Paper Valentine

Need a spooky read for Halloween?  Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff is a great ghost story that will get you in the creepy mood!

Hannah sees ghosts.  Not just any ghost, but the ghost of her best friend who died 6 months earlier.  Only in ghost form, Lillian is cruel, full of hate and jealousy.  Hannah's town of Ludlow is trying to deal with the hottest summer on record, when young girls begin to be murdered.  The serial killer leaves paper hearts, candy, and cheap toys arranged around the body.  Hannah's mother, worried about her since Lillian's death, keeps Hannah on a short leash.  Having her walk her little sister to band camp, go straight to work at her cousin's photo store, and come home.  At the photo shop, Hannah sees the pictures of the crime scenes, and then begins seeing the ghosts of the murdered girls.  As Hannah tries to piece together the murders, she begins a relationship with Finny Boone, the town delinquent.  He keeps popping up when Hannah needs someone, but could he have anything to do with the murders?  Hannah must figure it out before she ends up like the others.
This was my choice for my Book Club's Halloween pick.  Ghost stores were always my favorite when I was younger.  I grew up with Fear Street as a staple in my library, but don't read a lot of them now.  "Where are the scary stories?" is a question I get asked the most, and this will be one I direct students to.  The writing is beautiful, full of similes, and metaphors.  The character of Hannah is very quirky, but she really comes to stand up for herself in a way students will relate to.  I thought this was a great book, and I am going to look into others from this author.

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

The Infinite Sea is the follow-up book to The 5th Wave.

The 5th Wave was my favorite book of 2013.  I think because it caught me by surprise.  It was nothing like I thought it would be, and I couldn't wait to read the second book in the series.  The Infinite Sea picks up right where The 5th Wave left off.  Cassie Sullivan is trying to survive the alien apocalypse.  The aliens have been attacking in waves.  She has figured out what the 5th wave is, and is trying desperately to stop it and save Earth from the alien invasion.  I don't want to give away too much of the book, but The Infinite Sea is extremely action packed.  Lots of alien fighting.  It also explores a minor character from The  5th Wave, telling the story mostly from her point of view.  This is one of my go-to recommendations for students.  The writing is excellent and fast paced.  I can't wait for the next book.

The book is being adapted into a movie, due out in 2016.
IMDB Link

To All the Boy's I've Loved Before

Lara Jean has been in love 5 times.  She's never had a boyfriend, but that hasn't stopped her from loving these boys from afar.  When she realizes her crushes must come to an end, she writes them letters describing why she no longer loves them.  She puts them in a hat box in her closet with no intention of ever sending them.  This helps her get over these boys, and she moves on.  Until her letters get mailed.  She doesn't know how it happened, but the first boy she ever kissed tells her he is none of the things she described in the letter.  Lara Jean is traumatized.  Mainly because she wrote one letter to her sister's ex-boyfriend.  The boy next door, Josh.  As Lara Jean works to save face around everyone, she digs herself into an even deeper hole.  As she figures out how to climb out of it, she learns a lot about herself, and really grows up.
I really liked this book.  I thought the character of Lara Jean was very sweet and innocent.  Her mother died when she was younger, and her older sister Margot has taken care of Lara Jean and her younger sister Kitty.  Margot moves to Scotland for college and Lara Jean has to shoulder most of the responsibility.  I thought the crush on Margot's ex-boyfriend was a little creepy, but it works itself out, and is explained in a way that is understandable.  I would highly recommend this book as a light-hearted, very G- rated book.  I wouldn't even really describe it as a romance, it's mainly a coming of age, trying to figure out you place in the world type book.

We Were Liars

The Sinclair family seem to have it all- three beautiful golden-haired daughters, perfect grandchildren, and their own private island, with a house for each daughter.  Summers were spent on the island, with Cadence Sinclair Eastman, the oldest grandchild and heiress to the island, making ice cream, swimming in the ocean, and catching lobsters and crabs with her cousins.  All of the Sinclair grandchildren were golden, tall and tan, and perfect.  They called themselves the liars and they grew up together on the island during the summers.  But it is all a facade.  The aunts fight over who should receive the most inheritance.  They drink too much, and fight, and the children are caught in the middle.  Cadence is involved in an accident, but she can't remember what happened.  She returns to the island the summer before her 18th birthday, trying to piece it all together.
This book is a very quick read.  Only 225 pages, with short chapters, it is easy to fly through.  As Cadence tries to get to the bottom of what happened to her and her cousins, the story jumps around in time.  It is very easy to get caught up in the lives of the Sinclairs, living on an island during the summer and having barbecues and ice cream.  It is also easy to see the beginnings of the crumbling of the facade.  A great summer read!

