Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

First of all - I.love.this.  It is such a great coming of age story of a girl struggling with being 16 and being

"the new girl".  She feels lonely and afraid and unsure... and begins a sketchbook at her grandmothers advice.  Each "chapter" is a new rule to follow, "Figure out what scares you and DO IT!"  By going through the process, Paige learns about herself and others.  The illustrations...oh my...they are just wonderful and beautiful and perfect.  I am going to buy this book (gasp) for my own library because my daughters need to read this...and I may *cough* need to re-read this once or twice.

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: May 1, 2011

Paige Turner has just moved to New York with her family, and she?s having some trouble adjusting to the big city. In the pages of her sketchbook, she tries to make sense of her new life, including trying out her secret identity: artist. As she makes friends and starts to explore the city, she slowly brings her secret identity out into the open, a process that is equal parts terrifying and rewarding.

Laura Lee Gulledge crafts stories and panels with images that are thought-provoking, funny, and emotionally resonant. Teens struggling to find their place can see themselves in Paige's honest, heartfelt story.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Delicious!!!  You want to read this with an "au chocolat chaud" (hot chocolate) or if you are above 21 a glass of champagne.  I am not a particularly speedy reader but I read most of this in one lovely afternoon (and stayed up till *way* past my bedtime to finish it.)  Stephanie Perkins captured first love and first heartbreak perfectly and wrapped it in a lovely French bow. 

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: August 4, 2011

Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris-until she meets Etienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Etienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.

Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin

I have a song running through my head as I write this:


I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight

Ya know the Bonnie Tyler song from Footloose *sigh*...anyhoo...this book makes me want to believe in heroes and cowboys and the innate goodness of people.  Tyler is such a swoon worthy main character and while he may be a *tad* unrealistic it is still fun to believe that there are heroes left in the world.

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: April 3, 2012

Third generation Texas Ranger Tyler Steele is the last of a dying breed-- a modern day cowboy hero living in a world that doesn't quite understand his powerful sense of right and wrong and instinct to defend those who can't defend themselves. Despite his strong moral compass, Ty has trouble seeing his greatest weakness. His hard outer shell, the one essential to his work, made him incapable of forging the emotional connection his wife Andie so desperately needed.
Now retired, raising their son Brodie on his own, and at risk of losing his ranch, Ty does not know how to rebuild from the rubble of his life. The answer comes in the form of Samantha and her daughter Hope, on the run from a seemingly inescapable situation. They are in danger, desperate, and alone. Though they are strangers, Ty knows he can help-- protecting the innocent is what he does best. As his relationship with Sam and Hope unfolds, Ty realizes he must confront his true weaknesses if he wants to become the man he needs to be.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

A-dorable.  Read this in one sitting and it was delicious. 

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: January 2, 2012

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas

Yay, an adult book, finally!!!  This is just what I needed, a breezy, light read with a perfect mix of romance with a hint of magic.  This reminded me so much of the Debbie Macomber series Cedar Cove...you fall in love with the setting almost as much as with the characters.  The second book in the series comes out in August and it will be the *perfect* vacation/beach read!!!

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: February 28, 2012
Series: Friday Harbor

Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington. She is stunned and blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal: her fiancé Kevin has left her. His new lover is Lucy’s own sister. Lucy's bitterness over being dumped is multiplied by the fact that she has constantly made the wrong choices in her romantic life. Facing the severe disapproval of Lucy's parents, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, a local vineyard owner on San Juan Island, to "romance" Lucy and hopefully loosen her up and get her over her anger. Complications ensue when Sam and Lucy begin to fall in love, Kevin has second thoughts, and Lucy discovers that the new relationship in her life began under false pretenses. Questions about love, loyalty, old patterns, mistakes, and new beginnings are explored as Lucy learns that some things in life—even after being broken—can be made into something new and beautiful.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

For all those who love Domesday Preppers...this book is for you!  I don't know if I can say I liked this book...I could not put it down...but it left me unsettled.  Your whole perception changes once your a parent and that includes my reactions to books.  I automatically think...what would I do?  Carl and I had an hour long conversation on what we would do if an asteroid did in fact hit the moon.  Now I will admit that this conversation took place over cocktails, while the children were having a sleepover at Nan and Pop's, and it became a hilarious joke very quickly but it gets you thinking.  I will warn you, this book will make you want to start hoarding food and supplies, I joke (kinda.)

Via Amazon.com. 

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald’s still would be open.

High school sophomore Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, the way “one marble hits another.” The result is catastrophic. How can her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis are wiping out the coasts, earthquakes are rocking the continents, and volcanic ash is blocking out the sun? As August turns dark and wintry in northeastern Pennsylvania, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in a year’s worth of journal entries, this heart-pounding story chronicles Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all—hope—in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. An extraordinary series debut!

Awards: ALA Best Book for Young Adults, CCBC Choice, Junior Library Guild Premier selection, Listening Library selection, Amazon.com Best Book of the Year, 2011 ALA Popular Paperback, winner of six state awards

Divergent by Veronica Roth

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!  I cannot believe I waited so long to read this book - it was A-mazing.  You can keep you Team Peeta/Team Gale (and Edward/Jacob for that matter) because Team Four will forever have a place in my heart *sigh*.  Combine that with post-apocalyptic deliciousness and I have discovered a new favorite book...well until the next one comes along...

Via Amazon.com

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.