Runaway Reviewed by Molly Varney

By: Wendelin Van Draanen * * * *

Holly's life has never been easy. Since she can remember her and her mother had lived in apartments until they got kicked out, in a van, or just on the streets. Since her mothers death she had been living in foster homes and hated all of them. She had run away before but this time she stayed away. The most recent house she lived in was horrible. The Benders posed as loving parents but were heartless people. Holly's plan was to run away and this time it worked. As she writes in the journal her teacher gave her, she writes about her mother that she would never talk about. She writes about her love for dogs, and her dream of becoming a veternarian. Soon though she starts to need a plan. Holly is only a twelve year old girl but is more grown up than most people. Holly needs a plan for her future now that she's away from her horrible past, but how is she going to survive the next six years?

I thought Runaway was a pretty cool book. I had my doubts about it but it turned out to be ok. I liked how she wrote in it because it gave you a really good insight to how she felt all the time. It wasn't my favorite book but it was a very well written book. I loved how she talked about dogs and how she never really gave up. I loved the ending to the book and how she changed her own life by being stubborn and never giving up.

Cracked up to be review by Kaitlin Kimbrell

cracked up to be

by Courtney Summers

When you're perfect with everything you do people tend to want to be like you. Everybody body has a desire to be perfect, but what is the breaking point?

For Parker Fadley being perfect was all she knew. She was the perfect cheerleader, had the perfect popular boyfriend, the perfect best friend, and the perfect grades. Parker was the most popular girl at St. Peter's High, until that one night. That is when perfect Parker became the perfect mess. Nobody really knew why Parker started to come to school drunk, quit as captain of the cheerleading team, broke up with her boyfriend, and started to hate everyone. What happen to perfect Parker? Did she find her breaking point? Can you just not ever stay perfect like you think?

This book is not in my usual choices, but I really liked it. The struggles that Parker goes through actually shows what many people my age might be going through too. This put me in Parker shoes and made me think 'what would I have done if I would have been her?' I don't know what I would have done and I don't know who I would have wanted on my side, if anyone at all. This book did make me realize though that nobody is as perfect as we think.



Better Than Yesterday reviewed by Kaitlin Kimbrell

better than yesterday

by Robyn Schneider

"Sometimes, when we are not looking for a solution, but rather a different way of viewing the problem, it is permissible, even appropriate, to break the rules." Skylar, Marissa, Blake, and Charley became best friends’ freshman year and had together created a group called the Hell Risers, but much has happened since then. Skylar became known as the dirty girl, Marissa was more of just a nerdy girl, Charley had to please his parents with everything he did, and Blake left Hilliard. Now, however, Blake is back and wants to put the old gang of Hell Risers back together again. Since Blake has been gone though he has changed too much and they are scared that something might happen to him, plus they need to keep a secret from him so he won't hate Skylar. Will they stay best friends? Will they fight for what they believe? Will they just forget about each other and never look back? What will happen? To find out read the book.

This book was good! I enjoyed it and it was a quick read because of how interesting it was. There was such a mix of feelings and everything that happened will make you love each character. I honestly loved this book and am thinking about looking into this author for more books. Love and scandal all in one, what could be better? This book really kept me intrigued the whole time and I am glad I chose it to read.

Angelmonster -- review by Hope Austin

Angelmonster
by Veronica Bennett
****

The year is 1814. Sixteen-year-old Mary is the daughter of radical philosophers, one of whom passed away. She blames herself for her mother's death. Her whole life changes when charming poet Frank Shelley walks into her father's bookstore. Mary is instantly smitten. Even though Shelley is already married and has one child, Mary agrees to run away to Europe with him. On their adventures, they encounter the likes of fellow poets like Byron and Keats. As the story goes on, we see that Shelley is not the amazing man he was built up to be. What ensues is a life of scandal, sex, drugs, and inevitable tragedy.

The story is a fictionalized account of Mary Shelley's life from the time she meets her husband to the time she writes Frankenstein. What I really loved about this story was that it wasn't just about Mary Shelley's life; if you knew nothing about her or Frankenstein, the story reads like a naive girl slowly discovering that her lover isn't the Prince Charming she thought he was. I'm not sure if I would recommend this book to fans of historical romance. On one hand, it is basically a historical romance, but on the other, it's so much more than that. Overall, it's a good read.

Forged by Fire -- Review by Brianna Massey

Forged by Fire

By: Sharon Draper

*****

In, Forged by Fire, Gerald was fascinated by fire when he was three. His mother, a drug addict, leaves him alone one time too often and he accidentally sets the apartment on fire. His substance-addicted mother is taken from him. Then he loses the loving generosity of a favorite aunt. A brutal stepfather with a flaming temper and an evil secret makes his life miserable. The one bright light in Gerald's life is his little half sister, Angel, whom he struggles to protect from her father, Jordan Sparks, who abuses her, and from their mother, who’s irresponsible behavior forces Gerald to work hard to keep the family together.

As a teenager, Gerald finds success as a member of the Hazelwood Tigers basketball team, while Angel develops her talents as a dancer. Trouble still haunts them, however, and Gerald learns, painfully, that young friends can die and old enemies must be faced. In the end he must stand up to his stepfather alone in a blazing confrontation. I believe Sharon M. Draper has interwoven characters and events from her previous novel, Tears of a Tiger, in this unflinchingly realistic portrayal of poverty and child abuse. It is a very inspiring story of a young man who rises above the tragic circumstances of his life by drawing on the love and strength of family and friend.

Forged by Fire is the second book in the series of the Hazelwood High Trilogy. Reading the first book is not necessary, but I would recommend it just to get the feel of the whole series. I would definitely recommend this book to others along with the rest of the trilogy. Forged by Fire would fall under the genre “teen angst” along with a similar book called “The First Part Last” by Angela Johnson. I also would recommend that book and give it five stars just like Forged by Fire.

Someone To Love Me -- A review by Lauren Patton

Someone To Love Me
Written by Anne E. Schraff and Paul Langan
*****
Someone to Love Me was written by Anne E. Schraff and Paul Langan and it’s also apart of the Bluford High series. The main character is a young lady by the name of Cindy Gibson. Cindy grew up with a single mother and essentially always felt alone. To make matters even worse Cindy’s mother had no type of care (or at least it never seemed like she did) for Cindy. Sure, she was Cindy’s mother, but she never acted like much of one. A mother would have been there to support, encourage her, and just be there to be a shoulder to cry on. Adding to her mother’s neglect was her mother’s boyfriend Raffie. He tortured Cindy making her feel ugly, worthless, almost like she didn’t matter. Besides the problems at home, Cindy had very low self esteem and didn’t even feel like going to school anymore.
Things begin to turn around for Cindy when she meets Bobby Wallace. Bobby Wallace is nobody new to Cindy because he used to date her best friend Jamee. Jamee was no longer with Bobby because he abused her and lied to her so nobody quite understood why Cindy would even give him the time of day. Before long Cindy and Bobby were boyfriend and girlfriend. Cindy returned back to school and even got a job with the school newspaper thanks to Jamee and Grandma Rose’s encouragement. Grandma Rose was an older lady who lived not too far from Cindy and was one of her classmate’s grandmothers. Bobby became Cindy’s escape from all the pain and heartache at home. She was finally getting the attention she never had but always longed for, but all of that comes to a quick halt when Bobby starts to change. The change wasn’t the good kind of change and it was due to a long process of drug abuse and misuse. Would Cindy listen to the advice of her best friend Jamee and leave Bobby, who she had grown to love and devoted all of her time and energy to or deal with the “tough love”? Guess you’ll have to read the book to find out.
In my opinion Someone to Love Me is a must read. I loved the book mainly because it was so relatable. For every scene I could attach some kind of mental picture, almost like watching a movie. I never wanted to put the book down, which is why I gave it the five stars I think it deserved. The book brought forth real life situations that affect many teens every day. If you like drama and every day life situations when you read you'll love this book.