Reader Girls Blog

Perfect Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Tate Publishing (May 18, 2010) Book Summary:   'My body was being torn apart, and my stomach felt as if it exploded. The pain was excruciating, and I was aware that I was dying... 'Mom?' My vision was murky, but I could see her face. It was bloody, and her eyes were large and full of fear. Her voice calmed. 'Get out of the car, Attie.' Her words sounded crisp and clear. I looked into the backseat in search of Melody and found her lying covered in blood in a twisted heap on the floor. I turned my attention back to my mother and out of the corner of my eye saw fire. 'Get out, Attie!' 'Mom?' Everything went dark.'  Attie Reed should have died in the wreck that stole the lives of her mother and best friend. But her life was spared. Why? When Attie moves to Oklahoma to stay with the Bennetts for the summer, she hopes she has left her nightmares behind. But her battle is far from over, and Riley Bennett st...

Ednah Walters, author of the just released YA novel, Awakened ( Book One of the Guardian Legacy ), has announced a contest and it's open internationally. Four winners will reach receive a signed ARC of Awakened and a Guardian Legacy t-shirt, pen and bookmark. Check out her blog post  here  to enter. Book summary: Most teens turn sixteen and get the license to drive, but Lil Falcon gets the license to kill demons. Orphaned as a child and raised by an eccentric grandfather, Lil is concerned with surviving high school and is unaware that she's a Guardian-a being with super powers charged with killing demons and protecting humanity. When she meets Bran, a mysterious boy with amazing abilities, his psi energy unlocks her latent powers. But Bran has a secret that can ruin their growing relationship, and the truth she discovers may destroy everything she believes in unless she finds the right balance between love and sacrifice. Awakened , 272 pages, was released by Peach Hill...

Reading Level: YA (Ages 14-) Publisher: Egmont USA (September 2010) Page Count: 384 Book summary:   Maddie is a 16-year-old who likes a boy in her theater club. But does he like her back? Or is a more average boy, a kind boy who reads books, the one who might ultimately touch her heart? A novel about a teen who learns that the best boyfriend might not be the cute boy you notice first. The final scene of the book, which ends with their first love-making session, is tender and touching. My review:  Told in third person from the perspective of classmates Maddie and Rich, this is a contemporary love story filled with warmth, endearing characters, frank discussions about sex and what boys and girls want. Slow going at first, it took me awhile to warm up to the story and when the pace picked up I read right through it. Maddie is  determined to get a boyfriend. Her quest takes her on a journey with crushes, heartbreak, and understanding. The first guy she likes sends out...

Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Balzer + Bray; 1 edition (June 29, 2010) Book summary:   A Printz Honor winner presents a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials based on the real historical characters, told from the perspective of three young women living in Salem in 1692--Mercy Lewis, Margaret Walcott, and Ann Putnam Jr.  My review:  The power of cliques is a prevalent theme throughout Wicked Girls . In the male dominated Puritan society of 1692 a group of seven teen and preteen girls start out having fun by pretending to be 'Afflicted'. Fearful adults take notice and the girls suddenly realize they have power. By twitching and crying out "witch!" they wreak havoc on the townspeople. But once a lie is told another has to be told to cover up the first and so on--until things become disastrous. With their newfound power they gather to discuss their next moves and who will be singled out next. Unfortunately, the adults scared...

This week we've set our sights on Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter. Here's the summary from Goodreads : Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn’t put out. Her grandmother died and now Kylie’s acquired a stalker. Unfortunately, she’s the only one who seems to be able to see the stalker. And that gets her sent to a psychologist’s sofa. The kooky psychologist gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it’s a camp for troubled teens. They thought wrong. It’s a camp of supernaturals: vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shape shifters. And if she believes the camp leader, Kylie is one of them, too. Just because she’s seeing ghosts, just because she was born at midnight, does that really mean she’s not human? And if so, what is she? Not even the other supernaturals can tell her. As Kylie attempts to cope with the realization that these creatures ...

Paperback: 592 pages Publisher: Other Press (June 22, 2010) BOOK SUMMARY:  It is Sylvia’s sixteenth birthday, and her life as an adult is about to begin—not with the party she had been planning, but with a car accident and a broken leg. Behind the wheel is a talented young soccer player, just arrived from Buenos Aires and set for stardom on and off the field. As their destinies collide and a young romance is set in motion, across town, Sylvia’s father and grandfather are finding their own lives suddenly derailed by a violent murder and a secret affair with a prostitute.  Set against the maze of Madrid’s congested and contested streets, Learning to Lose follows these four individuals as they swerve off course in unexpected directions. Each of them is dodging guilt and the fear of failure, but their shared search for happiness, love, purity, redemption, and, above all, a way to survive, forms a taut narrative web that binds the characters together.  MY REVIEW: Four...

This week's selection is from Dark Song by Gail Giles. "I saw the bag of wires he held coming toward my face then, and my eyelids mashed together, bracing for the hit. It never came. I opened my eyes, and Marc held Dad's wrist." (Page 220, ARC) Book summary:  Mark said he heard the dark song when he creeped houses. The song the predator's heart sings when it hears the heart of the prey. I heard it now. Mark said it had always been in me. Lurking. Waiting for me to hear. Ames is not the person she was a few months ago. Her father lost his job, and her family is crumbling apart. Now, all she has is Marc. Marc, who loves her more than anything. Marc, who owns a gun collection. And he'll stop at nothing--even using his guns--to get what he wants. Ames feels her parents have betrayed her with their lies and self-absorption, but is she prepared to make theultimate betrayal against them? Dark Song  is a YA novel ( 304 pages)  published by Little, Brown Book...