Slice of Cherry

Reader: Elise S
Age: 15
Title: Slice of Cherry
Author: Dia Reeves
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pub Date: 01/04/2011
Galley: Yes
Annotation: Kit and Fancy Cordelle are descended from a line of witches, summoners, and serial killers. As hormones and murderous tendencies grow, are they strong enough to let each other go?
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: This book is not for everybody by any means. You need a strong stomach, the ability to look past details for what's really going on (heads twisting off, the fact that the sisters are very often covered in blood and gore, etc.), and an appreciation for the psycho aspect of them. But if one has these things, Slice of Cherry becomes an interestingly twisted coming of age story. There's magic, mystery, family, life and death (more of the death, but whatever), and love. Fans of Tim Burton will find a good read here. Just don't eat after a meal.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: This is the most twisted coming of age story I have ever read. Fancy and Kit's characters are so different from anybody I have ever read about, and still very real and interesting. I loved the juxtaposition of Fancy's obsession with the past, and little kid stuff, and then her creative killing, which is sort of an extension of that. The most interesting relationship to watch was between the sisters. Their coming to terms with their differences, it was so different, but still made sense given their situation. Dia Reeves takes a really good look at what limitless power does to people, and comes up with an elegantly twisted story.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book: One of the things Dia Reeves could work on in this book is pacing. She spends a ton of time on the killing over and over, when she could cut some of it out and go straight to the conflict between the sisters and the boys, and the bit with Madda. In the long beginning, things were just weird enough that it kept me reading, but the plot only heated up in the last section. I also questioned the town's reaction to the newfound vigilantes, it seems like there would be more fear than happiness.
Cover: This is one of the coolest covers I've ever seen! The pastel teacups perfectly represent Fancy, with the blood giving it that edge that it needs. Then add the Corpse Bride font on top of that, and it's a Tim Burton-esque masterpiece! The image is very striking, and is great for the plot and whole book. The problem with the annotation, though, is that it doesn't put enough emphasis on the supernatural aspect of the book. I went into this thinking it was going to be realistic fiction, and the sudden appearances of dead rising, fantasy creatures, and other worlds threw me off.
Age Range: 14-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

At First Sight

Reader: Kelly S
Age: 18
Title: At First Sight
Author: Catherine Hapka
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pub Date: 2010
Galley: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: It was a fun light read. You won’t be smarter after reading it but you also won’t be worse off. I think it is a good book for a relaxing day.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I just like when she meets the boy and he thinks it isn't her. I like the chase.
Comments: I do think this is a girls only book and that should be shown in the back cover description.
Cover: I knew from the cover that the book was going to be a fun easy read. It did reflect the content of the book.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: 12-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Hard to Get

Reader: Kelly S
Age: 18
Title: Hard to Get
Author: Emma Carlson Berne
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pub Date: 2010
Galley: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: It is a book for a lazy day. You're tired and you have had a lot going on all you want to do is sit down and relax. This is the perfect feel good book.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The chase between the boy and girl.
Comments: This book should be marketed as a girls only book.
Cover: The cover made the book look easy and fun. It did reflect the content of the book.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: 12-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Playing Hurt

Reader: Kelly S
Age: 18
Title: Playing Hurt
Author: Holly Schindler
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd
Pub Date: 03/11
Galley: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: This is a good book for boys and girls. It is very good for people in relationships or wanting to be in one. The best way to learn is through experience so if you cant learn through your own quite yet why not learn from someone else's.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I loved that they went to Minnesota!! :)
Comments: Great book!!
Cover: I think the cover should be changed. It did not make me want to read the book because it looked like two girls and it really didn’t have anything to do with the book content.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: 16 to 18 up
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Anna and the French Kiss

Reader: Kelly S
Age: 18
Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pub Date: 12/2010
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: This is one of the best books I have ever read. The author has an incredible knack for writing and makes me feel as though I am each character in the book. I go through there happy times and the struggles. It made me a better person to read this book because it talked a lot about friendship and doing what you love.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I loved when he climbed the stairs to see her even though he is afraid of heights.
Comments: FABULOUS!
Did you finish: Yes
Cover: The cover made me want to pick up the book and try it and reading the back sucked me in. I think the cover is great!
Age Range: 14 to 18 up
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 5P Everyone wants to read it

