Book Reviews by Danielle

HALO; ALEXANDRA ADORNETTO

Bethany is an angel sent from Heaven to protect a sleepy little backwater town called Venus Cove. Her mission is simple. Do whatever it takes to keep evil from overtaking the town she now calls home. But when she meets Xavier Woods, a tall, blonde, gorgeous, athlete who is attracted to her in ways she can’t comprehend, Bethany faces a difficult choice; forget about Xavier or let down her siblings and her Creator. Soon another force takes the spotlight. A demon named Jake is in the midst of students at the local high school, and he means war. Bethany is caught between her divine origins and her connection to her new friends. When Jake captures the heart of her best friend she has no choice but to face him and hope that she can save the girl she is responsible for before Jake kills her.

A fantastic story about the hardships of being a teenager with an extraordinary gift, this book takes the reader on a trip through the mind of a not-so-innocent angel as she faces more than just the average high school experience. The cast is highly relatable to real life people that every teen knows; the handsome jock that everyone loves, the preppy girls with perfect hair and nails, and the people that just don’t quite fit in with everyone else. Alexandra Adornetto captures the true essence of how hard it can be to survive in the real world when everything is conspiring to kill you.  

HADES; ALEXANDRA ADORNETTO

 Bethany is back in the bestselling sequel to Halo. This time she faces a whole new ball game as Jake drags her into Hades, a place where no angel has ever dared to go. Her family and friends begin a desperate search that costs them more than gas money. With the help of her friends Hannah and Tuck, enslaved souls that work for Jake, she learns how to project herself into the world to watch as her family does whatever it takes to find her. When Jake tries to marry Bethany, she turns a dead creature into a butterfly. This is a major problem for Satan. He sentences her to death, not knowing that her powers would prevent her death. A major showdown takes place, ending with her return to the surface of the earth.

           

A twist at the end of the story leaves readers hanging in suspense for the third and final book. Alexandra has created a world in which the reader can get lost, fight for their humanity, and live to tell the tale. A combination of what it takes to live when there is no hope, and the power of love makes this book shine. She writes with a kind of raw emotion that feels as if she is the one being tortured by the demons of Hades instead of Bethany.

The Fault in Our Stars

Hazel is living a terminal life at home. She has Stage IV thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs forcing her to carry an oxygen tank. ³The contraption was necessary because my lungs sucked at being lungs. She would rather watch America¹s Next Top Model then go to a Support Groups for others her age. When her mom convinces her to go she meets Augustus (Gus) who she learns is battling Osteosarcoma. Gus has an optimistic view that cancer doesn¹t have to take over your life. After writing to Hazel¹s favorite author they decide to spend Gus¹s Make-A-Wish on a trip to Amsterdam to meet him. And it proves to be quite an adventure.

John Green writes an amazing teenage novel about relationships, friendship, family, love and cancer. He does so with quirky dialogue and humor that leads to page-turning exuberance. Even though he warns us at the beginning and at the end that this story is completely fictional the thoughts and feelings behind these characters are real. Green really gets to the heart of how it feels to have cancer or to be close to someone battling it.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Teen Read Week is coming up in October and we are already planning our 4^th Teen Lock-In of the year. We are excited to connect with other libraries in Ohio and North Carolina on Oct 21^st at the Paradise Library. The last lock-In featured a live author chat with Gabrielle Zevin, the author of three Young Adult novels. This was a real treat for teens that attended this after hour’s program at the library also receiving free copies of her lasted novel.

In her first novel we meet Naomi, a 16 year old who lost a coin toss and her memory after a traumatic fall, unable to recall the last four years of her life. Maybe that isn’t such a bad thing if you realize the life you had wasn’t that great. She quickly realizes she has a chance to create a new life and make different choices like speaking to her mom again, dumping her current boyfriend and getting to know her 3 year old half sister. Naomi can’t change her past but she can now get a new handle on her future.

Review by Susie Serrano, Paradise Branch Library

Published in the Chico ER

Have you read any of Gabrielle Zevin's books?
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