The Last of the Trumans and More

I have finally finished reading all the Truman nominated books for this school year and I have really been impressed.  I do have a couple that stand out for me as favorites, but you should read them yourself.  If you want to read up on the other nominees, I've linked most of the blogs I've done on those here.  To vote for the winner, you need to read at least 4 of the 12 nominees.





 I read The Raft, by S.A. Bodeen last summer, but somehow missed blogging about it.  In this story, our main character, Robie, is visiting her aunt in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Robie lives on Midway Island and frequently travels back and forth between there and Honolulu.  When her aunt gets called out of town on business, Robie originally decides to stay on her own.  But when she is nearly attacked when out on her own, she decides she wants to go home.  She decides to catch a flight on a cargo plane heading to Midway, but when the plane crashes, Robie has to figure out how to survive on the open sea with the copilot...and all they have for food is a bag of Skittles.  If you like survival-type stories, you'll enjoy The Raft.

Dead City, by James Ponti is about a girl named Molly.  Her mom died 2 years ago from cancer, but she passed on a lot of her characteristics to Molly, including her love for the morgue and studying the dead.  Molly attends the Manhattan Institute for Science and Technology where she is recruited by a fellow student and friend from the morgue, Natalie, to be a part of a secret group called Omega.  Omega's responsibility is to police the undead (ie - zombie) population of Manhattan.  Molly is skeptical of all this until she learns that her mom was actually the creator of the group and was grooming her to be a part of this group.  Molly decides to get involved...maybe a little too involved in some cases.  This is an action-packed story that was a lot of fun to read.  This is the first in a series.  The second book is out - Blue Moon.  The 3rd book is currently untitled but will be published in 2015.




Let me just start by saying that I love Jordan Sonnenblick.  I think he is one of the best authors out there for middle grade students.  I've read all but one of his books and I've enjoyed each one.  In Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip, we meet Peter Friedman, who is about to begin his freshman year in high school.  He has great plans of being a start athlete, because he's a really talented pitcher.  However, over the summer, he injures his arm so seriously that he'll never be able to play ball again.  Life is not going the way he planned, but when he ends up in an advanced photography class with cute new student, Angelika, he realizes that maybe things can work out regardless of whether they fall into the plans you originally had for yourself.

Unstoppable, by Tim Green has some similarities to Curveball because they are both about athletes that aren't able to play their sports, but the similarity ends there.  In Unstoppable, Harrison is a foster kid who has been through multiple foster homes, each one worse than the last.  At his current home, he works like a slave and gets beaten when he doesn't do something right.  When a freak accident takes him out of this home, Harrison eventually ends up with a new family...a family that seems too good to be true.  His new foster father is the football coach of the local middle school team and encourages him to become a part of the team.  When Harrison joins, they discover that he has an unbelievable talent as a running back...he is unstoppable.  But when his knee is injured, and other problems are discovered, Harrison may not ever be able to play football again.  This story looks at his journey and his fight to get back to the game he loves.

One for the Murphy's, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, is also about a foster child named Carley Connors. Carley has recently moved to Connecticut from Las Vegas, and when her step-father beats her badly, and her mother as well, Carley is moved into foster care.  She joins the Murphys a family with 3 boys and expects that they want her just as a free babysitter.  However, life at the Murphys' turns out to be very different from what Carley expected.  Mrs. Murphy treats Carley like one of her own kids and Carley realizes what she's been missing out on, a real mother.  But even while she likes this, she also wants to reject it because her mother is still alive and will eventually reclaim Carley.  Carley's just not sure, though.  Does she want to return to her mother or is it going to break her heart to have to leave the Murphys?

Cress, by Marissa Meyer is the 3rd book in the Lunar Chronicles.  Cinder, a Truman nominee, is the first in this series.  Scarlet, is the 2nd book in the series.  These stories combine a retelling of a fairytale with a science fiction twist.  Cress, our newest character is based on Rapunzel.  She's been living on a satellite for the past several years doing tech work for the lunar queen and she dreams of being rescued from her satellite by a handsome "prince".  She makes contact with Cinder and her crew, who attempt a rescue, and things start to get crazy from there.  I don't want to give too much away if you haven't read the first two books, but I highly recommend this whole series.  It will end in November 2015 with the publication of book 4 - Winter, a Snow White retelling.  I can't wait!

My final recommendation is not a Truman nominee or related to one - I just really liked it!  Previously, I recommended Bree Depain's Dark Divine series, which was about werewolves.  In Despain's new series, Into the Dark, book one is The Shadow Prince, and the story is based on Greek mythology.  Haden is the Shadow Prince and he has a job to do - leave the underworld and bring back a human girl, who must agree to return with him.  As the black sheep of his family, no one expected him to be the one chosen to do this job, so when he arrives in the regular world, he really isn't prepared for how to socially interact with girls, but he is determined.  Daphne Raines, his target, is just as determined to be her own person.  She has recently been moved to Olympus, California to live with her rock star dad, whom she has met around 4 times in her life.  She wants to become a singer herself, but doesn't want to rely on her dad to get her there.  And she definitely doesn't want to go to the underworld, but she can't deny that she has a connection to Haden.  Their story isn't finished by the end of book one and you'll be eager to get your hands on the next installment, which is yet untitled, but due out sometime in 2015.

There's lots to read out there!  There are 3 weeks until school starts.  Enjoy it!


Dragons, Magic, & a little Romance...

So I've read 28 books so far this summer...halfway to my goal of 60!  I figured I should probably share some of what I've been reading with you!

One book I read recently is Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman.  This was my first ever book about dragons, which honestly, I avoid, because it seems like it's not really my thing.  However, this book had been on my to-read list for over a year, so I finally got around to giving it a shot, and you know what, I liked it!  In Seraphina, humans have enjoyed a tenuous peace with dragons for the past 40 years.  Dragons take human form and live as part of the human world and everyone mostly gets along, but there are definitely ugly feelings toward one another that have not totally been resolved - think racism, but with dragons vs. humans.  Seraphina has lived a fairly solitary life trying to stay out of the attention of most people, because she has a secret.  She is half-dragon, half-human.  But when Seraphina gets a job as a court musician and her talents put her in the spotlight, she also finds herself in the middle of a plot to overthrow the peace and she has to decide which side she is on and what she is going to do to make a difference.  This book is full of really quirky and likable characters.  Though it was published in 2012, there is going to be a long-awaited sequel, Shadow Scales coming out in March of 2015.  If you read this one and like it, you'll want to be on the lookout for the sequel!

Many of you may remember that last year, I recommended author John Stephens' The Emerald Atlas, which was also one of last year's Truman nominees.  I recently read the second book in the series,  The Fire Chronicle, which continues the journey of siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma in their quest for the three Books of Beginning.  In The Emerald Atlas, they found the first book (the atlas) which was able to transport them to different places and times in the world.  In The Fire Chronicle, the kids go in search of the 2nd book, the Book of Life.  Kate gets separated from Michael and Emma, who have to go on in search of the book without Kate.  As in the first book, there is lots of action and adventure, and ironically enough, also a dragon in this story, though it's not the main focus, as in Seraphina.  If you're looking for a book that is full of action with a little magic and fantasy thrown in, you'll love this series.  The third book, The Black Reckoning, is due out in March of 2015.

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to preview The Kiss of Deception, the first in Mary E. Pearson's newest series, The Remnant Chronicles.  Pearson is the author of the popular Jenna Fox series, as well.  In this story, Lia is the first daughter of the king and is about to be forced into an arranged marriage with the prince of another country.  Lia is not one to be forced into anything, though, and runs away on the morning of her wedding.  She manages to find her way to a new, simpler life as a maid where she meets two young men, to whom she connects.  Little does she know that one is the prince she was supposed to marry and the other is an assassin, who plans to kill her.  When she realizes that her actions have placed her country in danger, she knows she must return and try to make amends.  Will she make it home, or will more sinister events occur in her life?  The ending is an absolute cliffhanger that will leave you wanting more of Lia's story.  This book hits bookshelves on July 15th and you will not want to miss it!