Ash by Malinda Lo

Ash is a wonderful and beloved daughter.  Sadly, she loses her mother when she is young.  When her father comes home from the city with plans to remarry, Ash's life will change forever.  People in Ash's world believe in the real world and no longer feel that the fairy tales of the past are real.  Ash loves the stories though and knows that the land is still enchanted by the fairies because she feels it and catches glimpses of them indirectly every now and then.

When Ash's father dies, her stepmother and stepsisters make her move her childhood home.  When her stepmother runs out of money, Ash is forced to be a servant.  Her only friend is a fairy, Sidhean, to whom she is mysteriously drawn to.  She wanders into the woods to see if she can encounter him or any other magical folk and meets the king's huntress, Kaisa.  She immediately feels herself attracted to the huntress, and they spend lots of time together.

All of this is complicated when Ash realizes that she can't be in two worlds at once.  Will she be able to be a part of the world she wants to be a part of?  Can she even have love at all when her stepmother monitors her every move?

Ash is a unique Cinderella retelling with a twist.  The setting is magical and the love is very real.  Read this for a new twist on a classic fairy tale.

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

I was lucky to snag an advance reading copy of this book.  I loved the previous two Moon books, so I was anxious to see what happened to Miranda and how she and Alex met.  If you don't know, this series is about life in the world after an asteroid hits the moon, knocking it closer to earth.  The gravitational pull changes, volcanoes erupt, tsunamis wipe out the coasts...it gets bad.  The worst part is that the ash from the volcanoes blocks out the sun.  It gets cold and no one can grow crops.  In this last book of the series, Pfeffer brings her two main characters, Miranda and Alex, together.  Life picks up in Pennsylvania, but eventually Miranda's dad, his wife, a new baby, and three strangers show back up at Miranda's house.  She's glad to see them, but life with all these people now crammed into their house is a little more hectic than it was before.  There are people everywhere, and moreover, they only have food for their family and now it has to be shared.  As Miranda's family grows, she has to deal with all the hardships that come with this new world.  Interestingly though, a real-live teenage boy, Alex, is with the new group, so maybe there's hope that Miranda can have some happiness after all.  This book follows the family as they try to survive in the world they live in.

I really liked this third book.  Honestly, I didn't love it quite as much as the first two, but that could be because I already knew the basics, and this book didn't hold any new moon information.  I liked knowing what happened to the family and seeing what had happened since I left the characters on their own.  What I will say about these books is that they are painful to read but yet so interesting.  I don't know what it is about reading about life like this.  It scares me and makes me wonder if I would survive if something this bad happened.  But it also gives me hope because I know that many people will do what they can to keep being good, strong, honest people even in the face of the worst adversities.  I love this series.  Scary but fun, compelling reads.

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Seventeen year old Lennie is trying to make it through being back at school after the sudden, tragic death of her beautiful sister, Bailey.  Their mom left when they were young and the girls lived with their grandmother.  Dealing with death is hard enough on a teenager, but Lennie's issues become even more complicated when she not only starts to have strong feelings for the amazingly hot, beautiful, talented new boy at school, Joe, but also Toby - her sisters boyfriend.  She's never been in a relationship or even kissed many people for that matter, so when she has to deal with feelings for two guys at once, it's a lot.  And the one person she wishes were there to talk about it with - her sister - is dead.  In Jandy Nelson's debut novel, Lennie's life is put right out there for the reader to follow.  This book is beautifully written and full of emotions:  passion, sadness, confusion.  I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down.  What I loved most of all was just the descriptions of love.  First, true, forever loves are amazing and the way that Nelson writes about Lennie's feelings will hit home with adults and teens alike.  You must read this book.  It is amazing!

Eli the Good by Silas House

In 1976, Eli Book is a ten year old kid who lives in the beautiful countryside and enjoys life.  He loves to write, play with his best friend Edie, and be in the woods with the trees.  If only life were this easy, though.  This book is a reflection on a summer in Eli's life in which life was really simple but also completely complicated at the same time.  Eli's father is a Vietnam veteran and has problems and flashbacks related to the war.  Eli wants to understand about this but his father won't talk to him about it at all.  Eli decides to go about finding out about his father's time in the war on his own.  Edie is a close friend for Eli, but even this simple relationship is complicated when Edie announces that he parents are getting divorced.  Eli's sixteen-year-old sister, Josie begins acting differently and questioning everything.  His crazy war-protesting aunt, Nell, shows up to live with them for the summer.  All these people are dealing with so much and Eli narrates the story of a family struggling to be together and stay together even during rough times.  The book is told by the grown-up Eli.  He gives insights into the summer that he can only have by looking back.  I liked this book ok.  It was interesting to read about the father's time in Vietnam, and I could identify with Eli when he wanted to know about his parents but couldn't find a way to ask.  I appreciated the portrait of this family and Eli's reflection but kept waiting for more. 

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

I knew this book would be intense when I started.  I was drawn in immediately and just couldn't stop reading.  Wow.  That's the main word I feel right now....just, wow.

On May 2, 2008 Nick Levil, a student at Garvin High begins a shooting spree in his school commons area before school.  This is a day that no one will forget, especially his girlfriend Valerie.  Nick turned the gun on himself but not after killing and wounding students, teachers, and Valerie herself.

Dealing with a tragedy like this is hard even if you aren't even directly affect by it.  But Valerie is right in the middle of it all.  She went out with Nick for three years.  She loved him.  They made a "hate list" together naming all the people who got on their nerves at school.  Nick read names from the list during the shooting.  Valerie steps in the way of one of his bullets that day.  She gets shot.  She sort of saves another girl's life.  But she's a part of this.  The police want to know her involvement.  She's dealing with so much.  After summer, Valerie has to go back to school and face them all....the students on the hate list, the teachers, the people who hate her...can she do it?  Is there any way she can become "normal" again?  Is there any point?

In this book Valerie deals with it all:  parents, her shrink, kids at school, everyone.  She has to tackle her issues and figure out how she can go on with her life or if that is even possible at all.  What's worse is that she loved Nick...she still loves him...

It doesn't get much more complicated than this.  Like I said earlier, this book completely drew me in from the first moment.  Some of it was hard to read and it got to me at times, but it was a great read. 

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I read this book once when I was a kid but couldn't remember it, really.  So I picked it up again and sat down to enjoy.

The book begins on a dark and stormy night, and things only get stranger and creepier from there.  Meg Murray is a normal kid.  She's smart but gets in trouble at school.  She's seen as "belligerent" and unruly by her teachers.  She knows how to do math problems fast using her "shortcuts" her dad taught her, and of course, these behaviors make the teachers annoyed.  She's one of many in her family including her twin brothers Sandy and Dennys, and her "strange" little brother Charles Wallace.  On top of all this, Meg's father, who worked for the government, has gone missing.  He just wasn't there any more.  While Meg, her brothers, and her mother all believe he's out there somewhere and will come home, most other people think that Meg's dad is never coming back (or worse has run off with another woman or something).

At this point, Meg and Charles Wallace go down with their friend Calvin to the hold creepy house down the street and encounter some strange women:  Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which.  In a flash they are no longer in their safe neighborhood but in an entirely different universe.  Once they jump to a new time and place that night, they have a crazy adventure ahead of them if they want to make it back.  They get a chance to find Meg's father, but can three kids battle what waits out there in the universe?  Read this classic and take a journey to far away places.  I loved the book this read-through, and I think I might read the rest of the books in the Quintet now.  I'd like to see what happens to Charles Wallace, Meg, and Calvin.

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.)