Book Review: How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

Rosie did not set Joey's car on fire. Yes she was burning a pile of things he gave her in his driveway but she did not blow up his car. What other choice did she have when he showed up at a party with his new freshman girlfriend? It was supposed to show her passion and emotion, not land her a temporary restraining order. It's going to be a long summer if she can't see Joey, and her parents can not be happy about this either.

It's her next door neighbor Matty who has the best solution: road trip. He's driving out to Arizona with his friend Spencer and his older brother Logan, and Matty thinks Rosie should go with them. While it seems like a reward, Rosie sees this is punishment. 9 days in a car, with an itinerary decided by the boys she is traveling with.  Her parents love Matty, he's like another son to them (and like another brother to Rosie). It's decided, the best place for Rosie is as far away from Jersey as they can get her, and this is her ticket out.

First it's frustrating. The music they listen to is mostly country. The stops are places Rosie would never dream of going, and she has to beg and plead to make any changes to the itinerary. After a quick scare in Nashville, Rosie decides to make the best of the situation. Spencer turns out to be a pretty good guy. Matty has always been her friend, while she hasn't always been the best friend to him. And Logan, well let's just say there's a spark between Logan and Rosie.

An unexpected road trip turns what could have been a disaster summer into a great summer for Rosie. She's really a good kid who just happened to obsess over the wrong guy. Geography is able to give her the space and time she needs to see that there is a lot more to life than just one guy.

A great first read for the summer, Jennifer Salvato Doktorski's How My Summer Went Up in Flames will appeal to readers looking for that first fun light read to start off beach or car trip reading season!

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Now reading The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancy!)

10 Days to Summer Reading

The countdown continues! Summer reading starts June 1st and runs though August 12th this year. Are you saving books to count towards your page total this summer? With titles like  The Moon and Me by Sarah Dessen and Rick Yancy's 5th Wave coming out there are a lot of great new books to look forward to! Remember every 750 pages earns you an entry into our grand prize auction as well as "book bucks" that you can use at our silent prize auction.

Do you use an eReader or listen to audio books? Those count too- just look up the number of pages the book has and use those for your total! Hint: this information is in the library catalog, so if you listened to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix you would have 870 pages to log! That's one full reading log plus 120 pages towards the next one!

Do you have reading that you have to do for school? Those books count! As long as the book is at your reading level you can count it!

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Now reading too many books! I've started at least 4 and have yet to finish one!)

The Fault in Our Stars Casting News

So this is actually kind of "old" news in Internet time, but seriously like all good fans of John Green's books, we are super excited about The Fault in Our Stars coming to the big screen!

When Shailene Woodley was announced as Hazel I wondered if she was the go-to awesome YA book to screen girl. She's playing Tris in the adaption of Divergent, as well as Aimee in The Spectacular Now. (Bonus fact she even played Felicity in one of the American Girl movies.) Then they announced Ansel Elgort as Augustus, who just happens to be playing Caleb in Divergent as well!

John Green has given this casting his blessing, so I'm sure it will be "made of awesome".

I"ll see you @ the library!

Katie

Book Review: Beautiful Music For Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Gabe's dream is to be a radio DJ playing good music over the airwaves. His neighbor John got him a gig at the local radio station playing songs from 12-1 AM on Saturday night.

One little issue: Gabe was born Elizabeth and a “she”. Only a few people know him as Gabe, but with graduation on the horizon Gabe is looking forward to being Gabe full time. Things at school aren’t easy for Gabe, who answers to Liz and is bullied by some of the boys for looking so masculine. Then there is the issue of getting a job or applying to colleges when biologically you are “F” but in your heart and mind you are “M”.

Things at home aren’t that great with his parents still calling him “Liz” and at times not even looking at him. It’s good he has John, an old radio DJ, to be a friend and a mentor. Then there is Paige, Liz’s best friend who Gabe has a crush on. Moving forward with Paige might ruin their friendship, and Gabe doesn’t want to risk the one friendship he has.

