Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

I love Daniel Handler as Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. I have a copy of his book Horseradish that I regularly pull off the shelf and look through. I read his book Basic Eight, and I'm going to admit that it creeped me out and therefore we won't be referring to that anymore. All these Daniel Handler-love credentials lead me to read his newest young adult novel, Why We Broke Up.

In the book, Mina is dropping off a box at her now ex-boyfriend Ed's house. The box contains the mementos that make up their relationship, mementos that Mina uses to tell their story. It's a story of stalking old movie stars and basketball games.

This book made me sad because, honestly I know how it ends. They're gonna break up. I liked Ed and Mina together. A lot of the stories made them seem really sweet. I could also see that they were very different people. It was too much contrast for them to stay together forever.

This book was a masterpiece, from the lovely writing to the brilliant illustrations. I loved the surprising heft that the book has as I carry it around. Recommended for the heartbroken, heart-mended, heartless, and everyone in between.

Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem by Melissa Lemon

Here's my review of Melissa Lemon's Cinder and Ella, which I read a little over a year ago. This isn't exactly a series, but they are both fairy tale retellings. I liked Cinder and Ella, and I like Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem even more.

Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem is told by the Magic Mirror. The story starts out with the wicked Queen of Mayhem wishing to kill her baby. The King steals away with the infant girl. Unfortunately, he is killed, but he succeeds in transferring the child to his uncle's care. Young Kat grows up in his apple orchard, never suspecting that she is the princess. Eventually, her uncle grows old and blind, and he becomes cruel towards Kat. Their farmhand, Jeremy, begs her to run away with him. He gives her some money to take care of herself, then he will join her after he takes care of his debts to his family.

Kat runs away to the market, where her uncle had forbidden her to go in case anyone recognized her. She encounters a cruel man auctioning off a dwarf, takes pity on the poor creature, and purchases him. The dwarf takes her to his home, where he lives with six other dwarfs. They invite her to stay. Meanwhile, the Queen finds out that Kat is still alive and sends a young prince from the neighboring kingdom of Mischief to kill her.

Something about this book really appealed to me. It is more faithful to the fairy tale than Cinder and Ella was. I wasn't a big fan of Kat. She seemed very emotionless. Jeremy professed his love to her, and she just had this cold and robotic response. I also thought she was annoying when she coddled the Dopey-equivalent dwarf. Truthfully, I rather liked the story. I'm a big sucker for a happily ever after, and I'd definitely like to see Ms. Lemon write more of her fairy tales.

I received my copy of Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem from Netgalley, courtesy of Cedar Fort, Inc. It's available now.

Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

Amelia is a 15-year-old who works at the "Land of Dreams," otherwise known as the local supermarket. That moniker was made up by Chris, training supervisor and man of Amelia's dreams. Amelia pines after him, wishing she were older or more edgy and mature like some of her other coworkers.

We get to read some of Chris' journal entries. At first, Amelia is mentioned maybe once or twice in passing, but they get closer as the story progresses. Amelia starts to go out with the grocery store crew more, and there's lots of alcohol involved.

I really felt for poor Amelia. She was so naïve and so awkward! She would talk to Chris and she had such a young view on life, like her English reading assignments. It's adorable. I couldn't help but worry about her when she started drinking at parties. It's difficult to root for your fifteen-year-old protagonist to get together with a twenty-one-year-old, but at the same time you kind of want it to happen. Therefore, this was a bit of a bittersweet tale, but it also had a good bit of humor to lighten the mood.

I received my copy of Love and Other Perishable Items from Edelweiss, courtesy of Knopf Books for Young Readers. It's available now.

Rebel Heart by Moira Young

You can read my review of the first book in the Dustlands series, Blood Red Road, here. I LOVE THESE BOOKS. It's a little frustrating to me that this series doesn't seem to get much press. Be warned, there are some spoilers for the first book here.

Rebel Heart picks up after Blood Red Road, after Saba has found Lugh. There was a battle. Many were lost. Jack left Saba to inform Molly the tavern owner that her beloved won't be coming back. Meanwhile, Saba, Lugh, and Emmi are travelling west, towards lands untouched by the Tonton army.

