Suite Scarlett

by Maureen Johnson

Scarlett Martin has no idea what just happened to her.  On top of that, the hotel her family owns, the Hopewell, is falling into disrepair. And, as Scarlett must frequently point out, owning the Hopewell does not mean her family is rich. Not by a long shot. That's not all. After two years of searching, her older brother Spencer has just snagged a role in an off-off-off Broadway production of Hamlet...under the condition that the cast can rehearse without Scarlett's parents' knowledge in the basement of the Hopewell. To Spencer's dismay, her older sister Lola is dating quite possibly the most blissfully ignorant old-money boy New York has to offer. Her cancer-survivor younger sister Marlene is acting like she owns the world (as usual) and Sarlett's friends are nowhere to be found.
Enter Amy Amberson, the middle-aged eccentric full-time Hopewell guest who seems to have become Scarlett's sole responsibility. Among her attempts to take New York by storm, Ms. Amberson takes on the co-directorship of Spencer's play and asks that Scarlett assist her. Scarlett doesn't mind though, because into the cast and into her basement comes hottie Eric Hall, the NYU freshman with a Southern accent and a knowledge of physical comedy that rivals Spencer's. Hilarity ensues.
Johnson has again astounded readers with Scarlett's down-to-earth nature and dry wit. Avid chick-lit fans will devour this book, as well as the sequel, Scarlett Fever (review coming soon!) with enthusiasm. Sparkling with romance, humor, and drama, Suite Scarlett is a must for teenage girls, especially those interested in city life or the theater.
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The Night She Disappeared

By April Henry

     The only car that Gabie Klug's über-strict surgeon parents will allow her to get is a Mini Cooper. Gabie doesn't mind the car, because it lets her work delivery hours at Pete's Pizza, a small cafe in a Portland strip mall. One night, her coworker, Drew, takes an order for three Meat Monster pizzas to go. Kayla, the universally accepted senior and born leader among the Pete's employees, takes the delivery. And doesn't come back. It's only after the police have pronounced Kayla officially missing that Drew confides in Gabie. That maybe the kidnapper wasn't after Kayla at all. That the man who made the order asked if the girl with the Mini Cooper was working that night. With the help of each other, some covert sleuthing, and a whole lot of self-discovery, Gabie and Drew find clues that are almost certainly contradictory to the police force's idea that Kayla is dead, her body dumped in the rushing river and in the ocean by now.
     The Night She Disappeared is a mystery thriller that throws more than a few plot curveballs. Told in a strangely haunting 3rd person omniscient narration that gives the opinion of heroes, villains, suspects, cops, and victims in a poignant day-to-day style, this novel hooks crime fans from the first syllable and reels them in tightly until the last letter. Anyone looking for cliffhangers, suspense, and just a bit of romance should pick this off the shelves.
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the Son of Neptune Sinks....again.

NOTE: I was assigned to complete a book review for a contest. However, my English teacher made very specific qualifications for a good book review. Here is a more "appropriate" book review for the Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan. If it doesn't win because it's negative, the judges don't know what they're missing.

          In Rick Riordan’s newest novel, The Son of Neptune, once again we follow the storyline of Percy Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, as he discovers a whole new realm of demigods, the New Roman haven of Camp Jupiter. He has been brainwashed by the goddess Juno, and can’t remember where he came from, or barely who he is. At Camp Jupiter he meets an old friend and some new ones, and wins the honor (somewhat) of a quest. But this quest isn’t just any old quest. No, it has to be to fulfill a deathly prophecy (Another one? The avid Riordan fans among us might wonder.)  This time, the journey takes Percy to Alaska along with Hazel, daughter of Pluto, and Frank, son of Neptune to stop Gaea, the evil earth goddess, from rising to power and turning the world into chaos with the help of the innumerable beasts stirring in Tartarus.

          Another elementary yet addicting installment in the Heroes of Olympus series brings heaps of suspense, humor and more than a few confusing plot twists into the world of junior fiction. This book was quite well written, and I recommend it with reservations to fans of Riordan’s writing style. If you are looking for another mythological fluff read, don’t hesitate to pick this one up and devour it as quickly as the enormous amount of pages will allow.

          However, I must say that as a teenager, I think this book was a little generic. The first five Percy Jackson books were amazing, deep, hilarious, and emotional. These long, 500-page monsters are getting a little tedious. Die-hard fans, however, just want to see Annabeth and Percy have their back-together-again kiss. But we will have to wait until October for that, when The Mark of Athena, the final book in the Heroes of Olympus trilogy, is released. I’m not sure where Riordan thinks he’s going with his mythology phase, because avid Percy fans are getting bored. I also don’t understand which age level the author is going for with this series. The characters in the book are in their mid-teens, but the Lexile rating of the Son of Neptune (660) is the amount late elementary-level novels usually receive. It was a good read, but in all fairness, it was dull. This book occasionally had its moments, but I would not recommend it for any avid mythology fan. They will most certainly be disappointed.

