Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

While reading Wintergirls, I had a very intense feeling. A very complex emotion that is difficult to describe. It felt like I was in the shoes of Lia herself. Lia's addiction to restraint from eating was more than an intense plot idea formulated to entrance readers. It was a powerful tool to help readers look into the eyes of a teenager who constantly feels she isn't good enough.

Cassie, Lia's best friend, was the one who got Lia in the mess. The adults in Lia's life tried to get her to distance herself from Cassie, seeing that she was a bad influence. This only drove the teens closer together. It was only after Cassie choked to death on her own vomit after a drinking overdose, that Lia's parents got what they wanted.

Or so they thought.

"I showed her how I'd been making tiny cuts in my skin to let the badness and the pain leak out. They were shallow at first, and short, like claw marks made by a desperate cat that wanted to hide under the front porch. Cutting pain was a different flavor of hurt. It made it easier not to think about having my body and my family and my life stolen, made it easier not to care."

As Cassie 'visited' Lia in her dreams, she drove her, literally, to the brink. To the point where she was willing to kill herself, in any way possible, to get away from Cassie. Which only made her problems worse.

Laurie Halse Anderson does it again with this horrific insider look into the mind of a teenage girl with a disasterous eating disorder.

Hazel by Julie Hearn

Sweet but dull - that's how life has always been for Hazel Louise Mull-Dare. With money pouring in from the family's Caribbean sugar plantation, a father who spoils her rotten, and no pressure to excel in anything whatsoever, her future is looking as prim and proper as one of her hats. But on the day of the Epsom Derby - June 4th, 1913 - everything changes. A woman in a dark coat steps out in front of the King's horse, dying days later from her injuries.

Who was she and why did she do it? Hazel is determined to find out. But finding out leads her into worse trouble than she could ever have imagined. It leads to banishment. To secrets that have festered, and a shame that lingers on. To madness and misunderstanding in the place where sugar cane grows. Sweet but dull - that's how life used to be for Hazel Louise Mull-Dare. Not any more.

Ivy by Julie Hearn

The only beautiful thing in Ivy's drab life is her glorious red hair. At a young age, her locks made her the target of Carroty Kate, a 'skinner'. She recruited Ivy to help her coax wealthy children away from their nannies so that she could strip them of their clothes - clothes worth a fortune in the markets of Petticoat Lane. It is years before Ivy escapes and finds her way back to her in-laws. Once there, she finds respite in laudanum. But before she can settle into a stupor and forget the terrible things she has done, Ivy is spotted by a wealthy pre-Raphaelite painter.

Oscar Fosdick needs a muse (until now he has had to use his domineering mother as a model, something not conducive to producing his best work, he finds). To him, Ivy is perfect, a stunner. Realising quickly that this painter has more money than sense, Ivy's in-laws order her to sit for him, and to do anything else he demands. But not everyone is happy. Oscar's mother is determined to get rid of Ivy. Oscar's famous neighbour is determined to paint her. Carroty Kate is determined to find her, and Ivy herself is determined to escape . . .

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locales as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa.

We first meet Sasha in her mid-thirties, on her therapist’s couch in New York City, confronting her long-standing compulsion to steal. Later, we learn the genesis of her turmoil when we see her as the child of a violent marriage, then as a runaway living in Naples, then as a college student trying to avert the suicidal impulses of her best friend. We plunge into the hidden yearnings and disappointments of her uncle, an art historian stuck in a dead marriage, who travels to Naples to extract Sasha from the city’s demimonde and experiences an epiphany of his own while staring at a sculpture of Orpheus and Eurydice in the Museo Nazionale. We meet Bennie Salazar at the melancholy nadir of his adult life—divorced, struggling to connect with his nine-year-old son, listening to a washed-up band in the basement of a suburban house—and then revisit him in 1979, at the height of his youth, shy and tender, reveling in San Francisco’s punk scene as he discovers his ardor for rock and roll and his gift for spotting talent. We learn what became of his high school gang—who thrived and who faltered—and we encounter Lou Kline, Bennie’s catastrophically careless mentor, along with the lovers and children left behind in the wake of Lou’s far-flung sexual conquests and meteoric rise and fall.

