Exposure, by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes (fiction) - Predictions, fame, love, death

Competitive pals Duff and Duncan,
Three masks predict doom,
Bloodstain that will not wash away...
in an Alaskan high school instead of medieval Scotland.

Welcome to the second book in Askew and Helmes' Twisted Lit series, definitely as brooding as Shakespeare's "Macbeth" which inspired it, as dark as the long winter nights in Skye's hometown of Anchorage, as dangerous as Beth's desperation to rise above her modest beginnings.

If you know the "Scottish play" well, some twists here will still surprise you; if not, you'll find that the plotline is largely faithful to the original, so you will have a better chance of following all the action in the play when you read it yourself.

How far should ambition take us? How far is too far?
**kmm

Book info: Exposure (Twisted Lit #2) / Kim Askew and Amy Helmes. Merit Press, 2013.  [Kim's website]  [Amy's website]   [publisher site]   [book series trailer]  

My Recommendation: Skye would rather be home in Anchorage, but how could she stay after what Craig did? A boyfriend who killed someone…

The summer that he moved north for his dad’s job, cute sophomore Craig hung out with Skye, but once school started, he was rapidly drawn into the popular clique. Skye would much rather hide out in the art room than listen to Beth and her posse giggle and posture. Just one more year, then she can get out of here…

As photographer for the school paper, Skye at least gets to see Craig through her telephoto lens at hockey games. The team was lucky that he’d turned out to be a great power forward since their star player Duff had suddenly gone to Scotland as an exchange student. Rumor has it that former girlfriend Beth had something to do with that, but now she’s all over Craig.

Skye wishes that everything were as easy as developing film (yes, she’s old school about that). Then she could un-separate her parents, un-commit to going to prom with dorky Lenny, un-hear the eerie predictions coming out of the Native Yu’Pik masks worn by her three best pals for their art project.

She told Craig that the party in the woods would only be a drunkfest, but came along anyway just to make his social-climber girlfriend mad. When flashlight tag in the snow begins, Skye retreats to the jeep, never dreaming that she’d overhear Beth telling him they’d keep it all a secret, never imagining that hockey player Duncan would be found dead beside the half-frozen creek the next day or that the police would still be investigating weeks later.  

Life sort of goes on at school after Duncan’s death, with the crush of college applications, protests against chopping down its 200-year-old courtyard tree, the Running of the Reindeer and other efforts to keep the long Arctic winter at bay. Beth is sure that she and Craig will be Prom King and Queen, despite her increasingly bizarre behavior.

How can Skye go away to college if Mom and Dad really do split up? Money was tight before they separated…

What’s the secret that Beth and Craig are keeping? It seems to be eating away at them…

Are the answers in Skye’s huge collection of senior year photos? Those eerie predictions might be right…

A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth under the Northern Lights, this sinister tale uses quotations from “the Scottish play” as its chapter headings in Askew and Helmes’ second book of the Twisted Lit series.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Also Known As, by Robin Benway (fiction)

Diagram of safe's location in apartment? Check.
Plan for entry into said apartment? Check.
Keeping emotional distance from unwitting accomplice? Uh-oh.

Imagine being a 17-year-old lifelong spy! A natural-born safecracker, helping her secret agent parents keep the world safe from evil, Maggie discovers that falling in love on her first solo case could put their whole organization in danger.

Head for your local library or independent bookstore today to jump right into the action with Maggie, wild-child Roux, and handsome Jesse against the bad guys.

Any spycraft skills in your educational future?
**kmm

Book info: Also Known As / Robin Benway. Walker Books, 2013.  [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Maggie is bored by the usual assignments, but having to go to high school for the first time? This could be the teenage spy’s toughest job yet!

She and her parents work undercover for the Collective, stopping human trafficking and stifling illegal weapons sales through their unique talents for language decoding, computer hacking, and safe-cracking – Maggie’s special gift. A dozen passports with a dozen names and too many moves during her lifetime to count… at least Angelo, the world’s best forger and friend, is always by the family’s side, discreetly, of course.

When they received the call to keep a New York City magazine publisher from running a story about the Collective (with names, aliases, and lots of photos), it falls to the 17-year-old to get the goods through his teenage son Jesse at the posh private high school. And she has to wear a uniform?!

These privileged teens have known one another forever, so being the new kid means being an outsider - almost as much an outsider as Roux, who alienated the whole school last year with her bad behavior. Of course, it’s Roux who takes Maggie under her wing, convinces her to ditch school once in a while, and manages to get them into Jesse’s penthouse during a party.

When the thumbdrive that Maggie liberates from Mr. Oliver’s home office safe doesn’t contain the article notes after all, she has to get closer to Jesse to figure out where the volatile materials could be.

She didn’t count on falling for Jesse himself, or Jesse falling for her, or Roux spilling the beans about their first date, or possibly being pulled off the case and losing them both forever!

How long can she keep Jesse in the dark about why she met him?

Can she find the article documents before it’s too late?

Will her first kiss be her only kiss?

Racing through the streets of Manhattan, avoiding the evil eye in the school halls, trying to imagine how her life will be when this assignment ends – Maggie finds action and adventure and a little romance in this debut novel. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Bruised, by Sarah Skilton (fiction) - trained to defend, frozen when it counts most

She's a black belt.
She's practiced and sparred and competed.
She freezes when true danger strikes.

The journey to black belt in Tae Kwon Do or any martial art is long and rigorous, but under controlled conditions with traditions and rules to follow.

Imogen mentally punishes herself for not springing into action when the gunman attacks - can she fight through survivor's guilt to become a young woman of action and purpose again?

Just published this week, Bruised  follows Imo as she tries to rebuild her life to include Ricky's love and fill the void left by Shelley's departure for dance school and her own absence from Grandmaster Huan's dojang.

How would you react when a situation bursts into violence?
**kmm

Book info: Bruised / Sarah Skilton. Amulet Books, 2013. [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: As the youngest female to earn a black belt at the dojang, Imogen was sure she could handle any attack. But the gunman at the diner proved her wrong, undid her whole life’s work as a defender of the helpless. How can she get past the blood-drenched scene when her mind has built a wall around the robbery gone wrong?

Tae Kwon Do is what she does, what she is, but she just froze at the diner, didn’t stop the robber before he pistol-whipped the cashier. She can remember hiding under a table, can remember the teen guy crouching under the next table, his new white shoes that became gory red and were taken as evidence, just like her bloodstained jeans. Gretchen called 911 from the bathroom, was smart enough to stay put – but Imogen should have been able to stop the situation before the guy was shot when he wouldn’t surrender.

She just can’t process what went wrong there. Can’t talk to former best friend Shelley who decided to hook up with her big brother at Imogen’s own birthday party, can’t pay attention in school, except during counseling sessions with Ricky, the guy from the diner whose shoes became bloody evidence. Her heart seems to be a lump in her chest now.

Being teased leads to a fight at school, to being asked by Grandmaster Huan not to return to the dojang until she can regain her emotional balance by truly living the ‘child rules’ at the foundation of Tae Kwon Do – respecting her parents (including her dad who let his diabetes put him in a wheelchair) and doing all her homework without being asked.

Who is Imogen without her time revolving around learning and teaching at the dojang?

How can Ricky like her or respect her when she failed to stop a death?

Why can’t she remember what happened between crouching under the table and being blood-soaked in the police car?

A compelling story of expectations versus reality, Imogen’s heart and psyche are so Bruised that moving on with life will take more courage than any Tae Kwon Do belt test she ever tried.

(One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Dangerous Boy, by Mandy Hubbard (fiction) - good girl, daredevil boyfriend, dangerous twin

New guy in the small-town high school.
Handsome, rich, daring.
Falling for everyday girl Harper?
Swept off her feet, toward danger.

Logan wants a fresh start to his life after the difficulties he and his brother had in their hometown. Harper's life after her mom's death had gotten quieter and quieter. Boom! Romance like a whirlwind, eerie vandalism, brother Daemon mocking Harper's affection for Logan.

If you sense a whiff of Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (read it free at Project Gutenberg here), you've found one inspiration for author Mandy Hubbard's fast-moving story of Harper's hope for happiness and the too-real peril she faces.

Grab this one today at your local library or independent bookstore but do watch for strange happenings in your neighborhood, won't you?
**kmm

Book info: Dangerous Boy / Mandy Hubbard. Razorbill, 2012.  [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: When handsome Logan Townsend moves to her small town, Harper is intrigued. When he asks her out, she’s amazed and delighted. When his twin brother threatens her, she doesn’t know what to think.  But if she merely thinks instead of acting, it might just be too late.

Living in the old Carson mansion with their uncle way out on the river road must be boring for Daemon, who’s doing school online instead of at Enumclaw High with his twin brother. He never comes along with Logan and Harper as they go to a Halloween haunted corn maze with friends or riding four-wheelers. Logan says that Daemon messed up relationships for him at their old school, so it’s better that he doesn’t want to be with their group anyway.

Bloody cow bones showing up in rural mailboxes, red handprints on every car in the school parking lot, stop signs stolen – this new rash of vandalism is getting dangerous.

Harper has never really liked doing dangerous things, but after her mother’s death, her own father is like a ghost, going through the motions at their farm, without enough energy to warn her against trying reckless things that Logan loves to do. That four-wheeler rollover when a wheel fell off was just an accident, right?

Wondering what Daemon did at the twins’ former school to make them leave that town, Harper does some checking on Facebook and the newspaper, but comes up with more questions than answers.

Why isn’t Logan tagged in any pictures with his former classmates?

What did Daemon do that was hushed up so quickly in the media?

Why does his twin want Harper to stay away from the creaking house that he shares with Logan?

Echoes of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde drift through this spooky tale, with a young woman’s safety and sanity depending on her reactions to the dangers she uncovers.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator, by Jill Baguchinsky (fiction) - vengeful ghosts in the locker room, mystery mansion calling

Able to see ghosts? All the time.
Talk to spirits? Piece of cake.
See her own mom's ghost? Not a chance...

Violet's aunt thinks her gift is unclean, her dad wonders if she's talked to the ghost of her mom (but doesn't dare ask), and the ghosts in the area just want to chat.

This debut novel won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Young Adult Fiction in 2011, and Dutton Books' editorial staff brought it out in hardback in 2012. Check it out at your local library or independent bookstore now, and see what the ghosts in Violet's town are gossiping about!

Whose ghost would you like to have a conversation with?
**kmm

Book info: Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator / Jill Baguchinsky. Dutton Books, 2012. [author's website] [publisher site] 

My Recommendation: Vengeful spirits in the girls’ locker room, boring school uniforms, and strange rumors running ahead of her… Violet would much rather stay in the apartment above Dad’s funeral home with Buster the ghost, but unfortunately high school is still mandatory.

Ghosts always talk to her, just like they talked to her mom. It’s been ten years since Mom died during a paranormal investigation with her dad, but Violet has never seen her ghost. Some online sleuthing leads Violet to another researcher from her parents’ past expeditions, but the now-semi-respectable psychic tries to convince her to stay away from Mom’s last place on earth.

