It All Happens in the End

Everyone knows the zombie craze has hit big time, and with the success of The Walking Dead, it isn't going anywhere. So how do you make a story with maniacal, people eating creatures new and fresh? If you are Demitria Lunetta, you make them greenish-yellow with creepy fangs... but their origins aren't so different. In the End is the conclusion of Amy's tale in a world where arrogance and experimentation led to a completely new species of people, who are contagious and who want to eat you. 

Amy and Baby survived together in silence, avoiding the Florae wherever possible. They thought New Hope, and the realization that Amy's mother was still alive, would allow them to live in peace finally, but it was clear the crazy scientists in the compound had different ideas. Amy escaped, but she left Baby behind in what she thought was relative safety. Unfortunately, when Kay, a guardian who helped save Amy, contacts her, Kay tells Amy that Baby is now being bled dry for Dr. Reynolds' experiments. Amy can't save her alone, so Kay sends Amy to Fort Black where her brother Ken is working on a cure. She thinks Ken can request to work directly with Baby and get her out of New Hope, but from the moment Amy enters Fort Black, it is clear nothing is going to go as planned. 

Fort Black is basically a lawless prison that is only preferable over becoming Florae food. The guards who are protected by the Warden are fed well and everyone else must use whatever methods possible to feed themselves. Luckily, Amy stumbles across Jacks, the Warden's nephew who, while protected and living a life of leisure thanks to the Warden's influence, is still a pretty good guy. Amy explains why she is looking for Ken, and Jacks agrees to help her, but to protect her, he must also "claim" her. Unclaimed ladies are unprotected ladies, so, despite Amy's protests at being thought of as property, she allows the rumor to spread that she is now Jacks' girl. The problem, though, is no one has ever heard of or seen Ken. Just when Amy starts to think she will never find him or save Baby, she realizes the truth depths of the darkness in Fort Black. And it's ugly. 

The only think I can complain about with this book is that I am pretty sure this is it for the series. I thought there was going to be a trilogy, but the sequel ended with quite a bit of finality. I am sad to see it go, because this was a really great series! The story is fast-paced and exciting, every character is dynamic and interesting, and there really were no complaints I had about anything! Even the new and supporting characters like Brenna and Jacks were fabulous! I hope someone can convince Lunetta to do a book that comes later, because I don't want to be done with Amy and the group!

The story behind the Florae is just downright disturbing. Almost all of it came out in the end of the first book, but you get a really full back story with this sequel. In addition, the series of experiments to find a cure is downright unethical, but in a post-apocalyptic world, where people will eat you, is there room for ethics? I found myself asking that a lot throughout this book. I am currently reading Watchmen with my juniors, and we talk a lot about the ethicality of sacrificing a few to save the money. Still, it is hard to imagine how anyone could dehumanize their subjects enough to inject a child with the Florae virus! I found the moral questions in this story were just as strong as the entertainment factor of this crazy story. And somehow, Lunetta figured out a way to make new, scarier versions of zombies! Holy Florae, Batman!

Playing Games with Your Mind

Any sister knows that regardless of how much you may fight or argue, you would walk through fire or step in front of a bullet for your sister. Sisters are a force that no one truly understands unless they have their own sister. In Kiersten White's Mind Games, the girls may have special abilities, but their bond as sisters defies all, including an evil corporation that wants to use them as tools against the world.

Fia has done everything to protect her blind and telepathic sister, Annie, after their parents are killed in an accident Annie foresaw. That includes joining a school that is less school and more training facility for young girls with abilities the "school" plans to use for whatever nefarious activities their need. Over the years they have convinced Fia that if she doesn't follow orders, Annie will be the one to suffer. For a sister, there is no bigger threat.

When Fia and her flawless instincts are sent to assassinate someone, she sees her target bend down to pet a dog and can't imagine herself ending his life. On a whim, she whips him away, leaving enough evidence to convince her bosses that he is indeed dead. She squirrels him away and returns to the school, but she isn't prepared for what she learns upon her return. It was her own sister who sent her to murder this boy. Now Fia doesn't know who to trust and where to turn. The boy she saved, Adam, is the first person Annie has truly wanted to open herself up to, but any contact with him would put him in danger. What Fia doesn't realize is the danger is much closer to home than she ever could have imagined.

Mind Games is told in four perspectives: both Fia and Annie now, and Fia and Annie as they transitioned into the school starting a few years earlier. This may seem like a great way to get back story without an information dump, but for me it clouded this otherwise great story. It made it incredibly confusing to figure out who you were reading about, and I found myself jumping back to the beginning of the chapter to see who was speaking and when more times than I should have had to. I think this could be frustrating for a younger or weaker reader, and I know it frustrated me. I almost wished this story was told in two books- start with the action of the "now" for this book, finish your series (because it is to be a series), and then write a prequel with the expanded back story. Otherwise, it was just too difficult to keep up with at times, especially when you were flipping the pages like mad because you couldn't wait to find out what happened.

I hope this idea of four perspectives won't carry over into the next book now that the history has been established. I loved both characters as they were clearly frustrated, disturbed, and yet so caring at the same time. They struggled with their relationship as sisters, but they also cared about one another. The sacrifices they made (Fia especially) were a true testament to their bond as sisters. On a whole, I really liked this story, but I found the four perspectives distracting. I am excited to see where the series goes from here, but I hope the flashbacks are limited. In particular, the ending of this story opens up for the sequel to be phenomenal! Can't wait!

Medusa's Middle Book Syndrome!

It's hard enough being the ancestor of Medusa and her sisters, but being monster hunters and the source of a very vague prophecy that has you ruining the world is just too much. For Gretchen, Greer, and Grace, the prophecy is just the start of their problems in Tera Lynn Childs' Sweet Shadows.

Now that the three sisters, triplets separated at birth, have found one another, it seems as though nothing is normal about their lives. Even Gretchen, whose life trained as a huntress was far from "normal" to begin with, longs for the easy days of training and hunting in between occasionally going to school. Now the girls are embroiled in a life altering decision that they barely understand: the prophecy. As the Key Generation, they are going to be responsible for either opening the door from the abyss to the human world which will unleash all monsters upon humans or closing the door forever, which, as it turns out, isn't such a clear win/win. 

Without Medusa's sisters, who have guided them disguised as mortals for years, and the oracle to confide in, the girls are struggling to decide which direction is best and who to trust. This becomes incredibly more challenging when they learn one faction wants them dead to keep the portal from opening and one wants them to open the portal and then kill them to keep it opened. Feeling like there is no place to run and an impossible decision to make, the girls find themselves torn in different directions. Grace knows something is going on with her brother Thane and her usually rock-solid relationship with her parents is being threatened. Gretchen finally allows herself to start liking a boy only to watch him sucked into the abyss and chooses to go tumbling after him where she learns more about the "monsters" she has been fighting all these years. And Greer must take a long, hard look at her lifestyle and how tea socials and high society events are just not possible within the life as a hunter. But the girls all have one thing in common: they have no idea which end of the prophecy they should be on.

I really like this series and love Tera Lynn Childs, but this was definitely a "middle child" in the trilogy. I am not saying it wasn't a good book, because it was! The struggle for me was that the action was held over from Book 1 and all the conclusions seem to be waiting (im)patiently for book 3. In my opinion, a trilogy should have three separate components that can stand on their own yet still all come together as one cohesive unit. This book had too many ties to its younger and older sisters, leaving it torn and without a real firm purpose on its own. For instance, the whole book we suspect something really horrible is happening to Grace's brother. He is oddly absent and not keeping in touch, and when he does come back, he is clearly hiding something. When the three girls come back together and press on to take care of a legion of monsters, he wants to come with them, then the book is done. You are left with no explanation for what is going on with him and no conclusion, just a whole lot of questions left to hang for another year until the final book. It was pretty frustrating!

This middle child syndrome is rather new for Childs. All her previous series (Oh. My. Gods. and Fins) are connected and continuations of one story, but they are strong in and of themselves as well. While it might bug you to wait a whole year with where this book left off, I hope you don't choose NOT to read this series because of it. Instead, I would recommend waiting until the final book in the trilogy is out and then to read them all in tandem. It will solve any of these problems I had with this book and you will probably get much more out of the story. The story itself is really quite wonderful, and in particular, the ambiguity surrounding the "monsters" is a real-life circumstance people face all the time- what happens when you realize the "bad guy" isn't really bad at all? This is a great mythological tale with real-life practical applications that make this a stellar series. Even if the middle child has a couple of small flaws!

City of Secrets and Lies

How many of us believe what our government, our bosses, or our parents tell us? We tend to believe and trust what people in positions of power tell us without questioning their motives. In Jeanne DuPrau's City of Ember: Books of Ember, Book One, she takes a world of darkness and shows how far a little light can really go. 


Lina Mayfleet has been given her job in the City of Ember. She is to report to Pipeworks, the worst, dirtiest, wettest job in the city of Ember that works underground keeping the city's pipes patched and running. Doon Harrow got the coveted position of Messenger, but he offers to trade Lina for Pipeworks. She is baffled by his choice but won't pass up a chance to be a messenger. Doon is determined to find a way to save Ember, and he thinks the answer might be the generator which is underground. 


The City of Ember is in trouble. The electricity is failing more frequently, the good canned goods are gone, leaving behind the ones people suffer through, and materials are becoming more and more scarce. The reason is the Builders of Ember never intended for the people of Ember to stay this long. They had a plan, complete with an exit route, mapped out, but through greed and selfishness and mishap, the box with the plans has been lost in Lina's house for generations, set to pop open at the appropriate time. When her little sister Poppy finds it and begins to eat it, Lina saves it before it is totally destroyed, but not before Poppy's drool erased some important parts. Lina goes to Doon and together they try to uncover the secrets that lie within the City of Ember. What they don't expect is that not everyone wants to hear about what they have found.


I have known about this series for quite some time, but never got around to reading it. I am really glad I finally did because it is quite phenomenal! It is most certainly a middle reader series, as the writing is very young and in particular, the characters are incredibly naive. There were times when Lina and Doon were reporting misdeeds they had encountered to the very people reaping the benefits (who clearly wouldn't be happy about a couple of kids revealing their thievery) and I was screaming, "No! Don't Do it! ARRGGHHH!" But, as very, very sheltered kids stuck in this little city where the only light is manufactured (and quickly running out), I guess I can see why they were so naive. They have never known anything other than following what their leaders tell them to do (in fact, they don't even know what a boat is). But while that naivete made me a little frustrated at times, it would be perfect for a younger reader, maybe a strong 3rd grader through low-skilled 7th grader who is themselves fairly naive. An older, more worldly student would be annoyed by the kids' lack of skepticism. 


The youngness of this series would make it a perfect addition to any middle reader shelves. All those kids whose parents were worried Hunger Games was too violent while the kids just want to read what is popular, might like this very different, yet very good dystopia. There is also a movie made of the first book! So keep this great story around for your younger readers intrigued by strange places and you will get them hooked, because the end of this book leaves off with the reader dying for more! You won't be able to resist!

