Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Yet another teen novel about a dystopic future society.  This has an interesting premise - a world divided into a lower class of red-blooded normal humans, and a superior class of silver-blooded humans with a variety of supernatural abilities.  Mare Barrow, a young red-blooded teen, does what she can to help her family survive (she's a pickpocket), but she and her sister take a risk to help a friend who is about to be conscripted into military service and likely death.  In a plot twist, Mare lands a job as a servant in the palace of the Silvers, where it is discovered that she also has a supernatural ability - she can produce and direct lightning.  Of course there's an underground group plotting to overthrow the Silver regime, and of course Mare becomes involved in the terror group and in a romance with both of the king's sons.  There are many plot twists, quite a few of them strain belief.  This is one of only a few books in which I grew to like the heroine less and less as the book progressed - she seemed to become more naïve as the story worked to its climax.  This would have been more interesting if it had broken out of its formula a bit more.  383 pages.

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson tells the compelling story of Haley Kincain and her father, Andy, as they deal with his post traumatic stress syndrome following his return from military service in Iraq. A thought-provoking novel about a serious topic and the resiliency of the human spirit.391 pages.