The Fault in our Stars-- John Green

Full disclosure: I read this book twice back-to-back, then a third time just reading the parts I liked the best. All in one weekend. I know this is not normal behavior, it's just, I dunno, this book struck a deep chord in me and I wasn't ready to move on once I finished it.

Hazel is a 16 year old girl with cancer. She is so busy Having Cancer that she has dropped out of most normal activities. She has friends, but they still attend school and have mostly moved on with their lives. To appease her mother, she joins a kids with cancer support group... where she meets hottie Augustus. They instantly bond over their shared world view, wit, and love of a book written by a Dutch hermit.

But wait! This isn't a lame "cancer book." Cancer is an important vehicle for the story, but what really makes this book so good is the character development of Hazel and Gus, and the dialog between them. It's a love story, I won't deny it. But it seems these days that love stories have been diluted down to either "You're my personal brand of heroin"and "The lion lays down with the lamb" (anyone know which book those quotes are from?), erotica, or schmaltzy romance. This is a story that chronicles the falling-in-love part. There is one scene where Augustus says something so beautiful to Hazel, I literally cried.

Is the dialog a true representation of how teens speak? Not really. It is a realistic story? Nah. Is it beautifully written with compelling characters, and laugh-out-loud moments that balance out the sad stuff? Totally. Do yourself a favor and give it a chance.

A Monster Calls-- Patrick Ness

I read this book around Halloween-time, and the absolutely breathtaking drawings (Jim Kay) made me feel extra creepy good. The story behind this book is as enticing as the story itself, and was what drew me to it initially. Siobhan Dowd, YA author of books like A Swift Pure Cry, Bog Child, and more, came up with the idea for this story, the characters, and the concept. However, before she could write it herself, she passed away. Patrick Ness was asked to take her notes and write the story for her. And that is what we have in this slim tome; the efforts of three people all mixed up into one rather emotional story.

A Monster Calls is a story of loss, day/nightmares, and monsters. It's Connor's story, and judging simply by the illustrations and the initial chapter, one might expect this to be a scary story. It's not. Actually, I found myself tearing up (ok I cried) at some points and being moved by Connor's struggles to fit in, and moreover, deal with the terminal illness of his mother. We experience Connor's life and emotions right along with him. We are brought in and out of dreams and don't really know which truth to believe.

For me, this book would be nothing spectacular without the magnificent illustrations. This is one of these books that tells some important bits of story through the pictures. I'll be interested if it garners any attention from the actual Printz committee because of it's unique (to YA) format. I would recommend this book to younger teens who won't be afraid of the pictures, anyone who is looking for a story about dealing with grief, teens who like sad or gloomy tales, or to people who enjoy fairy tales.

The Secret Year-- Jennifer Hubbard

Colt and Julia had a torrid, clandestine romance, and somehow nobody knew about it. She was a rich countryclub girl from Black Mountain and he is a poor boy with an alcoholic father who lives in the flats. Although they would see each other in the halls at school, their two worlds were so separate, they never communicated beyond anonymous notes in lockers dictating meeting times and locations.

On Memorial Day weekend,Julia got ragingly, disastrously drunk. This shocked her friends immensely as her boyfriend Austen was a binge drinker and Julia hated it. She got a ride home from her friend Pam, who accidentally ran into a pole... Pam totaled her car, broke her arm, and killed her best friend Julia. Julia wasn't wearing her seat belt because she kept leaning her head out of the car window to vomit. Nobody can figure out why Julia would be drinking, why her car was in the shot causing her to rely on Pam, and why she was fighting with Austin.

But Colt knew. Colt knew that she was thinking about breaking up with Austin, and maybe she needed the alcohol for courage. Colt's entire world was rocked off it's axis with Julia's death. Not only has he lost the girl he's been with for over a year, his entire mourning process has to happen in private. No one would ever believe a girl like Julia would ever be with him... or would they? Maybe their secret wasn't as protected as they thought...

