"Stargazer" by Claudia Gray

In this second book of the Evernight series,Bianca misses Lucas terribly. Butt hey cannot be with each other because Bianca is a vampire, and Lucas is Black Cross, a vampire hunter. Only allowed to see each other through secret meetings, how long can they stay a secret? Ghosts and wraiths have been showing up at Evernight,an otherwordly school, but mainly around Bianca. Confused and scared she runs to her parents, to find that the reason they’re after her is because she is the other half of a wraith. Now running to Lucas doesn’t sound like a bad idea. What should Bianca do, knowing that a lot of people she loves are in danger because of her?

Review by R. Biron

"Evernight" by Claudia Gray

Bianca always thought her life was normal, until her parents enroll her in Evernight, a creepy, expensive boarding school that just screams evil. Being the new girl isn’t easy, until Bianca meets Lucas. Everything changes the moment they meet. Thrust into this creepy school, with a guy that she likes that won’t even talk to her, Bianca feels pretty lonely. That is, until she gets asked to the Autumn Ball. At the ball, when she goes outside, she meets up with Lucas and everything is perfect, until Bianca’s vampire heritage makes itself known. Finally realizing that Evernight isn’t just a school, but a sanctuary for vampires, Bianca tries her hardest to keep it a secret from Lucas. That plan goes down the drain when Lucas sees her bite someone, and when he becomes her chosen. But as close as Lucas and Bianca get, Lucas has a very big secret. Once that secret is exposed, Bianca doesn’t know what to feel, only that she loves Lucas with all her heart, but is it enough to keep them together?

Reviewed by R. Biron

"Throne of Fire" by Rick Riordan

In the second book of the Kane Series, you would think that after banishing a crazed evil God that Sadie and Carter would catch a break right? Wrong. Sadie and Carter have been recruiting. Now the Brooklyn House of Life is full of teenagers and young novice magicians. They are now teachers, teaching their students to defend themselves against the God of Chaos; Apophis. But in order to defeat the Chaos lord, they need to find and revive the most ancient and powerful God, Ra. In order to find the ancient scrolls of Ra, Sadie and Carter must travel in the Du’at, the land of the Gods. Will they find and awaken Ra in time to defeat Apophis?

Reviewed by R. Biron

"The Red Pyramid" by Rick Riordan

Carter and Sadie Kane have lead relatively normal lives, apart from only seeing each other twice a year and living a life that the other wants. Everything goes downhill when their father Julius Kane, brings them to a museum and unleashes ancient Egyptian Gods. Suddenly, Carter and Sadie have not-so-normal lives. They find out that they have an uncle Amos and that they are the last in the blood line of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Thrust into a world of hieroglyphs and magic, life can get a bit hectic. Now as hosts for Gods, Carter and Sadie must find a way to defeat the horrible demon God Set, before their uncle and father lose their souls forever. As young hosts, they learn the magic and powers of the Gods, but will their experiences be enough to save their only family and the world?

Reviewed by R. Biron

"Everlasting" by Alyson Noel

Ever Bloom can see auras around people, read minds, and manifest anything she thinks of, but she doesn’t know why. That is until Damen, her long time love from multiple lifetimes comes along and teaches her everything about whom and what she is, an immortal. In the final installment of the immortal series, “Everlasting” Ever embarks on a solo journey to find out more about her destiny and what her meaning is, only to possibly find out she may have never been meant to be immortal.

Reviewed by C. Newberry

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Author Ransom Riggs' first novel, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a quirky combination of fantasy and vintage found photography. Jacob, the main character in this story, is a sixteen year old living in present day Florida. Throughout his childhood Jacob has a very close relationship with his grandfather, a Polish Jew and a survivor of World War II. An excellent storyteller, Grandpa Portman shares many of the events of his life with Jacob in this way, telling Jacob about his time spent living in an orphanage, fighting in wars, and surviving in the wilderness.

After his parents put him on a train out of Poland when he was twelve, Grandpa Portman grew up in an orphanage off the coast of Wales. He describes this place as a paradise, a place meant to keep children safe from terrible monsters, "on an island where the sun shined everyday and nobody ever got sick or died." When Jacob wants to know more about the monsters, Grandpa Portman tells him that they are "awful hunched-over ones with rotting skin and black eyes." Definitely enough to give a little kid nightmares, but it isn't until Jacob gets older that he begins to doubt the truth of his grandfather's tales.

Now, at sixteen, Jacob hasn't believed in Grandpa Portman's monsters for a long time and dismisses them as a fantasy version of the real monsters of his grandfather's childhood. "Monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms, marching in lockstep," the reason Grandpa Portman was the only one in his family to survive the war. What Jacob cannot believe in at all are the stories about the children Grandpa Portman claims to have shared the orphanage with. Children who were more than just peculiar. Jacob believes his grandfather's photographs of a levitating girl, a boy lifting an incredibly large boulder with one arm, along with many others to be fake, meant to make a little boy believe in fairy tales. However, when his grandfather meets a horrific and sudden death, Jacob sets out to the remote welsh island of Grandpa Portman's childhood in search of the truth.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt