Hold Still--Review by Desarae Coffey

Hold Still by Nina Lacour

This book is divided into seasons. It follows the main character, Caitlin Madison, over the course of a year summers, fall, winter, spring, and summer again. Though these are many themes running through the pages of Hold Still I wont say healing is the main one, being a junior in high school come fall. However during the summer before her best friend commits sucide by cutting her wrist in her bath tub. Caitlin realzes that her best friend had been very depreessed and tortured and had even taken medication forn it. As Cailtin begins school she also begins the journey of healing and learning to live life without Ingrid.

One day while looking for her remote control, she finds Ingrid's journel giving her insight into her best friend's world. It also folows Cailtin as she developes a new friend, with a new best frined named Dylan, who happens to be openly gay. Dylan tries to help Caitlin heal from her loss but at the same time her relationship with Dylan causes her to feel guilty, like she is betraying Ingrid.

And there is her relationship with Taylor who gradually becomes her boyfriend. Also Caitlin's photography, it becomes some what of a memorail to Ingrid. Relationships with other people and sleeping in back seat and building a very conmplex tree house, all theraputic in her path of healing.

I would rate Hold Still by Nina Lacour a four and half stars out of the five star system. I enjoyed the book and feel there are so many things to be taken from the story, the themes are deep and realistic but I do feel book is alittle long and drawn out some times.

I would classify this book as drama. I would recommend it to a friend I know likes drama, however, as I said I left it was a little drawn out. There are so many seasons one can learn from Hold Still and so many conversial topics dycussed however so I did enjoy the story overall.

Perks of Being a Wallflower-- Reviewed by Desarae Coffey

                                                   

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This book is about a fifteen-year-old boy named Charlie. Charlie has suffered a great tragedy of losing his best friend, Michel to suicide. Charlie is scared of starting high school alone which increases his anxiety levels. So Charlie starts writing to a stranger whose he never met in person but have told was nice and a great listener.

As Charlie begins high school his anxiety level increases but calms down a bit when he meets his English teacher who becomes his friend and even more so his mentor. As the days goes on he learns to overcome some of his shyness and meets Patrick. Patrick later becomes his best friend along with his step sister, Sam.

Sam and Patrick becomes Charlie’s life coaches in high school showing him the ropes, they force him to come out his shell. They help him become more social while letting him find himself. Charlie goes through his high school writing his own fate. Going on his first date, having his first kiss, and even getting into drugs. The drugs cause him to lose his best friends, but Charlie then gains them back for standing up for Patrick when he gets beat up showing his true side. At his first year comes to an end, and it gets closer to Sam and Patrick graduating Charlie finds himself.

We all go through this just in different ways but still having that one thing, finding ourselves in high school. I strongly, recommend this for any teenage struggling to find themselves. I personally can relate to this story. this year I was a transfer, coming in from St. Mary's High school. I was beginning my sophomore year at O'Hara. I started out very shy and didn't talk much to people, but lucky I had my best friend, Leah Eckart. She was my Sam and Patrick. She pushed me to join clubs and sports to become more social. I join book club and cross-country. Thanks to her, I am loving my sophomore year more and more every week. 

The Future of Us Reviewed by Molly Varney

By: Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler ****


In 1996, most kids had barely used the internet. Emma just got a new computer from her dad,a guilt gift she thought.Ever since her parents had divorced, Emma had hardly seen her dad and his new wife and daughter. Her best friend and neighbor, Josh, had just brought over a new CD-ROM for her new computer since his mom didn't want it. Things had been awkward between the two ever since Emma had rejected Josh. When Emma logs onto her computer for the first time, she is immediatley logged onto a website for facebook.She logs onto it, only to find that it takes ger 15 years onto the future. At first Josh doesn't believe it. Then he finds out that he's going to marry Sydney Mills, one of the most popular girls at school. As soon as he hears this, he wants it to be true. Emma however, is not too pleased with her future. As the two of them try to shape their perfect futures they find that even the tiniest things can completely change their future. They can view their jobs, relationships, friends, and lives in the future, but is it good or bad? Emma starts to become obsessed with her future while Josh is happy with his own. The two are given a chance to see their futures, but what will they do when they know what's going to happen?



I thought this was a pretty good book. It was a really interesting theme, and I thought it was cool. It was really funny to read this and watch their reactions to Facebook, because we get on it all the time, and they have no idea what it is. I think my favorite character in this was Josh because he didn't get too worked up about seeing his future. Emma was always trying to change hers when she didn't like it while, most of the time, Josh just let things happen and didn't try to mess with it.I loved the ending and thought it was really sweet. This was definitely an interesting story, but I liked it a lot.

The Other Countess review by Kaitlin Kimbrell

The OTHER COUNTESS

by: Eve Edwards



Love is looked for and wanted by everyone. It can be splendid and wonderful. If everything is going wrong in your life feeling loved is the most amazing thing you can hope.

Lady Eleanor Rodriguez, Countess of San Jaime (Ellie) at age sixteen was not looking for love. It was quite possibly the last thing on her mind.  All  Ellie wanted was for her father, Sir Arthur Hutton, to stop with his quest to make gold out of lead and just live with her in a happy peaceful life, but she knew her father would never go for that and that is why Ellie was stuck in the house of Lord Mountjoy's  during the time of court.

William Lacey, Earl of Dorset (Will) at age eighteen was trying to help his family survive after the death of his father left them with little money and many problems. Will needed a wealthy lady that would marry him to save his land, his family from destitution, and him from being bitter at such a young age. Will went to court looking for a lady of wealth. He wanted this marriage to have love, but he could live without it if he could just save his family.

This two lives did not plan to meet again after the last time, when Will kick Ellie and her father off his land for the alchemy four years before, but when Will arrives at court she is the first lady he meets. Will not recognizing her, and knowing she was a maid with no money, was transfixed by her beauty and her intelligence. Ellie on the other hand was angry and scared that he was there because she knew that once he found out who she was he would not be so kind to her with his words. 

Soon they both realize that they have fallen for each other, but they did not believe anything could become of this infatuation. What will Will choose Lady Jane, a rich woman he also meets at court, who would solve all his money problems by their marriage? Or will Will choose love with Ellie and decide that is better than anything money can buy? Will Ellie even have him if he did want her after the way he treated her and her father just a few years ago? Will Lady Jane even want Will? Or would she rather James, one of the earl's brothers? Will love win out or the powers of money take over?

I truly enjoyed The Other Countess and I believe that anyone to read it after would like it, also. The different scandals that are going on will make you want to read the whole book in one night. Love is such a thing to look for that when it hits us in the face we can do nothing but try and hold onto it.

Timing is everything. 



Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-- A Review by Sarah Gnefkow

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
by Ann Brashares

**** Stars

Bridget, Lena, Carmen, and Tibby's mothers all met in pregnancy yoga, and they have been best friends ever since. Every summer they spend together but this summer they are all going their separate ways. Before they part they go on one last shopping adventure together where they find a pair of jeans that fits all of them perfectly, regardless of their different body types. The girls decide to make a pact that over the summer they will send the pants to each other with stories of the amazing things that happened to them while wearing the jeans. Each of the girls summer is very different and dramatic and will test their time apart.

I really enjoyed this book and the movie! The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is really a good story about friendship and it has a lot of drama. Some parts of it were kind of slow and boring but most of the time I just wanted to keep reading. If you like dramatic romance books you will definitely like this.

Wanted -- a review by Hope Austin

Wanted

by Sara Shepard

***

With this book, the Pretty Little Liars series has come to a close. For those of you who haven’t been following, the series focuses on former friends Hanna, Emily, Spencer, and Aria, all four of them harboring some seriously dark secrets. After Ali, their friend who knew all of their secrets, goes missing the summer before eighth grade, the girls go their separate ways. Three years later, they’re brought back together by disturbing text messages from someone only known as “A.” From then on, the girls must fight to save their reputations and possibly their lives, all while discovering some particularly nasty secrets about their families and their long lost friend, Ali.

The whole series itself seems to be made up of twists, sometimes way out of left field, and Wanted has the biggest twist (that’s far too good to spoil) of the entire series. Shepard plays around with it for the rest of the book. At the beginning of the book, the reader is flat-out told that they’re not getting a fairytale ending, and Shepard sticks to that. Shepard may not be the best writer, but she knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what happens next.

This series is very entertaining. Certainly nothing to write home about, but if you’re going on a long flight or need to pass the time somehow, I’d recommend this series. If you’re the type of person who liked The Clique or Gossip Girl, but thought that they didn’t have enough suspense or murder, this series is right up your alley. But be warned: you need to have a very strong suspension of disbelief, or all the plot twists will have you banging your head against a wall.