Let It Snow (and my first post of 2011 and since having a baby!!!)

So, like the title of this post says - I finally finished a book!  I'm impressed that I got it done.  I had my little girl at the end of December, and needless to say, it's been a little different and busy at my house!  I won't be reading quite at the pace I was, I'm sure, but I will still be reading every chance I  get!

So I started Let It Snow (by YA powerhouses John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle) before Christmas, and then life changed!  I picked up the book after all the baby stuff, and have slowly but surely made it through.

The first thing I want to say about this book is that is awesome!  These three separate-yet-connected romances were a hoot - for  guys and girls.  Each one was fun and full of snow.  What made this book even cooler for me (and will make it cool for my students) is that it is set where I live!  The setting of the book, Gracetown, is near Asheville, NC.  Even better was that while I read - the ground here was pretty much covered in snow as we've had two big snow storms so far this winter!


Jubilee Express is about a girl whose parents get arrested on Christmas Eve for getting in a "riot" as they tried to buy the newest piece of there Christmas Village at the store.  Sent to her grandparents' on a train, Jubliee isn't too happy, but it gets worse when the train she's on gets stuck and isn't going anywhere!  This snag in the trip leads her to Waffle House which is ok until a bunch of also stranded cheerleaders show up, which then leads Jubilee away with a kid named Stuart (because who could stay in a Waffle House with a bunch of hyper-active, loud cheerleaders on Christmas Eve...).

The second story (which was my favorite....I'm a bit of a John Green fan!....ok a HUGE fan!) is more for the guys.  It follows Tobin, JP, and the Duke (a girl named Angie) on their epic journey to actually get to the Waffle House full of cheerleaders.  Really funny.

The last story was great as well and really brought all three stories  together.

This was just an all around fun read for the holidays.  I had been meaning to read this since it came out but never got around to it.  I highly recommend this read while it's still cold outside.

Jane

Jane by April Lindner

I saw the cover of this book and just couldn't resist picking it up.  When I saw that it was a "modern" Jane Eyre - I had to have it.  Gladly I can say that this book lived up to my expectations.  I love the original story and was interested to see what this one was about.  The author talks about "translating" some of the issues into modern contexts in the Author's Note in the back.  I thought she did a great job.

This book tells the story of a young woman named Jane Moore whose parents die in an accident while she is in her freshman year at Sarah Lawrence college.  She is a smart girl, though plain, and while she does have two siblings, they are horrible to her, and being away from them is not real loss.  In fact, Jane is glad not to have to see them.  Unable to pay for college once her parents die (the stocks they left her were worthless...though her sister seemed to be doing ok and got some money out of the deaths), Jane gets trained to be a nanny and seeks her first job.  She hopes to work and save money to eventually one day go back to school.

While applying and interviewing, she knows she is different from the other girls.  They are all perky and cutely dressed while Jane is plain and dressed in a mature looking suit from Goodwill.  This might have worked against her except that the agency needed a special person to fill a special nanny position.  Jane cares nothing for tabloids and celebrities so the agency sends her to be a nanny for the rock star Nico Rathburn.  Known for being a crazy party-hard star w/ many marriages under his belt and a history of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Nico is sort of on a come-back tour right now.  He's gruff and strange, but eventually Jane sees other sides of his personality.  Add in the adorable Maddy, Nico's daughter, and a houseful of band mates, photographers, and housekeepers, and you have a wonderful backdrop for this modern retelling of a classic.

I loved Jane, and I loved Nico.  I felt that they were real characters, and I enjoyed every moment they were together.  Of course, knowing Jane Eyre made me anticipate their meetings even more.  I was wondering all the time when they would have a nice afternoon together and when Nico would go back to his abrasive self and be mean.  The love story was fun, and I really think that Lindner did a fabulous job.  Readers can like this book even if they haven't read the original, but hopefully this story will lead them to read the real book to see what it's all about. 

