Requiem, by Lauren Oliver (2013)

Goodreads

My rating:  6 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual inference

To check this read out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Running Dream, by Wendelin Van Draanan (2011)

 

Goodreads

 

My rating:  8 out of 10 stars

 

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

Goodreads

My rating:  10 out of 10
*language, sexual references, risky behavior

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith (2010)

I was still bleeding...my hands shaking.

 

Seth Grahame-Smith wanted to be an author.  He worked at a five and dime while growing up in Rhinebeck, New York - home ot the oldest inn in America.  After he graduated from college, he planned to work at the store for nine months, during that time he'd work on his unpublished novel.  Nine years later, he has abandoned writing.

 

Henry has been coming to the store for a year. 

 

"Why did you abandon it?"

 

Seth couldn't help but feel that another conversaton was going on.

 

The last time Henry came into the store, he gave a small package to Seth.  Inside brown paper and twine were 10 leather-bound books.  Journals from the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln.

 

For 17 months, Seth sacrificed everything for those 10 books.

 

This novel is the story...

 

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars

*language, smoking

 

To check this read out at NOLS, click HERE!

Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick (2009)

"Can you feel that, Private?"

Eighteen-year old Matt Duffy, a private in the army, is stationed in Baghdad, Iraq.  Six hours ago he was brought into the hospital; he has TBI, Traumantic Brain Injury from a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG).  At first he can't remember anything that happened before the explosion, but he slowly begins to remember a few pieces of the memory.

"You don't remember?"

Matt shook his head.  Even that tiny gesture sent pain shooting through his skull.

"It was yesterday," Justin said.  "Remember yesterday?"

Matt tried to remember.  Nothing.

"You sure?"  Justin glanced over his shoulder, the way he did when he was scanning the rooftops for snipers.  "Nothing at all?"

"Why?  Did someone get hurt?"

Justin pinched his brow between his fingers.  "Only a couple hajis," he said.

As Matt tries to put the pieces of the memory together, he thinks of a young, homeless boy he befriended, Ali.  The last time he saw Ali was when they were patrolling the market near the al-Hikma Mosque.  Ali always stayed close to Matt, begging for anything he could sell.

"I keep seeing it in my head.  Or parts of it, anyhow."  He wiped his hands on his pant legs, not looking up.

"That's not unusual," she said.  "A lot of soldiers have flashbacks, disturbing memories, nightmares..."

"It doesn't make sense," he said, his voice cracking.  "I keep seeing him."

"Who?"

"This street kid," Matt said, toying with his plastic hospital wristband.

Purple Heart is a heart-wrenching story of Matt's experience in Baghdad.  This is a great book for teens who maybe don't know much about the war in Iraq, or maybe know someone who has been deployed there.

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual reference

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!

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

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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!

Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore (2012)

When he grabs Mama's wrist and yanks her toward the wall-hanging like that, it must hurt.  Mama doesn't cry out.

For 35 years the people of Monsea lived under a spell of a madman. 

Father is the King of Monsea.  No one knows he has two different colored eyes of a Graceling; no one wonders, for his is a terrible Grace hidden beneath his eye patch: When he speaks, his words fog people's minds so that they'll believe everything he says.  Usually, he lies.  

Nine years have passed since King Leck was killed.  Bitterblue is now queen.  She is 18-years old.

Bitterblue notices that everyone flinches away from direct reminders of the time of Leck's reign, or fall apart.

The more I see and hear, the more I realize how much I don't know.  

I want to know everything.

Bitterblue begins to question her advisers and sneaking outside of the castle to find out what's really going on in her kingdom.  She is willing to risk everything to save her kingdom.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual inferences, homosexuality, rape

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Love & Leftovers, by Sarah Tregay (2012)

My Family's Summerhouse

My mother

doesn't understand

that this is a summerhouse

(meant to be lived in

only during the summer).

It is almost Labor Day.

Next week,

I'll start my sophomore year

at Oyster River High School

in Durham, New Hampshire

because she doesn't have the courage

to go home

to Boise, Idaho.

Sixteen-year old Marcie Foster thought her family would always be together.  In June her mom realized her marriage to Marcie's father was over, and she took Marcie across the country to New Hampshire, away from her dad, her friends, and her boyfriend.


The worst part of 
this overextended summer vacation
is leaving 


behind


a perfectly good boyfriend
with the deepest
espresso-brown eyes
a girl 
could ever
get lost
in.


As Marcie tries to help her mom through her grief, she is forced to take care of everything.  She is confused and desperately lonely.  She wants to have friends, but even more, she wants to be in love.

My Wish

is to fall

cranium over Converse

in dizzy daydream-worthy

love

Marcie questions her relationship with her boyfriend in Boise when she meets a new guy in New Hampshire.  She wonders how she'll know when it's really and truly love.  And is love really worth it as she watches her parents' marriage unravel?


Love & Leftovers is a novel-in-verse.  It's a quick read for teens who like books about relationships.  


Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
* mild language, gay & bisexual, sexual inferences


To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!