The Dead House / Dawn Kurtagich / 448 pages

This book is disturbing.  The book is a collection of evidence - diary entries, transcripts of video clips, interviews with students and a psychologist - surrounding a fire at Elmsbridge school.  The only suspect is a girl with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities) who also died in the fire.  While the book keeps counting down to "The Incident," there are many traumatic incidents that happen before the beginning of the book and during the countdown.  The main character's (Carly/Kaitlyn Johnson) parents died before the beginning of the book.  The main character is checked into a mental hospital of some sort and then sent to Elmsbridge boarding school.  A student goes missing, several students die, the misery is nonstop.  This is reminiscent of Shutter Island in that you can't trust the information from the main character as she devolves into psychosis - or demon possession, depending on the interpretation you prefer.


Amazon states this book is YA.  I personally wouldn't let a child under the age of sixteen read the version I listened to on audiobook. There is apparently an alternate paperback edition for grades 8 and up.  Parents will want to preview this before giving to a child - language, disturbing themes, occult/magic/demon possession, sexual situations, violence.


There is a companion novella The Dead House: Naida.

EverTrue / Brodi Ashton / 368 pages

This is the third and final novel of the Everneath trilogy.  Nikki has rescued Jack, and now she just wants to graduate high school, but soon finds her energy drained.  Cole had tricked her into feeding on him in the Everneath, so now she is in the process of becoming an everliving.  She and Jack decide to fight for her life with everything they have.  Unfortunately, if Nikki doesn't feed on Cole every night, she dies.  Many awkward situations arise.


Nikki wants to find a way to sever her connection to the Everneath, but she has attracted the attention of the Queen, and the Queen has a reputation for killing any rival for her throne.  Can she escape with her life once and for all?


More connections to Persephone and other underworld myths arise.  Much more action than the previous two novels.  Friendships are strained and enemies are trusted.  A fitting end to the series.

EverBound / Brodi Ashton / 384 pages

This is the second novel of the Everneath series.  Nikki Beckett escaped the tunnels, but only because her boyfriend, Jack, took her place.  Now she embarks on a journey to save Jack and find a way for them both to live out normal, human lives.  Unfortunately, she has to depend on Cole - the life-sucking everliving who took her to the Everneath - to help her save the love of her life.  Nikki continues to trust Cole even when she knows she shouldn't.  Will he be the friend she hopes for or betray her yet again?


The mythological elements are a little stronger than in the first novel, more mention of the Persephone myth, and readers might also recognize elements of Dante's Inferno. 

Everneath / Brodi Ashton / 400 pages

This is the first book of the Everneath trilogy.  16-year-old Nikki Beckett returns home after a 6-month absence.  Everyone assumes she was on drugs or in rehab, but the truth is much darker.  She had been fed on in the Everneath, and barely escaped.  Can she repair the relationships she left behind and forgive her own weakness that led to her disappearance?  Can she find a way to say goodbye again before the tunnels claim her in six months?


Readers of Twilight will appreciate this book, though there are no sparkling vampires.  This author would have been on Team Jacob.  There are elements of the supernatural and romance.  There are also ties to ancient mythologies.

Salt to the Sea/ Ruta Sepetys/ 391 pages

Salt to the Sea, written by Ruta Sepetys introduces the reader to Operation Hannibal, an attempt by the Nazis to evacuate two million people from east and west Prussia.  The reader meets three of the main characters as they flee the Soviet Army while making their way to the evacuation site.  Joana, Florian and Emilia along with several other characters travel together to the port.  Each has a secret that is finally revealed to the reader.  As they travel across Prussia, Alfred is already at the port preparing the ships for the evacuation.  All are passengers aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship built for vacation cruises just prior to the war.  The ship will ultimately carry over 9000 people to their deaths.  The author does a good job of revealing the little know history of the Wilhelm Gustloff, the greatest sea disaster recorded, with more lose of life than the Titanic or the Lusitania.  This book will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction from the perspective of younger people.

