Title: Hex Hall
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Series: Hex Hall (Book 1)
Genre: Paranormal, High School
Age: Young Adult (Grades 7+)
Keywords: supernatural, reformatory school, angels, witches, demons

Description: (Booklist/Amazon) If Meyer’s Twilight series embodies the romantic supernatural, Hawkins’ debut novel exemplifies the supernatural spoof. Sixteen-year-old Sophie Mercer, whose absentee father is a warlock, discovered both her heritage and her powers at age 13. While at her school prom, Sophie happens upon a miserable girl sobbing in the bathroom and tries to perform a love spell to help her out. It misfires, and Sophie finds herself at Hecate (aka Hex) Hall, a boarding school for delinquent Prodigium (witches, warlocks, faeries, shape-shifters, and the occasional vampire). What makes this fast-paced romp work is Hawkins’ wry humor and sharp eye for teen dynamics, especially between the popular and the misfit crowds. Sophie is a multidimensional character, both likable and believably flawed. Secondary characters lack her depth, but their more broadly drawn portraits are in keeping with narrator Sophie’s impressions of her teachers and classmates. Many clever touches (vampire Lord Byron teaches literature), spot-on depictions of classic teen situations (crushing on the queen bee’s boyfriend), and an ending that leaves you hanging will have readers grabbing for the sequel.

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(Added new tags! "reference: (author name)". This is to help if you're trying to find something similar by an author you like and don't read all the reviews.)

Title: Pray for Silence
Author: Linda Castillo
Series: Kate Burkholder, #2
Age: Adult
Genre: Fiction, Mystery/Thriller
Keywords: crime fiction, amish life, pornography

Description: (Linda Castillo's website) In the quiet town of Painters Mill an Amish family is found slaughtered on their farm. Kate Burkholder and her small police force have few clues, no motive and no suspect. Formerly Amish herself, Kate is no stranger to secrets, but she can’t get her mind around the senseless brutality of the crime.

State agent John Tomasseti arrives on the scene to assist. He and Kate worked together on a previous case, and they’re still setting the limits of a complex, difficult relationship. They soon realize that the disturbing details of this case will push those boundaries to the breaking point.

When Kate discovers a diary, she realizes a haunting personal connection to the case. One of the teenage daughters kept some very dark secrets and may have been leading a lurid double life. Driven by her own scarred past, Kate vows to find the killer and bring him to justice—even if it means putting herself in the line of fire.

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Title: Sleepless
Author: Cyn Balog
Age: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Keywords: sandmen, car crash, relationships, summer

Description: (Reading Rocks) Eron DeMarchelle isn't supposed to feel this connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce his human charges to sleep. Though he can communicate with his charges in their dreams, he isn't encouraged to do so. After all, becoming too involved in one human's life could prevent him from helping others get their needed rest.

But he can't deny that he feels something for Julia, a lonely girl with fiery red hair and sad dreams. Just weeks ago, her boyfriend died in a car accident, and Eron can tell that she feels more alone than ever. Eron was human once too, many years ago, and he remembers how it felt to lose the one he loved. In the past, Eron has broken rules to protect Julia, but now, when she seems to need him more than ever, he can't reach her. Eron's time as a Sandman is coming to a close, and his replacement doesn't seem to care about his charges. Worse, Julia is facing dangers she doesn't recognize, and Eron, as he transitions back to being human, may be the only one who can save her...

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Title: Jumping Off Swings
Author: Jo Knowles
Age: Young Adult
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Keywords: teen pregnancy, abortion, friendship, high school

Description: (Amazon) Ellie has sex with boys who make her feel wanted and beautiful and then never call again. Even seemingly decent Josh, a virgin, leaves right after their tryst and never speaks to her again. It turns out the condom "slipped off" (?) and she gets pregnant. The next nine months are narrated by four charaters—Ellie, Josh, and their best friends, Corinne and Caleb. Ellie's and Josh's families are filled with stock dysfunction—from Ellie's shrill, uptight mother and perfect-on-the-outside home to Josh's washed-up, hard-drinking father and hapless mother. The plot of this novel is tired, but Corinne and Caleb, at least, are mercifully convincing and thoughtful. Each, of course, comes from a stable family. Caleb's single mother is the novel's moral center. The blaring contrast between stable kids from loving families versus lost kids from dysfunctional families oversimplifies a complex subject.

( May Contain Spoilers )



Rate this Review - JUMPING OFF SWINGS (Knowles)
Eh, I didn't get anything from it.
It definitely got me interested.
I can't wait to read it!
No opinion either way.
Genre isn't my cup of tea.

Title: Mockingbird
Author: Kathryn Erskine
Age: Juvenile (Grades 4 and up)
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Keywords: school shooting, family tragedy, asperger's syndrome

Description: (Bibliochic) Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine is the tale of 10-year-old Caitlin, a talented young artist with Asperger’s syndrome. In Mockingbird, Caitlin is on the search for “Closure” after the death of her older brother, Devon. The novel is told from Caitlin’s point of view, and the reader gets a unique look into the mind of a child that sees the world very differently from the average person.

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Title: Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood
Author: Eileen Cook
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Age: Young Adult
Keywords: high school, best friends, theater, karma, revenge

Description: (Fantastic Fiction) The Count of Monte Cristo meets Mean Girls in this scandalicious, hilarious tale of friendship, betrayal, makeovers, and revenge.

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Title: Private
Authors: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Age: Adult
Genre: Fiction, Crime & Mystery
Keywords: Hollywood, Private Investigations, Scandal, Football, Mob

Description: (Amazon) The police can't help you

Former CIA agent Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily--and his staff of investigators uses the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break their cases.

The press will destroy you

Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multi-million dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of 18 schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to home: his best friend's wife, Jack's former lover, has been killed. It nearly pushes him over the edge. Instead, Jack pushes back and devotes all of Private's resources to tracking down her killer.

Only one place to turn: Private

But Jack doesn't have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the killer and chooses between revenge and justice, Morgan has to navigate a workplace love affair that threatens to blow the roof off his plans. With a plot that moves at death-defying speeds, Private is James Patterson sleekest, most exciting thriller ever.

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51 books, listed in chronological order.
( 1-51 )
Key:
F- Fiction
NF - Nonfiction
YA - Young Adult (ages 13-18)
J - Juvenile Fiction (grades 3-6)
B - Biography
M - Memoir/Autobiography
GN - Graphic Novel
C - Classic/Reading List Standard

No solid details on this production, yet. Michael Houghton will be producing. According to IMDB, the release date is set for 2013.

Title: Shade
Author: Jeri Smith-Ready
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Age: Young Adult
Keywords: ghosts, mystics, musicians, first love

Description: (Fantastic Fiction) When Aura's boyfriend dies a most untimely death, she is forced to reconsider her relationship with the living and the dead in SHADE.

( May Contain Spoilers )

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