Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

They say that every small town has it's secrets, and Cryer's Cross, Montana, is no exception. Toward the end of the school year Tiffany Quinn disappears. Most of the town helps in searching for her, and after five days they stop searching not finding her. The new school year begins with two new kids from Arizona joining the school. Kendall tries to make friends with Jacian, but he's being a difficult person to become friends with. Marlena on the other hand is very friendly, and makes friends with Kendall easily. A few weeks later her best friend since birth, Nico, goes missing. The police question Kendall implying she had something to do with his disappearance. They search for him, but do not find any trace of him besides his abandoned car. As the weeks go by Kendall keeps hearing Nico's voice coming from his old desk. Kendall thinks she's going crazy, but she thinks that if she listens to the voice she might find Nico.

Overall, I was disappointed with the book, and I don't say that often. The book had a good premise, and as I was reading everything seemed to drift farther away from the plot. After Nico went missing the author had Kendall yearning for his safe return for most of the novel. It was only toward the end that something actually happened. The story wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be.

T.B. 5/22/11

Black Bird by Kanoko Sakurakoji

Black bird is graphic novle that consist of eight volumes. Story and art by talented Kanoko Sakurakoji. Wonderful story and art work, if you are the romantic type.

Misao sees things that other people don't. Normally, the annoying monster would do harmless things. But on her sixteenth birthday, these creatures she sees take it up farther, trying to kill her. They would be the only bother, until demons have gone serious into killing her or taking her for their own. She's saved by a childhood friend from her past, Ky Usui, who just happens to be a demon himself. Avoiiding moments of death with Kyo protecting her, her own future turns out that she's a rare, "Bride of Prophecy". Which blood gives power and flesh offers immortality. The demons are set onto her, and it just happens that Kyo wants Misao as well.

If you love romantic mystery tails, I recomend this book for you.

World War Z by Max Brooks

Taking place about ten years after the zombie war World War Z recounts experiences from all over the world as the zombie plague spreads, and what is left of humanity fights back against the seemingly unstoppable zombies. It all starts in China where a little boy is bitten while moon fishing with his father. When Dr. Kwang Jingshu arrives the boy has bitten several others and is bound and locked away. After an encounter with patient zero, he calls and old army buddy who works Chongqing Medical University. The old buddy makes a call to the Chinese government who sends armed men from the Ministry of Health. They round up everyone in the village to ascertain who has had contact with the infected. Even though the rest of the world didn't see it at first, Dr. Kwang Jingshu knew this was not an isolated incident. The book then recounts stories from Tibet, Greece, Brazil, and Palestine about how the infection spread, and how the governments were fighting back. Slowly the armies all over the world were loosing ground and troops to the zombie plague. Survivors were scattered all over land and sea. There is even a United Nations on a boat floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. It's decided that the United States is the first country to fight back in. As the refugees fight back the tide in the war is turned. Once the United States is taken back, everyone spreads out to the rest of the world taking it back from the zombies. The world returns to something like it was before the zombie war, but it will never be the same again.

One of, if not, the best zombie book I've read. It was very human and emotional. Most zombie books and movies have a small group of survivors taking down the zombies, but World War Z had what was left of humanity come together and fight back. It's our will to survive and our will to fight that makes this book a really good read.

T.B. 5/18/11

THOSE THAT WAKE by Jesse Karp

There has been an increase in certain activities in one area of the world that is leading to the people either appearing vacant headed (zombie like) or becoming quite violent. The phenomenon is spreading. A few older teens, a school teacher, a researcher who has come to the area to study the phenomenon and its meaning, have seemingly not been affected. One went home from school, celled her traveling parents only to discover they no longer knew she existed, when she returned to school to document her existence, all evidence had vanished as if it never was. All these folks eventually find out that their lives have been expunged. They no longer have lives. They meet each other when they find themselves in some sort of surreal forested area with an assassin. No matter where they go, the end up back where they started.
All but one escapes back into the changed real world after the assassin is eliminated. They embark on a journey to get their lives back. In the end, it appears that at least two have done so, but perhaps only appears. What exactly is going on here, well it feels like it could really happen, or be happening right now. There is a lot to think about in this unusual futuristic, dystopic, scary novel. I enjoyed it a lot. A thoughtful teen reader should as well.

The Body Finder by Derting

This novel is a great romantic suspense story which combines the teenage drama of falling in love with the suspense of finding a serial killer.

