Imaginary Girls-- Nova Ren Suma

In rural New York there is a town that surrounds a massive reservoir. Ruby, Chloe's big sister, is the queen of this town. Not in the literal, monarch type of way, but somehow everyone bends to Ruby's every whim. Literally. Once, in the middle of the night, Ruby decided she wanted cheesecake from a bakery in Manhattan, and people were fighting over who got to be the one to fetch it for her. Ruby is idolized by all the girls in the town and lusted after by all the boys. The hold she has over all the people in the town is hypnotizing... but nobody loves her more than her little sister Chloe.

Ruby is fiercely protective of Chloe. She always warned her to never, never swim alone in the reservoir because the people of Olive would want to snatch her away. Olive was the town that once existed before it was flooded by what is now the reservoir. Ruby has a theory that the people of Olive didn't die when their town was flooded; they simply transformed and can now breath underwater.

But one day, when a seemingly innocent dare drives Chloe to take a dip in the reservoir, she comes upon the corpse of her classmate, London. And when London somehow is brought back to life months later, Chloe is the only one who remembers that she was once dead. Knowing that Ruby is somehow connected only confuses Chloe more. But as time goes on, and Ruby's mystical hold over the town falters, Chloe has to learn to be her own true self for the first time in her life... and figure out how to exist in a world where Ruby isn't the perfect and loving sister Chloe once thought she was.

This book has strong magical undertones that are wrapped up in the mysterious plot. I enjoyed the writing style of the author, and I think teen girls will like this book. It could easily be recommended to girls who request books with a slightly fantastical plot but aren't exclusively supernatural creature readers (you know, vampire-zombie-werewolf readers). Is it a book I'll remember a year from now? Naaaah. Still, I think this is better than a lot we are seeing in that genre lately.

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...

Sister Wife-- Shelley Hrdlitschka

Imagine that it's your 15th birthday. Will you celebrate with your friends? Your sisters? Your mothers?

For most girls, turning 15 is a celebration, but not for Celeste. Celeste was born into Unity, a conservative, reclusive, polygamist society. At 15, she is old enough to marry. Recently, Celeste has been questioning everything she's been taught, and has been sneaking kisses with Jon by the river. This is strictly forbidden by the Prophet, and to make sure she is securely put in her place, she is married to a man old enough to be her father... the man who happens to be the father of her lover.

Sister Wife is a tale of religious fundamentalism, polygamy, and hard choices. I wish the author would have written more about what it was like living in that society, what it's like to have multiple mothers and sister wives, etc. Mostly we just get Celeste's mental conflicts and some other side stories told by two of her sisters. It was interesting, but anyone who wants a realistic portrayal of what it might be like to live in such a society should look to a different book. Fans of The Patron Saint of Butterflies, and The Chosen One will like this book.

Love You Two-- Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli

Pina's mom has always been kindof embarrassing. She's an overly affectionate hippyish mom who dresses too young and (ew) makes out with her dad in public. But Pina and her brother Leo always know they are loved, and share an inside joke with their mom: whenever she leaves Pina and Leo a note, she always signs it "love you t(w)oo".

So when Pina stumbles upon an email from her mom addressed to her father and some other guy with the subject line "love you t(w)oo", she can help but to read it... and then wish that she hadn't. Pina discovers that her mom is polyamorous... and she has a boyfriend in addition to her husband. At first Pina is enraged and defensive of her father, until she realizes not only does he know about her mother's boyfriend, but he supports her!

Although the plot of the book centers around Pina's mother's polyamory, it's really Pina's story. We get all of our information from Pina's perspective, and details about Pina's life that are quite separate from her mother's story. Pina goes on a quest to figure out life and love, and what family really means.

I have to say, I really liked this book. It was a good story, and I am always pleased when a book can take me by surprise. It felt a little heavy-handed at times, but I guess if you didn't already know what polyamory was you would need the information. I struggled a bit with the Aussie slang and all the Italian colloquialisms (the characters are Italian-Australian), but there was a glossary in the back that helped a bit. But overall, I thought it was well-written and unique. It definitely fills a hole in the collection.

One things though... on the back of the book there is a parental guidance label. Although there are definitely some older teen topics in this book (date rape, drinking), there is nothing explicit or gratuitous in this book. Personally, I don't think reading about rainbow families requires parental guidance.

