girlfriend material
by Melissa Kantor

Kate's mom has dragged her off to Cape Cod for the summer even though Kate was convinced this would be the best summer of her life at home in Salt Lake City practicing tennis and taking a writing class.  The one positive of this trip is that she would get to see Sarah, daughter of her mother's best friends, a girl she had a great time knowing several years ago.  Unfortunately,  Sarah let Kate know within one minute of seeing her that she really wasn't interested in being friends. 
            Kate has never had a boyfriend before and really doesn't consider herself "girlfriend material."  When she meets Adam at the club, she begins to have a different opinion of herself, and summer at Cape Cod suddenly seems like a good idea.  Told in Kate's entertaining voice, Girlfriend Material is typical chick lit which would border on silly if it weren't for the serious background story of Kate's parents' possible divorce and the struggles of a first love.  This is a quick fun read which most girls will enjoy.  On this year's Texas Lone Star list.    --reviewed by Mrs. Sams

THE DEMON KING

By Cinda Williams Chima

        A fast-paced fantasy inhabited by a strong-willed princess and an impoverished street rat constantly running from one danger to the next, The Demon King is Book One of a series which promises to be filled with evil wizards, warring clans, secret amulets, unrequited love, and powerful magic--everything I love best in a good story.  Princess Raisa has spent the last few months preparing for her naming celebration, the day she turns 16 and becomes eligible for marriage.  Suitors from all over the kingdom have arrived and sent gifts in hopes of winning Raisa's favor. Her queen mother seems to be under the influence of Gavan Bayar, the High Wizard, a man Raisa does not trust.  Meanwhile, Han Alister has had a run-in with Micah Bayer, the son of the high wizard, and takes Micah's ancient and powerful amulet.  Once he has this magical charm, trouble seems to follow Han everywhere. 

       The night of Raisa's party, after most of the guests have left, her mother sends for her and she realizes that her instincts about the High Wizard were true.  Her mother and Gavan Bayer intend to force Raisa into a secret marriage with Micah Bayer.  With trickery and a little luck, Raisa escapes the castle with Amon, her childhood friend and guard, going into exile to escape the unwanted marriage and the influence of the High Wizard.  When Han is told that silver cuffs which have been around his wrists his entire life were placed there to control his magical powers, he agrees to have them removed and to go to Oden's Ford for wizard's training.  The story ends with Raisa and Han heading toward a common destination with dangers both behind and ahead of them both.  Good news!  The sequel, The Exiled Queen is coming out in September.  The Demon King is on this year's Lone Star list.  Highly recommended.    --reviewed by Mrs. Sams

INCARCERON

by Catherine Fisher

     Here is a darkly fascinating tale about Finn, a young man who lives in a vast, metallic prison world of hunger, sickness, and teachery called Incarceron. Finn has no memories earlier than three years before, when Gildas, the local wise man, finds him, but Finn is convinced he's from Outside, though the prison has been sealed for centuries. When the Comitatus, Finn's ragtag gang and family, raid another group, Finn captures a woman who has seen the tattoo on his wrist, and knows of the crystal key which also has the same eagle image. Gildas believes the key will unlock the way out of the prison. He, Finn, Finn's oathbrother, Keiro, and Attia, an abused girl, begin on the the journey out of Incarceron, discovering multiple powers of the crystal key as they go. For one thing, the key is a communication device to Claudia, the privileged girl on the Outside who holds the matching key, and is the daughter of the feared Warden of Incarceron.
     While Finn and his companions make their perilous journey through the prison, Claudia is involved in an intrigue of her own, as she seeks to find a way into the prison to save Finn, and to avoid marriage to the weak heir to the throne. This story is filled with twists and unexpected turns until finally the reader is left dangling with multiple unresolved plotlines. This is a story begging for a sequel. The London Times calls Incarceron one of the best fantasy novels written for a long time. It certainly is one of the most imaginative and unusual.
                  ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

