Reader Girls Blog

HALO U.S. Book Tour Alexandra Adornetto Comes to a City Near You! September / October 2010 September 24, 2010: Next Chapter Bookshop, 10976 North Port Washington Road, Mequon, WI 53092 September 27, 2010: Indigo, Toronto, Canada September 29, 2010: Davis-Kidd Books, 2121 Green Hills Village Drive, Nashville, TN 37215 September 30, 2010: Fashion Show and Book Signing at Sachi, 397 N Perkins Rd Ext Memphis, TN 38117 October 1, 2010: Davis-Kidd Books, 387 Perkins Extended, Memphis TN 38117 October 2, 2010: Austin Teen Lit Festival, Austin, Texas.  Click here to register!   October 4, 2010, 7:00pm: Blue Willow Bookshop: 14532 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77079 October 7, 2010, 7:00pm: Barnes & Noble at the Galleria, 3225 West 69th Street, Edina, MN 55435 October 8, 2010, 7:00pm: Red Balloon Bookshop, 891 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105 October 9, 2010, 2:00pm: Carle Place Barnes & Noble, 91 Old Country Road, Carle Place, NY 11514 October 10, 2010: Allykatzz Tween Summit,...

Our Pick -- September's Book of the Month  Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Poppy (September 7, 2010) Book summary: Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "Duffy," she throws her Coke in his face. But things aren't so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone. My review: Two conte...

Our choice this week is WHERE I BELONG by Gwendolyn Heasley. Summary: Corrinne Corcoran’s upscale Manhattan life is perfectly on track -- until her father announces he’s been laid off and she’s shipped off to Broken Spoke, Texas, to live with her grandparents. All alone in a big public school and forced to take a job shoveling manure, Corrinne is determined to get back to the glamorous life she’s supposed to be living. But as she grudgingly adjusts -- making new friends and finding romance along the way -- this city girl begins to realize that life without credit cards and shopping sprees may not be as bad as it seems.... We know the city girl moving to the country storyline has been done before but this one sounds good and we seriously need a change from picking supernatural titles. Don't you just love the cover? The yellow in her dress pops and the pose looks like they were caught during a tender moment. Looking forward to reading this one. At 304 pages, WHERE I BELONG wi...

Reading level: YA Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: HarperTeen; 1 edition (June 29, 2010) Book Summary: Is it possible to experience joy if you don’t experience pain? Is absorbing someone’s pain a gift or a curse? Shusterman explores these central questions in this thought-provoking new book. Sixteen-year-old Tennyson fumes when he learns his twin sister, Bronte, is dating Bruiser, the guy voted Most Likely to Go to Jail, but Bronte insists Bruiser is misunderstood. Tennyson is eventually won over and befriends Bruiser, and that’s when the twins notice something odd. Their cuts and bruises disappear overnight while Bruiser is a mass of new hurts; somehow he takes on the pain, both physical and emotional, of the people he cares for. The story is narrated by Tennyson, Bronte, and Cody, Bruiser’s brother, in prose and by Bruiser in free verse, and the individual voices are nicely distinct. It is Tennyson, though, who stands out as he evolves from self-centered bully to caring young ...

Our tease this week is from The Duff by Kody Keplinger. "Did I hit the mark, Wesley?" I spat. "Do I get you as well as you think you get me?" (Page 232, ARC) Book summary: Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "Duffy," she throws her Coke in his face. But things aren't so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated m...

Reading level: Young Adult Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: MTV; Original edition (July 20, 2010) Book summary: WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET . . . AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER? There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon. But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people— suddenly acting as if somet...

Reading level:  Young Adult Hardcover:  256 pages Publisher:  Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (September 14, 2010) Book synopsis:   The only thing Avery Hood can remember about the night her parents died is that she saw silver—deadly silver, moving inhumanly fast. As much as she wants to remember who killed them, she can't, and there's nothing left to do but try to piece her life back together. Then Avery meets the new boy in school—Ben, mysterious and beautiful, with whom she feels a connection like nothing she's ever experienced. When Ben reveals he's a werewolf, Avery still trusts him—at first. Then she sees that sometimes his eyes flash inhuman silver. And she learns that she's not the only one who can't remember the night her parents died. My review:  In  Low Red Moon , Avery, 17, has just lost her parents. They were brutally murdered and she was found beside their bodies, except she can't remember the details of that traumatic night. Her gran...