Esther's Ever After

" THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end. In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well. As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together. An extraordinary adventure f...

Gone Too Far Natalie D. Richards Release date: January 6th 2015 Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Keeping secrets ruined her life. But the truth might just kill her. Piper Woods can't wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She's sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone's sure it's suicide, but Piper remembers Stella's name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse. Drowning in secrets she doesn't want to keep, Piper's fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished... Gone Too Far is a really good book. I found it to be thrilling and a real page turner. Piper Woods was a very compelling characte...

I checked out "Almost Perfect" by Brian Katcher almost by accident last week. I saw the book sitting on a cart and thought hmmmm this looks interesting. And it was interesting to say the least. My initial reaction after finishing the book was WOW! It was really amazing and very intense relationship wise. Here's a little tidbit to get you interested in this book. Logan is bummed that his girlfriend of three years cheated on him until he meets a new girl at school. Sage is fun, zany, and cute, but she has a very big secret. Sage finally tells Logan her secret, which is... that she is transgender, a boy transitioning to a girl. It may tear apart their budding romance, but it also may tear apart their true friendship forever unless Logan can overcome his guilt and fear. This is a really good book to read, but has a kind of sad ending. I won't give it away to you because I want you to read it for yourself! Go to your library and check out "Almost Perfect...

What We Saw At Night by Jacqueline Mitchard They sleep during the day, avoiding their greatest enemy: sunlight. When the sun sets and darkness falls, they hit the town. The nighttime world belongs to them. They are Children of Darkness. No, this isn't another young adult novel featuring pointy toothed, blood-sucking teen vampires. Jacquelyn Mitchard's novel What We Saw at Night is about a group of teenagers who suffer from the real world genetic disorder Xeroderma Pigmentosum. XP is a fatal allergy to sunlight. Allie Kim, along with her best friends Rob and Juliet, live in a parallel universe compared to "daytimers," the name they've given to people who don't suffer from XP. Allie wakes up when most people are getting home from school or work. She eats dinner as her breakfast and does her school work from home in the wee hours. And she's in bed by sunrise. Of course, suffering from XP doesn't mean that Allie and her friends don't go through the sam...

The Magician’s Apprentice by Kate Banks Sixteen-year-old Baz, holds a realistic mix of fear and bravery, as he accepts an unknown visitor’s invitation to leave his village and become a weaver’s apprentice. However, the abusive weaving master to whom he is delivered trades Baz for a sword to a wandering magician, Tadis, who dispenses magic and wisdom with equal alacrity. “ ‘Intention does not come from the mind, though the mind thinks it does. Intention comes from here.’ Tadis pointed to his heart.” Traveling with Tadis and his cart of tricks, Baz embarks on a long physical and spiritual journey to find his true destiny. Set in an unnamed Middle Eastern land and filled with vivid descriptions of earthquakes and sandstorms, as well as physical discomforts and homesickness, the book gently traces Baz’s growing understanding of the universal truths Tadis imparts. Sís’s distinctive, diminutive line drawings appear throughout as spot illustrations, perfectly complementing the understated yet...

Here's the 8th book I've read from the YALSA teens top choice list! So far this one is my favorite!! It's Legend by Marie Lu. In this story we meet Day who is a renegade teenager with striking white blonde hair and good looks. He is smart and sly and has a very good heart. He has to hide in the shadows because he lives in a world where most people are poor and a terrible plague has taken over California. Day will stop at nothing to protect his family. He would give up his own life for his loved ones. He is also loyal to his friends to the end. He looks for for a young girl named Tess who has taken under his wing. We also meet June Iparis who is a strong and smart military girl. She works for the Republic which is basically the government that rules the United States. June loves her older brother Metias and doesn't realize until it's too late that she (and everyone else) is being duped by the Republic. When a terrible tragedy happens, June's vision is clouded an...

I just finished reading "A Confusion of Princes" by Garth Nix, which is on the Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) list for 2012. I have to say I am a long time fan of Garth Nix. I read the entire "Abhorsen" series and love Sabriel to death (LOL! I hear there is a movie in the making - Woohoo!) but this new book is pretty darn hot too!! It's definitely a guys kind of read and it is also definitely majorly sci-fi. Here's a little review for ya'all :) "A Confusion of Princes" is a Sci-fi novel complete with space travel, adventurous hijinks, a dash of romance and an attempt at exploration of what it means to be human. Khemri is an enhanced human being, a Prince of the Empire, expected to do great things once he leaves the secluded temple where he has grown up. He has these strange priests that run every aspect of his life for him. He has trained to do battle but has never really even known the real company of another real person. Until he is ...

