Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Maddie and Julie's lives would never have intersected without a war.  But wars bring people together, and together this is their story....

Maddie has longed to make something of herself. She is mechanically minded having lived around motorbikes all her life. When the war comes her potential is spotted and her dreams are realized when she becomes an Auxiliary RAF pilot. She ferries planes, pilots and others from place to place.

Julie is of noble heritage; she is petite, blond and totally assured; she also speaks three languages.  Working in the same place as Maddie, they become unlikely friends after they use their combined skills to help the RAF take in a Luftwaffe pilot.  Maddie never thought a friendship would blossom, until they started spending more time together, telling each other their top ten fears, going on adventures, and realizing that cultural differences only make them more interesting.

But one night will change that....one airplane crash into Nazi-riddled France.  One girl caught as a supposed spy, the other one trapped until she can find her way back to England.
This is a book of a story within a story....two tales told and seen from two different perspectives.

Through the layers of story, characters spring to life. There is more to this tale than is immediately apparent. It is engaging and full of unexpected twists. understood did I fly through the novel.


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The Waiting Sky by Lara Zielin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you and your mom were caught up in a twister and only one could survive, who would it be?

This question may be a game to most but to Jane McAllister this is a real life dilemma.

Compared to the turmoil in her personal life, chasing tornadoes doesn’t seem so crazy to Jane. Jane is spending the summer working with her brother’s storm-chasing team away from her manipulating alcoholic mother.
Guilt at leaving her mom alone in Minnesota follows Jane as she photographs the physical destruction caused by tornadoes.
Despite her friends’ and brother’s attempts, Jane fails to see the parallel between a storm’s chaos and her own chaotic life with her mother.
Zielin does an excellent job of describing the reversal of roles between a daughter and her parent, and her portrayal of the mother's ability to manipulate her daughter is spot-on.

Distance doesn’t stop her mother’s emotional manipulation, and Jane is faced with some major decisions.



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The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Because I do love a good mystery, I really enjoyed the portion of the book where Blue and the Raven Boys were looking for their energy lines and making new discoveries in their search for King Glendower. There were layers to the mystery, enough to keep you guessing but not so much that I felt overwhelmed with confusion. The author does a great job of revealing just the right amount of information at just the right time, and there are some big surprises as the book progresses.

What really appealed to me most about this book was its ambiance. The story takes place in Virginia, and the setting really becomes a character in its own right. Additionally, each character has a distinct personality that’s just a little bit fantastic. They’re realistic characters, but slightly exaggerated. The story is contemporary and told without a lot of supernatural hoopla – certainly there are a lot of supernatural elements, but they’re presented within the realm of reality. It ends up coming together to create a specific kind of realistic-fantasy world; for me it was a perfect balance.


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Altered by Jennifer Rush
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This may not be the best literature, but it is a great story.

Something’s going on in Anna's house. Her father does strange genetic experiments in their farmhouse on four boys who live in their basement. As Anna gets to know the boys, she falls in love with Sam, and when an organization called the Branch threatens to take the boys away, they stage an escape and Anna goes with them.

They are on the run, and the secrets about the boys start to come out...


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The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media by Brooke Gladstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Gladstone is both narrator and visual tour guide, popping up throughout Neufeld's comic panels as both her contemporary self and camouflaged alongside historical figures.

The comic book format permitted me to read and learn about a subject I would not have attempted in a formal book format; the graphic format makes sense as a way to ease the "pain".

Beginning with the Incas, Herodotus, and the Acta Diurna of the Roman Senate, she wends her way to the present. The history’s always interesting, and her discussion on objectivity, and what psychological research has revealed about how people receive news and opinion is amazing.

One of the most intriguing sections deals with bias: commercial, bad news, status quo, access, visual, narrative, and fairness. This leads nicely into a discussion of war journalism. Throughout I was scandalized by the tidbits of information about falsehoods, lies, and tampering that goes on in the media.

This is definitely an interesting and easy way to read about a complex, interesting subject that has an effect on us all.


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A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is very well written but I didn’t enjoy it.
I was drawn by the interesting title and intriguing blurb on the back of the paperback. The plot had unexpected twists and turns and the characters behaved or reacted in unpredictable ways.

The characters were despicable and their motivations and desires were disturbing. Their lives were sad and full of despair. This is not a book you feel happy after reading.  However, I could not put it down nor leave it on the shelf after starting.  I had to keep reading to see where the plot took the characters and how the story resolved itself.

I stayed with it and I’m glad I did, even though it is not to my taste (too dark) it was worth reading.  I can see why it was so well reviewed.  It was good literature.


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Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a special book, one you’ll remember long after you have finished the last page.  It is not marketed directly to YA but easily will delight and inspire young readers.
It's 1987, and awkward 14-year-old June's favorite person in the world, her Uncle Finn, has just died of AIDS. Finn leaves her a message asking her to take care of his longtime partner Toby, whom June’s family blames for Finn’s illness. At first cautiously, then enthusiastically, June tries to fulfill Finn’s wishes, and discovers complicated parts of her family history that she’d rather not have learned.
We are witnesses to June’s dreams and insecurities. She searches for answers on how to heal her rocky relationship with her sister Greta; how to be the person Finn thought she could be; how to understand her parents; and how to recover from a broken heart.
The characters’ relationships are exquisitely complex and real.  The writing is descriptive to the point that you can feel June’s aches. This novel is full of emotion so have your tissues ready.


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