The Winner's Curse

The Winner's Curse
By Marie Rutkoski
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014. 368 pages. Young Adult

As a member of the ruling Valorian class and the daughter of the famous General Trajan, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has a choice: enlist in the army and continue her father's legacy of warfare and bloodshed, or marry before she turns twenty. Kestrel doesn't want to do either, quite frankly, as her heart belongs to her music, not to the battlefield or to any man.

But when she impulsively purchases a nineteen-year-old Herrani slave at auction -- Arin, a young man her father's wars enslaved -- she inadvertently sets a Herrani rebellion in motion. Worse, the more often Kestrel's path crosses with Arin's, the more their relationship evolves into something beyond master and slave. As truths are exposed and Arin's true heritage comes to light, Kestrel begins to wonder where her loyalties should lie, and whether she should choose the morality of helping to free an oppressed people, or the honor of not betraying her own.

With an airtight plot and a cast of beautifully dynamic, yet flawed characters, Rutkoski has created a world full of intrigue, shifting alliances and sympathies, multiple double-crosses, and (don't let the cover fool you) action-packed battle scenes. Kestrel is a fully-fleshed heroine who, while strong and intellectually brilliant, knows her own faults and how to use her strengths to compensate for them. Arin is equally compelling, and the way Rutkoski balances, shifts, and exchanges power between the two throughout the novel's course is nothing short of riveting. Add Rutkoski's gorgeous prose and seamless fantasy world into the mix, and you have the recipe for a novel that will be topping many YA Best of 2014 lists. Nothing short of fantastic.

CA

Boxers and Saints

Boxers and Saints
By Gene Luen Yang
First Second, 2013. 325 and 170 pages. Graphic Novel

In Boxers, bands of Christian missionaries roam China's countryside, bullying peasants, dishonoring Chinese gods and traditions, and robbing. But once a beloved shrine to villager Little Bao's favorite god is destroyed, the young man decides he's had enough. Calling upon the powers of the ancient gods, protectors of China, Little Bao recruits and army of commoners trained in kung fu, men and women who will fight to free China from the "foreign devils" who may destroy everything they love about their country. Though Little Bao's army of "Boxers" is mighty, he soon realizes that the cause of protecting his homeland isn't as clear-cut as it seemed . . . especially once Little Bao and his army encounter a train full of "secondary devils," or Chinese converts to Christianity, and the lines between right and wrong become blurred.

In Saints, Four-Girl isn't even given a proper name until she converts to Catholicism and is baptized by they very priest who terrorized Little Bao's village. Four-Girl, now known as Vibiana (a Christian name she chooses for herself), begins to see visions of Joan of Arc, and is inspired to leave home and find fulfillment through service to the Church.

Little Bao's and Vibiana's paths collide with disastrous results, ones that will change them both -- and all of China -- forever.

Yang's spare, clean artistic style lends grace to a very violent period of China's history, and the juxtaposition of Little Bao's and Vibiana's respective stories and closely-held beliefs allows Yang to explore all the facets and intricacies of China's Boxer Rebellion. Both protagonists are sympathetic, dynamic, and so very human; they make mistakes, they love, and they lose. A compelling look at a difficult and little-known period in China's history.

CA

Thrice Told Tales

Thrice Told Tales
By Catherine Lewis
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013. 136 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction

Using the old story of the Three Blind Mice, writing professor Catherine Lewis teaches her readers all about the building blocks of literature, from bildungsromans to foreshadowing to leitmotifs and more. This cheeky little guide will help any writer fine-tune their work, and blends a little of Mother Goose with a bit of Edward Gorey to make all principles inside both easily understood and memorable.

I love this little book! It's perfect for anyone who wants a better understanding of literary elements, and would be a great resource for AP English students looking to master the terms before their exams. Witty, whimsical, and delightful.

CA

The Martian

The Martian
by Andy Weir
Crown, 2014. 369 pgs. Science Fiction

     When Mark Watney's crew leaves him behind on Mars because they think he is dead, he must figure out how to survive until the next Mars mission shows up four years' hence.  Chances of living that long and being rescued?  Slim to none. But he sets about it.  A botanist, he first figures out how to create arable soil in which to grow potatoes, and then has to figure out how to water his crop. Explosions, habitat breaches, and sandstorms, among many other things, keep Mark's life interesting--perhaps hardest to take is the relentless supply of 70s TV episodes stored on his commander's abandoned data stick.  Weir's narrative takes several surprising turns which I will keep to myself, but if you think you will tire of Watney's Robinson Crusoe life, keep going. There is much more to be had in this old-fashioned, deeply satisfying sci-fi thriller.

LW

Fallen Women

Fallen Women
By Sandra Dallas
St Martin's Press. 2013.

Sandra Dallas takes on the city of Denver in 1885 in this book about a sister looking for her sister's Killer. Beret Osmundsen had broken ties with her sister Lily after an incident in New York, and sends her away. Lillie ends up in Denver with her aunt and uncle, and Beret hears nothing, until she is notified of her sister's death. Even more shocking is that Lillie had become a prostitute and was pregnant. Beret takes on the task of bringing the murderer to justice and discovering why Lillie felt the need to work in a brothel. With the help of Detective Sergeant Michael "Mick"  MCCauley, she finds things out that she never wanted to know, as well as the back alley lives of people in Denver.

The setting of the book was wonderful and described 19th century Denver in a very accurate and exciting way. The characters were just as well written and the relationship of Beret and Mick drew my attention. The mystery holds up as there are so many small discoveries and lies that there really was no way of knowing who killed Lillie or why until the end.

Ignite Me

Ignite Me
By Tahereh Mafi
Harper Collins, 2014. 416 pgs. Young Adult.

I couldn't finish this fast enough and then I was so sad it was over. In the conclusion to the popular Shatter me series, the characters are face with difficult decisions, and relationships are strained. Juliette has no idea in the beginning if her friends, the rebels, or if anyone else is alive. She has to work with Warner, her one time enemy, but clearly something else, in order to find the rebels and finish what her friends started. Her ultimate goal is to take down The Restablishment.

Warner and Juliette have an incredible chemistry and their actions towards each other and away from each other hint at their feelings but also the confusion. Juliette wants to use her powers to save the world she wants and with her friends, they come up with plans, train to fight, and their will to survive grows. It has lots of action, romance, and hysterical quips from Kenji and makes it a very fast, enjoyable read. Fans of Hunger Games and Divergent will like the dystopian world and thrills that this series provides.

Jump the Gun

Jump the Gun
By Zoe Burke
Poisoned Pen Press, 2013. 180 pages. Mystery.

When Annabelle Starkey leaves her Chicago book conference for a romantic getaway in Las Vegas with Michael, a stranger she meets in the bar, the weekend goes from romantic to terrifying when she and Michael are kidnapped at gunpoint, her room searched, and her friend (who is cat-sitting for her) is killed in Annabelle's apartment. But are the thugs after her? Michael? Or is Michael the one orchestrating the crime spree?

I picked up this book because, prominently displayed on the cover, is a glowing review from the Kirkus Review Journal. After reading a few pages, I discovered why relying exclusively on other people's opinions can be a dangerous thing. I spent most of this book confused. It was full of campy movie wit and the plot was very convoluted. And, then, I never quite understood why they did most of the things they did. Do women really fly across the country with strange men? was only the beginning. Too far-fetched, poorly written, frustrating. I'm disappointed, Kirkus.

JH

Hope Springs

Hope Springs
By Sarah M. Eden
Shadow Mountain, 2014. 391 pages. Romance.

Part two of the Longing for Home saga, Hope Springs follows the story of Katie Macauley, an Irish immigrant who arrives in a small Wyoming frontier town and finds herself in the middle of a bitter rivalry between the Irish and non-Irish communities. In the second book, Katie's courage will be put to the test as tensions escalate and tempers reach the boiling point. And she will finally have to decide between the two men she loves.

Sarah Eden has made a name for herself with her clean-read, Regency romances, so her Western setting Longing for Home series is a bit of a departure for her. But the departure works marvelously. The books themselves are much longer than her Regency books, which allows for greater character development. And, unlike her Regency novels, the outcomes for the characters are not unfailingly happy, although the plot resolves itself in the best way possible.

