This blog is a place for students and staff to discuss the books they are reading.  A discussion takes more than one person, so please comment on each others posts.

To begin with, I will post book reviews or questions about books for everyone.  All you need to do is email me with your review/questions and I will add them to the blog.  You can add your own comments of course.

Everyone knows the unwritten rule: you don’t like your best friend’s boyfriend. Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He’s easy to talk to, super smart, and totally gets her. Lately it even seems like he’s paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except to two tiny details: Ryan is Brianna’s boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah’s best friend.

Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants to do is hurt her best friend. But when she is thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens between them. It’s wonderful and awful. Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can’t shop herself from wanting more.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very happy at times but also very sad to have to see her love with someone knowing she can’t be with him. I did get very annoyed with the best friend throughout the book. Altogether this book was amazing, just like all of Elizabeth Scott’s books. I would recommend these books to anyone.

(reviewed by Jordan C.)

I read Delcroix Academy by Inara Scott.  Here is a summary of the book.  Dancia Lewis has a secret: whenever she sees a person threaten someone she cares about, things “happen.” Dancia does all she can to stay under the radar, but when recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix Academy offer her a scholarship, she reluctantly accepts.

This book was great.  It was action packed, had a touch of romance, and supernatural.  This book appealed to me because I like supernatural books.  I just wish there was a tad bit more romance.  That was the only suggestion I had.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

(reviewed by Caroline L.)

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn’t know much about her background – the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip – but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town – from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend’s hidden talent for “feeling” out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel . . . . different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya’s biological parents and it’s easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.

Opinion: Overall I thought this was an amazing book. I love how she included teen romance and blended it with the action. I was very impressed with her ability to pull the reader’s interest at the very beginning and manage to hold it throughout the novel. Once I picked this book up, it was nearly impossible to set it down. I loved it.

Reviewed by:  Hannah C.

Dylan Dawson is on the run with his friend, Wade, and Baby Face, his dog.  Traveling in his Mustang, Dylan makes his way to Texas so he can see his father, who is on death row.  He tells us his story, from the first time he met Jess to the present, between us seeing what is currently happening.  He fell in love with Jess the first time he saw her, when he was only twelve years old.  Now, years later, she is back in his life.  Too bad Wade screwed things up.  But how could Dylan stay mad at Wade when Wade had saved his life in juvie.  Still, he was keeping down a job, granted it was at a garage, but it was a decent job, and he had made a connection with Jess.

Now he finds himself in Quincy, Texas asking his grandmother, Levida, to help him talk to his father.  All he has to remember Jess by is the note she wrote, problem is he can’t read it.  It isn’t that he can’t read at all, the letters just jump all over the page and it’s hard to concentrate.  The fact that his father is about to die and Eight Ball will be coming after him with vengeance certainly doesn’t help matters.  When Dylan starts digging around for answers about the crime that put his father on death row what he finds might not be what he was looking for.

Although this book was good, it was not what I expected.  The love story between Dylan and Jess was the underlying plot of Take Me There.  The book was mainly about Dylan’s family and what they went through.  You learn that justice is always served; just sometimes not to the person you think deserves it.

Reviewed by: Kristen P.

This book looks into the past of Professor Lenobia, the school’s horse mistress.  Before Lenobia had undergone the Change, she was just another sixteen-year-old girl.  Although a beautiful and bright girl, she will always be seen as the illegitimate child of a French baron.
When her half-sister, Cecile, dies just before her scheduled voyage to America to marry a rich, French man in New Orleans, Lenobia’s mother sends her in Cecile’s place. Knowing her mother only did this to give her a better life, Lenobia boards the ship with the other girls.
While on the ship, Lenobia has to remain hidden from the evil bishop, who not only can identify her, but looks at her in a ravenously dark way. On the voyage, Lenobia befriends two Percheron horses, in the below deck stables, and their owner/caretaker. The young man, Martin, and Lenobia grow feelings for each other, but the bishop feels that if he cannot have her, then no one can.

It is upon arriving in New Orleans that Lenobia is Marked by a female vampyre, and after some exciting, but devastating events, leaves with her on a ship to a House of Night. On her way to the ship, Lenobia makes the vow that you hear about in Destined.

I really enjoyed this book. After reading Destined, the ninth installment of the House of Night series, I was curious as to the references made about Lenobia’s past.
Lenobia’s Vow both answers many questions and is a thrilling story by itself.

(reviewed by Kristen P.)

