Rotters - Daniel Kraus

Joey Crouch has a good life in Chicago. He is a straight A student, plays the trumpet, and lives with his mom. Then his mom dies in a tragic accident. Joey is uprooted and sent to rural Iowa to live with his dad. His dad's house is littered with newspapers and books along with a rotting stench to it that will not go away. The kids at Joey's new school ask him what his dad does because he is supposedly a garbageman, but nobody sees him pick up any trash around the town. His biology teacher uses him as a human guinea pig in class every day. He ignores them and has to deal with his father burying his homework, his trumpet, or anything else that Joey might need for school. Joey must dig to get his possessions back. Even though he does not realize it at the time his dad is training him to become a digger. Diggers dig up graves to take the valuables that might lie with the dead. The first time he goes out with his dad he helps out more than he thought. Joey is able to get the grieving daughter away long enough so his dad can dig up the father's grave. This act earns him some respect with the other Diggers. As he accompanies his dad on more and more digs, he attends school less and less. Even when Joey does go to class the kids still tease him about his smell and what his dad does for a job. At one point Joey just snaps and decides to take his revenge on his biology teacher and two of the popular kids who harassed him all the time. After he gets his revenge Joey runs away with another digger named Boggs to California.

When I first saw the title I thought it was going to be a zombie book, but after reading the inside cover I found out it was not. This book takes you into the world of grave robbing, a place where many of us probably would not go. As I was reading Rotters, it seemed very similar to The Monstrumologist by Richard Yancey. I believe that readers who liked The Monstrumologist will enjoy Rotters, and vice versa.

T.B. 3/9/12

The Last Song

Ronnie who lives in New York City with her mother and her younger brother are traveling to North Carolina to spend summer time with her father. She has not spoken to her dad for about three years and she is not happy about spending her glorious summer without her friends.


During a first few weeks with her father, she does not have a relationship with him, her younger brother get just fine with their dad.


Ronnie meets Will, he has a passion for volleyball, they become friends and later fall in love. Will helps Ronnie restore her father-daughter relationship and her passion for music. Ronnie later on discovers that her father is very ill, he has cancer. She want to recuperate the days she did not talk to her father, she wants to help him during his finals days.

As the summer comes to an end, is time to go back to school she decides she will stay in North Carolina with her father. Will is very supportive of Ronnie and they make a few changes in their relationship in order to be closer to eachother during school time.

I really enjoy Nicholas Sparks, I enjoy reading romance novels with a twist at the end. I feel this book contain exactly that, a end that the reader will not expect. RPA

Reality Check By: Peter Abrahams

One of the main characters is Cody. He becomes a drop-out in High School. Cody was an active football player, because of an injury he can no longer play. He has been dating Clea, the richest and prettiest girl in school. Her father disapproves so when she gets a B grade on her report card she is sent to Hong Kong for the summer, then to an elite boarding school in Vermont. Meanwhile,, without football he cannot get into school so quits to work in the lumber yard where he had worked over the summer. When Clea disappears while horseback riding, Cody wants to search for her too. Cody traveled in his car with his duffel bag with his belongings to Vermont. Cody arrived at Clea's Dover Academy a few days later. The search for Clea had started and their was Sargent Orton involved, who seemed to be genuinely concerned. The search for Clea was called off after a snowfall. Cody is working as the Sargent's assistant when finds Clea's cellphone in the warming hut in the forest near the school. Cody crosses paths with Agent Brand after he happens on a bar and sees students from the school there. Bran, like Orton and at first likes Cody. Brand offers Cody $500.00 to go back Little Bend, Colorado at once as Brand believes Cody to be in danger. A very wonderful stable caretaker has shown Cody a ledger with various transactions in it. Cody, and Sargent Orton go back to the barn, where the ledger is now missing. Now the Sargent and Cody explored the cider house, where Cody believed Clea was hostage. Cody got locked in a closet, and duct tape was placed over his mouth when he got too close to the truth of what happened to Clea and to some of the horses. I liked the novel, and had no idea what would happen. The novel is a good read.
LD 3/5/12

The Dead of Winter - Chris Priestley

Michael Vyner lost his father and now has lost his mother. After her death he is taken to live with Sir Stephen, a friend of his father's, and now is his legal guardian. As soon as Michael arrives at Hawton Mere he begins to see strange things. He sees a woman in white along the road to the estate. As he is exploring, he sees a boy in the mirror that is not him. He hears strange sounds coming from a priest hole, where a priest died years ago. Michael even hears what sounds like someone running in the hallway outside his bedroom. As he finds out about the history of Hawton Mere he discovers that Sir Stephen's wife, Margaret, died in the moat surrounding the estate. Once he sees a picture of her he realizes that she is the one he saw on the road, and she is the one outside his window at night. What does the ghost of Margaret want? Why does is seem to only be Michael who can see the ghost and no one else? What other evil might be lurking in the halls of Hawton Mere Estate?

The book is set in Victorian England, as is the way that the characters speak. Don't let the language deter you. Once I got past the first few chapters it becomes a really good ghost story. I didn't want to put it down. The story keeps you interested and wanting to know what will happen next. This is a perfect book to read around Halloween, or when you just want to give someone a good scare.