Empty

I loved Susan Beth Pfeffer's Moon books and was on the lookout for more of that type - survival in the "new" world when things have gone wrong.  I came across Empty by Suzanne Weyn.  Empty tells the story of three kids in a small town and how they deal with life once the United States basically runs out of gasoline.  It alternates chapters that focus on the three characters:  Tom, Nikki, and Gwen.  Each kid is very different but they all end up in the same boat when the problems start getting bad.

Here's what I did like about the book:  it makes you think.  We are so very dependent on all kinds of products that involve oil.  The book does a good job of showing readers just how much would be affected by running out of oil and by continuing to make the choices that we are making in regards to oil use.

But I just didn't really care about these characters.  I felt like they were just there to say stuff about what kinds of choices we should have made to not be in this no-gas situation.  They were flat for me.  Plus, the book was just overly didactic, which I just didn't love.  I felt that w/ the moon books (Life As We Knew It, the dead and the gone, and This World We Live In), you learned about the consequences but you cared about the characters, too.  This book just seemed a little to overt in its message to make me care about it as a good work of fiction.  Also, some things were just "oh so perfect" for the people in this little town.  For example:

"Guess who we met on the way over here--Mr. Curtin!" Tom said.  "And listen to this:  His wife is an environmental engineer, and as soon as we have power again, she's going to start giving workshops to people in Sage Valley on alternative fuels and all sorts of stuff like solar and wind power.  She's written up a grant to try to make the town a model of energy self-sufficiency.  Is that cool, or what?" (p. 155)

See - it's just too perfect.  While the book will definitely make you think about what might happen if we really were to run out of oil - maybe the pessimist in me (and I'm usually not like this) thinks that the "happy-ish" ending just is too perfect.  I preferred the way the moon books ended or The Road's ending - if it's the end of the world - let's face it - it's probably not going to be that pretty.

Anna and the French Kiss

So  this book is really special to me because the author, Stephanie Perkins, is from my town!!  She's a local writer and we are so proud of this book.  Gayle Forman recommended this book on NPR as one of the best young adult reads of the year - check her list out here.  I couldn't agree more - this was a fun, french, flirty, fabulous read.

Anna is a senior in high school, but her senior year isn't going to be like she thought because her father really famous writer who...

"writes novels set in Small Town Georgia about folks with Good American Values who Fall in Love and then contract Life Threatening Diseases Die." (p. 5)

decides to send Anna to American boarding school in Paris for her senior year.  Don't get it wrong - Paris for a year is an amazing opportunity - but Anna is a bit bummed about leaving her best friend, her job, and the cute boy at her job for a country she knows nothing about - I mean, she took Spanish in high school; she doesn't even know a word of French.

But once she's at school, she makes friends, settles in, and meets the gorgeous Etienne St. Clair.  He's, simply put, just perfect - except that he has a girlfriend.  Anna and St. Clair become friends, have these special moments where she thinks it could be more, and then...it seems to slip away.  But they seem to have this wonderful connection.  One of my favorite passages is about when the gang is all out at the movies.  Anna is sitting next to St. Clair.  She loves movies, but her proximity to this beautiful boy is making it hard to concentrate on the film:

"The characters on the screen are squabbling, but for the life of me, I don't know what about.   How long have I not been paying attention?

St. Clair coughs and shifts again.  His leg brushes against mine.  It stays there.  I'm paralyzed.  I should movie it; it feels too unnatural.  How can he not notice his leg is touching my leg?  From the corner of my eye, I see the profile of his chin and nose, and--oh, dear God--the curve of his lips.

There.  He glanced at me.  I know he did.

I bore my eyes into the screen, trying my best to prove that I am Really Interested in this movie.  St. Clair stiffens but doesn't move his leg.  Is he holding his breath?  I think he is.  I'm holding mine.  I exhale and cringe--it's so loud and unnatural.

Again.  Another glance.  This time I turn, automatically, just as he's  turning away. It's a dance, and now there's a feeling in the air like one of us should say something.  Focus, Anna.  Focus.  "Do you like it?" I whisper.

He pauses.  "The film?"

I'm thankful the shadows hide my blush.

"I like it very much," he says.

I risk a glance, and St. Clair stares back.  Deeply.  He has not looked at me like this before.  I turn away first, then feel him turn a few beats later.

I know he is smiling, and my heart races."

How awesome is that? I mean, I don't really know what to say except I really loved the book.  I loved all the characters.  Yes, it takes place in France, but it's just good kids and a good story.  And the romantic city is a fun get away setting for the reader.  I enjoyed my time in Paris as a read this book.  I usually enjoy boarding school books, too.  It's just fun to read a book and have the fun freedom that the boarding school kids experience.  Anna was just a great girl.  She knows what she wants.  She's got goals and ambitions, but she's just a regular girl, too, hoping for her wishes to come true.  She's in the right city for that!   I recommend it and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams

I had just finished a bunch of girl books, so I knew I needed to read something different.  I had been wanting to read this book forever - and finally got it in paperback.  It was awesome.  I really think my students will like it.

Reality check is a suspenseful mystery about a missing girl.  Cody Laredo is a high school kid who is awesome at football but not as awesome in school, though he does pass his classes.  As summer approaches, he is excited to spend time with his super-smart, super-beautiful, and super-rich girlfriend, Clea Weston.  Clea lives in the biggest house in town.  She's taking calculus as a sophomore and her dad has big plans for her future. Needless to say, her dad isn't thrilled that she's dating Cody - an underachiever in his eyes.

Clea loves Cody though, but their summer plans are shot when Clea's dad sends her to spend the summer with her uncle in Hong Kong.   They keep in touch and all seems well when Clea returns until she drops even more news on Cody - her dad is sending her away to a boarding school in Vermont.  Cody decides to break up with her - not really because he wants to, but because he knows there's just no way a guy like him can keep her from that far away.

He is torn up one day, though, when he sees in the local paper that Clea has gone missing from her Vermont school.  After receiving a letter from Clea - his only clue and hope to try to find her - he sets off to try to do something about it.  From this point, Cody finds out more than he ever thought he would about the small town in which Clea has been living.  Cody might not be in school, but he's smart and he uses his wits to try to figure out where his girlfriend is.  The only question is - will he be too late?

This book was really fun to read.  Once I started it, I really wanted to keep on going.  Each chapter brought new information to light in the investigation, and I really liked reading the book from Cody's point of view.  He has no reason to trust anyone, just like the reader, so I felt like we were right there together trying to piece together the mystery.  Abrahams did a good job of planting seeds of suspicion.  Just like Clea said in her letter, it's hard to know who to trust.  The mystery keeps building until the final chapter, so that will keep readers interested and guessing.  There is some cursing in the book which I don't think will bother most readers - but just have to let you know.  Overall a good, fast-paced read. 

Forgive My Fins

I am a total fan of Tera Lynn Childs.  I didn't get into Forgive My Fins quite as fast as the Goddess books, but once I had some time to sit and read - this book was just too much fun.

That is what I love about Childs - her books are just plain fun.  Fun characters and fun mythical situations - it doesn't get better.  In this book (and series) Lily Sanderson is a high school student but also a mermaid.  No one else knows her secret.  She's patiently counting the days until she can ask out her long time love and crush, Brody.  Once she and Brody go out, they can of course fall in love and he can become her mermate and all will be well in her world.

But of course things don't go as planned - they never do, do they?  Her annoying (though good-looking) neighbor, Quince Fletcher, gets in the way.  He's always bothering Lily and getting the way.  He ends up taking a bit of an interest in her situation with Brody, though...which is weird.  His plan to get Lily and Brody some time together doesn't really work out as planned and from this point on in the book - the adventures begin - at high school and in the ocean kingdom of Thalassinia.

I enjoyed this book a lot.  I was just as annoyed with Lily sometimes as she was with Quince.  She is a stubborn character who, like Quince says, doesn't always "see" things the way she should.  A great read.  If you like Childs' other books, you'll definitely like this one. 

