Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

I have always been a huge fan of Shusterman since Full Tilt.  Then he came to my school and he is just an awesome presenter!  AWESOME!  So, I try to read all of his books right after they come out.  I have been a bit neglectful since I brought my daughter home from China in the summer of 2009...which means I have missed a couple but I decided to right my wrong with Bruiser and boy am I glad I did.  I thought this book was going to be a sob story about a guy who is a bully but misunderstood...I was wrong!  The misunderstood thing is right but in true Shusterman style, I was taken on a ride about a young man named Brewster, aka Bruiser, who is not what he seems.  He starts dating Bronte who has a twin brother named Tennyson.  Tennyson is not happy that the school freak is dating his sister and does everything he can to break them up.  What he learns about Bruiser will totally change everything!  If I tell you more, I'll give it away!  Sooo good.  It is a great story told in short, descriptive, action-packed chapters.  I truly enjoyed another great ride provided by Mr. Shusterman!  Definitely a good middle school book...maybe 7th and up...could be lost on a younger sixth grader.  Some violence, mild, mild language, and no sexual content.

Library Chick Rating - Omelet!  Could put it down!  Loved it!

Cold Hands, Warm Heart by Jill Wolfson

I picked up Cold Hands, Warm Heart by Jill Wolfson partly for selfish reasons.  My 3 year old daughter will be facing a heart transplant when she gets older.  I like to research and read about things like that...I am an information specialist after all.  So, it was interesting to read the story of Dani who has a deteriorated heart and has to have a transplant to save her life.  Dani struggles with the knowledge that her life was saved by someone who died.  She is thankful to have life but at the same time is not sure how to feel about her donor and what role the donor, Amanda plays in her life.  It was a beautiful told story.  I think I wished it were a bit longer to develop Amanda more and the relationship between Dani and Amanda's family. 

I would definitely recommend this book to my 8th graders and up because there are some sexual references (not graphic) and some language.  The topic itself, transplant really requires a mature mind to be able to wrap around the thought/struggle that someone had to die for the other person to live.

Library Chick Rating- Scrambled eggs...I just wanted a little more

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

I am a total Lauren Oliver fan.  I read Delirium first.  Fell in love with that book and read the review for Before I Fall.  I thought it sounded interesting so I decided to give it a go.  We luckily have Overdrive through our district so I was able to check it out on my ipad.  So glad I did.  Another homerun for Oliver (of course, technically, it was the first one).  The main character, whose name escapes me at the moment, is a popular, sort of mean girl.  We watch through her eyes how she has sort of followed the pack and not brought in her own voice to different teen situations.  Then she is in a car accident in which she does, but instead of going to the otherworld, she ends up living the same day over and over again....the question is why and can she come back to life?  What she learns each time changes her forever. 

I loved this book.  I did.  The main character was not sympathetic but by the conclusion of the book, you are so rooting for her!  The ending is not all what the reader expects which is a great surprise.  This is definitely a high school kind of book because there is language, mentions of sex, and drugs and alcohol.

Library Chick Rating - Omelet!  I loved it!

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

Jackson Pearce does a great job of retelling Hansel & Gretel in Sweetly.  Gretchen and her brother, Ansel are leaving their past behind.  A past in which Gretchen's twin sister disappeared in the woods (or at Gretchen says, was taken by a witch).  They end up stranded in a small town which has secrets of its own.  Sophia Kelly, a young woman who owns a candy shop takes the siblings in but is Sophia all she says she is?  People distrust her because girls go missing after her chocolate festival.  Gretchen starts trying to find out what's happening with the help of the local outcast, Samuel who doesn't trust Sophia as well.  Will they find out in time to save the next group of girls?

The story kept at a steady pace.  My problem with it is that it was so far-fetched that it bordered on the absurd.  But, that's just me as a reader.  There is enough action and romance and intrigue that will keep most readers involved.  Don't get me wrong, I did like the book.  It's just one of those books that I won't ever go back and read again.  In fact, this was one of the books I put down because another piqued my interest more. There are slight sexual innuendos and some language.  Definitely a PG-13 type of book. 

Library Chick Rating - Fried egg

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

I love Libba Bray.  She's sarcastic, funny and she would be the girlfriend who would say what we were all thinking aloud.  She hits another homerun with Beauty Queens.  A group of girls who are competing in a beauty pageant are part of an airplane crash that leaves them stranded on a "deserted islalnd".  What happens to this small group of girls who have been known for their beauty and not their survival skills is the center of this new novel.  I could totally see this book turned into a show for Teen Nick.  The author pokes fun of beauty pageants, commercialism that has seemed to have enveloped them as well as our love for scripted realty TV.  Honestly, there were so many parts that I couldn't stop laughing because it was so funny. 

This is definitely a high school book with sexual references and some language. 

Library Chick Rating - Scrambled....really close to an omelet but because it is such a smart and sarcastic book, it might be lost on some.

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

I picked up a copy of Haunting Violet at TLA last month.  I loved the cover and the idea of seances during the Victorian period. I didn't get a chance to start reading it until last week while waiting for an appointment and I became hooked on the book.  Mind you, I am in the middle of reading two other books, but I decided this one peaked my interest more than the other two.  Violet lives in England during the Victorian age.  She lives with her "psychic medium" mother who wouldn't get an award for mother of the year.  In fact, Violet has to help her mother con people into believing in these seances which she feels horrible about.  She, (Violet) doesn't believe in ghosts either.  Unfortunately, the ghosts don't know that and one in particular wants Violet's help to find her murderer before he/she murders the ghost's sister.  Will Violet be able to help or become a victim herself? 

What I loved about this book is that the descriptions and dialogue are interesting.  It's fast-paced and has action, mystery, romance and the supernatural.  The other thing that makes it stand out from all other ghostie books is that it takes place during the Victorian period.  It's not one of those formula supernatural fiction books that have been hitting the shelves lately to ride the Twilight coattails.  It's also pretty PG in nature which is becoming pretty rare in the YA genre.  This is definitely my kind of chick lit and I would recommend it to a girl who likes supernatural and romance and is bored of the whole werewolf/vampire genre and wants something a little different.

Library Chick rating - Scrambled eggs on the border of omelet...I loved it!  But it has a little predictability.  It will be on my top 20 list!