Tiger's Curse

By: Colleen Houck
Genre: Teen Paranormal Romance
Stars: 5 out of 5
Kelsey is a seventeen year old girl ready to start her college life. But to make some money for school, she decides to get a summer job – working for two weeks with a traveling circus. This traveling circus has a beautiful white tiger with ice cold blue eyes that compel Kelsey to become fond of the tiger. Then a mysterious man comes to purchase the tiger from the circus and wants Kelsey to accompany the tiger to India safely. While on the journey to the tiger reserve in India, Kelsey discovers her precious tiger is actually Ren an Indian prince who can only become human for twenty-four minutes a day. Shocked, Kelsey has to make a choice to either return home and pretend none of this ever happened or help Ren break the curse of being a tiger.

The first in a trilogy with the second book coming out in June and the third in December, this is a fun adventure and romance. Think Indiana Jones with the curse and trying to figure out how to break it while venturing into caves with traps and goddesses. It’s intense and compelling. Plus add a little romance with a strong independent teenager and a hopeless romantic Indian prince and you get an awesome novel. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone and cannot wait for the second book to come out so I can find out what will happen next.

Ink Exchange

By: Melissa Marr
Genre: Teen Paranormal Romance
Stars: 2 out of 5

Now that the Summer Court has its King and Queen it is strong again. With a new Winter Queen there is no longer an alliance between the Winter and the Dark Faery Court. The Dark Court’s king Irial has to find a new way to keep his court powerful and happy or rebellion will strike up and cause bloodshed not only among the fey but the humans as well. To avoid conflict, Irial comes up with a plan to be tied to a human and feed the court with his or her emotions. Leslie, one of Aishlinn’s friend, needs a change to regain her body back. She decides on getting a tattoo but not just any tattoo – this tattoo will bind her to Irial. Once the ink exchange is made, Leslie falls victim to this new world she never knew existed and this dark intriguing fairy. But can she get out of this menacing world and return to her normal life or does she stay bound to Irial feeding his court until she withers.

After reading the first book in the Wicked Lovely series I could not wait to read the next one. Then I read the back of this book and totally wanted to skip the second installment and move onto the third because this book does not continue Aishlinn’s story. But I was told to just suck it up and read them in order and so I did fearing I could miss something important. While this second novel does continue the story, Marr has done it in a different way. Instead of focusing on Aishlinn, the main character throughout the series – Marr picks up with her best friend and entwines her in the fairy world. I was extremely disappointed. I wanted to read about Aishlinn and here I was reading about Leslie. I finished the book because I wanted to make sure I did not miss anything but I was not thrilled by it. Leslie’s character towards the end when she is bound to Irial is not relatable and truly weird. I did not like the part when they were bound at all. There were too many sexual references about Leslie being addicted to Irial that I did not care for. I kind of wish I did skip this book and went on to the third book since I like Aishlinn’s story and her love interest the most.

Wicked Lovely

By: Melissa Marr
Genre: Teen Paranormal Romance
Stars: 4 out of 5

Aishlinn has a secret gift. She can see fairies. They have been playing nasty tricks and roaming free amongst us for centuries but only a few have the Sight. Aishlinn is one of the unlucky few who can see these horrifying creatures. Until now she has lived with a set of rules to ignore them so they will not bother her and she can live what normal life she can. That is until the Summer King fairy starts stalking her. Eventually Aishlinn is sucked into their world and she can no longer ignore the fairies that have haunted her all of her life. Now Aishlinn must make a choice between her mortal life and her best friend Seth or spending eternity ruling the Summer Court as Keenan’s queen. Will she choose mortality or immorality or does she even have a choice at all?

Since I started school back up this year I have not had much time to read for pleasure. I have picked up a few books over the past few months but could not focus to finish them. Then I picked this teen book up because my friends who recommend and read teen fiction as I have been lately, have not read this series yet. I could not put the book down. I loved the romance and the relief from vampires for fairies. Usually when you think of fairies you think cute, little winged creatures. But Marr’s portrait of a fairy is intriguing. She portrays fairies as horrifying creatures who walk among us without us knowing. They are terrifying and will even cause the death of humans. Then when the Summer King becomes interested in Aishlinn and Aishlinn’s best friend becomes more than a friend, I could not wait to see how this love triangle turned out. And the ending was so exciting that I had to read the next one right away. If you enjoyed Twilight –which I know there are some closet fans out there – or if you enjoy a fun easy teen romance story then I recommend to pick this book up.

Before I Fall

By: Lauren Oliver
Genre: Teen Fiction
Stars: 2 out of 5
Samantha Kingston has it all. The money, the friends, the boyfriend, what in the world could go wrong? On the night of Cupid Day, everything did go wrong. After a house party, on the way home, an accident happened and Samantha Kingston died. But then she wakes up the next day – Cupid Day. Sam has to relive the day she dies seven times. Each time she figures out that she must save a girl who Sam and her friends drove to suicide, the greatest boyfriend ever turns out to be her geeky childhood friend, she has taken her family for granted and the friends she thought she knew aren’t the best people. Can Sam fix the mistakes she had made that day and save a life while trying to save her own?

I am in a Teen Lit Book Club and this is this month’s book. It sounded interesting a girl reliving her last day on Earth to try to fix the mistakes she has made but it really just is a book version of the movie Groundhogs Day. I thought retelling the same day seven times was a bit too much. Four days would have been sufficient to tell the story. And the ending really bothered me. The main character learns that she has to save the unpopular girl from committing suicide and the way she does it does not fix the problem, it seems as though it makes it worse. It does not seem that Sam lived out her purpose. I don’t know, I just had some questions at the end and I cannot wait to discuss them at book club. I would like to say though that if you don’t like teen books or morbid teen subjects are probably not going to like this book that much.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

By: Stephen Chbosky
Genre: Fiction
Stars: 5 out of 5
Charlie is a freshman in high school and to cope with the stress he begins writing letters to a stranger. He writes about his experiences and his feelings throughout the course of the year. Charlie meets two seniors Patrick and Sam, step siblings who welcome Charlie into their world with open arms. They introduce him to the world of drinking, drugs and cigarettes. Then there is Bill, Charlie’s English teacher who gives him extra books to read because he is “special” and Charlie’s family who is dysfunctional and normal at the same time. All the while Charlie is still coping with the death of his Aunt Helen who was the only person besides his immediate family to ever buy him “two presents” for his birthday and Christmas. This is a coming of age story where Charlie must learn to “participate” in the world that he has now entered while keeping his insanity.

This is one of those books that you hear about every now and then and you see on the “noteworthy fiction” table from time to time. It has been on my list to read for quite some time now and I only recently picked it up from the library to read. Once I started read Stephen Chbosky’s novel I was intrigued. Written in the form of a series of letters, you learn that Charlie is a freshman in high school and he is having trouble “participating” and is still dealing with the deaths of his best friend Michael and his Aunt Helen. From the very beginning it seems as though Charlie may have some kind of social disability and it’s absorbing to read about his experiences with his new friends Patrick and Sam. From then on, you are thrown into Charlie’s world of love, drinking, drugs, friendship and issues with family. At the end, there is a twist that explains Charlie’s behavior and you finally understand. I really enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it to you too. It’s a great coming of age story that I would categorize with the classic The Catcher in the Rye. So if you haven’t had to read it for school, then pick it up for pleasure; I am sure you won’t be disappointed!

The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones

By: Rick Riordan
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Stars: 5 out of 5
Amy and Dan Cahill’s grandmother Grace has just passed away and has left behind a game for all her relatives. The Cahill family is the most powerful family in history and it is a chase to see who can find out all the power that the family holds. Amy and Dan decide to partake in the journey instead of taking the two million dollars offered to them. Outrunning their cunning and mischievous relatives who will do anything to eliminate their biggest threat, Amy and Dan Cahill put aside their differences and begin the hunt for the next 38 clues that will lead them to all the family secrets. Can Amy and Dan figure out the first clue and beat their relatives to the next one all while staying out of danger?

This is the first in a series of ten books that can be found in the children’s department. Since I am back in school my time for pleasure reading has diminished quite a bit and when the last book in this series came out I decided it might be fun and an easy read to read this book. I must say I was not disappointed. Rick Riordan, the same author of the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, wrote an enjoyable and pleasant read even for an adult like me. It has suspense, mystery and things about history that I did not realize or learn in school. I picked up the second book and I cannot wait to enjoy it. In other words, if you want a fun yet easy read or want your kids to learn and like a book, try The 39 Clues series. I am positive you won’t be disappointed.

Mockingjay

By: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Teen Fiction
Stars: 4 out of 5
With the final installment of the Hunger Games trilogy we find Katniss Everdeen in the midst of the war against the Capitol. Her home – District 12 – has been bombed and is completely in ashes, she has escaped the Quarter Quell and is now recovering in the fabled District 13, and Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. Now Katniss must become the face of the rebellion – the Mockingjay – to revitalize morality among the districts and defeat the Capitol. But with Peeta being gone, Cinna dead and complicated feelings with Gale, Katniss is not sure what she wants to do. Will Katniss Everdeen become the Mockingjay, defeat the Capitol and live in peace after the war is over?

Oh my goodness! Finally the third Hunger Games book has come out! And boy is it dark and twisted. It was honestly a little slow in the beginning but about 100 pages in the action starts happening. Katniss comes out of her “mentally disturbed” and starts to fight against the Capitol. Suzanne Collins certainly uses her masterful trick of really a cliffhanger at the end of chapters with the clever return of Haymitch, and the death of important characters. At the end, I totally called the assassination of the President that Katniss commits and my pick for which boy Katniss should be with wins. All in all, it was a good end to the trilogy. However, the first book is still my favorite. But Collins left no questions left unanswered and made me seriously want to cry at some parts and altogether left a satisfying end.