tiny pink books

Betrayed by P.C. Cast
St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007.

Something dark and mysterious is brewing at the House of Night while Zoe attempts to establish herself in her new role as leader of the Dark Daughters.  We have mystery, drama, and more magical vampire powers revealed in this quick read.  Once again, the plot and characters follow predictably cliched patterns, but I’m not complaining because the books remain very fun to read!

Recommended to older teen and adult fans of Twilight and supernatural series books in general.

Marked by P.C. Cast
St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007.

I’ve avoided the House of Night series until just now, but I have to say that I’m hooked.  When Zoe is marked at her high school, it means and end to her life as a human.  She leaves her dysfunctional family to live at the House of Night, a sort of vampire boarding school where young fledgelings go to complete the change in their bodies, becoming vampires…or die.  We are introduced to a fun cast of vamp characters as Zoe makes friends, meets her teachers and mentors, and tried to find a place for herself.  Add to that some extra special magic vamp powers, mean girls style drama, sexy, but oh so wrong, bloodlust, and a hot new love interest and you’ve got yourself a fun, quick read that’s sure to have you picking up the next book.

What I liked about Marked is that it was a simple, easy read, but it moved quickly and maintained my interest, even while following cliche after cliche.  These are YA books, however, I think they are most suited to older teen and adult fans of Twilight.  Though the language is clean, it touches on subject matter a little too dirty for me to feel comfortable handing out to a tween (though if they find it themselves and are comfortable, more power to them!).

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner An Eclipse Novela by Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown and Company, 2010

I admit it.  I just can’t get enough Stephenie Meyer!  I can’t even put my thumb on what it is about her writing that is so compelling, but put her books in my hands and I will read them.  Quickly.  That said, I cannot say that The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was a particularly good example of her work.  Yes, it was highly readable (finished it in less than a day).  Yes, it was fun to read an alternate view of the big battle in Eclipse.  However, there was an overall clunky feel that made this feel like a tacked on, fanfic-esque project designed to bring in a little extra cash from the throngs of excited Twilight fans as the release date for the Eclipse film looms.

Bree Tanner’s fate is already known to any reader of the Twilight saga.  Born into an army of newborn vampires, Bree is trapped, by her coven and her leader, in a world where she must use her skills of observation to survive.  Unfortunately, even and she and her new friend, Diego, discover that their leader is keeping them thirsty, ignorant and under his thumb, they never manage to take control of the situation.  This is one of the critical problems with The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner-even though we are introduced to Bree and Diego as “the smart ones” of their group, they never seem to use any of their supposed intelligence!  The other major problem is that the relationship between Diego and Bree is forced, to an almost laughable degree.  The high drama, emotional kick of Meyer’s previous books is totally lacking here.  There is one interesting relationship in the book and that is the friendship that develops between Fred and Bree.

With all those complaints, do I regret reading the book?  No way.  The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is a fun, satisfyingly fluffy read for any Twilight fan, despite its many flaws.  Read it online for free until July 5, 2010.

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Viking Juvenile, 2008

Another feel good winner from Sarah Dessen!

When Ruby finds herself abandoned by her alcoholic mother, she tries to make a go of it on her own before her estranged older sister steps in and whisks her to a quiet suburban life.  Unable to trust her new family or surroundings, Ruby fights against settling in.  She shuns potential friends and steadfastly attempts to stay independent, relying on no one but herself.  But as Ruby’s sister, her sister’s husband and her new neighbors come through for her again and again, Ruby grows more comfortable and confident in developing trusting relationships.

I loved this book.  Even though it’s one of the books where you can see where they plot is going from page 1, Ruby’s journey was so enjoyable that it was hard to put down.  Dessen has a knack for writing spot on characters and Lock and Key really showcases this talent here.  Recommended for teen and adult readers who want lots of character development with a happy ending.

House of Stairs by William Sleator
(first published 1974)

A small group of unrelated 16-year-old foster teens finds themselves trapped in an endless room full of impossible stairs and ledges.  They don’t know how or why they got there or what they are supposed to go.  They find a machine and quickly learn that it will give them food when they perform seemingly random tasks.  As the machine manipulates them to further and further degrees, personalities among the group begin to clash.  Tensions grow and the stakes are raised in this strange psychological mystery.

I can’t say that I loved The House of Stairs (however, I can say that I LOVED this cover…I mean, just look at it!).  Despite the teen age of the characters, this is most definitely a children’s book rather than a teen book.  I liked the intriguing plot elements and setting, however, the emotional drama of the book was really predictable, with the characters acting more like archetypes than people.  I picked it up after hearing that it was a good readalike to The Hunger Games or even Maze Runner and, after reading it, I could not disagree with the comparison more!  The plot is simple, the characters are whiny and act much, much more like children than teens and the story, while mysterious, does not actually include any action.  I think kids and tweens who are really into science fiction might enjoy this one, but I’d be much more likely to direct them to John Christopher’s work instead.

