Author: Mary E. Pearson
Pages: 261
Jenna just woke up from a year long coma and doesn’t really remember much. She has been told her name and her parents are constantly showing her home movies but nothing sparks anytime of recognition. She remembers nothing about her life before the accident. But one day, she slowly begins to remember things but she also has a lot of questions. Questions that no one seems to want to answer.
When Jenna starts to realize what happened she is shocked and more than a little angry. As her parents try to explain things to her she just gets more and more upset and she tries to figure out what her future holds.
This book was weird but I loved it! It was like nothing else I have ever even attempted to read and I almost stopped reading it but I was very glad that I didn’t. Definitely check this out! You will be surprised by what really happened to Jenna Fox!
Author: Daniel Waters
Pages: 392
Crazy things are happening all over the country but they are only happening to teenagers. Teens are dying, but they aren’t staying dead. Known as “living impaired” or “differently biotic”, the kids are doing all they can to fit in once they come back. Although many are accepting of the teens, most are not. Some even set out to kill them again, this time for good.
Phoebe and Margi never really fit in at High School anyway, but when Phoebe befriends Tommy, who just so happens to be living impaired, it makes things even worse. As Phoebe starts to fall for Tommy, she finds herself torn between him and her best friend Margi, who fears the differently biotic teens. And as living impaired kids start getting hunted, will Phoebe find herself in danger?
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters is unlike anything I have ever read. Never have I read anything that had to do with kids not staying dead! This book was interesting, although it took me awhile to get into it and I found it didn’t hold my attention for long periods of time. But if you like things that are abnormal and you just want something to pick up every once in awhile, then this is a good book for you!
Author: Nancy A. Collins
Pages: 235
Lilith Todd is the reigning queen of Bathory Academy where all the young women of the elite vampire families in New York are trained. They are taught everything they might need to know once they become full-fledged vampires. Lilith Todd and her friends rule the Academy and the city, at least according to them. Lilith is more than looking forward to her destiny with her boyfriend, Jules, who she will eventually be united with for all eternity.
But when a new girl joins the Academy Lilith instantly feels threatened. Everyone seems to be drawn to her, even Jules. Will Lilith lose her hold on him and everyone else?
Not my favorite vampire book, but it was definitely an easy read. You should check it our if you like vampire fiction, though I would probably say that it fits ages under 18.
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Pages: 754
Now that Bella and Edward have announced their engagement and are about to get married Bella feels like everyone is watching her and wondering. With her new car she attracts even more attention and everyone knows she hates being in the spotlight. She is more than ready to get married and start her new life, a life that will last forever, her life as a vampire.
Unfortunately, not everyone is as excited for Bella’s turning as she is. Jacob has left town because he can’t deal with Bella’s choice. To make things worse, once the Cullens turn her into a vampire they will have broken the treaty and the werewolves will come after them. But everything changes after Bella and Edward get married and go on their honeymoon. Bella doesn’t come home the way she left, but she’s not a vampire either. You’ll have to read this one to find out what happens for yourself!
I love love love love love this book! I am really sad that this is the last book in the series because I want to know more about what happens to everyone! This is definitely one of the best series that I have ever read and I can’t help but want to read it over and over and over again!!! Definitely a must read!
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Pages: 629
Bella is in danger, again. Whats new right? This time however the vampires and the werewolves are preparing to pull together to protect her. Which only makes it harder for Bella to choose between Jacob and Edward. With Edward still doing all he can to protect her she keeps find herself outside the loop. Which is why she is glad she has Jacob, since he is more than willing to tell her the things Edward is hiding from her.
When the danger comes to Forks, Edward has no way of hiding things from Bella and they must prepare to face the threat together. As the Cullen family struggles to find out what exactly is after Bella, she seems to be the one who is on the right track. As the werewolves and vampires band together to fight, will Bella make it out alive?