Shiver

 I finally finished Shiver.  I've had it for a while and just got around to reading it this week. 

Shiver is about a girl named Grace who is in high school.  What makes Grace special, though, is that she had a "run in" with some wolves when she was eleven years old.  The scars are still there, and she never forgot it.  Neither did one particular wolf.  Grace has seen "her wolf" each winter and she is sad each summer when he is gone.

What Grace discovers now is that her wolf is actually a boy - a cute, loving, caring, artistic boy named Sam.  He's watched and been in love with her since the day he first saw her all those years ago and once they meet - theirs is definitely love at first sight.  But how do you go out with a werewolf?  What will happen?  Is Grace safe with him around.  How long do they have together until Sam changes? 

While the love story is amazing - the drama in the background is growing.  Jack Culpepper was a student at Grace's school and was murdered by the wolves.  Many mysteries surround Jack's death and the other wolves complicate things for Grace and Sam. 

The book was good.  It didn't knock my socks off, but I enjoyed it and I think I will like to read the next installment to see what happens with the characters.  I liked the ending - it wrapped up wonderfully but still left you with questions at the same time.  The love between Grace and Sam is so sweet, and Sam is a guy that I can see girls wanting to fall for badly.  I liked the two points of view given by the author.  A good read.  I think girls who liked the Twilight saga will like this series, too.

Goddess Boot Camp

Beach Read #3 -  I loved Oh. My. Gods. so much when I read it recently, so I was pumped to see that the sequel had come out in paper back.  It was great.  Both of these books are quick, fast, and enjoyable reads.  I raced through them and had so much fun.

Phoebe just found out in the last book that she is a descendant of Nike and has actual powers.  The problem - she can't control them.  Most kids at her special school for descendants of the gods learn about their powers and how to control them at a very young age...and Phoebe is way behind.  She's making it snow inside her house, calling up massive amounts of pastries when she's hungry and causing problems for everyone because she can't get her powers under control.

The answer to this problem is Goddess Boot Camp which Phoebe's stepfather signs her up for.  While she's got other stuff on her mind (like spending time with boyfriend Griffin Blake and training with him for the marathon in the Pythian games) she knows she's got to get help or else.  Unfortunately...she knows she won't enjoy this camp so much when she shows up and sees that she's with all ten year olds. To make matters worse, the camp is run by her stepsister, Stella, and her boyfriends ex - Adara.  Great!  Phoebe trains, hangs out with friends, deals with love and issues from her past, solves a little mystery and tries to get ready for the test that the gods have set for her.

I loved the first book in this series, and the second one was just as good.  The characters were developed even more.  It's just such a fun concept...a fun super hero tale from a different point of view.  I hope that we get to see more adventures of Phoebe and her crew.  I definitely plan to check out Childs' new series about a mermaid girl princess called Forgive My Fins.  So fun...a lighter, girlier Percy Jackson. 

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Dude!   This book was crazy!  I'd read a few others blogs about it and checked it out.

So Violet Ambrose is a teenager like any other.  She's been best friends with Jay forever.  He's always been there, but it's different this year.  He's "grown up" and basically gotten hotter over this last summer.  While it was usually just the two of them, but now all the girls who never noticed Jay before are following him around like little puppies.  Violet is a bit bothered by this but unsure of why.

Violet is different, though, in that she can find dead bodies.  She feels or senses tastes, smells, sounds that lead her to dead bodies.  It's only really happened with a body once, but she does find animals that have been killed.  As a kid she had a little graveyard where she put the animals to rest.

As the year progresses, she's dealing with normal stuff like school, friends, classes, and her feelings about Jay.  But then a string of murders in the area stirs up and scares everyone.  A serial killer is killing young girls.  Violet discovers one of them and becomes more involved than she knows in the serial killers plans.

This book is mainly about Violet, but every few chapters you get a glimpse into a short chapter from the point of view of the killer.  These chapters are freakin creepy, my friends.