The Passage by Justin Cronin
Ballantine Books, 2010.

You may have been wondering, “Where the heck is Laura?” during these past few weeks.  Well, dear friends, I’ll tell you where I’ve been–stuck with my nose buried in this monster of a book, The Passage.  I received an ARC of this at a conference and, despite the 700+ pages, decided to start a long process of lugging this brick around until I finished it.  It’s not exactly a page turner, for me anyway, but I slogged through every page for, despite it being the opposite of the type of books I like, it was compelling enough that I absolutely had to finish it.

A suspense/horror/scifi novel, The Passage is about vampires (or a vampire-like monster anyway), the end of the world, the last remaining people of the human race and their salvation.  Epic plot to go with the page length.  Recommended for readers who like Stephen King’s epics.  For me, I found The Passage more intriguing and interesting than frightening, but that’s fine by me.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Greenwillow Books, 2007

What if you found out you only had a year to live?  In Deadline, 18-year-old Ben Wolf discovers, at the start of his senior year, that he has a terminal disease that will likely kill him within a year.  Forgoing treatment with iffy promises, Wolf instead chooses not to tell his friends and family and decides to live a lifetime in his last year, challenging himself in sports, relationships and school.  Dying becomes more complicated, however, as Wolf’s relationships shift and change, making him engage with the world around him like he never has before.

What I liked about Deadline was that it was a fairly smart book that really captured a complex dilemma.  The concept of life and its meaning run very central to the plot and, written in a very honest, down to earth teenage boy perspective.  To top things off, Deadline has some of the best sports scenes that I’ve read in a long time.  Some of the football games were absolutely riveting…and that’s coming from someone who has never actually watched a full football game!

I listened to the audiobook version of Deadline, but I’d recommend the paper copy (nothing against the audio, I just think this type of book would have read better internally).

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 2009
I picked up the audio version of this book without many expectations.  I’d heard about this book and something about the title and cover (perhaps the preppy east coast vibe) never really appealed.  I’m happy to report that my first impressions were completely wrong–The Summer I Turned Pretty is a lovely book!
Fifteen-year-old Belly has spent every summer at a beach house owned by her mother’s best friend Susannah.  Her “summer family” consists of her mother, her brother Steven, Susannah and Susannah’s two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.  Full of memories, family drama and romance, this is the summer when everything changes.

What I loved about this book is that Han succeeded in creating the magical little world of the summer beach house.  It’s nostalgic and beautiful and really makes you think that you can feel the warm sunshine on your back while you read it.  Anyway, I’m not going to yammer on too much.  I will say that the audio version of this book was great.  I really think it helped connect me to a character and a world that I don’t have much in common with.  I felt like I really knew the characters and their world by the time I finished.  The sequel, It’s Not Summer Without You is out now and should be available in audio towards the end of July.

The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2010

I was very excited about this sequel to last year’s chilling Forest of Hands and Teeth and was even more thrilled to see the audiobook version out so quickly.  Contrary to the buzz surrounding this book, I found it to be a slight disappointment.

Almost nothing like her mother, Mary (the protagonist of Forest of Hands and Teeth), Gabry lives happily within the barriers of her small, seaside town of Vista.  The barriers around Vista keep out the mudo–hordes of undead zombies that have overrun most of the world. Everything about Gabry’s life changes one night when she and her friends sneak over the barrier and are attacked by mudo.  Death, adventure, infection, love triangles and revelations of Gabry’s past follow in this muddled sequel.

I was bothered by the abundance of melodrama in this book.  The romance plot lines, in particular, were overly dramatic and felt forced.  I think the audio format enhanced this…it was almost unbearable at parts!  When there was action was where The Dead Tossed Waves shined.  Although I’d still highly recommend this book to fans of the Forest of Hands and Teeth (as well as other books in the genre), Dead Tossed Waves lacks the mystery, pacing and strong characters of Forest that made it so appealing.

Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009

D.J. Schwank is back for the third and final (noooo!) chapter in the Dairy Queen series.  After facing football season and her brother’s injury in the last book, Front and Center is all about basketball season and high school for D.J.  She’s happy to be returning back to her normal life, but when college basketball coaches start recruiting for scholarships, super athlete D.J.’s life is turned upside down again as she is forced to get over her greatest fear.

This book was as tear jerkingly wonderful as the others in the series.  The audio version, just as with the rest of the series, is also spot on fantastic.  D.J. is so easy to relate to.  She’s even makes completely foreign to me things like football, the Midwest and dairy farming feel like home to me.  I think this is a great series for teen girls who want realistic fiction.  Open minded adults will love it too.