Breaking Beautiful/Jennifer Shaw Wolf/354 pages

"Debut writer Jennifer Shaw Wolf takes readers on an emotional ride through the  murky waters of love, shame and ultimately, forgiveness". Allie lost everything the night of the accident, including her memory. As the small town mourns the death of Allie's boyfriend, Trip, she is afraid to remember the accident because of a hidden secret. Trip is popular, good looking and rich but he also has a temper and Allie wanted a way out of the relationship. A good contemporary read that includes a little romance and mystery while dealing with a difficult topic.  Readers that like books similar to "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson will want to try this book.

Something Like Normal/ Trish Doller/216 pages

Travis is returning home after a tour in Afghanistan, his parents are getting divorced, his brother has stolen his girlfriend and he is haunted with nightmares of his best friend's death. Everything looks pretty bleak until he runs into a girl from his past, Harper. Harper becomes his lifeline as Travis deals with PTSD and trying to return to a "normal" life. Sometime it's easy to forget our soldiers are young men and women trying to deal with emotional scars of war. Told from a male perspective but most guys won't read because cover leads readers to believe that it is a romance. Trish Doller has an impressive debut novel in "Something Like Normal".

The Last Thing I Remember/Andrew Klavan/346 pages

Charlie West has just woke up in someone else's nightmare. He's bruised and bloody and a strange voice from outside the door has just ordered his murder. The action is non-stop in this story and the author literally leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat at the end of very chapter. The main character, Charlie is a 17 year old boy with very strong faith and morals. This book would be great for a reluctant reader or a younger reader looking for an adventure story. Very clean, but not really preachy. No sex or bad language, very little violence or gore. One reviewer said it reads like a teenage version of the television show "24". I'd say that's a pretty good comparison!

Book 1 of Homelander Series.

The Probability of Miracles/Wendy Wunder/ 360 pages

Grab the tissue box! This is one of those teen books where you have already guessed the ending, but you keep hoping for a "miracle".  When a book starts with "She hoped this is what it would  feel like in heaven", you know it can't end well. Cam is a sixteen year old that has spent the last seven years in and out of hospitals. She is crossing things off her "flamingo list" and the last thing she wants to do is move 1600 miles away to a town called Promise, Maine, a place known for miraculous events. The story has wit, romance, humor and a cast of quirky characters. Cam did find her own little miracles and the story will touch your heart. Similar to John Green's, The Fault in Our Stars and Before I Die by Jenny Downham, but not near as heavy or sad.

A Dog's Purpose: A Novel for Humans/ W. Bruce Cameron/ 319 pages

W. Bruce Cameron writes this story of one dog who lives multiple lives. The dog keeps being reborn as a puppy, but he retains the lessons he learned in the previous life. Along the way, he/she learns to be a very good dog to each of his owners. His owners aren't always the best humans, however.

This is a Gateway Readers Award nominee for 2012-2013. If it's a nominee and there's a dog in it, then you know the dog must die. But this is like reading Marley and Me three times and Tuesdays with Morris to top it off. These Young Adult titles are killing me! But now I'm ready for Book Club this month!

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams/213 pages

Kyra loved her family; her father, her 3 mothers and her 19 siblings, but she also knew something wasn't quite right.  People would laugh at them when they went to town, the Prophet has burned all the books and newspapers in the compound and she has been promised to her sixty-year-old uncle. When Kyra falls in love with another young man in the compound she begins to questions how her family lives and decides she must make a choice. This book is really hard to read because you know that Kyra loves her family and her life, but the mentality of the cult is so hard to accept. There is some physical and mental abuse, but the story is well-written and I think appropriate for young adult audience. The Chosen One was a 2011-12 Gateway nominee, which is for high school students.

Hold Still / Nina LaCour / 229 pages

This book is a year in the life of Caitlin as she deals with the suicide of her best friend. It is from her 17 year old point of view and the reader becomes aware of others responses to the suicide as Caitlin does. She goes through a long journey as she deals with the death, the guilt, the abandonment, and the journal that Ingrid left behind for her. It is an okay book. It is annoying to me that they characters live in a million dollar subdivision. Of course, some people actually do. It's just more difficult to relate.

