Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An unexpected and totally enjoyable find.
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell
A ghost story, a relationship story, a mystery, all rolled into one. Iris finds herself haunted by the spirit of a boy named Elijah who disappeared years ago. Why did he pick on her to haunt? What is the mystery behind his disappearance and why the secrecy when she begins to ask questions?
Pursuing this mystery, Iris uncovers years of secrets some involving her father. Mitchell packs a lot into this novel and keeps the suspense from page to page.
So, what exactly did happen?


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The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman
Juvie is not a good place to be. Arjay, Gecko and Terence are serving time for one type of offense or another. Douglas Healy needs boys to live in an experimental halfway house; the three agree. Rules are simple: live with Doug in an apartment, go to therapy, get good grades, do community service.
But, when Terence tries to sneak out, the other two boys get into a fight trying to stop him. Doug intervenes and ends up unconscious. The boys steal a car and get Doug to the hospital. Then Doug doesn’t come back to the apartment! Why? Turns out he has amnesia. What are the boys to do now? No one wants to admit to the authorities they are on their own. How can they help Doug and stay free?
You’ll develop a relationship with the boys and their struggle.



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Something Rotten by Alan M. Gratz


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Something Rotten
by
Alan Gratz
________________________________________
Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark – namely the Copenhagen River which is so polluted that it smells. This is the first of many clever tie-ins to Shakespeare in this loose contemporary retelling of Hamlet. If you’re not a Shakespeare fan, don’t worry, the story carries itself.
This charming, witty novel opens with the death (perhaps murder) of Rex Prince head of the Elsinore Paper Plant. Hamilton Prince, the heir apparent to the Prince family fortune, has gone a little crazy since his father's death and his mother's remarriage to his uncle. Enter Horatio, Hamilton’s best friend who is tasked with finding out who murdered his father.
Horatio has a cocky way about him and a barbed tongue reminiscent of many teens. You will love him; he will soon become your favorite protagonist.
The many parallels to Hamlet are interesting, but Gratz wisely avoids producing a carbon copy of the tragedy. So enjoy and see if you can figure out the mystery.



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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A Swedish suspense story. Stieg Larsson was a journalist and agitator. He lectured on right-wing extremism and racism. He lived with the love-of-his life, Eva Gabrielsson, for over 30 years. They never married because marriage required registering and they feared this would lead to them being found and attacked by his right-wing enemies.
As a form of relaxation Stieg took to writing. He finished three novels and was taking these manuscripts, packed in WalMart bags, to a publisher. He never made it; on the stairs outside the publisher he had a heart attack and died.
The publisher read the manuscripts anyway, liked them and published the Millennium trilogy, as the books were called. They were an instant and huge success of international proportions.
Now the plot thickens, Stieg left no written will, so according to Swedish law, Stieg's estate was inherited by his father and brother. His partner of 32 years got nothing! This sparked a dispute between Eva Gabrielsson and Stieg's relatives. She claims that they "were never a part of our lives" and that they are not the right persons handling Stieg's estate.
A fact complicating the matter is that Eva has the laptop with the partly finished script for the fourth book in the Millennium series. And she will not publish the script unless she is given the full rights to manage the other three novels in the series, the novels which she and Stieg worked with together. However, Stieg's father and brother have not been willing to agree, and this has resulted in a stalemate. So what will happen next?
But wait, you think this is a plot line for a novel…… think again. This is the truth surrounding Stieg Larsson and his world acclaimed books that will soon be made into movies.
You can read the whole true life story in Time Magazine, May 24, 2010
And you can read the 3 Millennium books at the library
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo

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Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Thirty-three times. That's how many times she called me as she was dying alone in a motel room. Thirty-three times that I didn't answer the phone.
Disturbing, harrowing, sad…. The story of two girls, each enabling the other’s own eating disorder. Cassie is now dead and haunting Lia; Lia feels guilt over her friend’s death which causes her self-destructive behaviors to accelerate. As Lia's weight plummets, her parents, step-mother, and therapist all seem powerless to help. Wintergirls is a gripping tale of one girl's struggle with body image.

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Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I love Shakespeare and all his works. I was excited to find this book and see it touted as a best seller. But, it didn't live up to my expectations. References to 1600 characters left me addled, I couldn't enjoy the book with all the names and relationships I had to keep straight. Also, how does the protagonist just happen to buddy-up with someone who has the means ($) and expertise to get her back and forth over the Atlantic while eluding the police on both sides of the ocean! Come on!!

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