Hold Still

by Nina LaCour
304 pages

With Hold Stil, Nina LaCour has written a beautiful book about loss and growth. A wonderful first book by a new author that shows promise for future work.

After Caitlin's best friend Ingrid commits suicide she attempts to deal with daily life. When Caitlin finds Ingrid's journal hidden in her room she begins to heal as she understands what life was like for her friend. There are so many things that Caitlin never knew and Ingrid never shared. Caitlin struggles with feelings of guilt, questioning why she didn't know and thinking that she should have been able to stop her.

Helping her through the first year without Ingrid is a new friend who can truly understand the loss Caitlin is feeling and a boy who Caitlin might just be falling in love with. Caitlin attempts to open up to these new people of her life while trying to cope with the loss of Ingrid.

The emotions of the book felt very real and raw and the writing was lovely. One complaint is that I didn't really feel like we got to know Caitlin all that well. So much of the story focused on Ingrid I feel like Caitlin's development was neglected. But overall a very engrossing book.

The verdict is: A good read that deals with real issues teens face.

Beautiful Creatures

by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
576 pages

Can you change your destiny?

At a daunting 576 pages, Beautiful Creatures is Gothic romance packs it all in. Fans of historic fiction will love the Civil War flash backs and fantasy lovers will beg for more of the supernatural world that Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl created.

In Gatlin, South Carolina there are no secrets. Everyone knows your business the moment it happens. Or at least that's what sixteen-year-old Ethan Wate always thought. Ethan is counting down the days until he can leave Gatlin and start fresh in a place where no one knows him as the "boy whose mama died". But everything for Ethan changes when he meets the new girl in Gatlin, Lena Duchannes.

Lena is about the furthest thing from Gatlin's norm. She doesn't wear the right cloths, drives a hearse, and is the niece of Gatlin's biggest recluse, Macon Ravenwood. But Ethan and Lena are linked by something from their very first meeting, and maybe even before.

As Ethan and Lena become friends, she starts to share some of her family secrets. Secrets that involve the town that Ethan thought he knew so well. Lena's family are Casters, each has some magical gift, but on their sixteenth birthday they are claimed by either the light or dark powers of the casting world. Lena birthday is quickly approaching and the pair try frantically to find a way of sparing her from the fate of a dark Caster.

Ethan is the narrator of the story, which I think worked perfectly. Seeing the situation through him allows you to understand the more human issues in the story. The authors did a wonderful job of developing the minor characters as well. You really got a sense of who they were and loved them for their little quirks. Gatlin itself is a character, full of DAR members, Civil War reenactments, and things that aren't always what they seem. Another plus for this book is that it has a cool librarian.

Beautiful Creatures will have you enthralled from the beginning, and while the plot moves quickly, maybe some of the length could have been trimmed back. Still, the ending is exciting, and will leave you wanting more, but there is defiantly room for a sequel.

The verdict is: Must read for fantasy and historical fiction fans.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth Video

I love book trailers and any kind of fan made video that goes along with a book. This is one of the Kirkus Teen Book Vidoes from 2008. This makes me want to see a movie version of the book. I thought it was really cool, enjoy!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Carrie Ryan
308 pages

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is one of the books I read while I was stuck in the car for, um like, 18 hours. I really didn't know what to include in a summary so I am going to let School Library Journal do it.

Mary knows little about the past and why the world now contains two types of people: those in her village and the undead outside the fence, who prey upon the flesh of the living. The Sisters protect their village and provide for the continuance of the human race. After her mother is bitten and joins the Unconsecrated, Mary is sent to the Sisters to be prepared for marriage to her friend Harry. But then the fences are breached and the life she has known is gone forever.

Mary; Harry; Travis, whom Mary loves but who is betrothed to her best friend; her brother and his wife; and an orphaned boy set out into the unknown to search for safety, answers to their questions, and a reason to go on living.
Debra Banna, Sharon Public Library, MA

I was excited to read this one because the premise sounded really interesting. I found it to be a fresh take on the zombie genre. The book, in my opinion, was very well written, but could be slow moving at times. Despite that, the suspenseful scenes will keep you turning the pages.

My biggest issue with this book is that I didn't like Mary. I found her selfish and not all that interesting. There is one scene where she kicks butt, but other than that she somewhat grated on my nerves. The plot started to loose my interest toward the end and there were many questions left unanswered. There will be a sequel, so hopefully some of the mysteries will be solved.

The verdict is: Read it, has a little bit of everything, romance, intrigue, action and adventure.

Fire

by Kristin Cashore
10 CDs

I have to admit, I had my doubts about a Graceling prequel, but I will never doubt again. Kristin Cashore defiantly delivered with Fire, I dare say I enjoyed it more! Kristin Cashore has such a gift for creating a fantasy world that just leaves you wanting more. The book is so well written, you get the sense that she carefully selected every word and the result was wonderful. This book had it all, action, adventure, romance, violence, sorrow and intrigue. You won't be able to put this one down, or in my case turn it off. The story is has many twists and turns, so I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but maybe just a little taste.

Fire takes place in the Dells, a place where beautiful and deadly monsters live. The kingdom is on the verge of war and the Dells is no longer a safe place. Lady Fire is a half human/half monster whose beauty stops people dead in their tracks. She also has the ability to control peoples minds and make them do her bidding, though she doesn't abuse it. That is something that her father would have done, and the last thing Fire wants is to be like him.

Fire lives in the northern region of the kingdom with her best friend and lover Archer. After a heroic feat she is requested by the king to assist with the interrogation of spies in Kings City. The journey of Lady Fire will take her to a strange new place with a delightful cast of characters and pleanty of adventure.

What I loved is that Kristin Cashore wasn't afraid to cover some realistic issues just because it was a fantasy book. Things such as birth control, PMS, and lust help make the book even more believable. The interpersonal relationships are wonderful and don't feel forced. And Fire, what can I say about Fire. I loved her! She was strong and independent, yet still vulnerable. There are some questions that were left unanswered, but if we are lucky Cashore will come out with another Fire book.

I highly recommend the audio version. The narrator, Xanthe Elbrick, was perfect. The story came to life so much more. I also listened to to Graceling, but for Fire I wish I would have had a hard copy as well.

The verdict is: I know I have said wonderful way too many times in this review, but it was. No need to read Graceling first, but you will probably want to after. I absolutely loved this one, read it now!

The Garden of Eve

by K.L. Going
240 pages

I enjoy middle grade books and try to read as many as I can (it is sometimes hard to keep up with all the great YA books out there). But The Garden of Eve intrigued me and I had read and enjoyed King of the Screwups by K.L. Going so I thought I would give it a try. I was disappointed. The story was a little to sweet and sappy for my taste and the plot (that I at first thought would be interesting) ended up fizzling out in the last 50 pages or so.

Ten year-old Evie was just lost her mother to cancer when her father decides to pick up everything and move them from friends and family in Michigan to a long dead apple orchard in a cursed town in New York. Evie wants nothing to do with this new place and misses the home she left behind.

Evie used to believe in all things magical, but not since her mother died. Then Evie receives a strange seed for her 11th birthday. The story is that the seed came from the Garden of Eden. Even though she has been warned not to, Evie and her new friend Alex plant the seed and before their very eyes a tree grows from the ground.

The seed leads the two friends into a strange place, but there will be many difficult decisions along the way.

I enjoyed The Garden of Eve for the first two thirds of the book, but the ending was such a let down. The characters wern't well developed and I just felt like whole chapters were missing. It was almost as if K.L. Going had a more elaborate ending and then her editor was like, cut it back 100 pages. The quick conclusion of the book didn't match the rest. I still like the author and look forward to reading Fat Kids Rule the World.

The verdict is: A good story for a child who has just lost a loved one, but one that could easily be skipped over.

Intertwined

by Gena Showalter
448 pages

Intertwined is a fantasy book that had a little bit of everything, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, you name it, Gena Showalter stuck it in her book. Unfortunately it was just a little too much.

The plot was so predictable, and the relationships felt really unbelievable to me. I did sort of like Aden the central character, but even he got on my nerves. I am really trying to think of some redeeming factor this one had, but I just can't.

This book had too many different story lines with in one book I don't even know how to summarize it. So I am going to let the book jacket do that for you:

Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him:

One can time-travel.

One can raise the dead.

One can tell the future.

And one can possess another human.

With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now they're causing him all kinds of trouble. Like, he'll blink and suddenly he's a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he'll change the future. Or he'll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she's going to die.

He's so over it. All he wants is peace.

And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, as long as he's near her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He's a loner; she has friends. He doesn't care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it's too late....

Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own, and a vampire princess Aden can't resist.

Two romances, both forbidden. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger but not everyone will come out alive....

I don't want to discourage anyone from reading this book, some of you might actually enjoy it, but for me, this one was a bust almost from the very begingin. I think maybe Gena Showalter should have embraced the adage, less is more.

The verdict is: Give this one a skip unless you read every YA fantasy book and don't care about content.

Straight No Chaser

My cousin Jerome is in a great a capella group called Straight No Chaser. There story is a really cool one. They all met at Indiana University and formed and a cappella group. After graduation they all went off and did there own things. Someone put an old concert of theirs on YouTube and had over 7 million views during the holiday season. It had so many hits that Atlantic Records contacted all the guys about getting back together and making a CD. The guys were spread out throughout the U.S., had "real" jobs and families, but jumped at the chance to get back together. They came out with their first Christmas album last year and have a new one out this year. The albums are great, but the guys are even better live. They are touring all over the country (next stop is a sold out concert in New York City). This is one of their videos.

The 12 Blogs of Christmas Contest

The Neverending Shelf (one of my favorite YA blogs) is hosting a 12 Blogs of Christmas Contest with some great giveaways. There is more than one winner so defiantly go sign up for this one!

http://www.theneverendingshelf.com/2009/12/12-blogs-of-christmas-contest.html

60 Second Recap

This is a great site for English teachers, librarians and anyone who loves classic literature. The site is true to its name, it gives 60 second recaps of classic novels. Topics include theme, plot, motifs, symbolism and character overviews. They also provide little trailers for the book. A great way to get young people (or old) excited about what they are going to read and then use it at the end to review the information. This site launched on September 14, 2009 and their library is already pretty impressive. Another nice feature, you can request a book for them to recap if it is not in their library. All around a great resource and it is a lot of fun. Defiantly give this one a look.

http://www.60secondrecap.com/

Book Review Policy

Hello everyone, thanks for checking out my new blog! I just graduated from library school so I finally have time to keep up with a blog again. Have a book? I would be happy to recieve books to review. I enjoy reading any type of YA book, Middle Grade, some children's titles and select adult books that appeal to young adults. If you are interested in having your book reviewed please click on the folling link and fill out the book review form.


http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFY2SzFvR0JPWFVDRXlJZlNfTzlyb3c6MA
Thanks

YALSA Book Trailer Contest

I know I love watching book trailers. I'm not the best at making them, but maybe you are? YALSA has just announced a new contest for teens ages 13-18.

Here is what they have to say about it:

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), has announced the finalists for two of its book awards: the Morris Award for the best YA book written by a first-time author and the Nonfiction Award for the best nonfiction book written for teens. Each award has five finalists. We’re challenging you to make a book trailer about one of the books.

You can learn more about the awards at:

www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists

And more about the contest at:

http://yalsa.ala.org/BookTrailerContest.pdf

Check this out, it seems like a lot of fun and the prize is awesome!

Helpful Websites

Dr. Denise Agosto, an Associate Professor at the College of Information Science & Technology at Drexel University, has a wonderful website full of valuable information for those in the school library profession, educators or just have an interest in children's literature. If you are looking for multicultural literature for children this is a great resource to use. She even includes information on evaluating your selections as well as well as lists of multicultural awards and links to their websites. You should defiantly check it out:

http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~dea22/

Wake

by Lisa McMann
210 pages

I was pleasantly surprised with this Wake. I finished it in only a few hours last night, I just couldn't put it down. At first the style threw me off, it felt like I was reading a play with scene directions, but once you got used to that it was really an effective writing style.