How to Steal a Car-- Pete Hautman

Well, I guess I can say this book will be great for reluctant readers... but I didn't really like it much myself.

How to Steal a Car is about Kelleigh's foray into auto theft... sortof. For reasons not made clear to the reader, Kelleigh decides to rebel against her parents. First, she "steals" and returns her father's Lexus. Then so moves on to her neighbor's Caddy, etc. Finally she hooks up with drop out Markus and he decides to pay her to steal some nice cars out of a parking lot.

And that's basically the whole story.

Ok, sure, there are more plot details than I am describing, but so much is left out... and the stuff that's missing is what would make the novel compelling. The characters are flat, I can't find any motivation for rebellion or dissatisfaction, and the main character Kelleigh is sortof annoying... not a good combo.

Still, this book could be good for the reluctant reader, especially girls, and is a nice nongirly book for the most part.

Breathless-- Jessica Warman

I have to admit that I love this cover. Something about those underwater shots always grab me. Anyway, on to the book!

Katie's family wasn't always rich. They used to live in a cottage, hang out together, and be a "real family." But as her father started to make more money, he became more controlling... her mother in now an alcoholic, and her brother suffers from drug induced schizophrenia. When he tries to kill himself, Katie's father decides to ship her off to boarding school rather than deal with a family embarrassment... and her brother is shipped off to a mental institution.

Swimming has always been Katie's escape. When the captain of the swim team at her new school asks Katie what her best swimming stroke is, Katie shrugs and says all of them... and it's true. We follow Katie as she succeeds at swimming, but basically fails at the rest of her life. Compelling supporting characters, like her roommate Mazzie and her brother Will, really round out the story. I was tricked into thinking this was going to be another one of those rich girl boarding school books, but it's not... it goes deeper than that and teen readers will likely become engrossed in Katie's struggles.

I would recommend this to teen girls who like family dramas, boarding school books, stories that include lots of teen partying, and sports (swimming especially).

When You Reach Me-- Rebecca Stead

Fans of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time: this book is for you. It's also for those of us who want a charming story with a slight mystery and a touch of fantasy.

Miranda lives in New York City in 1979. Her mother is a hippy turned almost-lawyer and they live in an apartment building in a safe-ish neighborhood. Each day on the way home from school, Miranda passes the Laughing Man, a homeless guy who is harmless but crazy. When her best friend Sal ditches her, Miranda must look for other friends besides Charlie, Meg, and the other characters in A Wrinkle in Time. This story is told from Miranda's perspective, and because of this, we view her world through L'Engle tinted glasses... but it's subtle and even if you aren't a fan of the book (or read it so long ago you can't remember anything about it, like me), you will still be engaged by Miranda's story. When You Reach me is a touching tale of what life used to be like, of middle school, and of friendship.

Readers of this blog will know that I don't often read this sort of book... but I'm glad I did. After all of the angsty stuff I fill my brain with, this book was a well-written and welcomed break. It's definitely for the younger end of YA... in fact my library has this book cataloged as J. Fans of Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars will enjoy this book.

Tricks-- Ellen Hopkins

Guess what? Ellen Hopkins will be visiting my library soon! To prepare, I thought I would read her latest book, Tricks. I made the mistake of reading it before bed... and let me tell you, this is not a cheery bedtime read.

Tricks is a verse novel, just like her other works. It's the story of five teens from all over the USA. Even though each teen is vastly different and was raised in a unique way, they're stories all have a similar theme: sometimes sex isn't just about love... sometimes it's about power, freedom, money, punishment, torture, individuality, exploration, or intimacy. And somehow, in the end, the teens' lives intersect in a mostly tragic but slightly hopeful way.

I can't say that I loved this book... I struggle with the verse novel format, and to be honest, I had a hard time keeping the characters straight at first. Still, I know why teens love her: Hopkins writes about real hard living. Some teens are really drawn to the gritty realism she so clearly writes. I would recommend this book to boys or girls who like verse novels, edgy topics, or want to read something about teen prostitution (don't laugh, I've totally been asked for this!!).