A dead football player is hanging around Palmetto High’s art room, there’s a possible hell-portal in the girls’ shower, and one of the goth kids claims he’s half-vampire. Senior citizen ghosts (Florida is full of them) help Violet stage a memorable Halloween séance in the cemetery to “scare straight” some kids who want to dabble in the dark arts, but even they warn her to stay far away from the creepy deserted estate where her mother died.

It’s up to Violet to use her psychic gifts to clear up all this, so her new not-so-goth friends help her get ready to visit the estate, and maybe hear from Mom one last time (surely she wouldn’t head to the Beyond without saying goodbye?), but things go bad in a heartbeat.

What can they do to placate the angry attacking poltergeist?

Can Violet ever reconnect with her mother’s ghost?

Are the friends going to make it out of there alive?

Spookygirl, scary fun, terrifying investigations!  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Return to Me, by Justina Chen (fiction) - moving away, moving on...or not

Hooray for going away to college at last!
Umm, family moving there, too?
One part breaks, everything shatters...

Reb is trying to figure out whether she and Jackson can make things work for now, not forever. But this is not just another long-distance teen romance; it's a novel with real heart and soul (and a few visions along the way).

How have long-distance, long-term relationships worked out in your life?
**kmm

Book info: Return to Me / Justina Chen. Little Brown, 2013. [author's blog] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Rebecca is so ready to go far away to college. When her dad moves the whole family to her new college town across the country for his new job, then immediately abandons Mom, she’s shocked. If she can’t trust rock-steady Dad, who can she trust?

She’d already decided that she must break up with Jackson before the family leaves Seattle, convinced that a long-distance relationship won’t work out. Her best friends agree with her, but she just can’t do it.

When Reb gets an overwhelming sense of something about-to-happen, she learned long ago to keep it to herself. She will be able to use her innate sense of whether a space works or not as she studies architecture, following in the footsteps of her dad’s business-minded family.

In the too-large McMansion in suburban New Jersey, far from their cozy island home and Reb’s custom-built treehouse, she watches her mom crumble as Dad makes the separation permanent and sees her 10-year-old brother retreat ever further into himself. After Reb calls Grandpa for advice, he invites them to his Hawai’i home to restore themselves.

Perched in a tropical treehouse, Reb worries about Jackson, about whether she really wants to do commercial architecture, about whether she really wants to go to college at the end of summer.

What’s this prophecy that women of her family can never stay with the men they love?

How can she balance family expectations about her career with what she truly wants to do?

How hard must she shake her phone so that Jackson will start communicating again?

Separation and reunion, perception and reality – Justina Chen once again brings readers a story with the right ending in a complex real world. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

A Girl Named Digit, by Annabel Monaghan (fiction) - FBI takes teen math genius undercover

A brain for numbers that never, ever stops.
A hunger to have a normal senior year.
A set of digits on television that shouldn't be there...

And now Farrah goes from understated jeans to completely undercover as the FBI realizes that her OCD about numbers and patterns is their best bet for catching an ecoterrorist whose been sending others out to do his dirty work for years.

Grab Digit's first adventure now in hardcover or eBook at your local library or independent bookstore (it won't be out in paperback with the much-better cover until late May 2013) then hang on for Digit's first year at college when Double Digit  is published in January 2014!

Which of life's codes would you be most anxious to crack?
**kmm

Book info: A Girl Named Digit / Annabel Monaghan. Houghton Mifflin, 2012. [author's website] [publisher site] [fan-created book trailer]  

My Recommendation: To get away from the kids who nicknamed her “Digit” for her math abilities, Farrah transfers to another high school for her senior year. But it’ll take the FBI to keep her safe from the terrorist group that she accidentally exposes. Faking her own kidnapping wasn’t quite the way she’d planned to stay unnoticed at her new school…

Farrah wishes that she didn’t see patterns in everything and has had to learn extreme coping strategies to blunt her obsessive-compulsive tendencies when real life is uneven and disorganized. Her math professor dad says she can put her “gift” to work later in life and urges her to enjoy being a teen for now. Wish it were that easy…

Numbers pop up on television when they shouldn’t be there, but the station says she’s imagining them. Her genius skills crack the code, pointing to a terror attack at JFK Airport, but her report to the FBI is ignored…until it happens.

Now a ruthless band of ecoterrorists is gunning for Digit, so she has to fake being kidnapped and go undercover to help the FBI break the rest of the code to prevent more attacks and catch the terrorists. Nice to really be appreciated for her skills, even nicer to be undercover with cute young FBI agent John as they race to interpret more clues.

But somehow, the bad guys find one of the safe houses, John and Digit have to go into deep cover without contacting anyone, and the stakes in this math puzzle get deadly in a hurry.

How fast can they unravel the last parts of this puzzle?

What will the ecoterrorists’ next move be?

Will Digit’s “kidnapping” have an unhappy ending?

(One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Hysteria, by Megan Miranda (fiction) - murder, memory, missing pieces

Thudding heartbeats in the night,
bruises appearing each morning,
the rumors, the gossip, the lies...

Welcome to the tradition-filled halls of Monroe Prep, Dad's alma mater, where Mallory's reputation precedes her - the knife, Brian's blood on her kitchen floor, the self-defense verdict.

Are her nightmares just reaction to the trauma or something more sinister? Surely Reid believes that Brian's mom's car was parked outside the school gates, that someone keeps entering her room, that she's not seeing things - they've known each other since they were kids because their dads were high school roommates up here.

The crazy things happening now at Monroe cannot just be Mallory's imagination... can they?

Read chapter one of Hysteria free here, then rush to your local library or independent bookstore to get it tomorrow on its publication day.