Eagan was the best figure-skater in her class. She won all kinds of competitions and awards, but during one of her competitions she makes one tiny mistake that causes her to lose her life. Leaving behind many things including her strained relationship with her overbearing mother, she is left in her own version of heaven to reflect on her memories through her still-beating heart. Amelia has been waiting on a heart for six years. When she finally receives the call that informs her that she will be getting a new heart, she feels guilty that someone else had to die in order for her to be able to live. But when Amelia starts showing new traits and characteristics, she begins to wonder if her heart donor is trying to tell her something.

I really loved this book, it was amazing. I loved the way you are able to go from Eagan to Amelia from chapter to chapter telling of each of their stories and all that they have had to go through in their short lives. I would recommend this book to everyone.

(Reviewed by Jordan C.)

Sixteen-year-old Laurel’s world changes instantly when her parents and brother are killed in a terrible car accident. Behind the wheel is the father of her bad-boy neighbor, David Kaufman, whose mother is also killed. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Laurel navigates a new reality in which she and her best friend grow apart, boys may or may not be approaching her out of pity, overpowering memories lurk everywhere, and Mr. Kaufman is comatose but still very much alive. Through it all there is David, who swoops in and out of Laurel’s life and to whom she finds herself attracted to against her better judgment. She will forever be connected to him by their mutual loss- a connection that will change them both in unexpected ways.

I really enjoyed this book. There are so many parts where you just feel like crying and others where you want to burst out laughing. I love that in this book because you can really understand everything that she feels about what has happened and all the different ways she has to find just be able to cope with what has happened to her. Even though what has happened to her is tragic, it is such a wonderful book and would recommend it to anyone.

(Reviewed by Jordan C.)

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky – taken by the Society to his certain death – only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia’s quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander – who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia’s heart – change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

I thought that Crossed was a good book but not as good as I expected it to be sadly. I felt that Ky and Cassia’s adventure should have taken them farther than it did and been a little more exciting than it was. I also thought that the book had way more death in it than it needed so at some points in the book just felt down right depressed because of all the unnecessary death.

I can’t describe how upset I was that Cassia would choose to go where Ky didn’t want to when in the end she just got sent right back to the same place they were running from. Even though it wasn’t as good as I had hoped I still can’t wait to read the next installment in the Matched series and kudos to Mrs.Condie for keeping me mesmerized by the story even though I was thoroughly upset with it.

(reviewed by Kaylynn O.)

Sixteen-year-old Aden Stone has had a heck of a week. He’s been:
Tortured by angry witches. Hypnotized by a vengeful fairy. Spied on by the most powerful vampire in existence. And, oh, yeah, killed—twice.
His vampire girlfriend might have brought him back to life, but he’s never felt more out of control. There’s a darkness within him, something taking over…changing him. Worse, because he was meant to die, death now stalks him at every turn. Any day could be his last.
Once upon a time, the three souls trapped inside his head could have helped him. He could have protected himself. But as the darkness grows stronger, the souls grow weaker—just like his girlfriend. The more vampire Aden becomes, the more human Victoria becomes, until everything they know and love is threatened.
Life couldn’t get any worse. Could it?
Wow, I don’t really know what to say about this book other than I love it. I liked the first two books but this installment in the Intertwined series really blew my mind with all the unexpected twists and turns. I really like how Mrs. Showalter put things in her book that I have never read in any other book such as Victoria turning into a human and Aden turning into a vampire and Riley losing his wolf. The ending shocked me most of all though. I am very anxious to see how the next book is going to turn out since Aden and the souls’ adventure is starting all over again. I don’t think I could give Mrs. Showalter any more praise than I am now for such a marvelous book.

(reviewed by Kaylynn O.)

The March sisters Scarlett and Rosie have been hunting Fenris together ever since the accident that left Scarlett with one eye. But now things are different. Scarlett has always been obsessed with the hunt but now Rosie’s not so sure it’s her calling like it is with Scarlett. And now that Scarlett’s partner and their long time friend Silas has returned, Rosie is having all these new and weird feelings around him. With more wolves showing up in Ellison the hunt is more important than ever. But can 3 kids take on 4 packs of wolves on their own without getting themselves killed?

I really enjoyed this book. At first I thought it would be a modern day red riding hood and it turns out it sort of is. Only in reverse, with Scarlett and Rosie hunting and killing the wolves instead of being the sad scared little victims.

(Reviewed by Jordan C.)