People Like Us

 

People Like Us by Dana Mele  YA

(from Amazon)  Kay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet, but the past is past, and she's reinvented herself entirely. Now she's a star soccer player whose group of gorgeous friends run their private school with effortless popularity and acerbic wit. But when a girl's body is found in the lake, Kay's carefully constructed life begins to topple. The dead girl has left Kay a computer-coded scavenger hunt, which, as it unravels, begins to implicate suspect after suspect, until Kay herself is in the crosshairs of a murder investigation. But if Kay's finally backed into a corner, she'll do what it takes to survive. Because at Bates Academy, the truth is something you make...not something that happened.

(My Review)  If you like books set in a private school with a murder mystery, then this book is for you.  Kay is a soccer star who, along with her friends/teammates, finds a dead classmate.  She is targeted as a suspect, and (because of an email sent to her by the dead girl) finds herself caught up in a dangerous game and makes her face her own past.  I thought this was a good book and I recommend it.

The Woods are Always Watching

 

The Woods are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins  YA

(from Amazon)  Bears aren’t the only predators in these woods.  Best friends Neena and Josie spent high school as outsiders, but at least they had each other. Now, with college and a two-thousand-mile separation looming on the horizon, they have one last chance to be together—a three-day hike deep into the woods of the Pisgah National Forest.  Simmering tensions lead to a detour off the trail and straight into a waking nightmare … and then into something far worse. Something that will test them in horrifying ways. 

(My Review)

So, I really wanted to like this.  I really enjoyed There's Someone Inside Your House, so I had high hopes for this book.  The first half, is really Neena and Josie hiking in the woods.  You get their inner dialogs, showing their relationship - how they got to where they are, and how they feel about where they are going.  You do get lots of foreshadowing of the creepiness and horror that takes place in the second half of the book.  I was a bit frustrated at the two girls.  They were novice hikers, and they did not really show any fear of the obvious red flags.  I mean, I would, wouldn't I?  Where the first of the book is pretty slow, although not really boring, it escalates pretty quickly in the second half.  The descriptions of the injuries are pretty...graphic!  The descriptions of a lot in the second half of the book are pretty vivid.  You can see and SMELL things pretty clearly.  I thought overall it was a pretty good read, and I would recommend it (but, not to my son, because I still want him to go camping/hiking with me).  :-)

Pumpkinheads

 

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks (Illustrator)  YA/Graphic Novel

(from Amazon)  Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.  Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.  But this Halloween is different―Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.  Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if―instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut―they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years . . .   What if their last shift was an adventure?

(My Review)

I loved this graphic novel! Deja and Josiah are Pumpkin Patch friends. They're best friends, but it's mainly been confined to their jobs at the Pumpkin Patch. This is their last season working together - their last night, and Deja is on a mission to help Josiah finally talk to the girl of his dreams. In the course of their mission, they finally get to enjoy the Pumpkin Patch together, and discover how much they mean to each other. So good, and really makes me want to go to a Fall festival.

The Cabin

 

The Cabin by Natasha Preston  YA

(from Amazon)  A weekend partying at a remote cabin is just what Mackenzie needs. She can't wait to let loose with her friends. But a crazy night of fun leaves two of them dead―murdered.  With no signs of a forced entry or struggle, suspicion turns to the five survivors. Someone isn't telling the truth. And Mackenzie's first mistake? Assuming the killing is over...

(My Review)

This book was definitely suspenseful.  Once I started reading, I could not stop reading it.  There were moments where I wanted to bang my head on the book out of frustration, but I enjoyed the read.  I don't want to say too much to give anything away, but the ending was a bit weak.  However...  Again, things can't be said without giving  anything away.  It's is one I'd like to discuss.  

They'll Never Catch Us

 

They'll Never Catch Us by by Jessica Goodman  YA

(from Amazon)  Stella and Ellie Steckler are only a year apart, but their different personalities make their relationship complicated. Stella is single-minded, driven, and she keeps to herself. Cross-country running is her life and she won't let anything get in the way of being the best. Her sister Ellie is a talented runner too, but she also lets herself have fun. She has friends. She goes to parties. She has a life off the course.  The sisters do have one thing in common, though: the new girl, Mila Keene. Both Stecklers' lives are upended when Mila comes to town. At first, Ellie and Stella view the new star athlete as a threat. But soon Ellie can't help but be drawn to her warm, charming personality. After her best friend moved away and her first boyfriend betrayed her, Ellie's been looking for a friend to share her secrets. Stella finds herself noticing the ways she and Mila are similar. Mila is smart and strong--she's someone Stella can finally connect with. As the two get closer, Stella becomes something she vowed she'd never be: distracted.  With regionals approaching and college scouts taking notice, the pressure is on. Each girl has their future on the line and they won't let friendships get in their way. But then, suddenly, Mila goes out on a training run and never returns. No one knows what happened, but all eyes are on the Steckler sisters.

(My Review)  

I thought this was a solid mystery.  It wasn't bad, it wasn't great.  I enjoyed it, and it kept me interested.  There are things I'd like to comment on (that I did like), but it would give too much of the plot away.

The Hawthorne Legacy

 

The Hawthorne Legacy (Book 2 of 2:  The Inheritance Games) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes  YA

(from Amazon)  The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions—including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.   As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, two of the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture—by any means necessary. 

(My Review)  Sequels can sometimes be disappointing...BUT, this one did NOT disappoint!!  I could not put it down.  You start right back where the last book left off, and you don't stop.  I love all of the twists and turns, and surprises.  This is a great read, and I highly recommend this series. 

Dear Evan Hanson

 

Dear Evan Hanson by Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, et al  YA

(from Amazon)

Dear Evan Hansen,
Today's going to be an amazing day and here's why...

When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school senior Evan Hansen into a family's grief over the loss of their son, he is given the chance of a lifetime: to belong. He just has to stick to a lie he never meant to tell, that the notoriously troubled Connor Murphy was his secret best friend.  Suddenly, Evan isn't invisible anymore--even to the girl of his dreams. And Connor Murphy's parents, with their beautiful home on the other side of town, have taken him in like he was their own, desperate to know more about their enigmatic son from his closest friend.As Evan gets pulled deeper into their swirl of anger, regret, and confusion, he knows that what he's doing can't be right, but if he's helping people, how wrong can it be?  No longer tangled in his once-incapacitating anxiety, this new Evan has a purpose. And a website. He's confident. He's a viral phenomenon. Every day is amazing. Until everything is in danger of unraveling and he comes face to face with his greatest obstacle: himself.  A simple lie leads to complicated truths in this big-hearted coming-of-age story of grief, authenticity and the struggle to belong in an age of instant connectivity and profound isolation.

(My Review)  Wow!  Okay, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had seen this book floating around and I wasn't sure what it was about.  I saw it in a Little Free Library, and grabbed it for my classroom.  AND THEN, I saw the trailer for the movie - I cried.  I picked it up and started to read.  When some of my students saw I was reading it, they were skeptical, citing the controversy around the age of the actor playing Evan Hanson in the film.  Also, I did not realize the film was based on the musical which had been based on the book (oh how out of touch I am).  

I thought the book was amazing, did such a beautiful job portraying alienation and isolation  - of those suffering from mental illness, of the LGBTQ community, those suffering addiction, single parents.  Evan was a loner who suffered from anxiety and depression.  His one-time interaction with Conner (and Conner's death) had a profound effect on Evan - not only did it give him a voice, and a purpose, but a sense of belonging, and helped a family to heal.