September
7
The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
September
7
If I Stay – Gayle Foreman
On a day that started like any other, Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she’ll ever make.
The book is thrilling, heartbreaking, and truly captivating.
September
7
Zac & Mia – A. J. Betts
The last person Zac expects in the room next door is a girl like Mia, angry and feisty with questionable taste in music. In the real world, he wouldn’t—couldn’t—be friends with her. In hospital different rules apply, and what begins as a knock on the wall leads to a note—then a friendship neither of them sees coming.
You need courage to be in hospital; different courage to be back in the real world. In one of these worlds Zac needs Mia. And in the other Mia needs Zac. Or maybe they both need each other, always.
A.J. Betts has written a spectacular novel with very strong teenage voices. Teenagers who have more than their fair share to deal with. Teenagers who are both very different but who find out that they need each other. Both are fighting a very difficult battle and sometimes when you don’t think you can keep going, the ones you least expect get you through.
There is a bit of language, but it is not used gratuitously. It allows you to see inside each of the characters as the story is written in from each character’s point of view. A very emotional and confronting read. Definitely for older readers.
Check out another great review:
5/5 stars
July
14
Cherub Series meets X-men mutants
Imposter
by Susanne Winnacker
Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI. When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again.
If you love the CHERUB series and are fans of the mutants in X-Men, then you will love this new thriller. It has lots of twists and turns and has you saying to Tessa, ‘Don’t go in there! What are you thinking?’
This was one book I could not put down until I read every last word.
5/5 rating.
March
2
Looking for Something New to Read
November
29
Join the Ghost Club and help Angeline and Edgar catch ghosts
Angeline and Edgar might be kids, but they’re two of Ghost Club’s youngest ghost-catchers. Got a problem with a ghost, poltergeist or ghoul? Can’t sleep because of all the rattling chains and cackling laughter? Angeline and Edgar are the experts to call.
So it’s entirely logical that when new kid Dylan joins Ghost Club, Angeline and Edgar are the perfect candidates to introduce him to everything he needs to know, from which ghost-catching gadget will do the trick to when to run like crazy to avoid being splattered with ectoplasm.
The trouble is, Dylan’s not quite sure he wants to be a ghost-catcher…
November
27
All Our Yesterdays – Cristin Terrill
Travel back in time to destroy your past, in order to save your future!
Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn’t happened yet.
Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture – being kept apart, overhearing each other’s anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There’s no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know.
Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It’s from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that’s about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future.
November
26
Brave books for girls and not a pink princess in sight.
Found a great blog post that gives some great reads for girls that focus on their courage, bravery, resourcefulness and intelligence – not their size, shape and fear of spiders and mice. Inspire your daughters to read about strong female characters at a young age.
http://virginiasolesmith.com/2012/04/brave-books-for-girls-not-princesses/