Better Off Friends

When Macallan is asked to show the new kids around on the first day of 7th grade, she is less than thrilled.  Levi is a typical California "surfer dude" with long blond hair pulled into a low ponytail.  However, she does her duty, as quickly as possible, and leaves him in his first class.  When she sees him alone in the cafeteria, she reluctantly invites him over to sit with her and her girlfriends.  This is when they realize they both love an obscure British show, Buggy and Floyd, and a solid friendship begins to form.  Macallan begins spending every Wednesday after school at Levi's house.  Her mom passed away, and Macallan quickly forms a much needed mother-type relationship with Levi's mom.  As the years progress, Macallan and Levi become inseparable, however, it is strictly platonic.  In fact, Levi begins dating Macallan's best friend, which does add some complications.  The book addresses the age-old question- Can a boy and a girl be strictly friends? 
I met this author at a conference and really liked her.  She is very friendly, energetic and had a great vibe about her.  She explained this book is based of the movie Harry met Sally, but for teenagers.  I'm not sure many of my students have seen the movie, but all the girls tend to love a good romance.  I thought the book started off very strong.  The story shifts between the point of view of Macallan and Levi, so the reader gets to see both sides of the story.  I really liked both characters and found myself hoping for the best for them.  There were some things that bothered me.  The book spends too much time in middle school, and the characters are way too advanced for that age.  I found that very hard to believe, they were just too mature for any 7th grader I ever met.  I understand the author was trying to build the importance of the realtionship to the characters, but I think it should have moved to high school a little quicker.  The story completely skips all of 9th grade, and most of 10 grade, so I think some of the plot could have taken place during that time.  I also hated, hated, hated the back and forth.  Sometimes one is in love with the other, and then vice-versa.  Again, this is happening in 10th grade, and I found so much of the deep emotional stuff hard to take, especially in a romance. I liked this book, and I would be interested in having a student read it to see if they have the same take as me.  I just found some of the plot points to be unbelievable.

Cress

Cress is the third installment of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.  The story picks up right where Scarlet, the second book left off.  Cinder, Scarlet, Wolf, and Captain Carswell Thorne are in space trying to avoid capture by the Lunar Queen Levana.  They are unaware that Cress, am excellent hacker, is keeping them invisible and untraceable to all satellites.  Like Meyer's other books, Cress is a spin on the fairy tale Rapunzel.  She has been locked in a satellite since she was a child, only visited by the thaumaturge Sybil.  She is hoping Captain Thorne will be her prince charming, rescuing her from her "tower".  The story advances quickly and follows the same ideas as the first two books.  Cinder is trying to bring down the evil Queen Levana who is trying to rule Earth.  I can't go into too much detail without giving away the story of books one and two.
I really love this series.  I'm not a big fan of science fiction, so I was really surprised by how much I love this series.  I like the twists Meyer takes on the fairy tales, and I think each book is better than the last.  Cress is a great addition to the mix of characters, and this books ends with a cliff hanger that will make for a great fourth and final installment.  This is a series I highly recommend!

What I Thought Was True

Gwen Castle is trying really hard to forget about the mistakes she has made in the past.  Mistakes involving boys.  Lots of them.  Working at her Dad's hamburger joint is not helping, so when she gets an opportunity to spend the summer helping one of Seashell, Connecticut's richest widows, she takes it.  She figures helping Mrs. Ellington with her groceries will be a much better gig, one that will help her forget about Cass Somers.  But Cass is the island's "Yard Boy" for the summer, and he keeps popping up.
I was sooooo excited to read this book!  My Life Next Door is one of my favorite summer romances.  

It is one of the books I recommend to students looking for a love story.  So, when I saw that the author had written a new book, and another summer romance at that, I couldn't wait.  It jumped to the top of my to-read list.
And then I read it.  And I couldn't finish it.  I tried, really, I tried.  And I even had some doubts about reviewing it if I hadn't finished it.  I even tried to skim.  But at 39% I am officially giving up.  I can start with the nice things- Seashell, Connecticut is a place I would love to visit.  Fitzpatrick describes it beautifully, and the summer beach parties, swimming, ice cream and hamburgers all make me want to go there.  Cass Somers is a great love interest.  He's grounded, even though he comes from a super rich family on the island.  He's always sweet to Gwen, even though she doesn't seem to deserve it most of the time.  That's about all the nice things I can say.
The worst part- the book is very confusing.  It is told through flashbacks that come out of nowhere.  I couldn't follow what was happening.  Is this happening now?  It happened in the past?  I could never tell and spent most of the book that I did read extremely confused.    
I did not like Gwen Castle.  She is whiny and mean and I never found myself rooting for her.  
There were so many plot points that seemed unnecessary  and unbelievable.  Mrs. Ellington is selling her estate, and her dad tries to convince her to take a piece of it.  Cass Somers is failing English and the swim coach shows up at her house to ask her to tutor him.  During summer?  Cass shows up EVERYWHERE Gwen is.  Constantly.  Her 18 year old cousin and best friend are sucking each other's face off nonstop.  
This was just not a book I enjoyed.  She is currently writing a second book to My Life Next Door, and I will read it, but I might not be as quick to pick up. Hopefully it is an improvement to this one.