Amber needs a day to herself. She knows her parents and best friend are going to be worried sick thinking she is running away, but it can’t be helped. Too much has changed and she can’t stand the thought of putting on a happy face in front of everyone knowing what she has to do tomorrow.

In her attempt at solitude, Amber meets Cade who also seems to be looking for an escape.  They decide to spend one perfect day together – no pasts, no questions, no regrets. 

At first, knowing she wasn’t going to have to explain anything to Cade was a relief, but soon she realizes she wants to know more about him than they agreed to share. Some of his actions cause her to worry about him and she is torn between allowing him to  keep his privacy or convincing him to talk about his life.

Together, Amber and Cade work through their fears in order to face their coming challenges and end their perfect day by going their separate ways – for the time being.

THE DAY BEFORE is a quick read since it is written in verse. Amber’s secret is easy to figure out, but Cade’s is a mystery up until the end of the book. This book is okay, but I enjoyed her others much better. 

I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, FAR FROM YOU, CHASING BROOKLYN

A year has passed since a meteor collided with the moon, sending it closer to the earth, and forever changing the world. In LIFE AS WE KNEW IT, Miranda chronicles the events her family experiences as they struggle for survival during dramatic weather changes, loss of friends, and dangerous food shortages. 

The companion novel, THE DEAD AND GONE, follows the hardships of Alex and his sisters in New York City. The author paints a more gruesome side of life in this installment. One that stays with the reader long after the book is closed. 

THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN brings the two stories together. We, once again, see Miranda at home with her mother and two brothers as they continue to eke out a living. They find ways to deal with food shortages, poor air quality, cold temperatures, and lack of electricity. Even though they are doing okay now, Miranda knows it won’t always be like this. The food deliveries might stop and then what would they do? Miranda’s mother rejects any suggestion of leaving , but Miranda knows there will come a time when they’ll have no choice. 

Miranda’s brothers leave for a fishing trip in an attempt to supplement the provisions they receive weekly from town. Matt and Jon bring back a lot more than fish. While fishing, Matt and Jon run into a band of travelers including Miranda’s father, his new wife, Lisa, and their new baby, Gabriel. Also traveling with them as a man named Charlie and a brother and sister named Alex and Julie. As if that weren’t enough, Matt meets a girl named Syl and claims her as his wife. 

If supplies were dangerously low before, adding six more people to the mix made it down right frightening. Everyone struggled – with issues of privacy, issues of jealously, and issues of conscience. 

THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN returns the reader to the first-person diary form of LIFE AS WE KNEW IT. Miranda documents her changing life as she talks about her growing family, her complicated feelings for Alex, and the grotesque discoveries that still seem to pop up even after a year. Their lives settle into a new routine until an unthinkable disaster rips through town. Miranda and her family are forced to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives if they want to survive in the world they live in now. 

Susan Beth Pfeffer gives her readers what they’ve wanted. Personally, I’m very glad she went back to the first-person diary format. Even though there were times Miranda seemed at bit too whiny and I wanted to strangle Alex, I’m happy with the ending of the book. 

If this series is new to you, please begin by reading LIFE AS WE KNEW IT followed by THE DEAD AND THE GONE. You won’t be able to understand the full impact of what these characters are going through in THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN without knowing a little about their backgrounds.

Imagine a world where there are no racial differences. Everyone looks exactly the same, with a blending of Caucasian, Asian, African American, and Hispanic American features. This is the world that Dirk Tyrone, Keiko Tan, Mateo Rodriquez, and Nicci Golden are born into. The minute they are born, they are in immediate danger. They are the first children to be born with distinct cultural characteristics since the government implemented the Merger and they don’t want word of it getting out. No one in the world even remembers a time when people could be different and they don’t want people to question the Merger. In order to prevent the possibility of it happening again, the government murders the parents of the four children.

Dr. Lisa Tyrone is the doctor present during the birth of the children. In addition to being hospital personnel, she is also the biological aunt of Dirk. Wanting desperately to save the children from extermination, she escapes the hospital with the four babies and goes into hiding. Not only do the teens look different from everyone else in the world, but they also have powers. Dirk is a telepath and can enter the minds of people he comes into contact with. Keiko is an empath. She can heal people with her touch by taking on their pain and dispelling it from her body. Mateo is a metamorph and can change into any animal he thinks of and finally, Nicci is a time traveler and can manipulate time, past, present, and future. For fourteen years Dr. Tyrone is able to keep herself and the children safe, but finally, the man behind the Merger project, Senator Broogue, captures them all with plans to get rid of them once and for all.

