Pasricha, Neil. The Book of Awesome. 2010. 393 p. ISBN 978-0-399-15651-9
Have you ever had a bad day? The Book of Awesome will cheer you up no matter what mood you are in. From “Frozen walls of air conditioning hitting you on hot days” to “The sound of rain from inside the tent” to “Wordless apologies,” you can open this book at random and get a quick warm fuzzy feeling reading about something that simple yet amazingly awesome. Ever walked by a bakery as the baker is taking out the just baked breads? Awesome. Getting the perfect ketchup to fries ratio? Awesome. You don’t have to read this book from cover to cover. Feel free to pick a page here and a page there, and give yourself a smile. Getting an awesome book from the librarian? Awesome!
Singleton, Linda Joy. Dead Girl Walking. 2008. 312 p. ISBN 978-07397-14059. 978-0738714059. Available as an eBook. Ask me for details.
When Amber gets hit by a mail truck immediately after receiving her acceptance letter from her preferred university, and, more importantly, the scholarship that will pay for it, she finds herself in a pleasant surrounding with her grandmother and Cole, her dog. Grandmother tells her she’s happy to see her, but it’s not her time. Amber must go back because she has a lot of life left to live. “Take a left at the tree on your way back,” said Grandmother. Only Amber has never been good with directions, and she takes a right.
Now Amber finds herself in Leah Montgomery’s body. Leah is the queen of the school. She the prettiest, the most liked, and has amazing hair, eyes, and an amazingly skinny yet toned body. Amber quickly discovers that Leah attempted suicide, and that her own body lays in a coma at the hospital. She’s got two days to find a way back, otherwise she’ll be stuck in Leahs’ body forever.
She quickly discovers that Leah’s life is far from being perfect, with an alcoholic mother, a brat of a little brother, and a father whose hands wander too much. Locked in her house without any means of communication, she must find a way out of the Montgomery’s mansion, and let someone know that she’s not really Leah but Amber, and she’s not dead.
This book is a fun look at the interesting premise of switching lives with someone else, except that in this case Amber has no counterpart living in her own body. Can Amber manage to save herself before time is up? Be sure to check out Book 2 of the series, Dead Girl Dancing.
Cashore, Kristin. Graceling. 2008. 471p. ISBN 978-0-15-206396-2. FIC CAS on the library shelves
Katsa has both a curse and a blessing. She has been graced, meaning she possesses a talent so extreme she is the best at what she does. The problem: her grace is that of killing. She is the most feared assassin in the seven kingdom, working for her uncle, King Randa of the Middluns, as enforcer of his law. Hating this role as much as hating being controlled, Katsa creates a secret society dedicated to fighting injustices and for those who are exploited by the kings and their minions throughout the kingdoms.
On a mission to rescue the father of the current Lienid king, she encounters another Graceling, Po, the grandson of the missing man. When they fight, Po is able to predict every move Katsa makes, and she quickly discovers that his grace is being able to read the minds of those around him and anticipate their movements.
Together, they attempt to discover who is behind the kidnapping of his grandfather, and their suspicions quickly fall on the reclusive king of Monsea, Leck. Po warns her that Leck’s grace is being able to influence people through his voice. On their way to Monsea Katsa and Po uncover Leck’s plot and evil designs on his daughter, princess Bitterblue. Will they be able to rescue her from Leck’s evil clutches and will they be able to save the seven kingdoms from domination?
The plot moves along quickly and the characters are well-defined. There is suspense at every page, and the romance growing between Katsa and Po is nicely balanced with the actions that take place on the battlefield.
Rossi, Veronica. Under the Never Sky. 2012, 400p. ISBN 978-0062072047. FIC ROS on the library shelves.
Aria and her friends live in Reverie, a domed city where they spend most of their times in an alternate reality. Everything is grey and tastes the same, all the more to encourage people to live their lives online, where everything is impossibly perfect.
When her mother goes missing in another domed city, however, Aria finds herself asking questions. Searching for information, she ends up a participant in a fire in one of Reverie’s rundown sections, where she briefly encounters an outsider, a savage from the uncivilized lands.
Aria is shipped to her mother, but instead of arriving the guards drop her off in the wastelands outside the dome. Her survival is at risk.
Perry is the brother of the Tides Clan’s chieftain, and he often comes to raid the domes, where the dwellers live. And this time he made it inside, and saved Aria from the fires. On his way back to his village his nephew is kidnapped by armed dwellers, and, banished from his tribe by his brother, he heads back to Reverie to find him. That’s when he encounters Aria in the middle of the wastelands.
When two different worlds collide, the results are not pretty. Both of them will need each other to survive this trip and fulfill their respective quests. But will they get along fast enough?
Johansson, J.R. Insomnia: Book 1 of the Night Walkers. 2013. 347 p. ISBN 978-0-7387-3593-1. Available at FIC JOH on the library shelves.
What if you could experience other people’s dreams, their memories, their terrors and their fantasies? High school senior Parker Chipp has this strange ability, but it is literally killing him. He can’t help spending his nights visiting the dreams of the last person he made eye contact with. Unfortunately it means he can’t have his own dreams, and the lack of sleep is slowly sapping his life. When he meets Mia everything changes. Her dreams are so peaceful he can actually sleep in them, and he begins to feel better physically.
Unfortunately, Mia soon begins to hate him since he’s always trying to make eye contact with her at the end of school, and events begin to spiral out of control. Parker feels that he is losing himself, and making eye contact with Mia becomes an obsession. Dark and violent thoughts lurk around him, and events soon overtake him. Will Parker find a way to control his dreams before they kill him?
As the first book of a new series, Insomnia sets the stage for continuous action and suspense. The main characters are well defined and fully fleshed out. Parker’s inner thoughts and his battles with his own demons, as well as outside forces, are vivid and add to the story. Plot twists abound, and when Parker thinks it couldn’t get worse, he invariably finds he is wrong. Will Parker solve his problems before the lack of sleep kills him?
Singleton, Linda Joy. Dead Girl Dancing. 2009, 264 p. ISBN 978-0738714066.
In Dead Girl Walking, Amber found out her grandmother ran the Temp Lifer program, where the souls of those desperately needing rest were replaced by temporary souls to ease their suffering and continue to live their lives. After being hit by a postal truck, Amber had entered Leah’s body and live her life for a while following Leah’s suicide attempt. When she was finally able to go home, she told her grandmother that she would be willing to help out again.
She didn’t plan on her grandmother making use of her services right away. Instead of returning to her unconscious body in the hospital, Amber ends up in Sharayah Rockingham’s. Problem number one? Rayah is Eli’s sister. Eli is Amber’s boyfriend. Awkward. Problem number 2? Rayah is in college, and when Amber gains control of the body she finds herself drunk, with a pounding headache, and $1,000 in her purse. Problem number 3? She has no idea what Rayah’s problem is, or what she needs to do to solve it. Problem number 4? She and Rayah’s friends are heading to Venice Beach for a week of Spring Break, and Amber can barely get a call to Eli before they’re off.
With a stalker lurking in the background and with Eli upset that his girlfriend is now in his sister’s body, how will Amber manage to solve Rayah’s issues before it becomes too dangerous for her grandmother to allow her to complete her mission?
