December IndieBound List

DECEMBER 2009 INDIENEXT LIST

Since IndieBound is the first place I go to when looking for my next great read, I have to share December's new list!

And if anyone reads Stephen King's The Dome, let me know what you think! I almost bought it tonight in the book store, but I pulled a muscle picking it up. Then again, I could get a workout while reading...hmm....

I only noticed this now, so maybe it's new, but IndieBound also has a list of PRESENTING PAPERBACKS...for those of us who get sticker shock when looking at a hardcover novel.

Review: Malice by Chris Wooding

So scary and so much fun!

Remember when we would dare each other at sleep-overs to look into a mirror in the dark and say "Bloody Mary" three times? Well, such is the urban legend of Tall Jake in Malice.

Imaginative, suspenseful, original, exciting, and, yes, a wee bit scary!

I really enjoyed Chris Wooding's Malice, a story about an underground comic book named Malice and an urban legend called Tall Jake. All the kids have heard about Malice and Tall Jake, but few took the journey to the comic book shop to ask for one from behind the counter. Luke, one boy in a small group of friends, gets his hands on a copy, which scares Heather to pieces. The kids' faces in the comic book look too real, too frightened. He takes it one step further and performs the ritual that calls, "Tall Jake take me away, Tall Jake take me away." The the lights go out. Luke disappears and friends Kady and Seth investigate. What they find is that Luke has been taken into the comic book. The only way to find out what happened to him, and to get a few of their own questions answered is to follow Luke into the comic book.

Throughout the book are small scenes taken right from Malice, as we see the characters end up in the pages of this dark, underground comic book. I don't think I have ever read a comic book in my life, nor do I think I'll ever pick one up, but Wooding's use of this technique is brilliant, and adds so much to the story and to the feeling of the book.

When I put this book on my Fall Into Reading list, someone had suggested I skip it, which made me hesitate in picking it up. I am so glad that I stuck to my list, and read this book. It's awesome for kids, both boys AND girls (recommended for ages 12 and up).

Malice leaves us with a cliffhanger of an ending, with promises for more adventures in it's second installment, Havoc, due out in May 2010.

For more information, visit Chris Wooding's website here.



About the Book:
Malice by Chris Wooding
Paperback: 384 pages (ages 12 & up)
Publisher: Scholastic (February 2, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1407103946
ISBN-13: 978-1407103945

Review: Shadowland by Alyson Noel

Oh, how disappointing.

I really enjoyed Evermore, Alyson Noel's first book in the The Immortals series. So much so that I picked up Blue Moon, book #2. I was disappointed with Blue Moon, but wanted to give Noel's YA series one more shot with Shadowland.

A part of me was worried that I was simply too old to appreciate YA fiction, but I simply think a good book is a good book, no matter the audience.

Shadowland picks up two weeks after Blue Moon left off. Damen is still alive, but the antidote that cured him also cursed him, thanks to Roman. He may not touch Ever, or else he will die an immortal's death - spending an eternity in the Shadowland, a place of nothingness. Ever searches for a way to get the antidote to the antidote from Roman, meanwhile another hottie comes into the picture. Enter Jude. Apparently, Ever has some past-lives drama she needs to rectify.

Unfortunately, there is no progress in any of the relationships in this book. Ever doesn't seem to have learned anything yet about her own abilities, responsibilities, or limitations. Adding a potential love interest added some excitement and tension, but not nearly enough to make up for the loose ends that simply remained, well, loose.

Maybe I'm showing my age here, but have you ever watched Daytime Soap Operas? My mom used to watch Days of Our Lives. I would catch an episode with her here and there, sometimes I would watch them every day for weeks (I had Mono when I was 14); other times, there would be months in between. One day or one month, never did I feel like I had missed so much that I couldn't pick up the storyline (Bo and Hope are probably still crying about something). This is how I felt with Shadowland. The potential for a good scene was there, but then it would fade to something else before the first one could pick up steam.

Apologies to Ms. Noel, but this one fell short for me.

For more, visit Alyson Noel's website and blog here.

You can also visit The Immortals Series site here, where you can read excerpts, listen to audio excerpts, and watch video trailers of each book in The Immortals series.

About the Book:
Shadowland by Alyson Noel
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1 edition (November 17, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031259044X
ISBN-13: 978-0312590444

Review: A Better High by Matt Bellace, Ph.D.

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas songs and hot chocolate. Gingerbread cookies and snowmen. Twinkling lights and kids making snow angels. All of these things put a smile on my face and a spring in my step. Do you know what that's called? It's called a natural high. If you ask me, there's nothing like it. If you ask Matt Bellace, author of A Better High, he'll tell you it's the best, and then proceed to let you in on some of the other ways he finds his natural highs.

This book is fantastic.

A Better High: A Humorous Look at Getting High Naturally, Everyday is Matt Bellace's interpretation of the nationally renowned youth program, "How To Get High Naturally." This book may be about getting high naturally, but it reads more like a biography - a biography written by a stand-up comic.

Bellace takes his readers through several different methods in which he finds natural highs in his own life -- running, laughing, loving, helping, etc. He even gives scientific proof that laughing stimulates the same part of the brain as cocaine. Let me assure you, this is not your average drug and alcohol prevention book. A Better High is a far cry from the dusty "just say no" pamphlets that used to be thrust at us as teenagers. I promise, it's neither preachy nor boring. Instead, the writing is conversational, funny and easy to read. This book is a shockingly personal account that will leave you smarter, entertained and inspired to change some things in your own life.

I found myself laughing and smiling so much, I think I got a natural high just from reading A Better High!

