Bibliophile Support Group

Impulse is a YA contemporary sci-fi book by Steven Gould, and a sequel to his Jumper series. I read Impulse as a newbie to this series. It’d probably have been even better if I’d had a chance to read Jumper and Reflex first – but Impulse did well on its own, too. Cent, the sixteen-year-old daughter of parents Davy and Millie, lives in a remote cabin – hiding from the people who kept her father imprisoned and tortured him because of their desire to control his ability to teleport, or “jump”. This means that Cent’s primary view of the world is from TV, movies, the internet – not anything real. Deciding enough is enough, Cent pleads with her (understandably) cautious parents to let her go to a normal high school in a safe town. Right around the time they agree, Cent’s own ability to “jump” like her parents is discovered – and she begins to utilize her strong intellect from years of stringent home schooling to experiment with it a little. Once she enters high school, she realizes...

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a YA post-apocalyptic romance by Diana Peterfreund. Elliot North is of Luddite nobility. Since she was a child she was taught that the Luddites, who outlawed most technology, were the reason the human race survived after a genetic experiment went wrong many generations ago. That experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction. As one of the Luddite nobility, she has always been aware that her purpose is to protect the Reduced and enforce the Luddite principles to shun technological advances. Yet, as a young adult, Elliot knows things aren’t as simple as that. She was childhood best friends with Kai – a servant that was born to her family. He is not Reduced, but does not have the rights of a Luddite – he is one of the many Post-Reductionists that are changing the way the world looks at the future. Her friendship, her love, with Kai was fractured four years ago when Elliot refused to run away with him. When she chose to stay and look after the es...

Teardrop is a YA start to a contemporary fantasy trilogy by Fallen author Lauren Kate. Eureka has never cried. Not since she was a little girl and her mother drilled that into her in one shocking, startling moment. But now her mother is gone. Killed when an out-of-nowhere wave swept them off a bridge and drowned her. Who knows how Eureka survived. She wishes she didn’t. Filled with suppressed emotion and deep grief over a mother she loved deeply, Eureka still hasn’t cried. There’s not much left that she really cares about. There are a couple of childhood friends and her two little half-siblings and dad – but she feels so dead inside. When Ander, a pale boy with eyes that seem to know her inexplicably, warns her that she is in danger – she tries to brush it off. But her mother’s odd inheritance of a locket, a letter, a puzzling stone and a book no one can read come into her possession – she begins to wonder just what her mom was keeping from her. Upon finding someone...

The Name of the Star is a YA paranormal contemporary novel, and the first in the Shades of London series, by Maureen Johnson. When Louisiana born and bred Rory Deveaux had the opportunity to pick where she wanted to go to school while her professor parents had a sabbatical in Bristol during her senior year of high school, it didn’t take long for her answer: London. A boarding school in London, rich with history, was exactly what she wanted. But a little too much history is coming to life as she starts to settle in at Wexford, in the East End of London. Murders, mirroring the shocking Jack the Ripper slayings of more than a century ago, are occurring very near her new home. The spree has the city on edge, yet also oddly spellbound with the revisit of one of the age-old unsolved serial killers of history. With almost no leads, mysteriously wonky CCTV footage, and no witnesses – the police are desperate to find this new Jack the Ripper before he follows through on all of the m...

Cold Spell is a YA contemporary retelling of The Snow Queen by Jackson Pearce. Since Kai and Ginny were children they’ve been best friends, growing up together, playing in their building’s rooftop rose garden. Now they are seventeen and their close ties have developed into something more. Something sweet and strong, something with kisses and plans for the future. With the arrival of a beautiful, enigmatic girl named Mora, however, Ginny sees an abrupt, dramatic change in Kai. And, almost overnight, he and Mora disappear. Though struggling with the perception by others that Kai may have simply broken up with her in a cruel manner and taken up with a girl he just met, Ginny knows him. She knows Kai would not do this to her. Despite the small, painful doubts in her heart, Ginny goes after them – after Kai. She’s armed with a book that Kai’s superstitious grandmother filled with articles and clippings about dangerous, non-human creatures and one being she fear above all other...

Persuasion is a classic novel (that hopefully all bibliophiles have heard of) by Jane Austen. This was the only Austen novel I had yet to read – and I had to fix that! Anne Elliot is seven and twenty and not yet married. Eight years ago she had been in love. She had been engaged. But as he was a poor, lowly Royal Navy man, her family and friends persuaded Anne to break it off with Captain Wentworth. She is still unmarried – because she knows she will never love another man as she loved him. When circumstances throw them together again, Anne finds it difficult to ignore the searing pain of seeing him – the look of low regard in his eyes that she has resigned herself to deserve. And yet – is there hope? Her heartbreak all these years later leads her to realize that her feelings are no less deep – and the persuasion that led her to give him up all those years ago could not touch her now… if he would only have her once more. Oh wow. It’s been a while since I’ve read J...

Breaking Anchor is a YA adventure by Henry Melton. Tommy Dorie is used to his eccentric scientist father Nick sending coded messages via text. Whether providing a scavenger hunt, a “pop quiz” or checking to make sure Tommy was following instructions, his father expected him to follow his orders. Which Tommy normally did, as they had increased since his mother’s death – and he knew his father was dealing with it in his own way. Though it’s not always convenient. This time it’s interrupting a potential date with a girl that has another guy waiting and willing in the wings. But when Tommy gets home – it’s not the average situation. His laptop is missing, there are odd messages on the answering machine and new texts from his dad are directing Tommy to go to the sailboat they’ve worked on. Quickly, Tommy begins to realize that the training his dad had drilled into him may come in handy since nothing is what it seems – and real danger is creeping up on him… Henry Melton has wr...

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci , Volume I includes Charmed Life and The Lives of Christopher Chant , the first two novels in Diana Wynne Jones’ fantasy series. Neither Cat or Christopher Chant can perform even the simplest of spells – they’ve given up the idea of being good at magic. So, when they’re introduced to situations that greatly need it – what will they do? Cat relies on his sister – strong in magical abilities and personality – as they enter the Chrestomanci’s castle as wards and find little to like there. Christopher yearns to please his uncle as his nighttime childhood jaunts to other worlds appear to be useful, if secretive, to him. Both are involved in dangerous schemes without knowing it… will they defeat them? It was difficult coming up with a synopsis for this novel, since it’s an omnibus of the first two and I really didn’t want to give much of anything away. There’s a strong chance that you’ve already read Charmed Life and The Lives of Christopher Ch...