All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

 

“Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might die. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the "natural wonders" of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It's only with Violet that Finch can be himself--a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who's not such a freak after all. And it's only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Trigger warning: suicide and bullying. Theodore Finch meets Violet Markey when the two of them are on the ledge of the school bell tower contemplating jumping. Finch talks Violet down but everyone assumes that she is the one who saved the “freak”. The two are thrown together for a geography project and their relationship takes off from there. Not wanting to spoil anything, I did love this heartbreaking story.

Visit Jennifer Niven’s website.

On the Jellicoe Road (Jellicoe Road) by Melina Marchetta

“I'm dreaming of the boy in the tree. I tell him stories. About the Jellicoe School and the Townies and the Cadets from a school in Sydney. I tell him about the war between us for territory. And I tell him about Hannah, who lives in the unfinished house by the river. Hannah, who is too young to be hiding away from the world. Hannah, who found me on the Jellicoe Road six years ago.

Taylor is the leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs—the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.

And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor's only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother—who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.” - taken from Goodreads.com

These are the first lines from Jellicoe Road, as it was titled in the U.S.

“My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die.

I counted.

It happened on the Jellicoe Road. The prettiest road I’d ever seen, where trees made breezy canopies like a tunnel to Shangri-La. We were going to the ocean, hundreds of miles away, because I wanted to see the ocean and my father said that it was about time the four of us made that journey. I remember asking, 'What’s the difference between a trip and a journey?' and my father said, 'Narnie, my love, when we get there, you’ll understand,' and that was the last thing he ever said.”

This book is about journeys, not only Taylor Markham’s, but some of the most important people in her life that are unknown to her. Told in alternating voices between modern-day Taylor and gang and a hidden story that she comes across from eighteen years earlier. That story tells of an unspeakable tragedy five life-long friends together. As Taylor begins to explore more of her background, readers will be taken in by her story and how the past collides with the present day.  And Jonah Griggs! What can I say about him without giving any important details? I now see what all of the fangirling from book reviews is all about.

Jellicoe Road has resided on my TBR pile for years and now I’m going to kick myself for not reading, or in my case, listening, to it sooner. From the opening lines, the reader becomes entranced by the events that occurred along the Jellicoe Road. Overall, the story caused this reader to cry her eyes out and look ahead to the book’s ending before finishing it. One of my all-time favorite reads!

Visit Melina Marchetta’s website.

The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

"You, darling, are The DUFF. Designated. Ugly. Fat. Friend."

The book does contain language that may be offensive to some and sex occurs but is never graphically described. The overall power message of the book makes it a worthwhile read.

Bianca Piper is at a teen night club with her friends, Jessica and Casey. She is the protective best friend who drags them away from the boys who might take advantage of them after a night of dancing, flirting and attracting attention. While wishing she was anywhere but The Nest, a guy who remarkable didn't smell bad sits down beside her, a change from the usual guys she unwittingly attracts. When Bianca turns to see who it is, she is angry that the school's hottest guy and biggest player, Wesley Rush, is trying to talk to her. When she begins to question his motives, he informs her that he needs her help. It is a proven fact that guys who talk to the Duff gets on the good side of the girls with whom she is friends with. Jessica and Casey are good looking and Bianca is their Duff, the designated, ugly, fat friend. Even if Wesley looks like a Greek god, Bianca knows that his soul was empty and black. Furious, she pours her Cherry Coke over his head. Grabbing her friends, they leave the club. At home later that night, Bianca catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and Wesley's words come rushing back. She wonders why they bother her so much. 

