Win City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare from The Story Siren

The Story Siren is giving away a copy of City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. It is the second book in the Mortal Instruments series. It is absolutely fantastic. Check out earlier posts to see reviews for both books in the series. But first, go to The Story Siren's site to sign up for the free copy.

WAKE by Lisa McMann

After reading many great things about WAKE by Lisa McMann, I decided to pick it up and give it a try. It took me a little over 3 hours to read it and I was disappointed when it was over. Luckily there is a teaser of the sequel, FADE, in the back that gave me a little bit more. Unfortunately, FADE doesn’t come out until February of 2009, but I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

Janie gets sucked into other people’s dreams. She tries to stop it, but can’t resist the overwhelming pull. She first noticed it happening when she was eight-years-old. Janie has witnessed everything from the typical falling dream and standing naked in front of a crowd dream to World War II battle dreams. Most of the time she is just an observer. Even if the dreamers ask for her help, she can’t manage to do anything.

Janie’s life has been hindered by this "curse." She found out early that sleepovers weren’t good for her. The close proximity of the other girls caused her to experience their dreams and not get any rest for herself. It doesn’t have to be nighttime for this to happen though. Anytime someone around her is asleep - she gets sucked in - at school, on the bus, driving down the road, etc. When she is in someone else’s dream it looks as if she is having a seizure. All she knows is that she loses feeling in her limbs and becomes paralized. The more frightening the dream, the faster the numbness occurs.

Janie has an alcoholic mother, an unknown father, and is extremely poor. She lives on the "wrong" side of town and has one loyal friend. She lives in isolation in order to avoid being stuck in someone’s dream.

A new addition to her life is Cabel. He lives in her neighborhood and seems to be a loner. She has several interactions with him throughout the book, but their lives become intertwined when she has to let him know about her problem while they are on a school trip together and she is stuck on a bus for several hours with her napping classmates being sucked into one dream after another the whole way. Cabel must help her through. This is a comfort to Janie as well as a new stress. She grows to like Cabel very much, but when she begins to get sucked into his gruesome dream and hears some particularly damning rumors about him, she questions her feelings for him.

With the help of an unlikely person she meets at the nursing home (and some books from the library), Janie begins to gain a little control over her "curse." The reader will be sucked into the dreams with Janie. Your heart will go out to her and cheer as she makes her way through life given the obstacles she must overcome. WAKE is a very inventive story and I can’t wait for the sequel.

GEEK HIGH by Piper Banks

Miranda Bloom’s world has been turned upside down. Her mother, a famous romance author, has decided to move to England in order to research her next book, but isn’t planning on taking Miranda. Instead she has to move into her father’s house and live with her step-mother, Peyton, and her step-sister Hannah - neither of which want her around EVER.

Miranda attends Notting Hill Independent School for Gifted Children a.k.a Geek High. She is the most gifted math student at school and is known as The Human Calculator - which she hates because being a Human Calculator is pretty useless since everyone has regular calculators.

Miranda isn’t popular at Geek High. She has two loyal friends, Charlie and Finn. Charlie is a very talented artist and Finn is brilliant with computers. In fact, to shake things up this year, Finn has created a tell-all website at geekhigh.com. When word gets around about the website and a story is posted about the queen bee of the school the principal accuses Miranda of being the creator of the website. She assures the principal she doesn’t have anything to do with it, but refuses to reveal the author. For punishment she is forced to plan the Snowflake Gala - an event that isn’t very popular with the students.

On top of dealing with living in a house where she is considered a guest and being forced to plan the Snowflake she has to deal with the guy she’s been crushing on for two years fall for Hannah. Her principal also blackmails her into joining the competitive math team again even though she wants to be on the high school’s literary magazine instead.

Throughout all the stress of the semester, Miranda manages to learn a lot about herself while at the same time pulling off a wonderful Snowflake Gala. Her relationship with her father drastically improves and she and Hannah even form some kind of bond. Even though the story is a bit predictable, Miranda is an enjoyable character that you’ll want to see win in the end. You’ll be happy to know that GEEK ABROAD, the sequel will be available May of 2008.

Jodi Picoult Giveaway from Girls Just Reading

http://girlsjustreading.blogspot.com/2008/03/win-copy-of-change-of-heart.html

Visit this link to go to the Girls Just Reading post about a wonderful giveaway opportunity. An autographed copy of Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart. All you have to do is leave a comment before midnight EST on March 12th to be entered. The winner will be announced on March 13th. Good Luck!