The Vast Fields of Ordinary--- Nick Burd

The Vast Fields of Ordinary is one of those stories that just makes your heart break... because when it comes down to it, all we really want out of existence is for people to be kind to us... and Dade doesn't get the kindness he deserves.

Dade is gay. He is in-the-closet mostly, but there are a few people in his life who know about his gayness. There's Pablo, the asshat jock stud dude who cruelly ridicules Dade in public, but has sex with him in private. And then there is also Lucy, the awesomely confident lesbian who is staying with her aunt for the summer. But really, to everyone else, Dade is the guy they all tease about being gay but aren't really sure that he is. Dade finds himself totally trapped by a world that does nothing for him and expects everything in return. But when he meets Alex Kinkaid and learns about what it's like to love and be loved, everything shifts for Dade. He doesn't want to be closeted, teased, or hurt by anyone anymore (especially his parents). And of course, now that he is finally experience true joy and freedom, Pablo won't leave him alone.

This book is truly moving, tragic, lonely, and lovely in some places. There is an underdeveloped storyline featuring a young girl who is abducted, and while I can see what Nick Burd was trying to do with it, I don't think he succeeds. Still, this is a great first novel, and I will happily read anything else he writes. I recommend this to older teens (because the characters in the book are just graduating high school).

Once was Lost-- Sara Zarr

Sometimes it seems like YA fiction with a religious theme fit into three basic categories: christian fiction, stories about teens in religious situations typical Americans find oppressive, or books about rebel, atheist, pagan teens. This is a generalization, and know there are notable exceptions, but Once Was Lost took me pleasantly by surprise... even though I do enjoy Sara Zarr's writing.

Once Was Lost is Sam's story. She is a PK (preacher's kid) who has spent the last year taking care of her alcoholic mother and hiding her mom's problems from the sharp eye of her father's congregation. Sam's not sure about a lot of things anymore, but she mostly isn't sure if the God her father preaches about is the God for her... if he even exists, and if he does, why are all these bad things happening? When Jody, the young choir soloist, suddenly goes missing, the whole town is in an uproar. All signs point to crime, and Sam takes Jody's disappearance extremely hard. All at once, everything Sam thought she knew to be true seems wrong and she has lost her place in the world. But sometimes getting lost is the only way to really find oneself.

I appreciated the way Zarr told this story. She could have really been down on organized religion, or made Sam's struggles seem trite or too black-and-white. Zarr handled the subject with a dignity and accuracy, and I think a lot of teens who are learning to think about religion for themselves for the first time will really identify with Sam. There is also an element of suspense to this story that keeps the reader enticed. Once Was Lost will be published in October 2009.

Punkzilla-- Adam Rapp

Punkzilla is Jamie, a 14 year-old boy who lives the crustpunk, street kid life in Portland, OR. After his militant, homophobic father enrolls him in military school, small-for-his-age and androgynous looking Jamie runs away in hopes to find a better life for himself. He lives in abandoned warehouses in Portland with other kids, and writes letters to his gay and dying of cancer brother, Peter. Peter sends Jamie bus money, so he can come visit him in Tennessee before he dies. Most of this story is told through Jamie's unique letter writing style, as Jamie writes letters to Peter he never plans to send, describing his bus journey and what the life of a Punkzilla is like.

I have to say, this book was intriguing but a bit challenging to read. Adam Rapp really does a good job writing in Jamie's style. I truly felt like I was experiencing things through Jamie's perspective, and even though the lack of punctuation and made-up words were sometimes a stumbling block, they made the story richer. This isn't a feel-good story, and the content might be better suited for older teens, but its grittiness isn't over-the-top or inappropriate for the story Rapp was trying to tell. It's one of those books that will linger with you for a while, for better or worse.

Along for the Ride-- Sarah Dessen

For those of you who have read this blog from the beginning, you will know that I really love Sarah Dessen... I read her personal blog too, and learned a bit about her process while writing Along for the Ride. While this isn't my favorite book she has ever written, I still quite enjoyed it.