I just had to keep reading this book.  Each chapter I wanted to know if the killer had gotten someone else, if Violet had found a body or discovered the killer, and then of course, were Violet and Jay ever going to hook up and get together??  It was obvious she liked him...so I just had to see how they would end up.  So all in all, this book is crazy suspenseful but also has a really great and sweet love story, too.  I just loved Jay - he was like the sweetest guy ever.  You should definitely check this one out for a strangely sweet and suspenseful read.  Cool book.

Rosie and Skate by Beth Ann Bauman

Love, love, loved this book!!  I saw a review of it on Reading Rants which made me want to read it.  It totally lived up to my expectations.

Rosie and Skate are two sisters who live on the Jersey Shore.  They're locals and work at the shore during the summer while it's full of tourists.  Their dad is an alcoholic - a nice drunk - but still a drunk.  He can't stop drinking.  He doesn't hurt the girls or cause many problems, but he gets out of control one night driving and crashes and lands himself three months in jail.  Rosie and Skate are on their own because their mom is dead.

Their cousin, Angie, comes to live with them and help out, but once their father goes to jail, things are harder between the sisters.  Rosie is hopeful and visits her father and still somehow believes he will get better, while Skate refuses  to go at all.  Skate doesn't attend the support group meetings.  Instead, she spends time at work with her boss Nick, and also pining away after her boyfriend Perry who is gone to college at Rutgers.  She wants to see Perry so badly.  The two of them are great together, but the distance is a problem.

The book alternates between the narration of each sister.  It's cool to hear the story from two points of view.  The writing was real and easy to read.  I liked the characters and the story of each sister.  This was a fun read with some serious stuff mixed in.  I totally loved it!

Here's a link to the New York Times review of Rosie and Skate.

Slam by Nick Hornby

Sam Jones is a normal kid who loves to skate (board that is...not on ice).  He does ok in school and hangs with his friends.  One thing that's a little different about him is that his mom is really young...in fact she had him when she was sixteen...so she's way younger than most of his friends' moms, but it's cool - she's a good mom, and they do alright.

Sam "talks" to Tony Hawk a lot and has read Hawk's biography maybe a thousand times.  Tony always gives good advice.

Sam's normal life of school and skating change a bit, though, when he meets a gorgeous girl named Alicia.  They end up going out, hanging out, and having a great time.  In about two seconds, though, their lives change...they make a baby.

This book takes you on the journey with Sam as he works through his relationships with friends, with Alicia, with his own parents, with Alicia's snobby parents, and with his baby on the way.  It's a very honest look at teen pregnancy.  I enjoyed the read.  I liked Sam as a narrator.  He was honest and always told it like it was.  The other characters were great, too.  Overall, a good book.

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

I've had this book on my shelf forever and finally picked it up.  I loved it!  It took me a little while to get used to the narrator, senior in high school, Sutter Keely, but once I did I was along for the ride with him on his adventures (and a wild ride-it definitely is!)

So, Sutter has a curvy, beautiful girlfriend, Cassidy.  He's a senior.  He is a party-man.  As long as he's got a whiskey and 7 up - he's golden.  Cassidy gets sick of his antics, though, and dumps him.  He's sort of stranded in a weird place.  He's single again, and his best friend Ricky finally got a girlfriend (Sutter made it happen, of course).  Sutter's kind of in a weird place.  He turns to his whiskey and drinks and drinks and ends up asleep in a strange yard.  He wakes to see a girl, Aimee, who says she knows him because she goes to his school.  Aimee is different from any one Sutter has ever hung out with, and he kinda likes her.  They hang out and Sutter sort of takes her under his wing.  But when there's Sutter Keely and whiskey...there's always going to be fun (and trouble, perhaps) ahead...

Like I said, this book was different.  Sutter is such a strong narrator.  I appreciate the voice that Tim Tharp created here.  I loved Sutter's vocabulary words such as, "spanktaculicious" and "fandangulous."  Sutter's a mess but you just can't help but love him.

I was a little weirded out by the amount of alcohol that Sutter drank.  The thing is, he's really the only who who drinks that much in the story.  His friends don't.  Ricky has cut back on partying.  Sutter's got his own little world....So while this book does center around and involve alcohol, I don't think it shows drinking in a positive light at all.  It's honest.  It was interesting because while I read, I was pulling for Sutter, but I also felt like I could understand the other people who told him maybe he shouldn't drink so much anymore.

I really liked this book.  Sutter is a unique character I've never met before, and it was nice to meet him.  He's a fun guy - no one can deny that.

Weetzie Bat by Fancesca Lia Block

I've never read any of Francesca Lia Block's books, so I thought I'd start right at the beginning with Weetzie Bat.  It's been on my list forever.

Weetzie Bat is a hip young lady who finds her soul mate/best friend in Dirk, the cutest guy in school.  They do movies and hang out and are bffs forever.  Dirk and Weetzie both want to find someone to love them so they go "duck hunting" together - each hoping to find that one special man who will make them happy.

One day Weetzie actually gets the chance to make sure this happens for both her and Dirk.  She makes three wishes and sets their life on an adventure-filled path that they love.  They live, love, and go through life's down times, too, but they always stay together and do their best.

I liked this quick, fun little read because it took me away to LA and let me hang out with some fabulous new friends.  It's got movies, beauty, palm trees, dancing, music, babies, loving, everything.  I liked the style and enjoyed how short and simple it was.  Yet, there were still things under the surface to think about.  A simple story about love with a colorful cast of characters.  I loved this description of what you are to me...this was about Weetzie,

You are my lake full of fishes, you are my sky set, my 'Hollywood in Minature,' my pink Cadillac, my highway, my martini, the stage for my heart to rock and roll on, the screen where my movies light up.  

Who doesn't love that?  Weetzie Bat was fun and full of love. 

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Jenna Fox wakes up after being gone/out/something for a year.  She knows there was an accident and that she was in a coma for a year.  She doesn't know much of anything except that they tell her she is Jenna Fox.  She's got discs to watch of her past, but none of it seems to click at first.  She feels awkward in her body and tries to get used to being awake and back with the real world.

Jenna doesn't feel like the girl that she sees on the videos, but bit by bit, she starts to remember things and piece together voices, memories, and parts of her past.  However, with some memories and feelings, Jenna becomes even more confused about what exactly happened during the year she was "in a coma."  Her family isn't the same as she sees/remembers, and her grandmother doesn't seem to want to deal with her at all.  She tries to make life somewhat normal by going to school and making friends, but she is haunted by what she begins to know and what she still has to figure out about herself.

This book is a nice sci-fi/teen mix.  It's got some creepy futuristic mysteries yet focuses on Jenna's relationships with those around her.  Sometimes figuring out who you are is hard enough when everything in your life is "normal."  Well, for Jenna, whose situation is way far from normal, it's even worse.  Her parents have made decisions that will affect her for the rest of her life.

I liked this book a lot.  It was fast paced and interesting.  The reader gets to piece together bits of Jenna's life right along with her, so you're always guessing how it all fits.  I was interested in the science-y stuff, but also pulled in by the relationships.  As I read this book I thought of Frankenstein.  This book has some things in common with Frankenstein...especially when Jenna confronts her parents about what happened during her mysterious "year off."

A great read and a unique concept. 

Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson

Shop Indie BookstoresI was soooooo mad when this book ended.  Once I got into Scarlett Fever, the sequel to Suite Scarlett, I was hooked and then it just ended on me.  I am definitely already ready for the next installment of this fabulous New York girl and her life.

So Scarlett Fever picks up after the first book, obviously.  The hotel Hamlet production has ended and now life seems blank, bleary, and boyless as Scarlett looks around the empty hotel.  School's about to start and she still works for the crazy Mrs. Amberson, but she can't stop thinking about Eric, her sort-of boyfriend from the summer.