Unfortunately, Lugh is acting like an a-hole, plain and simple. He accuses Saba of being blinded by her love for Jack, he whines that she didn't rescue him sooner (She was a little busy cage fighting!), and then he pretty much says that she is a slut who Jack is using for sex. I think he might have just had some really traumatic experiences during his captivity, but it's not really a good excuse. Get over yourself, Lugh.

Poor Saba is busy being haunted by dead people. In the battle at the end of Blood Red Road, Saba ended up having to kill one of the Nighthawks (A group of female rebels) so that the enemy wouldn't capture and torture her. Because of this, Saba can hardly shoot her bow and arrow. It's also one of the reasons that Lugh gets frustrated with her. Saba stops sleeping and eating, and she's just a mess. She sees all the people that she killed around her constantly.

After the fall of Vicar Pinch and his army, his second in command DeMalo gains control. The Tontons have been recruiting the young and able-bodied to repopulate the land, killing those less young and able-bodied. DeMalo has his sights set on Saba. The army has instructions to bring her straight to him, because he kind of has a crush on her. Just to complicate things more, there are rumors that Jack has been riding with the Tonton army, and then he shows up with them and takes her sister!

There's so much going on in this book. It really is almost as good as Blood Red Road. My main complaint is that there is less Jack, and Jack isn't quite as funny. Since his main plot involves telling a woman that the love of her life is dead, this is understandable. The story progresses nicely in this book, and I am majorly pumped to read the third book in the series. With the way everything seems to go in the first two, I'd be surprised if anyone makes it out alive.

I received my copy of Rebel Heart from Edelweiss, courtesy of Margaret K. McElderry Books. It's available now in hardcover. Blood Red Road is available in paperback.

Burning Blue by Paul Griffin

Burning Blue tells the story of an awful crime. Nicole Castro was the most beautiful girl at her New Jersey high school. She was even a beauty queen. In one horrible moment, an unknown assailant splashed her face with acid.

Jay is a loner because he avoids other people after a few unfortunate seizures that made their way onto Youtube. He is also a super hacker, though he feigns technological ignorance as a cover. Jay is the narrator of our story, the one who gathers emails from the attacker, diary entries from Nicole, and newspaper articles on the attack. The more time passes, the less likely the odds that the crime will be solved. Because of this, Jay decides that he has to be the one to find out who attacked Nicole and why.

This was a very intense book, for obvious reasons. I remember reading about a similar attack on a woman a few years ago, and it turned out that she had thrown acid on her own face. It's very frightening to think that something like this could happen to me someday.

I really liked Jay. His computer skills were impressive, especially to a novice like me. The friendship he forms with Nicole is really sweet. I definitely love a teenage detective story. Not to give anything away, the ending was actually pretty creepy, though the journey to getting to that end is the best part of the book.

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Black City is the story of a world where vampires exist. They are segregated from humans by a wall, guarded on both sides to keep them separate. The Darklings (Known also by the derogatory term "Nippers" because the racism angle is really being pushed) are treated as second-class citizens. Humans and Darklings cannot court each other. This offense is punishable by death.

Ash is a Halfling, born of a human father and Darkling mother. He bites people for money, as addicts pay for the high that comes from vampire venom, or Haze. Because he is part of both worlds, Ash doesn't truly belong with either humans or Darklings. His best friend, Beetle, works with a group of humans that want to break down the wall and let humans and Darklings live together. Ash, being the lost emo half-vampire, refuses to take part.

Natalie is the daughter of the Emissary. She has to deal with an obviously evil mother and a poor maimed sister. Upon moving back to the city, she encounters Ash. It's hate at first sight. They quarrel constantly, but they also have a strange connection. Whenever Ash is around Natalie, his still heart starts beating.

It's Romeo and Juliet meets Birth of a Nation meets Twilight! Overall, I enjoyed Black City. My issues were with Natalie's character at the beginning. She is incredibly naive about Darklings and her mother. My biggest problem with her was how she treated her friend Day. Day used to date Beetle, but broke up with him because of his Haze addiction. She thinks that Ash is a bad influence on Beetle and disagrees with Natalie and Ash dating. Natalie pretty much kicks Day out of her life completely, which seemed incredibly harsh because Day had every right to be upset with Ash. Anyways, Black City has a great premise and I love that cover. It's a bit heavy-handed, but it has potential.