Life is confusing enough at 18, figuring out what next after high school, especially if college isn’t the answer. Adding in not identifying with the gender he was born as makes things extra confusing for Gabe. Caught between childhood and adulthood as well as “female” and “male” in a world that makes you pick one, Gabe is navigating a world stuck on labels that he doesn’t fit. Wanting to be Gabe full time is not easy, and he does risk losing friends, family and fans.

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children gives a new perspective on going through these changes. Gabe’s story is a bit unusual for young adult fiction, as it deals with a teen that is transsexual, and one transitioning from female to male. (For a male to female perspective try reading Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher or Luna by Julie Anne Peters, although the character transitioning is not the main character.)

While this won’t be a book for every reader, those readers into music will love the mentions of rock history and royalty. Elvis plays a big part of in Gabe’s story too, so fans of the King will find trivia throughout the book. Put Beautiful Music for Ugly Children on your summer reading list if you love music or are curious on what it would be like to not identify as the gender you were born as.

I’ll see you @ the library!
Katie (Now reading How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski)

Book Review: Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

How do you tell your boyfriend he's being conned?  Especially when that con means the very thing he's most proud of in the wake of his grandmother's death may not be true?  And most especially when your boyfriend is W.W. Hale the Fifth, heir to a billionaire corporation and possibly the richest young tycoon in the world?

Katarina Bishop knows a good con when she sees one - after all, she comes from a long line of professional thieves.  So when Hale inherits Hale Industries after the untimely death of family matriarch Hazel, with longtime family lawyer Garrett named as the trustee until Hale comes of age, he is surprised but deeply honored by his grandmother's faith in him to run her beloved company.  But when Marcus, Hale's butler, reveals that he is quite sure the will is a fake, Kat doesn't know what to do.  She can't let Hale be duped - but she doesn't want him hurt, either.

Instead, Kat sets out to find the real will - and why anyone would want to plant a fake will - without Hale's help or knowledge.  Marcus is sure that Hazel must have hidden a copy of her will somewhere before her death - she wasn't the sort of woman to leave Hale Industries to fate.  Kat decides to head to Hazel's London offices and search her desk.  But it turns out that Hazel's desk, an antique Petrovich puzzle desk with hidden compartments, has recently been loaned for special exhibit.  To the Henley.  The same Henley that Kat and her team publicly humiliated when they lifted the da Vinci right off the wall a few months ago.  The same Henley that now features even more advanced, impossible-to-bypass security.

This time, Kat knows she has to pull the whole family in.  The explosion-loving Bagshaw twins, her cousin, the lovely Gabrielle, techno nerd and uber-genius Simon, Uncle Eddie (who not only is in this time, but totally approves), and even Nick, who's supposedly out of the business, but has access to the Henley's blueprints through his mom's Interpol office.  Everyone but Hale - whose help they need the most, and whose heart Kat is afraid she is going to lose if he discovers what she's doing.  And a heart isn't something you can steal back.

High stakes, heart-pounding suspense and action, heists, secrets and conspiracy, fortunes at stake and fabulous spy gadgetry all make for another fabulous entry in the Heist Society series!  Kat is James Bond with a ponytail - you can't resist her charm, even when she's conning her way in to your heart.  Sleek, feisty and fierce, Kat will do anything for family - and Hale has been family since the day she stole him instead of his Vermeer.  If you loved Heist Society and Uncommon Criminals as much as we did, grab your sunglasses, your grappling hook and a tuck a copy of Perfect Scoundrels into your rappelling harness before you head out to enjoy the spring sunshine!

Megan
(who just started Dark Triumph, the sequel to 2013 MCTBA honor book Grave Mercy, this morning - and already I'm hooked!  Nothing says spring reading like assassin nuns.  Nothing.)

Allegiant Cover Reveal!

You guys!  Last week, Veronica Roth released the title of the third Divergent book, Allegiant!  And yesterday, she revealed this!!

