Wither (The Chemical Garden #1) by Lauren DeStefano

If you like all the postapocolyptic type books, this one is for you.  I loved it.  It's in a world where North America is the only continent "supposedly" left after a huge world war. There is a virus that is affecting the life span of children and no one has an anticdote for it.  The life span for the new generation is 20-25 years.  That young of an age has quite drastically changed things! Girls are getting pregnant at age 13 now, as soon as they possibly can.  Wealthy people send what is called gatherers out to find girls to experiment on in order to hopefully find an anticdote.  But this story follows Rhine as she and her twin brother are trying to make their life better after their scientist parents die in an explosion on their lab. She is kidnapped on her way to apply for a job and thrown in a van with a handful of other girls.  Their are taken to the middle of nowhere and are put in a lineup.  She and 2 other girls are chosen while the others are herded into the van and shot to death.  The three girls chosen, Rhine, Jenna and Cecily, are to become sister wives to a man named Linden.  Their sole purpose is to bear children for his family, but things don't always go according to plan.  Cecily is a 13 year old ready to please her husband and get pregnant while Jenna is almost at the age of succumbing to the virus and Rhine just refuses her body to her husband.  Jenna puts on an act towards everyone and Rhine ends up sneaking kisses and glances at a servant.  Rhine has become first wife and is trying to use her privelages to escape.  I'm not going to give anything else away and let you find out for yourself, but this story is GREAT.  I would highly suggest it.  It's more for highschool and up though, I don't think middle school age could handle it.  It does talk about intimacy and childbirth, but no gory specifics.  Happy Reading!

the Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is a follow up book to "Life As We Knew It" also by Susan Pfeffer.  It was just as gut wrenching as the first also! It was the same even happening but in a different city. Alex is part of a puerto rican family immigrated to New York City. On the day the meteor hit the moon, Alex's mom was working in the hospital across town, his dad was in a small village in Puerto Rico at a funeral and his brother was in the Marines somewhere leaving him to be with his two younger sisters.  With tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes erupting and the government in chaos, Alex must find a way to take care of Bri and Julie.  They haven't heard from their mom at all, but with the subway systems flooded, her outcome can't be good.  Julie though their dad called, but she can't be sure since there was so much static.  They do know that food is starting to get scarce and money doesn't mean what it used to.  Alex is left to barter coats, jewelry, shoes and whatever he can find for canned goods.  In this day an age, canned salmon and tuna are gold and canned pineapples are a treat. The things that Alex and his sister witness and have to go through are so frightening because in reality it could really happen. This was not your happy go lucky book, but it was very good, just like the first.  There is also a third book called This World We Live In that sort of combines the two books and picks up where they left off.  I have already added it to my list! VERY good, would highly suggest.  Happy Reading!

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

This was another book I saw in my book fair at school and thought I'd read it real quick.  It was REALLY good.  It was a little confusing at times but not too confusing to want to put the book down.  It is in a historical time period that I would have loved to been in.  Reputation is everything and if a girl is caught walking with a man alone or even walking by herself after dark her reputation would be stained.  A girls life is to find a respectable husband, marry, and be a good wife.  Amelia lives in the country and her brother sends her to spend a season with her cousin Zora in order to find a respectable husband.  Once she gets there she finds herself in a forbidden romance with someone below her station and discovers by mistake that she sees visions of the future once she looks into the sun, or her element fire.  This was such a good book for any age starting around intermediate ages.  The romance during this era was so passionate but appropriate.  Nothing like you hear today.  I will definitely be looking into the companion novel for this one and anything else that Saundra has written!  Very happy reading with this one!

Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan

This was another that I picked up from the book fair at my school.  It was a quick read in that yes it was a shorter book but it was a thriller and you wanted to know what happened next. It was mysterious from the very beginning and didn't stop until the very end.  I actually  have never read a thriller mystery with this plot.  Yes, it deals with some supernatural forces, but this is actually a little scary! Lois Duncan is known for her suspense thrillers and this one is right along those lines.  Kits mom has just remarried and her mom and new step-dad are going on a honeymoon tour of Europe. So while they're gone Kit is enrolled in a boarding school.  Upon arriving, Kit feels a horrible evil about the place.  She will soon realize that she couldn't be more right. She finds it odd that there are only 3 other girls that show up on the first day.  Everything starts to build and when she finds out that none of their letters have been sent to their friends and family she hits the roof!  Everything is absolute non stop excitement from there that I won't be giving away!  This is a good one if you need a quick read to hold you over until you get a certain book or if you just love thriller,mystery and suspense.  And chances are if you love this one then you'll love everything Lois Duncan writes! Happy Reading!

The Prince of Mis by Carlos ruiz Zafon

This is a book that I picked up as a quick read from my school book fair.  I try to read quite a few from it so I can point kids in the right direction while attending the book fair. This was a pretty good supernatural, scary, thriller, mystery.  It reminded me of a book I've read called The Stone Child.  It's aimed for young adults but I really enjoyed it.  It follows a supernatural evil who knows what as it makes "deals" with people.  It grants people their wishes and in return asks for a favor.  Usually it is in the form of a life, like the wishers or their first born.  The author gives you a story vague enough to wonder whats going on but not too vague to leave you completely lost and not understanding. You never really quite find out what exactly "The Prince of Mist" is as you'll find out towards the end of the story that he mentions he is called by many names.  He does mention that he is evil and from Hell.  At first I thought maybe vampire but then it just doesn't give you a definitive answer.  But the story is mainly about a business deal that was struck and didn't come to fruition so The Prince of Mist is out to get what is his.  And all the while two kids, Alicia and Max are trying to unravel the mystery.  Max figures out that everything is revolving around a five pointed gold star.  He figures everything out too late though...I'm not giving you the ending of the story though!  At the end of this story there is a Q and A session with the Carlos and James Patterson.  It was really good because you get an insight of why Carlos left things so vague and what his reasoning were for the setting.  It was very interesting to get inside his head.  James Patterson asked some great questions.  Carlos did mention that this is the first book in a trilogy but that they don't necessarily drop off and let the other pick right back up.  It's more of a companion trilogy in that it's the same aesthetic with a supernatural evil against good.  After the story there is a sneak peek at the next book, The Midnight Palace, which is already published. The third book is September Lights.  I would read the others but they're not high on my list right now.  This book was perfect for younger readers though.  Happy Reading!

Ballad by Maggie Steifvater

This book came after Lament.  Not so sure if I liked it or not.  There were good things and bad things.  I really like reading about the Fey and faeries, whatever you'd like to call them...but in this second book it's focused more on James.  James is one hilarious dude.  I would date him in a heartbeat if my heart didn't belong to my wonderful hubby.=)  He's down to earth and SO sarcastic he's funny.  But it's about his journey that he goes on after meeting a faerie, Nuala, that's actually not quite a faerie.  Dee is in this book also, but the story isn't really about her like Lament was.  She had a part to play, but her part in it made me want to slap her.  Her relationship with Luke was non existent in this book which I thought made no sense since according to Lament they were suppose to be madly in love with each other.  It was just weird.  James' story was good though.  It was so funny.  I was laughing out loud at a lot of his comments.  I just didn't really like how there was no flow from the first book to the second.  It's almost like they should have been their own stories and had nothing to do with each other even though they had the same 2 main characters.  It was just awkward at moments in the story.  It wasn't my favorite at all but it was a decent read if you have nothing else on your shelf at the time.  Happy Reading!