Truly, Madly, Deadly/Hannah Jayne/262 pages/2 December Challenges Met

Sawyer Dodd's life is falling apart. Her parents divorced, and her father has remarried and has a child on the way (6 geese a-laying.) Her boyfriend was just killed in a drunk driving accident. She's even feeling watched while she runs during track practice (7 swans a-swimming.) Then she receives a note implying that her boyfriend (who was secretly abusing her) was killed for her. When other people who abuse her in different ways start dying, Sawyer must convince everyone she's isn't responsible.

This was a fairly predictable, but still relatively entertaining, YA book. It would be a good first thriller for that audience.

Scandal/Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur/326 pages

Callie Andrews, when we last left her, had been accused of being the Ivy Insider, the person who was writing articles exposing the seedier side of the Hasty Pudding Club at Harvard. She suspects her archrival Lexi is behind it all, but how to prove it? And to top it all off, Gregory, her almost boyfriend has disappeared to avoid the questions about his father's questionable finances. The four roommates plus the three boys from across the hall band together to figure out what's what.

I started this series when I was sick last month and finished it this month while fighting off yet another nasty bug. This was the perfect thing to read while recovering. My other choice would have been The Poisonwood Bible which I'm reading (and not really into) for my book club next month.

The Tragedy Paper/Elizabeth LaBan/312 pages/Scottish fiction?

"Enter here to be and find a friend" is the motto of the Irving School, a prestigious private high school located in New York state. Duncan gets his room assignment for his senior year and is dismayed to discover that he has the worst room on the senior boys wing. Last year, it was occupied by Tim Macbeth, an albino transfer student, who was involved in something that Duncan would rather forget. Each senior is left a "treasure" by the student who lived in that room the year before. Tim has left Duncan a set of CDs on which he has left the story of what happened the spring before. Over the course of the year, Duncan listens to the CDs while juggling his school schedule, his love life and the ever looming "Tragedy Paper", the senior thesis required for graduation.

Interesting and somewhat suspenseful. With names like Macbeth and Duncan, I'm claiming Scottish fiction. Especially since I wasted my Maeve Binchy last month! :)

Rivals/Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur/364 pages

Callie decides to tackle her problem head on and comes clean on the front page of the Crimson with her secret, thereby taking the ammunition out of Lexi's hands. While she becomes a hero to most, there are still snickers and lewd comments from some. Now that everything is out in the open and Clint doesn't care about the scandal, life should be good, but it's not to be. She still gets cut from the magazine because Lexi has to exact some revenge. And there's the small problem of Gregory, the guy from across the hall. She can't decide if he is evil or wonderful.

Because of three days of fever, I was able to sit and read these ebooks straight through. Honestly, if we had had the fourth in ebook form, I would have been all over it. However, I wasn't interested in paying over $5 for any of them. I don't know if it was my weakened condition or pure enjoyment that kept me reading, but I do have the book on reserve and hope I get it soon. I'm still wondering how a front page story in the Crimson didn't make it back to UCLA where Callie's dad is the head of the mathematics department, since her parents are still in the dark.

The Ivy/Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur/312 pages/First in a series

Callie Andrews is starting her first semester at Harvard. She's from a distinctly middle class Southern California family, so learning the ins and outs of the Harvard crowd will take some time. Luckily, she has three roommates to help her: Vanessa, a New Yorker with all the right connections but who tries too hard, Mimi, a foreign party girl fresh from rehab, and Dana, a studious and very religious girl who just wants to do the right thing all the time. Soon Callie finds herself in the middle of a romantic triangle, vying for a position on a school magazine and trying to find time to study (and shower for that matter.) Soon an embarrassing incident from her past may ruin everything.

I got this as a "Free Friday" selection on my Nook months ago. Overall, it's a pretty addicting story. I'd rate it way higher than the Gossip Girl series that I started reading back when my daughter was. I just wish a girl who is smart enough to get into Harvard could figure out to wear winter clothes in Cambridge in the winter. But, I'll read the next one.