After much torture, the children don’t think they are going to make it out alive. When they feel all hope is lost, help arrives. Three people with district ethnic characteristics and similar powers to the kids appear and fight off Senator Broogue and whisk the kids away to safety. Unfortunately, Dr. Tyrone is too badly injured and can’t be saved. The teens must deal with their grief while at the same time learn more about the world they live in and why it is the way it is. In addition, they also learn about what the world would be like if Senator Broogue hadn’t altered the past and created the Merger. After a time of training with the Elders in order to learn how to better use their powers, they are sent back in time to challenge the Senator and prevent him from changing the past. If they succeed, the world will be back on the right path where people’s individuality is appreciated.

MERGERS is Steven Layne’s second novel. His debut novel, THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, was the winner of the Hal Clement Award for best science fiction for young adults in the United States. MERGERS is even better. Action scenes fill the pages and take the reader through the story at a rapid pace. The story has a satisfactory conclusion even though there are some unanswered questions like, who exactly are the Elders and how are they connected to the kids. However, these loose ends don’t take away from the enjoyment of the novel.

Powerful doesn’t begin to describe BOY TOY by Barry Lyga. It is the story of Josh, a young man that was involved in an inappropriate relationship with his teacher five years ago. Barry Lyga does an amazing job showing the impact this event has on Josh’s life. Relationships with his parents, kids at school, and teachers are changed forever. 

There is one relationship that hasn’t changed much since the incident. Zik is Josh’s best friend and he has stood by him through everything. He doesn’t push Josh for information about what happened with the teacher and stands up for him when others give him a hard time. 

The area of his life that was most damaged by the relationship with Eve, the teacher from the relationship, was his ability to deal with girls his own age. It seems that every time he gets in a situation with a girl where closeness is involved, he thinks about Eve’s likes and needs and transfers those into the current situation. He can’t feel comfortable with girls because Eve is always in the back of his mind. 

Things really heat up when Eve is released from prison after serving a 5 year sentence. With the story hitting the news again, the situation is on everyone’s mind which causes stress for Josh. He feels the need to talk to Eve to answer some of his own questions while at the same time he is attempting to reconnect with Rachel – a girl he thought he lost when the relationship between Josh and Eve was revealed. 

BOY TOY is amazing. It really shines some light on a situation that doesn’t get as much thought as it should. After talking to several men I know, their first response is, “Where were teachers like that when I was in school,” but ask them about a young girl being in an inappropriate relationship with a male teacher and the situation is totally different. There is a double standard. BOY TOY gives us a good look at the issues young men have to deal with after a relationship of this nature.

Ruben knew exactly when it happened. He was sitting in the backseat of an old Mercedes in his family’s salvage yard when the feeling came over him. Ruben often left his own body and could attach himself to others. He could sense their thoughts and emotions. This is what happened when he felt his sister, Rachel, get attacked and murdered. He knew exactly the moment Rachel’s life was taken from her. 

Even though he knew it had happened and knew that the Dead Man killed her, Ruben didn’t say anything to his family. He hoped he might be wrong. He realized he wasn’t when the police contacted the family. The details were simple: Rachel, nineteen years old, was visiting an old school friend in the small village of Lychcombe on Dartmoor. After her visit was over, she left and made her way toward London to return home, but never made it. Her body was found the following morning, strangled, raped, and battered. 

The most important thing to the family was to get her back. They wanted to bury her and put her to rest. After a trip to the police station to find out how long her body would be held, the family found out that the police would keep her until the case was closed; meaning the murderer had to be caught. The problem with that was, Ruben knew the murderer was already dead and buried and the case wouldn’t be solved anytime soon. 

Ruben’s older brother, Cole, wasn’t going to sit around and wait. He planned to go to the village to find out what happened himself and he planned to go alone. He didn’t want his younger brother going along to worry about. Ruben knew what Cole was thinking, though, and his mother wanted him to go along to make sure Cole didn’t get himself hurt. Cole’s temper tended to get him in trouble. He took after his gypsy, bare-knuckle fighter father who was sentenced to a prison term for killing someone. 

Even though their mother was worried about Ruben and Cole going away to look into the murder, no one could foresee the trouble in store for them once they started digging into Rachel’s murder. As soon as they arrived in the village they knew they weren’t welcome. Secrets were everywhere and no one wanted them to be dug up. Secrets that involved the entire village. Secrets that would lead them to pain, torture, death, and eventually the truth. 

Kevin Brooks doesn’t let us down. He has provided another heart-pounding, deeply emotional story with strong characters. THE ROAD OF THE DEAD is a great place to start if you haven’t read any other books by this creative and unique author.