I received my copy of Black City from Edelweiss, courtesy of Putnam Juvenile. It's available for purchase now.

Moranthology by Caitlin Moran

The intro to Moranthology illustrates Caitlin Moran's writing career. She figures out that the writing she is best at is just funny. This book shows her talent at its best.

Moranthology hops, skips, and jumps over a vast variety of subjects. We hear about the British television shows that everyone loves. Moran has a crush on Benedict Cumberbatch, just like me and everyone else who has seen him work his stuff on Sherlock. Her Doctor Who experiences made me very jealous. Plus, there was some Downton Abbey content that was really funny.

Her writing about her family and late night conversations with her husband are fantastic. She even gets a bit serious by talking about her stance on welfare and libraries. I marvel at her ability to balance gravity with yet more humor. Plus, anyone who loves libraries is a friend of mine.

I really loved How to Be a Woman. Moran brought up important topics about feminism, while also discussing the fun and not-so-fun parts of being a woman. It was also incredibly funny, which was why I jumped at the chance to read anything else by this author. Moranthology did not disappoint. If nothing else, I'll always agree with her that this man is incredible:

I received my copy of Moranthology from Edelweiss, courtesy of Harper Perennial. It's available for purchase now.

Venom by Fiona Paul

Venom is another in my streak of historic young adult novels with female protagonists. This time the narrator is Cassandra and she lives in Venice during the Renaissance. Her story begins at the funeral of one of her close friends. The body disappears from its tomb just a few days later.

At the same time, Cass encounters Falco. Cass is actually engaged to a young man that she hasn't seen in years, and she is dreading the wedding. As it is, she has very little freedom from her aunt, after getting married she will be trapped forever. So Cass is drawn to Falco, a young artist who teases her and quarrels with her and takes her on crazy adventures to brothels to find her dead friend's body.

Throughout the story, there are quotes from some organization called the Order of the Eternal Rose. They have something to do with bodies disappearing from tombs. Then a maid's body is found in the canal, and all suspicions point to a powerful man. It's all very thrilling, plus there are pretty dresses. It is very much like the Renaissance Italy Gossip Girl (Which was what the review described it as and why I wanted to read it). I wasn't a huge fan of Falco, but I never cared for Dan Humphrey much (Gossip Girl character who is poor and artsy). Overall, it was a good read. There is an exciting ending and room for a sequel, which I will most likely end up reading.

I received my copy of Venom from Edelweiss, courtesy of Philomel. It's available for purchase now.

Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz

I want to start by saying, nay, exclaiming, that Colin Fischer was an incredible treat to read. It was a book that left me with a great big stupid grin on my face. This book is so different from the usual teen books, but I loved it almost more than any other I've read this year.

The titular Colin Fischer is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. Colin doesn't care for the color blue. He dislikes when anyone touches him. Emotions are so difficult for him to decipher that he carries a chart to inform him what people are feeling. He makes up for this with a keen deductive mind. Colin retains volumes of information and can use it, plus his sometimes hilarious lack of social skills and tact, to solve all sorts of mysteries around his high school.

The big mystery comes in the form of a smoking gun in the cafeteria. The school bully, Wayne Connelly, is fingered as the suspect and expelled. Despite the fact that Colin was on the receiving end of much of Wayne's bullying, Colin is determined to prove that he didn't bring the gun to school. He just has to figure out who did.

I was drawn to this book because of comparisons of Colin to Sherlock Holmes. I've read stories about how Sherlock (From the television show Sherlock, I'm not sure if the novel version is the same) seems to have a highly functioning version of Asperger's that allows him to make such keen deductions. It also explains his lack of social graces. Colin Fischer is very much a teenaged Sherlock Holmes. He even speaks of earlier cases involving his own version of Moriarty. Needless to say, but I'm saying it anyways, I would love to have more adventures featuring Colin Fischer.

I received my copy of Colin Fischer from Edelweiss, courtesy of Razorbill. It's available for purchase now.

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron

Katharine is a young woman who has been living as a ward of her aunt. She has been penniless since her parents died, so she is completely reliant upon her aunt, and her cousin in the future. Aunt Tulman demands that Katherine travel to the family estate in order to check on her Uncle, the current head of the estate. Rumor has it that he is not of sound mind, and he has been squandering the family money. Katherine's assignment is to have her uncle committed to an assignment, otherwise she will be turned out on the streets.

Her reception at the estate is less than friendly. All of the servants know why she is there, and they don't want to lose their jobs or have poor Uncle Tully sent to an asylum. Katharine puts up with a bit of abuse, but eventually makes an agreement that she will observe the estate and Uncle Tully for a month. Though she will still face the same dilemma, Katherine actually loosens up and starts to enjoy herself. She grows to care for her Uncle, a man who lives by a rigid set of rules and builds wonderful clockwork figures. He would obviously never survive in an asylum. She also learns that the estate employs hundreds of people rescued from dangerous factories. Unfortunately, she still has to think of herself. Her aunt and cousin could still end up seizing the estate and firing everyone, then casting her out.

As soon as she arrives at the estate, Katharine is plagued by strange experiences. She hears phantom laughter in the hallways. She ends up losing consciousness randomly. She sleepwalks and harms herself in her sleep. Katharine soon starts to wonder if maybe she is the one who should be institutionalized.

The Dark Unwinding started out a bit slow for me, but once I got into it I loved it. I've read some very good stories this year, tales of young women in a historical context. I really liked Katharine. It's easy to sympathize with her situation, and to feel just as much excitement with the freedom she is allowed when she arrives at Uncle Tully's. I also love the relationship between Katharine and the servant Lane. The ending comes together almost too perfectly, but I've always been a sucker for a happy ending.

I received my copy of The Dark Unwinding from Netgalley, courtesy of Scholastic Press. It's available for purchase now.

Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

More zombies, this time the necromancer-controlled zombies. A group of the undead swarm and attack a town, leaving nobody alive. Three unlikely companions work together to stop any more attacks.

Jett is a girl who passes herself as a boy. She is searching for her brother, who has been missing since the end of the Civil War. Jett has some hostility towards the North, whom she blames for ruining her family and her brother's disappearance.

Honoria Gibbons, who goes by Gibbons, travels the country to investigate paranormal occurrences for her father. Gibbons believes in science and she is an avid feminist. I really loved her. Jett and Gibbons have a few fights, but they end up almost friends.

Finally, White Fox was raised by Native Americans. He serves as a scout for the U.S. Army. Gibbons and White Fox are investigating the disappearances that have plagued the area. Gibbons is checking for signs of alien abduction, while White Fox is searching for connections to his missing tribe.

The zombies lead to a strange commune in the desert. They talk of "angels" who will rid the land of the unrighteous. It's obvious how they are involved with the zombies, but why are they doing it?

Again, another not-really-zombie zombie book. My favorite part of this story was the characters. As I said, I love Gibbons. I love her suffragette pantaloons and her crazy horseless wagon. Jett is stubborn, and a wee bit racist, but I like her strength. It's also impressive how far she goes to pass as a sharpshooter. I didn't feel much either way for White Fox, though he seemed like a nice enough guy. Anyways, if you're looking for a story of zombies in the wild west, look no further.

I received a copy of Dead Reckoning from Netgalley, courtesy of Bloomsbury. It's available for purchase now.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Alice always thought that her father was crazy. All the locks on their doors. Never going out after dark. He spoke of monsters, monsters that eat people alive. It all sounded like the raving of a lunatic, until the night Alice's family dies. She watches a monster eating her father and she knows that he was right all along. The monsters are real, and Alice will do everything in her powers to destroy them all.

Now living with her grandparents, Alice starts at a new school. She is soon intrigued by bad boy Cole. Intrigued as in she keeps having steamy visions of smooching him, and Cole seems to be sharing the visions. Cole hangs out with a strange group, a group that shows up sporting strange injuries. Two members of the group died from a strange blood disease last year. Not to spoil too much, but Cole and company are hunting the monsters: zombies.

These aren't your typical zombies, though. They cannot be killed on the mortal plane, you have to fight them with your spirit, outside your body. It's a little weird. Alice joins the group, and trains to further the lessons that her father had taught her. It's all about getting revenge for her family and protecting her new friends and grandparents.

I was a little bummed at yet another variation of zombies. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned brain eating zombies? Nevertheless, I liked Alice in Zombieland. Alice is kind of like Buffy, except Alice the Zombie Slayer. She trains to hunt the zombies, her grades fall and she ditches her obligations. Her grandparents worry about what is going on with her. Also like Buffy, there's lots of good action scenes. I'm excited for the second book in this series: Through the Zombie Glass, obviously.

Velveteen by Daniel Marks

Velvet Jones was killed when she was sixteen years old. Now, she is stuck in Purgatory, unable to move on to the other side. Velvet leads the best team in Purgatory. They travel through cracks to earth in order to flush out evil spirits who are raising havoc. Lately, Purgatory has been falling apart. People are protesting because they want out and feel that they shouldn't have to wait for their sentence. One particular group has been creating chaos that is threatening all the souls coming in and out of Purgatory.

Then there is Velvet's awful secret. She has been using a secret crack in order to visit her killer. The Bonesaw Killer is still taking, torturing, and killing girls. Velvet has been haunting him, helping girls escape, and trying to get her ultimate revenge by killing him. Hauntings are strictly forbidden. Any ghost who participates in unauthorized haunting risks never moving on from Purgatory. Velvet knows the risks, but she is still haunted by her memories of Bonesaw, which drives her to break the rules.

Finally, there is the love interest. Velvet's team finds Nick during one of their missions. He is tall and attractive and sensitive. To Velvet's surprise, he also likes her. Before much of a relationship can form, he is assigned to their team. Dating is forbidden between coworkers, but Velvet starts to really like Nick, and he likes her back. It's relatively mild compared to the destruction of a world and a scary serial killer, but it's still an important part of the story.

Velvet was a fairly dark book. Some parts were very graphic, especially those concerning Bonesaw. Personally, I am a bit squeamish about violence and gore. There's more than you would expect, but I found it to be the right amount for my sensibilities. I really ended up liking Velvet a lot. She's tough and snarky, but she's also very vulnerable. The story wouldn't have been nearly as good if Velvet wasn't so complex. It's a unique story, sort of The Lovely Bones with more edge. Honestly, that was what drew me towards the book, and overall I'm pleased with my choice.

I received my copy of Velveteen from Edelweiss, courtesy of Delacorte Books for Young Readers. It's available for purchase now.

Spindlers by Lauren Oliver

One night, Liza goes to bed. When she wakes up, her brother Patrick is gone. Her parents don't notice, but Liza can tell the difference between her annoying little brother and the strange, wooden, glassy-eyed replacement. She knows that he was taken by the Spindlers, giant spider creatures who steal childrens' souls and leave empty husks behind, husks that eventually wither into dust.

It's up to Liza to travel into the world Below in order to rescue her brother. On the way, Liza encounters strange creatures both good and bad. She makes friends with a rat who wears makeup and a dress. She finds out that there is a market that sells items that people lose in the world above (That makes a lot of sense). I definitely admire Liza for her courage in the face of things that would probably have sent me running away if I was her age.

I appreciate the detail of the world of Below, but I found Spindlers to be a little underwhelming. It's a fairly short book, but maybe a little more detail could have helped the book? I don't know, it just wasn't quite there for me. It's still not a bad read for a kid looking for a book similar to Coraline, just a little bit of a scare.

I received my copy of Spindlers from Edelweiss, courtesy of HarperCollins. It's available now for purchase.

The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

One Peregrine "Perry" Eckert is one of those young teenagers who spends his time playing the role-playing game Creatures & Caverns. His parents, of which he has four because of divorces, two of whom are the lawyers who sued for divorce, would prefer he spent time on more social, typical teenage pursuits. They decide to send him away to summer camp to get C&C out of his system.