JH

Dark Invasion: 1915 : German's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America

Dark Invasion: 1915: German's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America
by Howard Blum
HarperCollins, 2014.  473 pgs. Nonfiction

While America was still a neutral with regard to World War I, German diplomats turned secret agents mounted a campaign of sabotage against U. S. shipments of goods and arms to Allied forces. Beginning with planting slow-fused bombs on ships and ending with the destruction of the Black Tom munitions depot, German agents did all they could to cut off supplies to their enemies, while trying to avoid drawing America into the fight. Captain Tom Tunney of the NYPD and his small team managed, with some help from the Brits, to expose the German machinations, including an assassination attempt against J. P. Morgan, Jr., and the introduction of anthrax and glanders' bacteria into populations of mules and horses being sent to the front. Blum's thorough and suspenseful treatment of these little-known episodes in American history is a fascinating addition to the wealth of books that are appearing for the Great War's centenary.

LW

An Officer and a Spy

An Officer and a Spy

by Robert Harris

Knopf, 2014.  429 pgs.  Historical Fiction 

Robert Harris takes on the Dreyfus Affair in his latest historical thriller, “An Officer and a Spy.” If you dust off your high-school history, you may remember this story of a Jewish officer accused of treason, drummed out of the French army in 1895, and sent to solitary confinement on Devil’s Island. In this deft reenactment of that time and event, Harris employs Georges Picquart, the historical challenger of Dreyfus’ sentence, as his narrator. Picquart is not an overly sympathetic character.  He’s stiff, a bit chilly, is having an affair with another man’s wife, and doesn’t even like Dreyfus, whom he tutored in military training.  But as the newly-minted head of the French Army’s Intelligence Division, he wants justice to be done and finds, as he investigates, that it has not been. After a bit of a slow start as Harris builds background, “An Officer and a Spy” generates considerable suspense and tension as Picquart figures out that the team in his own office is working against him because they want the Jewish Dreyfus to be guilty to cover their own ineptitude and anti-Semitism. Those who defend Dreyfus, notably Emile Zola with his famous “J’Accuse” essay, are charged and jailed or exiled. The final working out of the problem is neither sentimental nor any more satisfying than it must have been in real life, but feels true to the time and the characters involved. Robert Harris, master of historical fiction, has done it again in this fine novel of turn-of-the-century France, an excellent book filled with a perfect mix of fact and fiction. 

LW

Courting Greta

Courting Greta
By Ramsey Hootman
Gallery Books, 2013. 376 pages. Fiction.

When former computer programmer Samuel Cooke starts life as a high school computer teacher, he forms an unlikely relationship with tough gym coach, Greta Cassamajor. But between their past hurts and Samuel's over-arching consciousness of his physical limitations as a result of spina bifida, the relationship seems doomed from the start. Will they be able to let down their barriers and really experience the growing love between them?

I picked up this book thinking it would be similar to The Rosie Project, which was a fun book. This didn't have the same lightness of touch that Graeme Simsion was able to create, but Hootman did do a great job of creating a unique story and tension between the characters. You are able to empathize with both sides of the relationship, even though you see it all from Samuel's perspective. The book is pretty heavy on language and does have some sexual content.

JH

Thin Space

Thin Space
By Jodi Casella
Simon Pulse, 2013. 243 pages. Young Adult

Responsible for the car accident that killed his twin brother, Marshall Windsor is consumed with the idea of finding a thin space -- a mythical point where the barrier between this world and the next is thin enough for a person to step through to the other side. Marshall only has one chance to make amends, and so he spends his time scraping his bare feet along the ground -- at home, at school -- in order to try to slip through and find his brother again. 

When a new girl moves into the house next door, the same house Marshall is sure holds a thin space, she may be the key to (or the unraveling of) all his secrets. As they get closer to finding a thin space -- and to each other -- Marshall must decide once and for all how far he’s willing to go to right the wrongs of the living . . . and the dead.

The grief in these pages is almost palpable; Casella does an excellent job of rendering Marshall's suffering (and obsession), and it's the emotional arc that drives both the protagonist and the reader on to the story's climax and end. While not the most thrilling of reads, this one will certainly linger with a patient reader long after the last page is turned.

CA

A Trick of the Light

A Trick of the Light
By Lois Metzger
Balzer + Bray, 2013. 196 pages. Young Adult

Mike Welles feels like his life is spiraling out of control: his dad's gone, his mom's barely able to get out of bed, and everything at school -- from sports to friends to girls -- seems to only get more confusing and frustrating by the day. Then there's this voice in his head, a friend who claims to want to help Mike regain control again. Even better, the voice tells him that it can help Mike become stronger, faster. Thinner. The voice will help Mike end the tailspin his life's in . . . if only Mike will listen.

