Thursday, October 30, 2014

The Hit

The Hit

by Melvin Burgess

Synopsis:

Live the ultimate high. Pay the ultimate price. The shocking return to YA by the author of Smack.
A new drug is on the street. Everyone''s buzzing about it. Take the hit. Live the most intense week of your life. Then die. It''s the ultimate high at the ultimate price. Adam thinks it over. He''s poor, and doesn''t see that changing. Lizzie, his girlfriend, can''t make up her mind about sleeping with him, so he can''t get laid. His brother Jess is missing. And Manchester is in chaos, with the cops in the pockets of the dealers and with a group of homegrown terrorists, the Zealots, battling to overthrow the banks. Wouldn''t one amazing week be better than this endless misery? After Adam downs one of the Death pills, he''s about to find out.

My thoughts:

There is a new drug in town.  Everyone is talking about.  It is called Death.  Those who take it, have one amazing week.  But the price of this amazing week is death.  Adam, the protagonist,  decides to join in. Adam's life is going nowhere: his brother is dead and his girlfriend doesn't love him. He doesn't feel like he has anything to lose The book tells the story of how his amazing week suddenly isn't so perfect after all. Adam falls for Lizzie, an upbeat teenager with no intention of dying.  She decides to make Adam’s last week a good one but nothing seems to work out.  The pair get caught between a terrifying criminal gang and the shadowy revolutionary group, the Zealots.  The new drug, 'Death', is such a simple concept that is genius in so many ways. In the story, it starts out as a form of euthanasia but turns into something much greater. This action, violent  filled story will engage both the avid and reluctant reader. The surprise ending will leave readers shocked.  

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Weight of Blood

The Weight of Blood

by Laura McHugh

Synopsis:

The town of Henbane sits deep in the Ozark Mountains. Folks there still whisper about Lucy Dane's mother, a bewitching stranger who appeared long enough to marry Carl Dane and then vanished when Lucy was just a child. Now on the brink of adulthood, Lucy experiences another loss when her friend Cheri disappears and is then found murdered, her body placed on display for all to see. Lucy's family has deep roots in the Ozarks, part of a community that is fiercely protective of its own. Yet despite her close ties to the land, and despite her family's influence, Lucy-darkly beautiful as her mother was-is always thought of by those around her as her mother's daughter. When Cheri disappears, Lucy is haunted by the two lost girls-the mother she never knew and the friend she couldn't save-and sets out with the help of a local boy, Daniel, to uncover the mystery behind Cheri's death.
 What Lucy discovers is a secret that pervades the secluded Missouri hills, and beyond that horrific revelation is a more personal one concerning what happened to her mother more than a decade earlier. The Weight of Blood is an urgent look at the dark side of a bucolic landscape beyond the arm of the law, where a person can easily disappear without a trace. Laura McHugh proves herself a masterly storyteller who has created a harsh and tangled terrain as alive and unforgettable as the characters who inhabit it. Her mesmerizing debut is a compelling exploration of the meaning of family: the sacrifices we make, the secrets we keep, and the lengths to which we will go to protect the ones we love.

My thoughts:


I was browsing the bookstore just looking for anything that wasn't dystopic or teen romance when this book title caught my eye.  The story itself is dark and the setting, the small town of Henbane that sits deep in the Ozark Mountains is a perfect fit.  Everyone in town believed that Cheri had just run away from a bad mother.  However, when her mutilated body shows up on display in the town river a year later Lucy, our primary protagonist becomes haunted by the death.  It turns out that Lucy's mother, a bewitching stranger who appeared long enough to marry Lucy's father, disappeared without a trace a decade earlier.  Lucy begins to wonder if perhaps her mother's disappearance was a murder as well.  As Lucy searches for answers she discovers a secret that pervades the secluded Missouri hills, and beyond that horrific revelation is a more personal one concerning what happened to her mother more than a decade earlier.  This novel, told from different characters perspectives and time periods is guaranteed to keep readers turning pages through the night.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Bright Before Sunrise

Bright Before Sunrise

by Tiffany Schmidt

Synopsis:

Jonah and Brighton are about to have the most awkwardly, awful night of their lives. For Jonah, every aspect of his new life reminds him of what he has had to give up. All he wants is to be left alone. Brighton is popular, pretty, and always there to help anyone, but has no idea of what she wants for herself

