Back to individual book covers and summaries, as I'm not at my apartment this weekend.
For review:
(Alfred A. Knopf / April 13, 2010)
Sixteen-Year-Old Celestia spends every summer with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held in place by an earthen dam. Tired of the society crowd, Celestia prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel’s hired boy. It’s a friendship she must keep secret, and when companionship turns to romance, it’s a love that could get Celestia disowned. These affairs of the heart become all the more wrenching on a single, tragic day in May, 1889. After days of heavy rain, the dam fails, unleashing 20 million tons of water onto Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the valley below. The town where Peter lives with his father. The town where Celestia has just arrived to join him. This searing novel in poems explores a cross-class romance—and a tragic event in U. S. history.
Read it and thought it was pretty good this week.
(EgmontUSA / July 13, 2010)
Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.
After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.
But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town…might cost her her life.
I was lucky enough to read this several weeks ago through an ARC tour... but then a copy showed up this week!
(WestSide Books / March 24, 2010)
Kendra, fifteen, hasn't felt safe since she began to recall devastating memories of childhood sexual abuse, especially because she still can't remember the most important detail-- her abuser's identity. Frightened, Kendra believes someone is always watching and following her, leaving menacing messages only she understands. If she lets her guard down even for a minute, it could cost Kendra her life. To relieve the pressure, Kendra cuts; aside from her brilliantly expressive artwork, it's her only way of coping. Since her own mother is too self-absorbed to hear her cries for help, Kendra finds support in others instead: from her therapist and her art teacher, from Sandy, the close family friend who encourages her artwork, and from Meghan, the classmate who's becoming a friend and maybe more. But the truth about Kendra's abuse is just waiting to explode, with startling unforeseen consequences. Scars is the unforgettable story of one girl's frightening path to the truth.
This sounds like it has the potential to be so, so powerful and riveting.
(Atheneum / May 18, 2010)
To ten-year-old Keeper, this moon is her chance to fix all that has gone wrong...and so much has gone wrong. But she knows who can make things right again: Meggie Marie, her mermaid mother who swam away when Keeper was just three. A blue moon calls the mermaids to gather at the sandbar, and that's exactly where she is headed -- in a small boat, in the middle of the night, with only her dog, BD (Best Dog), and a seagull named Captain.
When the riptide pulls at the boat, tugging her away from the shore and deep into the rough waters of the Gulf of Mexico, panic sets in, and the fairy tales that lured her out there go tumbling into the waves. Maybe the blue moon isn't magic and maybe the sandbar won't sparkle with mermaids and maybe -- Oh, no..."Maybe" is just too difficult to bear.
Kathi Appelt follows up to her New York Times bestseller, The Underneath, with a tale that will pull right at your very core -- stronger than moon currents -- capturing the crash and echo of the waves and the dark magic of the ocean.
I haven't yet read Kathi Appelt's The Underneath, but this is middle grade, and it might be about mermaids. And it's a thick book, too. I can't wait to dive into this one (pun not intended).
(Simon Pulse / March 16, 2010)
Everyone knows the unwritten rule: You don't like your best friend's boyfriend.
Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He's easy to talk to, supersmart, and totally gets her. Lately it even seems like he's paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except for two things: Ryan is Brianna's boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah's best friend.
Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her best friend. But when she's thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens. It's wonderful...and awful.
Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can't stop herself from wanting more...
Hmm, I already reviewed this book several weeks ago, but another one arrived.
(Simon Pulse / April 6, 2010)
Alice and Tally have always been the queens of St. Cecilia's. Between jet-setting to Rome and Paris on weekends and sneaking out of their London boarding school for late-night trysts, what's not to love?
Enter Dylan, the New York City girl who had a summer fling with Alice's best friend (and new crush), Tristan. Now the girls must defend their status as their charmed lives spiral into broken hearts, jelousies, and the most vicious of revenge plots.
I've never heard of this series before, but apparently it's a British import? I'm actually pretty intrigued. The cover is so different from others out there, and it looks like it might be a fun and juicy read, kind of like Gossip Girl Lite.
(Razorbill / April 1, 2010)
Alison Cole and the Department of Hotness are back and ready for action in the sizzling sequel to Hottie—all about a Beverly Hills princess who can shoot fire from her fingertips! Ever since defeating her evil stepmother, Carmen, Alison’s life has been totally fla-mazing. But when she wins a coveted internship at Jen Magazine, she’ll have to take on fifteen-year-old Editor-in-Chief Pixie Furmanovsky—the biggest Superbrat the world has ever seen! Pixie always gets what she wants, and now she’s after Alison’s boyfriend, T! Can Hottie give little miss BratGirl a Super Sweet Sixteen that she’ll never forget? Or is this Superteen about to get superfired?
Why, hello there, Penguin. You're sending me random books for review now? *looks around bewilderedly*
From Dark Faerie Tales ARC Tours:
(Penguin / April 6, 2010)
Josie’s never met her dad, and that’s fine with her. To Josie, Paul Tucci is just a guy who got her mom pregnant and then moved away. It all happened sixteen years ago, when Josie’s mom was still a teenager herself. But now Paul Tucci is back in town, and Josie has to deal with not one but two men in her life—her father and her first boyfriend, who Josie fears will hurt her just like Paul hurt her mother.
I just finished this book. It was really good!
From Around the World Tours:
(Graphia / April 12, 2010)
In this bittersweet romance, two teens living decades apart form a bond that will change their lives forever.
Amy is drawn to the misty, mysterious clearing behind her Aunt Mae’s place because it looks like the perfect place to hide from life. A place to block out the pain of her last relationship, to avoid the kids in her new town, to stop dwelling on what her future holds after high school.
Then, she meets a boy lurking in the mist—Henry. Henry is different from any other guy Amy has ever known. And after several meetings in the clearing, she’s starting to fall for him.
But Amy is stunned when she finds out just how different Henry really is. Because on his side of the clearing, it’s still 1944. By some miracle, Henry and his family are stuck in the past, staving off the tragedy that will strike them in the future. Amy’s crossing over to Henry’s side brings him more happiness than he’s ever known—but her presence also threatens to destroy his safe existence.
In The Clearing, author Heather Davis crafts a tender and poignant tale about falling in love, finding strength, and having the courage to make your own destiny—a perfect book to slip into and hide away for awhile.
I've heard surprisingly positive things about this book (apparently her first book was disappointing?), so I'm looking forward to reading this!
Gifted:
The Heart Is Not a Size by Beth Kephart - with many thanks to the incomparable Beth Kephart.
Bought:
Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
WVMP Radio, Book 2: Bad to the Bone by Jeri Smith-Ready - woohooooo!
Swapped:
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks - assassins!
Geektastic by Various
Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden - highly recommended by my Aussie blogger friends
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