A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

A Monster Calls is a compelling and deep story centered around a young boy, Conor, and his mother’s fight against cancer. Conor’s mother is not accepting her treatments very well and Conor will very soon have to come to terms with a very likely outcome. Then one night Conor is visited by a monster, a monster that means not to harm Conor, but to help him. The story is inspired by an author who was not able to write the book herself which makes it that much more captivating and powerful. The book is very imaginative and paired with the ominous and intense illustrations it feels like reading during story-time again.

Reviewed by David Downes

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Victor Mancini is a sex addicted med-school dropout who pays for his mother’s deteriorating condition by working at a colonial theme park and with money that he scams other people to give him. His risky scam includes intentionally choking on food at restaurants so that someone will save him and then, feeling responsible for his life, start sending him money. He justifies it by making those people feel better about themselves by giving them a sense of heroism. He also plays savior at the hospital his mother stays at, however he doesn’t use his medical training to do it, for this is a different kind of hospital. This hospital takes care of the elderly who have lost their minds. Thinking he is the person who ruined their lives, they unload their burdens by blaming him to give closure to their problems. Chuck Palahniuk shows his brilliance, once again, at orchestrating an edgy novel with multiple subplots that all culminate into a mind-bending, psychological thriller based on cognitive reality.

Reviewed by David Downes

In Kelly Keaton’s Sequel to “Darkness Becomes Her”, “A Beautiful Evil” follows up on Ari Selkirk’s journey to overcome the curse that was put on
her family so long ago by The Greek Goddess Athena. While trying to keep her powers under control, Ari travels to Mt. Olympus where she is set on
destroying Athena, but In order to beat Athena, Ari must unleash the very thing she’s trying to keep inside: The power of Medusa.

Review By Cheyenne Newberry

The Edumacation of Jay Baker by Jay Clark

Jay Baker is having a very complex and interesting freshman year. His parents are finally having a “trial separation” after months of a noticeably failing marriage. He is caught between feelings for his best friend since grade school, Cameo, and his new dream girl, Caroline. On top of that he is constantly in trouble at school because of his former friend who is adamant on finding new ways to express his belief about Jay’s sexuality and Jay is fed up with it. It’s a great novel with many pop-culture references and many fun made-up words. Jay is a very relatable teen surrounded by a diverse slew of characters that help remind you that your life may not be too different from others’.

Reviewed by David Downes

Water for Elephants

Jacob Jankowski is asked to step out of class. With only a few weeks until his final exams at Cornell University, after which he will graduate with the class of 1931 and join his father’s veterinary practice, he is nervously wondering what he might have done wrong, even fearing expulsion. However, the true reason he is standing before Dean Wilkins is far worse. Both of his parents were killed in a car accident.

After burying his parents, Jacob finds out the bank has taken ownership of his parent’s home. He returns to Cornell for his exams, but does not complete them. Instead, with no place to go and not a penny to his name, Jacob runs away.

Unwittingly altering his life forever, Jacob, hungry and with feet covered in blisters, jumps aboard a passing train, having no idea that it is, in fact, the train of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a circus. Once he meets Uncle Al, the boss, Jacob becomes the circus’ veterinarian, caring for all of the animals, including lions, tigers, giraffes, and the horses belonging to the beautiful Marlena, a star performer. Immediately enamored, Jacob soon finds out he must be very careful- Marlena is the wife of August, the equestrian director with a violent reputation.

Only a few months later, Jacob stands shocked and terrified in the menagerie tent, his eyes desperately seeking out Marlena, but equally fearful they might land upon August, disgruntled and dangerous. All the animals are loose- tigers chasing people, zebras and giraffes stampeding in fear.

Culminating in the terrifying fall of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth and told from the perspective of a ninety-three year old Jacob, living in a nursing home after
his wife precedes him in passing and none of his five children offer to have him move in with their families, this novel written by Sara Gruen is a remarkable
must-read.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt

Catching Fire

Catching Fire, written by Suzanne Collins, the second installment of the Hunger Games series, picks up where we last left Katniss and Peeta- their return to District 12. Although she is now living comfortably in her new home in her district's Victor's Village, she and Peeta will soon embark on the Victory Tour, visiting the districts of each of the fallen tributes from the 74th Hunger Games, all of which will be expected to meet these two victors with admiration and applause, another cruel display of the Capitol's power and control. However, a startling and threatening visit from President Snow leaves Katniss desperate. She must prove that she and Peeta are truly in love or else the consequences for themselves and all the people they care about will be disastorous. As a result of her fateful decision in the arena, taking out those nightlock berries, a fire has started among the other districts, a fire that reeks of potential rebellion, one that Katniss may not be able to stop.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt

The Carbon Diaries

The Carbon Diaries, a two-book series written by Saci Lloyd, begins in the year 2015. Rising temperatures and environmental disasters cause the UK to make a drastic change- carbon rationing. In an effort to lower carbon emissions, each citizen is given a carbon card and is limited to 200 points per month. This limits how much fuel and electricity you can use and has far reaching effects on everyday lives. This pre-apocolyptic fiction novel, told through the diary of Laura Brown, a london teenager, is a scary possibility of what the future might hold.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt