Jane by: April Lindner

 

"Did you find out who set the fire?"  I whispered.

He nodded. "It's all taken care of.  There's nothing more to worry about."  I waited for him to say more but he was silent.

We have a few English classes that read Jane Erye every year and I wanted to review this retelling of Jane Eyre for them.  I think they would enjoy this book just as much, if not more than the original because of the modern setting.  I read this book back in 2010 when it was released, being a fan of classic retellings, I was thrilled that this one was written for a Young Adult audience. 

Summary:
Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance.

But there's a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane's much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide: Does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?

An irresistible romance interwoven with a darkly engrossing mystery, this contemporary retelling of the beloved classic Jane Eyre promises to enchant a new generation of readers. .

My Review:
Jane is a modern retelling of the classic Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre.   April Lindner takes a beloved character, modernizes her and spins a classic story with a fresh voice.  I loved Jane Moore the moment  I met her on page one, she is an incredible tribute to the original Jane.  This story surprised me at how faithful it was to the original, yet how perfectly set in a modern time made the story stand out on its own.  Jane Moore was just as independent, practical and plainspoken as Jane Eyre and just as lovable. 

Mr. Rathburn was just as brooding, mercurial and mysterious as our original hero Mr. Rochester. Yet, there was something different about Mr. Rathburn in the sense that I think he was a bit more vulnerable than the original but that just made him all the more captivating. 

I loved the Rock-Star element in the story, it was so fun and unique!  This story had me captivated from the beginning to the end. It made me immediately want to pick up my tattered, tabbed copy of Jane Erye to read again!   That is the same effect I hope it will have with students.   It was a wonderful tribute to a beloved classic novel and an enchanting story of loss, love and redemption.  I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

A fresh, urban twist on the classic tale of star-crossed lovers.
When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year,...more

Keep Holding On by: Susane Colasanti

 

Who doesn't run the other way when she thinks her life is being threatened?  Who doesn't fight to stay alive? Every single day of my life is a fight.  But yesterday, I gave up without even trying.  I want to keep fighting.  I really do.  I'm just so tired of how nothing ever gets better.

 

Chew.
Swallow.
Chew.
Swallow.
Don’t look up.

Lunch is the worst, but there’s no safe place at school for Noelle. Keeping her mortifying home life a secret and trying to ignore the kids who make her life miserable are Noelle’s survival strategies. Her emotionally distant boyfriend, Matt, isn’t the one she really wants to be with. But there’s no way she could ever be with Julian Porter.

When Julian starts talking to her, Noelle is terrified. It seems safer to stay with Matt than risk a broken heart. But when the bullying of a friend goes too far, Noelle realizes it’s time to stand up for herself—and for everything that makes her keep holding on.

 I am a big fan of Susane Colasanti, I love her books.  When this book came out recently it was greeted with mixed reviews.  I read it and I think it is a really great book that handles the "Big B" epidemic well.  Bullying is real and it happens in all schools, and turning away from it doesn't make it go away.  In this story, Noelle, is bullied and she is ashamed.
She is ashamed that she is poor that subjects her to the bullying.
She is ashamed that she has no back bone to stand up for herself or those around her that are also being bullied.
She is ashamed that her mother doesn't love her.
She is ashamed that she allows her "boyfriend" to keep her a secret.
She is ashamed to be who she is. 

This story can be any ones story.  It is real, it is raw and I feel it is a must read.

The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard

"Okay." She watched me walk around the river. "I don’t' know what you want," she said. "Sometimes you act like you love me, and sometimes you act like you couldn't care less."

I turned my back on her. I wasn’t in the mood to give her anything right then, to joke with her, to play our usual game. "Then I guess you'll always have to wonder," I said over my shoulder.

I read this book years ago, 2010 to be exact and when it was turned in the other day I picked it up gave it a quick read again and I remembered how much I really liked this book.

Colt and Julia were with each other for over a year, but nobody knew about it. Julia lived on Black Mountain Road, complete with mansions, country clubs and a picture perfect boyfriend. Colt lived at the bottom, a place they called the flats. They attended high school together but were far from being friends. The met up on accident one night at the river and a forbidden romance begins to take shape. With their secret building and weighing heavily on both their lives, Julia is in a car accident and dies and suddenly the secret begins to eat away at Colt. How do you get over someone who was never yours to begin with?

