Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

Loved, loved, loved this graphic novel.  This is a story about trying to fit in in high school and find your place, something everyone can relate to.  I really liked the relationship between all the siblings ...Maggie with her brothers...and Lucy and Alistair...it is nice to see a book where siblings are looking out for each other.  This is a Young Adult graphic but I would definitely recommend it for middle school (there is no sex and a minimal amount of bad language.)

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: February 28, 2012

A coming-of-age tale with a spooky twist!
Maggie McKay hardly knows what to do with herself. After an idyllic childhood of homeschooling with her mother and rough-housing with her older brothers, it’s time for Maggie to face the outside world, all on her own. But that means facing high school first. And it also means solving the mystery of the melancholy ghost who has silently followed Maggie throughout her entire life. Maybe it even means making a new friend—one who isn’t one of her brothers.
Funny, surprising, and tender, Friends with Boys is a pitch perfect YA graphic novel full of spooky supernatural fun.

 

 

Where We Belong by Emily Giffin

Meh.  I am not sure if it is because I have been reading too much fluffy stuff lately (most of which I have liked,) but this just fell short.  The characters were just ok...I just couldn't find myself caring about either one very much.  It was also a tad too predictable and tidy.  This is worth a library rental but definitely not one to add to the collection.

 

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: July 24, 2012

The author of five blockbuster novels, Emily Giffin, delivers an unforgettable story of two women, the families that make them who they are, and the longing, loyalty and love that binds them together

 

Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her.

For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever.

Show More

Show Less

Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas

Lisa Kleypas brings us back to Friday Harbor with her newest installment, Dream Lake. I brought this with me on vacation and it was absolutely perfect. I loved it as much as the first in the series.  The characters are wonderful and she continues to infuse her stories with a touch of magic...which makes for a fun, light, romantic read.  

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: August 7, 2012 | Series: Friday Harbor

Dream Lake takes readers once again to the exquisite setting of Friday Harbor, and tells the story of Zoe Hoffman, an innkeeper who has all but given up on love. She’s a gentle, romantic soul, but has been so hurt in the past that she dare not trust her heart with anyone. Especially not Alex Nolan. Alex is the most haunted of all the Nolan brothers. He drinks to keep his demons at bay and not only has he given up on love, he has never, ever believed in it. Zoe and Alex are oil and water, fire and ice, sunshine and shadow. But sometimes, it takes only a glimmer of light to chase away the dark. Dream Lake is classic Lisa Kleypas: romantic, powerful, emotional, and magical.

Off the Menu by Stacy Ballis

This is my idea of a perfect summer, beach read...it was funny, and sweet and I didn't want to put it down.  I *heart* Alana - she is talented and funny and insecure and perfect; and then there is RJ...if only a man like this actually existed, sigh....

Book Description via Amazon.com

Publication Date: July 3, 2012

As the executive culinary assistant to celebrity Chicago chef Patrick Conlon, Alana Ostermann works behind the scenes—and that’s just the way she likes it. But with developing recipes for Patrick’s cookbooks, training his sous chefs, picking out the perfect birthday gifts for his ex-mother-in-law, and dealing with the fallout from his romantic escapades, she barely has a personal life, much less time to spend with her combo platter of a mutt, Dumpling.

Then a fluke online connection brings her RJ, a transplant from Tennessee, who adds some Southern spice to her life. Suddenly Alana’s priorities shift, and Patrick—and Dumpling—find themselves facing a rival for her time and affection. With RJ in the mix, and some serious decisions to make about her personal and professional future, Alana must discover the perfect balance of work and play, money and meaning, to bring it all to the table—one delicious dish at a time…

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I don't even know how to begin to write about this book.  I have been in a bit of a reading rut lately, picking up books only to abandom them after ten pages.  This is no reflection of the book, just my reading ADD.  I did this with this book...picked it up, read couple pages, then left it for a couple days.  Pick it up again, read a couple of pages, then left it for another couple days...you get the idea. 

So I had a hard time getting into the flow of the book.  The first part of the book is a young women's account of how she got captured by the Gestapo and is now forced to reveal war secrets.  The narrative is somewhat disjointed, purposefully done by the author, and the reader is left questioning.  Who is this woman, what exactly does she do for the British government, how did she get captured???  The second part of the book is told by the young woman's best friend, Maggie;  this is where the story really picks up and is literally, unputdownable.  The holes and questions that were left in the first part are answered and the reader is feverishly turning pages to find out what really happened. 

I knew a book about WWII is not going to be a light, summer read, but man this leaves your heart in pieces, in the best possible way. 

Amazon Best Teen Books of the Month, May 2012: Rich in historical detail and intrigue, Code Name Verity is a vivid reminder of what makes historical fiction so compelling. In exchange for a temporary stay of execution and lesser forms of torture, a young female spy captured in Nazi-occupied France writes a confession of her activities in the Resistance. Her story is that of two women who should never have crossed paths, yet were destined to become the best of friends and embark upon the covert mission that would determine which of them would live or die. Courage born of friendship, fierce hope, surprising twists, and ironies abound in this spell-binding novel that will appeal to teens and adult readers alike.--Seira Wilson

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

This is the third installment in the Mortal Instrument series...and I am still loving it.  While I agree with the review below - the story was somewhat predictable - I still was able to go along for the ride.  Jace and Clary are still one of my favorite pseudo-couples (the whole sibling thing did make me a tad gaggy) and then there is Simon - I Simon. 

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–In the two previous books, Clary learns that she is a member of a race of demon-hunters and that she has the special ability to create new versions of the runes that give these Shadowhunters their power. Her mother has been hiding the truth from her for years to protect her from her father, Valentine, a cult-leader-turned-villain who is seeking to gain control over the Shadowhunters by obtaining the three Mortal Instruments. Now, Valentine has only one Mortal Instrument left to find, and the Shadowhunters must ally with the despised Downworlders, including vampires, werewolves, and fairies, to prepare their final defense. The question of whether Clary will be able to harness her unique abilities in time to help–and whether they will let her–is sidelined by the question of whether her love interest, Jace, is really her brother. Though the story is hampered by predictability and overblown writing, Clare continues her talent for mixing hip, modern humor with traditional fantasy, and fans eagerly awaiting the series conclusion should come away more than satisfied.–Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

I had really, really high hopes for this book, and maybe that was the problem.  I love dystopian fiction, I really do,  and this had such a cool premise - the earth's rotation is slowing down.  Longer days and longer nights, how do we as a society function with our days and nights all mixed  up?  Julia is 10 when all this begins to happen - a tough age in the best of circumstances - and we see her trying to live a "normal" life in an abnormal world.  I found myself not caring very much about the characters and whether or not they would survive this slow apocalypse.


Amazon Best Books of the Month, June 2012: In The Age of Miracles, the world is ending not with a bang so much as a long, drawn-out whimper. And it turns out the whimper can be a lot harder to cope with. The Earth's rotation slows, gradually stretching out days and nights and subtly affecting the planet's gravity. The looming apocalypse parallels the adolescent struggles of 10-year-old Julia, as her comfortable suburban life succumbs to a sort of domestic deterioration. Julia confronts her parents' faltering marriage, illness, the death of a loved one, her first love, and her first heartbreak. Karen Thompson Walker is a gifted storyteller. Her language is precise and poetic, but style never overpowers the realism she imbues to her characters and the slowing Earth they inhabit. Most impressively, Thompson Walker has written a coming-of-age tale that asks whether it's worth coming of age at all in a world that might end at any minute. Like the best stories about the end of the world, The Age of Miracles is about the existence of hope and whether it can prevail in the face of uncertainty. --Kevin Nguyen