Like all of Dessen's novels, the protagonist is a girl who is smart, witty, and complex. Studious to a fault, top-of-her-class Auden decides to experience life a little more fully by living on the coast with her deadbeat dad, his new wife and baby. Auden's never been a girly-girl. She never dated in high school, and was raised by a feminist mother who taught her that beauty is on the inside and that a smart woman is a powerful woman. When Auden meets Heidi, her dad's new trophy wife, she immediately judges her... but when night-owl Auden meets other girls her age who happen to be beautiful AND intelligent, she has to rethink her preconceived notions... oh, and of course, it wouldn't be a Dessen novel if there wasn't a beautifully imperfect boy around the corner.

So as usual, it's nearly impossible to sum up this Sarah Dessen novel without making it sound boring and cheesy. Her books are never totally straight-forward, which makes them a pleasure to read, but hard to summarize. Still, if you are a fan of well-written books that deal in relationships (romantic, familial, or platonic) this book is for you. It's also a good book to recommend to teens who like to read romance, but don't want mushy-gooshy or graphic sex in their novels.

Skunk Girl--Sheba Karim

If there's one thing most people can agree on, it's that high school was a challenging experience socially and developmentally. For Nina Khan, growing up in a lily-white suburban community made her experience especially challenging. Nina is an American-born Pakistani Muslim teenager, and her parents are strictly committed to instilling proper values into Nina.

Nina has not only grown up in the shadow of her perfect-S.A.T- scoring-Harvard-attending sister, but her two best girlfriends are gorgeous in that all-American way. Nina isn't allowed to go out at night, attend sleepover parties, have friend that are male, date, or get into the drinking-drugs-flirtation trouble that most high schoolers experience. Although she isn't in love with her strict lifestyle, for the most part it works for her. She is moderately happy, and has two amazing friends. But when Italian-born Asher moves to town, Nina begins to thoroughly question the morality imposed on her by her parents, while simultaneously dreaming of ways to make Asher like her.

The title Skunk Girl comes from a scene where a classmate notices a stripe of hair Nina has growing from her neck down her back. There are many scenes discussing how Nina feels about her ethnicity, most of them negatively discussing her large amount of dark body hair.

I think this book definitely has place in library collections, as it gives a window into a culture and religion that is often unknown or misunderstood. It felt a little light, and the end wrapped up rather unbelievably, but not all books focusing on cultural differences need to be heavy and depressing. This book is not an award winner (IMHO) but a just-fine read. I would recommend this book to teen girls who want a love story, a tale about cultural differences, or growing up Muslim.

King of the Screwups-- K. L. Going

Liam Geller is everyone's best friend. He throws the best parties, has a supermodel mother, and always gets the girl. People can't hate him because he's just such a nice guy. It's like friends and popularity fall right into his lap...

The only person who doesn't think this is great is his father. Liam's dad is a high-powered banker who has no need for his socially advanced but scholastically lacking son. In fact, it seems like every opportunity he has to finally win his father's love, Liam epically fails and embarrasses his dad publicly. After an incident involving booze, a hot girl, and his father's desk in his office, Liam is sent away to live with family. If Liam can't reform his uber-popular party boy ways, he'll be sent to boot camp.

Liam's only saving grace is that his mother sends him to live with Aunt Pete, his cross-dressing glam-rocking Uncle who lives in a trailer park in nowheresville. If Liam can succeed there, he can succeed anywhere... but the question remains, will Liam win his father's love or will he only win the crown of the King of the Screwups?

I won't lie to you... I enjoyed this book but didn't love it. If it were written by any other author I might just accept it for what it is, but this is K. L. Going, author of awesomeness like Saint Iggy and Fat Kid Rules the World! This is basically a fluff book with a good heart, and we all need some of those books, but I have to admit I was left wanting for a bit more. Either way, I would recommend this to girls and guys who like K. L. Going, Tim Tharpe's Spectacular Now, James St. James's Freakshow, or Meagan Brothers' Debbie Harry Sings in French.

Rage: A Love Story-- Julie Anne Peters

So there I was in my office, opening my big stack of mail and low and behold, a big stack of ARCs (Advance Reading Copies of books... you know the sneak peaks of books librarians sometimes get) had arrived! AND ever better, there was a book by one of my favorite YA authors, Julie Anne Peters! I audibly yelped for joy and then proceeded to read the book cover to cover on an airplane over the weekend... but remember folks, just because a book is a page-turner doesn't mean it's amazing...