Clarity in Black and White

In life, there are many circumstances and situations that can give us clarity, or make us see our lives in a way we have never seen ourselves before. Very often, those circumstances are traumatic and life-altering. In My Life in Black and White by Natasha Friend, a young woman's life is changed forever with one bad decision... but it might not be as bad as she thinks it is.


Lexi is beautiful. She is known for her beauty. She is so beautiful a photographer stopped her on the street and wanted to sign her as a model (much to her father's horror). She lives her life conscious of her looks and how they affect everyone around her, including her boyfriend, Ryan, and her best friend, Taylor. But when she walks in on Taylor and Ryan hooking up at a party, she makes a decision she will regret for the rest of her life. She gets in the car with Taylor's brother, and they get into an accident.  They both survive, but not in one piece. Lexi's face is horribly disfigured, bones are crushed, and after many surgeries, she needs a skin graft to cover the hole in her cheek... with skin from her butt. As if being disfigured wasn't traumatizing enough, now Lexi is an actual "butt-face".


Lexi has lost her boyfriend, her best friend, and her entire world is spinning out of control. Her parents are worried about her, she locks herself in her room for weeks, and she even refuses to return to school. Taylor and Ryan keep trying to apologize, but nothing can erase that night from her mind, especially since every glance at a mirror brings it right back to her. While Lexi just wants everything to be over, she finds hope and healing in unexpected places. Her weird band-geek sister is more supportive than Lexi ever gave her credit for being. Her Mother-of-the-Year mom does everything she can to help her daughter, even if she doesn't always say the right thing. And a boy, the kind of boy Lexi never would have considered before the accident, is willing to help her find an outlet for her anger with some boxing gloves. Her life may have been turned upside down, but sometimes that is the best way to head in a totally different direction.


I loved this book. I think the story was really great and the moral was strong but not hokey, but my favorite part about this book was just how real and raw the characters were. I hate to even call them characters because they felt like real flesh and blood people. Lexi suffered a tragedy, yes, but she was also selfish, self-centered, and had a lot of trouble seeing past her own tragedy. Her sister was fabulous. Ruthie marched to the beat of her own drum, did what she wanted, and always scoffed at Lexi's need for popularity. But there was more to her. She loved her sister despite Lexi's selfishness, but she wasn't afraid to call her on her actions. And the way she supported Lexi was so sisterly, the good, the bad, and the ugly, it made me think of the relationship between my sister and I. This is a relationship you can only really understand if you have a sister yourself. And if you do, you will know Natasha Friend did a brilliant job of bringing that tumultuous, loving, devoted relationship to the pages of this book. Lexi's mom was complicated and loving, but oblivious at times, like any teenager would assume their mother to be. Even the friends and the cheating jerk-face of an ex-boyfriend had an unexpected depth. I just couldn't get over the characters in this book. 


But the story itself was just as good. This transformation of Lexi was so complex and really explored the many stages of grief, because when you lose the very thing that defines you, like your appearance, there really is a grieving process. She was a tough, snarky, sassy young woman who wasn't afraid to "use her words" in a way that could make you cringe right along with her. And you travel that journey right along with her. I would love to give this book to any variety of students, although some of the language and intimate scenes might make it best for high school aged students. In particular, this is a great book for any young woman who has a hard time looking past appearances into the actual souls of the people around them. We all know teens can get wrapped up in their own lives and forget about the world at large, so sometimes you need a book like this one to open up a dialogue they might not have in any other situation. Sometimes you have to take a cold, hard look at what you hold dear, at the priorities you have set for yourself. Are you really the best person you can be?

This is Not Just a Zombie Novel

They say "Don't judge a book by its cover," but they should also say, "Don't just a book by its blurb". With publishing houses trying so hard to sell their books, they jump to use anything from the book they think will catch people's attention, but sometimes in doing so, they alter the focus of book, maybe even mislead people. This can be very frustrating sometimes, but other times it can give you a chance to experience the book with a clean slate. Since your preconceived notions don't match up, you have to just let the book do work its magic. This is a pretty rare occurrence these days, but I treasure the experience. And experience I did with Courtney Summers' This is Not a Test. 


Sloane's idea of hope disappeared when her sister left her to suffer their father's abuse alone. She has never felt so helpless... until the world turns upside down. When the dead begin to rise, no place is safe and hope is a luxury of the past. But somehow Sloane and 5 other kids make it to the only place they could think to close off and fortify, the one place no teenager would want to make their final home... the high school.


Now that they have gotten to the school and barricaded themselves inside, the illusion of safety begins to shatter. The zombies are outside the building eager to get in and the kids inside are all too painfully aware that nothing can keep them out forever. They also know their resources won't last forever, but for the time being, they are eager to accept the relative safety of the school and hope for someone to rescue them. Unfortunately, they can't know whether there are people alive out there or whether they are all alone. But things inside the school are not all peaches and cream, either. The kids' emotions are running high, but for Sloane, the apocalypse has provided the perfect opportunity she needs: the opportunity to end it all.


While this started out like your typical zombie novel, scared people running for shelter, escaping the dead, it quickly became something else entirely for me. While there were zombies outside and the kids were clearly afraid of the world crashing down around them, this was a story of past and present and all too painfully slim future. The kids each had their own baggage and sacrifices they carried into the school building that ate away at them after weeks of hiding from the walking dead. But Sloane's is the worst. While the other kids remember the monsters their friends, family, and even parents became after the apocalypse started, Sloane remembers the monster her father was before the dead started walking. She is a deeply troubled girl whose biggest betrayal was when her sister, the same sister who always swore they were together until the end, left and abandoned Sloane to her father. I loved this character because it really resonated that no matter what happens in your future, it is near impossible to lose the memories of what happened in the past. All too often we read (OK, I read!) apocalyptic books with strong leading characters who also, conveniently, have lovely survival skills. But what about the other people? The less McGuyver-esque people? Do they make it? Or are they the first to get eaten? This book really delved into the fact that survivors will most likely be a motley crew of people, some useful, some not, some cutthroat, some willing to accept the inevitable. 


This was a real testament to the characters Summers' created. All too often in "action" type books, the characters become second string to the main character: the action. Summers remembered that the human aspect of any story is what really affects people, and so she created a story you will think about for a long time after finishing, not a book for cheap thrills. Even though this is a zombie story, the zombies are almost an afterthought or background noise, not the central conflict of the story. With so little zombie influence, this would be a book that could appeal to a variety of readers, even those not into the zombie stories. I might not give it to a really young or naive student because they would lose the subtle intricacies of the characters that make this book so interesting. So even if you aren't a zombie-phile, give this book a chance- there is more out there than just flesh eating and zombie hordes!

The Most Forbidden Love

When you think "forbidden love", I am sure you think of Romeo and Juliet. A love forbidden by others, but beautiful in reality. I have been a witness of beautiful love with large age differences, including an aunt who married a man 20+ years her senior. Looking back at those pictures, despite their age difference, my aunt and uncle were never happier than when they were together. We have seen love forbidden by religious lines, ethnic boundaries, and racial separation. So is there a love that is truly forbidden? The love Tabitha Suzuma writes about in Forbidden is not only "forbidden", it is downright taboo... so why do you feel your heart wrench for these two young adults who seem so in love?

Lochan, called Lochie by his family, is painfully shy and quiet. A brilliant young man, he is stunted in school by his almost physical inability to speak to anyone other than his own family. Maya is his younger sister. Separated by only a year, they are completely different people. Maya is more social, has friends, and even a possible interest in boys. But together, Lochie and Maya are thrust into the most difficult of childhoods you could imagine- they basically have to raise their younger siblings with little to no help from their parents. Their father left them years ago for his new family and their mother is more concerned with getting her party on and keeping her new boyfriend happy. She comes around less and less, including ignoring all the responsibilities that come with having five children. 

So Lochie and Maya must, in order to keep their family together and out of the foster system, become the parents of their younger brothers and sister. Willa and Tiffin are young enough to accept this arrangement, but Kit is old enough and angry enough to fight what little authority Maya and Lochie have over him. Life as high school students and the virtual parents of three is not only taxing on Maya and Lochie physically, it creates an emotional bond that is much, much different than how a brother and sister are supposed to see each other. Alone in their roles as parents, they find themselves drawn to each other even though they know it is wrong. They emotions for one another have never exactly been "sibling-like", but now they start to see each other in a way they know is wrong- the way a husband and a wife would see each other. Their love and desire grows with each passing day, but they know the risks of giving into their desires. They know their love is not only socially unacceptable, they know it is illegal and if they are caught, they will lose their family. And there is nothing more important to them than keeping Kit, Willa, and Tiffin together. But their desperate situation brings them closer and closer. So close, in fact, that there is no going back. Their love may be the ultimate societal taboo, a brother and sister loving each other in a way that should never happen, but to Maya and Lochie, it couldn't be more pure or devoted. Is it their fault they had the horrible luck to be born to the same neglectful mother? You can't help who you fall in love with, right?

Oh boy. I don't know how to really write this review. I actually finished this book 2 days ago, but had to step away from it and think about it before sitting down to write about it. I will admit, at first I had absolutely no interest in reading a love story about a brother and sister. I did read Flowers in the Attic like most junior high kids did in my time, but even though we knew that situation was wrong, and we found ourselves blaming it on the situation- kids locked in the attic with nothing else to do for years. But this relationship didn't have that sense of hopelessness. They went to school, had friends, and while they were trapped by their horrible circumstances, it still seemed unnecessary. But my cousin, who always gives me great book advice, suggested I had to read this book. I trust her judgment, so despite my "ick-factor" presumptions about this book, I bought it...

Now I don't know how to explain it. Actually, I wish I could convince someone else to read it because I REALLY need to talk to someone about it. Incest is nothing romantic or beautiful like other romantic tragedies we find ourselves loving, but this isn't the dirty incest you usually imagine. In fact, at one point, Lochie even researches incest by two consenting adults, and there really is none. Their situation is so rare and unheard of, they can't find any traces of other people suffering the same forbidden love. In fact, Lochie even explains to Maya that it would be considered a love of the abuse and neglect they have suffered at the hands of their parents. They know how bad their situation is, but that doesn't mean they can stop loving one another they way they do. You can't simply shut off the feelings Maya and Lochie are experiencing. In fact, you find yourself WISHING they weren't related because their love really does seem pure and unadulterated.

Then you find yourself questioning the very horror of that wish! How could you, a reader, think this love is ok? Well, you don't. Not exactly. But god, you sure are confused by everything about these two kids. This was how I felt as I finished this tragic, sad, heartbreaking story. I was so confused. I loved Maya and Lochie, and I just wanted to save them or desperately find out they really weren't related. I wanted it to be all a mistake- maybe they were switched at birth or something and Lochie really isn't her brother. Well, that wasn't the case, so I found myself even more confused. 