Megan Miranda crafts another chilling story teetering between paranormal and murderous; her debut novel Fracture  (my review) just came out in paperback - don't miss either mysterious book!
**kmm

Book info: Hysteria / Megan Miranda. Bloomsbury/Walker Books for Young Readers, 2013. [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation:  The blood, the knife, the holes in her memory – Mallory knows she should be glad for the “self-defense” ruling, but the pulsating hum in her brain won’t stop. Neither will the nightmares or Brian’s mom stalking her, asking where her dead son is.

Maybe boarding school in the New Hampshire woods will be far enough from her seaside house where Brian died in a pool of his own bright-red blood. Dad pulled strings to get her admitted to his alma mater at the last minute; he couldn’t stop the rumors about Mallory from getting there first.

Being a new student at Monroe Prep is worse than being at a regular high school since the snooty rich kids have known each other forever. Well, Reid is nice to her, probably because their dads were roommates here and their families got together often over the years. Last time she saw him was his dad’s funeral, not a good memory on lots of levels.

Despite her sleeping pills, Mallory still has nightmares, hears the booming echoes of Brian’s heart, wakes up with a handprint-shaped bruise on her shoulder that she couldn’t have done to herself, window unlocked when she knows she locked it. No cellphone service in these mountains, so she can never get through to her best friend Colleen at home, the only person who understands what she’s enduring.

A green car glimpsed through the fog - is Brian's mother stalking her again?

A red handprint on her door, vandalism in her dorm room, menacing whispers – is her presence threatening someone at Monroe?

A hidden ruin in the woods, tribute to a lost student – is she supposed to be next?

Once again Megan Miranda crafts a chilling story of the hazy boundary between death and life in this psychological thriller with traces of the paranormal. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Peanut, by Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe by (graphic novel) - allergy joke gone wrong

Transferring into a new high school,
Everyone else has been here forever.
How can someone get noticed in such a crowd?

Peanut allergies are certainly no laughing matter, but one casual conversation in a fast-food place sets in motion Sadie's whole new persona to make her unusual enough to stand out at Plainfield Community High School.

Once she makes new friends, she'd like to drop her fake allergy, but doesn't have the courage to do it. And no way is she telling her mom about all this. How long can Sadie keep up her double life?

If you can't find Peanut  at your local library, ask them to order it. Or try an independent bookstore which may have gotten copies on the graphic novel's December publication day.

So, how far would you go to be noticed by "the right people" at your school or workplace?
**kmm

Book info: Peanut / Ayun Halliday, illustrated by Paul Hoppe. Schwartz & Wade Books (Random House Children's Books), 2012. [author's website]  [illustrator's website]  [publisher site]

My Recommendation: So not fair, having to move during high school! Sadie is sure everyone at PCHS has known each other forever and won’t have time for new friends. When she decides to stand out by pretending that she has a severe allergy to peanuts, there’s no turning back.

The med-alert bracelet ordered in secret is on for school, off at home. Her “about me” essay for homeroom details the life-threatening incident that just a single peanut caused. The school nurse is understandably miffed when she doesn’t have the proper paperwork about her medical condition, but does let Sadie keep the emergency epi-pen in her backpack instead of the office – which is good, since Sadie really doesn’t have the prescription-only device.

She does make friends in Plainfield after all, like Lou, who would also like to cancel PE forever, and Zoo, the cute guy who’s decided that technology doesn’t make life better and forswears computers and cellphones. Zoo’s communications are intricate origami notes, which he delivers to friends’ homes by bike, between trips to the library to consult printed reference books for homework (done with pen and paper, of course). Finding Zoo’s notes in her locker makes Sadie’s day special.

So, Zoo and Sadie are becoming more-than-friends. Why can’t she just come clean about not really being allergic to peanuts? How can he come to her house when Zoo might say something that makes Mom suspicious about all of Sadie’s online research about epi-pens and allergies? Why did she decide on such a radical way to stand out at her new school?

Big bake sale, big muffins, big trouble! What happens next? Read Peanut to find out! Hoppe uses sparing amounts of red to accent his black and white drawings of the Plainfield Community High School crowd as Halliday’s story of trying-too-hard to fit in follows Sadie through her first semester in a new town.(One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Every Other Day, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (fiction) - hunt the supernatural, survive high school

High school kid, demon hunter,
High school kid, werewolf killer,
Repeat, repeat, repeat...

Kali has enough trouble spending alternating days as a supernatural clean-up gal, but when someone may have injected the cheerleaders at her high school with bloodsucking parasites...

A classmate marked for supernatural harvest, answers producing even more questions, high-level conspiracy - how did Kali wind up in all this? How much does she have in common with the Hindu goddess Kali, slayer of demons?
 
Find Every Other Day  now in hardback at your local library or visit your independent bookstore for its January 22nd paperback release; both covers are the same haunting hourglass dripping blood...

How far should you go to protect your friends while risking your very life?
**kmm

Book info: Every Other Day / Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Egmont USA, hardcover 2011, paperback 2013. [author's website] [publisher site] [fan-created book trailer][author interview]

My Recommendation: If that ouroboros on Bethany’s back is not a tattoo, then the cheerleader will be dead today, just when Kali is merely human, instead of a supernatural hunter like she will be tomorrow. Flip-flopping capabilities every 24 hours is more than annoying now – it’s liable to be deadly.

Good thing that her supernatural phase includes rapid healing powers, as the werewolves and hellhounds who battle against her during extermination runs always seemed to slash and bite Kali viciously. And who wants to show up at high school the next morning looking like that?

When Dad decided that she needed to go to public school for ‘social interaction’ Kali was sure it was just because his new boss at the university labs was sending his daughter there. Now, with a chupacabra stalking the cheerleading squad, maybe her presence at Heritage High can keep her classmates safe.

Luring the spirit from Bethany’s ouroboros into her own blood was the fastest way for Kali to save her life on this human-phase day. But now Kali has to survive many more hours with an aware parasite coursing through her veins and whispering in her brain before she turns supernatural hunter again.

How will she get the parasite out of her body to kill it?

Why does Bethany think that the cheerleaders were purposely injected with the parasite?

What’s in the lab under Bethany’s house?

If the zombies don’t get the teens, maybe Kali will get some answers – and live long enough to get into her hunter phase and strike back.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Moonglass, by Jessi Kirby (fiction) - seaside mystery, running to forget

A  moonglass pendant,
Some childhood memories,
Innumerable questions -
All that Anna has left of her mother.

Tumbled roughly in sand and waves for countless months and years, seaglass goes from sharp shards to a smooth and frosted beauty. Anna's mom always called it "moonglass" as she found the best pieces while walking the beach during a full moon.

Losing her mother as a toddler, staying away from the seaside town where Mom grew up, returning at last with her father - maybe the tossing and tumbling of her life will finally stop for Anna, maybe she'll find out why her mom died, maybe she'll finally stop running away from memories and find herself.

This is the paperback cover to look for at the independent bookstore; your local library may have the darker blue hardback edition.

What do you search for when you walk along the beach?
**kmm

Book info: Moonglass / Jessi Kirby. Simon & Schuster, hardcover 2011, paperback 2012. [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Mom just walked away from her, walked away from her toddler daughter waiting on the beach, walked into the waves and never came back out.

When Dad’s job takes them back to the beachside town where her parents met and fell in love, Anna thinks that the years following her mother’s death might not keep unhappy secrets buried deep enough, so she keeps her distance from Dad, from people at her new high school, from the shore lifeguards.

Running helps Anna meditate away (well, ignore) her problems and worries, so she tries out for the cross-country team, cheered on by her new sorta-ditzy friend Ashley who truly does think that retail therapy and meditation can fix anything. Having to move in the middle of high school stinks… but being able to hear the waves every night, the same ocean that her mom listened to growing up, that counts as a small plus.

Dad has strictly warned Anna away from the beach lifeguards who work for him at the state park – after all, he was a lifeguard with quite a reputation here at this same park as a teen, where he met her mom, where they lived as newlyweds.

But Tyler isn’t the crazy lifeguard, like Dad was, and he helps Anna explore some of the old cottages left vacant when the seashore became a state park. Maybe some clues about Mom can be found in the neighbors’ left-behind bits and pieces…

Why won’t Dad tell her more about Mom and their past?

Can Anna reconcile what she thought she knew about her mother with what people in her mom’s hometown are remembering?

Why would Mom just walk away, under the moonlight, into the sea?

  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Fish in the Sky, by Fridrik Erlings (fiction) - everything changes at age 13?

Math on Monday mornings,
Bullies in the gym shower,
Long-legged girls who ignore him...

Why would 13-year-old Josh want to be at school when he could be nestled into an almost-cave on the rocky seashore, wondering when his dad will come back again from his cargo ship voyages, when his strange cousin will move out, when anything in his life will make sense?

As his own translator from the Icelandic, Erlings captures this teen boy's voice and ever-circling worries perfectly. Listen to the first three minutes of the novel here, as Josh wakes up on his thirteenth birthday and finds his long-traveling father's gift.

Another great book from Candlewick Press to pick up at your local library or independent bookstore.

What would you do with a stuffed falcon, staring at you from its tree branch perch those black eyes?
**kmm

Book info: Fish in the Sky / Fridrik Erlings; translated from Icelandic by the author. Candlewick Press, 2012. [about the author] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: A stuffed falcon? That’s what Dad sent Josh from the ocean freighter for his 13^th birthday? Yet another thing that’s not understandable in his universe, like why the girls allow themselves to be chased at recess or how no one stands up to the bullies who throw underwear in the showers after PE or why Mom lets his 17-year-old girl cousin move in with them.

She’s in trouble back home, this Trudy, and Josh is sure that it won’t be better at his house with her here. Mom has transformed his huge walk-in closet into Trudy’s room, so this girl who’s practically a stranger has to walk through his room to get anywhere!

School is even worse than being home: the agony of morning math with the headmaster, the giggling girls who send knowing looks but never walk with him during break time, the torture of PE class and the mean locker-room monitor and the bullies who pick on everyone different than them.

Josh decides that he’s learned enough for now and forges a series of excuse notes to stay away from seventh grade; if Mom weren’t so busy with two jobs, she’d do it, right?

How will Josh and Peter work on their film about falcons with Trudy barging in all the time? And a growing guy needs his sleep; doesn’t that girl ever turn down her music? Wait, it’s too quiet in Trudy’s space – has she snuck out after promising mom that she’d behave? Dad’s calling from shore – why isn’t he on the cargo ships, like always?

The confusion of becoming a teen and trying to understand other people wanders through Josh’s days and dreams in this coming-of-age novel, translated from the Icelandic by the author. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy, by Bil Wright (fiction) - chase the dream, ignore the haters

We all want to be respected,
successful,
and fabulous.

Carlos is already completely fabulous, a fabulous makeup artist at sixteen. He just has to show the world that a Latino guy from the Lower East Side can do perfect makeup on anyone, anywhere - including the fanciest department store in New York City.

Be sure to meet this fabulous guy with a not-so-fabulous family life, the perfect touch with his own makeup, and his ever-positive attitude soon. Just thinking about Carlos and his drive to succeed makes me smile!

**kmm

Book info: Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy / Bil Wright. Simon & Schuster, 2011 hardback, 2012 paperback.  [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Carlos wants one thing, and one thing only: to be the most-respected makeup artist anywhere.

