Allegiant, by Veronica Roth

Red Thread Sisters, by Carol Antoinette Peacock

Wonder, by R. J. Palacio

Boy Meets Boy, by David Levithan

The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey (2013)

There will be no awakening.
     The sleeping woman will feel nothing the next morning, only a vague sense of unease and the unshakable feeling that someone is watching her.  Her anxiety will fade in less than a day and will soon be forgotten.

Sixteen-year old Cassie is a survivor.  As far as she knows, she could the last human in the universe.

So I'm probably not the last human on Earth, but I'm one of the last.  Totally alone - and likely to stay that way - until the 4th Wave rolls over me and carries me down.

Cassie has devised rules for her survival.

The first rule of surviving the 4th Wave is don't trust anyone.  It doesn't matter what they look like.

The only way to stay alive is to stay alone.  That's rule number two.

The Others, as she calls them, are extra-terrestrial.  Four Waves have washed over earth since the Arrival.  Billions killed.

The 1st Wave killed 500,000 people.
The 2nd Wave killed millions.
The 3rd Wave killed than 3.5 billion people.

How do you rid the Earth of humans?  Rid the humans of their humanity.

Cassie must do whatever is necessary to keep her promise to her younger brother.  And along the way, she must face what she fears the most.

The 5th Wave is an exciting, dark read.  Narrated from two points of view, this dark world is filled with action and intrigue.  This is the first book in the series.

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars
* language, sexual references

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Cinder, by Marissa Meyer (2012)

The screw through Cinder's ankle had rusted, the engraved cross marks worn to a mangled circle.

Sixteen-year old Cinder is the only full-service mechanic at New Beijing's weekly market.  One day an interesting client brings in a outdated, broken android.  That person was Imperial Prince Kaito, the handsome prince of the Eastern Commonwealth.  As Prince Kai explains why he wants Cinder to fix his android, Cinder knows he's lying.

Few people know that Cinder is a cyborg, part human, part robot.  Cinder was an 11-year old orphan when her father brought her home from Europe.  Much to Cinder's step-mother's dismay, cyborgs are considered second class citizens.

Meanwhile letumosis blue fever is a world-wide pandemic.  There is no cure and every victim dies.

"Our research team is determined to find a vaccine for this disease that has now taken one of my parents and threatens to take the other, as well as tens of thousands of our citizens."

When one of Cinder's family members comes down with the plague, things begin to spiral out of control.  Cinder is drawn into the world of imperial secrets and political intrigue.  Is Cinder the key to not only curing letumosis, but saving the world from imminent destruction?

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The Fall of Five, by Pittacus Lore (2013)

Tonight's escape fantasy stars six.  A horde of Mogadorians stands between her and my cell - which isn't technically realistic.

Narrated from several character's point of view, the fourth book in the Lorien Legacies begins with Sam.  Sam is imprisoned by the Mogadorians in a top-secret government base in New Mexico.  The person who finally comes and saves Sam is shocking.

"Sam, I know it might not count for much right now, but you have my word that we're going to do everything we can for the Garde.  Saving them, protecting Earth...it's my life's work."

The rest of the Garde are hiding in Nine's penthouse in Chicago.  Ella is plagued with nightmares about Setrakus Ra.

"He - he gets down on his knees."  Her voice drops to a chilled whisper.  "He holds one of my hands in both of his, and he asks me if I've read the letter." 

Can the Garde find Five?  Can they restore Lorien?  Can they stop Setrakus Ra?

Five seeking 5.  Are you out there?  

Need to meet...Find me.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual inferences

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Dark Triumph: His Fair Assassin Book II, by Robin LaFevers

I did not arrive at the convent of Saint Mortain some green stripling.  

Book two of the His Fair Assassin series is narrated by Ismae's cloest friend, Sybella.  Sybella comes from a noble family, one of the most feared in all of Brittany.  She is also one of Death's handmaiden.

If only they had taught me how to watch innocents die as well as they taught me how to kill, I would be far better prepared for this nightmare into which I've been thrust.

The convent has sent her back to her family, with a dangerous, secret mission.

...I wonder - for the hundredth time - how on earth I let the convent talk me into returning to my family.

Follow Sybella's mission as she learns the truth about herself and her family.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
* sexual references, incest

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Just One Day, by Gayle Forman (2013)

What if Shakespeare had it wrong?

Allyson Healy has just graduated from high school.  Her life is planned and organized so that she'll begin college in the fall and study pre-med.  Her parents gave her a three-week "adventure" in Europe as a high school graduation present.  Every minute of the trip was organized, planned, and prepped.  Until Allyson met Willem.

"They subbed Budapest in for Paris," I say.  "And I liked Budapest, but I can't believe I'm this close to Paris and not going."

Willem looks at me intently.  He twists the tie on his backpack around his finger.  "So go," he says.

Allyson is stunned.  Willem has given her a nickname, Lulu.

"So, Lulu?  What do you say?  You want to go to Paris?  For just one day?"

It's totally crazy.  I don't even know him.  And I could get caught.  And how much of Paris can you see in just one day?  And this could all go disastrously wrong in so many ways.  All of that is true.  I know it is.  But it doesn't change the fact that I want to go.

So this time, instead of saying no, I try something different.

I say yes.

Follow Allyson's one day in Paris.  

Rating:  8 out 10 stars
* language, sexual inferences, underage alcohol

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The companion novel:

The Girl Is Murder, by Kathryn Miller Haines (2011)

Pop's leg was across the room when I came downstairs.  

New York City.  1942.

Iris Anderson is 15 years old.  She used to go to an elite private school, but she now attend public school.   She used to live on the Upper East Side, but now she lives on the Lower East Side.  She used to live with her mom and dad, but now she just lives with her dad.

Iris' mom died nine months ago.  Her father was in the Navy and lost one of his legs in Pearl Harbor.  Iris is just trying to survive her new life.

On her first day of school she met a handsome boy named Tom Barney.  A few weeks later, Iris learns that her father, a private investigator, has been hired to find Tom.  Iris decides to secretly help her father solve this case.

What Pop needed was someone who could blend in, whose age and appearance meant they were easily ignored...I was going to help Pop.

The Girl Is Murder is a good mystery for teen girls.  The slang and imagery really painted a picture of NYC in 1942.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*sexual references, suicide

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Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson (September 2013)

I've seen Steelheart bleed.

It happened ten years ago; I was eight.  My father and I were at the First Union Bank on Adams Street.  We used the old street names back them, before the Annexation.

David is now 18 years old.  For ten long years, he has dreamed about revenge.  Everything has been destroyed by Epics, humans who developed super powers when the spaceship Calamity arrived.  One Epic in particular has taken over Chicago.  Steelheart now rules Newcago.

"I have claimed this city, little Epic.  It's mine...Give me your loyalty or die."

David has studied all of the known Epics.  Each Epic has at least one weakness, and David is determined to seek revenge on the Epic who killed his father.

Can David avenge his father's death?  

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars

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Not available at NOLS...yet!

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan (2010)

When I was little, my dad used to tell me, "Will, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose."  This seemed like a reasonably astute observation to me when I was eight, but it turns out to be incorrect on a few levels.  To begin with, you cannot possibly pick your friends, or else I never would have ended up with Tiny Cooper.

In a strange set of circumstances, two strangers meet.  Both are named Will Grayson.  Narrated from each teen's point of view, climb into the world of Will Grayson.

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars
*language, underage drinking, sexual references, gay slurs, crude humor

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Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage (2012)

Trouble cruised into Tupelo landing at exactly seven minutes past noon on Wednesday, the third of June, flashing a gold badge and driving a Chevy Impala the color of dirt.  Almost before the dust had settled, Mr. Jesse turned up dead and life in Tupelo Landing turned upside down.

Tupelo Landing, North Carolina.  Population 148.

Miss Moses LoBeau is a 6th grader.  She lives with the Colonel and Miss Lana.  They are the closest things to parents that Mo has.

I was born eleven years ago, during one of the meanest hurricanes in history.  That night as people slept, they say, the rivers rose like a mutiny and pushed ashore, shouldering houses off foundations, lifting the dead from graves, gulping down lives like fresh-shucked oysters.

Some say I was born unlucky that night.  Not me.  I say I was three times lucky.

Lucky once when my Upstream Mother tied me to a makeshift raft and sent me swirling downstream to safety.  Lucky twice when the Colonel crashed his car and stumbled to the creek just in time to snatch me from the flood.  Lucky three times when Miss Lana took me in like I was her own and kept me.

Trouble comes with Detective Joe Starr comes to town.  And then Mr. Jesse is murdered.  Three Times Lucky tells the story from Mo's point of view of her quirky town as she solves the mystery behind Mr. Jesse's murder.

I loved this book!