Wake is about a seventeen-year-old girl named Janie who has more than a few problems. For starters, she has no idea who her father is, her mother is an alcoholic, she is picked on by most people at school because she is poor, and oh yeah, she gets sucked into other people's dreams. This last little problem has been going on since Janie was about eight and causing problems ever since, but Janie is resilient. She is determined to make a better life for herself by going to college and works her butt off to make that happen.

While Janie is working at a nursing home she meets someone who can help her understand what is happening to her and she begins to take some control of her dreams. She also starts to fall for a guy who has a few mysteries of his own.

An exciting book that was really readable. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The little synopsis on the book jacket I felt could have been better. I almost didn't read the book because of it. I am glad I did, defiantly worth it.

The verdict is: Good read, check it out.

Shiver

by Maggie Stiefvater
392 pages

There was a lot of buzz about Shiver, but I don't think it lived up to it. Don't get me wrong, it was a good quick read, but I found it really predictably (even for a ya book) and the characters were only OK.

I did enjoy Maggie Stiefvater's writing and thought using two different points of view to tell the story worked well here. The sequel, Linger, comes out in July and I will probably give it a skip.

Shiver is the story about Grace, a girl who has always been fascinated by the wolves who live in the woods near her home. As a child she was attacked by a pack of wolves, but somehow survived. Since then she feels this strange bond to the animals. There is one wolf in particular that she is drawn to and one day she finds out he is more than just a wolf. Sam was bitten by a wolf as a child and since then every year when it starts to get cold he changes. Sam has always loved Grace from a distance, but this is his last chance to be with her. This is the last year that he will be changing back into a human.

Shiver is really just a love story with a werewolf twist. Sam and Grace are trying to hold on to each other as long as they can, but both know it is only a matter of time until Sam will turn back into a wolf forever.

I think the reason I was disappointed was because I felt the love story was very unrealistic. I just thought it felt rushed, they just met and yet they are head over heels in love acting like a couple of 20 years. I enjoy the build up in a love story and I don't really think this one had any. It also lacked the action I expected. Over all a decent book, just not one of my favorites.

The verdict is: Read it and make up your own mind

2010 Morris Award Finalists

The William C. Morris YA Debut Award honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature.



Ash
By Malinda Lo

Consumed with grief after the death of her father, Ash's only escape from her harsh life and cruel stepmother comes from re-reading the fairy tales that her mother once told her and hoping against hope that the fairies will appear to her. When the fairy Sidhean appears, Ash hopes that he will steal her away to his enchanted world; but when she meets the King's Huntress, Kaisa, she realizes that staying in her own realm can also lead to beauty, romance, and perhaps even love.





Beautiful Creatures
By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Sixteen-year-old Ethan has lived all his life in Gaitlin, South Carolina, a town that hasn’t changed much since the Civil War. While coping with the loss of his mother, a father who spends all of his time in his study, and high school, his world turns upside down with the arrival of Lena, a new girl with whom he seems to share a psychic connection. As they grow closer, Ethan discovers that Lena and her family share a dark secret and that she is headed for doom on her sixteenth birthday.





The Everafter
By Amy Huntley

Maddy is a ghost, surrounded by things she lost when she was alive. By touching these objects, she relives the episodes in her life where she lost them. Even though Maddy’s dead, she explores the lessons these objects hold — and why are they still important.





Flash Burnout
By L.K. Madigan

Blake’s life is way too complicated. He’s a sophomore in high school with a girlfriend and a friend who is a girl. One of them loves him. One of them needs him. Can he please them both?






Hold Still
By Nina LaCour

After Caitlin's best friend Ingrid commits suicide, Caitlin has a hard time making sense of the loss. She finds Ingrid's journal and slowly allows herself to read it and learn about why Ingrid felt the need to end her life. Caitlin also grapples with allowing herself to find another friend, to let in a boyfriend, and to understand why her favorite teacher is ignoring her. It is the haunting story of dealing with loss, moving on, and finding peace and hope.

