Sloppy Firsts

YA FIC MCC

When Jessica Darling’s best, and only friend Hope moves away, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the drama of the cliques she has so long fought to distance herself from.  Miserable and alone, Jessica must navigate through the ups and downs of high school while dealing with parents who don’t understand her and a vapid, wedding-obsessed sister. Armed with only her cynical perspective to get her through, Jessica’s must learn how to stand on her own two feet as she attempts to make sense of her new found feelings for Marcus Flutie, the boy responsible for Hope’s exile to Tennessee. Sloppy Firsts mixes hilarity with deep emotion to create a story that reads like an episode of MTV’s Awkward.

Before I Fall

 

YA FIC OLI

What if you died? But then you woke up and had to repeat the day of your death over and over and over again? And everyday you knew you were going to die and nothing you did could change it? 

Meet Samantha Kingston, popular, beautiful, charmed and set to relive Friday, February 12 and the horrible crash that took her life, for a soul changing and "life" altering week. Will the outcome ever change?

 

That Summer

 

YA FIC DES

This book was not only a page tuner but it had my attention from the start. Haven, a 15 year old girl who's parents just got divorced is living a not-so-fun year. Her father, a sports broadcaster has gotten married to the weather girl. Her mother, who is now with her new friend Lydia is wearing shorts and going dancing. Her sister Ashley, a heart-breaker is finally getting married. Everything is going too fast for this 6'0" girl. There is only one person who helps Haven: Sumner, one of Ashley's ex-boyfriends. How will this summer turn out?

Reviewed by Begonia, age 13 for the Summer Reading Club: Summer of the Unread 

What Ever Happened to Goodbye

YA FIC DES

Following her parents' bitter divorce as she and her father move from town to town, seventeen-year-old Mclean reinvents herself at each school she attends until she is no longer sure she knows who she is or where she belongs.

Mclean’s parents divorced two years ago after her mother’s extra-marital affair. She now travels from town to town with her father as he takes on manager positions at different restaurants. In each town, Mclean not only changes her name, but transforms herself into an entirely different personality. She’s been a drama queen, an over-achieving honors student, and a varsity jock. Finally in Lakeview, after meeting Dave, she suddenly starts using her real name, putting down roots, making friends, and tries to be someone she’s never been before: herself.

“The strangest thing about all of that was that, before, in my old life, I hadn’t been any of these things; not a student leader or an actress or an athlete. There, I was just average, normal, unremarkable. Just Mclean.”

But who is she now?

Jellicoe Road

YA FIC MAR 

Everything starts on Jellico Road. A tragic accident 20 years ago that has forever interwoven the life of 5 young people. Taylor Markham being abandoned by her mother at the age of 11.  A territory war at the Jellico School between the townies, the cadets and the school houses, led by Taylor who is now a senior. The disappearance of a dear friend who may have the story of Taylor’s past locked away in a secret manuscript. The appearance of a dark stranger with the key to unlocking it. And Taylor’s emotional journey to discovering both her past and future path down Jellico Road ....

Saving Francesca

YA FIC MAR

Francesca is working to save everyone but herself: Her mom Mia, is in a deep depression and doesn’t leave the bedroom, her father can’t seem to get a grip on the fact that the family is falling apart, her younger brother Luca, who needs help with homework and meals on the dinner table, oh yes, and all the girls at St. Sebastian’s school, where up until this year has been a boys only school. But add one toilet and 30 girls and presto you have a co-ed school where the boys are intolerable, the teachers are unsympathetic, and girls who are ready for a revolution. Normally Francesca has the unwavering support of her mother, but not this time.

“And I want to tell her everything. About Thomas Mackee the slob and Tara Finke the fanatic and Justine Kalinsky the loser and Siobhan Sullivan the slut. And I want to tell her about William Trombal and how my heart beat fast when he looked at me, but more than anything, I want to say to her that I’ve forgotten my name and the sound of my voice and that she can’t spend out whole lives being so vocal and then shut down this way. If I had to work out the person I speak to the most in a day, it’s Mia, and that’s what I’m missing”

Alone, scared and lost in a mounting sea of pressure, just who’s going to be the one saving Francesca?

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

YA SERIES REN

Angus: My mixed-breed cat, half domestic tabby, half Scottish wildcat

Thongs: Stupid underwear worn by odl Swotty Knickers, Lindsay. What's the point of them anything? They just go up your bum as far as I can tell. Full-Frontal Snogging: Kissing with all the trimming, lip to lip, open mouth, tongues . . everything (apart from dribble which is never acceptable). As taught to me by a professional snogger.

Follow along more in the journal of a year in the life of Georgia Nicholson, as she navigates a year of school, snotty girls, bra sizes, and of course, Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging!

The Lonely Hearts Club

YA FIC EUL

“I, Penny Lane Bloom, do solemnly swear to never date another boy for as long as I shall live . . . Sure there are some that seem nice, but the second they get what they want they’ll dump you and move on to their next target. So I’m done. No more dating. The end.”

Heart-broken by her first love Nate, Penny Lane Bloom is sick of boys and sick of dating. She starts the new school year vowing to never date again. She forms the Lonely Hearts Club, where the most important rule is very simple: No Dating! A few close friends are the first to join, but soon the club begins taking over the entire school. Is this really the end of dating at McKinley High or just the beginning of a dating revolution lead by Penny, who just may be the first to leave the club after finding a boy who just might be worth breaking the rules for.