Rating:  10 out of 10

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An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green (2006)

The morning after noted child prodigy Colin Singleton graduated from high school and got dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, he took a bath.  Colin had always preferred baths; one of his general policies in life was never to do anything standing up that could just as easily be done lying down.

Child prodigy Colin Singleton has only dated girls who are named Katherine.  And he's been dumped by 19 girls named Katherine.  His best friend Hassan tries to help Colin with the aftermath of Katherine XIX.

Hassan stood up and abruptly moved to serious mode.  "So, what's the problem exactly?"

"The problem exactly is that she dumped me.  That I'm alone.  Oh my God, I'm alone again.  And not only that, but I'm a total failure in case you haven't noticed.  I'm washed up, I'm former.  Formerly the boyfriend of Katherine XIX.  Formerly a prodigy.  Formerly full of potential..."

Hassan has a solution to help Colin's heartbreak.

"Kafir, you have a very complicated problem with a very simple solution."

Follow Collin and Hassan as they go on an adventurous road trip.  I literally laughed out loud while reading this novel.  

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual reference, crude humor

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Anson's Way, by Gary D. Schmidt (1999)

In a small sod house scooped out beneath an embankment of hedges, a master teaches fifteen or sixteen students.  Sometimes there are more, sometimes fewer, depending upon the farm season.  The house - if it might be called a house - is invisible against the embankment.  Nevertheless, one boy stands hidden on guard.

Anson Granville Staplyton has always wanted to be a Staffordshire Fencible.  

I've waited for this day all my life, he thought, and here I am in it.  Drummer for the Staffordshire Fencibles, just like my father, and his father, and his father before him.

He is sent from England to Ireland to keep the king's peace.  In England, anyone said to be teaching superstitions and "the evil customs of his nation" are seeds of Irish rebellion, in violation of King George II's laws.

No one may tell an Irish tale.

There are to be no schools, no, places of learning, no teachers, no lawyers.

There are to be no Catholic churches, no priests, no saying of the Mass...

No Irishman may own a horse of value.

No Irishman may apprentice to a gunsmith.

No Irishman may travel abroad for schooling.

And no Irishman may own the fields he works.

Anson sees the beauty in Ireland and learns that things are not so simple.  And when he is faced with a decision, will Anson remain loyal to the Fencibles, or will he find another way?

Rating:  8 out 10 stars

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Not available at NOLS...yet!

Promised, by Caragh M. O'Brien (2012)

Gaia notched her arrow and drew back the taut string of her bow.

Book 3 of The Birthmarked Trilogy begins where Prized left off.  Gaia is the Matrarc of the people who fled Sylum.  They have crossed the Wastelands and are back at the Enclave.  

"What was I thinking, bringing us all here?" she said.  "This is insane."

"It wasn't all your decision, remember?  And it's not insane," he said.  "It's less insane than staying to watch us all die off in Sylum.  Not one girl born this past year.  Not one."

Not only does Gaia need to ask the Protectorate for refuge, she learns that her former home has changed.

Rating:  6 out of 10 stars

*sexual references, sensitive issues related to adoption/fertility

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Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos (2011)

School was finally out and I was standing on a picnic table in our backyard getting ready for a great summer vacation when my mother walked p to me and ruined it.

Jack Gantos has a penchant for getting into trouble; during his summer vacation, he's been "grounded for life."  Anytime he gets stressed or scared, his nose gushes blood.  

Even though he's grounded, his mom lends him to an old neighbor, Miss Volker.  Miss Volker was one of the original Norvelt inhabitants, and she writes the obituary for each original inhabitant.  She needs Jack's help to write and type up the obituaries, but Jack learns interesting and exciting details about his hometown.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language

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What I Saw and How I Lied, by Judy Blundell (2008)

The match snapped, then sizzled, and I woke up fast.  

Evie is 15 years old.  She lives in Queens with her mother and step-father.  It's been two years since World War II ended, and live is getting back to normal.  

After receiving yet another phone call from an ex-GI looking for a job, Evie's step-father, Joe, takes the family on a vacation to Pam Beach, Florida.

Suddenly Evie is caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. Murder and intrigue surround this delicious read!

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars

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Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein (2012)

I am a coward.

I wanted to be heroic and pretended I was.

Told from the two main characters, Code Name Verity describes the extraordinary lives of best friends Queenie and Maddie during World War II.  Queenie has been caught by the Gestapo in France.  Maddie is missing.  

Code Name Verity is an excellent story worth telling.  I loved each and every word!

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language

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