Picture, if you will, life in the year 2076. You are living in The United Safer States of America and things such as obesity, verbal abuse, and dangerous activities are against the law. The legal driving age is twenty-six. Even sports such as football are illegal. Sports that are allowed are hindered due to all the safety gear the participants are required to wear. This is the world that sixteen-year-old Bo Marsten inhabits. 

Bo has inherited a bit of a temper from his father who has been in prison since 2073 for road rage. He has been in trouble at school many times for “failing to control his antisocial impulses,” but when he is falsely accused of causing a rash that spreads throughout the school, his anger gets the best of him and he assaults a classmate. This action lands him in a work camp in the middle of the Canadian tundra that is surrounded by hungry polar bears. 

The work camp Bo is sent to is a factory that makes pizzas. He becomes a member of a four man team with the responsibility of using the pepperoni gun. Each pull of the trigger on the pepperoni gun delivers twenty-six pepperoni on each pizza. When the team works in sync, life isn’t so bad. There is only one group that causes Bo problems while he is there, the Goldshirts. The Goldshirts are an elite group at the pizza factory that have special privileges like a variety of food, when the others only have defective pizzas to eat for every meal, every day. The Goldshirts main job is to play football for the warden. 

All new editions to the work camp eventually have a tryout in front of the warden. This entails running and catching a pass. If you catch it, you become a Goldshirt and are placed on the team. Bo makes the team and experiences physical activity without protective gear for the first time in his life. The warden requires that the team practice every day for several hours in order to prepare for an illegal game with another work camp. If you want to remain a Goldshirt, you play even if you are injured. 

After surviving work camp and brutal football games, Bo, with the help of an unlikely attorney, is released from his sentence and allowed to go home. Bo begins to think about life in the USSA and considers where else he can go that would allow more freedom. 

Pete Hautman has written a unique sports novel for the sci-fi/fantasy lover. This interesting look at what might happen to a society more concerned with safety than freedom is a page-turner. The reader will enjoy comparing today’s life with the life Hautman has created.

Marit can’t hold onto a boyfriend. Every time the relationship gets physical she freaks out and either scares the boy away or breaks up with him herself. She is afraid of having sex for the first time and obsesses about it. Besides the “no boyfriend” problem on the first day of school, she also has to deal with the fact that her schedule is terrible. I mean, who should have second period lunch? Eating lunch at 9:00 a.m. should definitely be against the law! So far the only bright spots in her day are her constant friends Jamie and Caroline. Basically inseparable, these three spend their day mocking the “followers” and “joiners” of the school. 

Marit has accepted a senior year without a boyfriend until a new boy walks into her German class and steals her heart. She just knows that Noah will be her boyfriend for the year. She makes a bold move and invites him to a school bonfire. Noah accepts and Marit is hopeful it will be a successful date. Once at the bonfire, the couple realizes they can’t talk with all the noise and finds a quiet spot to be alone. Eventually they begin to kiss and Marit’s nerves cause her to do something to embarrass herself and ends up running away from the situation instead of talking to Noah about it. 

Determined to fix her problem, she goes to her older sister for advice. Hilly tells Marit she needs to find someone she already knows and feels comfortable with to have sex with for the first time. Once she has done “it,” she won’t be so nervous about it. The perfect candidate is Jamie; her loyal friend of eight years. At first Jamie doesn’t think it is a very good idea, but soon changes his mind. 

Aury Wallington writes a realistic story that involves typical high school drama while at the same time creating characters that are likable. Even though sex is the main focus of Marit’s life, she remains a character that the readers will root for in the end. The author also buries a lesson in the pages of the story; one that we can never hear enough. Friendship is more important than anything else. POP! is an enjoyable read, even though the ending is a little too convenient and quickly resolved.

Gwen, a self-conscious 11th grader, has been having a reoccurring dream; one of a handsome and mysterious stranger walking down the hallway of her school. He stands in the doorway of her English class wearing a long, leather, duster and sunglasses. She can’t believe it when the dream comes true and Adrian walks into her life. Immediately she sees through his act. 

Adrian acts like a tough guy; full of confidence and charm, but inside he is full of doubt. He has been moved around by his parents so many times that he has never had an opportunity to form friendships and reintroducing himself to new student populations is getting old. Once he meets Gwen, his life changes in unimaginable ways. 

When Gwen and Adrian begin to come into contact with each other more often, by eating at the same lunch table – against Gwen’s will – and sharing classes, Gwen’s occasional prophetic dreams turn into daytime visions. These visions show her impending disasters. Adrian also benefits from contact with Gwen. Gwen unlocks the ability, hidden within Adrian’s mind, to read people’s thoughts. As long as they are around each other, they are mentally linked. Once they realize what is going on, they begin to use these powers to their advantage. Manipulating each other for their own benefit causes a lot of tension and mistrust between the two. 

