Hallowe'en is all about setting a mood, right? If you're looking to be fully creeped out, I've got just the ticket. Asylum, by Madeleine Roux HarperCollins, ISBN: 978 0 062 22096 7 I am, I must admit, fairly easily creeped out if a book can pass my strong bullshit-0-meter and skepticism. … [Read more...]
Is It Hot In Here?
So there's a new category of books coming up, known as "new adult." They are, let's say, books aimed at older teens or early twenty-somethings who enjoy teen lit. and the defining characteristic may just be that they are a little steamier than your average teen lit. Here's an example by an author … [Read more...]
Sick
Dude. What to do when the kids in your school start turning into some sort of weird zombies? Sick, by Tom Leveen Amulet Books, ISBN: 978 1 41970 805 3 A few friends have figured out how to "escape" their very secure high school to skip a class, but when they return, they find the place has … [Read more...]
Worst. School. Ever.
School starts tomorrow - but you can bet it's nothing like Benson's new school. Thank goodness... Variant, by Robison Wells Harper Teen, ISBN: 978 0 062 02608 8 Benson is leaving his umpteenth foster home and school for a private school he got into on a special grant, and he couldn't be … [Read more...]
Smoke and Suspense
When a sheltered city girl ends up in a forest fire camp where things are more than a little hinky, she's going to have a very eye-opening summer... Smokescreen, by Nancy Hartry Tundra Books, ISBN: 978 1 77049 405 3 Kerry's summer job in cottage development up north turns out totally … [Read more...]
Stuff That Heroes Are Made Of
A boy wrestling with OCD and family troubles discovers his inner strength in this touching and quirky teen book. The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B, by Teresa Toten Doubleday, ISBN: 978 0 385 67834 6 Adam has been in one-on-one therapy , but is also joining a group for teens with OCD. The first … [Read more...]
UberFan
Teens (and tweens) can be... a little obsessive in their fandom, shall we say? But most have not gone this far! Rockoholic, by CJ Skuse Scholastic, ISBN: 978 0 545 42960 3 Jody is a serious Regulators fan - room plastered in posters, gone vegetarian for the singer, who she adores, and … [Read more...]
Kiss of Death?
What if you kissed someone... and they died? Who I Kissed, by Janet Gurtler Sourcebooks Fire, ISBN: 978 1 402 27054 3 Sam really, really liked Zee - so when her crush kissed someone else right after having a moment with her, she may have sort of kissed another guy just to show she didn't … [Read more...]
Love & Sobbing
What starts as a story of two awkward teens turns into a gorgeous love story with one hell of an ending. Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell St Martin's Press, ISBN: 978 1 250 01257 9 I have been ranting and raving about this book all over twitter and to everyone I know who will stand … [Read more...]
Touch of the Paranormal
A boy who sees his own future has more than a few things to sort out as it shifts before him. Touched, by Cyn Balog Delacorte Press, ISBN: 978 0 385 74032 6 Nick Cross has a peculiar problem - he sees his own future. not in ways that are necessarily helpful, and every time he does things … [Read more...]