Going Nowhere Faster by Sean Beaudoin

Going Nowhere Faster stars Stan, a boy handicapped by his name and the weirdness of his family, but with an extraordinary mind. Ask Stan any math question, or anything about the video collection of Happy Video, where he works, and he'll blink, and in that time, come up with the correct answer. Still, though, Stan has a difficult time in life. He doesn't have a girlfriend. He has one friend. He hasn't even applied to college. He doesn't know where he's going with his life--or even if he'll make it through the summer, as someone is out to get Stan!

Going Nowhere Faster is a well-written book. It's very interesting, and I especially loved Stan's very...unique family. Going Nowhere Faster is full of interesting characters, especially Stan himself. He gets into the most hilarious situations, too! It's a funny, fresh, and wonderful story that's well worth reading!

Content:Some adult guidance

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Asheville, NC USA

Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan

Henry Atherton is an average boy. When he wakes up on a not so average day, he finds out several things. First of all, his parent's relationship is ruined because his mother is having an affair with his dad's secretary. Secondly, when he goes to work for old Mr. Fogarty, he finds a mysterious fairy named Pyrgus Malvae, the Crown Prince. Pyrgus is from a different world, the Faerie Relm, and he is next in line for Emperor. He doesn't care for politics too much anyway. While he is out roaming the streets, Brimstone of the glue factory captures him and needs to sacrifice him to the demon Beleth. Pyrgus gets rescued by the Emperor's guards [his father's]. When his father knows he isn't safe in their world anymore, he gets sent in their magical portal to the Analouge World [the human world]. Pyrgus somehow gets sabotaged in the process, so instead of going to an island, he gets sent to Mr. Fogarty's backyard. Henry and Mr. Fogarty try to help Pyrgus get back to his own world, but something else goes wrong. The whole time this is going on, his sister Holly Blue, is trying to help get Pyrgus back and find out who sabotaged him. Will he get back to the Faerie Relm safely?

When I first started the book, I thought it would be about a war going on [because of the title]. However, after reading a few chapters I knew that it wasn't. The chapters go back and forth from character to another to another so you have to pay attention to understand the whole story. The vocabulary is understandable and has a great variety. I would recommend this book to people who like fantasy because of the different 'species' of characters. There is great foreshadowing to help you predict events that would happen later in the book. I found this book very well-written, addicting, and I can not wait to get the second book to read in this series!

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Carlisle, PA USA

Not Like You by Deborah Davis

Kayla's mother, Marilyn, is always moving them from place to place. Even though she claims to be starting a new, better life for them every time, things don't usually change. Most of the time, she's just moving on and leaving her life in one place (and, she likes to think, mistakes there) behind. Kayla feels like the only mistake that Marilyn can't leave behind, but in New Mexico, she's starting to put down roots for herself. She's making some money with her dog-walking, she's got a new friend, Luz, and she might even have the attention of an older guy. She doesn't want to be an afterthought in her mother's life of men, booze, and mistakes, but she's not sure what her own life should be, either. Can Kayla find a balance between having her own life and loving her mother?

Not Like You is a pretty good book. Certainly, the subject matter, though heavy, is handled admirably, with even some funny moments! It has some wonderful characters, and the story itself seemed to have a lot of potential. For the most part, it was wonderful, but there were moments when Deborah Davis's obvious talent for writing did not shine through, for no particular reason. Not Like You is a very painfully real, honest book. It's a good one, and certainly worth reading!

Content:For a mature reader because of some sexual situations.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Asheville, NC USA

Bloodline Two: Reckoning by Kate Cary

The story takes off right where Bloodline ended. As Quincey Harker turns his back on his bloodline, he leaves his home at Castle Dracula and goes in search of Mary Seward. Mary has since fled back to her home of Purfleet and wants nothing to do with the darkside. But Mary soon realizes that she can't get away. Her father succombs to a strange virus where are his blood is taken from his body and soon, Mary's patients are dying from the same affliction as well. She knows that evil is near and when Harker comes to her asking for help, she has to decide whether Harker truely wants to turn his back on evil or whether he's toying with her emotions.

After reading Bloodline, I've been waiting to read this sequel and it has definately lived up to the first. I couldn't stop reading the book once I started. The author has left the story in a place where it could be continued, so I'm hoping there will be a third book to follow. This book is for anyone interested in action, mystery and horror and it even has some romance. These books have made me very interested in stories about Dracula and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Content:There is some violence in here, so this is not for younger readers.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 10
Reviewer Age: 20
Reviewer City, State and Country: Philadelphia, PA USA

Farseed by Pamela Sargent

Ship, the space ship that harbors and rears humans, executes her mission: plant humans on different and various planets. The humans are Ship's "children," and grow and create a community on whahever planet they are placed on. However, in this particular instance, the one band of humans separates into two, one moving south from the northerners. These two bands share a hatred, until Nuy, a human from the south, and Leila, a human from the north, unknowingly set out, to meet each other. Leila simply wants to see what happened to the first group that was sent out, of whom never returned, but Nuy is chased out, for bringing one of the northerners into camp.

The plot was very intriguing and suspenseful, as it switched from Nuy's view to Leila's. As an uncorrected copy, I found some typing errors, but other than that, the words were obviously carefully chosen, and the flow was excellent. At the beginning (since I personally have not read the first book), "Earthseed," it was a little confusing, but things straightened out later on. This is the only problem I found in the book itself, the rest was exceptional. Ship's view was fascinating, I enjoyed both the prologue and epilogue... Although if I were to choose, the epilogue was superior, and enticed me to read the next book. As a reader, I sincerely hope that Pamela Sargent will write a third!