The Case of the

Bizarre Bouquets

by Nancy Springer

In this third installment of the Enola Holmes mystery series, the famous Dr. Watson goes missing from the London streets, and 14-year-old Enola Holmes, Sherlock's precocious younger sister, investigates his disappearance.  To aid in her search, and to stay hidden from her brothers, Enola must reinvent herself into a beautiful, stylish lady.  Her disguise is perfect.  Enola passes herself off as a former patient of Dr. Watson, and visits his wife in an effort to get the information she needs to find the good doctor.  While in Watson's home, she notices a bizarre bouquet of flowers and plants which provides the clues she needs to begin her investigation.  Enola's knowledge of herbology, her street smarts, and her ability to decode ciphered messages, saves the day as she encounters a crazy woman who has no nose and travels around the city incognito.  Springer has created an appealing character in Enola Holmes and a surprisingly intricate mystery for so short a book.  It woulde have helped somewhat to have read the first two books in this series.  Questions like "why is Enola hiding from her family?" and "where does she get her money to live?" were probably answered in those first installments.  However, The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets is a fun read even without those answers. A title on this year's Texas Lone Star List.                         --reviewed by Mrs. Sams The Case of theBouquets

LAST NIGHT I SANG
TO THE MONSTER

by Benjamin Alire Saenz

 Zach spends his days at the rehab center running from the monster in his head.  He can't allow himself to think about the monster or to fight the monster because it would hurt too much.  Above all else, Zach is afraid of pain, and has become a drug addict and an alcoholic to help himself  ignore the pain of his life.  Zach doesn't remember why he's in the rehab center.  He doesn't know what happened to him before he came, and he doesn't know who's paying for his stay there. He just knows he needs to stay.  One of Zach's roommates is Rafael, a man old enough to be his father.  Rafael has been a depressed alcoholic for terrible reasons of his own for many years.  But now he's detemined to do the work necessary to heal his heart and life.  Along the way, he helps Zach by sharing his art and his journal and his quiet wisdom.  And Adam, one of Zach's therapists, has an amazing ability to ask just the right question at just the right time to push Zach along on his own journey of healing. 
       A beautiful piece of writing, in spite of the raw language, Last Night I Sang to the Monster is an intense story of love and redemption.  For me, the tears flowed!  On this year's Tayshas list.     ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

    

Vampire Academy

by Richelle Mead 

       Lissa Dragomir, a vampire princess, and Rose Hathaway, Lissa's guardian, are bound together by more than friendship.  Rose can actually enter Lissa's thoughts and emotions and feel what she feels.  For two years, they have lived on their own, with Rose protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, the undead, but they are finally captured and returned to St. Vladimir's Academy where they have to adjust all over again to royal intrigues, tons of homework, and having no control over their own lives.  As much as she dislikes being back, Rose recognizes that she needs the intense physical training she is getting from the incredibly handsome guardian, Dimitri.  That becomes even more evident when terrifying things start happening to Lissa, even in the safe world of the Academy.  Dark and edgy, Vampire Academy has everthing a young adult novel should have--conflict, a strong, sarcastic main character, and romance.  Vampire Academy is the first in a five-book series.  Reviewed by Mrs. Sams.

REALITY CHECK
By Peter Abrahams

Cody Laredo somehow has managed to go from a nearly perfect life--amazing girlfriend, good job, football scholarship potential--to a torn ACL, failing grades, and his girlfriend Clea shipped off to boarding school in Vermont.  Not yet 17, Cody drops out of school and takes a full-time job, floating through life without any goals.  When he hears that Clea has gone missing, he has little motivation for staying home.  He loads up his truck, withdraws some money from his account, and takes off for Vermont to look for Clea.  He somehow feels that a letter he receives from Clea, written the morning of her disappearance, holds the clues to her whearabouts. 
      When Cody arrives at Clea's fancy school, he soon learns that he has no idea whom he can trust, so he shies away from telling anyone who he is.  The local police officer gradually gains a part of Cody's trust, but the shooting of Clea's beloved horse Bud in the school's stables, along with other weird occurrences, put Cody on his guard, and lead him into an investigation he alone could do.  Reality Check, on this year's Tayshas list, is a suspenseful crime novel with an appealing teen protagonist.  ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

by Carrie Ryan

       Mary lives in an insulated world where, for all she knows, her village is the only one left in the world.  Beyond the fences surrounding the community is nothing but forest where the Unconsecrated, the undead, wander, moaning and hungering for the flesh of the living.  Ruling the village with ironclad rules and traditions is the Sisterhood, who live in the cathedral in the center of everything.  The sisters established the Guardians, men of the village whose job it is to mend and maintain the fences which have kept the townspeople safe ever since the Return.  And it is the sisters who decided in ages past how the infected are to be treated. 