Mrs. Amberson started her own acting agency which has one client (Spencer, Scarlett's brother) as of now, but they are hoping to find more.

Scarlett's older siblings seem depressed while her younger sister, Marlene is strangely acting nice.

On top of all this, enter Chelsea Biggs and her crazy stage mom....oh, and Max, Chelsea's brother.  Mrs. Amberson wants Chelsea to sign with the agency but needs to use her "secret weapon," Scarlett to seal the deal and make it work.  Scarlett finds herself starting school, pining away for Eric, dealing with her brothers acting career, walking a rat dog that pees everywhere, and getting annoyed to death by Max who is in high school yet seems to act like a troll or fifth grader every time she's around him.

Sounds like a wonderful start to the year, huh?

Well, in this second book you get to follow Scarlett around the city on her crazy errands and adventures as she continues to find her place in the city, the world, and her own life.  I loved this book just as much as the first and can't wait for Scarlett #3.  (And I am wondering what the next titles will be and how they will use Scarlett's name....Oh, and my only beef with this book is the cover.  I know it matches the paperback....but I'm annoyed that it doesn't "go" with the first book...they don't look like sister books or friends....but that's not really a big deal.)

My Big Fat Greek Reading Week

So!  I read two great Greek gods books this week, and I would highly recommend both.

I have wanted to read the Percy Jackson series for a while now.  The movie previews made me get a copy and get started.


Shop Indie BookstoresPercy Jackson has trouble when he goes on class field trips.  He also has  trouble staying in a the same school for more than a year.  He always seems to get in trouble or kicked out.  He finds out, though, that there may be a reason for this...monsters from mythology are following him because he's the son of Poseidon and mixed up in a very sticky struggle between the gods of Olympus.  When he finally gets to the beach to relax with his mother away from his horrible step-father, their peace is ruined by a minotaur and Percy's introduction to Camp Half-Blood.  From this moment on, Percy realizes that he's not your average kid, and that his life will never be the same.  Someone has stolen Zeus' sacred, most powerful thunderbolt, and Percy must help discover what has happened to it and return it by the summer solstice or else lots of people (and gods, and monsters) will be hurt.

I loved Percy Jackson - The Lightning Thief, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.  It was really fun like Harry Potter, and totally cool to see the gods and monsters and powerful beings of mythology at work in the real world...they're all out there, we just don't quite see them!


Shop Indie BookstoresMy second Greek read was Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs.  While Percy's gods are right there in the America with him and all the rest of us.  The gods and their descendants in Childs' book are located on an oh so beautiful island called Serfopoula.  Poebe is about to start her senior year when her mother suddenly announces that she's fallen in love and they will be moving to Greece.  Not exactly the way you want your senior year to begin.  Poebe has not choice, though, and she's tough and can probably survive anything for nine months.  Then she can just go back to the states, go to college with her pals Cesa and Nola at USC and move on with life.  Greece isn't the only problem she faces though, her new school, the Academy, is full of a different kind of student.  She be leaving her friends to go to school with kids who are all descended from the Greek gods.  As if high school weren't hard enough, now she's the nothos, the newbie, and will have to keep up with these super-power godlike others as best she can.  If regular high school girls can be a pain though...girls with goddess powers are even worse.  Can Poebe survive a year here?  Sure, the island is beautiful, but will that be enough?  Read this book to take a journey overseas and watch Poebe as she navigates a very unusual school.

This book was super fun!  I loved Poebe.  She was honest and funny.  She felt lots of emotions during the move, which is what any of us would feel like if we had to move  to a new situation.  This is a great read with a fun magical twist.  I will probably be picking up the sequel soon! 

Absolutely Maybe - by Lisa Yee

Absolutely Maybe was GREAT!  It is a road trip to Los Angeles and fun when you're there. 