Oh, and for the cute guy in his high school class to ask him out, and for Mama to have a decent job that doesn’t wear her down, and for his sister to stay away from that loser Danny at work.

When he hears that the FeatureFace cosmetics counter at Macy’s is hiring, Carlos goes into overdrive: hiring cute rocker Gleason to photograph the  models wearing his makeup designs, crafting the perfect job application, watching videos of interview tips, and sweet-talking Rosaria into coming to the interview to be his live model. Of course, the manager will want to see Carlos apply makeup in person – everyone knows that!

At school all day, working at the child care center till late evening, Carlos keeps his cellphone close by, waiting for the call from FeatureFace to set up his interview, to let him prove his fabulous makeup skills, to start on his way to the top!

Carlos proves how well he handles makeup, chatting his way through the demonstration to explain his techniques, so snooty manager Valentino just has to hire him – part-time, since he’s only 16 – and FeatureFace cosmetics has a new star.

Of course, there are still a few problems in life, like Mama’s precarious job situation, that rotten Danny trying to rough up Rosaria if she ever gets the guts to leave him, Soraya screening his calls (how could that problem with the borrowed boots really be his fault?), and the cute guy at school not flirting with him anymore.

Can Carlos really balance work, school, and family at 16?

As his schedule loads up, will his friends let him down?

Will Valentino’s disdain for his talents ever give way to respect?

Ready to take on the world, Carlos Duarte is fabulous indeed. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Difference Between You and Me, by Madeleine George (fiction) - love, be true to yourself

Fisherman boots and rough-cut hair.
Sweet little flats and pearl buttons.
These two girls couldn't be more different, yet more attracted to one another.

But fabulous kisses can hardly outweigh Emily's go-go-go-business attitude when Jesse considers the damage that a large corporation could inflict on their charming small town. 

Beyond the complicated/simple attraction between Jesse and Emily in this story is the larger question of being true to your community. Whether observing the International Day of Peace Vigil every September 21st with millions or demonstrating weekly for peace like Jesse and friends, perhaps humankind can take more steps forward for community and peace in 2013.

Find this honest and enriching story in hardback or eBook today at your local library or independent bookstore.
What's your most heartfelt wish for this new year?
**kmm

Book info: The Difference Between You and Me / Madeleine George. Viking, 2012. [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Her kisses are perfect, her pearl-button sweaters are adorable, but the way that Emily compartmentalizes her life bugs Jesse. Of course, it’s complicated because she’s always second-fiddle to Emily’s boyfriend, and Emily’s work as Student Council VP, and Emily’s upcoming internship with NorthStar…

Jesse’s parents accept her orientation, although they’re not so happy about her frequent detentions for plastering the high school with posters for NOLAW, the National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos. They think she has a crush on earnest young activist Esther when the girls attend their town’s weekly peace vigil together. Honestly…

Her buddy Wyatt has to contend with his anti-gay father while trying to keep his homeschooling on track so that he doesn’t have to go back to their high school; he and Jesse keep each other real. So why hasn’t Jesse ever told him about her weekly rendezvous with Emily?

Emily cannot understand why the Student Council won’t let NorthStar be the sole sponsor of their dance. Just because the corporation might bring a huge StarMart to town, might endanger all the small businesses, might…might…might!

When should financial gain win out over doing the right thing? How far can you go to protect your community without resorting to violence? How do you decide when a relationship is over?

Alternating chapters by Jesse and Emily weave together a story that’s more than physical attraction and much more than your average StuCo meeting.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Skinny, by Donna Cooner (fiction) - fat girl seeks true self, true friends

Three hundred pounds and gaining.
Can't fit in the desks at school.
Can't find her place in her new blended family.
Can't filter out the mocking voice in her head...

Ever feels so alone in her Texas high school, but she's one of thousands of obese teens in the US today.

To save her health, she must lose lots of weight in a carefully controlled way. Bariatric surgery is a "last resort" for weight loss, but studies show its effectiveness for older teens, with lots of monitoring and family support.

To save her sanity, she must overcome the inner voice that derides everything she tries to accomplish, must sing out over Skinny's constant snide remarks, must recognize her true friends.

Grab this compelling book at your local library or independent bookstore today.
How much would you risk to find yourself again?
**kmm

Book info: Skinny / Donna Cooner. Point, 2012.  [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]
 

My Recommendation: Among the size-zero cheerleaders and wannabe goths at Huntsville High, Ever stands out. As a 302-pound freshman girl, she really stands out. And Skinny, the voice in her head, reminds her constantly of how fat and unlovable she is, even when Ever decides on weight-loss surgery to save her health.

Of course, before her mom died, Ever was just normal, with friends and hopes and dreams and songs. But as she insulates herself against sorrow with public fasts and immense private feasts, she becomes even more isolated from her dad, sister, stepmom, and stepsister. The embarrassment at school never seems to end, and Skinny heaps on abusive words that no one else can hear.

Thank goodness her best buddy Rat sticks with her, especially during bariatric surgery in May to reduce her stomach capacity. Now, she can eat only a tablespoon at a time or her new stomach will send her to the bathroom in rebellion. By August, she’s lost 76 pounds, and the snooty girls who used to mock her decide she’s an ideal back-to-school makeover project. Yet Skinny keeps trying to undermine her success, saying that her dreams of singing in the school musical or dating cute Jackson are impossible.

Can Ever truly get herself to a healthy weight, to a healthy relationship with herself and her family? Will she wind up being just the “chunky girl” at school after all this? Can she sing loudly enough to drown out Skinny's voice?

As Ever and Rat track her mood, weight loss, and theme song for each week following her surgery, readers will root for the teen to create a soundtrack for her new life that can overcome Skinny’s lies. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Being Friends With Boys, by Terra Elan McVoy (fiction) - "one of the guys" in the band or more?

