What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton

Sid Murphy has the perfect Christmas vacation planned. She’s going on a ski trip with her school’s Ski Club where she and her two best friends will have several days to hang out, hit the slopes, and meet plenty of hot guys. Plans change, however, when she meets Dax Windsor, a charming college boy who only has eyes for her. On the last night of the trip, he invites Sid to a party at his place that’s sure to leave a lasting impression…just not a pleasant one.

Research says that people who face traumatic experiences usually resort to two coping mechanisms: fight or flight. Sid Murphy is a fighter all of the way. But, even she isn’t invincible. As a result, the author effectively portrays a girl struggling to come to terms with what happened to her while pretending as if everything’s “fine” on the outside. In a way, she reminds me of Melinda from L.H. Anderson’s Speak (1999), only Sid’s reaction shows the opposite end of the spectrum. The fears that both characters exude are very real, which is why most sexual victims never speak up: We are a society that likes to blame the victims because it’s easier that way. This was evident in the way that Sid blamed her large breasts and curvaceous butt for enticing Dax in the first place. As a result, she turns the punishment inward and suffers in silence.

This is a book that needs to be on every secondary shelf. According to statistics, a woman gets raped every 2 minutes in the US alone. Chances are, one of them could be sitting in our classrooms. There is no reason anyone should suffer in silence. 

ARC courtesy of ALA 2012

Publication Date: October 2012

Boy Toy by Barry Lyga

When he was twelve, Josh Mendel had a very adult affair with his twenty-four-year-old history teacher, Eve. Now, five years later, Eve is being released from prison, and Josh has mixed emotions. Was he really molested? Or, was it a consenual realtionship? Why did his parents force him to press charges and ruin everyone's life? As he relives those secret moments from his past, Josh shows that when the lines between teacher and student get blurred, bad things happen.

Barry Lyga addresses the taboo subject of teachers being sexual predators. Against the backdrop of a middle school setting, he takes a stark and honest look at how authority figures draw in susceptible students and abuse their power. Although many readers are turned off by the predator being a woman (because it plays into stereotypes), Lyga's goal is to effectively show the devastating effects of sexual abuse, which he does - regardless of gender. As Josh works through his conflicting emotions about Eve being released and takes on the guilt for everything that happened five years prior, Lyga shows that circumstances aren't as cut-and-dry as people like to pretend.

This book will make readers uncomfortable. It should. It doesn't gloss over sexual abuse. (And, teachers who have affairs with students ARE sexual predators.) Instead, Lyga walks the reader through the process that predators use to lure their victims and keep them silent through guilt and shame. This book goes into sexual detail and doesn't glamorize the inapporpriate relationship between Josh and Eve, which adds to its validity and importance. Instead, it faces it head-on, and makes the reader think about how every action has a lesser or greater reaction. Just because we refuse to talk about something, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Rage by Julie Anne Peters

Johanna only wants one thing - Reeve Hartt. Reeve consumes her thoughts, her dreams, her reason for living. With an intensity that borders obsession, Johanna makes it her mission to make Reeve hers before their senior year is over, which gives her approximately fourteen days. Through a twist of fate, the two girls are thrown together, and they ignite a passionate love affair that turns abusive. Throughout the novel, the reader experiences the emotional roller coaster of their turbulent relationship, and learns that the line between abuser and victim is blurred when everything hinges upon RAGE.

Peters gives an honest view of an abusive relationship, and the manipulation and lies a victim tells herself to keep from facing the truth. Disturbing.

Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

It’s been one year since Lucca’s death. One year since a horrible
accident changed Brooklyn’s life forever. As she continues trying to pick up the pieces after her boyfriend’s death, another tragedy strikes on the one year anniversary: Gabe, the driver of the car that killed Lucca, and Brooklyn’s friend, gives up on life. Unable to live with the guilt of surviving when he killed his friend, Gabe overdoses and ends his pain.

Nico is Lucca’s older brother. He gets to live in the house that feels the constant anguish of Lucca’s absence. Instead of turning to drugs or partying to deal with his sorrow, Nico runs. He runs to block out the world. He runs to block out his parents’ disappointment. He runs to block out the guilt he feels for being alive when his brother’s dead. He runs until…Lucca’s ghost gives him a mission: help Brooklyn.

Soon after Gabe’s death, Brooklyn begins having nightmares about him. She thinks they’re simply dreams until Gabe starts visiting her when she’s awake.

In this companion to I Heart You, You Haunt Me (2008), Schroeder explores the effects of survivor’s guilt. Each character in this novel is either directly or indirectly impacted by the death of Lucca and Gabe, and she shows that time knows no limits to sorrow. What makes this novel so effective is the fact that she addresses this issue from multiple perspectives (parents, siblings, friends, and boyfriend/girlfriends).

Although this novel is categorized as young adult, I truly believe that people of all ages could read it and glean meaning from its pages. If anyone has lived through loss, they can connect with the struggles of Brooklyn, Nico, and the parents. Depression is very real, and it’s usually gradual.

Each aspect of death has its own tragedy that people must work through. Just because people look “fine” doesn’t mean that they are. Sometimes, as a society, we don’t know what to say to people who are suffering, so we say nothing. Schroeder’s book shows us that, to make a positive impact, sometimes all we have to do is give someone a hug and ask, “How are you doing?” Then, listen.

I love this book; it is heartfelt and simplistic in its depiction of loss. However, for readers who like more description, more drama, and aren’t poetry fans, they probably won’t find as much enjoyment from this one as I did. Still, I think that everyone should give it a try.

**This novel can stand-alone, but the first one is good, too. 

Through to You by Emily Hainsworth

Every day is a challenge for Camden Pike because his girlfriend Viv was his entire world, but it's been two months since his life changed forever. Two months since the accident. Two months of maintaining her shrine. Two months without holding her.

While visiting the site of the accident one night, Camden notices an eerie green light and a girl on the other side calling his name. He soon learns that the green light is a portal into a parallel world where Viv is still alive. Determined to have her back, Camden ignores the fact that the Viv he lost in his world isn’t the Viv living in the other one. As the portal begins to shrink, secrets unfold and obsessions turn deadly.

Emily Hainsworth’s debut novel is a breath of fresh air. Through her portrayal of a grieving young man, she captures the realistic and complicated internal conflicts that he undergoes while dealing – or not dealing - with his girlfriend’s death. Hainsworth effectively makes Camden a flawed character who must work through multiple issues: his father’s abandonment of the family, his absent workaholic mother, his fall from grace as the football star, and his emotional instability. All of these issues lead to the guiding theme of this novel, which is “What if?” What if we’d chosen something different?

All of us are presented with choices, and based upon those choices, we follow a certain path. Camden is no different. What he discovers in the parallel world is that the same people exist, but their different choices led them to different futures. For instance, instead of giving up on football when his leg was shattered, the other Camden pushed himself to overcome the injury. As a result, even though the “real”Camden’s initial goal for entering the other world was to reunite with Viv, he also realized the possibilities for what he could accomplish if he refused to give up. He had to realize that he possessed the strength within himself to do great things – without Viv.

Nina is the girl that Camden meets the first night that the green light appears. Although he doesn’t recognize her, she knows him from her world, and she serves as his guide – a conscience, almost – as he works through his love and loss of Viv, as well as his renewed discovery of her in the other world. Nina has secrets and she holds the key to Camden’s happiness, but she also wants him to make the discoveries on his own.

The ending of this novel is so bittersweet that I’m STILL thinking about it. There are so many ways that I wanted it to go, but Hainsworth executed it so beautifully that there was only one way that it could end. I love, love, love this book, and I’ll probably reread it in the near future because I didn’t want it to end.

ARC Provided by HarperCollins Children’s Books
Publish Date: October 1, 2012

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

Frannie seems like a normal high school senior; only, she's not. Gifted with special "supernatural abilities," she's caught the attention of Satan himself. In an effort to beat Heaven for her soul, He sends his most trusted demon, Luc (aka Lucifer) to tag her soul and send her straight to Hell where she can help Him defeat his old nemesis, God, once and for all. The only problem is that God knows about her talents, too, and isn't giving her up without a fight. He sends Gabe (aka Gabriel) to intercept Luc and save Frannie from the temptations that Hell has to offer.

There will be a lot fo people who love this novel simply because they love angels and demons, love triangles, and good girls who catch the attention of the bad boy. Unfortunately, for readers who enjoy strong plots and in-depth characters, they won't get it here.

The first "sore-thumb" that stuck out in this novel was that the author tried to write it from two different points-of-view - Luc and Frannie. Other reviewers have commented on this, and I agree that it wasn't executed well at all. In fact, Luc sounded like a cliche, sex-driven teenager instead of a 7,000 year old demon from hell. In addition, his voice was so similar to Frannie's that I had to look at the title of the chapter to remember who was talking. Not only that, but Gabe was "supposed" to be an integral part of the love triangle, but the reader never read his POV, which left him out on the fringe. Instead of doing the alternating POVs, the author should have taken an omniscient voice to make the reading more fluid and believable.

Now, the love triangle. It was simply contrived. I mean, it's not like I didn't see it coming, but it was so poorly done that I honestly didn't care. For instance, one minute Frannie is wanting to have sex with Luc, then out of nowhere she fantasizes about Gabe. In fact, Gabe disappeares for chapters at a time, then all of a sudden, Frannie gets mad at Luc, and runs to Gabe for "comfort" and wonders if she's in love with him. In the real world, this is called a rebound. Also, I never felt like Frannie was in love with either of them with how easily she flip-flopped. Instead, it just seemed that she wanted to have sex and was willing to be with whichever showed the most interest.

Now, Frannie. She claims to be a strong female and doesn't need a male in her life to feel self worth; yet, within a few chapters, she's obsessing about Luc, Ryan, and Gabe. A little contradiction? In fact, her goal becomes getting the two "hottest" guys on campus interested in her before her best friend, who seems like a nymphomaniac, can.

