The List by Siobhan Vivian

Nobody knows who writes "The List" each year. The Tradition has been passed on for years. The week before Homecoming "The List" appears with the names of the ugliest and the prettiest girls in each grade. Nobody has ever claimed to have written "The List." Years before the seal of the school was stolen and is used to officially emboss "The List." Each year it is passed on to someone else in secret. That person doesn't know who was the list maker before them, but then it is their turn to make "The List."

For the 8 girls on The List life changes dramatically during the week before Homecoming. This year Bridget Honeycutt is chosen as The Prettiest for the junior class. Immediately the pressure is on Bridget to look her best. This manifests in an eating disorder that she thought had been put behind her over the summer. But she is determined to fit into that smaller dress size by the end of the week. Jennifer Briggis becomes the first four-peat girl as ugliest. Her former best friend Margo was chosen as prettiest which puts her in the top running for Homecoming Queen. When Sarah finds her name on the ugliest list she is determined to fight back. She decides to not bathe for the entire week much to the disgust of the student body that have to be in classes with her. Each girl handles their fame or rejection in her own way, unfortunately letting The List change them whether for positive or negative. With one girl determined that this will be the last List EVER.

My Thoughts:

There were a few things that I disliked about this story. The cursing, the sexual situations, and the drinking/smoking. BUT, I think the story brought out a lot of how fragile young adult self-image can be. And then to have their flaws or assets brought out in public like "The List," how damaging it can be even to the most put-together teen. This was not a "feel-good" story, it didn't end with everyone experiencing their "happily ever after." High school is messy, egos and self-image are fragile and the author was able to show that in this story. And there were moments when friendships and relationships weathered the storm which made the story more palatable for me.

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

Nora, her best friend Chris, his girlfriend Adriane and Chris' best friend and roommate Max all  are working on a translation project for a professor. Nora is assigned to translating letters written by Elizabeth Weston over 400 years before. What she discovers is a recipe for a machine that is believed to open up channels to God.

This discovery leads to murder, secret brotherhoods and betrayal. When Chris is found murdered in his home, Adriane catatonic by his side in a pool of blood and Max the last person seen leaving the house, Nora is determined to prove Max's innocence in the murder and to put together the puzzle pieces of where Elizabeth hid the parts of the machine(Lumen Dei).

When Max contacts Nora she and Adriane sneak away from a class trip and head to Prague to meet Max. They are followed by Chris' cousin Eli who has family connections in Prague and also has family secrets he is unwilling to share with Nora. From the time they reach Prague they are faced with those trying to protect the Lumen Dei and others that are trying to find it for their own purposes. Nora soon finds that she doesn't know her friends as well as she thinks she does. Hers and Elizabeth's lives seem to mirror each others and betrayal is around the corner for her just as it was for Elizabeth.

My Thoughts:

I found myself comparing this book to a cross between The DaVinci Code and an Indiana Jones movie. It reminded me of The DaVinci Code with the secret sects protecting a spiritual being/object along with lots of supposedly spiritual connotations. It reminded me of Indiana Jones in the fact that once the object was acquired the greedy person seeking the power suffered a grizzly demise of supernatural dimensions. Not to say that being compared to these is a bad thing, but the fact that this is marketed as a Young Adult book had me scratching my head. The writing was fairly technical and also at times hard for me to slog through. If I had a hard time keeping my attention on the text I cannot imagine a teenager staying with it through to it's ending. I have to say though that I did become invested in the characters and continued to read on just to find out what happened at the end.

Pet Peeve:
Like I said, The Book of Blood and Shadow is marketed for 12 and up. I started seeing very early in the book that the author was peppering the story with words that were not common for most adults not to mention middle school grades or high schoolers. This was frustrating for me, but I began to write down each word that I either didn't know the meaning of or knew from the sentence what the author meant, but wasn't quite sure that a YA student would know the word. I then looked these words up after I finished the book. I probably should have looked them up while reading, but seriously, what Young Adult would stop reading during a story to look up a word? So here is my list of words:

Ameliorated-heard of it, but don't use it!

Iterations-never heard of it

Ensorcelled-huh?

Egalitarian-heard of

Disingenuous-heard of

Caesura-never heard

Karass-couldn't even find it when I looked it up

Vertiginous-heard of

Soporific-heard of

Ethos-heard of

Matrices-plural of matrix!

Defenestration-never heard

Inchoate-never heard

Those are just the words that stood out to me. There were other words such as detritus that I knew the meaning of, but is not really a common word. I understand an author wanting to enlighten and improve our vocabulary, but if I had to stop and look up every word then that to me would detract from the story.  And once again this is a Young Adult book, stick with what they know because the unfamiliar will lose them just as it almost lost me.

I received my copy as an ARC from ALA in January 2012. The Book of Blood and Shadow will be published and available for sale in April 2012.

Curveball The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick

Peter and his best friend AJ are the best baseball pitchers for their team. Their pitching skills are going to take them far. When Peter is pitching, AJ is catching then when AJ pitches then Peter is catching. They are quite a duo. That is until Peter messes up his arm and is told he can no longer pitch~EVER.

This does not seem to be Peter's year. Not only can he no longer pitch, but he is also starting his freshman year of high school. Also, there seems to be something disturbing going on with his Grampa. Peter's Grampa is a famous photographer. He has taught Pete everything he knows about cameras and taking the perfect picture. When his Grampa seems to miss the most perfect shot of all and then up and gives Pete all of his equipment Pete knows there is something terrible going on. His Grampa also seems to be frequently forgetting things.

Pete's mother insists that he enroll in an introductory photography class. Since he can no longer play baseball then she feels he needs to be in a "club" of some sort. Pete meets Angelika in class. They are soon put together as partners and things start to look up for Pete. Even though Pete has always told his best friend AJ everything he somehow can not bring himself to tell AJ about not being able to pitch again. The only one he really talks to about that is Angelika. She encourages him to not only be honest to AJ about his arm, but also to talk to his parents about what is going on with his Grampa.

Once again I love the emotions that Jordan Sonnenblick explores in his stories! Peter's relationship with his Grampa is so special and you feel for him as he watches his Grandfather fade into the world of Alzheimer disease. You feel for Pete in his awkward 9th grade self wondering what he is going to do with his life now that he can't play baseball. You admire AJ and Angelika for being Peter's best friends and helping him through his emotions. I have to say that once again Jordan Sonnenblick was able to bring a smile and tear to my eye in Curveball The Year I Lost My Grip.

I received my copy as an ARC from ALA in January.

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

The year is 2083 and chocolate and caffeine are illegal. Anya Balanchine is the daughter of a now dead crime boss. Anya is determined to keep herself, her sister and brother and grandmother separated from her family's notorious connection. Having seen her father killed right in front of her she wants nothing to do with the family business.

For all intents and purposes Anya at 16 is the head of her little family. Her grandmother is dying, her brother has not been "right" since he was in an accident that killed their mother, and her sister is only 13. When some Balanchine chocolate ends up poisoning Anya's ex-boyfriend, she finds herself in trouble with the law and her family in the media spotlight.


Amidst all of this Anya meets Win,  the new guy at school, and is attracted to him until she finds out who his father is. With ambitions to become the next DA Win's father asks Anya to stay away from his son. It wouldn't look good for him in an election if his son was dating a crime boss's daughter.

Win and Anya begin secretly dating and soon fall in love with each other. Will their love be able to withstand her family name and his father's ambition?

All These Things is the first book in a series. I found the characters very believable but wasn't attached enough to them to continue on in the series. The storyline plodded along and I found myself getting distracted by other things. I guess it just wasn't the story for me.

Clarity by Kim Harrington

Clarity(Clare), her brother Periwinkle(Perry), and their mother Starla(Mary, but nobody better ever call her that) all have special psychic abilities. Clare can touch something of a person and can see and hear images of the past. Perry can speak to the dead and Starla can hear a persons thoughts. They give readings in their tourist town to make a living. 

Clare has suffered at the hands of her classmates for years because of her freakish ability. She has just gone through a breakup with her boyfriend Justin. When a young girl is found shot to death in a local motel a new detective moves into town along with his "hot" teen son. 

Clare, along with her former boyfriend Justin and the new hottie Gabriel are asked to help work on the case to find out who the murderer is. What is really wanted is Clare's ability to touch something that the victim had come in contact with in order to find out who the killer is. Law enforcement can't officially ask her because it would look bad to rely on a psychic for information.

What Clare doesn't count on is having her brother involved with the dead girl. Clare doesn't believe that he is the killer, but so many things are pointing in his direction. She finds that she doesn't know whom she can trust.

Regardless of what I believe about psychic ability this was a very good book! The suspense and mystery kept me turning the pages late into the night(or should I say morning!) in order to finish the book and find out "who dunnit". 

Bite Club by Rachel Caine

A new gym has opened in Morganville. From the time Shane visits it he is changed. Taken into a back room of the gym he is offered a deal he cannot refuse. Learn to fight with Vampire's. This seems to be just what Shane is looking for in order to get even with the Vampire's for what they have done to his family and friends.

Gloriana is a Vampire that has the ability to glamour the people around her. She has glamoured Shane into taking revenge on the Vampire's. Also she and Vassily have been supplying the fighters with energy drinks that seem to cause the humans to have super fast skills like Vampire's.

All of Shane's pent up rage spills over into his fighting and into his personal life. Eve, Michael and Claire try to find a way to rescue Shane from the club and from himself. Will they be able to save him before Amelie decides to mete out justice Vampire style?

As always living in Morganville does not provide a quiet existence for Claire. I was so stressed out reading this book! Mainly because I just couldn't stand the thought of Shane and Claire's relationship falling apart. I won't tell you how it all ended, but I will say that as always Rachel Caine has written an exciting story and I can't wait for the next Morganville Vampire book to come out!

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Scarlett Martin and her family own and operate a hotel in the middle of New York City. Whenever one of the Martin kids turn 15 they are assigned a room in the hotel to be in charge of. Scarlett is assigned the Empire Suite. Shortly after her birthday and room assignment Mrs. Amberson becomes a permanent resident in the Empire Suite.

Scarlett's brother Spencer is an actor. He has a scholarship to a culinary school that his parents want him to attend. Spencer wants to focus on his acting. He joins a small troupe of actors putting on a version of Hamlet.

Lorna, Scarlett's older sister is dating a boy who's family is very rich. Scarlett and Spencer think that she is dating him for his money because she doesn't act like a girl in love. Lorna thinks she would like to be part of the "rich world" but soon finds that she doesn't fit in with the stuck up crowd.

Marlene is the youngest. Marlene is in remission from Leukemia. Marlene is a bit spoiled and gets whatever she wants.

At first the story shows the disfunctional relationships between all of the siblings. Scarlett and Spencer are close and Lorna and Marlene are close. By the end of the story they are all working together towards one goal, making sure that Spencer gets his chance to act rather than having to go to culinary school to help out the family business.

I had a hard time getting into this story but by the end I was engaged in all of the characters and was quickly turning pages to find out how everything turned out. There are a few curse words in the story and a mild kissing scene with a mention of condoms but for the most part this is a pretty solid middle school book.