The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

I have been anxiously awaiting this book for months and it is finally here! This is another book that was impossible to put down. Kimberly Derting’s debut novel is very different than many paranormal young adult books. She found a way to make Violet’s ability seem almost natural. Throughout most of the book, the reader does not feel like they are reading a paranormal book. The love story in The Body Finder was very well written. Readers will get butterflies in their stomach right alongside Violet.

OK now for a plot overview…Violet Ambrose has always had a gift (if that’s what you want to call it) that allows her to locate (sometimes against her will) the remains of people/animals that experienced a violent death. Only her family and her best friend Jay know about her strange ability. Jay and Violet have been best friends since grade school but recently Violet has been wishing for more, but she is worried that he will not feel the same way. Dwelling on her feelings for Jay becomes impossible after the discovery of a girls body…followed by other disappearances. Violet is determined to catch the killer before he can kill again…what she doesn’t know is that she may be the next on the list. With alternating view points (Violet and the killer) this book is also very suspenseful.

I love love loved this book and I am not so patiently awaiting the sequel “Desires of the Dead.” I think Kimberly Derting has a lot of talent I cant believe this is only her first novel! Amazing!!

Need by Carrie Jones

I read this back in December and was pleasantly surprised with it. It was not what I was expecting. I must not have read the synopsis very well before I bought this book and to be honest I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I had known that it was about evil Pixies. I have read a lot of different young adult books (my favorite genre) but I tended to steer clear of book that I considered "fantasy" and pixies/fairies fall into this category in my mind. I love supernatural books but Pixies just didn't sound scary or all that intriguing....until Need. Anyways, the moral of this story is dont be so quick to judge because this book was really good.

Zara White has a strange fixation with phobias that serve as chapter headings and provide additional humor into the story. Since Zara's stepfather's death a strange man keeps appearing, Zara may be the victim of a stalker and she soon decides to relocate to Main. Her grandmother Betty lives there. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imagination. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There's something not right - not human - in this sleepy Maine town. Its also seems like her friends (including the sublimely hot Nick) as well as Betty know more then they let on. They also might have some secrets of their own.

I was truly excited to continue this series when I was done. The next book "Captivate" continues the story about Royal Pixies, Weres, and the war that is brewing...

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

I really liked this book because it wasn't predictable. Nora Grey never had much interest in the guys at school, despite the incessant pleas from her best friend Vee to get out there more. A sudden change in seat assignments finds Nora with a new lab partner, Patch. Patch is nothing like Nora, he is sarcastic and very forward. Nora is furious at first but that quickly turns into intrigue the more she encounters Patch. Part of her is urging her to run away screaming but another part is drawn to him. Why is it that every time she crosses Patch’s path something terrifying and unexplained seems to happen? There is defiantly something different about his guy and Nora is determined to find out even if it puts her life at risk.

The fallen angle spin that Becca Fitzpatrick put into the story was different and interesting. Patch was a very dark character which made him very intriguing. I have to say that I love a bad boy! My favorite character type is the good guy masquerading as the bad boy and I think that this describes Patch perfectly. Patch has his own agenda and tries so hard to focus on it and ignore his attraction to Nora but in the end his sweet, protective, smolderingly sexy side wins out. *sigh* lol

Nora was a great character. The fact that she has such a strong head on her shoulders was refreshing. Dealing with the recent death of her father has been difficult and the events surrounding his murder are a bit of a mystery to her. I have to admit that of all the characters, I wasn't a big fan of her friend Vee. She was a necessary character but I found myself annoyed with how self absorbed she seems. I would have smacked that girl if she was my best friend! Lol

This was an amazing book and I recommend it to all! I am excited to read the next book in the series Crescendo which is due out November 16th 2010. If you want to read the prologue & first chapter of Crescendo visit Becca’s site or Click Here.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

This story is about a girl (Lucy Scarborough) who has known her whole life that her mother (Miranda) is crazy and that the people who have raised her (Leo and Soledad Markowitz) did so because her mother was incapable. Lucy is seventeen and hoping to make it through the rest of high school with as little drama from her mother as possible. Unfortunately that is not in the cards for Lucy when Miranda shows up before her prom and starts throwing glass bottles at the group after pictures in the front yard.

Lucy tries to recover the evening with her date, Gary, but when he forces himself on her at the prom her night goes from bad to worse. Why would he do this? Gary has always seemed so timid. A few weeks later the situation is complicated further by the news that Lucy is pregnant. Suddenly the curse her mother had always been babbling about is starting to seem too real to ignore. Generations ago an angry elfin knight placed a curse on the young Scarborough women. From then on each girl became pregnant before turning eighteen. After giving birth to a daughter, each girl went insane. The only way to break the curse was to complete three tasks described in the lyrics of the Scarborough Fair song passed down through the generations.