Envy/Gregg Olsen/285 pages

Fifteen-year-old twins Hayley and Taylor Ryan live in the small historic town of Port Gamble, WA. Everyone knows everyone and everyone's business, or so they think. When the town is stunned by their former friend and neighbor's Christmas evening death, the twins work to find out if it was truly accidental or a suicide. When they discover that someone was first flirting with her and then dumping her online, something more evil comes to light.

If the storyline sounds familiar, there is a reason. This is the first in a new series using "ripped-from-the-headlines stories" via Law and Order. The local cyber-bullying case of Megan Meier was the inspiration, although this novel strays away from that story. Olsen is a best-selling adult true crime author trying his hand at Young Adult fiction. He's also added a touch of the paranormal with the characters of the twins. They have a connection and sense that goes beyond the traditional twin-sense. They also have a back story that is slowly being revealed. I'm looking forward to the next book.

Mister Death's Blue-eyed Girls/Mary Downing Hahn/330 pages

Nora and Ellie can't wait until the last day of their junior year. The night before, they go with a bunch of friends to the rec center to dance and afterwards to the park to drink and dance some more. One of the girls ex-boyfriend follows them there and causes some problems, but everyone gets home safely. The next morning, Cheryl, whose ex was the problem the night before, and Bobbie Jo stop by to walk with Nora and Ellie to school. Nora and Ellie are running late because they are slightly hungover, so Cheryl and Bobbie Jo go on without them. That would be the last time they see Cheryl and Bobbie Jo alive. Someone waits for them in the woods and shoots them. The whole town assumes the murderer is Buddy, Cheryl's ex, but the police have no evidence, so they have to let him go. Nora's summer and whole life have been changed by this tragedy. She starts questioning everything, even Buddy's guilt.

This is an fictionalized account of a true crime that happened during the author's teenaged years. It's obvious that she has been haunted by it for years and has struggled to make sense of all of it. Clearly, this was a book she had to write.

Th1rteen R3asons Why/ Jay Asher/ 288 pages

Clay Jensen finds a package on his front porch. When he opens it, he discovers seven cassettes tapes. He's startled to discover that Hannah Baker, his secret crush, had recorded the tapes. Hannah had just committed suicide a couple of weeks before. On the tapes, Hannah claims to explain the 13 reasons why she did what she did, and if you are listening to the tapes, then you have played a part. Clay can't imagine what he might have done since he had worshiped Hannah from afar and had very little direct contact with her. He listens to the tapes and learns what Hannah's life had been.

 Another heavy duty young adult selection. It shows how perceptions are different depending on what side you are on. High school seems to be a virtual war zone these days. I'm so glad to be past that.

Pieces of Us/Margie Gelbwasser/323 pages

Alex and Kyle are brothers who visit their Russian grandparents in the Catskills every summer. Katie and Julie are sisters who also visit their own Russian grandparents right next door. The summers are so far removed from their "real" lives during the school year that they even go by their Russian names. They have known each other forever, but as they grow up, their relationships change with Alex and Katie becoming a summer-only romance. Julie would like the same with Kyle, but he is resistant to the idea. Their lives back home are very different with Alex being an angry and abusive young man toward his brother, his mother and every girl who crosses his path. Katie's life is changed when she gets drunk at a party and suffers a humiliating attack.

This was a disturbing look at two dysfunctional families and how they treat each other. Young adult fiction may be too much for me!

Cloudy with a Chance of Boys / Megan McDonald 260 p.

Stevie Reel is a novice when it comes to boys. Then comes the new boy in her earth science class who calls her at home! They end up partners in a science project. Older sister Alex is not much help. She's busy trying to get her first kiss from fellow thespian Scott Towel. Youngest sister is just not into boys she'd rather kiss her frog. McDonald expertly interweaves Shakespeare into the story and Jenna Lamia delivers wonderful lines.
Humorous chick lit-like, character-driven story for pre-teens.


2012 Notable Children's Recordings