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The Countdown (The Taking #3) by Kimberly Derting

7/13/2018

The Countdown by Kimberly Derting
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In this final book of The Taking series, Kyra is taken (again, but this time by humans!) and Tyler and her father have to track her down with a little help from the survivors of the Blackwater Ranch attack. Kyra manages to escape, all on her own, and she and her friends reunite just in time to solve the mystery of why they were all taken and returned by aliens in the first place.

Full disclosure: I had read the first book, The Taking, but not the second book, The Replaced, so I knew the basic premise, but had missed some of the storyline—particularly what happened at Blackwater Ranch and the love triangle with Simon and Tyler. The love triangle was unnecessary and badly executed. No reader could possibly believe that Simon could have ever taken Tyler’s place in Kyra’s heart. Ever. The ending was bizarre and contrived. It made me sorry that I’d ever started the series in the first place. The author could have ended the series in a number of ways, any which would have been a better explanation than the one she went with. It left me with more questions than answers, and not in a good way. I enjoyed the first book, but it should have ended there.

Recommended for gr. 7-12 in libraries where the first two books are popular; optional purchase otherwise.

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Two Summers by Aimee Friedman

11/28/2016

Two Summers by Aimee Friedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summer Everett is ready to have the time of her life, spending the summer with her father in France. As she is getting ready to board the plane, her phone rings, and at that point, her life splits into two scenarios. Down one path, Summer turns her phone off and doesn’t answer it, boarding the plane to France, spending the summer exploring France with a handsome waiter named Jacques while her father is in Berlin for business. Down the other path, Summer answers the phone and the trip is called off because her father has to go to Berlin for business. In both scenarios, Summer discovers a passion for photography, romance, and a family secret that has been kept from her for years.

I truly enjoyed the “what if?” nature of the two plots. Admittedly, the summer spent in France was far more interesting and exciting, because Summer spent her time sightseeing, tasting new foods, and flirting with a cute French guy. The summer spent at home started out badly as she discovered that her best friend had been waiting for Summer to leave so that she could hang out with a different crowd and go to parties and have fun without her. Once Summer started taking her aunt’s photography class, however, she befriended people with similar interests, and learned that there was more to life than simply doing what she’d always done. The family drama was pretty obvious from the start, but it was interesting that it was revealed to Summer no matter which path she took. I wasn’t sure how the author was going to end things, so I was pleasantly surprised by the events in the Epilogue. Until then, I wasn’t sure which path was the one that Summer had actually taken—not that it mattered; I just wanted her to have a happy ending.

Grades: 7-12
Genre: Realistic, Romance, Family
Characterization: Very good
Literary Merit: Very Good
Recommendation: Recommended

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Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

11/28/2016

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stick with this one. Andi was hard to like for the first part of the book, but once she was transported to revolutionary Paris, things got intense and I couldn’t wait to find out how she was going to get back home.

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Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

9/2/2016

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a very strange book. I mean, very strange. I like quirky books with quirky characters, but this was beyond quirky. Weird. Definitely weird. And strange. I can't even.

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Need by Joelle Charbonneau

7/7/2016

Need by Joelle Charbonneau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Creepy experiment with social media exposes students' differences in how far they are willing to go to satisfy their every desire.

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Rule of Thoughts by James Dasher

3/10/2015

In this sequel to The Eye of Minds, Michael, who discovered that he was a tangent at the end of the last book, has now woken up in someone else’s body. Kaine, the evil cyber-terrorist who is also a tangent, is trying to create a race of tangents inhabiting human bodies. Michael and his friends, Sarah and Bryson, join forces once again to try to stop Kaine before the tangents take over the world.

For reluctant readers or teens really into gaming and virtual reality, I’m sure this book will hold their interest. It has not managed to hold mine. I do not feel connected to any of the characters, to their virtual reality world, or to their mission. I just don’t care to find out how the series ends because none of it matters to me. While I appreciated the first book for its action, its adventure, and its ability to hook reluctant readers, this book falls short on all fronts.

Recommended as optional purchase for gr. 7-12.

The Taking by Kimberly Derting

7/15/2014

When Kyra wakes up behind a dumpster at the Gas ‘N Sip, she has no idea that she’s been missing for 5 years. For Kyra, it seems like just yesterday that she won the championship softball game and was driving home with her dad. In fact, Kyra is still wearing the dirty softball uniform with the farmer’s tan she got from practicing so much, her cell phone is still charged, and she has the same bruise on her shin that she got the weekend before. So how could she have been gone for 5 years? Her boyfriend, Austin, is now dating her best friend, Cat, and her mom is now remarried with a toddler, but Kyra feels like she’s still the same 16-year old who has been thrust into a world that’s turned upside down. Austin’s younger brother, who was 12 when she disappeared but is now 17 and has admitted that he had the biggest crush on her 5 years ago, becomes her biggest ally, helping her through all of the confusion. When the NSA starts looking for her and Kyra starts to experience unexplainable symptoms, she starts to wonder if her father’s explanation for her missing years might have some credence.

While Kyra is a typically self-absorbed teenager, readers can cut her a bit of slack since her world has so dramatically been altered. She has no memory of the past 5 years, and worse still, life has gone on without her. That explains why she’s a little irritable and whiny. The whole bloodborn pathogen plot twist is a little weak, however, it does serve to move things along to the cliffhanger ending.

Recommended for gr. 9-12.

After the End by Amy Plum

7/15/2014

Juneau and her clan have been living in the Alaskan wilderness since World War III left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation in 1984. When Juneau returns from a hunting trip and discovers that everyone has vanished, she leaves the comfort of the only home she has ever known to try to find her clan. What she doesn’t expect to find, however, is that World War III never actually occurred, and that her entire life has been based upon a lie. Juneau makes her way to Seattle with the help of the mystical Yara, the life force that guides everyone and everything in her clan. After an oracle predicts that Juneau will meet someone who will take her on a journey, Juneau meets Miles, a spoiled 18-year old who was expelled just weeks before graduation for cheating on an English exam. Coincidentally, Miles’ father owns the pharmaceutical company that is looking for Juneau, and Miles thinks that it will help him get back into his father’s graces if he can bring Juneau to his dad. Knowing that they need each other, the two set aside their prejudices (she thinks he’s stupid; he thinks she’s crazy) to work together to find Juneau’s clan.

This book surprised me. I was expecting a typical dystopian novel and instead discovered something completely different. Juneau and Miles were endearing characters in their own ways, and I enjoyed their banter as they were getting to know each other better. Yes, a romance developed between this unlikely pair, but it seemed to progress at a realistic, natural pace as it was born out of a growing friendship, not instant attraction. The ending is a complete cliffhanger, so readers need to beware that nothing will be resolved until the next book comes out.

Highly recommended for grades 7-12.

The Fury by Alexander Gordon Smith

5/11/2014

The Fury by Alexander Gordon Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was an ordinary Wednesday for most of the world, but for a small group of teens, the day turned out to be anything but ordinary. Suddenly, every time anybody got within 20 feet of them (including parents, girlfriends, boyfriends, best friends, or strangers), complete and total fury seemed to take over their bodies, and the teens ended up having to run for their lives or be ripped to shreds by the people possessed by the fury. It’s only when one of the teens who is being attacked, Brick, decides to ask the Internet why everybody wants to kill him that he realizes the problem is more widespread than he could have imagined. Brick posts directions for everyone running from the fury to come to the abandoned amusement park where he is hiding out, and once they are together, Daisy, Cal, Jade, Adam, Rilke, Schiller, Marcus, Howie, and Chris learn the source of the fury and what they need to do in order to stop it.

This book is incredibly long. It is also incredibly violent. Readers beware: there is a lot of killing, and some of it is very descriptive and gory. The showdown with the evil beast dragged on for way too long, and I’m not happy with how things ended with Daisy and some of the other “good guys.” In spite of all of that, however, I liked this book. Until the ending dragged on, it was a real page-turner, and I liked the use of different narrators—some of whom were very minor characters who died almost immediately. The development of the characters—especially Brick—was good, although I’m not sure why Rilke was chosen by an angel since she was so quick to turn evil. Maybe these questions and others will be resolved in the sequel.

Recommended for gr. 9-12.

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The Unbound by Victoria Schwab

5/10/2014

The Unbound by Victoria Schwab
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Plagued by nightmares since her near-deadly encounter with Owen, a sadistic History, in the previous book, Mackenzie is having a rough time not only keeping up with her Keeper job, but in trying not to go insane. She keeps seeing Owen, and not just in her dreams. When people start disappearing and it becomes clear that Mac was the last one to see them alive, she thinks that someone may be trying to frame her. Unfortunately, she decides that she needs to investigate and uncover the truth on her own, without the help of Wesley.

I hadn’t read the first book, The Archived, and I admit that this review may be tainted because of that. I did NOT know what was going on with the whole History/Keeper/Archive aspect of the story. Even worse, I felt like I SHOULD know since there were a lot of flashbacks to the Owen storyline of the first book. Mac wallows in her memories of what happened with Owen for about half of the book, so you’d think that I would be able to piece things together, but I honestly felt lost throughout the entire book. I had some students who raved about The Archived, so I feel as though it probably had potential, but I am not in the least bit inspired to read it after having read the sequel.

Recommended as an optional purchase for gr. 8-12.

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