Lois Metzger's A Trick of the Light is an absorbing, terrifying look at anorexia in young men. Told from the perspective of the psychological disease itself, readers watch as Mike descends into the horrors of extreme weight loss and over-exercising. Metzger's approach is empathetic yet absolutely stark in its portrayal of Mike's descent, making this an excellent cautionary tale for readers of all ages.

CA

The Tyrant's Daughter

The Tyrant's Daughter
By J.C. Carleson
Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2014. 304 pages. Young Adult

When her father is assassinated in a military coup, 15-year-old Laila flees her palatial life in an unnamed middle eastern country with her mother and younger brother. Now exiled to a drab apartment in the U.S., Laila and her younger brother Bastien (whom Laila nicknames "the King of Nowhere") struggle to adapt to American life, while their mother plots with CIA operatives and rebel factions from home to regain the throne their family has lost. As Laila begins to unravel the snarl of uneasy alliances her mother has wrought, she knows she cannot stand idly by and allow her mother to launch another coup -- but should Laila try to stop the coming international crisis when it means a possibility of returning home?

J.C. Carleson has built a powerful, affecting novel on the foundation of her experiences as a CIA agent in the middle east. Laila's voice is deft, lyrical, and laced with the grief of losing her father, her country, her culture, her safety . . . all while finding out that the man she adored is seen as a monster on the international stage. While the end feels a little rushed, and there are a few minor inconsistencies in the latter half of the book, the novel is an engrossing, illuminating read that will certainly help readers understand the middle eastern mindset a little better.

CA

Confessions of a Bad Teacher

Confessions of a Bad Teacher: the Shocking Truth from the Front Lines of American Public Education
by John Owens
Sourcebooks, 2013. 244 pages. Nonfiction.

When John Owens left a lucrative publishing career to teach English in New York City's public schools, he didn't realize how authoritarian public schools had become. Branded a "bad" teacher after one year of teaching at a low-achieving school in the Bronx, Owens was forced to leave students who loved his class and return to the publishing industry for not falling in line with the often contradictory dictates of the school administration. This book gives his first-hand look at American education, the good teachers who are being ousted by a bad system, and some ways that public schools can again achieve educational success.

Owens is a natural storyteller and is able to describe the workings of his high school with extraordinary and often disturbing clarity. His final chapter, where he outlines his recommendations to improve education in America, is very well thought out and shows a lot of passion for his topic. Readers would do well to remember - and Owens is quick to point out - that he is talking only about one school and one specific school system. The things he is describing may not happen in their particulars in every school in the nation. But the overarching concern Owens has is to have society more involved in the American educational process and removing a lot of the bureaucracy that is currently hindering educational success across the board. Over all, a very interesting and informative read.

JH

The Anatomist's Wife

The Anatomist's Wife
By Anna Lee Huber
Berkley Prime Crime, 2012. 347 pages. Mystery.

After her deceased husband's medical colleagues discover that she was forced by her husband to attend and document hundreds of autopsies and human dissections for his treatise on anatomy, Lady Darby finds herself ostracized by society and threatened with prison or an insane asylum by the authorities, who consider her participation in the procedures criminal. But when she takes refuge at her sister's remote Scottish estate after being cleared of all criminal charges, Lady Darby is once again confronted with corpses when a guest is heinously murdered in the garden. Using her new-found knowledge of the human body, Lady Darby is asked to assist the handsome and rakish Sebastian Gage, private investigator, to find the killer.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book and ended up reading it in just a few days, I was so eager to see how it ended. The plot moves quickly and the characters are very well written and have interesting depths to explore. It also shows a lot of the societal biases present in English society right after the Napoleanic wars, which adds fascinating historical touches to the mystery plot. Very enjoyable!

JH

The Golden Day

The Golden Day
By Ursula Dubosarsky
Candlewick Press, 2013. 150 pgs.  Young Adult

The '70's, a time of turmoil...eleven young girls set out with their teacher on a field trip to a beautiful garden to "think about death."  Eleven young girls return, not with their teacher but with a secret that changes and bonds them together in fear and friendship.

This unique book seemed slightly haunting to me.  Written in a flowing, clean, easy to read style, Dubosarsky constantly kept a sense of foreboding floating around.  I thoroughly enjoyed it (for a few split seconds it reminded me of a grown up adventure from the children's book Madeline, but don't let that deter you).  I would recommend it to any young adult because it was a fun read and to reluctant readers because of the short length combined with easy reading style.
mpb

The Cartographer of No Man's Land

The Cartographer of No Man's Land
by P. S. Duffy
Liveright, 2013. 371 pgs. Fiction

The 2014 centenary of the beginning of World War I has brought to us the tender-hearted and terrible story Angus MacGrath, a Canadian waterman and artist who defies his pacifist father to enlist as a cartographer so he can look for his missing brother-in-law who is also his best friend.  But London is already crawling with cartographers so Angus is sent to the front.  Back home his son, Simon Peter is trying to grow up without his father, sometimes caught between his anxious mother and his angry grandfather. The particular horrors of the war in the trenches are laid bare here, as are the contrasting beauties of life on and off the water back home. How Angus loses himself and his art, but then finds himself again for his son's sake, is the burden of this powerful, beautiful narrative.

LW

The War Within These Walls

The War Within These Walls
by Aline Sax and Caryl Strzelecki, translated by Laura Watkinson
Eerdmans, 2013.  175 pgs.  Young Adult

The story of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Uprising as the Nazis came to take everyone away, is graphically told here by one Misha, a teenage boy who chooses from the beginning to fight back. Misha's father is a doctor who works in the hospital, so his family is safe for awhile from deportation, but not from hunger. Misha watches anxiously as his mother's health fails and his little sister loses all her considerable vitality. When he can stand no more, he takes to the sewers, leaving the ghetto to steal food and return it to his family. When the Nazis catch on to that trick, and scorch the sewers with flamethrowers, Misha joins a resistance group inside the walls who stockpile such weapons as they can find and then take on the soldiers as they enter the ghetto to take everyone to the extermination camps. Strzelecki's black and gray and white pictures provide  a powerful and evocative accompaniment to Sax's story of Misha. A fine Holocaust book for  young people, The War Within these Walls is graphic in more ways than one, and should be approached carefully by the very tenderhearted or younger teens.
     
LW

Bellman & Black

Bellman & Black
By Diana Setterfield
Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 336 pgs. 2013.

I listened to this novel in hopes that it would be as intensely entertaining as Setterfield's other book, The Thirteenth Tale. While an interesting look into a deal with a mysterious man and then workings of a fabric mill then an emporium that sales anything and everything you need for funerals and mourning, it fell short on the mystery and dark characters that I liked so much in the other book.

William Bellman is introduced as a boy in the English countryside with his friends. He kills a rook with a slingshot and that becomes a small theme of the book. It never got creepy enough for me. The rooks were in the background as an omen, but never really used to their strength. Through disease and other incidents, he starts to lose people in his life and William makes a deal with a stranger in black. William loses himself to his successful and macabre store of all things dealing with death and even though a daughter is spared there is little interaction. The stranger in black shows up every now and then and the rest of the characters are minor and not really built up. In the end I didn't really care what happened to William Bellman and felt like the book just fell short.

EW

My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind

My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind
By Scott Stossel
Kopf, 416 pgs. 2014. Nonfiction

Scott Stossel is the editor of The Atlantic and details his lifelong struggle and search for a cure of his anxiety. He has so many experiences and varieties of treatment and even delves in to the history of anxiety as a diagnosis and the medical reaction. From pills to electroshock therapy to the school of thoughts from psychologists, Stossel has created a fascinating book of anxiety and its history. He not only makes the story personal by giving his accounts, but adds so much information to it that I couldn't put it down.

It is not weighed down by the facts and figures but adds to the interesting idea of anxiety and why so many people have it. If you have ever had anxiety, know someone who has, or have an interest in finding out more about the issues surrounding therapy and the use of prescription medicine and even the institutionalization for experiencing anxiety this book should be added to your list. This was truly a wonderful book to read and have a better understanding of the effects of anxiety on people.

EW

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
By Morgan Matson
Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2010. 343 pg. Young adult fiction.

After her father dies in a tragic car accident, Amy is left to drive the family car across the country to reunite with her mother in Connecticut, accompanied by Roger, a family friend. Putting aside her mother's plan and taking instead a scenic detour through the US, Amy finally has the opportunity to accept her father's death and find peace.

Matson does a beautiful job writing about fear and grief in this book and the ways that tragedy can drive families apart. Her characters are very genuine and believable and her plot takes enough twists to keep you interested. Warning: there are teen sex and teen drug use in the book, although nothing is graphically described.

JH

Ketchup Clouds

Ketchup Clouds
By Annabel Pitcher
Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 272 pgs. 2013

This book was unique, unsettling, and I still am not sure how I feel after reading it. It was so different in it's approach and protagonist that the story is still with me and I am still thinking about it. So it is really a great book to have me thinking about it and wanting to discuss it this many weeks after. Zoe is writing letters to a Texas Death row inmate about her last year or so of secrets and anxieties. They aren't the normal teenage secrets though and she is telling him her story of falling for two boys and one ends up dead. She wholeheartedly takes the blame for killing this boy and tells the inmate her story. The concept is completely different from any book I have read as the letters are written to the inmate, Mr Harris, but Zoe purposefully gives no address for response.

In doing this the author has created a raw, uninhibited version of Zoe's story and I had so many up and down emotions through out because of it. I felt for Zoe, I felt for these two brothers she fell in like and love with and I couldn't decide by the end who I felt worse for. Zoe has had a rough year of keeping this secret and dealing with the town's reactions to the boy's death, to her family's reactions knowing she was "dating" him and the loss of both loves as the outcome. Zoe is a vibrant character who is trying to get back to normal and the unconventional story makes for a fast read.

EW

Before I Die

Before I Die
By Candy Chang
St. Martin's Griffin, 2013. 303 pg. Nonfiction.

When a close friend of Candy Chang's died, she felt inspired to celebrate her life through an art installation on the side of an abandoned New Orleans house, one that would allow the community to reflect on their dreams and ambition. With a little chalkboard paint and some boxes of colored chalk, Chang created a collaborative display that resonated not only in her community but throughout the world.

This was really a beautiful book in every way. The photography was excellent and gave a good feel for what the "Before I Die" boards inspired across the globe. And the stories themselves were uplifting. Chang manages to record a good selection of dreams ranging from the mundane ("travel") to the touching ("meet my grandchildren") and the completely original ("eat salad with an alien"), but all of them encourage the reader to think about their own dreams and ambitions in the face of the dreams of others.

JH

Unnatural Selection

Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men
By Mara Hvistendahl
PublicAffairs, 2011. 314 p. Nonfiction.

Skewed birth ratios is a growing problem in many countries in the world, with young many in many countries knowing that there will never be enough women around for them to marry. Hvistendahl explores not just the surface of the issue, but delves deeply into the history of the problem, the current dilemma many countries face, and the potential future for society if sex selection is not addressed.

Hvistendahl writes a very compelling and interesting book. She employs a good balance of research and data with personal stories and interviews from people all over the world, but especially eastern Asia, where she is based. This is a book that made me think a lot about the facts and statistics she presents and how they relate to my own community.

JH

Hollow City

Hollow City
By Ransom Riggs
Quirk Books, 400 pgs. Young Adult.


Hollow City is the second book in the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series and follows the path of a group of "peculiar" children on their quest to help Miss Peregrine and get a home again after theirs has been destroyed. It picks up pretty much exactly where the first one leaves off. So it really is better to read the first one because there is little back story or character build up when there is adventure to be had immediately. And this book really is a quick, engaging adventure story with mysterious people, more peculiar plot twists, and a surprising end that leaves you hanging.

The peculiar children all have certain talents or powers that make them oddities in the real world. They live in special loops that usually mean they won't be harmed. There are evil people though who want to steal the peculiar' talents and have found a way in the loops. Peculiar children everywhere have been kidnapped and their keepers either tortured or taken away. Miss Peregrine's children head to London which is the peculiar capital of the world, and face off against scary hallows as well as try and avoid being killed now that they have been placed in 1940 and bombings during World War II. They form new allies, new enemies and meet so many fun and interesting characters. The series is very unique in the way vintage photographs were used to build the worlds and characters that continue to impress.

