The Night She Disappeared by April Henry

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Pete’s pizza is a cool place to work. Drew takes the calls, Kayla or Gabie makes the deliveries. Everything is cool until Kayla and Gabie switch shifts and Kayla gets kidnapped. Did the kidnapper mean to take her or was it really Gabie that he was after? Is Kayla even still alive?


This is a thriller about a kidnapped girl, and the people who are left behind. The reader gets to see 14 days from the day the girl goes missing, until the end of the story. I enjoyed reading the story from several different points of view, even the kidnapper’s. I would recommend this book to guys and girls who enjoy suspense.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

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This book is about a high school guy, Greg, and his only friend, Earl. In order to stay hidden from everyone and have some fun they make truly awful movies. It doesn’t matter that the films are abysmal because no one knows them and no one will ever see the movies. When Greg’s mom makes him become friends with a girl (dying of cancer, but it is not as horrible as it sounds) he starts to make a movie that does not stink, and he plans on showing it.


This is a really hysterically funny book that a lot of guys would enjoy reading. I laughed a lot, in public, while reading this book. I would recommend this to older teen readers looking for realistic fiction with plenty of humor.

The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten

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What could be worse than being dumped? How about pining all summer for your boyfriend, and then being dumped as soon as he gets back on the first day of school. So Lucy is having the worst first day of school, when she gets an intriguing offer. Three beautiful and charismatic girls offer Lucy a way to heal her broken heart and gain real power. All she has to do is make someone fall in love with her and then break that person’s heart in the next seven days.

The premise of the book did not sound good to me, but I liked Weingarten’s last book “Wherever Nina Lies” so I gave this one a chance. It was surprisingly good. The characters are all believable, and there is some great advice about self-perception, popularity, and guys. The ending is a little sad, but overall I like the story. At different parts of the book you are not sure if Lucy’s new friends are good guys or bad guys. It makes for an interesting read. I would recommend this for girls who like humor, and romance.

After by Amy Efaw

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Devon is a star soccer player and a straight A student. Her life is going great until she has a baby and dumps it in a trash can. After her arrest everyone, including Devon herself, tries to figure out why she did what she did.

The book was interesting. Devon is not a monster, but she did something monstrous. While reading it I found myself becoming frustrated with her, just like other characters in the book. She does nothing to help her own defense, and she seems to not really know what is going on for most of the book. I like the story, but I wished it didn’t take so long to get to the meat of the story. The author only gives little details at a time. I almost gave up on the story, but I wanted to know what would happen to Devon. I would recommend this book to an older teen girl who likes dramatic realistic fiction.