Dairy Queen Trilogy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

"When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said."

D.J. Schwenk has a story to tell. At fifteen, she has failed sophomore English and quit the basketball and track teams to run the family dairy farm. Her dad is recovering from surgery amd someone has to milk the cows and take care of all the farm chores. Her mom is working two jobs, teaching sixth grade and is the acting principal of her school. Her two older brothers are off at college playing football and younger brother Curtis doesn't talk and is busying with his little league baseball team. In fact, the one problem with the Schwenk family is that they don't talk with one another. Life is busy for D.J. in Red Bend, Wisconsin.

Enter Brian Nelson, quarterback for the Hawley football team and Red Bend's rival. Hawley's coach, Jimmy Ott, is a family friend of the Schwenk family and thinks that D.J. has a few things to teach his starting quarterback. Or does Brian have a few things to teach D.J.? Brian helps out around the Schwenk farm and D.J. secretly trains Brian so that her family doesn't find out what she is doing. And in talking with Brian, D.J. learns a few things about herself, one of which is her desire to join the Red Bend football team. The other, is to talk and what gets said is surprising.

The sequel to Dairy Queen and the further adventures of D.J. Schwenk.Once again, D.J. is the backbone of the Schwenk family as they go through what is the worse time of their lives.

 After five months of sheer absolute craziness I was going back to being plain old background D.J. In photographs of course I’m always in the background . . .

In this conclusion to the trilogy, the Schwenk family rallies around D.J. as she has to make some tough decisions about her future. I will admit I got a little teary at the end.

Visit Catherine Gilbert Murdock's website.

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

"The undead can really screw up your senior year . . ."

Jessica Packwood has decided that her senior year at Woodrow Wilson High School is the year that she is getting a life. But that may be a little hard to do when the mysterious and handsome Lucius Vladescu shows up claiming to be her fiancé AND a vampire. Or that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess herself and they must marry to fulfill a pact to keep their two families from warring with each other. Told in alternating points of view with Jessica telling the main story, the reader also gains insight into Lucius' mindset through letters he writes home, which are downright comical at times. With her guide, Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica learns what it means to be vampire royality and all about falling in love.

Visit Beth Fantaskey's website.

Fire by Kristin Cashore

"This romantic companion to the highly praised Graceling has an entirely new cast of characters, save one. You don't need to have read Graceling to love Fire. But if you haven't, you'll be dying to read it next."

The Dells are on the verge of war as the young King Nash clings to his throne. Rebel lords in the north and south are building armies in an attempt to unseat him from power. This is where Fire, the last human monster lives. A beautiful young woman with hair the color of flame, she is equally hated and loved by the people in the Dells. Fire has the ability to control minds, but chooses not to use her powers after seeing how her father, Cansrel, treated people. He was truely a monster. Instead she lives on the estate of Lord Brocker and keeps to herself. That is until King Nash requests her services to help save the kingdom.

Enter Prince Brigan. It is his job to get Fire safely to King's City. Lord Brocker's son and Fire's sometime companion, Archer, is none too pleased with Fire leaving. The story takes several twists and turns as Fire learns not only secrets about her life, but those of her friends around her.

Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Absolutely loved this book! Read in one day and cannot wait for the third installment in August 2010. Must read title since the movie version is in the works. If you liked the Uglies series by Westerfeld, this is the read for you. Action packed and each chapter ends in a clifhanger. Definitely hard to put down. My FAVORITE of the year!

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12 with her mother and twelve-year-old sister Primrose. District 12 is located in Panem, a place once known as North America. To keep the twelve desitute districts from overthrowing the wealthy and powerful Capital, the Hunger Games are held annually. Think of a Survivor-type contest to the death. Each district sends one boy and one girl to the Capital to participate. Katniss volunteeers to take Prim's place when her sister's name is drawn and considers this as her death sentence. But since Katniss has learned what hunger and survival mean at home, she quickly becomes a surprising contenter in the Games.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers for those of you who haven’t yet read the first book in the trilogy (The Hunger Games), but this was a book that I read in its entirety in one day. I could absolutely not put it down until I was finished. I kept telling myself just one more chapter and I’ll stop but Collins made the end of every chapter a cliffhanger. She is just egging you to continue the story.
New characters are introduced to the reader as the seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin. The beginning of the story is a little slow as parts of the first book are rehashed but the ending is just building up the climax for the third book, Mockingjay, which comes out August 24, 2010. As I finished this book, I loudly exclaimed, “I can’t believe I have to wait a whole year to find out how the story ends!”

Book Three in the Hunger Games trilogy due out on August 24, 2010. This will be one of the most talked about books 2010!

Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

 

An amazing story about the power of one voice to bring about change. Helen Dormann and Milena Bach are residents at a strict girls' boarding school. One night Helen wishes to visit her consoler in the village and Milena goes along as her companion. Along the way, then meet two boys, Bart and Milos, from the neighboring boarding school and exchange names. As Helen leaves her consoler's house to return to school, Milena has left word that she and Bart are running away from school. After exchanging letters and meeting up again with Milos, he and Helen decide to go after the others. Turns out the Phalange, the group in charge of the oppressive government, had their parents killed because they were part of the Resistance. In a race against the enemy to meet up with the Resistance movement in the capital, past histories and ties are revealed among the characters. When only three reach the safety of the capital, it is a race against time to save their fellow comrade in a fight for their life.

