Lord Loss

Lord Loss

By: Darren Shan

          I had heard of this book by reading Shan’s other series, Cirque Du Freak (which I recommend), and it sounded not really my style but I was done with the other series so I gave it a go, mostly because I like Shan’s way of writing. How happy I am that I did? All 10 books in the series are out, so no waiting. At first I thought these books would be straight and narrow no twists and turns. How wrong was I?

          Grubbs Grady was an ordinary kid with ordinary friends, but that all changed when his parents and sister went to the “ballet”. Grubbs wasn’t so dumb he didn’t know that something was going on in his own family; all he had to do was find out what. While his family was gone to the “ballet” he was to stay with his aunt for the night.

          Grubbs sneaks out of his aunt’s house, than sprints to his home as fast as possible to where he thinks he’ll find his family. When he gets home he sees a light on in his parent’s room. As he edgily makes his way into the house Grubbs sidetracks to waste time, more or less, by checking every other room but the one he knows he’ll have to check eventually, his parent’s room. When Darren gets to his parents room he slowly opens the door to find a bloodbath of what his parents and sister use to be.

          Lord Loss is about more than action and gore; it’s about trying to adjust to new surroundings and overcoming grief. Don’t get me wrong there’s plenty of action and gore, but not too much that it’s overwhelming. Maybe I’m wrong and just reading into everything too much. Will you join Grubbs to find out who, what, killed his family?

Ask the Passengers

Ask the Passengers

By: A.S. King

The Jones family moved to Unit Valley from New York when Astrid was nine. Ever since they moved, their family has been falling apart because of small town rumors. Astrid’s mom cared about their reputation, and sometimes, only their reputation.  Astrid’s dad and she used to make birdhouses all the time… but then he tried pot and now he is an addict and no one knows but her (which is unbelievable in Astrid’s mind). Astrid’s sister, Ellis, is a popular girl. She plays hokey and isn’t very close with Astrid… no one really is. Astrid loves EVERYBODY in some way or another. Astrid is kind of an outsider, although she does have two friends, their names are Kristina and Justin. Those two are the two most popular people in school and are “dating”.

Astrid’s mom texts Kristina all the time—just like they are best buds— but that’s weird for Astrid, considering they really are best buds. Her mom tells Kristina that she thinks Astrid should get out more… that’s when Kristina got the idea. It was the idea that got them all into trouble.

Kristina explained it to Astrid, but now there was an addition. Jeff the leg jiggler is what they call him. He asked Astrid out and she asked Kristina what she should say and Kristina said it was perfect and she should say yes because Astrid’s mom wants her to get a boyfriend. But that’s not what Astrid wants. The plan was that Astrid would tell her mom that she was going on a date with Jeff with Kristina and Justin and they would… but only for an hour. They would then ditch Jeff and go to a bar… a gay bar. Now, Kristina didn’t tell Astrid they were going to a gay bar… she just said they were going “somewhere”.

Throughout the whole book, Astrid is trying to prove that motion is possible to prove Zeno and Elea wrong. Also, throughout the book she starts slowly falling in love with her co-worker… but if she keeps giving her love away to strangers, will she have enough to give to her real love?

Smoke

SMOKE

By: Ellen Hopkins

Pattyn and Jackie Von Stratton are sisters and best friends. They have gone through a rough life together along with a new baby and many little sisters along with a busy mother and an abusive father. Pattyn was finally fed up with her father’s beatings. So when she came back for revenge of the death of her love Ethan and her unborn baby she finds him beating her sister Jackie that built her rage. Pattyn shoots her father and is now on the run. Jackie does not remember much of that night. She knows she was raped by the jerk Caleb McCain, and her father found her and taught her a harsh lesson. Pattyn finds herself in the care of a girl’s family that she barley knows. Jackie finds herself stuck at home with a mother that won’t stand up for her own daughter after been raped, and then beaten by her own father. She also has to take care of all of her younger siblings.  

            Pattyn is staying with her new friend Adriana and her family. Adriana’s brother, Angel, ends up coming home and taking Pattyn with him to get a job as a maid. Jackie is at home still healing and trying to remember everything that happened that night. She falls behind in school and ends up getting a tutor, Gavin; little did she know that he would become more important to her than she thinks. Jackie and her family are moving out of their home and her mother has become very close with Caleb McCain’s father. She can’t believe how inconsiderate her mother can be. She was shocked when her mother told her it was her fault that Caleb raped her.

            Patty loves her job but there is something or someone not right about it Deirdre, the Mister and Missus’s daughter. She has a dark side to her, and when Pattyn finds something on her computer she is kind- of scared but she don’t dare tell Deirdre parents instead she tells her newly found best friend Angel, she feels so lucky to find him. Jackie is still having troubles dealing with the newly found friendship found in her mom and Caleb’s father. One day in church none other than Caleb gets up and “apologizes” for his wrong doings. Jackie couldn’t take it, she stands up and confesses everything including something that can change the whole situation with Pattyn. Will Pattyn ever come home? Will Janice (there mother) ever look at Jackie the same? Will Pattyn find love in angel?

Somebody Up There Hates You By: Hollis Seamon

Somebody Up There Hates You

By: Hollis Seamon

    This book is about a 17 year old boy, Richard Casey and is a story filled with sadness, and love. Richard has many experiences from all of the hospice he has been. He shares about the girl he is in love with Sylvie who is also a 17 year old girl. Richard is a smart mouth which get him in trouble most of the time.

  “I Richard Casey- aka the incredible dying boy-actually do live, temporarily, in the very hospice I am going to tell you about.”  “It’s a good diagnosis, don’t you think? For me, for Sylvie, for anybody our age that ends up here and places like it usually after what obits will soon call a ‘courageous battle fill-in-the-blank.’ How else are you going to account for us? SUTHY is the only answer that makes any damn sense.” Richard doesn’t know why everybody is so worried that the nurses of visitors might get him sick, they are dying anyway. Richard has had six years of chemo, radiation, a zillion surgeries, loss of a couple major organs, and watching his mother age twenty years in twenty months.

    Cabbage night is here!  In the areas around New Jersey they celebrate the night before Halloween, October, 30 is Cabbage Night. Cabbage Night is where you go out and do bad things and won’t get in trouble for it. But there is only one rule: be home by midnight. Some of the stuff the do is they take dog poop and put it a brown paper bag, light it on fire, when there person goes to stomp it out, the poop goes everywhere. You can run through peoples yards, leap over fences, scream like a banshee, throw eggs at anything or anyone in sight, hit kids with sacks of flour until they look like ghosts, steal anything that strikes your fancy and isn’t nailed down, tip over gravestones, tie nerdy kids to gravestones until 11:58, break empty beer bottles- after you drink the beer somebody’s cool uncle bought you, threaten to cut other kids throats, set nails point-up  on the streets ,hoping to pierce a car tires; and well anything a person could think of.

   Richards’s mother gets sick and is unable to spend the weekend with him. So he thinks he will be able to get away with anything. His mom calls and says she is going to call every hour. He says that calling is a tiny Band-Aid on teenage wreckage. They are not actually there, so he will still be able to do whatever.

    Right when Richard thinks he is finally alone his Uncle Phil shows up. Richard is not very happy about this! Phil smells like bacon and marijuana smoke and outdoor air. Phil is perfectly bald. And always has a game going on in his head. Richards’s mother does not like her brother because of all the bad things he has done. So without Richard’s mother there he is about to get to know his uncle.

   This book kept me on the edge of my chair throughout the whole book. There is many places that you don’t expect things 

Warriors the new prophecy book 4

Warriors

Starlight

By: Erin Hunter

The warrior cat clans have come to their new home and are having difficulties with the new boundaries and friendships. Clans that were good friends are now becoming hostile and acting strange. Thunderclan is losing territory to Shadowclan, and Windclan is still weak from mudclaws rebellion.

Will the clans survive their depression and conflict with each other, or will they fall to defeat. They will have to be strong to defeat their worst fears. They don’t even know the territory enough to be safe.

Warriors The New Prophecy is written by Erin Hunter. This series makes you look at an ordinary cat and see a strong warrior cat.

GO BIG OR GO HOME

        GO BIG OR GO HOME is about two kids WILL and JAMES there on the basketball team and when there not they do cross country biking. Every day after school they go home to practice or maintenance their bikes .They are practicing for the big race across flat ground with slopes they make stops for water . the race is three miles long and mostly on flat ground .James is captain on the basketball team and will is the start, they go to a camp it don’t say the name but they learn more skills for basketball and for their bicycling race They live in California when they get to the bike course they unload their bikes and put them on the starting line and at the end Will took first and James took there. They ride slow back so they can catch their breath because there are tired.

       My opinion on this book is good I liked it. I think other people should read it, People that like fiction books will love it because it’s kinda like a mystery you don’t know what will happen next. The story took place on the a hill everybody calls red hill. Will likes to run it first so he knows where the sharp turns and corners are and jumps. James and will road it three days before they pit the track up but they knew some turns still

Flip

Flip

By: Martyn Bedford

          My first impression of Flip is that it’s just going to be a story of Alex trying to get back to his body, no in-depth looks, just plain and simple. It surprised me so much. It’s about romance, action, and trying to fit in

          Alex wakes up to a women yelling at him to get up or he’ll be late. He has no clue because it’s Saturday. Then he hears her again “Phillip! It’s five to eight!” It couldn’t be five to eight; it was too bright because it was December. After looking around he realizes this isn’t even his room. That’s fine because someone he could of just spent the night at someone else’s house, except he doesn’t know a Phillip.

          Flip is about a ginger headed, blue eyed, pale boy, Alex, who has asthma, and somehow trades places with a dark haired, brown eyed, tanned 14 year old boy, Phillip, who has muscles. Basically complete opposites. This book just surpassed all my hopes of this type of book, and I recommend it highly. My question is; will you read to find out about Alex’s adventures as Phillip?