Johanna is a smart, responsible girl. She took care of her mother when she was sick and dying, she constantly watches out for her party-girl best friend, works hard for good grades and pocket money, and hopes to go to college and get on with her life. Honestly, she's pretty vanilla-bland-whitebread, except for her secret fantasies about Reeve Hartt.

Reeve is fierce, uglybeautiful, violent, passionate, and basically the opposite of Johanna. When Johanna gets conned into tutoring Reeve's brother, Johanna pursues Reeve until she just can't say no any longer. Their relationship is tumultuous to say the least, and full of challenges due to Reeve's abysmal home life and violent, erratic behavior. Don't expect a picture perfect happy ending (who would, with a title like Rage: a love story?), but the book does resolve itself in an acceptable way.

So what's my problem with this book? I just didn't love it. I feel like Peters is starting to rely on some old familiar tricks. I saw a lot of similarities between this book and Define Normal (the tutoring, the alternative chick, the "normal" chick etc) and also Far From Xanadu (the wild amazing pixie girl love interest). Also, although the story is narrated by Johanna, I couldn't get a good mental picture of who she was. I did, however, feel very intrigued by Reeve's story and would have preferred to hear about it from her perspective. Am I let down because I have too high of standards for this particular author (I *loved* Far From Xanadu), or was the book just not that great?

I would offer this book to teens who want books with gay characters (that isn't a coming out story), less than perfect love stories, or books about screwed up families.

Marcelo in the Real World-- Francisco X. Stork

Marcelo has a few special interests: he loves horses, classical music, and religious theory. He lives in a tree-house in his parent's back yard, wears blue pants with a white button-up shirt every day, and cannot feel emotion the same way most people do. Oh, and he hears intensely beautiful music in his head, which he calls internal music, and because of this most people think he has Asperger Syndrome. He doesn't; he just lives in a world that's pretty different than the one most people live in, and it's easier on people like you and me to label him in some way.

Marcelo's father hates that his kid is "special." His father, Arturo, is a high-powered attorney and wants Marcelo to work at his law firm for the summer... to join the real world, and to normalize before he sends to him the regular public high school instead of the small special school Marcelo was previously attending. While working in the mail room at the law firm, Marcelo finds that he can feel emotion he never knew existed, and meets people who challenge his ways of thinking. When an issue of morals and good choices arises, Marcelo must decide what to do: should he protect his father's career and pretend that he has no knowledge of the situation, or should he fix the problem at his own family's expense.

Honestly, it's hard to summarize this book. Most of what makes it so good is the way it's written and how the characters relate to each other. I read this soon after I read Anything but Typical, and while they are different stories, it's hard not to compare them in my head as the characters have similar cognitive issues. Anything but Typical was more well-written, but Marcelo in the Real World was much more moving. Has anyone read both, and what did you think of them?

I would recommend this book to fans of Anything but Typical, Curious Incident of the Dog in the night-time, and even Wendy Mass's A Mango Shaped Space.

The Chosen One-- Carol Lynch Williams

The Prophet is not questioned. The Word Of God is not disputed. The Prophet only speaks words that God has given him in a vision. God told The Prophet that 13 year-old Kyra is to be her 60 year-old Uncle Hyrum's 7th wife.

Kyra has spent her entire life in an isolated community of fundamentalists. She spends her days working their tiny plot of earth, taking care of her 20 brothers and sisters, and finding moments to sneak away and discover herself. One day she happens upon the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels... and she learns there is a world beyond the fences that surround their property. When The Prophet decrees she is to marry her Uncle Hyrum, everything in Kyra's mind and body rebels. But no matter what she does, her plan to escape this fate is thwarted. When she is left with the choice to either destroy her family but save herself, or stay and marry her old uncle, she is more than conflicted. Who could choose rationally when faced with violence, abuse, and the though of losing everyone and everything you know forever.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was well-written and very engaging. There were parts of the plot that were semi-unbelievable, but that is to be expected out of a book that covers such taboo topics. I would recommend this book to teens who like the T.V. show Big Love, and who enjoyed books like The Patron Saint of Butterflies.

