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  One day an interesting client brings in a outdated, broken android.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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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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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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