T.B. 3/4/12

Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lish MicBride

Sam is going about his life as a fast food worker with a couple of pals who share his apartment and a girlfriend when he has a chance meeting with a very bad man. His life rapidly changes with people insisting he knows all about his powers. He didn't know he had any. He gets captured and thrown into a cage with a hybrid werewolf (female) who is being tested to determine her strength and her threat. In fact, that is exactly why Sam is there. You see Douglas is a very powerful necromancer who wishes to rule the world. Douglas is none too easy on the pair and it is clear they need to escape his grasp. They are surrounded by protections which seems to make that impossible. But with a little help from a cast of wonderful, quirky characters they get it done. There's a lot of humor in this book. Douglas beheads Sam's girl then reanimates just her head which is carried around in a bowling ball bag. Sam has a quick wit and sharp tongue. Ashley, a ghost of sorts, loves waffles and so it goes. The uncomplicated version of this story is that Sam meets and kills a very very bad man and meets a kick ass girlfriend. There is lots of action, nail biting scenes, excitement here. I highly recommend this to anyone at least 14 years old ( there is a little sexy scene in the story). JDW 3/3/12

Paranormal By:Kiersten White

This novel is about the Merging Paranormal Activities. In this novel, we see lots of paranormal activities and we are introduced to some paranormals.

This is the first novel in the series, so there is more to come.

Evelyn, or Evie is a teenager , who is normal . She can detect paranormal activities,, and she is an agent for the International Agency for the Merging Paranormal Activities. (A.I.C.P.) Evelyn works with two agents Lend and Reth. Lend and Reth attend the annual dance to observe.

During Evelyn's investigations, Evelyn discovers that danger is surrounding her.
The novel was intense in some places, but no matter what,I liked the novel. There's a lot I did not understand . Hopefully more will be explained in future books in the series. This novel is a great
start to the series, it explains a lot about Evelyn's beginnings in her life .

Rosie &LRD 2/27/12

Are You Going to Kiss Me Now? by Sloane Tanen

What would it be like to be stranded on an island? What would it be like to be stranded on an island with a bunch of skill-less celebrities? Such is the premise of this novel about survival - both in the wilderness and in Hollywood.

When Francesca hears that her father is having a baby with his new girlfriend during a separation from her mother, her writes a fictional story in which she's dealing with his death - a story that wins her a trip to Africa with a bunch of celebrities. All she has to do is document what happens, which seems like a dream come true until the plane crashes in the middle of nowhere. Now she's on a island with Jonah - a Christian pop singer, Cisco - a teen heartthrob, Chaz - a celebrity gossip columnist, Eve - a young celeb dealing with personal drama, Milan - a teen diva, and Joe the adult actor role model. As they try to survive on the island, the truth about each character comes to life as they deal with the thought that they might never be rescued. To cope with trauma, Francesca makes note of all of these soul baring revelations in pretend text messages to her friend at home (although there's no reception so she'll never get them, right?) Will the celebrities make it off the island or will nature be too much for these celebrities?

This is a cute novel that delves into the people's vulnerabilities and desire to keep up appearances, especially when you're a product of the public eye. The book touches on a lot of problems from drug addictions, homosexuality, affairs, illegitimate children, and simply what it means to be scrutinized by the public. I think it did a nice job handling the topics and having the characters grow on the island. At times it becomes boggled down by celebrity name dropping. Also, in the beginning Eve and Milan were interchangeable. I had a hard time remembering which female burned down the house and which one had a drug issue. Could that be commentary on female celebrities or weak character development, I don't know, but come the end of the novel they were a little bit more distinct. Besides those two, all of the other characters were nicely developed with clear motivation.

This is a quirky novel that explores not only the difficulties of surviving in the wilderness completely unprepared, but also the secret, extreme lives of some not-so-picture-perfect-celebrities. In a way it's a tabloid reader's dream novel - even if the celebrities are fictional. It was definitely a fun book that in the end is not all fluff.
MMK

Fracture - Megan Miranda

Eleven minutes, that is how long Delaney Maxwell was under the icy lake water. She lies in coma for six days with her parents and best friend Decker never leaving her side. After she wakes up everyone is astonished that she is alive. Her brain scans show something is wrong, but Delaney feels fine. Except there is this pull in her head. She can sense when someone is close to dying. She tries to ignore it, but the pull brings her to an elderly neighbors house the first night she is back home. She sees a figure going around the house and then her dad comes out and brings her back inside. When the neighbor dies the next day, her parents accuse her of having something to do with her death. Delaney says she had nothing to do with the neighbor dying, and her parents drop the accusations. As she catches up on school work and studies for finals she encounters Troy, another person who was in a coma, and woke up being able to sense when someone is about to die. Delaney discovers that Troy helps the elderly die quicker, instead of having prolonged suffering. She is horrified and tries to tell Decker what is going on, but their friendship is on the rocks. Mainly because he thinks she is with Troy, and he doesn't know how to tell her he is in love with her. When her friend Carson dies in her arms, Delaney begins to question why she is still alive and why someone with so much promise has to die so young.

I liked this book, and would put it in the creepy category. There were parts in the book that gave me chills down my spine as I read it. You really didn't know what to expect with Troy. One minute he is this nice guy who works with elderly people. The next he is causing them to die quicker. You do not know whether to hate him or like him. What would you do if you could sense when someone is going to die?

T.B. 1/29/12