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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 

The Host

I think that this book would be appropriate for ages fifteen and up.



This book is about a world that has been taken over by aliens.  The aliens take over human bodies and control them. The aliens think that the world has become to violent, and they want to set the humans on the right path.  This book is in the perspective of an alien named Wanda.  She is in the body of a girl named Melanie.  Melanie is not leaving her body though, so now it is kind of like having to people in one body.  Melanie wants to find her brother Jamie and her boyfriend Jared, and eventually leads Wanda to the cave that they are hiding in.  Jared and Jamie want nothing to do with Melanie because, they think that she has left her body.  How can Melanie prove to them that she is still there?

My favorite character was Jared, because he was very understanding.


I loved this book! I had very low expectations going into it, because I have heard that Stephanie Meyer's writing style is hard to enjoy. This book ended up being my number one read of 2013, it was so enjoyable, and I loved every single character in it. I highly recommend it.


This book had minor/medium language, medium violence, and heavy romance.  I would not recommend this to anyone under fifteen.

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Five Out of Five Stars

Author: Stephanie Meyer
pages: 619
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The Knife of Never Letting Go

I think that the age for this would be good for thirteen plus.  The main problem in this book is the violence, so if that does not bother you then it could be good for twelve plus too.


The Knife of Never Letting Go is about a twelve year old boy named Todd.  Todd lives in a town called Prentiss Town.  In Prentiss Town, there are no girls, only boys, and at the age of thirteen, a boy becomes a "man," and must complete a task to be accepted as a man.  Todd is the last boy and is one month away from becoming a man.  Years before a sickness called the noise came to Prentiss Town.  The people of the town are led to believe that that is what killed all the girls.  The men did not die, but the sickness left them with the ability to constantly hear each others thoughts.   Then Todd's dad Benjamin tells Todd that he has to leave Prentiss Town, because something terrible will happen when the last boy becomes a man. Todd leaves the town along with his dog Manchee, and plans to run into the woods, to try to escape, but one of the men of Prentiss Town, named Aaron is following them, and is determined to turn the last boy into a man.  That is when Todd finds a girl in the woods named Viola, and he takes her with him, to try to find a safe town to live in, but Todd can't stop wondering why is she the only girl in the town, and how did she survive? Todd and Viola start to uncover some of the mysteries of Prentiss Town, until they find out, that maybe the noise wasn't the thing that killed the girls after all.


I loved this book, because it was something totally new and different. It definitely made it in my top five for 2014. I have recommended this book to so many people, and they have absolutely loved it also. If violence doesn't bother you too much, then I recommend this book for sure. The thing that caught my attention to this book, was the unique plot. I world where you can hear everybody's thoughts sounded terrible and intriguing at the same time. I will say, that I also love male protagonists, considering there are not many of those in young adult dystopians. Todd was a great main character, he wasn't too whiny, but he wasn't invisible either. He handled things in a way that I felt a boy his age would handle. In the end this book was incredible and I highly recommend it.  


My favorite character was Benjamin, because he really cared for Todd.


There is a lot of violence in this book, and I did skim over some of the detail.  This book has minor romance, and medium cursing.  Although the characters do not usually curse outright, the do use other words as a stand in for cursing.

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Five out of Five Stars

Author: Patrick Ness
Pages:479
 Buy Book Here

Steelheart

I would recommend this book for kids ages twelve and up



Many years ago this explosion in the sky called the Calamity came and it gave certain people powers.  These people are called epics and the epics are terrible people.  When the most powerful epic, Steelheart, comes and kills many people including David's dad, David wants revenge. David has spent his whole life researching epics and how they can be killed.  That's when David finds out about the Reckoners.  The Reckoners have committed their entire lives to killing the weaker epics.  When David finally tracks down the epics, he asks to be part of their group, so that he can have help killing Steelheart.  The Reckoners accept him into their group and begin a plan on how to kill Steelheart.  In order to get to Steelheart, they have to kill all the epics around Steelheart, David is willing to do anything, but the rest of the Reckoners might not be so willing.


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Five Out of Five Stars

This book was really really good, it was kind of like a different take on superheroes. The problem is, although I really enjoyed the book as I was reading it, it was very forgettable. This was not a book that stuck with me as much as I would have liked it to.


This book had very mild bad language, mild romance, and mild violence.


My favorite character is Cody, who is one of the Reckoners, because he is sarcastic and lightens the mood.

Author: Brandon Sanderson

pages: 400

Buy Book Here

Delirium

I would recommend this book for ages thirteen plus.



This book takes place in a society where any type of love is considered a disease and at the age of eighteen, you have a surgery that cures you from love.  Lena who is seventeen, along with her best friend Hana, are ready to get the cure.  Once you get the cure, you are then considered normal in the society. Once you have the cure, the society matches you up with who you are going to marry and how many kids you are going to have.  Lena then notices that Hana does not seem as excited about the cure as she used to be. Hana has begun to realize that if they get the cure, they will never be able to have fun ever again, because they would not be able to love anything.  Hana starts to go to illegal parties, that some of their friends are having, and Lena goes to try to stop her.  At the party Lena meets a boy named Alex.  Alex is nineteen and already has the cure.  Alex and Lena start talking at the party and end up becoming really good friends.  After talking for a couple more days Alex tells Lena that he is not cured, and has been pretending.  Lena soon realizes that she does not want the cure either, and would rather try to escape with Alex and Hana.  The only way out is through an electric fence with security cameras and guards everywhere.  Lena thinks that it is impossible to escape, but Alex thinks he knows a way out.


I have noticed that something that really draws me in, is a dystopian book with a unique plot. I can honestly say that before I read this book, I never thought of how a world with out love would be like. If you think about it love is in everything. You can say that you love your family, but you can also say that you love pizza. Lauren Oliver shows perfectly that without love, there is hate. Love is happiness, and without it people become angry and frustrated. I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it for sure.


My favorite character was Hana, because for a long time she was the only person that realized that the cure was not going to help them.


This book had medium swearing, and medium violence.  Even though there is violence it is not overly graphic.  This book also has medium romance.

Five Out of Five Stars

Author: Lauren Oliver

Pages: 441
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Waterfall

I think that this book would be appropriate for ages 12+.

This book is about two sisters named Gabi and Lia. Gabi and Lia are searching in an ancient tomb for their mom who is a archaeologist. As the girls are searching through the dark tomb, they realize that the room is spinning. Once the room stops spinning Gabi gets up and realizes that Lia is not there with her. Gabi walks out of the tomb and right into the middle of a battlefield. Gabi has fallen into the 14th century. One of the men in the battle see her, and take her back to his castle. Gabi tries to escape Many times in order to find her sister, but she is caught each time. Finally she convinces the three leaders (Marcelo, Luca, and Fortino) to help her find her sister. Then Gabi finds out her sister has been taken by one of the worst kingdoms in the area. Now she is not so sure she can get her sister back. 

I don't think that I have ever read a time travel book, but I'm glad that this was my first. Once again I came into this book with low expectations, but I'm not sure why. Yet again I was blown away by how this book was. Lisa Bregren really made it her goal to show how much times have changed. This book was world driven for sure, which I usually do not like, but in this case it worked very well. Since this book was about time travel it was very important to show the difference between this time periods, and she did that very well. I really loved this book and hope to continue on with the trilogy. 

My favorite character was Luca, because he was funny and sarcastic. 

This book had no cursing. It had moderate violence (since this was set in the 1400's there was a lot of fighting with different weapons.) this book had pretty minor romance. There was definitely some, but it was not over the top. 

                                               Readqueen

Five Out of Five Stars

Author: Lisa bergren 

Pages: 369

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The Girl of Fire and Thorns

I think that this book would totally fine for anyone twelve years old and up.

This story follows a girl named Elisa. Elisa is married off to a prince in another realm, in trade for peace between the two realms. Elisa begins to learn how to be princess, and how to deal with things in the castle. Then Elisa is kidnapped and the people need her in order to stop a war. At first Elisa is wanting to get away, until she realizes that she likes these people and want to help them with the war. Elisa meets a boy named Humberto, and realizes that she likes him. The problem is, she is already married. Now Elisa has to figure out how to stop a war, and how to get out of her marriage without starting another war.

                  

This book was absolutely incredible. Since it is a high fantasy book, it did take me a while to get into it. After being slightly confused for the first twenty pages or so, it really took off. After it started to get going, it never stopped. There was constant action and it never got dull or boring, I highly recommend this book especially if you are in a reading slump.

                                                               READQUEEN

My favorite character is Humberto, because he is funny and light hearted.

This book has no bad language, minor romance, and medium violence.

                                                    

Five Out of Five Stars

Author: Rae Carson

Pages: 423

Life as we Knew it

I think that this book would be fine for ages twelve plus.



This book is about a sixteen year old girl named Miranda.  Miranda lives at home with her mom and her fourteen year old brother Jon.  While they are at home they hear on the news that a meteor has hit the moon, and has moved it closer to orbit.  Miranda calls her nineteen year old brother Matt, and asks him to come home with them in case anything happened.  They have begun rationing food, saving water, and getting whatever supplies they may need.  Then the tidal waves begin.  All over the world tidal waves are killing people.  They believe that they are safe because there are no large bodies of water around them, until the electricity goes out, and the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions begin.  Now people are starving to death, and they are running out of food.  They find away to gather food and they think that they may be safe, until the plagues begin.  Miranda's mom gets the plague and passes it on to Jon, then to Matt.  How are they supposed to survive this?

I thought that this book was good, but very forgettable. It was fun to read it, but I would not recommend it. This was the first apocalyptic book that I have read, so that may have had something to do with it. All in all I found it very generic and didn't see anything very unique or special in it.

                                                                  READQUEEN

My favorite character is Matt, because he tries his best to keep there family together.


This book has very minor bad language, and romance.  The violence is not bad at all, (A mention of a woman committing suicide after her daughter died.) (Also Miranda's family is divorced, and there is some discussion about religion because Miranda's best friend is a Christian.)

Three Out of Five Stars

Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

pages: 337

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The Chaos of Stars

I would recommend this book for ages 12 plus.



This book is about a girl named Isadora, who is the daughter of two egyptian gods.  When Isadora finds out that her mom is pregnant, she gets mad and decides to  go live with her brother and his girlfriend.  When she gets there she finds out that her brother has gotten married, and that his wife is also pregnant. Isadora is sick and tired of babies, and tries to stay as for away as possible from them.  She gets a job as a tour guide at an Egyptian museum, and begins to go to public school.  She meets a girl named Tyler, who then introduces Isadora to her boyfriend Scott, and her friend Ry.  Isadora asks Ry, Scott, and Tyler to come to her brother's house and redecorate her room.  They all agree, and begin to come really close friends.  Then Isadora's mom sends a message saying that Isadora has to come home right now, because she might be in trouble.  Isadora refuses to come home, until she soon realizes that she might not be the one who is in trouble.  Now it might be to late to go back and try to help, but her friends are willing to come with her and try.

This book has an unfair advantage over all the other books that I have read. I love Greek mythology, and that was the entire premise of the book, so I definitely enjoyed it. It was a stand alone, which was a little strange considering it wasn't a contemporary. I did feel like the ending was a little rushed, but other than that, I really did enjoy it.

                                                            READQUEEN

For my favorite character, I think that it is a tie between Ry, Scott, and Tyler.


The violence in this book is pretty minor, there is a fist fight, and a mention of a near drowning.  The bad language is also on the minor side.  The romance is also not bad.  There are some dating couples, but that is about it.


                                                 
Five Out of Five Stars
Author: Kiersten White
page: 276
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Variant

I would recommend this book for kids ages twelve and up.



This book is about a boy name Benson, who just got a scholarship to Maxfield Academy.  The academy is not what it seems.  There are no adults, the kids run themselves. They are watched every second by monitors, and if you try to escape they die.  Benson becomes friends with his roommate Maosn, his girlfriend Jane, and his friend Becky.  Mason, Jane, and Benson are desperate to find a way out, but Becky is happy to stay at the school, and to follow the rules.  Benson try's everything, until he realizes that the school is not at all what it looks like.  There is a huge secret at the school, and Benson wants to find out who started it, but he soon realizes that escaping could be impossible.


I absolutely loved this book, and the series made it into my top five books of all time! I love anything involving a boarding school, so I had a feeling that I would enjoy it, but I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. I recommended this book to all of my friends and they all loved it. I highly recommend it, to everyone.


The bad language was very minor.  The romance was also very minor, ( a mention that people are dating at the school, one kiss.)  The violence was the worst part of this book, but it was not overwhelming.  The violence was medium to heavy, I cannot say specifically what happens without giving the book away.

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Five Out of Five Stars                                 

author: Robison Wells
pages: 373
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Insurgent

I would recommend this book to teens ages fourteen and up.



This book left off where Divergent ended.  Four and Tris go to the amity headquarters trying find a safe  place to go after the war.  They soon realize that they do not fit in there, and decide to go to the Candor headquarters, where they are kidnapped and questioned.  That is where Tris discovered that the divergents are being controlled, and if the people do not turn in a divergent everyday, she kills three people.  Tris decides to go and visit her brother Caleb in Erudite, but he turns on her, and turns her in.  How is Tris supposed to escape now?

I really enjoyed this book, but I did like Divergent more. I wasn't a huge fan of the setting in this book, I thought that it was a little awkward. Other than that I really loved this book, and would recommend it, especially if you loved the first one.

My favorite character is Christina, Tris' best friend.


The bad language was minor, and the violence was medium/heavy.  The romance was heavy, and that is why I will not be reading the third book.

Five Out of Five Stars
author: Veronica Roth  
Hardcover: 544 pages
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Legend

I would recommend this book for ages twelve and up.


This book is about a girl named June and a boy named day.  June is a military prodigy, born in one of the wealthiest sections of the city.  Day is the country's most wanted criminal, who lives in the poorest sections of the city.  When Metias June's brother is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect, June decides that she is going to find Day and kill him.  When June finally finds Day, and is about to get her revenge, Day proves to her that he did not kill her brother.  Now June is desperate to find who her brother's killer really is, and Day wants to help.  As they begin to uncover the mystery the realize that they have gotten themselves into a lot of trouble, and have to find a way to escape before they end up dead too.


I absolutly loved this book! It was so good.


My favorite character was either Day or Metias. They where both really sweet, and always willing to help June.


This book had minor bad language, and minor romance. This book also had heavy violence.


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author: Marie  Lu
pages: 305
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