MOBY CLIQUE by Cara Lockwood

Miranda Tate is heading back to Bard Academy after at a brutal summer working for her step-mother at her boutique, In The Pink, which sells everything imaginable that is pink. Miranda refers to it as In The Puke and spends most of her time there sitting at the cash register completing her required summer reading of Moby Dick. Miranda is excited about returning to school until she finds out that her sister, Lindsay, is going to be joining her there after running their father's new Land Rover through the front of In The Pink.

Once on campus, Miranda reunites with her friends Blade, Samir, Hana, and of course Heathcliff. She is disgusted to see that Lindsay, who is desperate for the approval of anyone popular, has fallen into the clutches of Parker, Bard's Queen Bee. Miranda also meets her new dorm monitor, Mrs. P, who happens to be Sylvia Plath and gets off on the wrong foot right away.

Miranda also has to deal with her feelings for Ryan - the boy that broke up with her at the end of the previous school year. She can't decide if she still has feelings for him or not, but feels jealous when he continually gives Parker attention and begins to hang around Lindsay. Mirandra knows she loves Heathcliff but has to keep in mind the rule the school places on them. They aren't supposed to have any romantic or physical contact or Bard will send him back to Wuthering Heights.

When Lindsay disappears, like a couple of the other Bard students, Miranda, Samir, Hana, Blade, Heathcliff, Ryan, and Parker all end up entering the forbidden forest to find her. What they find are pirates roaming the island, one of the faculty members behind all the trouble, and Lindsay causing part of the problems.

Can Miranda and her crew save the world again and put everything back into balance? Who does Miranda choose, Ryan or Heathcliff? To see how Moby Dick plays a part in this Bard Academy novel read MOBY CLIQUE by Cara Lockwood. While it can be read as a stand alone novel since the author gives background information to catch up the reader, it will be more enjoyable if the other two novels in the series are read first.

LUNA by Julie Anne Peters

Regan’s brother, Liam, lives a double life and Regan is the only one who knows about it. Liam assumes the role of “boy” by day and only reveals his/her true self at night. During those moments of peace when she is trying on new outfits, experimenting with different wigs, and trying various makeup techniques she calls herself Luna. Regan witnesses these moments because they always take place in Regan’s room.

Regan’s own life suffers because of the time and effort it takes to keep Luna’s secret. Regan doesn’t feel like she can invite friends over because Luna might emerge. Regan had one slumber party and Luna couldn’t help but join in the dancing and toenail painting. After that humiliation, Regan vowed never to have people over again.

Regan knows her life isn’t full. She doesn’t have friends, doesn’t date, and her relationship with Luna is pretty much one-sided. She is constantly concerned about Luna’s mood; always wanting to make everything okay. When Regan meets Chris in Chemistry class things start to change for her though. She realizes how much she is missing by only focusing on Luna.

Not only do we get to see Liam transform into Luna; we also get to see Regan transform into a confident young woman. While the ending of the book is hopeful, getting there is sometimes heartbreaking.

BOOT CAMP by Todd Strasser

Garrett is dragged out of his bed in the middle of the night, handcuffed, and taken to Lake Harmony, a teenage boot camp, completely against his will. His parents sent him to this behavior modification camp in order to teach him respect and self-discipline.

Garrett is an extremely bright fifteen-year-old. School has never been a problem for him. In fact, he quite often gets bored. He can finish in three days what it takes most students a whole week to accomplish. So, he doesn’t always go to school. Instead he goes to museums or the park to play chess with the old men.

The main reason Garrett’s parents sent him to Lake Harmony though, is Sabrina. Sabrina was one of his teachers until his parents found out about their relationship. His parents got her fired, but didn’t want to go to the police because they didn’t want the story to go public. His mother is always afraid of how things will look to others. Garrett doesn’t stop seeing Sabrina and even begins to stay at her house overnight. His parents feel that Lake Harmony is the only way to break off the relationship.

At Lake Harmony, Garrett experiences isolation, torture, and both physical and mental abuse. His resists the attempts of the staff to brainwash him into thinking he is wrong about everything. Garrett doesn’t accept the fact that just because his parents are paying $4000 a month for him to be at Lake Harmony, they are right about everything.

It is clear Todd Strasser has done a lot of research on the topic of behavior modification programs for teens. There is an afterword describing some of what he discovered and more importantly, a reference list of materials he used to put together his research for the book. Even though the story wraps up a little too quickly and a little too neatly in the end, it is a story that makes you think.

If you want to know if Garrett can make it through with his self-esteem intact? Read BOOT CAMP by Todd Strasser.