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!

Prodigy, by Marie Lu (2013)

**Plot spoiler if you have 

not read Legend!**

Day jolts awake beside me.  His brown is covered with sweat, and his cheeks are wet with tears.  He's breathing heavily.

Following Legend, Prodigy takes up where the Republic's most wanted criminal, Day, and the Republic's most celebrated prodigy, June Iparis, left off - hitching a ride on a train bound for the military city of Las Vegas.  Nine days have passed since they broke out of Batalla Hall and escaped Los Angeles.  Day wants to join up with the Patriots to rescue his little brother, Eden.

"You're really set on finding the Patriots, 

aren't you?"

Elector Primo has died and his son, Anden Stavropoulous, is the new Elector.

The Republic has simply moved on to the next Elector without skipping a beat, as if Anden were the same person as his father.  My head swims - I try to remember what I'd learned in school about choosing a new Elector.  The Elector always picked his successor, and a national election would confirm it.  It's no surprise that Anden is next in line - but our Elector has been in power for decades, long before I was born.  Now he's gone.  

Our world has shifted in a matter of seconds.

June and Day find the Patriot's leader, Razor.  Although they don't have any money to offer, they're still valuable to the Patriots.

"There is something you can offer," he starts.  "Fortunately you've arrived on a very interesting night."  

"Rarely has the Republic been as vulnerable as it is now.  There will never be a better time to spark a revolution."

The Patriots want Day and June to assassinate the new 20-year old Elector.

Will they accomplish this mission?  Who can they trust?  Will they survive?  This is a great read if you like action, drama, and political intrigue.  In my opinion, Prodigy is a more exciting read than book 1, Legend.  

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars
*mild language

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

The Evolution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin (2012)

I woke up on the morning of some day in some hospital to find a stranger sitting in my room.

Mara Dyer can't remember anything after seeing her ex-boyfriend, Jude, appear at the police station.  But she is sure she saw him.  She learns that she's in a hospital.

"It became an emergency situation, so under the Baker Act, your parents were able to consent for you."

I whispered so I wouldn't scream.  "What are you saying?"

"I'm sorry, but you've been involuntarily committed."

Mara knows that she isn't okay.  Her family and Noah are afraid for her safety, but while Noah believes her, her family thinks Mara just might be truly mentally ill.  The Evolution of Mara Dyer will make goosebumps rise on your arms as you feel Mara come unraveled.  If you liked The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, you'll love the second book!

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual references, rape

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys (2011)

They took me in my nightgown.

Fifteen-year old Lina Vilkas was taken from her home as she was getting ready for bed by the NKVD, the Soviet Secret Police.  Her family was given 20 minutes to pack.  Her father is missing.

"Promise me that if anyone tries to help you, you will ignore them.  We will resolve this ourselves.  We must not pull family or friends into this confusion, do you understand?  Even if someone calls out to you, you must not respond."

Almost a year before, Lina's home country, Lithuania, was annexed into the USSR.  Others were rounded up and put into a truck with Lina, her mother, and her younger brother, Jonas.  Lina learns that her mother speaks perfect Russian.

Forty-six people are crammed into a cattle train car.  One of them is 17-year old Andrius Arvydas from a nearby town.  They travel for six weeks inside the crammed, filthy car.  Lina learns why they were deported.

"Stalin has a plan, my love.  The Kremlin will do anything to see it through.  You know that.  He wants Lithuania for the Soviet Union, so he's moving us out temporarily."

"But why us?" I asked.  "They already moved into Lithuania last year.  Isn't that enough?"

"It's not just us, dear.  I imagine he's doing the same to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.  It's complicated," said other.

Lina witnesses hundreds of horrible things, things a human should never have to see or endure.

"How could they do this?" I asked aloud.  I looked around the train car.  No one spoke.  How could we stand up for ourselves if everyone cowered in fear and refused to speak?  

I had to speak.  I'd write everything down, draw it all.  I would help Papa find us.

Between Shades of Gray is the emotional story of Lina and her family as they're deported from their beloved home in Lithuania and eventually make it to the most desolate area of all in the Arctic region.  It was delicious and it broke my heart into a million pieces.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language, sexual inference

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Fire, by Kristin Cashore (2009)

Larch often thought that if it had not been for his newborn son, he never would have survived his wife Mikra's death.

Seventeen-year old Fire is the last human-shaped monster in the Dells.  Her beauty stuns those who see her, and most people either want to marry her or kill her.  She can also control the minds of anyone near her.

The kingdom is in danger; war is on the way.  Fire is called to the capital city to help the king.  
She learns about the various spies for the king's enemies, but one is the most mysterious.

...Fire sat alone, puzzling over the boy.  His right eye was gray and his left eye was red, which was strange enough itself.  His hair was blond like wheat, his skin light, and he had the appearance of being ten or eleven...He was sitting facing her, a rodent monster in his lap, a mouse with glimmering gold fur.  He was tying a string around its neck.  fire knew somehow that the creature was not his pet.

He pulled the string, too tight.  The mouse's legs began to jerk.  Stop it, Fire thought furiously, aiming her message at the strange presence that was his mind. 

He loosened the string immediately.  The mouse lay in his lap, heaving with tiny breaths.   The boy smiled at Fire, and stood up, and came to stand before her.  "It doesn't hurt him," he said.  "It's only a choking game, for fun."

She stared at him coolly, so he could not see her bewilderment.  "A choking game?  All the fun of it is on your side, and it's a sick kind of fun."

He smiled again.  His lopsided, red-eyed smile was somehow distressing.  "Is it sick?  To want to be in control?"

"Of a helpless, frightened creature?  Let it go."

"The others believed me when I said it didn't hurt him," he said, "but you know not to.  Plus, you're awfully pretty.  So I'll give you what you want."

Rating:  2 out of 10 stars

* mild language, sexual inference

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

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!