Invincible Summer

Reader: Emily
Age: 16
Title: Invincible Summer
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pub Date: 04/19/2011
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: Invincible Summer is about a normal teenage boy experiencing what it means to grow up while dealing with a deaf younger brother and parents who want a divorce. Told from Chase's perspective, from age 15 to age 18, it is an emotional story about Chase's obsession with a childhood friend and his realization that there is much more to life than lust.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The most compelling aspect about this book is Gideon's (Chase's younger brother) lack of hearing. A majority of the book is centered around learning to incorporate ASL into the family life and learning a new way to work together. Invincible Summer is both captivating and difficult. The book does not have a happy ending, but it has hope, which in some ways, makes the book even more thought-provoking.
Comments: Invincible Summer an extremely realistic book from a very unique perspective. Being told from four summers allowed the character to develop more and as each year was centered around Chase's birthday, it created a very strong focal point. The character of Melinda should have been better explained. The fact that she was raped is elusive to the reader, something that should be addressed in more detail. Gideon's death should have been more pronounced also. A deeper impact would have been better due to his previous influence on the family.
Cover: Interesting cover, certainly very sexual. As a girl, I was at first reluctant to read it because of the almost naked body; reading the book changed that. The cover accurately represents the sexual awakening in the book and the alluring effect of Melinda.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: 12-17
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

The Naughty List

Reader: Kelly S
Age: 18
Title: The Naughty List
Author: Suzanne Young
Publisher: Penguin Group
Pub Date: 02/2010
Galley: Yes
Nominated for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: I think it would be hard to find a book out there like this one. I really enjoyed reading it and I think I am a better person for having read it. It was funny and silly and intriguing.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I loved that they were like secret agents.
Comments: LOVE IT!
Cover: The cover made me want to read the book, I did not even look at the back. It accurately reflected the content of the book.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: 16 to 18 up
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 5P Everyone wants to read it

It's Not You, It's Me

Reader: Kelly S
Age: 18
Title: It's Not You, It's Me
Author: Kerry Cohen Hoffman
Publisher: Random House
Pub Date: 06/9/2009
Galley: Yes
Recommend: No
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: It was boring and I never really got into it or felt anything for the characters.
Cover: It turned me off a little. It looks like a little kids’ book.
Age Range: Under 12 to 13
Quality: 2Q Needs more work

Jump

Reader: Guananí
Age: 15
Title: Jump
Author: Elisa Carbone
Publisher: Penguin
Pub Date: 5/13/10
Galley: No
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: It's a rock climbing romance! This concept in itself is quite original and intriguing by itself, and even for not-romance type readers (like me!) it's still interesting because of the character development and adventure aspect.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The way that the author describes the rock climbing experience and passion the characters have for it shows very clearly that she's a rock lover herself, and makes it very compelling. The descriptions of the thrill of climbing and beauty of the landscapes were so vividly described, they made me want to go to Yosemite right away. One of the main characters, Critter, also had some very intriguing psychological, near death experience thought manifestation things going on as well, which was my favorite part of the book and what really got me hooked into the suspense.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: The only disappointment in this book for me was the constant switching of perspectives. I never got enough time with one character to really enjoy their thought process. The every paragraph or sentence switching during the action parts did highten the suspense, but was also a little annoying. I would also have enjoyed more of Critter's philosophy and N.D.E weirdness towards the end of the story as well, because as the romance got more serious it sort of fizzled out. I also don't think Jump is the best title, since even though they did jump a couple times it wasn't as important as other parts of the book.
Comments: This is an exciting, original romance with very intriguing adventure and character development aspects that really kept the pages flipping. I would especially recommend it as a good weekend or road trip read.
Cover: This cover is very clever and appealing. The way the title is written vertically shows the suspense and vertical aspect of the novel, which is about rock climbing and being fugitives. The balance of the two climbers is very nicely done and are close enough to the description of the characters, except the girl doesn't have dreadlocks. The heart subtly outlined by the clouds in the background is probably the point of culminating coolness of this cover: it reflects both that this is a romance, and the special significance of clouds in the story. All in all, a phenomenal cover.
Age Range: 14-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Slice of Cherry