The fourth book that I have read from the YALSA Teens' Top Ten nominees is "The Scorpio Races" by Maggie Stiefvater. Here's my little review of it - Every November in Thisby there is a tradition called the Scorpio Races, a dangerous and sometimes de adly race where riders attempt to keep their evil, blood-thirsty water horses under control long enough to make it to the finish line. With four wins to his name, 19 year-old Sean Kendrick is sure to win on his bosses water horse named Corr. However, enter Puck aka Kate Connolly, who is desperate to win the race to save her family home. Not only is she the first girl to ever enter the race, but she intends to ride her own horse Dove, who is not an evil water horse. Things heat up in this epic tale of mythical creatures versus humans as Puck and Sean get to know each other and find a common bond. The Scorpio Races is beautifully written by Stiefvater. Told from the point of view of Sean and Puck in alternating chapters, t...

The third book I have read on the YALSA Top Ten Nominees is "What Happened to Goodbye" by Sarah Dessen. I have been a long time fan of Ms. Dessen because I love Realistic Fiction. She writes with such passion and lets the reader dive right into the main characters life and problems. Hope you will read this one because it is very good! What Happened to Goodybye by Sarah Dessen (2011) McLean's parents are divorced and she is struggling to adapt to a life without her parents together. She goes with her dad each times he moves from town to town because he works a restaurant consultant. Each time she moves she changes her name and her persona, sometimes she a sweet prep girl, or a cheerleader or sometimes even a wanna be bad girl. However this new town she has just landed in has managed to reach out and grab her like no other town has before. This time she just might be able to work on becoming the real McLean and also figure out just where she belongs. As she learns more abo...

I just finished reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky! This was my second time reading this book and I have to say it was just as good if not better than the first time. This storyteller Charlie is such a sweetie th at you can't help but love him. He tells the story of his first year in high school and how he meets friends and tries new things. He also writes to a person that he calls "Dear Friend" and we never really know who this person is, but in the end I felt like I was the friend that Charlie was writing to. Charlie has so many sad things to tell and also many interesting stories that the book is extremely readable for teens. I'm sure many teens could relate with Charlie's story. Even though it is over 20 years old the "Perks of a Wallflower" is an age old story. I wanted to re-read the book before the movie comes out on September 21st 2012!

I am a huge fan of Michael Grant! I think the Gone series was so mesmerizing and I am thrilled to be hooked on another series by Grant. Here's what is going on in BZRK! These are no ordinary soldiers. This is no ordinary war. Welcome to the nano, where the only battle is for sanity. Losing is not an option when a world of madness is at stake. Time is running out for the good guys. But what happens when you don't know who the good guys really are? Noah and Sadie: newly initiated to an underground cell so covert that they don't even know each other's names. Here they will learn what it means to fight on a nano level. Soon they will become the deadliest warriors the world has ever seen. Vincent: feels nothing, cares for no one; fighting his own personal battle with Bug Man, the greatest nano warrior alive. The Armstrong Twins: wealthy, privileged, and fanatical. Are they the saviours of mankind or authors of the darkest conspiracy the world has ever seen? The nano is ...

Perception a Clarity Novel was a great book to read on a Sunday when I was trying to relax! It began interesting and continued to keep me interested through the whole story. I actually read this book in a few hours because I wanted to know what happened to Clare. The story of Clare and her family did remind me a little bit of the Lilydale series, but all in all it was a great book. I like the way that Harrington writes - well developed characters and descriptions that helped to understand their personalities and looks. I highly recommend this book to those that love mysteries with supernatural qualities! Here's a review of the book - Happy Reading to you all!! PERCEPTION (Clarity #2)Scholastic/Point, March 1, 2012, Age 14+ When you can see things others can't, what do you do when someone's watching you? Everybody knows about Clarity "Clare" Fern. She's the psychic girl in school, the one who can place her hands on something and see hidden visio...

I just happened to pick up the book Harmless by Dana Reinhardt the other day and I am sure glad I did. The book is filled with the drama of high school woes and plays upon the idea of what is right and wrong and how far one can go to tweak the truth and get away with it. It is a fairly fast read and a real page turner. The one thing I keep thinking of after reading "Harmless" is don't ever lie because if you weave a web a lies it might get so big you can't find your way out of it. Harmless by Dana Reinhardt (2008) Ninth grade friends Emma, Anna, and Mariah are at a party with older high school boys when they should be at the movies like they told their parents. When Emma's mother calls her cell they freak out and decide to make up a story so they won't get in trouble at home. It seems like the easy way out. What happens next challenges their friendship, their community, their relationships with their families, and their sense of themselves. Told in the vo...

I've been reading a lot over the last month and I am very excited to say that I have now read all four books in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Sadly, I will now have to wait until May 2012 for the next book to come out. The first book in the series, The City of Bones was actually recommended to me by one of my teens in the library that reads about as much YA as I do. I really like this series because it offers several different elements from supernatural, magic, mysticism, and the immortal realm. I would recommend this series to guys and girls because there are strong male and female characters in the books. One of my favorite characters is Jace Wayland who is one of the most dynamic male characters I have seen in a long time. Jace makes me want to keep reading because I want to know what he is going to do next. He is so enchanting and he just doesn't care what happens so he takes chances and goes in fighting like a dynamo. I love that about him. Here...