I absolutely love the Twilight Series! I’m currently making my way through the series for the third time and I have to say that I would (and do) recommend it to everyone. Although I get a little sick of the constant Jacob-Edward fighting in this book, I think it is very exciting. Of course, my brief summary above doesn’t even begin to cover all the exciting moments in the book so you should definitely check it out! But make sure to read Twilight and New Moon first, otherwise you won’t get the full story. And what a story it is!
I was in LOVE with Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and I fell just as in love with the sequel, New Moon with the very first page. New Moon broke my heart and then put it back together again! If you liked Twilight there is no way you could not like New Moon. The first time I read it I was a little mad but the second and third times I enjoyed it much more!
Bella, Edward, and the whole gang are back and things haven’t calmed down in Forks. As Bella’s 18th birthday arrives she should be excited. However the only thing this birthday means for her is that she is officially older than Edward. Okay, maybe not technically, but the fact that he will be eternally 17 years old is a big deal for her and wants this birthday to go unnoticed. Unfortunately, no one seems to be honoring her request. When she finally gives in and goes along with Edward’s plan things take a turn for the worse and force Edward to take a hard look at the danger he puts her in.
When Edward and his family disappear, taking everything that may remind Bella of them, she is devastated. Unable to deal with her feelings she represses them and causes those around her to begin to seriously worry. As the months pass, Bella begins to lean on her friendship with Jacob, who begins to change dramatically. As Bella struggles to deal with the new Jacob, she is surprised to find that she is being hunted once again.
As if thinks couldn’t get worse, Alice Cullen returns and tells her that the whole family believes she is dead and Edward is about to do something terrible. Unable to live without her, he is ready to end his life and Bella and Alice must rush to stop him. Will they be able to get to him in time to save him and escape with their own lives? You’ll have to check it out and this is one series you don’t want to miss!
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is even better than everyone makes it out to be. Stephenie Meyer weaves together a fantastic story of drama, danger, and darkness and leaves readers wanting more!
Isabella Swan, or Bella as she prefers to be called, is dreading leaving her mother and the warmth of Phoenix for a father she has barely spent time with and the rain of Forks. When Isabella arrives in Forks, it is just as she fears: gloomy and filled with rain! Although nerves to start out at a new school, Isabella quickly makes friends and seems to attract the attention of every guy she meets there! None of them get her attention except Edward, who is different from all the rest. Bella can’t help her attraction to him and even though their friendship starts off shaky it quickly grows to something more.
When Bella finds out that Edward and his family are vampires she doesn’t seem upset by it. Edward is surprised by how easily she accepts and copes with everything that she finds out about him. However, being with him may put her in danger, and even though she doesn’t think so, others do. As Bella and Edward grow closer together they have to a lot of things to deal with, one of them being that fact that Bella wants to become a vampire so that they can stay together forever. But that isn’t their own challenge!
This book has everything that makes a book great: romance, action, and drama! It is impossible to put down and I can’t see why anyone would not want to read it!
We were lucky enough to interview the wonderful author of Something Wicked, Alan Gratz! Here is what he had to say!
1) What inspired you to become an author?
I’ve been writing stories of one kind or another for as long as I can
remember, and I’m not sure why. I loved picture books as a child, of
course, but most kids do. I do remember discovering my grandfather’s old
typewriter in the garage and banging away at it as a kid though. I wrote
a semi-regular newsletter for the street I lived on, which my mom
mimeographed at school for me to hand out, and I drew up my own picture
books and comics and stories as well. I wrote my first book in the fifth
grade. It was called “Real Kids Don’t Eat Spinach,” and was a pastiche
on a popular humor book of the day called “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche.” I
guess I just got the writing bug and never lost it. 
2) What made you want to write Something Wicked?
When I had the idea to turn Shakespeare plays into contemporary murder
mysteries, I went back and forth–should I do Hamlet or Macbeth first?
Hamlet has all that great angst in it, which could easily be translated
into teen angst, but Macbeth had lots of blood and betrayal. I finally
settled on Hamlet for the first book, because my main character, Horatio
Wilkes, is based on the Horatio character from that play. But I was
eager to throw Horatio into the world of Macbeth for a second book,
because the story IS so much about friendship and betrayal, issues I
think teens deal with on a daily basis–just not so mortally. I also
knew from the start I wanted to set “the Scottish play” at a Scottish
Highland Festival, and those festivals are just such wonderfully
colorful backdrops. The novel was just a blast to research and write!
3) What would you say is the hardest part about being an author?
I think the hardest part of being a professional writer is juggling all
the things you have to do to make a living at it. Responding to e-mails,
building and maintaining a web site, promoting your books, doing school
visits–not to mention actually sitting down at your desk and WRITING!
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade my career for any other. It’s just
that there is so much more to being an author than just waking up at ten
in the morning and wandering into your office and writing for a couple
of hours before taking the rest of the day off. I think that’s image
most people have, and my days are so NOT like that it’s laughable. I
often spend nine or ten hours a day–spread out over the morning,
afternoon, and late at night–doing all of those things, with five or
six hours of actual writing time thrown in there if I’m lucky.
4) I read somewhere that your favorite superhero is the Flash. Who is
your favorite supervillain?
Mr. Freeze, hands down. And no, I don’t mean that awful Arnold
Schwarzenegger Mr. Freeze from the movies. I mean the Mr. Freeze from
the Batman: The Animated Series, as written by Paul Dini. He’s such a
tremendously sympathetic villain. He developed his cryogenic equipment
to save his wife until her fatal disease could be cured, but a greedy,
corrupt corporate honcho pulls the plug and causes the accident that
makes Mr. Freeze have to wear a sub-zero suit. What Mr. Freeze wants, at
least initially, is just to have his revenge on the man who ruined his
life. Like Batman, it’s tragedy that fuels his behavior, but he goes a
step farther down the path of revenge than Batman will allow himself.
That makes for some great pathos. And how can you not feel for a guy who
is doomed to live in a sub-zero encounter suit the rest of his life? He
can never have human contact again…
5) Do you ever find yourself looking back at past works and wishing you
had done something differently?
Oh yes. I could keep editing everything I’ve ever written until the end
of time. At some point though, you have to say, “This is good. Really
good, and it’s time to release it into the world.” I look back at
Samurai Shortstop though, my first book, and I see things even now I
would like to change. Like the first sentence. There’s an adverb in
it–”Toyo watched carefully as his uncle prepared to kill
himself.”–that could be removed to make that sentence stronger. Ah well…
6) How long would you say it takes you to finish a project such as
“Something Wicked?”
I think Wicked took me about six months. That’s the time it took me to
write a polished first draft, of course, not the time it took to have
the book publication ready. After I turn in a polished first draft, it’s
often a year before the book is ready, after all the back-and-forthing
with my editor. I do pretty elaborate outlines for my books though, so
one month of that initial process is usually devoted to just figuring
out what happens. I take the rest of the time figuring out HOW to write
what happens, and then editing it over and over again until it’s tight.
7) Is there a particular character from “Something Wicked” that you can
most relate to?
It would be bad if I said the Macbeth character, right? Luckily, I’m
not THAT ambitious. I’d say that Horatio, my main character, bears a few
similarities to me in terms of world-view and attire, but other than
that he’s different. He’s the guy I always WANTED to be in high
school–the self-assured, take-charge guy who’s good with the ladies and
always knows the right thing to say. That most certainly WASN’T me, as
much as I wanted it to be.
It seems that getting a book published is just as challenging as
writing the book in the first place. Do you have any advice to those who
seek to get their book published?