Unwind By Neal Shusterman

WOW! I absolutely loved this book. The United States has had it’s Second Civil War, the Heartland War, and it was a battle between the Pro-Lifers and Pro-Choicers and everyone lost. Life is scared from conception to the age of 13. But between the ages of 13 and 18, parents can choose to have their children unwound. Harvest camps operate to harvest organs and body parts. They are then set aside for recipients. No part is wasted.

Conner’s parents see him as a troublemaker and sign the unwind order. Risa is a ward of the state and is being unwound to cut costs. Lev was born a tithe and has been preparing to be unwound his entire life. Circumstances bring these three teens together as they set off on a cross country journey to escape with their lives. Now they just have to make it to 18.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I decided to read this book after it was compared to Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. Dashner places the reader in The Glade along with the main character Thomas as we are both kept in the dark so to speak. The reader finds out little bits of information at the same time as Thomas in an attempt to solve the puzzle. Dashner has said that his book is a cross between Lord of the Flies and Ender’s Game.

Thomas wakes up in a dark metal box. Then the movement begins and it is as if he is in an elevator. The top opens up and he sees that he is surrounded by 60 boys all looking at him. Thomas remembers nothing about his past but his name, but simple facts do occur to him. He cannot remember his family, where he came from or even his own age. What he does learn about life in The Glade his first day there is ask no questions. The Glade is situated in the middle of a maze that reconfigures each night. And there are unspeakable creatures that roam the maze at night. Thomas is ready for the second day to begin since he will go on a tour of the Glade and get to ask some questions. Soon the alarm rings to signal that someone new is coming up in the box. This is unusual first because only one boy comes each month and Thomas just arrived yesterday but then the new arrival turns out to be a girl. A note states that she will be the last arrival ever. The girl appears to be dead until she says ”Everything is going to change” and then lapses back into her coma.

This book was hard to put down and just like Collins’ books, each chapter ends in a cliffhanger. Few questions are answered at the end as the action for book two is set. The Scorch Runner is due out in October 2010.

Check out James Dashner's blog at http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com/

Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith

A much better read than Tantalize, with a more satisfying ending to the story of Miranda and her guardian angel Zachary who fails to keep her from being turned into a vampire princess. The story of good triumphing over evil and an unending love story. Sometime in 2011 Blessed will be published which will be a crossover of the two cast of characters from Tantalize and Eternal. My guess is that Quincie is going to meet up with Zachary.

At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated by none other than the King of the Mantle of Dracul, she goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous fiend overnight. Meanwhile, her guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as her personal assistant, has his hands full saving his girl’s soul while planning a fast-approaching Death Day gala. In alternating viewpoints, Miranda and Zachary navigate a cut-throat aristocracy as they play out a dangerous, diabolically witty love story for the ages. http://www.bn.com/

Tantalize by Cythnia Leitich Smith

I couldn’t wait to read this book that revolved around a girl who along with her uncle where opening a vampire themed Italian restaurant. It promised vampires, werewolves and a love triangle. There is a murder and several shocking twists and turns but needless to say I was very disappointed with the end.

Are you predator or prey?

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Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything? http://www.bn.com/

The Looking Glass Wars trilogy by Frank Beddor

The start of what I hope will be a great series. Helps to know a little about the Alice in Wonderland story but a quick view of the entry in Wikipedia will do the trick although it’s not necessary for this to be a good read.

The “true story” behind Alice in Wonderland! Princess Alyss Heart is brutally cast out of Wonderland by her vicious Aunt Redd, who beheads Alyss’ mother (Off with her head, she cries!) and begins to rule over Wonderland with an iron fist. Alyss escapes from Wonderland and is exiled to another world entirely–Victorian London–where she is adopted into a new family, renamed Alice, and befriended by Lewis Carroll. At age 20 she returns to Wonderland to battle Redd, reclaim the throne, and lead Wonderland into its next golden age of imagination.

 
 
 

Second book in the Looking Glass Wars series. A great read that picks up with the start of Alyss Heart’s reign as queen of Wonderland and everyone wondering what has happened to Redd and The Cat after their jump into the Heart Crystal. Also a new enemy has entered into the picture. At the end of this book, you will want to pick up the next.

Alyss of Wonderland’s rules has only just begun and already those who prefer chaos to peace are threatening to destroy everything worth imagining. Trailed by newly appointed Royal Bodyguard Homburg Molly, Alyss is doing her best to keep pace with the non-stop demands of being Queen while attempting to evade Molly for a few private moments with Dodge. Alyss’s life is already a challenging mix of duty, love and imagining when a series of phantom sightings set fire to an urban myth of her imperial viciousness’s return and have everyone…Seeing Redd.

The conclusion to the Looking Glass Wars trilogy. A good series but wished the book had ended a little differently. Big build up at the end that falls flat when all of the ends are wrapped up a little bit too quickly. Also there was at least one unanswered question that I had which makes me believe Beddor may have a sequel in mind.

Check out Frank Beddor's website: http://www.lookingglasswars.com/