Ever is the only survivor of the car crash that killed the rest of her family. She moves to California to live with her aunt, but brings along something special – the ability to hear other people’s thoughts. Trying to survive high school in a hoodie and her ipod, she meets someone who is blissfully silent. Damen is handsome, clever, and hiding something. The first in a series of books, great for fans of Meyer.

The last of the Mortal Instrument series, this book picks up with Clary’s mother in a coma and her forced entry into the City of Glass. With a war about to break out amongst the magical groups, it is up to her and her friends to avert disaster and bring together all the warring factions (faeries, vampires, and wolves) to save their ways of life. A satisfying conclusion to a great series, which is going to be picked up with a prequel trilogy, and a future trilogy featuring a major character of this series. Looking forward to reading more of her work.

When Clay receives a package of cassette tapes in the mail, he never expects to hear Hannah Baker’s voice…because she’s dead. One of thirteen people who she says are responsible for her decision to end her life, he must follow her story to various places in town, and comes to understand how small decisions have large repercussions. Well written and handles the topic of teen suicide appropriately, it is a compelling read.

The third in the series with Enna Burning and Goose Girl. This time they travel to the kingdom they were at war with that Enna burned up to make peace, but well there are more fire starters and Enna is being blamed. The power of water speaking comes to play and well, you have to read all three.

The sequel to Goose Girl, a friend of now queen Isi learns the power to speak fire and during war she uses her power to destroy the enemy, and nearly burns herself up in the process. It’s creepy, but very good.

A retelling of the Fairy Tale “the Goose Girl” which I didn’t remember that I knew until I read this book. “If your mother only knew her heart would surly break in two” Anyone? Anyone?

Yeah, anyway, Shannon Hale adds a dimension of speaking powers. People speaking people can persuade others easily, while Isi, the princess and heroine can speak to geese and the wind. I know it sounds weird but this is a great book, and the sequels are equally enthralling.

This was the best book I have read in ages. Katsa, born with one blue eye and one green, was marked to have a Grace, a special ability. Which turns out to be a Grace of killing and fighting. But Katsa sees the evil around her and wants to help, not hurt others.

Vibes is the story of a troubled young woman. Kristi’s father has left her, her mother has buried herself in her work, and she thinks that Gusty (her crush) not only doesn’t like her but thinks her crazy. On top of that, she believes that she can hear the thoughts of others, and none of it is good. She cloaks herself in a hard shell of opera music and clothes made from found materials (an awning skirt, anyone?) and pushes herself even further off the school-cool radar. Bitingly witty, this is a quick read about what happens to a girl who doesn’t want to be normal.

City of Ashes continues the story of Clary and her newfound family; wishing her family would be ‘normal’ again won’t make it happen. Her mother is in a magically-induced coma, her best friend Simon wants romance, and her new-found father (Valentine) is hunting Downworlders. When the Soul-Sword is stolen, the Inquisitor arrives to investigate and places the blame on Jace. Clary must work to prove his innocence and stop the murder of Downworlder children. The series is set in New York City, but she doesn’t rely on location to further the story. The second in the trilogy is just as well-written and past paced as City of Bones; Clare does a great job of giving all characters (even minor ones) great depth and the writing is sharp.

City of Bones starts out an AMAZING trilogy with well rounded characters, smart dialogue, and solid action. Clary Fray and her best friend Simon wander into Pandemonium, only to catch a group of teens in the act of killing a ‘person;’ the ‘person’ is no person and she is drawn into the world of Downworlders and Shadowhunters. Clary discovers that the life she thought she had only hid her mother’s dark past and her own special abilities. This book has fantastic banter and a solid plot. What I thought was truly refreshing was the character relationships, particularly the interplay between Clary, Simon, and her love interest Jace. Worth reading.

This book was AMAZING! Set in the future, the United States has been split into the Capitol and 13 Districts. The Capitol is successful while the districts are poor and pay for the entertainments of the Capitol. Each year, the districts each select a boy and a girl to go to fight in the Hunger Games; this is a fight to the death, aired live on television. They are provided with nothing, and the better the ‘show’ (the flashier the murders, the more drama while the children try to create alliances) the more money raised by Capitol sponsors. And there can only be one winner in the Hunger Games. It raises some great questions about survival, class status, and what is done for the sake of entertainment.

Zoey is left without friends and her boyfriends when she loses their trust. Her teachers have turned against her, and she has to regain her friends’ faith. This book sets up the battle between the good and the bad of the vampyre world. Also the most recent title released in the series.

Zoey must deal with a good friend’s return as the undead and questions about humanity, all while attending classes. One of her sworn enemies becomes the only person she can trust in the third book in the House of Night series. Again, great read with sharp banter and pop culture references. Great suggestion for readers interested in the vampyre or fantasy genres.

Zoey is starting to settle into House of Night (even though she is unique even in the vampyre world). She has become the head of the Dark Daughters, but all is not well; humans are being killed and the deaths placed on the House. While she fights to protect all those she loves, a betrayal might threaten everything she has worked to achieve. This book is dark, but there is humour. Zoey’s friends are well fleshed out personalities with odd quirks, and the authors play this up well, as well as Zoey’s attempts to date.

This story is based in a world aware of vampyres, but not one in which they are accepted. Zoey Redbird becomes ‘marked,’ and moves into the House of Night. There they teach those blessed with this gift how to control it; but this does not mean that all of those marked will survive the change. Zoey is given a special gift by the goddess and she must begin to learn how to use her gift while navigating the treacherous waters of (essentially) high school. Marked is the first book in a series by the Casts, a mother/daughter writing team. Great dialogue, sharp characters, and a solid plot make this an entertaining read for those interested in the vampire/fantasy genre.

I think that the second book in Marr’s series is even better than the first. Leslie is a troubled teen that has a difficult and abusive home life. To express herself and deal with her pain, she decides to get a tattoo. The tattoo design she chooses brings her into the realm of fairies (and not the pretty and happy kind). This is the latest book released in the series, although book three is currently in Advanced Readers Copy. Can’t wait.

Carolyn’s review made me realize I couldn’t find the review I (thought) had posted. This is one of my favorite young adult ‘series’ (second to Twilight). Marr has created a world of books loosely tied together by characters but they do not have to be read in order. Wicked Lovely is the 1st, and she has created a wonderful, magical world full of flawed characters and bad guys. The plot revolves around Aislinn; she can see fairies because of a magical gift she would give anything to not have. What I love so much about these characters is that none of them are traditional; the main love interest has piercings and there are tattoos. I love that Marr steps outside of the box, and this book is a fantastic suggestion for both young adults and adults.

The title of this book made me think that it was going to be fluffy and rather pink. But in reality it’s the story of hard working girls from a quarry village high in the mountains becoming educated while standing up for their home and way of life. This is one of those books that was far more meaty and poignant that I imagined it could be. The Newbery Honor most deserved.

This is a pleasant companion to Ella Enchanted. Taking place in the same world in the country of Ayortha where singing is the country’s pastime. A girl with a great voice and a talent for throwing that voice, but not looks ends up as the shallow queen’s lady in waiting.

I really didn’t like this one. I have read a lot of Levine, but here she is stretching. This is the story of a god who falls in love with a mortal who is to be sacrificed to another god because her father is dumb. It wasn’t that good.

This story was a really interesting one about faeries in modern times. I mean the sneaky, tricky, don’t want to get mixed up with faeries kind. The Summer King needs a queen, and she’s not interested.

It was a nice take on fantasy, a very modern faerie tale.

This was a better read than I thought it would be. The human characters are quite well written. It was the perfection of the vampires that made it so annoying. They have no weaknesses, or flaws. It made me want to punch the main one Edward in the face. I will however be reading the sequels and there were parts that were quite funny. The plot was on the slow side, but I actually liked this. It brought out the thirteen year old girl in me.

This was a fantastic (and quick) read that I did awhile back, before the movie hit the theatres. This is the story of Nick (a young boy stuck on his ex) and Norah (a girl who spends her life shepherding her drunken best friend from various NYC hot spots). Norah borrows Nick for a kiss and when he realizes Norah is connected to his ex, they join together for a madcap dash around NYC to find their favorite band. Full of fun band references, it is told from both Nick and Norah’s perspectives. A great read for young adults as well as adults.

The conclusion of the Abhorsen trilogy. I really enjoyed these. They are fun reads not too heavy, but with enough meat to make them stick.

I read Sabriel, the first book in this trilogy back over the summer, and it took until September that I was finally able to read the next 2.

Lirael does a nice job making the world in this series understandable, which was my big complaint with Sabriel. It’s a really enjoyable series.

Dessen’s writing (as always) is superb; she has an amazing grasp of how to give the characters just enough teenage angst without it feeling overly whiny or completely unrealistic. The main character has been living by herself, hoping to get by until she turns eighteen and can legally be on her own. However she is discovered and forced to live with her older sister Cora (who left her 10 years ago) and her new husband Jamie in a wealthy neighborhood completely unlike anything she has ever known. She must work through her bitterness at her sister’s entrance into her life and her mother’s disappearance. She must also find a place for herself in a community that forces her to become a stronger person-both intellectually and emotionally. What is great about this book is that although a young adult novel, this has a strong adult presence-which makes it a great choice for older readers as well.

Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington to live with her dad and leave her mother free to travel with her new husband. Only, things aren’t as simple as she expected them to be. She meets Edward Cullen, whose family is as unique as he is…vampires. While a ‘young adult’ novel, this could be enjoyed by adults as well. While I love the entire series, I admit it is flawed-particularly Bella’s sometimes immature narrative. But a great read.

This is the third from Blue Balliett, which I didn’t know existed until I went to Hyde Park in Chicago and saw the house that was featured in Wright 3. There in the Frank Lloyd Wright house I saw both this book and pentominoes. I was very excited to get both. It was also really cool being in a place featured in a book. So even though I didn’t really like the Wright 3 as much, I was willing to give this author another go.

She didn’t disappoint. This book is much better than Wright 3. This time there isn’t so much whining and stupid fights. Tommy and Petra are flown to England to help rescue their friend Calder, who goes missing the same night that a sculpture by the artist named Calder. This time instead of the kids being on their own, they get grownup support and trust. Finally.

I love how art and mystery are combined in these books. Now I want to learn more about the mobiles and sculptures of Calder, not to mention I have been working with my own set of pentominoes.

I am working on reading the books before I see the movies. I don’t know how wise that is, since I always prefer the book, and would probably like movies better if I read the book after, but oh well here I am.

I really enjoyed Inkheart. The love that this family has for books is something I really relate too. How often have I struggled to escape the labyrinth of the written word? If you love books you will love this book.

This is the third in a series I began more than a year ago, and since I didn’t reread the previous ones before this one I forgot most of what happened. Thankfully this isn’t the most complicated of plots.

I still don’t like how painfully short the chapters are, it makes the whole novel very disjointed and annoying. Someone obviously told this author that it was an effective means to create suspense and encourage the reader to keep turning pages, and he never bothered to learn any other strategies for accomplishing the same thing.

All in all, it was a fun read, and that’s about it.

I’ve been wanting to read this book for ages. The premise is so neat, you find a book that tells you how to be a wizard, cool, right? Well I found this book to be rather disappointing and confusing. The wizardry made no sense and was poorly explained. The only redeeming feature was Fred a white hole who has left his mass elsewhere.

The sequel to Chasing Vermeer that I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to read. So, I went to the library got the audio book (the print version being out) and listened to it yesterday. This one was a little annoying. A new character, Tommy, was so busy feeling sorry for himself and mad at his friend Calder for making another friend, it was tedious. That took too long to be resolved so the plot could progress.

This installment of the problem solving, coincidence seeking and otherwise art saving kids involves the saving of a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Hyde Park. Reading these has defiantly made me want to take a trip to Hyde Park when I’m in Chicago in a week.

Another thing that bothered me, here are these kids who first save a painting by Vermeer and then a house by Frank Lloyd Wright, yet no one seems to mention that these kids do this in less than a year. It is as though the painting was forgotten. That didn’t make much sense to me. But I still want to play with a set of pentominoes.

I don’t like mysteries. Although if more were like this one I would love them. This was the most intelligent, funny, cute and random book I have read in ages. The idea of experimental schools, coincidences being crucial and of course pentominoes are well done. The puzzles, codes and other creative thinking by the characters is so much fun. Not to mention the use of art. I can’t wait to read the sequel, Wright 3, which I am getting out of the library today.

Oh and it was illustrated by the same guy as The Series of Unfortunate Events.

This was the first book by a bestselling author to be first published in an audio form. It also happened to be the next in a series that I have been reading. Of all the books in the Circle of Magic series this is the most disappointing and frustrating. The whole first half of the novel includes petty bickering which gets the plot nowhere, does not flush out new characters and just basically made me want to pull my hair out. After that it was OK, but slow and monotonous, when a pending volcano eruption should have been exciting.

I happen to be a big fan of Ursula K LeGuin, but she tends to have a depressing side that I was worried about with this novel. Instead I was given a coming of age story in a land where people have strange gifts. This story is about protecting those you love, voluntary blindness and using gifts only for good.

I had no idea what to expect when I picked this up but the cover looked cool and I wanted something new to read. It turned out to be about a good necromancer in a world with some alternate reality problems and questionable religion. While not great literature by any stretch of the imagination, this was a fun read and I do want to know more about this world.

This story (while for young adults) reminds me of The Wonder Years in a book form. The year is 1967, and Holling Hoodhood is the only boy who does not attend either Catholic or Jewish classes on Wednesdays. He swears his teacher hates him (he’s too young to understand ‘free time’) and once he runs out of chores, she begins to make him read Shakespeare. An easy read, but enjoyable.

Gemma Doyle is shipped to England after her mother commits suicide and her father is no longer capable of acting as a proper guardian. Her grandmother puts her into boarding school at Spence Academy, where she fights to build friendships with already made cliques. At the same time, she has begun to have visions, and things are happening that she has no explanation for. The big negative for this book is that there is a magical world where her and her “order” ventures, but all of the magical aspects of the novel are not detailed enough to make it understandable. This is part of a young adult series.

“So, there I was, tied to an altar made from outdated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil Librarians.” That’s how Alcatraz Smedry’s account of his adventures begins and it’s a wild ride. Alcatraz discovers our world is controlled by Evil Librarians who have subverted all information. There are THREE more continents on this planet, but they’re hidden by the Librarians who are trying to subject them to their evil rule. Why don’t we know about these three free continents? The Librarians control all the mapping satellites!

ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS isn’t going to challenge Harry Potter. Just consider it training wheels for future readers of Philip K. Dick.

This narrative is told through chronological poems from 15 year old Billie Joe, who survived the Depression in Oklahoma only to face the Dust Bowl. These poems are well written stories in their own right, but are put together so that the reader can follow easily. These poems are about hope even when nothing about their lives gives them something to hope for. Well done, and a quick read

Sammie’s parents decide to give their marriage a “break” – her father moves to California and she and her mom move out of their home in Ithaca to spend the year in New York City. This is a pretty formulaic coming of age story, with not much to make it stand out. She is bitter since she is closest to her father, and her mom hides in her room,unwilling to find a job as an art teacher and incapable of being an adult and parent. While often with young adult books an older reader may question how much is the narrator’s view of being neglected, this is clearly a disturbed woman unwilling to drag herself out of bed or take care of her child. So in this sense, the narrator is very accurate with less teenage family angst. Not a book I would recommend unless you are really interested in this specific type of fiction.

Berry’s sister Laura is brutally murdered while doing volunteer work in South Africa. Her father forces her to go with him to present money to the community, as well as join him for a few business meetings. Her parents’ marriage ended bitterly, and her father is far from being a good parent (at least in her eyes). He sees her as lacking ambition and motivation, without seeing her vulnerability. Short read; adults reading this will feel a disconnect since her extreme emotional volatility will be difficult to grasp or relate to.

This story revolves around teenage parenting. Bobby’s girlfriend becomes pregnant, and the decision is made that he will keep the baby. The story is told through chapters called “then” and “now” which switch every chapter. This makes an already short story go quickly. It is a very interesting perspective – what it’s like for a boy who isn’t ready to be a father but chooses to take responsibility anyways. The ending is surprising, in that I wasn’t expecting how Bobby and Nia’s relationship ends. A short read – well done, but far from a favorite.

Megan Meade is an army brat, and when her parents have to move to South Korea she decides she isn’t going. As a compromise, her parents move to South Korea and she moves to Boston and in with the McGowans – and their seven sons. This story revolves around a girl who’s never had siblings and is awkward with boys, and the story is told through her narration and emails to a friend about “facts” about boys. While it is formulaic, it was a fantastic read – the author has a way of making the reader cringe at the boy’s pranks, high school cliques and parties.

A read for my YA Literature course, I thought this book could have handled so many of the issues it deals with with much more grace and subtlety. Jacob Todd goes to Amsterdam in place of his grandmother Sarah as a remembrance trip for his grandfather, who passed away there during the Second World War. It is told by him and Gertruui, a woman who knew his grandfather during his time there. The plot is obvious-while YA books can sometimes lack depth that more mature novels provide, this should be something better developed-particularly when handling questions of gender and sexuality. I felt that this book could have had a better ending and allowed more character development. Definitely not a book I would recommend.

This was my selection for “realistic fiction” in this semesters’ Young Adult Literature class- and surprisingly I loved it! 15 year old Ginny’s best friend goes to Walla Walla for the year, and Ginny doesn’t know what to do. A “chubby” girl who everyone remarks how pretty she would be “if only she could lose twenty pounds,” she feels adrift in a family of “perfect” people. Only she finds out her perfect brother Byron is not so perfect after all. A well written story about self esteem, high school drama, and rape-this is fantastic coming of age story. Ginny comes to realize how important it is to find yourself and be happy about who you are instead of allowing someone else to dictate who you should be.