Kiss Me Kill Me

Lauren Henderson

The first time one looks at the cover of Kiss Me Kill Me, they would think, oh, another dark racy romance novel. Ugh. Then when they begin to read it, perhaps because they are bored, or stressed, or just plain brain dead, they will realize what a delicately thrilling tale tart noir goddess Lauren Henderson has spun. The story revolves around Scarlett, a teenage gymnast, and her brushes with the in crowd. At one of their parties, she manages to woo the elusive-but-so-sexy Dan McAndrew. However, that’s where things start going downhill. It’s only after the ambulances have driven away, lights ablaze, that she realizes the full truth. When she kissed Dan, he died. Suffocated to death after the most exciting moment of Scarlett’s life. And according to Plum and Nadia, the reigning queens of the populars at the exclusive St. Tabby’s School for Girls, Scarlett killed him. With the help of Taylor, a P.I. wannabe, and Lizzie, one of Nadia’s cowardly worshippers, Scarlett finds out the shocking truth about what really happened that night on the roof. And all clues point to…dum dum dum…Plum. Or do they? And of course, Scarlett can’t get Jase Barnes, the super-hot gardener’s grandson, out of her mind. But she’s also afraid. What if he drops dead like Dan when she tries to make a move?

            With suspense, action, and a couple laughs pushed in there for fun, Kiss Me Kill Me is not the best book on the market. But it is far from the worst. The plot twists around the truth, red herrings are around every corner, and there are at least three sequels to look forward too. This book may never make the #1 on the charts, but it will definitely pique the interests of avid romance fans. It may not be as racy as the title suggests, but it’s definitely a page-turner.

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The Son of Neptune

by Rick Riordan

            Another elementary yet addicting installment in the Heroes of Olympus series brings heaps of suspense, humor and more than a few confusing plot twists into the world. Once again we follow the storyline of Percy Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, as he discovers a whole new realm of demigods, the New Roman haven of Camp Jupiter. There he meets an old friend and some new ones, and winning the honor (somewhat) of a quest. But this quest isn’t just any old quest. No, it has to be to fulfill a deathly prophecy (Another one? The avid Riordan fans among us might wonder.)  This time, the quest takes Percy to Alaska along with Hazel, daughter of Pluto, and Frank, son of Neptune, to stop Gaea, the evil earth goddess, from rising to power.            

            This book is full of mildly funny moments. But as a teenager, I think it was a little generic. The first five Percy Jackson books were amazing, deep, funny, and emotional. These long, 500-page monsters are getting a little tedious. We just want to see Annabeth and Percy have their back-together-again kiss. But we have to wait until October for that. I’m not sure where Rick Riordan thinks he’s going with this. The characters are in their mid-teens, but the lexile rating (660) is the rating late elementary-level novels usually receive. It was a good read, but in all fairness, slightly boring. It had its moments occasionally, but don’t rush out to pay the close to twenty-dollar hardcover price. It’s not worth that much. Riordan has made a name for himself, what with writing the first book of  the popular fad series The 39 Clues, and with Percy Jackson and Red Pyramid books, but he's got himself into a bit of a mythology rut here.

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Pure Dead Brilliant

by Debi Gliori

Pure Dead Brilliant definitely lives up to its name. The third book in the hilarious fantasy series documents the lives of the Strega-Borgia clan, descended from sorceresses and Mafiosos and the employers of nanny Flora McLachlan, a certified witch. Titus Strega-Borgia is about to inherit a massive amount of money from his grandfather, having no idea the money came from the hugely successful Italian mafia. Much to the chagrin of his younger sister, Pandora, he continues to flaunt his immense wealth Meanwhile, several of Mrs. Baci Strega-Borgia’s colleagues from the Institute of Advanced Witchcraft have come to the StregaSchloss mansion, leaving Nanny McLachlan to realize that one of them is not what she seems.

Coincidentally, Damp, the youngest Strega-Borgia child, is developing her abilities as a top-notch sorceress right under the inept witch-in-training Baci’s nose. On top of it all, Titus’s rat-faced uncle, Lucifer, feels compelled to come up to StregaSchloss in Scotland to reclaim what he feels is his rightful inheritance.

Complete with spiders, rats, dragons, griffins, yetis, and an appearance by a certain fabled Scottish loch monster, Pure Dead Brilliant is another thrilling installment of this six book series, overflowing with accents, jokes, and subtle Scottish digs. For anyone who likes their serving of books well-done with laughs, drama, and a generous helping of toilet humor, don’t miss out!

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Artemis Fowl: the Atlantis Complex

Eoin Colfer

The supposedly final book in the amazingly popular Artemis Fowl series does not disappoint. The basic plot of the seven-book series spans over four years revolves around Artemis Fowl II, a criminal genius. After Artemis has proven the existence of an ancient fairy race living underneath the earth, he (yes, Artemis is a boy) decided to kidnap a fairy and try to rob it of its gold, with the help of his trusty bodyguard, Butler. Did I mention that Artemis is twelve? The fairy in question is Captain Holly Short, the first female in the Lower Elements Police branch LEPrecon. (LEPrecon, leprechauns…see the similarities?)     

            After Artemis relieves the fairies of a small amount of fairy gold and cures his mother’s mental illness with a little magic, he continues to have escapades including the LEP for most of his teenage years. However, after so much guilt resting on his conscience, Artemis develops a rare condition called the Atlantis Complex, with symptoms including paranoia, obsessive behavior, and multiple personality disorder. This falls at an inopportune time, exactly as a rogue LEP craft is hurtling toward the delicate underground fairy haven of Atlantis.

            Filled with emotion, action, and sharp wit, this thrilling read will leave everyone on the edge of their seats. Bringing the unpredictability of magic to the predictable outcome of technology makes for a gripping page-turner that begs for another sequel. Artemis Fowl: the Atlantis Complex is a must-read for adventure and fantasy fans of all ages.

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