Why We Broke Up

Why We Broke up, a novel by Daniel Handler, shows exactly why hindsight is 20/20. Min, short for Minerva, our funny, intelligent narrator, is a junior in highschool. During her relationship with Ed Slaterton , a star basketball player and popular senior at her school, Min, who many people call "arty" or "different," can't help but keep a collection of "treasures" from their relationship in a box. Now, after Ed and Min are through, she decides to finally go through her box. Writing to Ed about each item, choosing to give him these treasures and finally put their relationship behind her, Min shares with us their story and the real reason why, in the end, they broke up.

A fresh, colorful novel filled with illustrations by Maira Kalman, Why We Broke Up is great for readers looking to change things up.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt

Blink & Caution

Blink & Caution, a novel written by Tim Wyyne-Jones, is a story jam-packed with suspense. The novel's main character, a teenage boy known as Blink, finds himself in a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Living on the streets, Blink's best technique when it comes to getting breakfast is discreetly taking leftovers from outside hotel rooms, eating the remnants of someone else's meal. Today, however, Blink stumbles upon a mysterious crime. Four suspicous men leave room 1616 and toss the room key aside on their way out. By entering the trashed hotel room and taking over five hundred dollars and a Blackberry left inside, Blink involves himself, a street punk and a thief, in a web of intrigue he couldn't possibly imagine. Very soon, a seemingly chance meeting with Caution, another teen running from a past she'd rather forget, will change everything for Blink.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt

Breaking Night

Breaking Night, a memoir by Liz Murray, tells the harrowing story of Liz's own "journey from homeless to Harvard." Growing up, there are many nights Liz and her older sister, Lisa go to bed hungry in their Bronx apartment after their parents' money goes to drugs instead of food. By the time she reaches high school, Liz has already been placed in a group home once because she will not attend school. Never wanting to go back, Liz decides to leave home for good, sleeping on the subway or in hallways when she is not staying with friends. After her mother loses her battle with AID's, Liz realizes she needs an education. Hoping to change her life for the better, Liz applies and is accepted to an alternative high school where she completes four years of high school credits in only two years, while homeless. Well on her way to success, Liz isn't finished yet. Determined to reach her goals, she applies to Harvard and for a New York Times scholarship. An incredible true story, Liz Murray's childhood and teen years are quite a rollercoaster ride. I highly recommend this book to anyone in need of some inspiration.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Stolen
By Lucy Christopher
Gemma didn’t want to go on another trip, in another airport, to another city that wasn’t home in Great Britain. A simple escape to get coffee and get rid of her parent’s expecting gaze turned into the worst decision of her life. Coffee with a handsome stranger in an unfamiliar surrounding led Gemma to her kidnapping.
When Ty steals Gemma from the airport and takes her to the Australian outback, Gemma expects the worse; solitude, rape, murder. What she gets in a surprising relationship with a man she is supposed to hate. Through loneliness and curiosity, Gemma tries to overcome her fear and learn about her kidnapper, so she can try to escape. But what if she doesn’t want to anymore?
Follow Gemma through a suspenseful, heartbreaking journey to a barren wasteland she learns to call home, with someone she wishes were a monster. Though it is wrong and scary, you and Gemma will become close to Ty and his sandy paradise, until the inevitable happens. You will be emotional fixated to Stolen so you feel like you’re getting kidnapped too.

Reviewed By Sydney Bernier

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely
By Melissa Marr
Aisilinn has three rules when it comes to faeries. Don’t stare at invisible ones. Don’t speak to them. And don’t attract their attention. Her gram has warned her since she could understand her Sight of invisible faeries that they are dangerous creatures not to be messed with. She has given them their space and they have ignored her, until now.
Aisilinn begins to notice faeries following her, even to her safe-haven at her best friend Seth’s house. When one named Keenan approaches in a glamour, or human disguise, and tries to woo Aisilinn, she knows this can’t be just a random faery seduction. Another faery, Donia, and her faery dog, Sasha, take interest in her as well, trailing her everywhere. They want her for something and won’t stop until they get it.
Quickly Aisilinn realizes that the rules she has played by all her life no longer apply and won’t keep her safe. Keenan and Donia know the new rules and will use them against Asilinn to achieve their opposing goals. Seth works with Aisilinn to try to keep her safe and away from the Summer King’s temptations, but mortal love can only go so far. This novel about folk lore faeries and love twists the reader’s heart and can’t be put down.
Reviewed by Sydney Bernier

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Impossible
By Nancy Werlin
There are three tasks that the daughters of Fenella must complete in order to break their curse: make a sweater without seams or needlework; plow an acre of land between salt water and sea strand with a goat’s horn; and sow the land with one grain of corn. Each generation has failed, and now it is Lucy’s turn to try, or succumb to the madness that has taken her family’s minds.
Lucy Scarborough has everything going for her, despite a crazy mother who abandoned her the day she was born. Her best friend Zach is coming back from college, she has a prom date and possible boyfriend, and loving foster parents. But everything changes when she finds herself pregnant at seventeen and realizes she must do the impossible tasks given to her to save not only herself, but her child from eternal misery.
Impossible by Nancy Werlin is a beautiful novel that shows how strong love and family can be, even when being confronted by an ancient foe. Lucy, Zach and her step-parents try to prevent the inevitable to save the next generations of Scarboroughs from going insane and becoming a slave to evil.

Reviewed by Sydney Bernier

Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Darkness Becomes Her
By Kelly Keaton

Ari Selkirk has always been different. She survived the hurricane in New Orleans as a child, has moved between foster families, and has silvery-white hair and teal eyes. Ari finally fits into a foster family that really cares for her, but can’t shake the feeling something is wrong, so she begins to unravel secrets to her past.

Ari travels to a mental hospital in Louisiana to collect her mothers’ personal belongings. She finds a message from her dead mother warning her to run away and never look back; never figure out who she really is. Ari knows all the clues in this box are pointing to their old home in New Orleans, and even further, to the desolate, abandoned area beyond called the Rim. Upon her arrival there Ari meets many strange characters that make her realize all the stories and rumors about the Rim are true.

Ancient and powerful families, curses, and even Greek gods are threatening Ari in this gripping novel where voodoo and mythology collide. As Ari and her new friends from the Rim work to figure out her curse, you will become entranced in the beauty of the deep south and fall in love with Ari’s harsh sarcasm and bravery. But just how far will friendship and vengeance take Ari when a force of nature is trying to cut her down and win her power?
Reviewed by Sydney Bernier