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Starcrossed

I would recommend this book for ages thirteen and up.

This book introduces us to Helen, a high school student who lives in the small, boring town of  Nantucket. That is until the Delos family moves in. All though everyone in her high school loves the Delos family, Helen feels like she has never hated anybody more then them, so Helen decides to attack Lucas, one of the older Delos boys in the middle of the school hallway. She soon finds out that The Delos family hates her just as much as she hates them. The problem is, it seems that where ever she goes, one of the five Delos members are there. Then Lucas tells her that the reason they all hate each other so much, is because they come from a long line of  two Greek families who hated each other so much that they began to kill each other off. Now Helen is the only member of her family line left, once she dies, the curse will be broken, and the other family involved in the feud will become immortal. Except, the Delos family doesn't want to be immortal, so no matter how much they hate her, they have to keep her alive.

I was very unsure about reading this book, but I was persuaded to read it after I realized that it was about Greek Mythology. I am so glad that I did, because I absolutely loved it! I wasn't a huge fan of Helen or Helen's best friend, but I loved the Delos family. I loved how close the family was, and how they all had such unique characteristics. I really enjoyed Josephine Angelini's take on Greek Mythology, and how she made it her own. Although this book still followed very closely to the Mythology, she put her own twist on it, which I thought was very interesting. The end was a bit slower than the rest of the book, but I have a feeling that it will pick up again in the sequel.

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My favorite character was Jason, because he lightened the mood to the situation with sarcastic remarks. He was 

also the person that kept the family close and stopped them from fighting.

This book had mild/moderate language, moderate romance, and mild/moderate violence.

Four Out of Five Stars

Author Josephine Angelini

Pages: 487

Buy Book Here: Amazon

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

"Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both."

The Badger Knight

I read an ARC of this book, and it will be released on August 26, 2014.

I would recommend this book for ages twelve plus.

This book is set in 1346 Northern England and follows Adrian, a boy who suffers from albinism. Other than Adrian's friend Hugh, everyone in town thinks that he is possessed because of his pale face and light hair. Adrian and Hugh both have dreams of going into war against Scotland as "Master Archers." The only problem is, they are both too young to enlist and everyone is afraid of Adrian. Later, when Hugh is granted permission to go to war with his dad, Adrian cannot miss the opportunity to sneak in with his friend. Adrian follows a couple of days behind Hugh in hopes of catching up to him. But when Adrian gets there, he sees things that he could have never imagined, including Hugh making a decision that could get them all killed.

I rarely read any Historical Fiction books, and I don't know why, because every time I read one I love it. Very rarely do I find a book that has an equal amount of both character and world building, but this one did. Adrian was an amazing main character because he wasn't perfect or invincible, he was actually quite the opposite. He was realistic, and very rarely do I see authors write a book where the characters struggle tremendously. I also love when books are written in the perspective of a boy, because they normally are not as whiny as girl characters. As I said before, I also loved the world building in this book. It was set in an awesome time period and Kathryn Erskine described it all perfectly. The formatting in this book was different than any other book that I have read. It was set up more as if you were reading Adrian's journal, which I loved. This book was amazing, and I highly recommend picking up a copy when it comes out.

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My favorite character was Adrian, because he honest and really stayed true to what he believed in.

This book had minor swearing, minor romance, and minor violence, (pertaining to war.)

Author: Kathryn Erskine

Pages: 325

Buy Book Here: Amazon

Reached by Ally Condie

"If you let hope inside, it takes you over. It feeds on your insides and uses your bones to climb and grow. Eventually it becomes the thing that is your bones, that holds you together. Holds you up until you don't know how to live without it anymore. To pull it out of you would kill you entirely."

The Red Pyramid

I would recommend this book to anyone ages 11 and up.  This series is written by the same author of the Percy Jackson series, and is appropriate for the same age group.