A Visit from the Goon Squad is a book about the interplay of time and music, about survival, about the stirrings and transformations set inexorably in motion by even the most passing conjunction of our fates. In a breathtaking array of styles and tones ranging from tragedy to satire to PowerPoint, Egan captures the undertow of self-destruction that we all must either master or succumb to; the basic human hunger for redemption; and the universal tendency to reach for both—and escape the merciless progress of time—in the transporting realms of art and music. Sly, startling, exhilarating work from one of our boldest writers.

Distant Waves by Suzanne Weyn

Science, spiritualism, history, and romance intertwine in Suzanne Weyn's newest novel. Four sisters and their mother make their way from a spiritualist town in New York to London, becoming acquainted with journalist W. T. Stead, scientist Nikola Tesla, and industrialist John Jacob Astor. When they all find themselves on the Titanic, one of Tesla's inventions dooms them...and one could save them.

After an adventure of a lifetime, these sister's know the true meaning of Family. For those who survive.

The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstien

Zack has been plucked up from the place he was raised to move out to a little town in the middle of nowhere with his dad and new stepmother; Julie. After meeting the town crazy, Zack and Julie investigate a bus accident that occured over 50 years prior. Finding that not everything adds up, they dig deeper. Which was their first mistake.

In a story of ghosts, mystery, and adventure, a boy and his stepmother redefine normal in a town that hasn't seen change for over a hundred years.

Award-winning thriller author Chris Grabenstein fills his first book for younger readers with the same humorous and spine-tingling storytelling that has made him a fast favorite with adults.

Emergency Post

Tonight, at Midnight, the final installment of the Harry Potter Phenomenon will be released into theaters. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, the 8th movie in the series.

Ever since the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in US), was published on June 30th, 1997, the series has been an epic hit. All 7 books where bestsellers, and as a result, all previous 7 movies have been too.

As the minutes count down, crowds start to gather around the theaters, children catch up on the series, Fanfictioners are going wild, and the Press is on edge.

They all know one thing: This is going to be amazing.

"It has been extraordinarily fun, and now the decade-long saga has reached its grand finale. The best has been saved for the last."

USA TODAY

"'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2' is the last, and one of the best, in the film series with the veteran cast and creative team back with a thrilling and satisfying finish."

LA Times

"This entire movie is dark, gloomy and filled with shadows. So it should be. That makes it particularly inappropriate for the additional dimness of 3-D. There are a few shots that benefit from 3-D (I like the unfolding of the little magical globe) but none that require it. Avoid the surcharge and see the film in proper 2-D with brighter color."

Chigago Sun Times 

And so it Ends... Let us just hope that it lives up to our hopes. If it doesn't, there will be hell to pay.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population.

Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition.

--Jennifer Hubert

Football Hero by Tim Green

Ty Lewis can't believe it when Coach V recruits him for the football team. This is Ty's big chance to prove how fast he is on the field, get a fresh start in a new school, and be like his older brother, Thane "Tiger" Lewis, who's about to graduate from college—and is being courted by the NFL.
But Ty's guardian, Uncle Gus, won't let him play. Uncle Gus needs Ty to scrub floors and toilets for his cleaning business while he cooks up gambling schemes with the local mob boss, a man called "Lucy."
When Lucy hears just how famous Ty's older brother is, he becomes suddenly friendly. Are the questions Lucy is asking Ty really about fantasy football . . . or is the Mafia using Ty to get valuable insider info from his superstar brother? Desperately worried, Ty must come up with a plan to save Thane's football career—and, ultimately, his life.

Author of the New York Times bestselling Football Genius, former NFL player Tim Green will have you on the edge of your seat rooting for Ty—and enjoying an up-close look at what it's like to be inside the NFL.

Chalice by Robin McKinley

Mirasol was thrust into a complex world of politics, magic and traditions when she was given Chalicehood in the demesne of Willowlands. As Chalice, she must oversee all official demesne and Circle business. That is not always the easiest job when the Master, a Fire Priest, is feared by everyone (except her,) the Grand Seneschal hates her, and the Circle completely ignores her. Fun right?


Throw on top of that messy and cruel job, the responsibility to take care of the demesne’s needs. She’s its mother in one sense. She must help with healing, bless crops, save trapped animals and children, ect. She is one busy woman.

Once the Overseer hears of the Master’s return—his brother, the previous master, had sent him to the Fire Priests to get him out of the way—he sends an agent to soil his reign. Only Mirasol, her bees and her magic honey can save the Master and the demesne from a brutal reign of a man not suited for the title Master.

A book packed full of action, adventure, and a hint of honey, Chalice is a wondrous fairytale.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.


But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.