This book is taboo. It is hard to read, emotionally, but beautifully written. The author really crossed a boundary with her topic, but she did so in a way that will leave you both breathless and terrified at the same time. But at the same time, you have to read it. This isn't the same cheesy graphic shock-value V.C. Andrews piled into Flowers in the Attic. It is something different entirely. but at the same time, I can't think of a single student I would give this book to. Not because it is poorly written or I think it will influence our students in any way (because that is just ludicrous, to be very honest), but because the subject matter seems so black and white at the beginning and leaves you as confused as you could ever be at the end. I think it might be too heavy for a teenager who, like an teenager, has trouble defining themselves, let alone the very fabric of societal, ethical, and moral boundaries. This book will have you question everything you know to be right or wrong, and it does so in one seriously ground-shaking way. I commend Suzuma for having the guts to write about the most truly forbidden love, and to do so with such grace and beauty. If that isn't the work of a literary magician, I am not sure what is. 

Wicked in Love

What if New England had once been a haven for witches escaping persecution, bringing witches from all around the world to one spot. Then imagine the non-witches of that area launched an attack upon the witches, rooting them out and either imprisoning them or ending their lives. This is the alternate history where the Cahill sisters live in New England at the turn of the century in Born Wicked: The Cahill Witch Chronicles, Book One by Jessica Spotswood.


Cate Chaill is determined to keep her promise to her dying mother- to protect her two sisters from the Brotherhood, a gathering of men who seek out and destroy the lives of witches. Cate and her sisters are witches, but only their mother knew Cate's secret, that she could do the most powerful kind of magic... mind magic. While Tess and Maura love their magic and barely keep it hidden, but Cate uses hers only enough to be able to control it. But her time is coming when every girl must declare their intentions to the Brotherhood: get married or join the sisterhood.


When Cate receives a letter from the godmother she never knew instructing her to find her mother's journal, Cate realizes there is more to their magic than she thought. When she finds the diary, she learns there is a prophecy that three witch sisters will come about and either save the fate of witches, or ruin witches forever. Terrified she and her sisters are the witches in the prophecy, Cate seeks help from people she hopes she can trust despite always keeping her secret to herself. In doing so, she not only finds more to her magic than she had imagined, she also finds that marriage for convenience might not be her only fate. A young man named Finn could be the love Cate never dared to let herself dream about.


This book started a little slow for me at first, but then it picked right up and caught my attention. I loved the old-fashioned feel of the story at the end of the 19th century, as well as the alternate history. The world was so well created that it could have easily been our real history! At first, in fact, I didn't realize it was all that different! And the sisters are an interesting mix of personalities. Cate is your typical eldest daughter, too grown up for her age and the responsibility of the world resting on her shoulders. Maura is the willful middle child who refuses to hide who she really is, even if it means exposing the entire family. And Tess is the youngest sister, in all her wide-eyed innocence and loveliness. The love story behind the magic is really quite sweet, but complicated as these things always tend to be. You want Cate to be with Finn, the son of the bookstore owner who is at the top of the Brotherhood's watch list, but you know her marriage to her childhood friend is the safer choice for Cate and her sisters. But alas, love can not be contained and is not safe or logical. It just is.


The setting of this book makes for a nice story with no violence or sexual content. It feels old-fashioned, which might not be the best fit for some students. It was an interesting story and could be the source of some interesting conversations and creative expression dealing with alternate histories. In fact, I would love to have a student create an alternate history after reading this book. The changes are subtle enough that the book is really quite realistic and easy to read. I look forward to the rest of the series and to see what happens to the Cahill witches!

A Dragon Who Can't Leave Her Hunter

Dragons are real, but they aren't the same dragons of medieval times. They are Draki. Draki are dragons who can manifest and demanifest- turn into dragons or turn into their human forms. Jacinda has always been happy being a draki, but when her mother and sister took her away from the pride to the desert where her inner dragon started to wither, she fell in love with the one person she shouldn't have- a hunter. In Vanish, by Sophie Jordan, we see how that love led Jacinda down a path she never thought she'd find herself.


Jacinda committed the worst crime a draki could commit- she manifested into a dragon in front of a pack of hunters. Now they know the secret of the draki- that they can disguise themselves as humans. Jacinda's twin sister saves them though. Tamra had never manifested as a dragon, but when her family was in trouble she finally found her inner dragon- a shader no less. There is only one more important dragon than a fire-breather like Jacinda, and that is the shader. Shaders have the ability to confuse people and make them forget they saw a dragon. Now that the danger is temporarily over, Jacinda, Tamra and their mother must return to the pride where they are likely to be in a lot of trouble.


When they return to the pride, Tamra becomes the focus of everyone's positive attention. Jacinda and her mother become the focus of everyone's negative attention. They are being punished for running away and almost exposing the draki's secret. But Jacinda still can't forget her hunter, Will. When he stumbles into the pride's land, Jacinda decides to run away with him where she can finally be free of the pride's control. What she doesn't expect is for Will's family, a family of hunters, to be waiting for her. Can she escape the hunters? Or will Jacinda become an experiment like so many butchered draki before her?


This was a fun follow up to the first book and definitely took the story in a good direction. You saw more of the pride and the dragons, which was an interesting addition. The social situation in the pride is very feudal and is interesting to learn more about. I was also happy to see Tamra finally manifest and find her inner dragon. She was so sad in the first book that it was nice to finally see her come into her own! I think this is a good middle reader/YA series for any student who is breaking out of the middle reader books that are still rather immature but hasn't completely moved onto the more mature young adult novels. The language is simple and clean, but the story is fun and exciting. 

It's Now or Never

I run hot and cold with Elizabeth Scott. The first book of hers I ever read was Stealing Heaven, which I LOVED! Then I bought just about everything she had ever written, because I loved that book so much. After that, though, I wasn't too impressed with her other books. Some were really dark, like Living Dead Girl, which was a hard book to get through because the content was so upsetting. Then there was The Unwritten Rule, which wasn't dark, but was just "meh". So I have struggled with buying her new books, but I decided to just go for it. While Between Here and Forever wasn't as good is Stealing Heaven (big shoes to fill), it was certainly one of her better books. It made me decide to give Elizabeth Scott another chance!

Abby has always been in her sister Tess's shadow, but since Tess's accident, Abby has been just as lost. Tess was always the together one, the gorgeous one, and the smart one. Abby was just, well, Abby. Now Abby and her parents spend every day in the hospital next to Tess's bed waiting for her to wake up. When a beautiful young man walks into the hospital room, Abby sees Tess's eye move a little. She is convinced this beautiful boy will bring Tess back and enlists his help to wake her up. While this boy, Eli, seems skeptical at first, he agrees to help.

Although it seems Eli isn't helping Tess, he certainly is helping Abby. For once, she isn't always thinking about Tess and is actually interested in someone (although she still swears he likes Tess more than her). While Abby is convinced Eli and Tess are made for each other, she soon learns there is more to Eli than she noticed earlier, and life isn't so easy for him, beautiful person or not. She also begins to learn the truth about who her sister was and what really happened at the end of her life. These revelations are important because they give Abby a chance to find her own life outside of Tess's shadow, as well as a chance at happiness.

This was a very interesting book because it explored how much a girl can know and not know about her own sister. Sometimes we keep our biggest secrets from those people we love the most. Here, we see a younger sister assuming her older sister's life is perfect and never realizing just how in pain she really is. The relationship between the two girls, told entirely in flashbacks since Tess is in a coma, is very realistic and sad. The good thing is you will be very excited for Abby as the book goes on and she matures. Eli and his grandfather are such lovable supporting characters, they will make you love the book even if you struggle to relate to Abby and Tess.

The language is mild in this book, but there are a few references to intimacy here and there. They aren't graphic or even talked about in any detail, just casual references used to flesh out the plot. The story would be appropriate for any girl, middle school through high school, who is interested in relationships and family. The secret Tess is hiding, her attraction and relationships with women, is developed in an interesting way, showing her inability to admit it to herself as well as her family. This might be a good place to have conversations about who we are and why we are proud of that in many different aspects of our lives. In all, this was a pretty good book, and I would pass it on to a student I thought it would appeal to.

Confusing but Intriguing

This is a hard review to write, because I can honestly say I am not sure how I feel about this book. In fact, I am not entirely sure I know what happened in this book. I read it. I paid close attention. I even reread parts. I am still not completely sure I understood it all. Let's see if I can explain it semi-coherently... Imaginary Girls, by Nova Ren Suma...

Chloe is enthralled by her big sister, Ruby. In fact everyone is. "Enthralled" isn't even the word; bewitched might be more appropriate. She doesn't pay attention to any traffic signs or lights, but all other traffic just stops and lets her go. She shows up to work when she wants to, leaves when she's ready, and gives away stuff, but she never loses her job. At any given time, she has a legion of love sick boys following her around doing her bidding. Ruby is quite a force in their small upstate New York town by the NYC reservoir. But no one can quite explain why. Ruby practically raised Chloe since their mother spent most of her time in the local pub, but their relationship is more than that. It's indescribable.

One night everyone is at the reservoir swimming (illegally) and Ruby convinces Chloe to swim across. Chloe does, as she always does what Ruby says she can, but something goes wrong. The reservoir has covered a number of towns when it was flooded, and Ruby always says there are still people living down there, beneath the surface, in the water logged streets of Olive. When Chloe gets into the middle of the reservoir, she feels something strange, possibly she is tired, but miraculously a boat appears. She grabs the boat to catch her breath and realizes she isn't along- a classmate named London is inside the boat, dead. After the commotion of being dragged out of the water, speaking to the cops, and it being announced London had ODed, Chloe is dragged out of town to live with her father in Pennsylvania (Ruby has a different father). After two years, Ruby comes to get Chloe and convinces her to come back to NY.

When Chloe arrives, she can sense something strange about the town. First, London is alive, but not fully there. She isn't a ghost, but she seems strange, not to mention she should be dead. Ruby makes Chloe promise she won't leave the town, but Chloe starts to feel the need to do the opposite of what Ruby says. When Ruby tells her to stay away from Owen, Chloe wants him more. She gets in a car with London and a bunch of boys and heads out of town for a party. When they get further from town, everyone's opinion of Ruby goes from awestruck to scathing. Then, just as they cross the line, London disappears. In fact, as people get farther from Ruby, her influence seems to fade. Chloe even goes to the reservoir, which Ruby forbade her to do. Curious, she sticks her toe in the water, and she realizes something is wrong. It is then that Chloe truly begins to realize the oddness surrounding Ruby and her control over people and places. But one thing is for sure... Ruby would die for Chloe... or kill for her.

This strange novel is written in beautiful poetic language. The descriptions of Ruby seem like something out of a fantasy, but then again, they kind of are. They can get a little tedious at times, but that is supposed to be the point- in Ruby's presence, she is always the center of attention. I think this language will lose most young readers, though. In fact, it almost lost me. I got a little tired of reading about some mysterious thing that I had no idea what it was. I spent a few hundred pages wondering what the heck was going on, and only stuck with it because I had to know. Of course, by the time I got to the end, I still didn't really understand what had happened. I did, in a way, but I also didn't.

I can visualize the kind of kid this book would be good for- that very abstract student who enjoys fantasy but is a little romantic. This is quite a narrow group of students (I can think of one or two), so this might not be a book you invest in for a library. Or, you might want to because it is perfect for that very specific type of student. Unfortunately, I think it will lose most other students. I know it lost me on many occasions. The author is at Oblong in August, so I am interested to meet her and hear her talk about the book. Maybe that will clarify some things for me. But one thing is for sure- from the cover to the relationship between Ruby and Chloe, this is one seriously haunting book.

Bump this off the "To Read" pile

Let me premise this review with a little about my feelings toward mature information in young adult stories- I am not a teacher who feels censorship is right. I am not a person who stops students from reading mature books. I am not an adult who thinks young adults can't handle or will be swayed negatively by difficult topics. The only thing I require is that the mature situations are handled well, or in a way that will help the child see the moral of the scenario. I don't like when serious situations are trivialized or treated as a joke. Sadly, that is how I feel Megan McCafferty handled the terrifying notion of forced teenage pregnancy (mostly for profit) in Bumped.

Harmony and Melody were twins separated at birth. In a world where a virus has made most people infertile by age 18, children are being persuaded to have babies and sell them. Melody was adopted by a couple who instantly recognized the profit to be made by establishing a birthing contract for their daughter. They were pioneers in the "pregg for profit" business where girls score contracts with wealthy parents who desperately want babies. Harmony was adopted and raised by a cult-like religious group called Goodside who encourage marriages as young as 13 in order to produce as many "God-like" babies as possible before the fateful age when the virus kicks in.

Neither situation is perfect, but it is the product of a world where the virus dictates the population. When Harmony abandons Goodside and tracks down Melody, life becomes a little less clear for both sisters. Despite her groundbreaking contract with the Jaydens, Melody has never "bumped" (gotten pregnant) due to their hesitancy in locating the proper father of the baby. In school, she is starting to become irrelevant as girls get younger and younger with their first pregg and her friends work on their second and third deliveries. She desperately wants to bump, but the Jaydens have to pick a guy first. Harmony has come to Otherside to find her sister and bring her back to Goodside. What she isn't admitting to Melody or herself is that she is really running away from life at Goodside where she simply doesn't belong.

When Melody's agent, Lib, contacts her to tell her the Jaydens have scored the ultimate guy for her to bump with, Jondoe, he doesn't realize he is actually talking to Harmony. Harmony then meets with Jondoe and takes off with him, discovering there is more to this beautiful man than just an incredible fertility rate. When Melody finds out, she also begins to see the ugly side of babies for hire. Now she has to decide between her amazing contract and the nagging feeling that selling babies just isn't right. Harmony has to decide between a man she feels more connection to than her own husband and the life and morals she was raised with.

When I picked up this book, I was excited about the premise- it seemed really interesting. When I started reading, I spent the first 50 pages or so completely confused and bogged down by campy jargon that was completely unnecessary and made the book feel very cheesy (e.g. pregging, fertilicious, FunBumps, janky, reproaesthetic, maSEX, etc.). Then the book started to really bother me. At first I thought I was being silly about a book filled with teenage pregnancy when it is clearly trying to show the pitfalls of those pregnancies- not glorify them. I have never had a problem with teenage pregnancy in YA lit in the past, though, so that didn't make sense. Then I realized my problem- it was making a serious situation into a campy joke. The ridiculous jargon, absurd songs trying to get girls to bump and repopulate, and easy talk of drugs that are essentially roofies to "loosen girls up" made a mockery of a tale that could have been very serious and tactfully delivered. I am totally fine with fun, light stories using puns and silliness, but you can't have it both ways. You can't choose a super serious topic and "fun it up" with silly names and outfits.

I absolutely had a problem with the casual references to drugs to persuade girls to have sex. I was also horrified by the casual references to the masSEX parties that the cheerleaders attend where they literally have sex with tons of guys to ensure they all get pregnant together. These references would have been fine if they had been handled seriously, but they were trivialized. By the end of the story, the main characters started to make some revelations about society, but it was almost too little too late at that point. The damage was done. It was the equivalent of making a fun-spirited musical of the Holocaust- tactless.

So I can honestly say I was not impressed by this book. I am a teacher who has stuck up for books by Patricia McCormick, Julie Ann Peters, Sherman Alexie and others who talk about sex, teenage pregnancy, gay teens, bullying, suicide, eating disorders, masturbation, rape, etc. and I haven't seen anything wrong with those stories, because they handle their topics tactfully. This book was just silly. There is just too much out there in the YA world that is done BEAUTIFULLY to waste a student's time with a book like this one.

Extraordinary and Power-Filled Fun

AAhhhh... sisters. No one really understands the relationship between sisters unless they have them. I happen to have a younger sister who is also the middle child- talk about a therapists dream come true (just kidding!). When we were younger, we didn't hate each other, but we weren't the great friends we are today. Don't get me wrong, we still snipe, annoy, and nudge one another on a regular basis, but the sisterly bond is one no outsider or non-sister can understand. Now add newly realized "super" powers to sister rivalry and you have the fantastic and fun book The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June by Robin Benway.

April is the careful, driven oldest sister. May is the middle child who often gets lost in the flurry and sometimes feels forgotten. June is the impetuous youngest sister who just wants to be popular. When their parents get divorced, the girls move with their mother to a new school. As if that weren't traumatic enough, they begin to develop abilities that will test both their sisterly bonds and their futures.

April realizes she can see the future. She can't command the visions to appear, but when she is around a place or person involved in the future event, she can get snippits. May develops the ability to disappear. Not literally, of course, but she becomes invisible and no one can see her (a typical middle sister power). She can't control when it happens, and often finds herself in precarious situations. June learns she can read people's minds- even her sisters' minds. She chooses to use her power as a way to gain popularity and be part of the cool clique.

When the girls realize what is happening to them, April tells them they can't use their powers for self-serving purposes, but June refuses to follow April's orders. When April starts to see a future where a horrible accident occurs and Julian, a cute boy from school, and June are somehow involved, she decides to get proactive. In order to protect her sister, she starts spending time with Julian in order to keep him away from her little sister. Meanwhile, May is in the middle of her own personal crisis as a school mandated history tutor, Henry, challenges both her intentions and her (sometimes) self-imposed invisibility. At first May refuses to deal with Henry, but his persistence and odd charm cause some exciting moments as she gets flustered and her body parts (usually feet first) start to disappear. When June refuses to listen to April, her older sisters do everything they can to make sure she doesn't get hurt by using both their super powers and their sisterly powers.

The story is told from first-person perspective from all three girls. The chapters rotate between the three girls, giving the reader a glimpse of how all three are dealing with their new lifestyles. At first, this can get a little confusing, but the reader quickly gets used to April's controlling and concerned tone, may's snarkiness, and June's flakiness. Eventually, you can figure out which sister is talking without even reading the chapter headings. At first I thought the personalities of the three sisters were a little cliche and hokey, but it seems to work. The story is very interesting, and Benway doesn't disappoint with a formulaic story. There is enough surprise within the plot to keep the reader interested.

There is some adult language throughout the story, but it isn't overwhelming or distracting. The story itself is a lot of fun and appropriate for mature middle school students through high school. It would appeal primarily to girls, especially sisters, but you might find the occasional male student who enjoys this story. This was the first book of Benway's I have read, and I liked it enough to buy her previous book, Audrey, Wait! I will let you know how that one turns out!

Heartbreaking and Heartwarming in the Same Breath

"Gram is worried about me. It's not just because my sister Bailey died four weeks ago, or because my mother hasn't contacted me in sixteen years, or even because suddenly all I think about is sex. She is worried about me because one of her houseplants has spots. Gram has believed for most of my seventeen years that this particular houseplant, which is of the nondescript variety, reflects my emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being. I've grown to believe it too... This is us since my sister Bailey collapsed one month ago from a fatal arrhythmia while in rehearsal for a local production of Romeo and Juliet. It's as if someone vacuumed up the horizon while we were looking the other way."

That was just the first three pages. My. Heart. Broke. With. Every. Page. This book (I am not afraid to admit) had me sobbing and laughing in rotating intervals all night. I simply could not put it down without finding out what happens next. I even called my sister at 1am to tell her I loved her- this phone call was not exactly met with the warmth and gratefulness I had expected (mostly just a groggy "you are so weird"), but as you can see, this book clocked me in the solar plexus.

Seventeen year old Lennie is an interesting character. She is a clarinet player in the band, has never had a boyfriend, and loves to read emotional classics like Wuthering Heights. In fact, her family is famous in the neighborhood for "road reading"- walking down the road so engrossed in a book they have no idea if they are about to be plowed down in traffic. Despite her quirkiness, Lennie has still always been her sister's shadow, her companion pony to her sister's racehorse. When her sister Bailey dies suddenly, Lennie can't seem to get her life together. It was bad enough her mother left them to live with their grandmother when Lennie was one, but now Bailey has abandoned her too.

Lennie is struggling to stay afloat. When Bailey's boyfriend starts spending time with her and even making out with her, Lennie feels drawn to him. She knows it is wrong and her heart breaks for betraying Bailey every time they get together, but she still can't stop seeing him. Toby is the closest she can get to Bailey. When a new boy moves into town with his musical family and 100 watt smile, Lennie starts to feel about him the way Bailey felt about Toby. Now she has herself caught between the worst betrayal ever and a boy who just likes her for who she is, broken pieces and all.

This book is about a young girl who cannot cope with the loss of her best friend, sister, and confidante. I have to say the grief is so real, I found myself sobbing and couldn't figure out if I was tired, overemotional, or the book was really that good. After finishing, I think the book was really that good. The descriptions of Lennie's shock, how she goes through the motions, loses it when she sees Bailey in the coffin, refuses to pack up Bailey's half of the room, and talks to her sister are so real, I felt like I was grieving with her every step of the way. When the new boy comes into town, Lennie can't believe she deserves such attention at first, and then feels guilty about every happy thought. It feels too soon for Lennie to smile.

This book is obviously geared more toward girls. It is an emotional story, but it is so well written, it would touch the heart of any reader. There is a light amount of sexual activity- mostly making out, but it might make the story inappropriate for younger readers. I think this is a great 10-12 grade book with strong feelings, a wonderful story, and amazing characters. It might be too much for any student who has recently suffered a loss, though, so recommendations should be made with careful consideration. This is a beautiful story, and I plan to call my sister this morning at a more reasonable time and tell her again how much I love her!