan
Pages: 340
Elly is smart, smart-mouthed, spunky and doesn't ever make the right decisions. She hates being compared to her sister and doens't feel like her parents love her or pay attention to her. Then she gets pregnant. I like the character of Elly, she is confused and just wants what is right for the baby. she has a loser boyfriend and has messed up the last two years of her life doing things for him, just like so many teen girls do. Maybe not to Elly's degree but they make choices because they are afraid that their boyfriend won't liek them anymore if they don't do something and go against what they think is right, alienating themselves from their family and friends. I did like this book, Elly gets a big dose of being a grown up and fights like she has never fought before for the one thing she loves. 

Juliet Immortal

Author: Stacey Jay
Pages: 306
I was a little disappointed in this book to say the least. It is geared toward young adults so there was a lot of drama and self-discovery which was fine but I just found the book somewhat boring and had to force myself to finish it. It wasn't a horrible read but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Here is the book flap description- Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But Romeo didn't anticipate that Juliet would be granted eternital life, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light.
For 700 years, Juliet has struggled to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent, while Romeo has fought for the dark side, seeking to destroy the human heart. Until now.
Now Juliet has found her own forbidden love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy their happiness.      

Seven Kinds of Ordinary Catastrophes

Author- Amber Kizer
295 pages
This book is witty and insightful: here is the jacket blurb... Okay, so here's the deal: there are books about volcanoes erupting and meteorites hitting Earth and plane crashes where the survivors have to eat people—those are extraordinary crises.

That's not what this book is about. I'm more the ordinary catastrophe type. This second semester of my sophomore year, there are basically 7 KINDS OF ORDINARY CATASTROPHES: high school, boys, heartbreak, family, job, friends, and the future.

Well, I guess everyone's life is full of ordinary catastrophes. These are mine. Hi, I'm Gert Garibaldi. Welcome to my crazy life.   

Want To Go Private? Sarah Darer Littman

length 330 pages

Abby is feeling lost these days, starting high school, a bratty sister and parents that don't pay enough attention to her. To top it all off her BFF Faith has found new friends while Abby lags behind. Soon Abby meets Luke online and everything spirals out of control.

Queen Of Hearts martha Brooks

length 211 pages
Marie-Claire is 15 when she is diagnosed with TB and send to a Sanatorium. She witnesses the decline of others while struggling with her own illness and finds that sometimes you have to open your heart to heal.