One night after a particular hard day at school, Bianca overhears her father begging her mother to come home during a phone call. A motivational speaker, her mother has spent more time on the road than at home since her own mother died. Making herself scarce until her father hangs up, Bianca walks in as if she has heard nothing. Asking what is wrong, her father tells her that he would really like some time alone. She calls Casey and the three of them head to The Nest. Drowning her sorrows over Cherry Coke at the bar, the bartender cuts her off when she has had too many. Worrying over her father being alone, he is a recovering alcoholic; she is frustrated when Wesley sits beside her. He is still hoping to score with one her friends. She keeps telling him to leave but he quickly senses something is wrong with her. Making her to look at him, Bianca cracks and suddenly kisses him. Shocked at first, Wesley responses and Bianca begins to feel better. Then Wesley does a stupid thing and Bianca comes to her senses. She slaps him. Storming off, Bianca is more upset with herself than with Wesley.

Doing well to avoid Wesley for over a week, one day their English teacher, Mrs. Perkins, pairs them up to write an easy together. Unhappy, Bianca makes plans for Wesley to come over to her house to work the following afternoon. Bianca has a girls' night in with Casey and Jessica instead of going to the homecoming dance. Coming home the next morning, she finds the house trashed. Her mother sent divorce papers to her father and he fell off the sobriety bandwagon. Beer bottles and pictures frames are smashed all over the living room. She hears her father snoring in his bedroom. Starting to clean up her father's mess, the phone rings. It is Wesley calling to say that he is on his way over to start working on their essay for The Scarlet Letter. Not knowing what her father will be like when he wakes up, Bianca tells him that she will come to his house instead.

Arriving at the Rush mansion, Bianca is unsettled when Wesley says that his computer is in his bedroom and that they will need to work there. Surprised by the vast space of his room, Wesley asks her what she would like to write about. He was thinking about why Hester had her affair and gives his reasons. Bianca shoots back that maybe she just needed the distraction. Her mind wanders back to the divorce papers her mother sent. Wesley says that if that was the case, it didn't end too well for her. While thinking back to another time, Wesley calls her Bianca Duffy and asks what she is thinking about. She snaps at him not to call her that. As he is asking, "are you okay, Bianca---?" She moves to kiss him. Surprised, he doesn't hesitate to kiss her back. When she pulls away, Wesley asks her not to slap him again. Wanting her mind blank, she does the unthinkable. She has sex with Wesley so that she can escape her problems for a little while. Afterwards, they get started on their paper. 

As she is leaving to go home, Bianca asks Wesley not to say a word about what happened between them. He asks if it is going to happen again. She thinks to what waits her at home. He then asks if she is alright. She rushes out of the house. Wesley follows her out to her car. He bends down to her level and looks her in the eye. He asks her what is bothering her. Wesley knows that something is wrong with Bianca. She can tell that he is being sincere. She whispers that it doesn't matter if she is or not and leaves.

The following week only goes downhill for Bianca. The one boy who broke her heart is in town for a visit, with his fiancé. Her father is in denial over the divorce papers her mother sent. And Bianca finds that the only escape is in the arms of Wesley, the boy who she cannot stand. But what happens when Bianca realizes that she isn't the only one having difficulties in life? Will Bianca be able to stay away from Wesley or is he the one good thing in her life? What will her friends think when they find out the secrets that Bianca has been keeping? Can she put her life back on track? What happens when Bianca realizes that she is falling in love with Wesley?

Visit Kody Keplinger’s website.

The DUFF will be released in theaters on February 20, 2015.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read If I Stay, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

It has been three years since the accident that killed Mia’s family and changed her life forever. Three years since Mia left for New York and walked out of Adam’s life. Now Mia is a rising star at Julliard and Adam is the star of the tabloids with his rock star life and movie star girlfriend. After a particularly stressful day, Adam finds himself alone in New York City. When he finds himself outside of Carnegie Hall, the first thing he sees is her eyes. There is a poster advertising Mia’s concert that night and Adam decides he needs to hear her play one last time. What he doesn’t count on is her wanting to see him afterwards.

Told from Adam’s point of view and in the familiar style of If I Stay, readers learn Adam’s back story, the aftermath of Mia’s accident and the desolation he has felt since Mia walked out of his life. Join Adam and Mia for one last night together and see where their lives and relationship take them.