Content:Adult guidance, as the book uses profound words for using the bathroom, and has some vague sexual content.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Eagle Creek, Oregon (OR) USA

Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn

When Ali asks her mother about a mysterious picture she found in the attic, she begins to learn about something that happened in her mother's life that she just wants to forget. The missing child in the torn up picture haunts her as she takes a position as her aunt Dulcie's babysitter at the lakehouse her mother used to go to as a child. Slowly, Ali begins to put the pieces together to form a story about a child, Teresa Abbott, who drowned in the lake some 30 years ago as a child. Then Sissy, a mean child comes to into the lives of Ali and her cousin, Emma and they begin to find out the truth about what really happened that night.

I really liked reading the book. While the book wasn't as suspenseful as I was hoping, the story really kept me interested and I couldn't stop reading. This book is definately for younger readers, but even older ones will enjoy the story. Reading this book has made me want to read more mysteries, especially Mary Downing Hahn books!

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 20
Reviewer City, State and Country: Philadelphia, PA USA

Star Crossed by Mark Schreiber

Starcrossed tells a tale of two starcrossed lovers, caught in modern day time. When Christy first meets Ben, it is at the one place she least expects, the plastic surgeons office. Both wanting to remove unwanted tatoos and painful memories. Besides the fact that Ben has the same name as her last Christy's last boyfriend, they have nothing in common. Christy is and impulsive, wisecracking horoscpe junkie, and Ben is a well mannared college freshman. Together, they dig up old memories, and create some very new ones.

Starcrossed is a comic romance tale of what it takes to forget your life, and your memories, and just how bad lies can get. The plot plays off of a twisted version of Romeo and Juliet giving it a familiar, yet different, feel. The story moves along very quickly, and keeps the reader turning pages, especially towards the shocking end. It is a relatively fast read and would most likely fit to the interests of girls around 12-16. Overall Starcrossed is wonderfully enjoyable, and very exciting to those who are familiar with romance.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Marblehead, Massachusetts USA

Scary Beautiful by Niki Burnham

He’s moving! Chloe’s close boyfriend, Sean, is moving across the country because his dad got a new job at the University of Chicago. After he broke up with her at the airport, word spread quickly. So instead of being Sean’s girlfriend now, she is instead the girl who everybody hates since she is extremely attractive. One day during computer lab, Chloe looks over toward the windows--something she never does--and she sees a guy whom she thinks is Billy the Woo Woo Pizza Guy, the guy whom her friend Rachel likes. After they see each other in the computer lab, they start sitting together and that’s how the whole thing started between them. Chloe knows that whomever Rachel likes is off limits but how can she stop liking Billy, a total geek, when she is totally falling head-over-heels for him? But if she goes out with him, what will this do to her friendship with Rachel and her popularity status?

This is an awesome book! I really enjoyed Chloe because it was easy to understand what she was going through and she was fresh, interesting, and it was fun to read about her life. The author, Niki Burnham, created this book very well and it was almost like you were a part of the book and you were living in Chloe’s complicated world. I think the author did very well at developing Chloe’s character, but I don’t think she developed the other characters very well, definitely Chloe’s friends. I would have liked to have known more details about them and their personalities. This book is extremely realistic and what happened to Chloe could definitely be something that could happen in a real teenage girl’s life. I really enjoyed reading this book and I hope to get a chance to read other books in the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy series. I recommend this fantastic story to teens, ages 12-16.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Upper Strasburg, Pa United States

The Poker Diaries by Liza Conrad

Lulu has the best of both worlds in New York City. She spends time among high society with her mom in uptown New York. And she spends every other weekend playing backroom poker at her grandfather’s bar in downtown New York. Lulu is leading a pretty uneventful life until her best friend, Dack, breaks the number two poker rule: never bet what you can’t afford to lose. Now Lulu has to try to win back Dack’s watch, deal with her mom’s engagement to the mayor of New York, and her downtown love interest, Mark. But when she is suddenly blackmailed, everything gets out of control. Now she has to play a high stakes, highly illegal poker game or risk a leak to the press that could ruin the mayor’s chances of re-election and her mom’s happiness.

I absolutely loved this book! I could hardly put it down. This is the perfect book for a quick weekend or summer read. Liza Conrad combines the right amount of humor and suspense. I liked the love story between Mark and Lulu and Lulu’s mom and the mayor. I, also, really enjoyed the poker hands, poker slang, and poker rules that were included.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Erlanger, Kentucky United States

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

When Jeremy was just eight years old, his father passed away in an automobile accident. His family had been dreading this day almost all of his life, ever since a fortune-teller told him he would die at age forty. She was wrong: He died at age thirty-nine.

Five years later, one month before his thirteenth birthday, Jeremy gets a package in the mail that contains a locked, carved box and a note from his father. Fascinated by this gift, Jeremy and his lifelong best friend Lizzy are initially saddened to hear that the keys to the box were lost. Almost immediately, they become determined to find these keys and discover the meaning to life, something which the carving and the note both promise.

The search that follows is filled with ups and downs, tears and smiles, as Jeremy and Lizzie meet many strange and wonderful adults who attempt to help them unlock the box. Though Jeremy ultimately learns that some things are set up to happen in a certain way to aid him in his search, he embraces spontaneity a little bit as well. Throughout the story, he honors the memory of his father, as does his mother. She is still mourning the loss of her husband but is nevertheless a strong character who is a great means of support for her son. He is surprised when he realizes how much she needs him, too.

Think of Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass as I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak for the younger set. As with her previous novels A Mango-Shaped Space and Leap Day, Mass has created a book that will make readers think about life on a grand scale as well as a more personal one. This Meaning of Life is a sweet, touching tale, and readers need only to turn the pages to discover it.