Not exactly Romeo and Juliet, Julia and Colt could have been together if they really wanted to, sure their parents and friends would have been upset at first but it was something that would have passed. So the question remains why? Why did they choose to keep their relationship this way? If Julia would have broken up with her boyfriend would she have been with Colt? And would Colt have even wanted to be with her?

 If they would have been together publicly, Julia would have never been at that party the night she was killed. And this is the guilt that has consumed Colt in the aftermath.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

 

"I figured something out. The future is unpredictable" (Epilogue, p. 213).

 

When Colin Singleton was a little boy, he was a child prodigy.  He read books about Aracamedies at the age of 4, he is a math whiz and loves to anagram.  Colin has another quirk, he has only ever dated girls named Katherine.  He has dated and been dumped by 19 Kahterines.  So in the wake of the K-19 Debacle, Colin's best friend Hassan convinces him to go on a road trip this last summer before college to take his mind off the break up.  With 10,000 dollars in his pocket and a goal to accomplish his "Euerka" moment, Colin and Hussan set out on an adventure of their lives.

 

John Green is the voice of a generation.  He writes witty, smart books for Young Adults and is an amazing writer and role model for our young men.

 

An Abundance of Katherines was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was also named one of the books of the year by Booklist, Horn Book, and Kirkus.

Under the Mesquite by: Guadalupe Garcia McCall

When Papi gives us the news
at the breakfast table,
Analiza and Victoria
stare at him wide-eyed.
Its been a year and a half
since Mami had her last
chemotherapy treatment,
and although most of Papi's
money has been spent
on the hope of saving her life,
the cancer has returned.

What can I say about this novel that has not already been said, other than I LOVED IT!
A novel told in verse is a powerful piece of literature.  It is a piece of literature that can reach all readers.  Mix that with a strong and hopeful message and you have yourself a notable book, a book that won five awards in its short release.

In Under the Mesquite, we meet Lupita, a teenage, Mexican girl who lives in Texas.  Life is good for Lupita until tragedy strikes her family in the form of cancer.  Lupita has a big family and with seven siblings, being the oldest means she had to grow up quick.  With her mother now sick, she needs to step up as caretaker of her kin and help her father raise her brothers and her sisters. All this while going to school and dealing with life as a young girl in high school.

Overcoming her obstacles, Lupita survives what life has thrown at her and helps her family get through their heartache and hardships while instilling hope in them all. Winner of the Pura Belpre, a prestigious award given to a Latino writer  whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth, McCall's contribution to Latino Literature is remarkable, and Under the Mesquite is an unforgettable story that will resonate with all readers and cultures alike.  It is about a human experience and one we can all relate to.

A Kid From Southie by: John "Red" Shea & Michael Harmon

"You can start by telling me why you didn't come home last night, and you can also explain why two men followed me  home after work and have been milling around the entrance to our building all day long."

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with living in Boston.  I wanted my parents to pick and move there!  I have always been a dreamer and in my mind I was going move to Boston, find Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block, marry him and live happily ever after. Ok, so that didn’t happen, however, I still love Boston and I love reading about Boston and this book A Kid From Southie was a compelling read! 

Aiden O’Conner is a high school senior, his father is a drunk and has abandoned Aiden and his mother.  Aiden's mother works in pubs, she barely makes enough money to support them. When he is approached by a childhood friend with a promise of easy money, he reluctantly gets mixed up with the Irish mob, who run South Boston.  Aiden is a talented boxer and if steered in the right direction has a promising future, but now that he is working as an enforcer for the mob he finds himself questioning who he is and his future. 

I loved this book!  It has a great plot and good characters.  You will empathize with Aiden as he makes mistakes and tries to find his way.

