Let me make some recommendations for you if you're looking for a good summer read. I'll start with Insignia, by S.J. Kincaid. This is one of the Truman nominees, and I had been meaning to read it for a long time, but just recently got to it. Once I did, I definitely understood why it had been nominated for the Truman Award. The main character in Insignia is a 14-year old boy named Tom Raines. Tom lives in a not-too-distant future where the Earth's resources are mostly used up and World War III is being fought in outer space for the natural resources. War tactics have changed - no lives are lost, because they are fought in space, but the fighting is controlled by people on Earth who never actually physically fight. Tom is living a transient life, always drifting with his alcoholic-gambler father. He spends a lot of time in virtual reality gaming areas where he hustles people for money. When his gaming skills get him recruited into the Intrasolar Forces, Tom sees a chance to make a better life for himself and takes it. What he doesn't know is all that this opportunity might cost him. Insignia is book one in a series. Book 2 is called Vortex and I'm looking forward to reading it soon. Book 3 - Catalyst - hits shelves on October 28th.
If you're more in a fractured fairytale type mood, you might enjoy The Girl with the Blood Red Lips, by V.B. Marlowe. In this story, we meet Neva Albano, who was cursed over 200 years ago to re-live her sophomore, junior, and senior years over and over and over. It turns on Neva is Snow White and there weren't actually 7 dwarfs...just a very evil step-mother. Neva is tired of living her life over and over, but isn't sure she has the courage to do what needs to be done to break the curse. This was an interesting take on the Snow White story and it is pretty fantastical and seemed like you were reading a fairytale within a fairytale. This is a short and fun read.
If you're a fan of heist movies like Ocean's Eleven, you might like my next recommendation, Coin Heist, by Elisa Ludwig. This story is told from the perspectives of the 4 main characters who attend an impressive and historical private school: Alice, the somewhat geeky computer genius; Jason - underachieving musician son of the school's headmaster; Dakota - the pretty and popular girl who seemingly has it all together; and Bennie - the scholarship student who doesn't really fit in. These four students are in the same art class that takes a trip to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. When they find out that Jason's dad has been arrested for embezzling money and losing it all, they learn their school might close because of lack of funding. What starts as a crazy idea, becomes a solid plan and the four put into motion a plan to mint and steal coins from the U.S. Mint. Will they pull it off? Do they follow through on their plans? You'll have to read it to find out!
If you're more into a fantasy story, you might like Deep Blue, by Jennifer Donnelly. In this story, Serafina is part of an underwater world. She's a mermaid...and an important one too. Her mother is the queen of their particular colony and we meet Serafina on the day of her betrothal to the prince of another colony. However, during the betrothal ceremony, their colony is attacked. Her father is killed and her mother is shot with a poisoned arrow. Serafina escapes with her best friend Neela and they discover together that they've been having the same dream. They realize their are 4 others like them that they need to find in order to stop the people who are attacking them. Serafina has to step up and become a leader despite the turmoil her life is in. This is the first in what will be a 4 book series. The second book, Rogue Wave comes out early in 2015.
I recently finished an interesting dystopian book called Birthmarked, by Caragh M. O'Brien. In this story, we meet Gaia (pronounced Guy-uh), who has been training with her mother to be a midwife. This story takes place about 400 years in the future, but for Gaia's family, time seems to have moved backward. They live a simple life outside the wall of the Enclave, where the privileged live. One of the expectations for the people who live outside the wall is to "advance" their children - give up a certain number of new babies born each month to be adopted into families in the Enclave. We meet Gaia after she successfully delivers her first baby and advances it to the Enclave. However, when she returns home, she discovers her parents have been arrested and learns information that has her questioning everything about the Enclave and their expectations for advancing babies. She decides she must do everything she can to save her parents, but it puts her own life in real danger as well. Again, this is the first in a series of books. The second is Prized and the third is Promised. If you like the series, there are also a couple of e-novellas out there, as well.
Finally, I'll recommend another interesting dystopian title I was able to preview recently thanks to NetGalley. Some Fine Day, by Kat Ross releases on July 1st, so if you're interested, you'll have to wait a couple weeks before it comes out. This is another futuristic story where super-hurricanes, called "hypercanes" have made living on the surface of the Earth impossible, so society moved underground. Jansin Nordqvist has lived underground all her life and is on her way to following her father's footsteps into an impressive military career. When her father surprises the family with a trip to a tropical island on the surface, Jansin is excited, until their camp is attacked and she is taken hostage by the savages who attacked them. However, Jansin starts to learn that maybe these "savages" aren't so savage after all - and maybe the life she's been brought up to live is all a lie. This book is one of my recent favorites. It's very different and the characters are extremely likeable and believable. If you're looking for an action-packed book, this one will not disappoint.
That's it for now. I'll be back with more recommendations as the summer goes continues!