My thoughts:


Brighton Waterford, the most popular girl at prestigious Cross Pointe High School, has made it her mission to get the entire student body to participate in some type of volunteer activity in honor of her father that passed away 5 years previous. Jonah Prentiss, a new student who can’t stand Cross Pointe, lives for the weekends when he can escape back to his hometown that he was forced to leave and is the one student Brighton can’t get to tell her the time of day much less do some volunteer work.  Over the course of a single night full of mishaps, almost fistfights, misunderstandings, an angry ex-girlfriend, and some painful revelations Brighton and Jonah’s perspectives of the other changes drastically and they discover a spark between them that neither one wants to ignore. This novel is told from both teens point of view in alternating chapters and Schmidt has done a marvelous job in making her two characters believable; in Jonah Schmidt has captured his anger and frustration over his lack of control with his life and in Brighton the reader can easily see her exhaustion and the massive amount of pressure she is under. Bright Before Sunrise is a fun and lighthearted opposites-attract type of love story that will leave the reader with warm, fuzzy feelings.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Freakboy

Freakboy

by Kristin Elizabeth Clark

Synopsis:

From the outside, Brendan Chase seems to have it pretty easy. He's a star wrestler, a video game aficionado, and a loving boyfriend to his seemingly perfect match, Vanessa. But on the inside, Brendan struggles to understand why his body feels so wrong--why he sometimes fantasizes having long hair, soft skin, and gentle curves. Is there even a name for guys like him? Guys who sometimes want to be girls? Or is Brendan just a freak?

In "Freakboy"'s""razor-sharp verse, Kristin Clark folds three narratives into one powerful story: Brendan trying to understand his sexual identity, Vanessa fighting to keep her and Brendan's relationship alive, and Angel struggling to confront her demons.

My thoughts:

Brendan is a wrestler, an excellents students, and has the perfect girlfriend.  But for Brendan being with Vanessa just isn’t enough; sometimes he wants to be like Vanessa, with soft skin and long, silky hair. Vanessa is the only girl on the wrestling team and has had to deal with quite a lot of harassment from the rest of the team.  She loves Brendan but when he starts to pulling away from her, she is hurt, scared because she has no idea why.  Angel is a trans, who has not had sex-reassignment surgery and maybe never will because as she says she is “blessed to like me / the way I am”.  Angel has had to travel a hard road and while life is pretty good now she still has her set of problems to deal with. Angel works at Willows Teen LGBTQ Center and when she meets Brendan she decides to try and help him figure out where exactly he feels comfortable on the gender spectrum.  In a style that will remind readers of Ellen Hopkins, Clark’s Debut novel Freakboy is told from three very different points of view using free verse to tell a compelling story about a very complex topic. Freakboy explores many different types of gender identity showing the reader that sometimes there is no easy answer when it comes to gender and introducing a few new terms that the reader may not be familiar with such as genderqueer and gender fluid. This novel doesn’t shy away from the struggles that most transgender teens will face at some point but it also offers hope. Clark’s Freakboy is a must for libraries.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Faking Normal

Faking Normal

by Courtney C. Stevens

Synopsis:

Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

At school, nobody sees the scratches or her pain. The only person she connects with is the mysterious Captain Lyric, who writes song lyrics on her fourth-period desk for her to complete. With pencil marks and music, Alexi carves out a comfortable space for herself as she and the Captain finish each other''s songs-words on a desk feel safer than words spoken aloud.

But when Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend who understands her better than anyone. He has secrets of his own and knows all about suffering in silence. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally speak up.

With her powerful, moving debut novel, author Courtney C. Stevens emerges as an extraordinary new talent to watch.

My thoughts:

Faking Normal is a gripping and emotionally stirring read about victims wrongfully blaming themselves.  Alexi Littrell didn’t tell anyone what happened to her over the summer.  Instead, ashamed and embarrassed she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck in an attempt to have the physical pain hurt more than the emotional scars.   Brodee, the quiet boy whose mother just committed suicide,  too has a secret he hides.  In a novel where grief and trauma dominates, Alexi and Bodee’s slow growth of trust in each other, and the subsequent slow reveal of the traumas they’ve faced, is not only powerful but will keep readers engaged.  While the subject matter is very serious, at it’s core this is an uplifting and inspiring story about what being a friend really means. The story will stay with readers for a longtime.