Violet has a unique ability to sense bodies of people and animals that have been killed. She senses the "echo" that the body projects, whether it is a sound, sight, taste, or smell. In addition to the echo, the body leaves an similar "imprint" on the killer. She can then connect the imprint the killer wears to the echo she senses on the body, even though she's the only one who experiences the phenomenon. Luckily the Chief of Police is her uncle and trusts her ability. For the most part, though, she just finds animals. All of that changes, though, when she finds a body in the water, the first body of a man kidnapping girls and killing them. When the next girl goes missing, Violet thinks that she can use her ability to not only find the missing girl's presumably dead body, but also catch the killer. In the meantime, Violet has noticed that her best friend Jay is way more attractive than he was before the school year began, and she's not the only one who has noticed. Now she has to ignore the jealousy she feels towards the females swooning around him and figure out how to keep her feelings in check so that she doesn't ruin their friendship.

I really enjoyed this novel. I thought that it had an even mix of dealing with the hunt for the killer and typical teenage love drama. The novel also includes a few chapters from the killer's point of view which is a nice touch. While I'm not a fan of "paranormal," Violet's ability was really interesting, especially how it wasn't limited to humans and she would sense it with animals. This novel had a nice flow to it and really held my attention - the climax leaves just enough out to have you guessing what's going to happen in the last chapter. It was a great book, although the romantic aspect of it might dissuade boys from reading it.
MMK

Karma by Cathy Ostlere

This book is just amazing in my own eyes! Is a complete story, as described by the author in the beginning is "a novel in a verse". This story takes place in the 80's to be more precise in 1984. We meet Maya who is traveling from Canada to New Delhi, India, with her father and their goal is to bring her mother to rest in her homeland. Bapu is traveling with Maya, Bapu, Maya's father.
The very same day when they arrive to India, prime minister Indira Gadhni is murder, all of the sudden a chaos is created all over the city. Maya and her father are now trapped in this mess, and to make matters worse, Maya can not seem to find her father. With the help of a good friend, Sandeep, Maya tries to stay alive and make it home.

This story is all about suspense, adventure and also a mix of feelings sandness, at the end happiness surronds the end.

RPA

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin, illustrator Lisa Brown

Back during and after the Civil War, photography was gaining in both quality and popularity. Still, many photo's were less than perfect. Unexpected shadows appeared on many. Some photographers and mediums took advantage. They called the photos pictures of the dead and offered to hold seances to contact the soldiers killed in the war and see if their pictures appeared on a family photo, see if there were contacts of the auditory kind. In one family, the nicer boys did not return home. Only the darker brother, clearly with secrets returned. Quinn's mother went into deep mourning for her lost son William. Jennie was to have married William. Jennie had been able to feel her brother's presence and wanted to feel the presence of William as well. She wanted to help her grieving relatives find closure. So it was that she contacted a photographer/medium with mixed results but with a ghostly picture of the family with an angel looking over them. Jennie learns a lot about photography and what really happened to Will and Quinn when she becomes a spy, coming up with clues from the picture - she recognized the angel- an intercepted message, an incomplete letter/confession, a news article, until finally she knows the entire sad story of Will's death and Quinn's survival which puts her life in peril. This causes to leave her family home and set off on her own, rare for a young lady of that time. The book is illustrated with eerie sepia colored pictures with the shadowy figures very visible.

I enjoyed this bit of history, I think even if a reader was not a history fan, the story could be read for the ghostly mystery and enjoy it. JDW5/5/11

Beautiful Dead Series by Eden Maguire

This series must be read in order or it does not make good sense, even then there are problems. It is strictly for chic lit or beach read fans, its that light. I have read Phoenix and Jonas. Jonas is the first but not the first I read.
There is an overlord named Hunter who brings souls back to earth from limbo. He brings around 10 at a time for a period of around two years. During that time they are essentially undead but not really zombies. They can be seen by humans, they are quite beautiful in appearance apparently. In one place Hunter says no heart no blood. Hunter is also a beautiful dead having been shot some 100 years previously trying to protect his family. It was on his farm which is now nearly forgotten and rotting away. This is where the beautiful dead live and grow vegetables. I've no idea why Hunter has the power to bring folks back from the dead, how he chooses who to bring back or why they need to grow vegetables. They have that period of time to resolve whatever issues caused them to be caught in limbo. It is hard to resolve issues when you are not free to move around, question people, look for clues. Enter Darina, who just happens to know four of the beautiful dead, all recently killed in apparently tragic accidents, or maybe murder. Darina is sorely grieving her boyfriend of just a few months, Phoenix. She has driven her run down car out into the boonies while mourning and stumbled upon the farm and the beautiful dead. She is warned off, she refuses to stay away obsessed with the boyfriend and getting him back. Finally Hunter just seems to give up on scaring her away and says he will give her very limited time with Phoenix if she works to discover how Jonas was killed. She does everything all wrong but is constantly forgiven. She does endless forbidden things to see Phoenix and gets him punished by Hunter. Anyway, it goes on and on til finally the circumstances of Jonas's death are uncovered, he can move on. Darina still cannot move on, obviously the beautiful dead then ask for her inept help uncovering the truth about Arizona's death, and so it goes. This series is a fast read but not a very good one. JDW4/21/11