high school

Jennifer Echols

Here’s a great summer reads author for you guys: Jennifer Echols! 
Echols’ books are romantic dramas with a sense of humor – she’s so good at writing a developing romantic relationship between two characters that you’ll feel like you’re there with them. The three pictured here, Forget You, Going Too Far, and Love Story, were the first books I read this summer… and I went through them all in about three days.
For content reasons, I’d recommend these to teens in their upper high school through college years. I’m pretty conservative with my recommendations, I know, but that’s just me. Overall, the stories here are engaging and I loved watching each romance spark and ignite. 
Echols has a new title, Dirty Little Secret, coming out in July. I’m looking forward to it!
Enjoy. :)

Crash and Bang by Lisa McMann

Somehow, Crash came out a while back without me knowing… I’ve had Lisa McMann on my radar since I read her Wake trilogy a few years ago, which is excellent. So, I was surprised when I received an Advance Reader’s Copy of Bang, which is her upcoming sequel to Crash, because I didn’t even realize Crash existed.I know, this is a problem only in the book nerd world to which I belong.
Anyway, I couldn’t dive into the ARC of Bang without reading Crash first, so I got my hands on a copy of it yesterday. And I read it last night. Couldn’t sleep until I had it finished. It was really, really good.
And then, of course, I devoured Bang as soon as I woke up this morning, and it’s good. Just as good as Crash, if not better.
I have two favorite things about Lisa McMann’s writing. One, her characters are so well-written that they feel like real people. I take a break from reading to do something else that needs to be done, and it’s like I’m shocked when I put the book down and the character isn’t really there. It’s unnerving in the very best way. Two, she does paranormal in a way that makes it kind of normal. Like, it’s not some weird witches and vampires crap. It’s normal people, with normal lives, in normal settings… but something happens to them that is paranormal. This is also unnerving in the very best way – it makes you feel like it could happen to you any moment. It’s great.
I highly recommend Crash, as well as her Wake trilogy, for high school and up. There’s some language and sexually-charged intense moments, but nothing over the top, really. I wish the language were tamer. Bang, which I also highly recommend, will be out in October 2013. I’m hoping to feature it on She Reads closer to its release date. For now, though, enjoy the titles that are already out!

Colleen Hoover, I’m a FAN.

Words really can’t express how much I love these books. And the fact that I don’t have a copy of the third and final related book, This Girl, right now is just killing me.

I’ll confess that I’ve loved the whole idea of performance poetry ever since Mike Meyers’ role in So I Married An Axe Murderer. I don’t know if Colleen ever imagined her beautifully written books being written about in the same blog post as the cheesy Meyers’ role, but I’m going for it.

Anyway, performance poetry is just COOL in a way that I feel like I’ll never be cool enough to perform it. And it’s powerful. To listen to and watch someone perform a poem is a really wonderfully moving experience.

So, when I read the little synopsis for Slammed and realized it involved slam poetry AND an incredibly hot, magnetic romance, I absolutely had to read it. And then I absolutely had to read Point of Retreat. And now I absolutely have to read This Girl, which just came out recently.

You totally don’t have to be an existing fan of slam poetry to read these books, but I do think you’ll gain an appreciation of its power to convey emotion and deliver a message emphatically through the poems that are artfully woven throughout the books. And it’ll probably make you want to find a slam poetry night in your city and go watch. I know I do.

But enough about the poetry – Hoover’s characters and the way they interact with each other are great. The instant connection and ensuing romance between Will and Layken is SO ADDICTING. The life situations they find themselves in, together with the other characters, make you root for them. They’re so right together, even though they go through more crap than any couple should have to endure.

I highly, highly, highly recommend these books (definitely upper high school and older). I love them. You should too.

Enjoy!

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Here’s my confession: I have a HUGE crush on this book. In fact, I’ll tell you what happy looks like – my face when I’m reading Jennifer E. Smith’s sweet, funny, and cleverly written exchanges between Graham Larkin and Ellie O’Neill.
In this story, a simple mistake in typing an e-mail address leads to a correspondence between two teenagers from opposite sides of the country. The teenagers don’t know much of anything about each other, and yet it’s that anonymity through e-mail with a stranger that allows them to open up to each other about things they’d never tell anyone they actually knew. What results is a conversation of thoughts and feelings in the moment – things they can’t say out loud but can say to each other. This ranges from seemingly insignificant observations about the annoyingness of smiley faces used in e-mails (J) to the soul-searching question of what happiness looks like.
Each still holds an important secret, though.
Graham Larkin is a teen heartthrob movie star, trapped in a world of paparazzi and feeling like nobody really wants to be around him for him, but only for his looks and his fame. In his correspondence with Ellie, he gets to be himself and get to know her without the trappings of fame. He’s just a witty, smart, normal guy who’s falling for a girl he’s never met.
Ellie O’Neill is a seemingly typical small town girl, but she and her mom have changed their names to keep a scandalous past hidden. Ellie is the only child of a single mom, and life gets lonely even with her friends to keep her company. This anonymous pen pal deal is exactly what she needs – a guy she can be honest with and dream about.
Only, what if it doesn’t have to be a dream anymore? When Ellie lets her town’s name slip, Graham starts pulling strings and gets the location for his next movie shoot changed… to Ellie’s small coastal town. Sounds like every girl’s dream – what teenage girl doesn’t want the teen magazine centerfold showing up on her doorstep, ready to sweep her off her feet? For Ellie, though, Graham’s fame and constant media attention complicate and change everything.
Watching these two characters navigate the challenges they each face as they explore the possibilities the future holds is great summer fun. The characters are great to spend some time with, the writing is full of smart romance and beautiful description, and the story holds enough excitement to keep us all daydreaming about our teenaged selves opening the door to find our adolescent celebrity man-crush there, declaring his love for us. All in all, I highly recommend you check out This Is What Happy Looks Like… and soon!

If Only The App Could Be Real…

So last night I stayed up really late and read The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise. I probably should have slept some more considering the fact that I had to teach today, but an intriguing premise, quirky protagonist, and swoon-worthy boy had me hooked. There was no chance I was going to sleep until I finished.

In The Boyfriend App, protagonist Audrey McCarthy is a former popular girl who’s now all techie and geeky in a way that makes you root for her to gain her self-confidence back. She’s also getting bullied by her old popular best friend, trying to figure out a way to pay for college, and still mourning the death of her father, all of which further make you want to see her succeed.

So when an app building contest is announced, with the winner receiving a $200,000 scholarship to a college of their choice as a prize, Audrey is ALL over it. She’s a super talented hacker and code-writer, and comes up with the perfect idea: an app that helps you find a match and alerts you when you’re around them. It’s cool. It takes off quickly and gets her in the running for the scholarship… until it backfires. After an accident that leads to her discovering a huge secret contained within the buyPhones sold to teenagers, she works furiously to release The Boyfriend App 2.0, which is successful. Too successful.

And, of course, all along her friendship with the techno-hottie Aidan is turning into a real, satisfying romance that adds the sweet in with the suspense of what’s going to happen with the contest, the app, and the secret Audrey accidentally uncovers during her app research. (I also must mention that Aidan’s nickname for Audrey – “Auds” – was so cute I could hardly contain myself every single time I read it.)

As I read, I was definitely captivated by the storyline, which was actually pretty exciting. I will state up front that I had a few problems with the book. One, the whole buyPhone thing is clearly actually as iPhone. I have a strange irritation with things that aren’t just outright NAMED what they obviously ARE. As Public ends up being painted in a negative light, I understand why they wouldn’t just call it Apple in the book, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying every time I have to read “buyPhone” and all the other “buy” things. Also, as much as every girl would like the power to make guys instantly desire her and kiss her, that doesn’t really make it morally correct. So that was an issue for me… though still enjoyable. Weird.

Overall, this was fun and unusual and intriguing. I recommend it (high school and up). Enjoy!

Anna and the French Kiss deleted chapter? HECK YES!!!

Seriously, words cannot describe how much I loved this book… Or how much it made me want to move to Paris.

Just this week, author Stephanie Perkins released a deleted chapter from the book on her website. It’s every bit as adorable as the rest of the book. Also, check out my previous review of Anna and the French Kiss. Enjoy!

the perks of being a wallflower

After being told by many people that I needed to read Perks, I finally did. And WHY did I need to read this? Bleh.

First of all, maybe a few master authors could tackle the topics of drugs, drinking, child abuse, molestation, rape, homosexuality, and more in relation to teenagers in just 200 pages, but this author is not one of them. And why would this book be promoted by MTV? Just because it addresses “forbidden” topics? It doesn’t address them well. Not at all. I have serious issues with this book. AND WHY WAS THIS TURNED INTO A MOVIE? Bleh.

Frustration.

Burning Blue by Paul Griffin

I don’t even know what to say about this, but it was definitely a good mystery with an ending I could never have imagined. Burning Blue is definitely for older YA readers – mature 10th/11th grade and up. Once I got to the answer of the “Who did it?” question, it was hard to make myself keep reading. You’ll understand after reading. I also appreciate the author’s note in the back, in which Griffin explains his reason for writing this story so I don’t just have to think he’s a messed up human being. Maybe I’ll have more to say later… For now, I’m still in shock.

Catching Jordan – Miranda Kinneally

A few weeks ago, I discovered and loved Stealing Parker by Miranda Kinneally. I mean, I seriously couldn’t put it down and stayed up all night reading it.

I’m not sure why I found Stealing Parker first instead of Catching Jordan, which is actually the first in this series of connected books, but I’m kind of glad I did. I liked Catching Jordan, but I don’t know that I would have read another one of the series if I’d read it first. I know. That sounds kind of weird. I’ll try to explain. 
Jordan, the protagonist in Catching Jordan, is the quarterback of her high school football team… which means she surrounded by gorgeous football players constantly. But, they see her as a teammate and their leader, not necessarily as girlfriend material. On a certain level, I can identify with that from my own middle and high school experiences, but I struggled with really connecting to Jordan at first because she truly sounded like a football jock. Like, not just her spoken words on the football field but even in her narration of the story.
Once I got past that, though, I really enjoyed Jordan’s story and what she went through with her family, team, and romantic life. And really, it’s the kind of romance EVERY girl, jockette or not, dreams about. I also enjoyed learning more about the characters from Stealing Parker… and now I need to go back and read Stealing Parker again. :)
I’m excited for the third book connected to these Hundred Oaks books which is due to be released in March of 2013. I’d be even MORE excited if I got an ARC of it… Hahaha.You can read an excerpt of the third book here.
As with Stealing Parker, I’d recommend this for upper high school and college-aged girls. Enjoy the Hundred Oaks books! 
~Melissa

Friday Favorite: Secrets of My Hollywood Life

Jen Calonita has an impressive way of writing intriguing stories that you’d like to go into and visit for vacation without making them so scandalously inappropriate that I have to worry about putting them on my summer reading lists for middle school. I appreciate that about her. I also love that while it’s good for upper middle schoolers, it’s also great for all high school grades. Heck, I loved it as an adult.

This series, The Secrets of My Hollywood Life, features a protagonist named Kaitlin Burke. She’s a famous teenage TV star in Hollywood, and throughout her adventures and dramas and everything else we get an insider’s look at the life of a Hollywood starlet. It’s very fun. And, as Calonita is a former entertainment editor for Teen people, you definitely get a legit inside look!

In this first book, Kaitlin wants to know what it’s like to be a regular, not-famous teenager in high school and goes behind the backs of almost everyone around her to enroll in a local school under a false ID. Of course, she falls for the school’s hottest lacrosse player (and who wouldn’t, really?)… lots of crazy things happen. And, while this book does have a fully satisfying ending,  you totally want to start reading the next book as soon as you finish this one to figure out what happens with Kaitlin and her crew. It’s awesome.

Check this book out, buy it, invest in the rest of the series… you’ll love it. Enjoy!

~Melissa