Bibliophile Support Group

Suite Scarlett is a YA contemporary novel written by Maureen Johnson. Scarlett Martin lives in the Hopewell, a small but arty hotel in New York City. Her family owns and runs it - which includes the tradition of giving full responsibility of one of the eclectic rooms to each Martin when they turn 15. Scarlett gets the Empire Suite, one of the most expensive and least used suites at the Hopewell. But it very quickly becomes occupied when the highly unusual and wealthy ex-actress Mrs. Amberson moves in for the entire summer. Since the hotel isn't in the best financial times, pleasing Mrs. Amberson becomes the ultimate goal for the family. Unfortunately, this mission tends to fall at Scarlett's feet more often than not, since Mrs. Amberson seems to take a liking to her. And before Scarlett knows it, what looked to be a boring and eventless summer of helping out at the Hopewell is turning into a crazy succession of events. Especially when she meets the too-good-looking-to-speak-...

Time Quadrants is an ebook-only anthology by YA sci-fi author Henry Melton. This is a time travel science fiction sampler that was put out to whet appetites before the publication of Golden Girl . Since I've already read Golden Girl and loved it (read my review here ), I was super excited to read this anthology. It's four short stories, and overall only a little over 100 pages long - and well worth reading!!! Let's break each story down, one by one, shall we? Litterbug : This story centers on seventeen-year-old Jerry who helps to clean up near the railroad to make sure his small town is spotless before the President of the United States makes a short stop there. He finds an odd-looking candy bar wrapper that he tries to put through a gadget he has made to sort recyclables - yet for some reason it refuses to work, unlike anything he has ever experienced. What is it? Well, you gotta read it to find out, don't you? I don't want to say too much more since in short ...

Girl, Stolen is a new YA thriller by author April Henry. Cheyenne Wilder is sixteen-years-old and tired. She's waiting, sleepily, in the back seat of her stepmom's car as said-stepmother picks up the prescription that is meant to treat Cheyenne's pneumonia. She begged her stepmom to leave the keys in the car so that she could keep warm during the brief interval. When Griffin sees the car keys in the expensive car, it is as if the car is beckoning to be stolen. He sees an opportunity to impress his father and create a big payday. He doesn't know that there is a sick girl in the back. He doesn't know that she's blind. Everything turns from bad to terrifying as Griffin's dad realizes that Cheyenne's father is a rich president of a big company. Soon, Cheyenne faces the reality that she is going to have to somehow fight for her own survival. Come on, bookworms. Tell me that synopsis doesn't send a chill up your spine. You know it does. At least it did mi...

Raised by Wolves is a YA paranormal novel by author Jennnifer Lynn Barnes that came out last June. Bryn isn't like most fifteen-year-olds. She doesn't have a boyfriend, nor does she care that much that she doesn't. She doesn't obsess over her looks. She doesn't think about college. And, oh yeah, she was raised by wolves. And not just regular, Discovery Channel wolves. Nope. Were wolves. See, when she was four-years-old a "Rabid" werewolf attacked and savagely killed her parents. She was going to be next, if not for the last-minute rescue of Callum, the alpha of his pack. He took her in and had her raised as one of the Pack, despite her relentless humanness. This life is all she has ever known, and despite her resistance to being "obedient" to Pack rule - the Pack is her family. But when her security is upped by Callum, her curiosity is peaked. Her search for answers brings her to a startling discovery: a newly turned werewolf, about her age,...

Contagion is a YA historical mystery recently released and written by Joanne Dahme. Eighteen-year-old Rose Dugan is finishing up her first year of marriage to her long-betrothed, powerful husband, Patrick. On the surface everything is going very well for her - wealth enough for everything she'd need or want and a wonderful best friend, Nellie, to bring light to her days. Yet things take a disturbing turn when intimidating letters begin turning up, threatening Patrick and Rose, demanding he stop his petitioning of big changes to the city's Water Works systems - changes that could mean even more money and power for Patrick - and the destruction of the beautiful site. But as harmless as Patrick finds the letters, Rose finds them worrisome - and when someone quite dear to Rose is murdered while wearing her cloak, her worries are proven. Or are they? Could it have just been a robbery gone bad? Rose finds herself enlisting the help of the good-looking and kind young man that main...

Lockdown is the first book in a new YA horror/thriller series Escape from Furnace , written by Alexander Gordon Smith. Alex isn't a good kid. It isn't just that he's a moody 14-year-old boy. No, he made a decision a while back that he liked money... and he didn't always get his hands on it legally. He knows it's wrong, but Alex keeps on down this wrong track, until something happens. Something horrific. Furnace Penitentiary was created as a way to dissuade minors from committing violent crimes, after a wave of atrocious acts were perpetrated by young offenders. People became suspicious and frightened of kids... But Alex knows Furnace is no threat to him. He would never hurt anyone. He just likes money. But when during the burglarization of an empty home, he is framed for a monstrous murder he did not commit - he finds himself running from the police. Before he knows what is going on, Alex is caught, tried, and found guilty - and sent to the underground Furnace.....

Blood on My Hands is a YA thriller/murder mystery by author Todd Strasser. It is with shock that 17-year-old Callie finds Katherine Remington-Day, her high school's most popular girl, dead in the dark woods during a keg party. Mindlessly, she finds the knife and Katherine's blood on her hands. Before she is fully aware of what is happening, her fellow classmates are snapping cell phone pictures of her in this guilty position. She runs. Callie knows she's innocent, but she doesn't trust the police to disregard all the evidence and believe her. She believes the only way to clear her name is to figure out who the real killer is. Before the police find her first. Especially since, with her history with Katherine - she had motive. But so did many others... As a longtime fan of Joan Lowery Nixon when I was younger (I'm sure I'd still love all the novels if I were to reread them today), I was enthusiastic about reading Blood on My Hands , since it is a teen murd...

Mockinjay is the third and final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. First off I want to say that I am super sorry for it taking me so long to review Mockingjay . I know it was a big release, as it was for me too - and probably most of the book bloggers out there have already reviewed it. My main reason for the delay is a lack of good writing time and an influx of reading material. I read it many books ago, just haven't gotten the chance to write about it. And since I bought my own copy, other deadlines pushed this one down to a lower priority. So, sorry about that. But here it is! Finally! ;) You know the drill, reader. If you haven't read The Hunger Games and/or Catching Fire (the first two books in the trilogy) do NOT, I repeat do NOT, read this review. Read the other reviews and read the books, you crazy bookworm! To read my reviews of those books, simply click on the titles. I was not able to reread The Hunger Games and Catching Fire before Mockingjay , which is my usual...

Wereling is the debut, YA paranormal novel of UK author Steve Feasey. Trey Laporte is fourteen-years-old and has been living in a home for orphans, Apple Grove Care Home. He doesn't exactly love it, especially since the head care worker always seems to have it out for him. But when he wakes up one morning in complete and utter pain, inexplicably naked, sick to the point of vomiting, and no memory of the night before - things take a turn for the worse in such a way that Trey wishes he'd never complained about Apple Grove. Before he even gets a chance to figure out what is going on, or why all his possessions are torn up and trashed - Trey gets a visit from an "uncle" he's never met before. This "uncle" doesn't look at all familiar to Trey - in fact, he doesn't even look all that normal. That doesn't stop his newfound relative from whisking him away, though, or from letting him know that leaving the Care Home is vital in saving his own life...

Possessed is a YA supernatural thriller/horror book by Kate Cann from back in February 2010. Sixteen-year-old Rayne hates her life. She hates the noise of London. She hates the crowded-ness of it all. She wants quiet. She wants solitude. She wants away from her mother. She wants away from her possessive boyfriend. Desperate to finally get away, as she feels her very life is being sucked from her in the crime-infested portion of the city she lives - she decides to take a year off before college and find a job that will take her anywhere. Anywhere that is not where she is now. So, when she finds a job at a secluded, extremely old and historical country estate, Morton's Keep, she takes it. Rayne loves the absolute silence of it. Thing is, the rumors about the place are pretty weird. And she can't help but notice the creepy, frightening energy that seems to encompass it. The nights are... hard. But Rayne is determined to stay away from her home - to be independent and alone. Bu...

The End of the World Club is the second middlegrade/YA book in the Jaguar Stones trilogy coming out in December, written by the husband and wife team J & P Voelkel. To read my review of the first book in this exciting trilogy click here . Which I heartily suggest to any of you that have not yet read it. Do NOT read this review of The End of the World Club if you are uninitiated to the trilogy. Please. You'll break my fragile bibliophile heart. You can also read my interview with the authors back in July here . Alrighty. Now we pretty much pick up where we left off. Or at least, soon after. Max Murphy is nervously awaiting the results of his deal with the ancient Maya Lords of Death, in which he rescued his parents from the horrible Maya underworld Xibalba. Because he agreed to owe them a favor... and he doesn't fulfill his end of the bargain not only will his parents be dragged back to Xibalba, but Hermanjilio (a friendly archaeologist and university professor) and Luck...

Haint Misbehavin' is a paranormal/fantasy novel in the YA/middle-grade genre, written by Maureen Hardegree and the first in a new series called The Ghost Handler. Heather Tildy is lounging in the summer before her first year of high school, desperate to get a tan and get the hot lifeguard at the pool to notice her. Not to mention get her older sister to stop hating her. But Heather just isn't that lucky. When a momentous event in her female life occurs, everything kinda falls apart. Because all of a sudden she is seeing a 10-year-old Laura-Ingalls-ish ghost haunting her father's beloved grapevines - and she refuses to leave. And seems to just be tickled by making life pretty darn horrible for Heather. Even more horrible than Heather's insanely sensitive, abnormal skin already makes it. In the first couple of pages of Haint Misbehavin' , Heather is already instantly relatable with her vulnerability, bacne (I shudder at the memory), and sibling rivalry. Her dilemma...