Being "one of the guys" is better than being ignored by former-best-friends...
Being unadorned is better than her stepsisters' cloud of perfume and makeup...
Being shut out by her best friend of all time is pain unbearable...

Charlotte has long been content to be the behind-the-scenes arranger-of-everything for the band, but when lead singer Oliver takes credit for all her lyrics, she starts to question the status quo.

Is it time for Char to break away from Sad Jackal like her best pal Trip did or should she stay and grab the spotlight for her own talents?

Dealing with insiders and outsiders,with people who've moved away and those who refuse to move on, with seeing past the surface to discover the truth, Charlotte's golden summer moves into cooler weather and changes in the band, its members, and her outlook.

While not a novel in verse as her earlier After the Kiss  (my no-spoiler review here) McVoy's newest book features true, realistic spoken and unsaid dialogue along with Charlotte's soul-baring lyrics. Find  both books at your local library or independent bookstore.
**kmm  

Book info: Being Friends With Boys / Terra Elan McVoy. Simon Pulse, 2012. [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]  

My Recommendation: Being considered “one of the guys” by Oliver, Trip, and Abe is fine with Charlotte, as she gives them the girl-perspective on life and keeping their band together behind the scenes. When a new guy joins the band and encourages her to grab the mike, their whole dynamic changes and Char isn’t sure if the guys can handle it.

She and Trip have been friends forever, but after he and lead singer Oliver have “creative differences” Trip leaves the band, and Sad Jackal must audition a new lead guitar player. Now who’s going to create all the melodies for Char’s lyrics?

Char has to deal with Trip’s sudden distance at school, her stepsisters’ giggle-pop taste in music at home, and weird vibrations at band practice, as new guitarist Fabian starts treating her like a girl. New lyrics just stream from her pen as her stepsister has a messy break-up, as other friendships ebb and flow… and Sad Jackal is hired to play at the school’s Halloween dance.

Trying to balance her commitment to the band with tough school classes, she agrees to be brilliant slacker Benji’s study buddy despite Trip’s dire warnings. As Halloween nears, Charlotte allows her stepsisters to give her beauty treatments and lets Fabian coax her into singing harmonies that turn into full-blown solos.

Does Fabian really see her as a girl instead of just another member of the band? Can Oliver deal with Charlotte taking the microphone or does he want her to stay out of his spotlight? What if her need to sing the stories she writes as lyrics is stronger than the band’s need for her to smooth out all the details for them? And why is Trip avoiding all her calls now, when she needs his viewpoints most of all?

Rooted in Atlanta’s alternative music scene, Charlotte struggles to decide if it’s time to stop just Being Friends With Boys and get going with her life in music and beyond. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Laugh With the Moon, by Shana Burg (fiction) - grief and laughter, new friends in Africa

Roosters wandering through the school.
Sharing one pencil between ten students.
Daily anti-malaria pills too pricy for most families.

On this World Wednesday, United Nations Day, travel us to Malawi, as a grieving American teen and her dad try to help others, despite their own pain.

Clare does indeed  feel like "a marshmallow that fell into a bag of dark chocolate" (p. 5) as she arrives with her doctor-dad in the "warm heart of Africa" which has the fewest doctors per capita of any country in the world.

Missing her late mother, her friends, the conveniences of modern life, Clare learns to ignore enormous centipedes, to find alternative ways to get around shortages, and to appreciate her newfound friends, especially Memory, who has lost both her mother and her father.

This summer 2012 new book takes you to a far-off land with just a short trip to your local library or independent bookstore. Could you Laugh With the Moon,  instead of crying alone, if you were in Clare's place?
**kmm

Book info: Laugh With the Moon / Shana Burg. Delacorte Press, 2012.  [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]  

My Recommendation:  Malawi is not Massachusetts – Clare can’t believe that her father has uprooted her from junior high school to come to Africa for a season. After her mother died, they were both so sad for so long… he thinks the change of scenery will do them good, but Clare isn’t sure she can adjust to any more changes!

Mosquito netting around her narrow bed, no cellphone service out here in the bush, riding a borrowed bicycle down a bumpy dirt road to Mzanga Full Primary School where she’s the only white student, wearing a hand-me-down school uniform, but is fully welcomed with smiles…

Soon Clare becomes accustomed to helping pack up her classroom’s books to take to the school’s only lockable room, to placing cans beneath its worst leaks during the rains, to understanding almost enough about her classmates to keep from embarrassing herself too much.

Her sketchbook fills with drawings of her friends who have chosen English names like Innocent and Memory, of jungle animals, and of Fred the hen who arrived as a mystery gift on their doorstep. She finally can see her mother’s face and hear her voice in her dreams. And her father the doctor tries to help all the children who flood into the free hospital, day and night.

An emergency during an outing to Lake Malombe leaves the school friends stranded, with time running out. How can they get everyone to safety? Why can’t an ambulance get there? Why is everything so difficult in Malawi? How will Clare ever feel whole in her heart without her mother’s gentle love?

From teaching tools made from termite-mound mud to the charming style of English spoken in Mkumba, readers will be delighted to explore Clare’s new world as she learns to Laugh With the Moon and embrace life after loss.  (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

The Filth Licker, by Cristy Burne (fiction) - Japanese demons attack British school camp!

A week at camp with school chums means bonfires,
ghost stories, silly pranks,
demon attacks?

Away from the protective pillar in her family's home back in Japan, Miku is accosted by yokai, unearthly spirits ranging from annoying to deadly. And away from London, with just a few teacher-chaperones, Miku's classmates will find more in the forest than normal foxes and badgers.