After the Moment-- Garret Freymann-Weyr

A little back-story: So, I am a huge Garret Freymann-Weyr fan. She wrote My Heartbeat, which is a touching story about a young girl whose older brother is gay. She also wrote The Kings are Already here about a young ballet dancer and a chess prodigy, and and my personal favorite Stay With Me which is about sisters, love, and hotels.

So why why why didn't I love After the Moment?? It has all the elements of a good book... interesting characters, a slightly off-kilter plot-line and format, and resolution at the end that leaves the reader satisfied yet still wanting more. It's like all the parts and pieces were great, but put together they just didn't work.

After the Moment is Leigh's story, mostly. When his step-sister Millie's biological father passes away, Leigh goes to live with his father and step-family to help Millie normalize after her tragedy. While living there, he falls in love with a recovering anorexic girl named Maia. Leigh learns about himself as a person as he helps the two women in his life come to terms with their own life's problems.

I guess my issue with this book is that Leigh is the center of the plot, yet he is the most uninteresting character. He is spineless in a frustrating way, and almost greeting card perfect. He kind of reminds me of the way that Chase Crawford acts (he plays Nate on the Gossip Girl TV Show... am I loosing you here?)... you know, pretty to look at but bland and not particularly talented. Also, there are many characters to keep track of, and the most interesting part of the book are these little flashes to the future, and they are way too infrequent.

So I guess what I will say in summery, is that while this is a decent book, it's not great. I'm not sure that it has all that much teen appeal, but the more mature teen reader might like it. Also, people who like a nontraditional, not schmaltzy love story might enjoy it too.

Shine Coconut Moon-- Neesha Meminger

September 11, 2001. New Jersey. Fear, racism, fear, aggression, fear.

Samar is a 17 year old Indian-American girl. She was raised to be American, and knows almost nothing about her culture and family. Her mother separated herself from her strict parents and wanted to avoid the racism and pigeon-holing dark skinned people receive in the United States, so she raised Samar to be American through and through. Samar has only white friends, a white boyfriend, and lives a happy lilly-white life... until a man in a turban shows up on her front steps and changes everything.

Set just after the 9/11 attacks, Shine Coconut Moon tells the story of Samar, a girl who has longed for a big jovial family her whole life. After the attacks, her Uncle Sandeep reaches out to Samar and her mother, begging them to contact their family again and to put the past behind them. After 9/11, Samar's classmates begin to look at her differently and some even react violently to Samar and her uncle. But meanwhile, Samar finds solace in learning about her roots, making Indian friends, and exploring what it's like to have a family.

There's a lot of good stuff in this book. My only gripe is the author was so heavy-handed in the way she wrote about actions and emotions... don't tell me about it literally, describe the scene so I get the feeling without it being so in-my-face. This is Meminger's first novel, and I bet she will improve with later work. All in all, it's a good but not excellent book that describes the horrible fear and violence that occurred for many nonwhite people after the 9/11 attacks. I would recommend this to girls who want to read about other cultures, especially India, or who enjoyed Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier (which I loved).

Wherever Nina Lies-- Lynn Weingarten

Beautiful, artistic, blue-haired, wild-hearted and beloved... that's Nina. She was slightly off-kilter, lived in a world of intensity and art, and was prone to creeping out her bedroom window to experience night-time fun. But one day she didn't come home, and that day Ellie's world changed forever.

Ellie always idolized her older sister Nina. Sure, they bickered, but most sisters who love eachother that fiercely fight a little too. When Nina disappeared, Ellie knew she didn't just run away... she knew in her heart that Nina was still out there, and that she needed Ellie's help. Her friends wanted her to forget Nina, but when bits and scraps of clues leading to Nina's location kept popping up, Ellie just couldn't let go of the thought that Nina was out there, somewhere. When Ellie meets Sean, a guy whose brother died not too long ago, she feels akin to him. Together they search for Nina, and Ellie uncovers a shocking truth that changes everything forever.

This book is a bit of a thriller, a mystery, a love story, and a tale of sisterly love. It's not bound to be a classic, and it's not much different than other books of similar genres, but teens will like it. The plot was interesting enough to keep me engaged, and although I guessed the big secret right away, I'll bet some teens will be shocked by it. I would recommend this book to girls who like mysteries and thrillers that aren't violent.