Lockdown

Lockdown by Diane Tullson

Adam, a teenager, attends what he thinks is just going to be another day of school. Along with the other students and faculty, Adam soon realizes this is no normal day when the school is put on lockdown because of an armed intruder. Adam and three classmates find themselves in trouble when they cannot get into any classroom and must hide elsewhere. The terrified students soon discover that Josh, a ridiculed classmate, is the gunman. When Adam learns this, he begins to feel sorry for Josh and partly blames himself for not befriending him. Adam goes on a quest to stop Josh not only from hurting or killing other students but also from killing himself. This book describes an event that unfortunately has occurred in many schools recently. Because Adam narrates this story, readers can vicariously experience the fear and regret that Adam feels. The book describes a situation in which a student is bullied and humiliated to the point where he resorts to violent actions against his teachers and fellow students. Young students can learn a great deal about what their words and actions can do to sensitive fellow students. ( Amazon )

Every book I read about a shooting, the common element is that someone has been bullied for a length of time. This book is no different. Hearing authors who have researched school shootings bullying has to stop. Really good book, Teens will love it.

Feeling Sorry for Celia

Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty

The daughter of divorced parents, Elizabeth is becoming reacquainted with her father, who has recently returned to Australia and wants to make up for all the time with her he's missed and this consists primarily of dragging her to expensive restaurants. Her life is further complicated by her best friend, Celia Buckley, who careens from one escapade to the next, confident someone else will bail her out. An English assignment lands Elizabeth a pen pal from a neighboring school, and she is becoming a serious long-distance runner, but Celia (and boys, of course) are serious distractions. Holding her own despite internal doubts, Elizabeth navigates the murky waters of adolescence essentially alone. Her mother is a parody of a contemporary career woman: emotionally dependent and immersed in her job at an ad agency, she leaves dizzy notes (many of which are no more than thinly veiled pleas for help with ad campaigns) around the house for Elizabeth, who is left to cook, clean and look after herself. (Amazon)

Using letters to tell this story was a great idea. However, there is something about the author's voice that doesn't mix with mine. I have read two books by this author in less than three weeks and I am always so happy when I finish reading them. Who Knows? I won't be reading anything by this author anytime soon.

Eclipse

Eclipse by Richard North Patterson

On the eve of getting a divorce, Damon Pierce, a 40-year-old partner in a huge San Francisco, Calif., law firm, who specializes in international litigation, e-mails Marissa Brand, a woman he was once in love with in college, to update her on his life. Marissa is married to Bobby Okari, a firebrand reformer whose Nigeria-like country, Luandia, is awash in oil. With these riches come the usual scenarios: ecological disasters, a brutal dictator with murderous henchmen, a rapacious foreign oil company and an oppressed populace. After everyone in Okari's village is slaughtered, Bobby is arrested for the lynching of three oil workers. Damon, because he's a good man and because he's still in love with Marissa, signs on to defend Bobby from the bogus charge. (Amazon)

I love Richard North Patterson. I have read several of his books and have recommended them to my friends. This book was a disappointment. I felt that it took forever to get into the story and then I had a hard time following all the characters and the plot 's twist and turns. I know this book will be for some people but not for me.

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice by Julie Garwood

Sophie Rose, a tough and determined newspaper reporter, is the daughter of Bobby Rose, a suave, charming, and handsome gentleman who also happens to be a notorious big-time thief sought by every law-enforcement agency in the country. When the major Chicago daily where she works insists she write an exposé about her roguish father, Sophie refuses, quits her job, and goes to work at a small newspaper. Far from her onetime high-powered crime beat, she now covers local personalities such as the quirky winner of several area 5K runs whose trademark is goofy red socks.

Those red socks–with Sophie’s business card neatly tucked inside–are practically all that’s found after runner William Harrington is killed near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, seemingly the victim of a brutal death by polar bear. The Alaska cops want to know why Harrington carried Sophie’s card. With an unerring nose for a good story, she heads north.What Sophie doesn’t realize is that on her journey from Chicago to Prudhoe Bay, danger follows in her wake. After one attempt on her life, she’s been assigned brash but sexy Jack MacAlister as a bodyguard by the cautious FBI.

Amid great peril and deadly intrigue in the unforgiving Alaskan terrain, she and Jack form an uneasy alliance sparked with sensual attraction. But they will soon be fighting more than their growing passion for each other. Powerful forces will stop at nothing to prevent the exposure of the sinister conspiracy Sophie and Jack are about to uncover. (Amazon)

This was a nice romantic suspense novel. which I enjoued a great deal.