Maybe is a young girl who has one heck of a mother.  Chessy, Maybe's mom, could have been Miss America.  She had all kinds of beauty queen titles in her past and runs a charm school in Florida where they live.  Maybe isn't one of the pageant girls, though, and wears jeans and extra large Hanes beefy tees instead of girlie clothes.  One thing that Maybe's mom also has had a lot of--husbands.  She's been married tons but not to Maybe's father.  When Chessy hurts maybe one to many times, Maybe decides she must go out on her own and find her father and herself.  Her friend Hollywood is headed to go to college at USC film school, so Maybe, Hollywood, and their crazy friend Ted hit the road and drive to LA.

Life in LA isn't that easy though.  After they tour around and see all the main attractions, Maybe and Ted realize they will need jobs if they are going to survive.  Ted strikes a great job (and starts wearing platform shoes...) but Maybe isn't so lucky.  This book tells about what these kids do in LA and how Maybe goes about trying to find her father.

This book was so funny.  The characters are all original personalities.  Maybe, Hollywood, Ted, Jess, and the rest, are all so real.  Each character is fully developed and all of their stories work well together.  What's more...this book involves a taco truck and lots in great info about tacos and taco trucks.  I absolutely loved Absolutely Maybe.

Grade: A

If I Stay - by Gayle Forman

Wow.  First, I have to say I really, really loved this book.  It's short (196 pages) but packed full of so much.  Ups and downs; funny parts, sweet parts, sad parts; goods and bads; friends and family--it's amazing.  

Mia is a 17 year old girl who is a cello genius.  She loves music and music runs in her family, although none of them are into classical music.  She has friends at school and a really talented boyfriend, Adam, who went to school with her but is away at college now.  He also tours with is band which is making it big right now.  Mia loves her family and has decisions to make:  stay with Adam, go to Julliard, etc...but no decision is bigger than the one she has to make unexpectedly one day when her family is in a devastating car accident.  A

After the accident, Mia find herself looking down at her own body watching from the outside.  As she gets flown off in a helicopter, she keeps watching and has to decided if she stays or not.  The book tells  the story of Mia and her decision.  Flashbacks and present action are woven artfully together.  In a short amount of time the reader gets to know so much about Mia, her family and friends, that you feel like you are sitting right there in the waiting room with them.  

This is a horrible situation, but somehow, the book was happy at times and funny.  I enjoyed Forman's writing style and the realistic way she portrayed family relationships and friendships. I highly recommend this book to teens and adults alike, I think you'll love it.

Grade: A

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

LOVED THIS ONE!!  

Frankie Landau-Banks was a normal dorky freshman at Alabaster Prep, tagging along with her senior sister and trying hard just not to embarrass herself or her sister too much. 

Sophomore year, however, was very different.  Frankie got taller, filled out a bit, and was, well, a much hotter chick.  She gets noticed by the guy of her dreams, Matthew Livingston.  Matthew is great, but Frankie can't seem to really get him to understand her.  She's not like other girls.  She's way smarter and not concerned with the normal high school girl stuff.  Frankie wants power, and to be noticed, and to fit in...even with the guys.  

When Frankie finds out about a secret society at Alabaster, the Loyal Order of Bassett Hounds, she immediately wants to know more and desires to be a part.  

This book uncovers Frankie's plans to figure out the Loyal Order and to become a part of something historic at Alabaster. 

I loved Frankie.  She is a cool girl.  She's pretty and smart, but she is hard core crazy sometimes, too and knows what she wants.  She thinks about things more than most of her friends and sees opportunities for social commentary in even the smallest (and largest) of pranks.  She gets what she wants and goes after her goals with an almost psychotic passion. 

This book has some awesome pranks in it.  It also shows boarding school life, which is fun, especially if you went to normal high school.  Frankie's passion stuck with me and I felt that I wanted to do something crazy after reading this book, but it also made me remember that it's cool to be a strong woman that not every guy understands.  Girls are powerful and can be great leaders and I love that Frankie always stayed true to herself, even when she could have given in and taken the easy way out. 

I loved this book.  It is very deserving of its Printz medal and is one of my favorites now.

Grade: A