       All her life, Mary has heard her mother's stories of life before the Return--stories of large cities with tall buildings.  Stories of the ocean, a body of water so vast that it disappears into the horizon.  She dreams of seeing that ocean someday, though it seems impossible.  She also dreams of a life with her childhood friend, Travis, even though he is betrothed to her best friend, Cass.  When her mother is bitten by an unconsecrated one day when Mary is not keeping close enough watch on her, her mother decides to leave the compound and search for her husband who had disappeared beyond the fence weeks before.  After that, Mary is rejected by her brother Jed and is forced to join the Sisterhood in the cathedral, since no man had spoken for her.  Mary feels angry and betrayed, but has no choices. 

       While in the cathedral, she begins to realize that the Sisterhood is keeping dark secrets about the history of her world, and she is determined to learn the truth and desires to look for the ocean more urgently than ever.  In an effort to keep Mary quiet and content, the Sisters approve a betrothal between Mary and Harry, Travis's brother, but before the marriage can be completed, there is a breach in the fence and the Unconsecrated overrun the village, scattering the townspeople in terror.  Mary, Harry, Cass, Travis, Jed, his wife Beth, and a small boy, escape down a fenced path into the forest, the Unconsecrated dogging their every step.  This dark journey away from everything they have ever known to be true, is a dangerous and eye-opening experience, causing the travelers to make heart-breaking decisions of life and death.  This story of a world ravaged by plague, is on next year's Tayshas list.     ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

      

     

INCARCERON
by Catherine Fisher

Here is a darkly fascinating tale about Finn, a young man who lives in a vast, metallic prison world of hunger, sickness, and teachery called Incarceron.  Finn has no memories earlier than three years before, when Gildas, the local wise man, finds him, but Finn is convinced he's from Outside, though the prison has been sealed for centuries. When the Comitatus, Finn's ragtag gang and family, raid another group, Finn captures a woman who has seen the tattoo on his wrist, and knows of the crystal key which also has the same eagle image. Gildas believes the key will unlock the way out of the prison.  He, Finn, Finn's oathbrother, Keiro, and Attia, an abused girl, begin on the the journey out of Incarceron, discovering multiple powers of the crystal key as they go.  For one thing, the key is a communication device to Claudia, the privileged girl on the Outside who holds the matching key, and is the daughter of the feared Warden of Incarceron.  While Finn and his companions make their perilous journey through the prison, Claudia is involved in an intrigue of her own, as she seeks to find a way into the prison to save Finn, and to avoid marriage to the weak heir to the throne.  This story is filled with twists and unexpected turns until finally the reader is left dangling with multiple unresolved plotlines.  This is a story begging for a sequel.  The London Times calls Incarceron one of the best fantasy novels written for a long time.  It certainly is one of the most imaginative and unusual.    ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

How to Ditch Your Fairy
by Justine Larbalestier

Imagine a world where most people have their own personal fairy--a fairy that performs a single random task all the time .  That world is New Avalon, where Charlie has a parking fairy and everyone knows it.  Anytime Charlie is in the car, the driver can automatically find the perfect parking place, no matter where they are going or what time of day it is.  Charlie hates her fairy, hates driving and cars, and hates smelling like gasoline.  More than anything she wants a cool fairy like her friend's shopping fairy, or like Fiorenze's boy fairy, which makes every boy her age adore her.  To get rid of her stupid parking fairy, Charlie has been walking everywhere for two months, without success.  Her determination not to ride in a car has caused her to be late to her sports school where there are so many rules and ways to get demerits, that she is constantly in trouble.  In desperation, Charlie agrees to meet with Fiorenze's mother, the world's greatest expert on fairies, in an effort to get rid of her fairy.  But things are going too slowly, so Charlie and Fiorenze agree to sneak a look at the ultimate fairy book written by Fiorenze's mother, and learn how to switch fairies.  Charlie could hardly wait to to have every boy in school drooling over her, but when it happens, she soon realizes that constant adulation is not all it's cracked up to be.  Fio and Charlie go to extreme lengths to ditch their fairies altogether in a hilarious, if far-fetched, comedy of errors.  This book is filled with Aussie slang, which is a little hard to get used to at first, but the glossary at the end of the book helps.  How to Ditch Your Fairy is a fun read from the 2010-2011 Tayshas list.
             --reviewed by Mrs. Sams