Reader: Meghan K
Age: 16
Title: Slice of Cherry
Author: Dia Reeves
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pub Date: 1/2011
Galley: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: Slice of Cherry is the second novel by Dia Reeves to be set in the fictional town of Portero, Texas. This would have been really useful information going in. Nowhere in this book is there any indication that this book is the companion to Dia Reeve's first book, Bleeding Violet. Not having read Bleeding Violet put me in a bad place for reading this. Elements of the setting were casually introduced and never touched on again. I didn't know what to focus on and spent a lot of time being confused by the unexplained details (Why do the Porterones wear silver keys? Why are there monsters? Why does no one react to the aforementioned monsters? Are these types of flowers real?) to pay much attention to the story.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure why. There were a lot of interesting, good ideas, but none of them got enough screen time. The book was unfocused and didn't really have a real plot. I ended up liking the book, but while I was reading, I felt like I was only doing it to see if the author would ever explain anything (she didn't). The author's handling of teenage sex and sexuality felt real, but I didn't care enough about any of the characters involved to really enjoy the book.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: I was kind of disappointed with the book. I was expecting a quasi-realistic story about two girls trying to conceal the evidence of their gruesome extra-curriculars (being serial killers). I was completely blindsided by the fantasy elements of this story, and I felt let down. I wanted a look at the psychological and emotional impact of murder, and at the fragmented mental state that would lead a person to kill, and about the impact that it would have on relationships. The main characters were underdeveloped and lukewarm. I didn't feel that their murderous side was sufficiently developed, and the author spent too much time on their boring love interests. I wanted blood, dammit, and even the murders didn't deliver. The girls did most of their killing in a (really under explained) parallel universe, called the Happy Place. The residents of the Happy Place did most of the dirty work. The murders that the girls did do were glossed over. I am aware that I sound a wee bit sociopathic, but I wanted more blood. This felt like an almost sanitized murder book.
Cover: I adore this cover. It's simple and evocative, and I feel it really captures to mood of the book. Props to whoever designed this.
Age Range: 14 to 18 and up
Quality: 3Q Readable
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal

Imaginary Girls

Reader: Sophie D
Age: 15
Title: Imaginary Girls
Author: Nova Ren Suma
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pub Date: June 2011
Galley: Yes
Annotation: Chloe and Ruby have always been closer than most sisters. Ruby practically raised Chloe, and Chloe knows she would do anything for her. But that's a big commitment, and soon it looks like there are some things Ruby can't protect Chloe from, including Ruby herself.
Recommend: No
Convince us to read the book: There really isn't anything compelling about this book. I don't care about the characters, I don't care about the plot. It is too vague and unexplained, and yet clichéd. I think the author was trying to go for a surreal kind of disturbing fantasy, but it just ended up confusing and pointless. She got the disturbing part though, but not, I think, in the way she intended.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I did find the sister character slightly intriguing. If she was just a spoiled brat who everyone inexplicably loved, that would have made for a much more interesting story. That's the thing: this book could have gone in a totally different direction. It could have easily been about psychology, or coming of age and loss of innocence, but instead it's just a watered down and half baked fantasy story. The other good thing about the book was that it was pretty creepy, especially all the imagery about being dragged underwater. That's the kind of thing that really scares me, so a couple of passages and dream sequences were deliciously creepy when reading them.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: For one thing, the main character has no character. The only way we can find out anything about her is by what she is like compared to her sister. She is totally obsessed with her sister, as in she literally talks about nothing else throughout the entire book. The plot happens in the last thirty pages, and the rest of it is just "My sister thinks this, my sister does this" on and on and on. It gets a bit boring. Then, the author completely lacks subtlety. In the first five pages she starts talking about this imaginary city underneath the reservoir, and then you know exactly where the plot is going. Also, the magical part of it was really badly done. Her sister has some mystical influence over everyone in the town, but it is never explained why or how. She is just able to control people's minds with no explanation. Also, how does she know that Olive actually exists? Why didn't Chloe notice before that her sister was magical? And people cannot adapt to be able to breathe underwater. That's just annoying. There are too many gaping holes in the plot that need to be patched up.
Cover: There is nothing extraordinary about this cover. I do really like the color scheme, with the bright blue sharply contrasting with the white and red. I also like that it is vertical instead of horizontal, it gives the cover a little more character than most. However, this is not a cover that I would normally pick up, or be super attracted to.
Age Range: 14-17
Quality: 2Q Needs more work
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal

Parrotfish

Reader: Sohie D
Age: 15
Title: Parrotfish
Author: Ellen Wittlinger
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pub Date:
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: Grady has shed the name of Angela and become who he is truly meant to be: a boy, not a girl. But his family can't seem to accept the change, and school is becoming torture. Why is it that just one little change can affect everyone's opinion of Grady?
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: This is literally one of the most eye opening books I have ever read. I've thought about gender roles in society before, but never in this particular way or with this much depth. The changes and challenges that Grady goes through are probably experienced by everyone, just some more than others. It's incredible how much his life changes in just a few days, and this seems to be a very accurate account of what transgendered people go through.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: Grady's voice and clear perspective is wonderful. He is consumed in his own problems, yet still is able to sort out family problems and feel guilty about a friend that has completely abandoned him. I also love that the reader is introduced as a boy, yet we still see him as a girl from the eyes if his family who don't want to accept the change. That way, Grady seems very much like a boy for most of the book, yet a lot like a girl at other points.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: I think the characters were slightly flat, and the high school was a little too happy, but that didn't take anything away from the main idea, so it's ok.
Cover: The thing I love about this cover is the changing colors. It ties the whole image of the cover together, from the front to the spine to the back. I'm also that it isn't glaringly obvious with blue and pink, but still illustrates the main point of the novel.
Age Range: 12-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Imaginary Girls

Reader: Sabrina K
Age: 17
Title: Imaginary Girls
Author: Nova Ren Suma
Publisher: Penguin
Pub Date: 6/14/11
Galley: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: This book shows the strong dynamic(s) between sisters. You may believe you know everything about your sister, but what is more powerful is the trust that one another gives without knowing the WHOLE bits and pieces of the other sister. This book wonderfully had this sisterly bond shown in the relationship between Ruby (the oldest sister) and her younger sister Chloe.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: This book makes you question the fine line between reality and dreaming. This was shown by the reappearance/ disappearance of London and then the "death" of Ruby. This "line" of reality and non-reality was shown threw deaths, reappearances, and attitudes of the characters which made the book all more intriguing.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: The ending was cut to the chase. I would have liked more explanation of how Ruby got down to Olive and where she is, or speculated to be. The ending left the book at a flat note, to say the least. It needed to leave the reader questioning where Ruby was, instead it just left the reader confused.
Comments: At times, Ruby's character seemed to contradict herself. One moment she would be all protective to Chloe, the next minute they'd be drinking together. It got me confused in the begging on how the relationship was set up.
Cover: The cover did tempt me to pick up the book, it was intriguing and seemed like the perfect beginning to a summer read! This image was comforting/soothing but and also mind boggling.
Age Range: 16 to 18 up
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

City of Fallen Angels

Reader: Elise S.
Age: 15
Title: City of Fallen Angels
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderberry
Pub Date: 2011
Galley: No
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: The action heats up in this next installation of the Mortal Instruments series with demon possession, age old vampires, secret cults, and relationship drama. Old foes return, an unexpected enemy asserts herself, and Shadowhunter and Downworlder must once again work together to defeat evil.
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: I was very skeptical entering this book. It's a sequel that is following a perfect, adorable ending, and had a high danger of ruining the series by being a cheap money-maker. However, I was quickly enchanted. The characters were consistent and real, the plot was original and fast-paced, and I was surprised over and over. However, I would suggest before reading that you refresh on the last book, because, in the time lapse, some of the finer points are really important.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: Cassandra Clare spins mystery so well, that it sucked me in. Some of the most relateable characters, especially the girls who ignore their protective boyfriends and stand up for themselves against all enemies (and could give Bella a lesson), were back with new issues. Also, all of their actions were explained. Jace had a huge problem with fear of losing Clary, but it was okay, because he had a reason, unlike some sparkly idiots I could name. I was literally left screaming into a pillow by the end, and shaking dust from my grandma's ceiling.
Cover: The main reasons that I like this cover is that, a) it connects to the series and has little stuff you can pick up on from the book, and b) it's shiny. How can you not like shiny things? Like with City of Ash, the Clary moel is decent, and I (as a red head myself) am extremely jealous of the shiny hair. If only. However, the Simon model is far lacking. Simon is supposed to be pale, and NOT THAT BUFF! They got lucky with Clary, because models irritate me. It feels like they're dictating what I should think. If I want that, I'll go to a movie. In the other Mortal Instruments books, at least they didn't show their faces.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: Under 12 to 17
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal