Two YA's

Jinx by Meg Cabot


Jean Honeychurch has bad luck. So bad, in fact, that she is known simply as Jinx. After casting a spell-gone-wrong on a boy she likes in her small Iowa hometown, Jean is sent to New York City to live with her wealthy aunt, uncle, and cousins and attend a prestigious NY private academy for the wealthy. There, Jean must try to fit in, get a handle on this magic stuff, and deal with a cruel and jealous cousin who is dabbling in the dark arts.

This was a really fun and quick YA-Paranormal-Chick Lit! I always enjoy Cabot's books.


If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America by Anne Kamma, Illustrated by Pamela Johnson

Home in Time for Christmas by Heather Graham

Home in Time for Christmas by Heather Graham

Melody Tarleton is heading home to Gloucester, Massachusetts for the holidays. She used to take so much joy in the holiday and her eccentric mother's abundant decorating, but this year she was not looking forward to it. On the way, Melody suddenly came upon a man in the road, hit a patch of black ice, and then the man himself.

Jake Mallory is from another time. Sent to the gallows for treason during the Revolutionary War, Jake suddenly finds himself thrown into the future and right in Melody's path.

I found this book light and entertaining but not something I would normally be into. I love Graham's suspense books and found this one good, but not a favorite.

Cold Rock River by JL Miles

Cold Rock River by JL Miles

Set in the early 1960's in rural Georgia, Cold Rock River tells the story of seventeen year old Adie Jenkins who finds herself pregnant and married to the handsome and philandering Buck. Adie realizes she needs to grow up in a hurry and sets off to find a place of their own, out from under her mother-in-law, Verna's, controlling finger. She rents a broken down cabin from a man named Murphy where she meets Willa Mae who becomes a close friend and confident. Willa Mae shares the diary of a young slave woman, Tempe, with Adie. For all of the heartache, loss, and trouble Adie experiences, she is able to read about Tempe's similar woes and how to persevere.

I really loved this story, the characters, and even the setting of the rural south. JL Miles is an author I have never read nor even heard of. I read this book as a buddy read and am so glad I did or I would have never discovered it.

Lots of little ones and two big ones!

Nancy Drew Girl Detective: The Demon of River Heights by Stefan Petrcha (Graphic Novel)

This is a modern day version of our old favorite girl detective done in a graphic novel format for the young hip independent-minded girls of today. It was cute and fun to read in this format, but at the same time not super exciting. I guess if I was a 9-12 year old, I would have found it more exciting!!

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

In just nineteen short minutes, the town of Sterling, New Hampshire was changed forever. Peter Houghton, bullied endlessly from day one of first grade on, cannot take the humiliation any longer. He walks into Sterling High shooting. Josie Cormier, beautiful, popular, dating the school's most popular hockey star, is knocked unconscious during the ordeal. Should she protect her status and reputation or help her one-time best friend Peter as his fate is decided through the trial that brings the town of Sterling to a standstill?

I was really engrossed in this book right from the beginning. No shocking ending like I usually get with Picoult (I kind of saw it coming) but enjoyable non-the-less.


The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

In 1977, an innocent and trusting sixteen year old CeeCee Wilkes falls for an older college boy named Tim Gleason. He comes to the diner where she works everyday and over time, earns her trust, adoration, and loyalty. Many years later, CeeCee no longer exists. She instead lives under an assumed name. The missing Genevieve Russell's body is discovered and the search is on for the missing baby she was carrying. Can CeeCee/Eve keep her secrets buried? Or should she come clean, destroying the idyllic life she has worked so hard to build.

I really liked this book a lot and will definitely try more by this author.


Cassie Binegar by Patricia MacLachlan

I read this book with one of my students about a young girl named Cassie dealing with the death of her father, her first crush on an older man, and the trials and tribulations of discovering just who you are.

The Drinking Gourd by FN Monjo

Wanted Dead or Alive: The True Story of Harriet Tubman by Ann McGovern

Bone Volume 1

Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville by Jeff Smith

All Night Long

All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz

When Irene Stinson was a teenager in Dunsley, she came home after curfew one summer night to find her police chief father and mother dead in the kitchen of an apparent murder suicide. Despite what the authorities believed, Irene felt that there was more to the story. Years later, when estranged ex-best friend Pamela Webb contacts Irene saying she has information, Irene, now an investigative journalist, thinks she will finally get to the bottom of what happened to her parents. However, when Irene returns to the small Napa Valley town, she finds Pamela dead and the body count mounting. Luckily she has the handsome and strong Luke Danner to help her find the truth and keep her safe.

Great YA Book

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Frankie Landau-Banks attends the same elite boarding school - Alabaster Academy - as her popular older sister Zada and her secret society member father, leaving her with big shoes to fill on campus. Freshman year goes by without Frankie being noticed much, but returning for sophomore year is a different story after a summer of filling out. Frankie begins dating the co-president of the secret society - The Royal Order of the Bassett Hounds, and ties to infiltrate the male only group by outsmarting them and out pranking them.

Frankie is a great modern-feminist role model. She is smart and beautiful but also cunning, brave, and witty. I really like Lockhart's books and will continue reading her work.