The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin (2011)

The ornate script on the board twisted in the candlelight, making the letters and numbers dance in my head.  They were jumbled and indistinct, like alphabet soup.  When Claire pushed the heart-shaped piece into my hand, I startled.  I wasn't normally so twitchy, and hoped Rachel wouldn't notice.  The Ouija board was her favorite present that night, and Claire gave it to her.  I got her a bracelet.  She wasn't wearing it.

Seventeen-year old Mara Dyer used to be a typical teenage girl.  That was before three of her friends were killed.  In the hospital she learned that she and her friends were in an abandoned psychiatric hospital, The Tamerlane.  The building crushed, killing her friends, leaving Mara unharmed.

She has no memory of even going to the hospital.

"You have to tell me," I begged, 

my throat filled with ash.

My mother looked at me with glassy eyes 

and a heartbroken face.  

"I would if I could, Mara.  

But you're the only one who knows."

Eight weeks after the tragedy, Mara's family moved from Rhode Island to Miami, Florida.  One her first day of school without her best friend, Rachel, she is filled with anxiety.  She sees Rachel and Claire, and hears Jude's laughter.  Rachel, Jude, and Claire are her friends that were killed.  She knows they are hallucinations.

She also meets a Noah Shaw, a boy with a reputation.

Mara begins to remember what happened that terrible night in Rhode Island.

I woke in the middle of the night with a scream in my throat and an anchor in my chest, soaked in sweat and terror.  I remembered.  I remembered.  The flood of recognition was almost painful.

The dream - the memory - kept replaying itself on a loop, disturbing me more than it should have.  Why now, all of a sudden?  What could I do about it?  What should I do about it?

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer witnesses the memories coming back to Mara about that night in the asylum, questions the connection she has with Noah Shaw, and forces the reader to wonder about other aspects of the story that were left hanging.  The book trailer doesn't have anything to do with the story, either does the dust jacket.  I found it interesting, but scary, the first two-thirds of the book.  The final part felt like an entirely different read.  

The book finishes with

end of volume one

I suppose we can expect volume two soon...

Rating:  2 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual suggestion, sexual inference, tobacco usage, Ouija board

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Fault in our Stars, by John Green (2012)

Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.

Hazel Grace Lancaster has terminal thyroid cancer.  She knows it's not *if* she dies, it's when.  The cancer has metastasized in her lungs.  She's lived with this disease since she was 13, fighting for each breath.  All of her treatment has been to extend her life, not cure her cancer. 

Luckily Hazel got into an experimental trial.  The drug didn't work in about 70% of people, but it worked in Hazel.  The tumors shrank.  

In the past eighteen months, my mets have hardly grown, leaving me with lungs that suck at being lungs but could, conceivably, struggle along indefinitely with the assistance of drizzled oxygen and daily Phalanxifor.

Hazel hasn't been to a regular school in three years.  Her parents and author Peter Van Houten are her three best friends.

I'd learned this from my aforementioned third best friend, Peter Van Houten, the reclusive author of An Imperial Affliction, the book that was a close a thing as I had to a Bible.  Peter Van Houten was the only person I'd ever come across who seemed to (a) understand what it's like to be dying, and (b) not have died.

To deal with her depression, Hazel is sent to a support group with teens who have cancer.  They meet in the basement of a church.  She meets 17-year old Isaac who has to have his one good eye removed and will be blind in a couple of weeks.  She also meets 17-year old Augustus Waters who has osteosarcoma; one of his legs had to be amputated.  He's been NEC (No Evidence of Cancer) for 14 months.

After the meeting Augustus invites Hazel to come to his house to watch a movie.  As she waits for her mom to pick her up, Hazel notices Augustus putting a cigarette between his lips.  Hazel is disgusted.  

"They don't kill you unless you light them," he said as Mom arrived at the curb.  "And I've never lit one.  It's a metaphor, see.  You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing."

Hazel and Augustus begin spending time together.

Hazel has written letters to author Peter Van Houton for years, always to be unanswered.  Augustus   finds a way to contact the reclusive author and receives a reply.  He learns that Van Houton will answer Hazel's questions if she comes to Amsterdam to meet with him.  Hazel already spent her Wish the Genies gave her.  Augustus knows what he wants to do.

"Ah," he said.  And then, after what felt like a practiced pause, he added, "But I saved mine."

Hazel is so sick a trip to Amsterdam may be out of the question.  And she begins to worry about what will happen to Augustus when she dies.  She begins to pull away from Augustus.

"I'm like.  Like.  I'm like a grenade, Mom and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?"

"I just want to stay away from people and read books and think and be with you guys because there's nothing I can do about hurting you; you're too invested, so just please let me do that, okay?  I'm not depressed.  I don't need to get out more.  And I can't be a regular teenager, because I'm a grenade."

The Fault in our Stars is an amazing read.  Even though Hazel and Augustus don't have a lot of time together, their relationship is incredible.  Funny, sad, smart, I loved this read.  As Augustus himself said, 

"It is a good life, Hazel Grace."

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*language, drugs, sexual inference, issues of death

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Cracked, by K. M. Walton (2012)

I have wished that Bull Mastrick would die almost every single day.

For more than 10 years, Bull Mastrick has terrorized Victor Konig.  They're now 16 years old, finishing their sophomore year in high school.  Neither one has a happy home.

Bull lives with his grandfather, Pop, and his mom.  Pop's fists are big and strong, and he uses them on Bull.  A lot.  