"This woman said to me, 'You don't drink? What a great accomplishment!' I responded, 'I also have a PhD.' She paused and said, 'Yeah, but not drinking...How do you do it?'?
- Matt Bellace

On a personal note: Authors are my rock stars. When someone I hold in high regard in my real life puts pen to paper and writes a book, it rocks my world. Well, Matt and I have known each other since we were teenagers. There are few people in this world whom I can say I respect and admire more than I do him. Where writing a book would be my greatest accomplishment, for Matt writing this book is probably just a check-mark on his long list of amazing accomplishments. He has been changing lives and inspiring kids since we were kids ourselves. He continues to inspire with A Better High. Bravo!

On another personal note: My children are still small, so it's safe to say I have a little time before I have to worry about them finding their way to drugs and alcohol. Having said that, it's never too early to teach your kids about natural highs. Don't forget, kids learn by example. After reading A Better High, I couldn't help but say to myself, what better way to keep your kids from seeking dangerous ways to get high than to show them, and share with them different ways to get high naturally?

Food for thought.

If you're looking to get high...naturally...pick up A Better High by Matt Bellace.

To learn more about Matt Bellace, and to order a copy of his book, check out his website.

To learn more about Teen Institutes in your area, visit the National Association of Teen Institutes website here.

NEW: Matt just informed me that his book is now available on Kindle: http://www.facebook.com/l/b1c31;Amazon.com

FTC Note: I purchased this book and it is part of my personal library.

Review: Fire Will Fall by Carol Plum-Ucci

I was handed this ARC with the directive: "Read this, I really want to know what you think." Someone knows how to woo me!


I had never heard of Carol Plum-Ucci before, but she's on my radar now!

A New Jersey resident, and Young Adult author, Plum-Ucci has been the recipient of countless awards, including, but not limited to, the Michael L. Printz Honor, Edgar Allan Poe Award, ALA's Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults, and Amazon Editor's #1 Choice in Young Literature. She has had great success with titles such as The Body of Christopher Creed (2001), What Happened to Lani Garver (2003), and The Night My Sister Went Missing (2007). Her YA novel, The Body of Christopher Creed has been optioned by Dreamworks.

Carol Plum-Ucci takes on a topic and a perspective the likes of which I had never read before. Bio terrorism. And the victims are teenagers.

9/11 changed the world as we knew it. Many of us will forever remember where we were and what we saw that day. What about the teenagers who were suddenly thrust out of childhood? Their innocence officially ended. The boogie man of their grammar school years had a face and a name and he was hiding in a cave somewhere in the middle east planning his next attack. So, what if there was another attack?

Fire Will Fall takes place within a year after 9/11 and is about a group of teenagers, known to the world as the Trinity Four, who are the victims of a bio-terror attack on a small town in New Jersey. They drank tainted water that infused their body with a virus that have scientists on four continents working on a cure. Brothers, Scott and Owen, and the girls, Rain and Cora, are brought to a mansion out in the woods of the Pine Barrens. There they will be under 24/7 medical care, as well as government protection. The fictional USIC believes that "a dog does not return to its vomit," but they are wrong.

The Trinity Four are an intriguing group of characters, with this horrific attack bonding them. Still, they manage to find love and friendship and a sort of therapy among themselves. Scott, the oldest, takes on the patriarchal role for the group. A former EMT, he is usually first on the scene when any of the other kids are in need of medical attention. Owen is your typical nice guy, but also has a spiritual side and gives everyone a unique perspective on their situation. It doesn't seem like Owen ever truly got over his mother's death. Rain just wants to be normal. She wants to have friends, go to college, get married, have babies and be President of the PTA. If it weren't for this stupid virus, and the fact that her father is in the USIC. Cora is the quiet one. She lived with her grandmother until her mother came back from trying to save the world, addicted to drugs. Cora watched her mother die, yet is still haunted by her.

Outside the Trinity Four, we learn of the activities and illnesses of two more not-so-ordinary teenagers. These guys are v-spies, or virtual spies, tracking the whereabouts and chatter among the bio terrorism group known as ShadowStrike, and reporting their findings to a source at USIC (a fictional US Intelligence Agency). The two v-spies,known as the Kid and Tyler, read an ominous message, "Fire will fall on Colony 2." Trinity Falls was known as Colony 1, and Tyler and The Kid work around the clock to get more intelligence in order to prevent another attack. Where is Colony 2? What is "Fire"?

These two were like my comic relief in this book. They were as opposite as Felix and Oscar, yet they work and live well together. I loved bouncing back and forth between their lives and the goings on of the Trinity Four.

All the kids are on edge almost to the point of paranoia, and every adult seems suspicious. The Trinity Four not only worry about another attack, they are worried about what each day will bring -- another Headache from Hell, or another Throat from Hell, accompanied by high fevers and hallucinations. While one of them may be having a four-star day (symptom free) another may be down (bedridden). In the middle of all of this, they are trying to handle the trials and tribulations of simply being teenagers. There is lots of suspense, and some lighter moments to break the heavy storyline.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. I wonder if I would have liked it even better had I read the first book. DOH! I did not know until after I finished Fire Will Fall that it was the second book in a series. The first book is Streams of Babel, and tells the story of the first bio terror attack that claimed the lives of two of the teens' mothers. Even though I wished I had read the first book, Fire Will Fall could be read as a stand-alone. I am assuming by the loose ends, that there will be another to follow.

NOTE: This book is classified as Young Adult, however, there are mature subjects in addition to terrorism: Rape, drug use,teen alcohol use, sex, oral sex, and masturbation. Not to spoil the book, but the teens don't necessarily engage in any of these activities, but they are a part of their conversations and memories.

Visit author Carol Plum-Ucci's website here.


About the Book:
Fire Will Fall by Carol Plum-Ucci
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (May 3, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0152165622
ISBN-13: 978-0152165628

FTC Statement: An ARC of this book was loaned to me by a friend who manages a book store.