Coming to a library near you on October 22, 2013.  And after that huge twisty cliffhanger at the end of Insurgent, I'm not actually sure how I'm going to be able to wait that long...

Megan

Book Review: This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

It all started when GDL824 e-mailed EONeill22 by mistake. Not wanting Wilbur to go without his walk, EONeill22 wrote back. A few e-mails later a fast friendship was forming between the two. Ellie wasn't ready to tell anyone about GDL824 because what was there to tell? She was e-mailing a boy who lived in California who happened to have a pet pig? Her mom would give her another Internet safety talk and her best friend would want to know all the details.

Ellie is focused this summer. Focused on earning the money she needs to go to the poetry program at Harvard she was accepted to. Money is tight with her mom, so she lied about a scholarship, and now she has a few weeks to earn over a thousand dollars. Quinn (her best friend) is focused on the movie that Graham Larkin is filming in their quiet Maine town. The summer season usually promises hordes of tourists, but this year they have the added bonus of movie stars and paparazzi.

When Graham gets to Henley, Maine, he has one person on his mind: EONeill22. He knows enough about her to find her, but what will she think when she finds out GDL824 isn't just a random stranger who lives in California? He's a bona fide movie star whose parents don't even act the same around him.After a mistake in identity at the ice cream shop Ellie works at, the two meet and there are sparks.

Despite hesitation on Ellie's part, she finds her self falling for Graham. Sure he may be a movie star, but he's also the sweet boy who she's been e-mailing with for months. Things are complicated enough that he's Graham Larkin, but a secret from Ellie's past might also tear them apart as well.

This is What Happy Looks Like is a fun light summer romance that will have you reading late into the night. If you enjoyed last summer's My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick or if you can't wait to read The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen (out June 4th) then you'll want swoon, laugh and cry with Ellie and Graham.

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Now listening to Catching Fire- I read it so long ago, I forgot what happened!)

Book Review: The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy

Jo Larouche has lived with her eccentric former movie star aunt Lily in the middle of the California desert for thirteen years. There are two problems stemming from the day when Jo was left with Lily: 1. Lily can’t remember anything that happened before that date and 2. Jo was left with the following disturbing note:

This is Jo. Please take care of her. But beware. This is a DANGEROUS baby.

Jo doesn’t seem particularly dangerous. In fact, the thirteen years of her life have been a series of eccentric parties thrown by Lily, working in a local café and not much else. Until the day when Lily throws her annual Christmas Eve Costume Party. This is the day that Jo meets: 1. A strange man by the name of Colonel Korsakov, a three foot talking cockroach named Sefino and a Chinese billionaire named Ken Kiang who for some reason is trying to kill her. Through a series of Crazy (yes, Crazy with a capital C) events, Jo, Lily, Korsakov and Sefino are all transported away from California and into a strange place known as Eldritch City.

Once they get spat out of the stomach of a giant fish (I told you it was Crazy), Jo’s aunt Lily, Korsakov and Sefino all realize just why they could never remember anything before the last thirteen years: they are knights in the Order of Odd-Fish, a renowned group in Eldritch City whose mission is to research an appendix to an encyclopedia of dubious facts, rumors and myths and their minds had been wiped before they were exiled from Eldritch City for killing another member of the Odd-Fish. Oh, and Jo Larouche is actually Jo Hazelwood (aka “the Hazelwood baby” or “the Ichthala”) who was the baby responsible for destroying a huge part of Eldritch City thirteen years ago. Ooops. Now that Jo, Lily, Korsakov and Sefino can remember the truth and know that Jo is not dead like everyone in Eldritch City believes, it becomes a tough mission for them to hide the truth from the other knights.

I know, I know. You’re thinking “Just what kind of CRAZY book is this???” It is the best kind of crazy book. One filled with exciting, colorful characters and wacky adventures. One filled with studying pointless things like unlikely instruments, ludicrous weaponry (ever heard of an “apology gun”?), discredited metaphysics and unusual smells. Where the bad guy isn’t really all that bad and people ride flying ostriches. I found this to be one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. It is a great mash-up of part fantasy and part adventure story. If you want to go on a rollercoaster ride with the most interesting cast of characters known to man, read this DANGEROUS book!

-Natalie (Now listening to the Raven Boys!)

Looking for a good YA Mystery?

The Edgar Winners have been announced! The Edgar Awards are given to the best mysteries of the year in categories from first novel to t.v. episode, and they have Young Adult titles too. This year's winner is the awesome Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, which Megan and I both loved.

The other nominees were:
Emily's Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak
The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George
Crusher by Niall Leonard
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield

Check out the Edgar website for more information and past winners! If you are still looking for a good mystery, check out our display of Mysterious Reads in the Teen Space!

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Currently reading This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith, which is a perfect summery romance, with a bit of mystery!)

Book Review: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

WARNING: Major spoilers for book one in the Shades of London series, The Name of the Star, ahead!  Read at your own risk...

After being stabbed by the ghost of Alexander Newman, ghostly ex-member of the Shades, the ghost hunting London police squad, and Jack the Ripper copycat killer, Rory Deveaux knows what it's like to almost die.  Again - there was the choking incident that landed her in the middle of the whole seeing ghosts mess in the first place..  Pulled out of school and shipped back to her parents' house in Bristow to 'recover,' Rory has a therapist she enjoys thwarting and is bored out of her mind.  It's hard to be in therapy when you can't tell your therapist what really happened - not only did Rory sign a confidentiality agreement with the Shades, but claiming to have been stabbed by a ghost is a ticket straight to crazytown.

There's also the part where Rory is pretty sure she's been turned into a Terminus by the Ripper incident.  One touch from her and ghosts are zapped, leaving behind only the faint scent of burnt flowers.  She can't talk to her therapist about this (obviously), her parents are a no go, her friends are all at Wexford studying for exams, and the only people who do know about the ghosts - London Shades Stephen, Callum, and Boo - have vanished.

So when Rory's therapist convinces her parents that the best thing to help Rory return to normal is to face her fears and return to boarding school at Wexford, no one is more thrilled than Rory.  She can hang out with Jazza, make out with Jerome in the library, and track down Stephen and the rest of the ghost hunting crew and figure out what the heck is going on with her Terminus-ing.

But it turns out that not being able to tell your best friend and your boyfriend the truth about what's really going on with you means lying and sneaking around.  A lot.  Not to mention the fact that Rory is way behind in all her classes (hey, you try getting stabbed by a ghost and keeping up with homework!) and will probably fail her exams.  And, even though the Ripper is clearly gone, a pub owner just blocks from Wexford is brutally murdered in what Rory is positive is ghost activity.  In fact, she's pretty sure that the massive explosion that happened in the school bathroom when Newman was zapped ripped open a crack that's letting the ghosts of Bedlam insane asylum patients loose in London.  Who obviously need to be dealt with - and Rory is the only remaining Terminus.

From the fabulous Maureen Johnson comes the second in what I hope will be many Shades of London books!  Rory is fabulously snarky and practical, even if she does sometimes need to use her common sense a little bit more (you'd think that a girl who can see ghosts could see when people are trying to take advantage of her, but hey, I've never been stabbed by a serial killer ghost, so I guess I'll give the girl a break).  London is dripping with atmosphere - literally, it's pretty much always raining, or foggy, or just sort of damply cold - and crawling with ghosts.  All kinds of weird awesomeness goes down in this book - and it ends on a heart-in-your-throat cliffhanger that will make sure you can't wait to get your hands on the next installment of this gruesome, seriously spooky series!

Megan
(who is torn - my holds on Quinata of Charyn, the final Lumatere Chonicles book which promises to be complex and incredible fantasy, or Dark Triumph, the sequel to the amaze tale of assassin nuns Dark Mercy both came in - how how how will I choose?)