Stolen, by Lucy Christopher (2010)

You saw me before I saw you.  

Gemma was traveling with her parents from London to Vietnam.  On a layover in Bangkok, she went to a coffee stand in the airport.

"Let me buy it," you said.  Your voice was low and soft, like it was meant only for me, and your accent was strange.

Ty is in his mid-20s, too old to be hanging out with a 16-year old girl.

You must have thought of everything: a ticket, a new passport, our route through, how to get past security.  Was it the most carefully planned steal ever, or just luck?  

He steals her away to a desert in Australia.

"Why?"  I whispered.

"I had to take you."

Written as a letter to her captor, Gemma describes her experience.

So I wrote the only words I could think of:  imprisoned, confined, detained, constrained, incarcerated, locked up, interned, sent down, abducted, kidnapped, taken, forced, shoved, hurt, stolen...

Stolen is a beautiful, frightening story.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual inference, drug reference, prostitution

To check out this book at NOLS, click HERE!

Every Day, by David Levithan (2012)

I wake up.
     Immediately I have to figure out who I am.  

Every morning, A wakes up in someone's body.  He only gets to stay in that body for one day, to live that life for one single day.  He is never the same person twice, but every person he's ever inhabited is the same age as it.  He also doesn't thinking of himself as male or female (my interpretation for writing this review).  On day 5994, A inhabits the body of Justin, a 17-year old jerk.  A meets Justin's girlfriend and everything changes.

I have spent years meeting people without ever knowing them, and on this morning, in this place, with this girl, I feel the faintest pull of wanting to know.  And in a moment of either weakness or bravery on my own part, I decide to follow it.  I decide to find out more.

They go to the ocean for the afternoon.

I want to give her a good day.  Just one good day.  I have wandered for so long without any sense of purpose, and now this ephemeral purpose has been given to me - it feels like it has been given to me.  I only have a day to give - so why can't it be a good one?  Why can't it be a shared one?  Why can't I take the music of the moment and see how long it can last?  The rules are erasable.  I can take this.  I can give this.

How does someone make a meaningful life living one day in other people's lives?  Every Day is a gorgeous read.  The resolution is perfect and I would be so disappointed if David Levithan every made a sequel or a companion novel.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*sexual references, drugs, religion, mild language, gay relationships, sexual identity

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Unwholly, by Neal Shusterman (2012)

He's fighting a nightmare when they come for him.

Five years later Neal Shusterman offers the sequel to Unwind.  Three characters from Unwind continue their fight in Unwholly, while a few new characters join in the plight.  

Starkey is a stork and his parents want him to be unwound.

"Mason Michael Starkey, by the signing of this order, your parents and/0r legal guardians have retroactively terminated your tenure, backdated to six days postconception, leaving you in violation of Existential Code 390.  In light of this, you are hereby remanded to the California Juvenile Authority for summary division, also known as unwinding...Any rights previously granted to you by the county, state, or federal government as a citizen thereof are now officially and permanently revoked."

One out of 2,000 teens between the ages of 13 and 17 will be unwound each year.

Unwholly follows the stories of Connor, Lev, Risa, Starkey, and Cam Comprix was they fight for their survival.  

Rating:  6 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual inference, abortion, religion, abandonment

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

What Came from the Stars, by Gary D. Schmidt (2012)

So the Valorim came to know that their last days were upon them.

Narrated from two points of view, the Valorim of Ethelim and Tommy Pepper of Plymouth, Massachusetts, What Came from the Stars is a book that feels like fantasy mixed in with delicious realistic fiction.

Tommy Pepper lives with his dad and little sister on a beach just outside Plymouth.  His mom died nearly a year ago, and Tommy and his family are filled with grief.  They miss her terribly.  His little sister, Patty, doesn't speak.  His dad rarely paints anymore.

On Tommy's 12th birthday, he received "The dumbest present in the history of the entire universe" from his grandmother:  an Ace Robotroid Adventure lunch box.  In an attempt to hide his lunch box from his friends, something happens.  Tommy saw a quick flash of light from the window and when his lunch box crashed onto the floor.

Tommy Pepper looked down beneath the cafeteria table at his fallen Ace Robotroid Adventure lunch box, and there among the spilled carrot and celery sticks, something...well, something glowed.  Tommy blinked.  Whatever it was, it really was glowing a little bit.  He reached down and picked it up.

A chain.  Green and silver.  Heavy.

After Tommy put on the chain, things started to change.  He could remember a far-off place. His memories of his mom returned and they were clear.

And with that wind in his face, and looking at the sea, and feeling the light fall on him from the first star, and with those he loved beside him, and his mother gone, gone, Tommy felt the chain warm, and he began to sing too. 

In another world, something tragic was taking place.  The O'Mondim, led by Lord Mondus, overtook the Valorim.  In an effort to save the Art of Valorim, Young Waeglim forged it into a chain and sent it to another world.  The Art of Valorim is the most precious and powerful gift.  Lord Mondus will do anything to possess it.

What Came from the Stars tells the story of the Valorim and Tommy Pepper.  The book reads like a typical gorgeous Gary D. Schmidt novel, mixed with science fiction elements.  My favorite parts included reading about Tommy and his family in Plymouth.  The science fiction elements were a bit tedious, but overall, a good story.

Hopefully, Gary D. Schmidt takes one of the characters from this book and spins it into another book, similar to Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now.  :)

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars
To check this book at out NOLS, click HERE!