Overall, I would say this was a pretty good book. It was not exceptionally well-written, but it had a nice flow. It was fast paced in a way that really appeals to teens, and though the character development wasn't exceptional, it was good enough to make the reader feel attached to Colt's plight. I think teens who liked 13 Reasons Why, The Sky Always Hears Me, and Hold Still will like this book.

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors-- Francisco X. Stork

The last thing Pancho's father said to him was to take care of his sister Rosa... and Pancho, 17 and now an orphan, feels like he's failed him. When his mentally handicapped sister Rosa is found dead in a hotel room and the police dismiss the case as an accident, Pancho is out of his head with guilt and anger. Finding her killer is the only thing that matters to Pancho, until the state officials remove him from his trailer and take him to a priest run home for boys.

The priest in charge introduces Pancho to D.Q, who is dying from a rare form of cancer. Although Pancho tenaciously clings to his revenge plot, being a companion for D.Q. subtly alters his perspective on life and living. D.Q. strives become a Death Warrior, someone who lives intentionally and sucks the marrow out of life. He is writing a manifesto, and teaching key points to Pancho. But when the time comes, will Pancho focus on the beauty of life and living, or will revenge and death guide his hand?

This is a subtly written book, and the friendship between Pancho and D.Q. is endearing. Stork doesn't hurry to make a point, but neither does the prose meander. Class and racial issues are examined in a way that lets the reader maker her/his own decision about right and wrong. One of Stork's strengths in general is that he shows rather than tells. I would recommend this to boys and girls who want a book about friendship, books with Mexican-American characters, and to teens who like serious books with bits of humor here and there.

The Sky is Everywhere-- Jandy Nelson

So one million years ago when I was a teenager, my mom used to tease me because I loved to read "dying books". There was nothing I liked more than grabbing a fresh box of kleenex and crying my eyes out to an incredibly sad book where inevitably, someone important dies.

The Sky is Everywhere is not your generic ya weepie tome. In fact, our protagonist is pretty darn tough. What I loved the most about this book was how honest it was, even when sugar-coating the grieving process is less than savory.

Lennie's older sister Bailey was her best friend... they became understandably close when their mother abandoned them and left them to be raised by their grandmother. When Bailey died suddenly from an arrhythmia, Lennie found herself in the sunlight all alone... a place she (the shy band geek type) has never wanted to be. Lennie's grieving process leads her to a closeness with Bailey's fiance, and although Lennie has a strong, positive relationship with another guy, she can't avoid the electric connection she feels to Bailey's fiance. Throughout the book, snippets of Bailey's poems are scattered, and music is also a strong theme. And though it will strongly appeal to girls who like sad but compelling books with romance, I do feel this book will have a broader appeal. I just wish the cover was better...

The Everafter-- Amy Huntley

So, I can't help it... I love all those afterlife type books. Maybe it's because we can never actually know what it will be like until it's too late to write a book about it... Anyway, Amy Huntley's The Everafter should have been right up my alley. Yet somehow I just couldn't go there with her.

Maddy doesn't know where she is or how she got there. All she knows is that she is floating in an outerspace-nothingness kind of place and there are random objects, like a baby rattle, a penny, a pinecone, etc floating near her. She starts calling the place IS because that's what it feels like, and is pretty sure that she's dead... but she doesn't know how she died. When Maddy touches the object nearest to her, her boyfriend's sweatshirt, she is immediately transported into a memory related to that object. She can relive the moment, even alter it a bit, and then eventually comes back to IS. Over time, Maddy figures out how to better maneuver in her new location of IS and even meets up with a few kindred souls... but basically, the whole plot of the novel is moved and detailed by these objects and Maddy's memories.

So in concept, I can see how this works... but in practice I think Huntley kindof fails. I do think it would have been fun to write a book based on memories and objects, but I think it's less fun to read it. I realize that I can be a pretty harsh book critic, and it takes a lot to wow me these days, but still, The Everafter felt flat to me. I would give this book to teen girls who liked A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, or Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, but all of those books are superior in plot and writing to this one (IMHO).

P.S. So here's a bit of randomness for ya: My ARC copy of this book has the title listed as just The After... but upon publishing, it seems this book is now called The Everafter. Which do you prefer?