Visit Gayle Forman's website.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-biCsDIxsFA

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Ever since her younger brother's death, Andi and her parents have been swallowed by grief. Her father, a Nobel winning DNA scientist, is as consumed with his work as ever and has moved on with a new girlfriend. Her mother, an artist, paints portriats of Turman all day and night, commenting that she can never get the color of his eyes right. Andi is a senior at a prestigious Brooklyn prep school. She is gifted both academically and as a guitartist, but is failing out of school over her guilt in Truman's death. When her father finds out from the school that Andi hasn't started her senior thesis, he encounters a house filled with grief. He checks her mother into a mental hospital for treatment and takes Andi with him to Paris where he is going to be working on a project and she can begin her thesis outline.

Andi and her father go to stay with his college roommate, G, who is a world famous expert on the French Rvolution. G is looking for the financial backing to start a museum on the Revolution and has brought in Andi's famous father to help him on a gentic experiment. G wishes to do DNA testing on what is believed to be the heart of Louis-Charles, the son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette. When Andi sees pictures of the heart encased in its glass urn and a portriat of the ten year old heir, she immediately thinks of Truman. The resembalance is uncanny. G allows her to play an expensive antique guitar that he illegally purchased from someone who found it in the catacombs beneath Paris. Andi is thrilled to be playing such a fine guitar. In looking at it's case, she realizes that the lock is broken and begins to work on opening it. In a last ditch effort to free the lock, the key Andi keeps around her neck falls from her shirt. The key belonged to Truman and Andi has worn it since his death. She tries it in the lock and it works. When the bottom opens, Andi thinks she has broken the case but soon realizes that it has a false bottom. In it she finds a miniature portriat of Louis-Charles and a diary written during the Revolution.

Soon Andi is drawn into the diary of a young girl named Alex who was the companion for Louis-Charles. The diary is her way to get his story to the public but was lost for the past 200 years. Between working on her thesis outline and reading the diary, Andi meets a handsome young taxi driver who is an aspiring musician. She soon finds herself falling in love with Virgil but is terrified by becoming close to someone after walling herself and her emotions off from the rest of the world.

Will Andi be able to pick up the pieces of her life and resolve her feelings of guilt over Truman's death? Can she repair her broken relationship with her father and manage to write her thesis? Is Andi capable of revealing herself not only to Virgil but herself? And what will happen to Alex in the diary and the mysterious Louis-Charle? Does the story end well for either girl?

Visit Jennifer Donnelly's website.

Wake, Fade and Gone trilogy by Lisa McMann.

"She's has never had a dream before - not that she can remember.
She only has everyone else's.
At least she can sleep during hers."

Janie Hannagan has suffered with the stupid dream curse since she was eight-years-old. If she is around anyone who is having a dream, Janie is able to witness the dream or more frighteningly, nightmares. Now a senior in high school, Janie still has told no one about her unwanted ability, not even her best friend Carrie.

Cabel Strumheller lives down the street from Janie. He has been in trouble since the ninth grade when he flunked down into Janie's class. Always late and looking stoned, Cabe is a loner. At the start of senior year, Cabe has undergone a transformation; his looks have matured abd he has ditched the Goth look. He is still late and on the first day of school, Janie sees him walking and offers him a ride. It turns out to be the longest converstion they have ever had together and the strat of a relationship.

While in study hall, Janie witnesses what is the worse nightmare she has ever come across and it is the repeat of one she saw as she was driving through her neighborhood. Only this time, she is a part of the dream and the dreamer is Caleb Strumheller. And he is asking her for help. But will Cabel be Janie's savior or her downfall?

This was a hard book to put down and is a quick read be sure check out Lisa McMann's website to read Cabel's point of view about the pivotal school trip to Stratford.

Janie finishes her senior year of high school by working undercover for the police by trying to find out which teachers at Fieldcrest High are have inappropriate realtionships with several students.

The thrilling conclusion to Janie's story where she discovers who her father is and makes a major decision about the rest of her life.