At first, camp seems like a disaster. He strikes out with cute girl Anna. His secret C&C friend pretends he doesn't even know him. Plus, he gets on the bad side of some majorly tough gang members. Then, he encounters Mortin Enaw, magical creature and co-author of Creatures & Caverns. Perry follows him into the world of the Other Normals, a place inhabited by fauns and dog-headed men. Everyone has an equivalent in the normal world, and every action Perry takes changes the normal world. For instance, when Mortin's brother decides to give up smoking rocks, Perry's brother (His equivalent) is no longer in rehab for his drug problem.

Perry ends up visiting the world of the Other Normals a couple times, using it to clean up some humiliating moments between him and Anna (There is one particularly cringe-worthy and hilarious moment at the camp dance). He's going to need as much help as he can get, because his ultimate goal is to get a kiss from Anna. Her equivalent is the Princess, who has been kidnapped. It seems easy enough, but the plan gets more complicated when Perry starts to fall for a girl from the Other World.

I have never played any RPG, and I'm not a boy, which are two strikes against me liking this book. In any case, I love books about nerdiness and coming of age and all those good things, and I liked The Other Normals a lot. Perry was a very funny narrator, and I laughed out loud several times while reading. It's a fun story and there's a good amount of action. Read this and learn about what it takes to become a man. Hint: it's more than just a couple pubic hairs.

I received my copy of The Other Normals from Edelweiss, courtesy of Balzer + Bray. It's available for purchase now.

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann

Confession: this book made me have to sleep with my light on. One part just freaked me out so badly that I couldn't bear to turn my light off, for fear that a creepy fairy man would sneak around my bed as well. I don't know whether the children this book is intended for are braver than I am. It wasn't too scary otherwise

The Peculiar is the story of Bartholomew Kettle, a changeling, which is a half-fairy, half-human. He is forced to stay inside all the time, along with his sister Hettie. Both normal people and fairies dislike Peculiars like them. Bartholomew witnesses the changeling boy across the street being abducted by a strange woman in purple with a second face on the back of her head. The face sees Bartholomew and marks him as number 10. Nine changelings were found dead in the river, their bodies drained of blood. Bartholomew is next.

Meanwhile, a man named Mr. Jelliby accidentally stumbles into this plot. He is a politician who works with a fairy by the name of Mr. Lickerish. Jelliby encounters the woman in purple, who pleas for his help. A mechanical sparrow leads him to realize that Lickerish is up to something incredibly evil, something that could destroy the entire world if he doesn't put a stop to it.

Jelliby ends up teaming with Bartholomew, and the two are adorable together. I found Jelliby to be very entertaining, though I like the befuddled type. I was attracted to the book by a comparison to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I definitely see the resemblance. Just today, I learned that the author, Stefan Bachmann, is only a teenager. I am impressed, and I look forward to the sequel to The Peculiar.

I received my copy of The Peculiar from Edelweiss, courtesy of Greenwillow Books. It is available for purchase now.

Nerve by Jeanne Ryan

(I just accidentally cut-and-pasted my entire review away, and I am perturbed and I am going to make this fast)

Vee is a girl who live in the shadow of her best friend. It's self-imposed exile, but she still resents it. Vee sort of sucks. After suffering from what she considers betrayal from her bestie, Vee performs a dare from NERVE. NERVE is an online game that challenges people to perform increasingly risky dares to earn bigger and bigger rewards, all tailored to their exact desires thanks to social media. Vee starts out wanting to stop after one dare, but finds herself tempted by each new prize.

Soon, Vee is stuck in a room with a group of contestants, all of whom are in it to win. Even if it means taking her out. She finally realizes that she is in danger and it's not really a game anymore.

First of all, I wasn't a big fan of Vee. She was a bit annoying, and her problems seemed like something she could have solved with a bit of self reflection, rather than an online dare competition. Overall, Nerve was thrilling and compulsively readable, flying by much faster than I expected. If you're looking for a fast-paced young adult thriller that shows how Society is cruel with their pleasure in cruelty and Kardashians, look no further than Nerve.

I received my copy of Nerve from Edelweiss, courtesy of Dial Books. It's available for purchase now.