 

Southie= South Boston

 

First Comes Love by: Katie Kacvinsky

 

 

"Welcome to Phoenix," he says. He stares back at me with stubborn eyes, like I picked the wrong local if I'm looking for excitement, but I return the look because I think he's wrong.  He has a venturous side, I can sense it, but for some reason it's buried. ~Dylan

 

Meet Gray, like his name he is dark and stormy.

Meet Dylan, a fun-loving girl, who loves adventure and is full of life and light.

They are exact opposites.

Told in alternating points of view, what starts off as an unlikely friendship, turns into an easy friendship, admiration, and respect.  Falling in love was the easy part for these two but with secrets, pasts and insecurities sometimes staying in love is hard to do. 

 

I liked this book because it was told in alternating points of view, you are able to see in the minds of both characters and are able to form your opinions about them better this way.  I love books told in first person POV and in alternating POV, its almost like reading a diary!

 

I recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction, this duo develop a slow friendship which makes this book much more realistic than others.

 

 

 

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Sass & Serendipity by Jennifer Ziegler

"It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do."~ Jane Austen, Sense & Sensibility

In this modern day retelling of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility, we meet Gaby and Daphne Rivera, two sister who are polar opposites of each other. Still reeling from their parents divorce, the girls and their mother find themselves homeless after a crisis hits them hard.  

Loosely based on the Austen original, this book is a quick and fun read!  What I like best about this book (besides being an Austen re-telling) is that it is set in TEXAS!  I love books that are set close to home, it makes them all the more real for me.

I love Jennifer Ziegler!  She is a wonderful writer, she has penned two other novels: How Not to Be Popular and Alpha Dog, both are also available in our library.

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

"Though no official cause of death has been released by the coroner's office, the deli owner who found the body, Michael Garza says, her throat was cut open.  Police have not yet located a weapon..."

The reason I picked the above quote is because "Michael Garza" is my son!  I won an auction a few years ago and his name was mentioned in the book!  YAY!!!  :)


With The Mortal Wars now over, Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. So who is murdering Shadowhunters in Valentine’s name?  

Cassie Clare knows her craft!  Her books lure me into a world I wish I could lived in!  I am always left wanting more!  I could never get enough of Jace, Simon, Alec and Magnus and Clary and Isabelle are strong female characters who have their own brains and stand up for themselves.   The world she created in the Mortal Instruments is addicting!  It is torture to wait year after year for the next installment!!  There was a two year break between City of Glass (2009) to City of Angels (2011) and we mega-fans felt it.  Luckily, City of Angels was worth the wait.  It did not disappoint and was full of twists and turns, some shocking, some pleasant only the way Ms. Clare can spin it.  

This story, picks up right after City of Glass ends and the reader is given a summary of what has happened. We are given the story through the eyes of Jace, Clary and Simon!  I love that Simon finally has his day! I love Jace, of course, but Simon is my favorite character and I am happy he is finally given the attention I feel he has always deserved! 

This book could be read as a standalone novel but it is my recommendation to read the first three that way you will be up to date and know exactly what has transpired in this world thus far.

City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass 
All excellent, excellent reads!!

A movie is in the works now!  Casting is complete and filming starts August 2012!!!

Northanger Alibi (The Jane Austen Diaries #2) by Jenni James

"So you read Twilight?"  I asked him. "And who had to bribe you to do it?"
  

Jenni James wrote a book about me!!!  In Northanger Alibi, the second installment of The Jane Austen Diaries, we meet Claire Hart: a quirky, funny, crazy Twilight obsessed fan girl! Her knowledge of all things vampire related is second to none!!!  She is thrilled when she is invited to visit dreary Seattle, WA with family friends for the summer, a city she swears vampires and werewolves have to lurk!  Alas! She meets Tony and when he seems to know what she is thinking, she is certain she found herself her very own Edward Cullen!!  

In this modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Claire takes her own epic journey on her first summer away from home.  In the original Northanger Abbey, Catherine (the main character) is obsessed with The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, in Northanger Alibi, Claire is obsessed with Twilight.  It’s perfect!

The characters are a quiet true to the originals Catherine like Claire is very silly and naïve, yet true to Miss Austen’s female leads, she is strong willed and confident. 

This book is hilarious! I love all things Jane Austen and I love all things Twilight and this book meshed my two loves brilliantly! 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

 “But it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he has Cassius note, ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves.” 

There are very few books that will stick with you for a long time.  Very few books that will make you laugh, make you giddy, make you cry, make you ask questions, make you mad and make your heart hurt, really hurt.  Few books will take you on an emotional roller coaster that will leave you breathless in the bitter end because the characters become so real, so fast that you love them and feel what they feel.  The Fault in Our Stars did that to me.  It is one of the best books I have ever read….EVER!!!

 John Green does it again!  In his latest Young Adult novel we follow Hazel Grace a 16 year old cancer patient who has been fighting since she was 13.  She doesn’t have many friends and keeps to herself. One day at her support group she meets Augustus Waters and they start to hang out.  Hazel still wants to keep her distance because she’s afraid of the pain she will cause him when she finally succumbs to the disease.  Augustus Waters has different plans.

There is a reason John Green is the voice of a generation, he is amazing, his work is amazing and The Fault in Our Stars is his best yet!

Wrecked by Anna Davies

“Well, that’s where our miscommunication lies. Because it wasn’t all right that you saved her. I wanted her soul. I wanted all their souls. But I’m letting you off easy,” ~ Sephie (The Sea Witch)

In a nut shell, this is a modern retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid in reverse!

I, of course loved it!

Miranda and her little brother move to Whym Island after the tragic death of their parents.  They move in with their grandmother who because of her status in society the two kids have no problems fitting in.  That is until tragedy strikes this small town again, but this time at the hands of Miranda.

Miranda and her friends are sailing when a fire destroys her boat and takes the lives of several of her friends. Miranda is saved from the water by a mysterious boy.  Sound familiar?  Yes, it gets better!   

Her guilt consumes her and she is ostracized from her friends at school, she takes to the sea for solitude.  Here she meets the mysterious Christian.   

Tragic and compelling, Wrecked brings a contemporary, paranormal twist to a classic enchanting tale.

Lies Beneath By Anne Greenwood Brown

"I hadn't killed anyone all winter, and I have to say I felt pretty good about that." ~ Calder White

Calder White is not your typical merman and his sisters are not your typical mermaids.  Forget everything you think you know about merfolk and dive into this twisted tale of betrayal, lies and truth.

Calder is all kinds of creepy and scary but manages to be vulnerable and cocky at the same time. I love his character!

His sisters...well they are something else!

The story is told from Calder's POV (point of view) which is fun because we get to read a story from a male perspective. We see his inner conflict with his own nature to decide between what he knows he has to do and what he knows is the right thing to do... It may be the key to his undoing.

The underwater world described in this book was absolutely beautiful.  I really wanted to be a mermaid after this!  I couldn't put this book down! I was "hooked" from the first line in the story! Haunting, breathtaking, and utterly romantic, this tale of mermaid lore is in a class of its own.  I couldn't have been more pleased with this book. I would recommend this one as a must read.

Coming Spring 2013 The story of Calder and Lily continues in Deep Betrayal where it will be Lily's turn to narrate!   I CANT WAIT!!!  :)

Of Poseidon

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Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

"Emma, you threw my sister through hurricane-proof glass.” ~Galen (Prince of the Syrena)

I love to read mermaid books in the summer. My first mermaid book of the summer was Of Poseidon by Anna Banks.

Of Poseidon:
In a kingdom under the sea live the Syrena.  Merfolk if you will.  Galen is the youngest of the Syrena princes and is an ambassador.  He is sent above water, to the land, to find a girl he was told can communicate with fish.  

Emma is on vacation with her best friend in Florida when she runs into Galen and his twin sister on the beach.  This book had me hooked (no pun intended) from the first two pages!  It starts off fun and fast!  After a tragic encounter involving a shark, Emma is not sure she wants to be friends with fish much less believing that she may hold the key to the Syrenan Kingdom.

Told in alternating points of view, which I love!  You are able to get into the minds of both characters Emma and Galen.  This story has it all, mystery, humor, tragedy and romance.

My only complaint is Part 2 isn't out until next summer. :(