Maybe One Day

Maybe One Day

by Melissa Kantor

Synopsis:

Zoe and her best friend, Olivia, have always had Big Plans: They''ll tour the world as prima ballerinas and live in a swanky Manhattan apartment (where they''ll hang out with their fabulous boyfriends, of course). But when they''re cut from the ballet company, their plans for the future evaporate. Suddenly, Zoe''s dodging cheerleaders who want her and Olivia to go out for the squad, and Olivia''s got a crush on Calvin Taylor, who Zoe can''t stand. 

Zoe can''t imagine anything worse happening . . . until Olivia gets sick. Really sick. Suddenly, not being able to dance is the least of their problems.

Olivia has always been the nice one, the happy-go-lucky one. Zoe has always been the snarky one, the look-on-the-dark-side one. But when your best friend is in the hospital, you better learn to step up fast. Now Zoe needs to put on a brave face and be the positive one. Even when Zoe isn''t sure what to say. Even when Olivia misses months of school. Even when Zoe starts falling for Calvin.

The one thing that keeps Zoe moving forward is knowing that Olivia will beat this thing, and everything will go back to the way it was before. It has to. Because the alternative is too terrifying for Zoe to even imagine.

My thoughts:

Best friends Zoe and Olivia have made Ballet their whole lives until according to Zoe “the worst thing that will happen to us in our entire lives” happens to them; they are cut from their prestigious ballet school. Livvie doesn't seem to fazed by this rejection and finds other activities including teaching a ballet class at a community centre but Zoe is upset and angry and renounces dance especially ballet.  Sadly Zoe’s prediction about being cut from ballet being the "worst things that will happen to us in our entire lives" isn't true when Olivia is diagnosed with Leukemia at the start of the new school year and Zoe’s world is once again shattered.  Kantor does a marvelous job of showing the real life ups and downs that cancer patients and their families and friends have to go through.  Maybe One day is told from Zoe’s point of view which is a change from some of the other “cancer books”; as most of those books are told by the person with cancer. But cancer doesn’t affect just the one person it affects everyone in that person’s life.  Kantor has done a wonderful job of depicting Zoe’s struggles as she simultaneously has to deal with the realities of Olivia’s cancer (that Olivia will not be better over night, as Zoe’s dad says cancer “is a marathon, not a sprint”) but also accept that life still goes on and it’s okay to enjoy it.

Only Everything

Only Everything

By Kieran Scott

Synopsis:

High school romance is tough—even for a bona fide love goddess. Can Cupid succeed as a mortal matchmaker?

When Eros (aka Cupid) is expelled from Olympus for defying Zeus after falling in love with Orion, she is banished to what she believes to be hell. We call it New Jersey. If she ever wants to go back to the comforts of her old life, she will have to find love for three couples—without using her powers.

Eros, now calling herself True, immediately identifies her first project in Charlie and believes finding him love will be a piece of cake. Charlie is new at school and eager to break out of his old image of band geek, so it’s lucky for him when he falls in with the right crowd on his first day. But music is still his passion. That is, until he meets Katrina...

Katrina is floundering after the death of her father and takes refuge with a boy who, while not entirely supportive, will be there when she needs him, unlike her mother. Too bad True thinks any girl Charlie talks to is perfect for him. Can she get out of her own way and help Charlie and Katrina connect, or will she be stuck in New Jersey forever?

My thoughts:

Eros, a minor goddess (yes goddess, no cute cherub baby in diapers in this story), has somehow many to pull Orion out of the sky.  She has no idea how she did it, she's a minor goddess, she's not supposed to have that kind of power!  Scared of Zeus reaction, Eros, with her mother Aphrodite’s help, hides Orion away, visiting him every chances she gets and slowly ends up falling in love with him.  But of course nothing lasts forever and when Zeus finds out he banishes Eros and her mother to Earth with the ultimatum match up three couples without using her love powers (which Zeus strips from her just to be on the safe side) or Orion dies and Eros will be an outcast.  What follows is a light and highly amusing read as Eros tries to navigate high school, relationships and life on earth.  The story is told through three different characters each struggling with their own issues.  There is Eros who takes on the name "True"; she befriends Charlie, the new kid yet again, and tries to help him find his "soul mate" by setting him up with several different girls all of whom are so not compatible and one who is completely crazy.  There is Charlie who wants nothing more than to just be able to play the drums but with a coach for a dad and two older athletic brothers it's a losing battle.  Then there is Katrina, a nice quiet girl who recently lost her father, is having problems with her mom, and has probably picked one of the worst boyfriends she possibly could for herself.  Though it is completely obvious right from the beginning that Charlie and Katrina are the couple that "True" needs to match readers will not be able to put down this page turner. Full of easily relatable relationship drama and funny teenage mishaps Scott has written a wonderfully light hearted romance novel that is sure to please any romantic. Once Charlie and Katrina (finally!) get together it seems like the story has come to an end and everything is wrapped up in a nice neat little bow; However, readers should remember that Eros must match three couples and Zeus won't make it easy for her and nor will Scott who ends Only Everything in a surprising cliff-hanger that will leaving readers gasping at the unfairness of it all and begging for the next book.

I'll Give You The Sun

I'll Give You The Sun

by Jandy Nelson

Synopsis:

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah''s story to tell. The later years are Jude''s. What the twins don''t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

My thoughts:

I'll Give You The Sun is told in alternating voices by twins Noah and Jude who used to be inseparable. Noah tells his side of the story when he is 13.  Both twins are artists and their mom decides they should be attending the California School of Art, a very prestigious art school.  Jude has no desire to go to the "freak school" and leave all her friends but Noah, who has never fit in, loves the idea and becomes almost obsessive in his quest to gain a spot at CSA. The arrival of Brian to their coastal town is the only other event that Noah truly cares about as he experiences first love and the pain that can accompany it.  Jude's story is told three years later when the twins are 16 and the twins are barely talking to each other. She is on a "boy boycott" after a bad sexual experience followed almost immediately by her mother's death in a car crash; she has been accepted into the art school and is a sculptor student there while Noah for reasons unknown was not admitted.  Jude believes she is being haunted by both her grandmother who tries to help and her mom who hates her; in an effort to please her mom she turns to a brilliant but troubled sculptor for mentoring and meets Oscar who is a definite threat to her self-imposed boy boycott.  I'll Give You The Sun is a story about grief, betrayal, and love. Over the course of this novel the reader sees the twin’s relationship fall apart in Noah's story and slowly start to mend in Jude’s. With both twins being artists, the narration is stunning and Nelson is to be congratulated on her ability to give each twin such a distinct voice; Noah's narrative is a full of dramatic over-the-top descriptions as well as lots of unbelievable color while Jude's, which has been affected by her mother's death, is deeply emotional and peppered with her grandmother's "bible wisdom" (such as Nothing curdles love in the heart like lemon on the tongue). Between all the emotional highs and lows that the twins experience and the beautiful writing Nelson offers this is a novel that will not be quickly forgot by readers.

All The Truth That's In Me

All The Truth That's In Me

by Julie Berry

Synopsis: 

Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family.

Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember—even if he doesn’t know it—her childhood friend, Lucas.

But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever.

This startlingly original novel will shock and disturb you; it will fill you with Judith’s passion and longing; and its mysteries will keep you feverishly turning the pages until the very last.

My thoughts:

Judith was kidnapped at age 14 by a madman that the townspeople thought was dead.  At 16 the madman released her and she was able to return home but she had been silenced in an effort to protect her and was unable to tell anyone her tale.  Now two years later Judith lives as a mute and is treated as an outcast in her village, even her mother acts ashamed of her. With the threat of an attack on her village Judith willingly goes back to the madman for help which causes shocking discoveries to be made and forces Judith to decide if she will remain silent or if she will reclaim her voice and let all the truth that's in her be heard.  All The Truth That's In Me is truly an original take on what could be consider a fairly simple story.  This story is told through a monologue that runs through Judith's head and which is almost exclusively directed at Lucas, the boy that Judith has loved for as long as she can remember. Berry artfully reveals characters and plotlines with easy, marking almost every page with little (or sometimes major) clues that help to build up the suspense.  The time and setting of the story is never discussed, one gets the sense that it is the 1800s in North America but this is never confirmed which lends even more mystery to the story.  As all the pieces fall into place the reader with be amazed with Berry's story telling abilities and haunted by Judith's voice. This novel is a hidden gem and one that needs to be raved about to everyone.

Death Sworn

Death Sworn

by Lean Cypess

Synopsis:

Ileni is losing her magic. And that means she''s losing everything: Her status as the renegade sorcerers'' most powerful rising star. Her purpose in life. The boy she loves. Her home.

Exiled to teach sorcery to the assassins hidden deep within the mountains, she expects no one will ever hear from her again. The last two tutors died within weeks of each other. As Ileni unravels the mystery surrounding their deaths, she''ll uncover secrets that have been kept for decades-and she''ll find an unexpected ally and dangerous new love.

But even he may not be able to protect her. Not when she''s willing to risk everything.

My Thoughts:

Three of my favorite things...murder, mystery and magic...top with assassins and romance and Cypress has a guaranteed bestseller!!  I was ensnared from the first page.  Ileni is losing her magic and that means losing her status as the renegade sorcerers’ most powerful rising star, the boy she loves and her purpose in life.  Giving up on life she volunteers to leave her home to teach sorcery to the assassins deep within the mountains.  She doesn’t expect to come out alive.  The last two teachers sent were murdered.  Her only hope is that before she too is killed that she will discover who is behind the murders of the previous tutors.  This is a well written engaging story that lovers of fantasy will devour.

Tumble & Fall

Tumble & Fall

by Alexandra Coutts

Synopsis:

The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week's time; catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn't how to save the world-the question is, what to do with the time that''s left? Against this stark backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love, friendship and family-all with the ultimate stakes at hand. 

Alexandra Coutts''s TUMBLE & FALL is a powerful story of courage, love, and hope at the end of the world. 

My thoughts:

What would you do in the last days of life if you knew the world was going to be destroyed in one week? Coutts intertwines the story of three teens, as they, and the rest of society, stare down the end of the world. Sienna has just returned home from a rehabilitation centre after a suicide attempt.  Zan is struggling  cope with the death of her boyfriend, and finally, Caden is confronted by the father who abandoned him and now, in the final days of life, wants to reconcile.  Coutts’ creates characters that offer both depth and appeal.  The stories, rather than focussing on end of the world scenes like rioting and chaos, instead focus on stories of forgiveness and family.  This is a well crafted refreshing read that appeal to a wide variety of readers.  

A House in the Sky

A House in the Sky

by Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett

Synopsis:

As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress in Calgary, Alberta, she began saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each adventure, went on to Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a television reporter. And then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia-"the most dangerous place on earth." On her fourth day, she was abducted by a group of masked men along a dusty road.

Held hostage for 460 days, Amanda converts to Islam as a survival tactic, receives "wife lessons" from one of her captors, and risks a daring escape. Moved between a series of abandoned houses in the desert, she survives on memory-every lush detail of the world she experienced in her life before captivity-and on strategy, fortitude, and hope. When she is most desperate, she visits a house in the sky, high above the woman kept in chains, in the dark, being tortured.

Vivid and suspenseful, as artfully written as the finest novel, A House in the Sky is the searingly intimate story of an intrepid young woman and her search for compassion in the face of unimaginable adversity.

My thoughts:

I first heard Amanda’s story when she was a keynote at teachers’ convention. There must have been 3000 people in the packed room and while she told her story not a murmur could be heard.   This memoir is just as captivating.  She begins by telling the story of as a child of a dysfunctional family.  To escape, she travels to Calgary after high school, where she earns enough money as a waitress to begin her lifelong dream of travelling the world.  She went from South America to Asia to increasingly risky trips into Pakistan, Syria, and Afghanistan. While working as a freelance journalist, Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, an Australian photographer, travelled to Somalia where they are kidnapped and held for ransom.  A ransom that both the Canadian and Australian governments refused to pay.  She writes of her months of captivity with an honesty that at times is difficult to read.  She talks about the teenage soldiers who guarded them with an understanding  voice that places no blame on the teenage boys that brutalized her while in captivity.  She is betrayed by Nigel, beaten and sexually abused and, as her health declines, she creates “a house in the sky” to hold  everything she loves.  Teens will appreciate the honesty and be inspired by the survival of Lindhout. They will also be amazed by forgiveness that Lindhout demonstrates by her current work establishing a school for Somalian refugees in Nairobi.