The lyrics of the song provide the clues necessary to break the curse, but Lucy and her family will need to come up with creative solutions to complete these seemly impossible tasks. Through the whole process her foster parents and Zach her childhood friend (love interest....I don't want to spoil too much wink wink) are right be her side helping her break the curse and save her sanity. Will the elfin knight let Lucy slip away? Read it and find out :)

Before reading this book I don't think I had ever heard "Scarborough Fair" but I had to go download it as soon as I finished this book. I really enjoyed this book. I think that it was very well written and Nancy Werlin did a great job with the story line. I highly recommend this book.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

I usually feel pretty confident that I will enjoy the books I read because I tend to seek them out. This was one that I had read the synopsis for and saw the cover and immediately put in my to-read pile. I started this book thinking it was going to be about ghosts or something since the synopsis talks about graves and curses, but I was wrong. This is a book about witches or Casters as they are called in Beautiful Creatures. I warn some reads about the length of this book. It is quite long and the pace does slow in the middle of the book for a while. Just hang in there though. The reason it lags a little is because this is going to be a series (at least four planned, that I know of) and they have to lay a lot of foundation in order to set up future books. This also means that you can expect that you will have a lot of unanswered questions at the end too.

Lena Duchannes is new to the small Southern town of Gatlin. She is seen as an outsider and a bit strange by her classmates. Lena is struggling to conceal her increasing power and escape a curse that has haunted her family for generations. She is living in the oldest and most infamous plantation with her uncle (the town shut in). Lena only has herself and her eccentric family to help her deal with her coming fate until she meets Ethan.

Ethan Wate has been haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. He feels compelled to protect her even though he does not even know who she is. Then Lena moves into town and suddenly Ethan know that she is so much more then what she seems. Ethan is drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. The connection is far more powerful then either of them could have imagined and is rooted in the past.

The clock is ticking and time is running out.

Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler

This book was a page turner right from the beginning. Most of the books I read have some aspect of romance intertwined even if it is not the main focus. This story did not, or at least I would say that it did.

The story is about Dusty and how she is dealing with the loss of her brother (he has been missing for two years). It starts with a phone call on a late winter night. “I’m dying,” a boy’s voice says on the other end of the line. Dusty is about to hang up and forget all about his weird call but then the voice starts saying things that only someone who knows her intimately could say. Who is he and how has he gotten Dusty’s cell number? Some of the things he is saying are things that only her brother could know. Does this boy know where her brother is? She has so many questions about what really happened to her brother the night he disappeared. Suddenly drawn in, Dusty very much wants to save this boy. Dusty is compelled to help him in the hopes of getting her answers. There is only one problem, she cannot find him. Part human, part spirit, he won’t let himself be found because he thinks he is dangerous. Dusty is not the only one looking for this boy. Now she is in a race against the whole town. They all think he is to blame for the recent disturbances in town. A great story about a boy not of this world, and a girl determined to save him.

Some might not like this book because it leaves a lot of things unanswered. While I agree that Bowler could have given the story a little more closure, I also think that the current ending lets the reader decide for themselves exactly what/who the boy is and why he came into Dusty's life. I have my own theories...now make yours.

My first Review - Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen was the best book I have read since the Twilight series (when it is all said and done it may even be better!). I know what you’re thinking "Better then Twilight! This woman has lost her mind!” Bare with me, I said it MAY be better then Twilight. I think that Lauren Kate did a really good job of setting up a foundation for a really amazing series. For all of those Twilight lovers out there (myself included) you get mystery, forbidden romance, and a whole slue of great characters. My point is that Twilight alone was a great book but for me it was the series as a whole that truly set it apart form other books I have read. Fallen has that same potential!

Luce is the narrator of the story. She is plagued by visions of shadows and the knowledge that she may be responsible for the death of her boyfriend. After his death she is sent to a boarding school for troubled teens (so to speak). Immediately Luce knows that this place is very different from the prep school she left behind. She meets a lot of interesting people on her first day but the one who catches her attention the most is Daniel. From the first moment that Luce sees Daniel she is drawn to him.

Daniel does not appear to feel the same. He goes out of his way to avoid Luce…or so it seems. Cam on the other hand has a big interest in Luce and he does not try to hide it. Warning!!! The next few sentences may contain spoilers….. Forbidden love, Reincarnation, Angels, and Demons play a big role in the plot of the story. Luce is about to find out that nothing is what it seems and that she may be a key player in a battle that has been raging for centuries.

I loved every single detail that Lauren Kate wove into this story. I was left with so many questions (in a good way) and the NEED FOR MORE!! If you have any doubt whether this is a book for you just read the first chapter and you will be hooked. Torment (book 2 in the series) is on its way, September 2010 can't come soon enough!