What's In my Mailbox #2

A freak-out over a snapshot lands fifteen-year-old Sarah Greene on an island in the St. Lawrence River with several other juvenile offenders. There, she is to complete 400 hours of community service at a summer camp for dogs. The confinement leaves her with no way to complete the desperate mission she was on when she stole and subsequently crashed her mother's boyfriend's car—until the camp counselor's son, a boy she's been in school with since first grade, offers to take her across the river into Ottawa for a concert if she'll help him finish a project for his stepfather, the veterinarian who runs the camp. Sarah jumps at the chance, but plans to dump the boy at the concert. There, she will make her own way into the city, to the locked-up restaurant owned by her recently deceased father where she believes she will find the shameful evidence of the sexual abuse he inflicted on her from the earliest days of her memory. Sarah thinks that if she destroys the photographs and keep anyone else from finding out about the abuse, she can move on with her life. But Sarah is not the only one on the island trying to adjust to life-changing circumstances. A network of supporting characters adds interest, depth and complexity to the story. They help Sarah break out of her self-imposed isolation. With their support—and the completion of her mission, although not quite the way she'd planned—Sarah begins to anticipate a future of positive possibilities. Waldorf develops the plot skillfully and gently, allowing the reader to figure out early on what Sarah is hiding. It is disturbing, however, that she found it necessary to demonize two fathers in this very small population as sexuallyabusive of their daughters; with the exception of the reform camp counselors, all of the juveniles' parents are portrayed as abusive or negligent. Reviewer: Heather N. Kolich

Wow, this book sounds really sad, I hope it's not depressing!

Anne’s new life in Laguna Beach feels more like a death sentence than a vacation. The local high school is the exact opposite of her former Connecticut prep school, and the social scene is all about hanging out at the beach and surfing. When Anne finally makes friends, however, she decides to give California a chance.

And then there's Ellie: beautiful, competitive queen of the social scene who takes an instant disliking to Anne. When Chris—one of Ellie's oldest friends and the most sought after guy in school—reaches out to Anne and offers to teach her how to surf, tensions rise, especially since Anne has decided to enter the annual surf competition against Ellie.

This sounds good... So it's definately going on my list!! :D

Micah Wilkins, the provocative narrator of Justine Larbalestier's fifth young adult novel, is a dedicated fabulist, "a third generation liar." On the first day of high school, she pretends to be a boy; when she's outed by her girlish laugh, she claims she's a hermaphrodite. Four years later, Micah still lies -- out of habit but also out of self-defense, because, like many a YA heroine, she doesn't quite fit in with her peers. She's "half black, half white; half girl, half boy; coasting by on half a scholarship." She's not actually half girl and half boy, but she is, as she eventually admits, half wolf. Though this revelation comes more than halfway through the book, most readers will have already guessed Micah's secret, thanks to Larbalestier's gently escalating hints; if they are anything like this particular reader, they will feel very pleased with themselves for having done so. But Micah's werewolf-ism isn't her primary problem: the real source of her trouble is the mysterious Central Park death of her secret boyfriend, Zach Rubin. Publicly, Zach dated a popular girl named Sarah; privately, he chose Micah. "I could hear his [heart] beating when I slept, taste his breath," Micah thinks. "It was as if he'd crawled under my skin. Under it, always there. Even after he died." Her grief is quickly complicated by a desire for vengeance: when the police announce that dogs killed Zach, Micah realizes the culprit is another heretofore unknown Manhattan werewolf. Larbalestier lets Micah's story unfold in episodic and sometimes contradictory chapters (after all, when a congenital liar vows to "tell you my story and...tell it straight," only the gullible will believe her). Despite her fibs and omissions, Micah is a sympathetic narrator, and her story -- an unconventional blend of adolescent coming-of-age and psychological thriller -- is hard to stop reading. --Emily Chenoweth

I read another book by this author... umm... I think it was How to Ditch your Fairy! Great book! At the end of the book there was a preview of Liar and it was good so far.

When Tessa's best friend Noelle disappears right before the start of eighth grade, Tessa's life changes completely--she shies away from her other friends and stops eating in the cafeteria. Now, two years later, Noelle has escaped her captivity and is coming home, in one piece but not exactly intact, and definitely different. Tessa's life is about to change again as she tries to revive the best-friendship the two girls had shared before Noelle--now Elle--was kidnapped; puts up a futile resistance to the charming new guy at school; pursues her passion for photography while trying to build the bravado to show her photos to the public; and tries to balance her desire to protect and shelter Elle with the necessity to live her own life and put herself first.

Ooooooooo I love scary stories, Although I'm not sure this is going to be scary... It might be sad, but the plot sounds scary.

Daiyu was adopted as a baby from China by an American couple, and now as a teenager in St. Louis, a strangely attractive gem sends her into an alternate world where North America was colonized by Chinese settlers rather than Europeans. Daiyu is recruited by Ombri and Aurora, two “servants of the gods” who are also able to move between worlds, to help stop Chenglei, a dangerous traveler who has been elected prime minister of Shenglang (the alternate version of St. Louis and “arguably the most important city on the world called Jia”). But even as Daiyu becomes increasingly fascinated by Shenglang and attracted to Kalen, who assists Ombri and Aurora, she begins questioning everything: is the charming Chenglei truly evil? (“Were Aurora and Ombri simply interdimensional bounty hunters who had their own agenda?” she wonders. “How could she possibly know?”). Shinn's (General Winston's Daughter) fantasy finds the right balance between adventure and romance, while illuminating how seductive evil can be and that sometimes the best weapon one can possess is a skeptical mind. Ages 12–up. (Oct.)\

I really want to read this book!!!!! It sounds really interesting.

A new job, look and lover are just a wish away in this middling series starter from chick lit fantasy author Klasky (Magic and the Modern Girl). Kira Franklin is about to lose her stage manager job when she discovers a magic lamp in the prop cabinet. Statistic-spouting genie Teel shifts from dominatrix to disco man to schoolgirl while coaxing Kira to make her wishes as quickly as possible. All Kira wants is a new job, so Teel lands her a position as the stage manager for a large regional theater, where she befriends set designer John McRae and lusts after star actor Drew Myers. Klasky's fans will miss her usually engaging characters—everyone other than Kira and John is cardboard-flat—and a series linked by inconsistent, intangible Teel seems unlikely to get very far. (Oct.)

I'm not too sure about the plot, it sounds a little overplayed... But hopefully it has a juicy twist in it.

Ludelphia Bennett may be blind in one eye, but she can still put in a good stitch. Ludelphia sews all the time, especially when things go wrong.

But when Mama goes into labor early and gets deathly ill, it seems like even quilting won't help. That's when Ludelphia decides to do something drastic—leave Gee's Bend for the very first time. Mama needs medicine that can only be found miles away in Camden. But that doesn't stop Ludelphia. She just puts one foot in front of the other.

What ensues is a wonderful, riveting and sometimes dangerous adventure. Ludelphia weathers each challenge in a way that would make her mother proud, and ends up saving the day for her entire town.

I really am looking foward to reading this, I already have a massive list to get through but I will try to sqeeze this in with it!

Set in 1932 and inspired by the rich quilting history of Gee's Bend, Alabama, Leaving Gee's Bend is a delightful, satisfying story of a young girl facing a brave new world.