House Party

House Party by Eric Walter


Casey’s parents are going out of town to close on their old home. Casey is suppose to be spending the night with her best friend, Jennifer. Instead Jennifer lies to her mother and encourages Casey to have a few friends over to her house for a party on the night her parents are gone. Casey is hesitant but goes ahead with the plan.

The girls plan is to invite 15 people to the party. But as the day progresses, they are worried that not all invited guests will attend, so they bump the guest list up to 25. What difference is ten people? The night before the party, the girls aren’t hearing the buzz from the internet about the party that they think they should. So to not be embarrassed with having no one show up, the girls invite more people. Do you see where this is going?

Jennifer gets the idea that a party isn’t a party without spiked punch. She decides to pour a little gin, a little vodka and a little whiskey in the punchbowl. “No one will get drunk, we didn’t put that much in the punchbowl.”

As all teenage parties go, there were more teenagers than there was room and more booze than there was punch. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

The Darwin Expedition

The Darwin Expedition by Diane Tullson


Liam and Tej are in a car accident on a deserted forestry road on their way to spend some time snow boarding. Being the brave teenage boys that they are, they decide to walk out of the woods to civilization. Along the way, the boys spot some bear scat and begin to worry about a bear following them.

The boys are correct and they tangle with a bear, more than once. They also share the experience of Darwin’s theory, Survival of the Fittest. As the boys realize they don’t have a clue as to where they are located, one boy takes charge and realizes his potential as a leader.

This book was just okay for me. Teenagers might enjoy it more than I did.

Chains

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

As the revolutionary war begins 13 year old Isabel ( Sal ) wages her own war for her freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of her owner, she and her sister , become the property of a vindictive New York couple who have no sympathy for the American colonies and for the two young slaves. When Isabel meets, Curzon, a slave with ties to the colonies, he encourages her to spy on her owners who know the details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.

This is the first book in a planned three book series. I enjoy reading the stories of Laurie Halse Anderson. she tells wonderful stories with characters that readers fall in love with and cherish for years to come. The difficulty I had with this book was its targeted audience which was designated for ages 9-12. This book was tough to read and I thought the audience should have been for those students who were a little older.

The Truth about Forever

The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen

Macy, 16, witnessed her father's death, but has never figured out how to mourn. Instead, she stays in control–good grades, perfect boyfriend, always neat and tidy–and tries to fake her way to normal. Then she gets a job at Wish Catering. It is run by pregnant, forgetful Delia and staffed by her nephews, Bert and Wes, and her neighbors Kristy and Monica. "Wish" was named for Delia's late sister, the boys' mother. Working and eventually hanging out with her new friends, Macy sees what it's like to live an unprescripted lifestyle, from dealing with kitchen fires to sneaking out at night, and slowly realizes it's not so bad to be human. Wes and Macy play an ongoing game of Truth and share everything from gross-outs to what it feels like to watch someone you love die. They fall in love by talking, even through they are not aware of it.

This is the second or third book I have read by Sarah Dessen and I love her.. She tells great stories and her characters are to die for. Wes and Macy are welding their lives together without even knowing it. Teenage girls will love this book.

Dramarama

Dramarama by E. Lockhart

She was just big boned, big nose Sarah, living in small town Ohio. Then she meets, Demi, who is trying to be invisible-easy considering he is black and gay. Alone, they are brought together by their love of musical theater. The renamed Sayde and Demi make their way to a summer theater camp and that's where things change. Encouraged to become part of the ensemble, Sayde finds she is too opinionated to do that, even as it turns out that she is less talented than she believed. At the same time, Demi is discovering that he's a star who can hang out with actual boyfriends rather than Sayde.

Sayde makes a sacrifice for her friend and their lives will never be the same again. Reading this book was okay, but I was still disappointed in the book.

The Murder of Bindy MacKenize

The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty

Brilliant, precocious Bindy (who wrote in her diary at age 10, "I've been struggling a bit with Ulysses by James Joyce") is frustrated when her gestures of kindness toward fellow students go unappreciated. Her aggressive resistance to a new required course, Friendship and Development, sharply alienates a group of her fellow classmates, whom she nicknames the Venomous Six. But as she gradually gains self-awareness, it's these students, along with a dreamy transfer student, Finnegan, who embrace, support, and even save her. (Amazon)

It took me forever to write this book. I just could not get into it. I have two more to read by this author and then we will never cross paths again.