Carter Kane travels the world with his dad who is an Egyptologist, while his sister, Sadie, was forced to live with their grandparents in England after their mom died.  They see each other on Christmas Eve, but after living apart for six years, they really have nothing in common, and they argue a lot.  Their dad takes them to a  Museum promising that he will make things right by doing this.  The kids watch as their dad summons a horrible creature, then see him disappear completely.  The siblings soon find out that everything their dad has been studying is real, Egyptian gods and goddesses exist.  The kids soon are told that two important gods/goddesses have inhabited them in order to get what they need.  Now, because of this Sadie and Carter can do things that people could only dream of, but will it be enough to save everyone they love?

This book is very hard for me to review, because Percy Jackson is my favorite series ever, but I really am not a huge fan of this series. For whatever reason I just could not get into it. The pacing in this book, wasn't very good, and the characters were very hard to connect too. If you are looking for a Rick Riordan book, definitely go for Percy Jackson.

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three out of five stars

I don't have a favorite character in this book, none of them really stuck out to me.

This book was pretty good, but not near as good as Rick Riordan's other series Percy Jackson.

This book was very appropriate, with no language and romance to very mild. The violence was also mild.

author: Rick Riordan

Pages: 514

Buy book here:  Amazon

Nine Days

This book should be fine for anyone ages twelve and up.

This book is a true story about a boy named Ethan and his friend Ti-Anna who are thirteen years old.  Ti-Anna tells Ethan that her father was kidnapped by soldiers and was put in a prison in China. Ethan decides that he is going to help Ti-Anna save her dad, and says that he is going to take her to China. Ethan steals his moms credit card and takes Ti-Anna to the airport, where they fly across the world all by themselves.  Once they make it to China, they have to find a hotel and try to look for anyone who may know anything about Ti-Anna’s dad.  Ethan tells her that if they don’t find him within seven days they will have to give up and go back home.  After days of searching they find someone who claims they know exactly where her dad is, but he says that he will only tell them what he knows if Ti-Anna comes back later, alone.  At first Ethan refuses, but he eventually agrees, promising that he will stay close enough to still see her.  Ethan watches as Ti-Anna talks to the man for a while, until he sees the man drug and kidnap her. Now Ethan has to find Ti-Anna alone, and he has no idea where to go.

I don’t really know who my favorite character would be, but if I had to pick one, I would say Ethan.

This was a great book and knowing it was a true story made it absolutely amazing to read. I can not believe that these kids were willing to do any of this. This book is a very fast read, I was able to read it in one day, If you have the time I think that you should give it a shot. 

four and a half out of five stars 

If this book had any language at all, it was very minor along with the romance and violence. Over all this book was very clean.

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author: Fred Hiatt

Pages: 256

Buy Book Here: Amazon

Alliance by Mark Frost

"Hate wears you down and doesn't hurt your enemy. It's like taking poison and hoping your enemy will die."

Tuck Everlasting

This book is good for any age really, but probably starting at ten so that it can be fully understood.

This book is about a girl named Winnie Foster.  Winnie is ten years old, and she lives with her family, who own some acres of woods behind their house.  One day Winnie is walking in her back woods, when she says a boy named Jesse drinking from a spring.  She walks up to the boy, and asks him if she can have some of the water.  He quickly says no right as his brother Miles and mom come up. The family kidnaps Winnie and take her back to their home.  They tell her that they didn’t want to kidnap her, but they didn’t know what else to do.  Tuck, the father, comes out to see Winnie, and the family quickly explains what happened. They say that if you drink the spring water in the woods then you will become immortal.  Jesse explains that he is actually over 100 years old, but will always look as if he is 17, because that is when he first drank the water.  Winnie spends some time with the family and eventually falls in love with Jesse.  Jesse gives her a vile of the water, and tells her that when she turns seventeen she needs to drink it so that she can get married to Jesse.  Now Winnie has a choice, live forever with Jesse and his family or live and die just like the rest of the world.

I absolutely loved this book, and it was of my all time favorites. I just recently read it for my fourth time. I absolutely love the writing style that Natalie Babbit uses, it is simplistic, yet beautiful. 

This book has mild to no language and romance.  There is very minor violence, but over all this book is very clean.

five out of five stars

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Author: Natalie Babbit

pages: 139

Buy Book Here: Amazon