It is also a gateway readers award book for 2011-2012 so that means there has to be at least one other issue in the book. In this case, her new best friend is a lesbian so there are some details about sexuality and being gay. Some parents will object to this book, but the suicide is after the fact and Caitlin doesn't have suicidal thoughts herself so that is a plus. Not every teen will have a handy pile of lumber and the skill to build a tree house as therapy. I would have liked her to have seen a therapist, rather than reject that out of hand. Therapy can be very helpful and it would have been nice to see that portrayed.

Hold Still / Nina LaCour / 229p

 Caitlin's best and only friend, Ingrid, has just committed suicide.  How does Caitlin deal with such a loss?  How can she not blame herself for not seeing the signs?  How can she read the diary that Ingrid hid in Caitlin's bedroom the night before she died?  How does life go on?

Both sad and uplifting, this story gives a personal and realistic view of the struggles of both mental illness and  the loss of a friend to suicide.  A Gateway Award nominee this book is more for older teens - grade 8 and up.  Heavy, but will definitely keep their interest.  Give to fans of 13 Reasons Why, Hate List, and/or If I Stay.

Flash Burnout / L.K. Madigan 332 p.

Fifteen-year-old Blake is in a good world – he has a new girlfriend, Shannon and a friend who shares his love for photography student, Marissa. He sends out mental calls for “Houston” while learning to steer the course in his first boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. The three seem to okay until he takes a chance photo of a street person who turns out to be Marissa’s mother. He increasingly spends more time with Marissa – keeping hush-hush about Marissa’s meth-dependent mom. Madigan includes some typical storylines: big brother, boy-girl love, sex, while weaving in details about photography. An entertaining read. Some may object to the consensual sex.
Gateway Readers Award nominee

The Chosen One/ Carol Lynch Williams/ 213 pgs.

Gateway Book Nominee

This book is a fictional account of a girl living inside a FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) compound. Many of the details are based on true events and will really shock the reader such as actually "waterboarding" a baby so that it will not cry. Life inside the church is not easy and disobedience is not tolerated. This book really sets up the problems and has a dramatic conclusion. That the girl in the book is brave enough to challenge the system will keep the reader turning the pages. (Now, I am reading a book on the actual group whose leader was prosecuted in 2008 or 2009 for child abuse and child sexual abuse due to wildly underage marriages to older men.) Two thumbs up.

After / Amy Efaw / 350 pgs. / 2011 Gateway Reader Nominee

In complete denial that she is pregnant, straight-A student and star athlete Devon Davenport leaves her baby in the trash to die, and after the baby is discovered, Devon is accused of attempted murder.

This book would be a great recommendation for anybody that likes to read Jodi Picoult.  Like Picoult, the book covers a hot social topic and goes back and forth between the courtroom drama and the main character's memories. 

Shiver/Maggie Stiefvater/392 pgs

This is another one of the Gateway Readers nominee. I don't usually read stories of werewolves but this one is different. A young girl is attacked by wolves and she becomes fascinated by one of them - a wolf with golden yellow eyes. Years later when a young man (naked) shows up on her doorstep with those same eyes, she learns the secret of the wolves. By spring and summer they are human but during the cold of winter they become wolves. So like any typical YA story, they fall in love and spend the entire story trying to keep him human. That said I really did like this story - it is not your typical werewolf tale. I am looking forward to reading the sequel - "Linger" to find out what happens to Grace and Sam and also what now happens to Olivia (Grace's friend) who was bitten by a wolf.

If I Stay/Forman, Gayle/259 pgs

This is another Gateway Readers nominee and I enjoyed this story also. Not a very happy tale though. It is about a girl who loses her entire family in a car accident and she is critically injured. The story is told by the girl who through out most of the book is outside of her body watching what is happening. She is told that she has to make a decision whether to stay or to go. Her life previous to the accident is told in a series of flashbacks when different members of her extended family or friends comes to visit her. With their help, she does make her decision. Just a warning, some of the language in this book is a little mature.