My approach was to go for editors first, not agents. Both are hard to
place a book with, but when an editor says yes, you have a book sale;
when an agent says yes, you have an agent. Having an agent isn’t always
a guarantee that you’ll sell a book. I also found that most bigger
agents really aren’t interested in a first novel. They want to hear from
you when you have a few sales, and prove that you’re in it for the long
haul. I also found that when I submitted to an editor and she said no,
there was sometimes a request to see more work from me. I never got that
response from an agent.
9) At the end of the day, what is the most rewarding aspect of your
career as an author?
The paycheck! No, wait… Seriously, the most rewarding thing about
writing for kids of course is when a kid reads your work and really
responds to it. I did a school visit in Blytheville, Arkansas, and a
middle school girl came up to me and told me that she really identified
with Fuji, one of the boys in Samurai Shortstop. I couldn’t imagine a
more incongruous pairing: a sumo wrestling Japanese boy and a girl from
a rural farming community. The girl told me that she, like Fuji, was
going to be the first person in her family to go to college, and she was
already feeling the same pressure Fuji was feeling–and she appreciated
knowing that she wasn’t the only person who had ever gone through that.
It was an amazing moment. Those connections are the most rewarding
aspect for sure.
You can purchase something Wicked Here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0803736665
*Interview Questions Written by Meagan Anderson and Zachary James
Here are all the others who are participating in the book tour and featuring Alan’s book:
<a href=”http://the160acrewoods.com/”>the 160acrewoods</a>, <a href=”http://rebeccaluellamiller.wordpress.com/”>A Christian Worldview of Fiction</a>, <a href=”http://paraklesis.com/childrens_publishing_news/”>All About Children’s Books</a>, <a href=”http://blbooks.blogspot.com/”>Becky’s Book Reviews</a>, <a href=”http://bookreviewmaniac.blogspot.com/”>Book Review Maniac</a>, <a href=”http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/”>Cafe of Dreams</a>, <a href=”http://dolcebellezza.blogspot.com/”>Dolce Bellezza</a>, <a href=”http://horslv93.blogspot.com/”>Hyperbole</a>, <a href=”http://kidzbookbuzz.com/”>KidzBookBuzz.com</a>, <a href=”http://lookingglassreview.blogspot.com/”>Looking Glass Reviews</a>, <a href=”http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/”>Maggie Reads</a>, <a href=”http://www.noeldevries.blogspot.com/”>Never Jam Today</a>, <a href=”http://superfastreader.com/”>Reading is My Superpower</a>
Also, if you want to read the Something Rotten before you read Something Wicked here is a treat for you from Alan and his publicist:
To celebrate the debut of Something Wicked, my publisher is putting
Something Rotten online for FREE until the end of November. Not just a
chapter, not just an excerpt, but the WHOLE BOOK. I’m really excited
about this offer, and I hope a lot of people take advantage of it. To
read Something Rotten for FREE, go to www.alangratz.com and click on the
link to the free ebook.
-Alan
Check back tomorrow for our interview with Alan!!
Author: Alan Gratz
Pages: 264
Horatio Wilkes is back and this time he is at a Scottish Highland Fair with his best friend Mac and Mac’s cousin and annoying girlfriend. When the foursome get to the mountain where the games are held, Beth, Mac’s girlfriend, convinces them all of to visit a fortune-teller. Unfortunately, the fortune-teller gives them a lot more than they came for. When Mac and Beth start getting more and more hyped up about the fortune-teller’s message, Horatio finds himself spending less and less time with them and not really minding all that much.
But when Horatio finds Duncan, the games founder who also happens to be Mac’s grandfather, dead in his tent things really start to change. Duncan’s son is the prime suspect but for some reason Horatio isn’t convinced and Mac and Beth start acting really suspicious. Will Horatio be able to find out who killed Duncan? Or will more innocent people be killed in the process?
This book was not something that normally would have caught my attention, but once I started it I couldn’t put it down! The book is based on the story of Macbeth put with a modern and fast-paced twist. This is definitely a book to check out if you like mysteries! You can purchase Something Wicked here: