Excellent Reads

Take Romeo and Juliet. Add The Outsiders. Mix thoroughly. Colt and Julia were secretly together for an entire year and no one, not even Julia's boyfriend knew. They had nothing in common, with Julia in her country club world on Black Mountain and Colt from down on the flats, but it never mattered. Until Julia dies in a car accident, and Colt learns the price of secrecy. He can't mourn Julia openly, and he's tormented that he might have played a part in her death. When Julia's journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he's desperately trying to forget her. But how do you get over someone who was never yours in the first place? I've had The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard for some time now. And since I'm meeting her at PAYA this month, I wanted to have read this one. Everyone I talked to loved this book, so I had high expectations for it. I was excited to dive in. But... it left me underwhelmed. The story is told in...

Braden was born with witch eyes: the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but at the cost of horrible pain. After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden retreats to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. As rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe desperately try to use Braden's powers to unlock Belle Dam's secrets, Braden vows never to become their sacrificial pawn. But everything changes when Braden learns that Jason is his father--and Trey, the enigmatic guy he's falling for, is Catherine's son. To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming the town, Braden must master his gift—and risk losing the one he loves. I was really looking forward to Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey. My best friend had talked about how much she was looking forward to it in 2010 that I imme...

Cappall Uisce Water Horse It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen . I was lucky enough to get my hands on an arc of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I loved her previous five novels so I had high expectations for this one. And I wasn't disappointed. Sean, the returning champion of the Scorpio Races, and his cappall uisce, Corr, return to the beach to train with new racers. Including Puck, and her horse, Dove. Puck intends to race...

Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live. I was really looking forward to reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It looked funny, and I had read such great things about it, I was sure it would be fantastic. Also, we don't get enough male POV in YA. The main character, Junior, is a teenage boy who lives with his family on a reservation. B...