The City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

When I read the first book in this series I was thinking, 'Oh my, is this the next Percy Jackson? Or is it the next Twilight?'  It seems to me like it's turning out to be the latter. It's a romance novel with a hint of action. Not an action novel with a hint of romance, like the synopsis implies:

City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever.

Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels

The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley

Kat has always been different. For one, she looks different. She has vivid red hair. I mean vivid! She also has an overbearing 'mother' who none beleive to be her real mother.

But Kat is also similar to everyone in her little town. She knows nothing but wives' tales about the powerful queen of England.

But soon that will all change.

As Kat's destiny unravels before her, she travels to London, seeking more. More money. More luxury. More anything, for that matter.

But when her beautiful needlework attracts the attention of the Queen, she may get more that she bargained for.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Lennie is well... Lennie seventeen, a bookworm, and a band geek. Lennie is the overlooked little sister. Lennie is the amazing clarinet player. Lennie is well, Lennie.

After Bailey, Lennie's older sister, dies tragicly, Lennie has a whirlwind of emotions sent her way. How else would you describe to want, the need to do the dirty with every guy between the ages of 14 and 25 at her sister's funeral?

Joe is 'the new boy in town' who happens to also be a fellow band geek. Toby is her sister's boyfriend. Both Joe and Toby are vying for Lennie's heart.

The only problem is, which one is love, and which one is lust?

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

This thrilling comedy has touched the lives of millions for over four centuries. William Shakespeare, the Bard, has created an exciting, humorous, and all-together irrational fantasy anyone can enjoy.

Between the love triangle (or is it a square?) of Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena, the hiliarious conflict of Oberon and Titania, and the banter between Theseus and Hippolyta, there is bound to be somthing anyone can find amusing.

"Over hill, over dale... I know a bank where the wild thyme grows."

All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn

Travis and his sister, Corey, can't resist a good trick. When they learn that their grandmother's quiet Vermont inn, where they're spending the summer, has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little "haunting" of their own. Before long, their supernatural pranks have tourists flocking to the inn, and business booms.
But Travis and Corey soon find out that they aren't the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Can these siblings lay to rest the ghosts they’ve stirred?

All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg

Two years after being airlifted out of Vietnam in 1975, Matt Pin is haunted by the terrible secret he left behind and, now, in a loving adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events forces him to confront his past.

Matt must go through tremendous termoil to find where he truely belongs. He must rediscover what it means to be a little boy. What it means to be himself. He will go head to head with veterans who fought for his freedom, and bullies who lost their family members. But yet, he never gives up. Ever.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

"Artemis Fowl is great…a new thriller fairy tale that will grab your interest, no matter your age." -- The New York Post
Twelve-year-old Artemis is a millionaire, a genius and above all, a criminal mastermind. But Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories -- they're dangerous! Full of unexpected twists and turns, Artemis Fowl is a riveting, magical adventure.
 
From a strikingly original voice in fiction comes the story of Artemis Fowl, a very unusual hero. Artemis combines the astuteness of Sherlock Holmes with the sangfroid of James Bond and the attitude of Attila the Hun. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories. These fairies are armed and they're dangerous. Artemis thinks he's got them just where he wants them, but then they stop playing by the rules...

Full of unexpected twists and turns, ARTEMIS FOWL opens up a riveting world of magic, mystery, and humor.

From the Publisher (Listening Library)

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

"Adventure in life is good; consistency in coffee is even better."

Terra Cooper doesn't have much adventure in her life. Nor does she have a very good coffee selection. That's because Terra lives in a small, middle-of-nowhere town in Washington. But that doesn't mean her life isn't exciting! Everyone knows Terra. The girl with the flawed face. The girl with so much potential. The girl with a controlling father.

After her mother sneaks her off to Seattle for another hopeless operation on her face, they find something more than just a big bill that does absolutely nothing to help her self-confidence issues. They find Jacob.

Jacob helps Terra discover who she really is, and who she was always meant to be.

But this is more than that. We, as readers, discover ourselves also. For we are all, just a little north of beautiful.

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.