Hanging By a Thread by Sophie Littlefield

I was excited by Hanging By a Thread because I loved the idea of a girl with psychic powers that stem from touching clothes. Clare also loves vintage clothing, and has a business selling her upcycled creations. I was hoping for lots of clothing descriptions, but I came away a little disappointed.

Anyways, Clare has just moved back to Winston, California, a town she has not lived in since she was very young. Poor Clare feels like an outsider, her only friend being the popular Rachel, who she used to have play dates with long ago. In order to survive the move and stigma of being the new girl, Clare follows along with whatever plans Rachel and her group concoct, sometimes ill-advisedly. Clare eventually meets a boy to crush on, Jack with his mysterious secrets connected to a missing persons case.

Last Fourth of July, a teenage girl went missing. The year before, a young boy's body was found near some cliffs. The town is worried that whomever committed these crimes will strike again. Clare ends up finding a jacket that belonged to the second victim, and she has a vision. Her visions lead her to a horrible plot, and the truth that her hometown is a bit of a scary place.

Once again, I solved the mystery in this book way before it ended. I'm just awesome at that. All in all, I really wanted more fashion and clothes descriptions in this book. As it is, the mystery ends up being really sad, a bit of a bummer. It's not the worst thing ever, but not the best either.

I received my copy of Hanging By a Thread from Edelweiss, courtesy of Delacorte Books for Young Readers. It is available for purchase now.

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

“Let me tell you something straight off. This is a love story, but not like any you've ever heard. The boy and the girl are far from innocent. Dear lives are lost. And good doesn't win.”

Tiger Lily is a beautifully written story of the minor character of Tiger Lily from Peter Pan, told by the fairy Tinkerbell. Tiger Lily was a member of the tribes on Never Land. She never fit in with her people, people who mostly feared her and the death she seemed to bring to those around her, a fear supported by the ravens that seemed to be in her power. The tribe also feared the island's other residents, the Lost Boys.

At first, Tiger Lily also feared the Lost Boys, and especially their leader Peter Pan. Once she meets them, Tiger Lily finds out that they are just a group of normal, messy and unruly boys. With them, Tiger Lily doesn't have to play at being the proper young maiden she is expected to be in her village. She runs and plays and hunts just as well as the boys. Soon, she starts to fall in love with Peter, and he falls in love with her. Then a new visitor to the island disturbs their relationship.

Wendy Darling kind of ruins everything. Poor Tiger Lily is already engaged to a horrible man in her tribe, and now some little blonde interloper is stealing away her guy. I won't reveal anything major, but I can't blame Tiger Lily for going a little evil in this case.

I enjoy additions to classic stories, so I loved this book. Taking a minor character and flipping a story to their perspective brings a fresh point of view to any story. Besides, this is the only book I've read that is narrated by a fairy.

Josie Griffin Is Not a Vampire by Heather Swain

Josie Griffin used to be a good girl, until she found her boyfriend cheating on her with her best friend. After that, she stopped wearing pink and quit cheerleading. To make matters worse, she took a bat to her ex-boyfriend's vintage car, and that is why we open on Josie Griffin's court hearing, in which she is sentenced to community service and anger management classes.

The anger management group she is assigned to turns out to be a little different, to say the least. It's a group attended by a vampire, a werewolf, a fairy, and a Greek god. Yes, it's somewhat of a supernatural Breakfast Club. It takes Josie a while to figure out exactly what is different about her new friends, but by that time she is already a part of their group. Unfortunately, her ex-boyfriend is one of those crazy paranormal investigating people who could end up endangering the lives of her new friends and their efforts to remain undetected by humans.

Something strange is also going on at her volunteering gig. She is assigned to a shelter for teenage girls, but the girls keep disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Thankfully, Josie Griffin is on the case, along with her newfound friends.

Okay, this book is full of whimsy and goofiness, but I sort of really like it anyways. It's a bit predictable. Josie was a little annoying sometimes, with her pointless rebellion and angsty blog, but that's what teenagers are like, isn't it? It's just a fluffy cotton candy read, and I happen to be a fan of occasional fluffiness.

I received my copy of Josie Griffin Is Not a Vampire from Edelweiss, courtesy of Speak. It's available now, in paperback.