POWERS is told in the alternating points of view of Adrian and Gwen. The small chunks make it possible to read this book in short sittings. The story begins with Gwen, the unpopular, chunky, underdog, looking like the more likeable character, and Adrian playing the unfeeling user. However, for me, Adrian was the better character. He really comes through in the end and puts everything together so he and Gwen can be together.

Jack’s father has always been a perfectionist, but lately, his need to control every aspect of the family’s life has stepped up a notch. Mr. Barrett, Jack’s dad, has been offered a wonderful opportunity with the company he works for, the Eden Corporation. Eden owns a gated village in Paradise, a nearby town, where only the most successful and devoted employees are invited to live. The village is all inclusive and there is no need to ever leave. The village even has a school for the children of the employees. 

Mr. Barrett’s family isn’t handling the news of the move very well. His wife has been drinking more and more since Mr. Barrett’s controlling nature has intensified. Troy, the youngest child, has used his rebellious attitude to spark conflict within the household. Gram, Mr. Barrett’s mother and the boys’ biggest protector, doesn’t mince words when it comes to how crazy she thinks moving the whole family to a strange community is, and Jack, the oldest son, tries to keep the peace by attempting to please his father and trying to keep Troy under control. 

Eventually, the day comes and the family packs up and moves to Paradise. Jack’s mother has gone ahead in order to get the house ready so it is just Mr. Barrett, Jack, Troy, and Gram following the moving van. Once they reach the entry gate, Jack sees a site that leaves him speechless. Jori is a beautiful girl that works at the entry gate of Paradise and a girl that he definitely wants to get to know better, but for some reason, Mr. Barrett doesn’t want him to have anything to do with her. His exact words are, “She doesn’t belong in Paradise.” This statement is just one of the things Jack, Troy, and Gram consider strange when they get settled in their new community. Everyone seems too happy, their mother hasn’t been seen since they’ve arrived, and Mr. Eden, the owner of the Eden Corporation, has been sneaking into the Barrett’s house at night and taking Troy somewhere after knocking him out so he won’t wake up. The boys, with a lot of help from Gram and Jori, attempt to get to the bottom of all the mysteries and find a way out of Paradise. 

THIS SIDE OF PARADISE is a science fiction thriller reminiscent of The Stepford Wives. It was awarded the Hal Clement Award for best science fiction novel for young adults in the United States. This is Steven Layne’s first novel and is far from perfect, but at the same time, has many characteristics that will appeal to young readers.

Emil’s life has been turned upside down in the last year. His mother has died of cancer and his brother, who he has always looked up to, has disappeared without a trace. Emil and his father don’t communicate about anything important and rarely see each other due to his father’s work schedule. The only friend he has is Soma, a rule-bending, line-crossing boy who is in the same grade as Emil. 

Nothing exciting happens to Emil. He is average in every way. His brother, Ethan, was the bright, shining star with all the friends, good grades, and a way with the ladies. Emil just lives in Ethan’s shadow. He attends Caramoor Academy, a private school with a hefty tuition. Since everything has happened in his family, Emil’s grades have started to slip and his father is riding him harder than ever to make the grade; especially since he is paying so much for him to go to school at Caramoor. 

Emil does have the key though — the key to notoriety, the key to exploration, the key to discovery. One day before Ethan left home, Emil was digging around in his bedroom and found an actual key. When he asked Ethan what the key unlocked he received a surprising answer: the key was a master key to the entire Caramoor Academy campus. Every door in every building was available to the person who held the key. Emil asked if he could have it and unbelievably, Ethan said yes. Normally the key was passed from one student to another each year. No one except the key holder was supposed to know who had it. The goal of the year was to pull off a monumental prank. 

Emil’s chance at greatness comes when his father has to go out of town for a long business trip and he has four days and nights home alone. He decides to use his time exploring Caramoor Academy. He sets up a makeshift bed in the attic of the main building and proceeds to unlock every door he can find. One evening during his exploration, Emil sees the art studio lit up and hears music blaring from the room. He finds a girl inside spinning a clay pot. He is shocked and doesn’t give her his real name because he doesn’t want to get caught, but he also wants to find out what she is doing there. After some conversation, he realizes she is the daughter of the art teacher at the Academy. 

Over the next several days Emil and Jade, the girl in the art studio, form a relationship that leads them to many discoveries about themselves, about the death of Emil’s mother and Ethan’s role in it, and the importance of friendship. Eireann Corrigan has written a complex novel with true-to-life young adult characters that grow throughout the course of the story. Definitely for older teens, this novel covers topics such as grief, loss, family, and discovery with compassion and humor.