Now, the language. This may seem minor, and, in fact, I'm pretty liberal with my views on curse words when they're used in the proper context. But, the characters used so much language in this book that it came off like they were trying to "play like adults" instead of representing high school seniors. When I teach a young adult novel, I'm very straightforward when I tell my students that language is part of character development, and it adds to the authenticity of the novel. For instance, if we're reading about inmates on deathrow, we aren't going to see them say, "Brother John, let us break bread together." No, they are going to use the "F" word as well as a few others that aren't so PC. But, even then, the author has to choose the language and decide what adds and takes away from the novel. This one relied too much on puns like "Go to hell" to the point that I was rolling my eyes.

I have other frustrations, but, overall, I wouldn't suggest this one.

The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti

Quinn comes from a long line of betrayed women. In fact, her father is the culprit who broke her mother's heart, then abandoned the family. While visiting him one weekend, Quinn notices that her father has an interesting collection of artifacts. Upon closer examination, she discovers that each of her father's prized possessions actually belongs to ex-lovers, which he stole. Determined to find the truth about her father, she enlists the help of her half sister to find these women, return their possessions, and learn their stories of what went wrong. 

Although Caletti's storytelling ability is flawless, the plotline is boring and cliche. I got really tired of the "he done me wrong" theme that permeated throughout the entire novel with no real solution - and the list on the refrigerator doesn't count. I will say that the story became more engaging once Jake came into the picture - several places made me laugh - but it wasn't until I was 200 pages into the novel, which was too little too late.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

"Because when you turn a short span of time into a "season," you create an echo chamber for all of its associations." - Dash 

While perusing the shelves of New York City's The Strand, Dash comes across an innocent-looking, red moleskin, challenging him to a series of dares...Because he's curious and has nothing to lose, Dash accepts the challenge, and creates some of his own for its author, Lily. As they lead each other on random dares, Dash and Lily learn each others' hopes, secrets, and fears, and have to decide if they want to meet and risk losing the magic of the moleskin. 

I really liked the character of Dash; he was witty, sarcastic, and multidimensional. I found his sections interesting and wished they wouldn't end. Unfortunately, I wasn't so excited about Lily. To me, she was too stereotypical (i.e. overprotective family, never had a "real" kiss, and a goody-two-shoes-wanting-to-be-bad) and bland. 

Overall, this was a cute story about two teenagers who found friendship (and a little bit more) during a holiday season that started out not so promising.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

I can't really write a review about this novel without giving away some part of the plot, but I will say that it is a well-crafted suspense thriller with a little romance sprinkled in. This story involves fallen angels and a legend that demands a human sacrifice. Caught in the middle of this spiritual warfare is Nora Grey, and she knows that someone wants her dead. But, why?

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

This book was a pretty big let-down for me. I really enjoyed HUSH, HUSH with its suspense and spunky heroine, Nora Grey. I thought that I had finally found a series that broke away from authors trying to mimick TWIGHLIGHT'S version of "romance" by having a strong plot, in-depth characters, and a heroine who can hold her own - with or without a boyfriend. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

The book was "supposed" to be about Nephilim's (half human, half angels) gathering recruits to fight fallen angels. Of course, Nora is a Nephilim, and the danger is always lurking that a fallen angel wants to kill her to become human, but Patch is her guardian angel, which means that probably won't happen. That was SUPPOSED to be the plot. Instead, the author spent 327 pages chronicling Nora's angst about breaking up with Patch, and his going out with Marcie, her slutty arch-enemy. Fitzpatrick tried to create a double-love triangle by having Nora run into her childhood friend, Scott, and develop a romance, but the whole thing was weak and contrived. In fact, the whole novel was one big, awful romance novel depicting three weak and pathetic girls who strove for male attention. Some might argue that all of this angst is based in reality, and I admit that I knew one or two girls in high school like this, but I wouldn't call them the norm, and I wouldn't want them to be the norm. Nora even contemplates suicide at one point, which I thought was totally irresponsible of the author. We want females to be empowered, not constantly fed the idea that they can't function without a boyfriend. And, definitely not that their lives aren't worth living without one!

The novel finally focused on the REAL plot around page 357 but not before Fitzpatrick exhausted the whole "Can we trust Patch" thing. Honestly, that was beaten to death in Book One, it was simply annoying in Book Two and detracted from the plot. Also, the reader heard a lot about Rixon throughout the novel, but never even met him until she was 300 pages in. Then, all of a sudden, the whole plot revolved around him. The whole novel was like this. All of the characters were shallow and underdeveloped, and their functions throughout were disjointed.

I won't read Book Three. In fact, regardless of the overall ratings on Goodreads, most people (I'm referring to my friends) despised this novel, and were too nice to give it the rating it deserves. Every author deserves a "dud," and I hope that this is simply the case with this one. Like I said, I really loved HUSH, HUSH, so I know Fitzpatrick is talented. I just don't know why she sold out on this one.