Kissing Snowflakes by Abby Sher

It’s winter break, and Samantha, Jeremy, her dad, and her new step-mom, Kathy are taking a vacation in Vermont. All Sam wants to do is relax and find a cute guy to kiss. But things are turning out so perfect. The inn they are staying at has no people that are her age with the exception of the owner’s strange son Eric. Her brother is immature, her best friend Phoebe is acting strange and distant, and she and Kathy can’t manage to get along. It seems that Sam will have to spend winter break sulking in her room with only her books and cards for company.

When she does decide to venture outside and join a skiing class, she meets Drew, a blond skier who brags he’s been to the Olympic Trials. Sam’s first impression is that he looks like a Ken doll and that he is way out of her league, but she soon finds out he’s more than interested in her. After some very excellent kissing, she realizes what a jerk he is because he only wants to get into her pants.

Through the course of her very short relationship with Drew, she makes friends with Liz, Heidi, and Deana. She also befriends a girl from Texas named Ashley whose favorite phrase is “tote hilare”. After running into Eric, the inn keeper’s son, several times, she realizes that she really likes him, and things go on from there.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I was glad it wasn’t completely a romance novel, but I was disappointed that Sam and her friend, Phoebe didn’t make up their friendship by the end of the story, but it’s refreshing that everything doesn’t turn out perfectly. I was also glad that Sam was able to figure out what she wanted in her life. The cover is really cute too! This book is perfect for reading by the fire in the dead of winter. I recommend this book for fans of the Summer Boys series by Hailey Abbott because it’s basically the same idea in the opposite season.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from author Abby Sher

Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Stacey has been having nightmares. But these aren’t your everyday monster-under-the-bed dreams; these are premonitions. She’s had these before, and the result was the death of a girl named Maura. Now, she’s trying everything she can because the next victim could be her best friend Drea.

What is very helpful is that Stacey is a witch. She performs a wide variety of spells in order to make her nightmares clearer and to find out who is after Drea. She, Drea, and their friend Amber form a pact to make sure they’re safe. But nothing seems to be safe anymore.

It’s very hard to guess who’s after Drea. Stacey has many suspicions, but they keep on shifting as she learns new information. What’s most frustrating to Stacey, though, is that she’s dreamt all of it. She just can’t remember.

I really enjoyed reading this novel. The magic involved was unique in that it wasn’t just “Harry Potter” magic. Stacey isn’t a witch like Hermione; she performs spells using candles, herbs, and oils, not magic wands. I found this refreshing and unique. I also enjoyed the suspense throughout the entire novel. The twists and turns always kept me guessing. I recommend this to all magic book lovers, because I loved it myself.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from personal collection

Gone by Michael Grant

Welcome to the FAYZ, short for Fallout Alley Youth Zone. There’s no one who’s over the age of fourteen; they’ve all “poofed,” they’re just gone. But the strangeness only starts there. There’s a circular wall, or maybe dome, surrounding the land within a ten-mile radius from the nuclear plant. The wall is impenetrable and burns you if you touch it. There are strange mutations in the animals, such as seagulls with talons, winged snakes, and talking coyotes. Some kids have also developed strange powers. The rules of the world are changing, and Sam is running out of time before he turns fourteen and is bound to poof.

The kids from Coates Academy come down to the town of Perdido Beach, and one of them, named Caine, basically takes over. He acts as if he’s benevolent, but people are dying, and it’s because his sheriff and Captain Orc’s little gang of bullies keep beating people up who break the rules imposed on them by Caine. And while some of these rules are actually valid, others prevent people from gaining any power to oppose Caine.

Sam, Quinn, Edilio, Astrid, and Little Pete find themselves thrown together for survival. Sam knows that something is off about Caine, and he also has a power to shoot fire from his hands. They are constantly running from Caine or one of his allies. They eventually meet a girl Lana, who is a healer, and discover that Little Pete has special abilities of his own. When they save a bunch of kids with power from Caine, who had them imprisoned with their hands cemented in blocks, the kids join their movement to take Caine down. The struggle escalates, and all their lives are at stake.

When I first read the summary for this book, I was extremely intrigued. This new world is almost like a parallel universe. I really enjoyed the references to Harry Potter, Star Wars, Hollywood, Agent Orange (the bad), and other literary works. Reading into Astrid and Sam trying to figure out where they were and what was happening to their world was very stimulating. There is a lot of exciting action in this novel, and even though the kids’ powers sometimes seemed like they were taken from the movie The Incredibles, I still enjoyed it. I wanted to cheer and scream at the ending of the novel, and I really hope there will be a sequel to this book. Gone was simply an amazing book; I don’t think I can stress that fact enough, and I recommend it to everyone. This book is very thick, and I hope its length will not discourage anyone from reading this fantastic story.

Rating: 4.75

Review copy borrowed

The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols

This summer is when Lori turns sixteen, and it’s her chance to bud into a woman, someone that Sean can realize as a potential girlfriend. So she devises a step-by-step plan to get him to notice and ask her out. But it doesn’t seem to work; even if her flirts with her a little, he hasn’t asked her out yet.

So Lori gets some help and advice. She confides her plan to the Sean’s younger brother and her good friend Adam. Her only advice from her old nanny Fanny is to watch out for those boys next door.

Soon the plan has to change. Lori sees Adam’s girlfriend Rachel cheating on Adam with Sean, so Lori and Adam decide to pretend to go out in order to make Sean and Rachel jealous. But what Lori doesn’t know is that Adam doesn’t really want to get Rachael back because he likes someone else.

I found this book very cute, funny, and romantic. That’s probably why it was published by Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies. Lori’s character is very witty, and I enjoyed reading from her point of view. The way Lori mixed up Adam and Sean was hilarious, and I found myself a little sad when the story was over. I recommend this book to all teens who are fans of romance, and I plan to check out more Romantic Comedies from Simon Pulse.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from personal collection

Class Favorite by Taylor Morris

All that Sara Thurman wants is to be popular. Unfortunately for her, disaster after disaster (or as disastrous as middle school can get) comes her way. Sara keeps on getting publicly humiliated, which doesn’t help her goal at all, or so she thinks.

It all starts when she “becomes a woman.” Sara’s mom finds this out and sends Sara flowers. Unfortunately, the flowers reach the wrong destination, Sara’s middle school to be exact, and everyone finds out about Sara’s secret. Sara puts all the blame on her best friend Arlene because Arlene was the only person she told the secret to. Soon, another friendship develops with the new girl Kirstie, who helps Sara create a list of everything that will help Sara become popular.

When I first read the cover of this book, I thought oh no, not another one of these. But I was glad when it turned out that the main character was not one of those popular girls with all their problems, but someone from the opposite end of the spectrum, the girl with few friends who wishes she was more popular. I also did not expect the ending of this novel, but it was better than the ending I expected.

Sara’s character is very believable, and so are her issues dealing with her friends, family, school, and boys. There’s a much drama as there can be in a middle school, but I found that some of Sara’s issues were overdramatized. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this novel, including that popularity is overrated and that people aren’t always who you expect them to be. I liked watching Sara grow and mature, and overall, this book was a good read. I recommend this for middle schoolers, and even if you are older, I think you can still enjoy this.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from author Taylor Morris

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Beastly is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast in New York City told from the point of view of the beast. The beast in this story is Kyle Kingsbury, the son of a newscaster and probably the most popular boy at his elite school. He was placed under this spell by a witch named Kendra because he couldn’t look beyond people’s outer appearances.

Through the course of the story, Kyle changes his name, kidnaps a girl named Lindy to live with him in his seclusion, and gradually learns to see beyond appearances and love Lindy. And fairytales are never complete without happy endings, so it’s pretty easy to figure out what happens in the end.

I was a little disappointed in this novel. From reading a small excerpt, I had expected a more exciting story, but it turned out to be very predictable. The story took place over the course of two years, and it seemed rushed. It was also unrealistic how Kyle changed his ways to become considerate and giving very quickly after he transformed into a beast. It did make sense that Kyle was desperate for someone to love him so that he could reverse the spell, but it was unrealistic how Kyle just seemed to realize that he loved Lindy. The ending was a little too sweet and perfect for my taste, but I guess all fairytales have to have happy endings.

My favorite parts from this novel were the transcripts of the online chat group Kyle joined once he transformed into a beast. I enjoyed reading about the other creatures in the chat group and figuring out which fairytale they belonged to.

Overall, Beastly did not turn out to be one of my favorites. I would not recommend rushing out and buying it. But if you like retellings of fairytales, then you should check this out.

Rating: 3.25

Review copy from personal collection

In the Serpent’s Coils by Tiffany Trent

In the Serpent’s Coils is a wonderful new fantasy book that I read just a little while ago. It is filled with disaster, secret love letters, confusion, secret meetings, and the mysterious Fey.

At the beginning of the story, Corrine is sent to live with her uncle. There, she finds out that her mother is dead, and she has her first encounter with the people under the hawthorn bush. It seems like the hawthorn people are helping her, by curing her of her illness, but something isn’t quite right.

By helping the hawthorn people, Corrine is sent away, although she isn’t quite sure why. Throughout the book, there are a lot of secrets held by the adults, which often lead to trouble. There is more trouble in the form of a boy names Rory. Soon, Corrine doesn’t know who to trust. This leads to even more disaster.

I found this book interesting and easy to read. It was also very educational because it takes place right after the civil war came to a close. The mystery and secrets involved held me intrigued until the end of the story. I can’t wait for the sequel, By Venom’s Sweet Sting, to be published. I would recommend this to any fantasy readers who haven’t found any new and good fantasy books to read, because this is a fantastic choice.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from personal collection

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

Remy doesn’t believe in love. After all, if your mom has divorced and remarried about five times, how could she? And why does her mom suddenly think this new guy is “the one?” Remy’s got all her relationship rules all laid out. After she gets too close to a guy, she dumps him.

But then she meets Dexter, and something about him is different. He just won’t let her push him away, and soon a real relationship develops between them. Of course, there are always the complications: Remy is only looking for a summer relationship before heading off to college, Dexter isn’t.

This Lullaby follows Remy through her ups and downs in her relationships with her friends, her mom, Dexter, and the song her dead father wrote. Remy’s struggles are very realistic and easy to follow. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, like I enjoyed Sarah Dessen’s other books, and I am eagerly awaiting the release of Lock and Key, another novel by Sarah Dessen. I would highly recommend this book and Sarah Dessen’s other books to everyone, especially fans of Dab Caletti.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from personal collection

Up All Night by various authors

In this anthology, six phenomenal authors answer the question “What would keep you up all night?” The authors are Peter Abrahams, Libba Bray, David Levithan, Patricia McCormick, Sarah Weeks, and Gene Luen Yang.

At first, I thought this book would contain personal stories from these authors, but I soon realized they were fictional short stories. My favorite of the six had to be Libba Bray’s short story about a group of four friends who go to a rock concert. Libba Bray, the author of the Great and Terrible Beauty series, is an amazing author. Out of the six stories, hers was the longest and most enjoyable one for me to read.

I also enjoyed the stories by David Levithan and Patricia McCormick. David’s story was a little confusing and pointless at first, but I liked the ending. Patricia’s story was just plain creepy until the ending, which was hilarious. Sarah Week’s story was the saddest. And the other two were okay, but nothing something I would remember for a long time.

I have to say I had my doubts about reading this book because I’m not usually a fan of anthologies. I would say that this book is only okay; it’s not something I would rush out to buy.

Rating: 3.5

Review copy from publisher HarperCollins

Notes from the Backseat by Jody Gehrman

It’s kind of funny how you might know someone for a really long time and never truly know them. Marla thought she knew her best friend Gwen, but she never knew Gwen could write so much.

The story starts out with Marla in Paris, meeting her fiancé’s parents. However, most of the story is told from Gwen’s point of view through the journals she sends to Marla. Gwen is going on a trip with her boyfriend of almost three months, Coop, and Coop’s best friend from college, Dannika. What Coop doesn’t know is that Gwen has massive jealousy problems, and the fact that Dannika is a beautiful blonde in a yoga-toned body doesn’t help.

As one would expect, the story ends well. I found many parallels between Notes from the Backseat and Faking 19. The main characters are two girls who have been best friends since high school. There is a divorce involved in both, and the girls from those families come to terms with or learn to accept their fathers. And of course, there’s the happy ending.

There’s a repeated phrase in this novel that really stuck with me: “We are not out parents.” It shows that no matter what our parents do, we can always blaze our own trail because we’re not destined to follow directly in their footsteps, as realized by Gwen and her new friend Joni. That’s the phrase that helped Joni get through her wedding and Gwen come to accept her dad’s mistakes.

What I like best about this novel was the descriptiveness. Gwen, Coop, and Dannika do a lot of driving, and each new scene and setting is exquisitely described. I felt like I was there beside them. I also really appreciated the complicated personalities of the characters. All the jealousy, anger, and finally happiness makes them seem human.

I would recommend this book to teens, although I believe it was aimed at an older audience. There are some mature scenes, so it would be best for older teens to read.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from author Jody Gehrman

Faking 19 by Alyson Noël

Everyone knows what senior year means: it’s party time!

At least, that’s what it’s like for best friends Alex and M. During the week, they do their schoolwork, but on the weekends, they let loose and get wild. After their traditional weekend snack, they go shopping or to whatever party sounds interesting. And everything seems to be going great, until the seams in Alex’s life start fraying.

Despite giving off the appearance that her life is perfect, Alex’s life is far from it. Her parents split when she was young. Now her dad is busy working and hitting on other women while her mom just ignores her. Alex’s grades are steadily declining until she’s failing, loses her scholarship, and even faces the possibility of not graduating with her class. On top of that, there are problems with her best friend M and also with an older guy Connor. It might not seem that Alex and M could have difficulties with their friendship because they’ve known each other since Alex moved to Orange County. And as for Connor, he just seems like the perfect British hottie.

Throughout the book, Alex is forced to reevaluate her life and what she wants. There are some harsh realizations she is forced to face about her M and others about her dad. She has to figure out what she wants to do with her life, but for Alex, that’s a lot easier said than done. She can’t figure out where she wants to go, and since her grades have hit a new low, she might not even be able to attend college.

Of course, this is the kind of book that won’t be good unless it has a happy ending, which it does. I was glad that the ending wasn’t too perfect, because then it wouldn’t be realistic. In my opinion, Faking 19 was a very well-told story that could happen in real life. I appreciated how the story sounded like it could take place where I live. Contrary to what a reader might infer from the title of this book, Faking 19 is not all about fake IDs to get into the next hottest club. It’s more of a story of a girl finding herself and discovering what she wants. I would recommend this book for a light read.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from personal collection

Celebrity Secrets by Jennifer Brown

What do you do when someone threatens to bring up your harsh past? How do you deal with it? How do you protect your family from everything you've been trying to forget?

Are you intrigued? Then you should definitely read Celebrity Secrets. This is the story of a celebrity names Alissa Harner, and it all starts with her twenty-first birthday. Her thirty-two-year-old boyfriend proposes and Alissa goes to visit her family from her hometown. But that's not the worst part: a book detailing Alissa' past.

Soon, a mix of characters are thrown into the conflict. There's Alissa of course, her mother Monica, stepfather Tom, her little sister Layla, her brother Greg, her boyfriend Kevin, an old friend Paula, the author D.S. Kirk, and someone from Alissa's family's past that they would never expect to show up.

Overall, I would say that I was very impressed with this book. At first I was doubtful, because it seemed just like all those other celebrity books out there already. However, the story gradually caught my attention and held it. The ending was especially good. It left me wanting more.

The scenes in this book were rather too short for my taste, but it did increase suspense. I found a few grammar mistakes, and the overuse of ellipses was frankly annoying. However, the ending of the story made up for all of this, and I wasn't disappointed.

As I started to read this book, I thought it would be good for those teens who aren't that interested in reading but like celebrity gossip. As I finished the book, I realized it was good for anyone who likes a very short read filled with suspense and juicy secrets.

Rating: 3.5

Review ebook from author Jennifer Brown

The Alison Rules by Catherine Clark

From the amazing author Catherine Clark comes this incredibly moving story, The Alison Rules.

Despite what Alison's friend Laurie always says, Alison always insists she doesn't have a set of rules. However, she does follow a strange pattern of behavior. She broke up with her older, football-playing boyfriend (one of "the Gods"), she avoids her locker, and she refuses to go to Boston. And everything is getting along fine in Alison's opinion until the new guy Patrick comes along.

The main issue with Patrick is the love triangle. Laurie likes Patrick, and so does Alison though she refuses to admit it. Patrick likes Laurie as a friend, but he likes Alison more than that. Alison believes she can't be with Patrick because she would be betraying Laurie.

Alison is forced to confront her past and everything that has been bothering her on a trip to Boston. There, everything comes out. Laurie cruelly exposes Alison's weaknesses until Alison can't take it anymore. There we learn what terrible thing happened to Alison that caused her to create her rules: the death of her mother.

The Alison Rules is the basic story of a teen learning to deal with the death of someone close when they feel like there's no one who understands them. After a period of withdrawal, Alison finally learns to cope, though the event that catalyzes this is most surprising and heartbreaking.

This was one of the most moving books I have read in a very long time. I even spent the last half of the book crying; that's how sad it was. I wouldn't recommend this book if you are looking for a light read, but if you want something with depth and meaning, this novel and other from Catherine Clark are a good choice.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from personal collection

The Alphabetical Hookup List A-J by Phoebe McPhee

Three girls are pushed into each other's worlds when they find out that they are to share a dorm. Welcome to college life at Pollard University.

The cast consists of three girls: Jodi Stein, Celeste Alexander, and Ali Sheppard. Jodi is the popular girl. She's been with her boyfriend since high school and is used to getting what she wants. Celeste is the smart girl. She is embarrassed by her parents who gave something to smoke when they took her to college. Lastly is Ali. She is just kind of a lost soul and she wants to know where she fits in.

They are all brought together when Jodi discovers her boyfriend cheating on her, Celeste discovers her date is gay, and Ali's long-distance boyfriend breaks up with her. In their misery they create a game: the Alphabetical Hookup List. The rules are simple:

1. "Each girl has to kiss...one guy for every letter of the alphabet in order from A through Z as long as it takes to think the alphabet song.
2. For each letter completed, each girl will receive a Scrabble tile with that letter on it.
3. If for some unfathomable reason the end of the school hear comes and no one has completer their lists, the person with the most letter completed will be the winner.
4. The AHUL must be kept a secret."

I would say that this book is cute, but I the first in the series didn't interest me that much, so I'm not likely to finish the rest of the series. There is some mention of drinking, sex, and drugs. I would not recommend this book except for people who like short reads involving girls discovering themselves and love.

Rating: 3.25

Review copy from personal collection

Bling Addiction by Kylie Adams

This is the second book in the Fast Girls, Hot Boys series. The first one in the series was called Cruel Summer.

At the beginning of both books, there is a hinting that one of the Fab Five won't make it to graduation, which is what propels the rest of the book forward and holds most of my interest.

Let me back up a little and introduce the cast. Vanity is beautiful and has social power, but she's got a lot of problems only her psychiatrist knows about. Max is the son of a movie star a bit too obsessed with sex and very protective of his younger sister. Cristina is obsessed with anime and has secret feelings for Vanity. Dante comes from a working-class background but dreams of being the next greatest thing to come to hip-hop. And then there's Pippa, the gorgeous British girl who will do anything to get money, including stripping.

This series is a fast read. There is an overuse of the word "bling" as there is an overuse of the word "cruel" in the first book in the series. There are a lot of mentions of sex, drinking, and drugs, and many of the characters' problems have already been addressed in other books. A lot of the book, including the characters' problems, seems cliché.

I would not recommend it if you are looking for a deep and meaningful read, as this isn't one. However, if you are looking for light summer read that's interesting, this series should be your choice.

Rating: 3.25

Review copy from personal collection