Cursed tofu and Shape Shifters, an amnesia attack on her best friend, sickle weasels and a yuki-onna - maybe the seventh graders should have stayed at school!

Grab the first Takeshita Demons  book (my recommendation here) at your local library or independent bookstore along with The Filth Licker  (#2). You ought to get Monster Matsuri  (#3) while you're there - you know that the demons will keep chasing Miku and her friends!

Hmmm...and perhaps you'd consider having a toad-shaped aka-na-me in your bathroom to slurp up mold and soap scum, right?
**kmm

Book info: The Filth Licker (Takeshita Demons #2) / Cristy Burne; illustrated by Siku. Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2011.  [author's website] [publisher site] 

My Recommendation:  A week at camp should be great, but Miku senses demons lurking in the forest. Cait scoffs at her – until the ghost stories told by school friends around the bonfire start coming true!

Ever since Miku’s family moved from their ancestral Japanese home to London, evil spirits have targeted them. So the young teen brings protective charms to camp, along with all the stories and knowledge of the supernatural shared by her grandmother before they left for England.

Of course, nothing can keep Alex from calling her names or stop goofy Oscar from eating anything offered (eww, now he has a stinky black rash!). No one could predict that they’d find a red aka-na-me Filth Licker in the boys’ bathroom, or that its pet keukegen might innocently attract malicious ShapeShifters to camp.

When the campers’ round-robin ghost stories accidentally complete an ancient ritual, the woods become alive with evil spirits in animal bodies, trickster sprites rain down stinging sand from the trees, and Cait’s memory starts to blank out. And somehow, Alex stops teasing Miku and starts helping her track down the forest demons before they can get the rest of their friends.

Which animals will the demons use for their attack? Have the ShapeShifters already taken over any of the campers? Can Miku and friends turn back these evil forces before it’s too late?

Second in the Takeshita Demons’ series, The Filth Licker is followed by Monster Matsuri (#3) as Miku continues to face ancient evil Japanese spirits in a modern world.  (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Fracture, by Megan Miranda (fiction) - drowned, but not dead: death-escaper or death-bringer?

Her bright red parka, barely visible beneath the ice.
Decker's insistence that they rescue her.
Delaney was completely blue when they pulled her out.

Ten people every day die from non-boating drownings.
Delaney should have been one of those awful statistics, but somehow she survived eleven minutes under Falcon Lake's ice in that December-frigid water.

Death seems to keep calling her, as she feels okay and not-okay, trying to make things right with Decker, who blames himself for her accident. And that guy Troy acts like he knows everything about her and what she went through...

Debut author Megan Miranda has been a science teacher and researcher, so all the medical and death details are exact; her storytelling skills make Fracture  a winner.

For a short story featuring Decker, you can unlock "Eleven Minutes" from the Fracture Facebook page by paying with a tweet or FB share. We'll get the whole story from Decker's perspective in Vengeance  in 2014.
**kmm

Book info: Fracture / Megan Miranda. Walker & Company, 2012. [author's website]    [publisher site] [book trailer]  

My Recommendation:  Held underwater for eleven minutes by the ice, Delaney should be dead or brain-dead. But she’s not. She’s not herself either, as she finds herself pulling away from her best friend Decker and drawn to death scenes.

It was Decker who pulled 17-year-old Delaney from the icy Maine lake, who kept up resuscitation until the paramedics arrived even though everyone said she must be dead. If they hadn’t taken a shortcut across the lake ice at Decker’s insistence, this probably wouldn’t have happened, so he blames himself over and over, especially during her six-day coma.

Her brain scans show massive damage, yet Delaney is walking, talking, thinking as if nothing had ever happened. Well, except for being able to see death about to happen… and being drawn toward the dying like a magnet. Or is she there when someone dies because she’s causing it?

A new guy in town is interested in her (nice change from the same kids she’s known forever), but something is a bit too different about Troy. As Delaney tries to find out more about him, she discovers strange things and connections she’d rather forget.

Will Mom and Dad stop their new overprotective behavior soon (please)? When will Decker start acting like her best friend again? When will Troy stop acting like she knows something that she definitely doesn’t? When will the dying stop sending out beacons toward her?

Eleven minutes can change everything – you’ll remember Delaney’s story long after you close the covers of this suspenseful debut novel. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Advice to Graduates & all of us (reflective) - in which Neil Gaiman is quoted, because he said it best

Dear friends who are graduating (and everyone else, too),
I hope you've already seen this video of author Neil Gaiman addressing the University of the Arts Class of 2012 at their graduation.

I hope you've listened to it more than once, especially if you're finishing school (at any level) and are about to go out into the big wide world of work and responsibility and joy and distress and the chance to make a difference.

"Make. Good. Art," says Gaiman. Even if you don't have an artistic bone in your body, those words are meant for you: whatever it is that you are passionate about, do it well, and keep on doing it - through good times or bad, whether it's your vocation or avocation.

It may be your "day job" which fulfills you (like Maggie in Paper Daughter) or something after hours (like Haven in Illuminate).

It may be the first thing you try which makes the biggest impact in the lives of others (like Lex in Croak) or maybe the tenth (like Mercy).

It may be something that you've studied and trained for which turns out to be your best gift to those around you (like Sage in The False Prince) or perhaps not (like Ismae in Grave Mercy).

I hope you'll listen to this talk again when you need a reminder of what you can do to make the world better - just one person, doing whatever it is that you love to do best, finding satisfaction in the doing, not just the result (like Mitch in Payback Time).

Listen well - Make good art, in whatever manner your talent for increasing the world's happiness leads you.
Whether you're a new graduate or older and worldly-wise, remember that every sunrise brings you a new chance to begin to make good art.
**kmm