EW

Tatiana

Tatiana
by Martin Cruz Smith
Simon & Schuster, 2013.  290 pgs. Mystery

Martin Cruz Smith's latest Arkady Renko mystery begins with a murder. A young and full-of-himself young man is intercepted as he cycles down the road outside Kaliningrad after having served as an interpreter at a secret meeting. Apparently his notes from that meeting are suddenly in high demand, even though they are designed to be indecipherable to anyone but him. A short time later, Tatiana Petrovna, a brilliant and daring journalist, dies in a fall from her sixth floor apartment (think the real-life Anna Politkovskaya, only without guns). The official line is that Petrovna killed herself; Arkady Renko thinks not and begins to investigate at the same time as he is trying to figure out who killed billionaire mobster Grisha Grigorenko with a bullet to the head. Inexplicably, the young cyclist's notebook becomes important.  Who has it?  And was Tatiana killed for her knowledge of it?  And why does Grisha Grigorenko's son Alexi suddenly want it? In one of the most satisfying of his ever-satisfying Arkady Renko books, Smith takes his hero to Kaliningrad, the most crime-ridden and corrupt of all Russian cities, where he is pursued by a homicidal butcher, and various thugs who think he has the notebook. But in the meantime, someone very close to Arkady is deciphering its contents. One of the best of Smith's Arkady Renko series, which is high praise, indeed, Tatiana is thrilling, atmospheric, and deeply satisfying.

LW

Winger

Winger 
By Andrew Smith
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013. 448 pgs.

After multiple librarians and friends suggesting this book, I was able to read it over the holidays and I am so glad I did. This book is heartbreaking but refreshing in a way that can't really be explained until you read the ending.

Ryan Dean West is the main character and attends a private boarding school and is younger and scrawnier then his teammates and classmates. He is smart and talented enough to be advanced in rugby and school. He has been placed in a separate wing at school for boys that have gotten in to trouble, he struggles with trying to be cool, and he is in love with his older, best friend Annie. One of the best protagonists of any Young Adult book I have read, Ryan Dean comes off as a very insecure but hilarious teen. Then he grows a little and can hold his own as well as becomes friends with multiple characters that make for great adventures. Smith's portrayal of teen boys and their relationships was funny and touching all at once. I even learned a lot about rugby. There is some language as they are high school boys and they do fight quite a bit. The overall lesson learned though will stay with me a long time.

EW

Not a Drop to Drink

Not a Drop to Drink
By Mandy McGinnis
Katherine Tegen Books, 2013. 320 pgs. Young Adult.

I finished this in one day. It was intriguing and held my attention. Reminded me of Life as We Knew It. But it was completely original and the characters harsh in their will to survive but heart warming as they learn to survive together. There are multiple instances of sheer terror as well as conceivable situations that made me think a lot about what I had in my immediate belongings that would be precious and help me survive. 

The start is a little slow as it builds this world of loneliness as a teen girl and her mother try to survive daily and protect their pond of water. Water is the ultimate luxury and necessity as the world has been narrowed to what these characters know in a few square miles. There is a neighbor they know is around but even then don't speak to each other. Without giving anything away, there are many turns that cause Lynn to venture from her home and make the first friends she has ever known. There are men out to kill for water, rampant cholera outbreaks, and wild animals that left me feeling desperate to know what happens. And very thirsty. 

EW

The Silent Wife

The Silent Wife 
By A.S.A. Harrison
Penguin Books, 2013. 336 pgs. Mystery.

The Silent Wife  is being marketed as 2013's Gone Girl. I will say it held much of the same tense, uncomfortable interactions between a husband and wife but the characters were not as disturbing or obviously evil. Which could be a good thing if you like this type of book and Gone Girl was too much for you. This is a very quick read, and does have the mysterious development of a marriage gone bad to the line that is crossed in to just crazy.

Jodi and Todd are a couple with no children and to Jodi seem just fine. She works as a therapist part time and he has a good job and everything is comfortable. They are not legally married and this comes up later as a big plot point as Todd is having an affair and a child. The twists in this are pretty subdued and are attributed to Jodi's desperation in losing her husband and life she is used to. At times you think she wants him back, and at others, she wants to kill him. The start of the book says clearly that this book is about Jodi being a murderer and Todd the victim, but the suspense is still there as the characters weave their lies and resulting trauma into something no one can reverse.

EW