Fallen by Lauren Kate

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Luce is a good girl who has ended up in reform school because of the unexplained death of a boy she was last seen with.  When she enters this new school she is surprised to make new friends and meet Daniel.  He is a sexy and exciting guy who seems to hate her on sight.  Luce knows she should stay away from him, especially since he doesn’t seem to like her, but she is drawn to him.  Why can’t she just date Cam, the guy who gives her presents and is kind to her?  When the strange shadows she has been seeing all her life start to converge over her school and another boy dies, Luce starts to suspect that something beyond her control is happening.  Is there anything she can do? 

Twilight read alike alert. 

How is it like Twilight?

1. Pretty girl out of her element in a new school.  (check)
2. Mysterious, sexy guy that seems to despise aforementioned girl.  (check)
3. Mysterious attraction to guy to spite the fact he seems to loath girl. (check)
4. Epic romance that is never quite fulfilled. (check)

This book has everything you liked about Twilight, but does it better.  No vampires here, but there are fantastical creatures and an amazing romantic adventure.  The story is more realistic and at the same time full of religious mythology.  Don’t roll your eyes over the religious stuff.  (That’s what the main character does.)  The story won’t beat you over the head with it; there is just enough religious mythology to keep the story going.  This is a must read if you like Twilight, the House of Night Series, or Hush, Hush.  

 

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

House of Night Series by P.C. Cast

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

The Enemy by Charlie Higson

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Another Good Zombie Story.  This one is Lord of the Flies meets 20 Days Later.  In the not to distant future, London, and the rest of the world has fallen victim to a strange and horrible plague.  The sickness affected only people over the age of 16.  Everyone over 16 has been afflicted with a sickness that wiped out almost every adult.  Those who survived are flesh eating animals.  The kids are the only reasonable people left and they are trying to etch out an existence while avoiding starvation and gangs of flesh eating zombie adults.  

The book could have been cheesy, but it is poignant.  In the fashion of Golding, the author manages to portray kids and early teens as they are, and could be.  Higson shows us many sides of the main characters, and tells the story from the point of view of many different characters.  The story sucked me in and didn’t let go until the end.  Every time you think you know what’s going to happen next, you are surprised.  This is how a zombie story should be. the zombies are the backdrop for the real action...how the kids interact.  READ IT!

Much Ado About Grubstake by Jean Ferris

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During the end of the gold rush, in the Colorado mountains you can find a town called Grubstake; population 62.  Arley is the sixteen year old owner of a boarding house.  The town is down on its lich, and no one has found any gold in the mountains for some time, so when a stranger comes to town and starts buying up people’s claims Arely gets suspicious. 

This book is a fun and clean read for younger teens.  (11-14). There is no bad language or any explicate content. The main character is a pluck girl who solves a mystery and meets a mysterious stranger who may be a good guy or a bad guy.  It has action, adventure, and a little romance; he perfect combination for a younger teen reader.

Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford

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Carter is a freshman and this is the story of his first year in high school.  He stutters, freaks out around girls, and has ADD.  During the course of the year he drinks, meets a girl, and runs from the cops a couple of times.  This is a guys read from start to finish complete with female induced fantasies and crude humor.

This book was not for me.  I just couldn’t get into it. (Maybe because I’m not a guy and this is a real “guys” book.)  Don’t take my word for it because the book got great reviews from Booklist and other authors.  Read it and tell me what you think.  If you do like there is a sequel – Carter’s Big Break.

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

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"Both medical thriller and science fiction, this fast-paced,
captivating modern vampire story is enriched with biology and history. . .
Entrancing throughout—but squeamish readers beware."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

This book is great from start to finish, and it’s not your mother’s vampire story.  Are you tired of romantic vampires with perfect hair and a diamond glow?  Then this is the book for you.

Cal is a guy who came from Texas to New York City for college.  On his first night he get’s lucky…the only problem is that the girl who kisses him is Parasite Positive or as they are called in the business a PEEP.  Now that he is infected it’s his job to roundup everyone he accidentally infected and help them to stop being blood hungry vampiric creatures. 

The book is told in alternate chapters.  The odd chapters advance the story, while the even chapters give details about various parasites that exist in the world.  This is a funny, slightly gruesome, and always entertaining take on the classic vampire story.  If you like it you can read the sequel: So Yesterday.

Play Dead by Ryan Brown

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Cole is the star quarterback on his high school, Texas, football team. They are just about to play for the district title, when a prank played by another school goes awry. The steroid riddled players of their rival team plan a prank that leaves the team decimated, but a local Voodoo practicing fan has just what it takes to bring the boys back for one last shot at the title. This sounds like the worst possible start to a story.

Really…Zombie football players.

Those guys are already mindless! I wasn’t even going to bother reading it, but I’m glad I did. This story is great! It’s exciting (I hate football by the way). The main character is a tough guy, and he has a cool reporter sidekick. This would be a great movie; Varsity Blues meets Dawn of the Dead. The zombies are not comical or scary as much as they are heartbreaking and determined. If you like blood and guts there’s plenty of that too, but this is a book with heart and zombies. It makes a commentary about the world in which it takes place while it entertains you, like all good zombie fiction. I give it two rotting thumbs up. A mist read for zombie fans.


Warning – this is not a clean read – Plenty of cursing and one sexual scene (only a small paragraph but it’s in there). None of this takes away from the book.

Ghost Huntress Series by Marley Gibson

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Kendall is a psychic who has a ghost guide.  When she gets her powers she and her friends decide to use her gift to help others.  They become ghost hunters.  Their job is to track down spirits who are not at rest and help them to move on.

Kenda;;'s friends are realistic and the dialog between the characters reds true to the way that teens talk to each other.  It's not very scary (to spite the ghosts) and has a good female empowerment message.  These books won't change your life but they make for fun summer reading. 

The books in order are:
The Awakening
The Guidance
The Reason

The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy

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Jess Parker is 16 and to spite the fact she is a cheerleader, she has always been an outsider.  when she moves to a new town and takes the spot of a cheerleader with less talent, she becomes a target for the other girls on the squad. It seems like her junior year is going to be really hard, until she gets an invitation on the last day of her sophomore year.  Jess's invitation introduces her to the world of the Cindys.  now that she has the looks, the guy, and the friends she wants is she willing to do what it takes to keep it all?

The story revolves around two competing groups; The Cindys and the Wickeds.  The Cindys are a force for good in the world (like Cinderella) and the Wickeds are a force for evil (like the Wicked Step Sisters).  It starts in high school, when the girls are recruited, and continues through out their lives.

The premise for the book is interesting but it fell short for me.  I found Jess to be a little boring so I didn't feel connection with her.  The pace of the book is a little slow, but it reads kind of like the national treasure movies.  There is a larger conspiracy going on beyond a high school club that many readers find exciting and interesting to read about. 

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

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Ever wonder how Sex in the City’s Carrie Bradshaw became a writer? Who was she before she was in the city? This book is a prequel to the television series. The book opens with Carrie’s senior year in high school. She lives in a small town where the most exciting thing to happen in years is that a new guy has moved to town. Carrie has a group of friends who drink, hang out, and talk about boys.

For fans of the show it’s interesting to see what this character was like in high school and how she becomes a writer. Fans will also like the surprise of discovering how Carrie and another character from the show meet for the first time. (Embarrassingly I squealed). I’m not sure how many teen girls are fans of the show…I don’t know if people who don’t know the character will care that much about who Carrie is or her story. You have to care about Carrie to want to read the book, and the book alone did not make me feel close to her or care about her.

This book is really for fans of the show more than someone looking for an introduction to the character.