My pop renamed me Bull when I was five - said he didn't want me getting any crazy ideas that I was special.  He said I wrecked everyone's life when I came along, like a bull in a china shop.  The name stuck.

His mom isn't any better.

She loves reminding me that I was never supposed to have been born.  That I stole her dreams...She pretty much blames me for just about every bad thing in her pathetic life.  Like never graduating high school.  

Victor's parents don't believe in physical violence or affection.  They remind him of robots; he's never seen them hug or kiss.

Like I said, my parents don't use physical violence; they don't need to.  They've mastered verbal violence.

His mom's term of endearment for him is "My Accident."

She gets such pleasure from telling me that I was never planned.  She never wanted kids.  Ever.  She had too much to do with her life, she said.  Like travel and shop and impress people.

The only being in his house that makes Victor feel important is his mom's teacup poodle, Jasmine.  

The only thing Victor's parents are concerned about are his grades and SAT scores.  His parents are disappointed with his scores.  Even though he received a perfect score on the math, his parents are upset.

"Victor, how could you let those other scores happen...to us?  It's embarrassing."

His parents decide that Victor doesn't deserve to go on their summer trip to Europe; instead he needs to stay home to study.

Victor and Bull find themselves in a hospital room, together.  

Cracked is an emotional read about bullying and serious family problems.  It's a good read for someone who likes an edgier read.

Rating:  7 out of 10
*language, sexual innuendo, child abuse and neglect

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Kill Order, by James Dashner (2012)

Teresa looked at her best friend and wondered what it would be like to forget him.

Thirteen years before Thomas and Teresa entered the Maze, Mark lives in a world that has been ravaged by heat and radiation.  Living in an encampment in the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, Mark and his friends have had to fight to survive the year of death and terror.  Life is not easy for the survivors.

The sun flares struck with little warning.

Mark and his best friend, Trina, try their best to be happy and make each day count, but the memories always keep coming back.

The memories.   They never let him go, not even for a half hour.  They always had to rush back in, bringing all the horror.

The Kill Order tells what happened with the sun flares struck the planet.  The intense heat and radiation.  How lucky Mark and Trina were to be underground on the subtrans.  How lucky they were to meet Alec and Lana.

At the camp, everything changed in an instant.

But their laughter was cut off by a strange sound.  Something Mark hadn't heard in over a year, and he hadn't expected to hear it ever again.

The sounds of engines in the sky.

This is the first sign of advanced technology since the sun flares.  The Post-Flares Coalition (PFC) delivers supplies to Asheville, but this berg is unmarked.  Five people wearing bulky rubber suits emerge from the berg, each holding a black tube like a gun.  They spray the survivors with darts.  Some are killed immediately.  Others die a much more painful death.

Alec and Mark make their way to the berg to learn more about this attack.  Sealed boxes with warning symbols.

Virus VC321xb47

Highly Contagious

24 Darts, Extreme Caution

Mark and Alec meet Deedee, a young child who has been abandoned by her village after they were attacked by a similar berg.  She had been shot in the arm, but everyone left her there, alone.  She is immune to the virus.

The Killing Order is an exciting read to learn about the devastation after the sun flares and about the virus, later called the Flare.  Filled with suspense, this was one of my favorites in this series.  

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The other books in this series:

Prized, by Caragh M. O'Brien (2011)

*Plot spoiler if you haven't read Birthmarked! *

She grabbed the hilt of her knife and scrambled backward into the darkness, holding the baby close in her other arm.

Gaia Stone escaped from the Enclave and Wharfton with her infant sister, Maya.  She has walked for days, miles in the wastelands, and now she is out of formula for Maya.  The baby is dying.  They are rescued and taken her to Sylum.  

Life in Sylum is difficult for Gaia to get used to.  There are laws that she must obey, such as men and women are not allowed to kiss or touch.  Mlady Olivia is the Matrarch, the leader of Sylum.  

"You'll listen to me, Mlass Gaia," the Matrarch said, and her voice had dropped to a honey-smooth alto.  "There is only one leader here.  One.  And I speak for everyone.  You will learn to obey our rules, or you will be sent back to the wasteland to die."

She also learns that she has a decision to make.

"Staying in Sylum is like coming through a one-way gate.  You can enter, but anyone who tries to leave Sylum dies.  We don't understand fully why this happens, but we find their bodies."

Even though she and her sister have been rescued, Gaia learns that she's committed a crime according to the laws of Sylum.  The punishment is overwhelming.

"Then from now on, we will consider your sister to be a gift to Sylum.  A small and precious gift.  What's more, in light of your gift, and depending on your compliance during your probation, we may pardon your crime." 

"My crime?"

"You knowingly, deliberately put your sister in deadly harm."

Gaia decides to stay in Sylum to be as close to Maya as possible.  As she becomes more familiar with the town, she discovers an unsettling truth: there aren't many women.  Only one in ten babies born in Sylum is a girl; the last girl born here was two years ago.

Two thousand people live in Sylum; 1,800 are men.  Out of the male population, only 400 -500 are in the pool: those who are eligible to marry. 

Gaia's skills as a midwife become invaluable, and she learns more about Sylum.  If life wasn't complicated enough, two brothers attempt to capture Gaia's affection.  And then she finds someone from her past.

Prized is an exciting read as you find out the secrets about Sylum, and how Gaia overcomes all of the obstacles she must face.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

*pregnancy issues, deliberate miscarriage

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

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