YALSA Nonfiction Award Finalists

The YALSA nonfiction award is for the best nonfiction book of the year published for young adults (ages 12-18). Th winner is announced at the ALA Midwinter Meeting Youth Media Awards. The following summaries are from the YALSA web-site.



Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
By Tanya Lee Stone

In the early 1960s, the doctor in charge of testing NASA’s astronauts decided to find out if female pilots were capable of passing the grueling qualification tests required of male pilots. Feasible? Yes. Allowed? No. All testing of women’s potential for the Mercury program was done outside NASA’s purview and without their permission. The reasons why will stun readers.





Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of FaithBy Deborah Heiligman

After creating a list of the pros and cons of marriage, science-minded Charles Darwin chooses to marry his strictly religious first cousin. Little does he know that he is about to embark upon the most loving, creative, and intellectually important relationship of his life.







Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice
By Phillip Hoose

Hoose recounts the largely untold story of Claudette Colvin, who was arrested and jailed at the age of 15 after refusing to relinquish her seat on a bus to a white woman. Interviews with Colvin create a vivid picture not only of the Montgomery bus boycott but also the Browder v. Gayle case, in which she was a key defendant.





The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous and Stupendous Life of the Showman P. T. Barnum
By Candace Fleming and Illustrated by Ray Fenwick

Thrill to the audacity! Gasp at the hucksterism! Come one, come all to the jaw-dropping, larger-than-life biography of expert humbugger, relentless curiosity seeker, and unparalleled showman P. T. Barnum.






Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland
By Sally M. Walker

By presenting a detailed examination into the work of different types of forensic archaeology at excavations in both Jamestown, Virginia, and Colonial Maryland, readers are rewarded with both a picture of this fascinating work and an appreciation for what it contributes to our knowledge of history.

Google Goggles

I love Google! They come up with so many great things. This new visual search seems so cool. I could have used this in undergrad when I was looking at old maps

Birthmarked

by Caragh M. O'Brien
320 pages

All I can say is WOW. I think Birthmarked is my favorite YA book since The Hunger Games. This one will have you on the edge of your seat not able to read fast enough.

Summary from GoodReads:
After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It’s Gaia’s job to “advance” a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia’s parents are arrested.

Badly scarred since childhood, Gaia is a strong, resourceful loner who begins to question her society. As Gaia’s efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she herself is arrested and imprisoned.

Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, BIRTHMARKED explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where one girl can make all the difference, and a real hero makes her own moral code.

I loved the character of Gaia, she was strong and independent, but also very real. I thought the story was well written, a little predictable at times, but you will have that. I really liked it and would highly recommend it. This one doesn't come out till April so don't forget about it.

And the verdict is: Read it as soon as you can, I loved it!

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

Reading Is Sexy!

One of my all time favorite t.v. shows is the Gilmore Girls. I loved this show with all my heart, well maybe not the last season, and miss it so much. For those who don't know, Rory was the daughter in the show and an avid reader. Her room was full of books and she was always reading something. Someone compilled a list of all the books that were ever mentioned in the show and now there is a wonderful new reading challenge. There are like 500 books on the list so this won't be one I finish, but I think it will be fun and there is a lot of variety.

Life As We Knew It

Susan Beth Pfeffer
360 pages

Told through sixteen year old Miranda's diary entries, Life As We Knew It is an engrossing story of survival and family.

I listened to this book in the car and really enjoyed it. I would get to my destination and sit there for five minutes just to hear what would happen. As soon as I finished I ordered the next book in the series, The Dead and the Gone. Post-apocalyptic YA books seem to be popping up everywhere and that is fine by me.

Miranda has a typical teenage life, she has too much homework, her friends get on her nerves and her mom is totally unfair. Miranda is so preoccupied with her own life she doesn't pay too much attention to the news about the moon, all she knows is that is is causing her more homework. Then everything changes. The moon gets knocked out of orbit and causes catastrophic events. Worldwide disasters ensue and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

As millions of people die in natural disasters,Miranda's resourceful mother prepares for the worst. Miranda, her mother, brother, and neighbor raid the grocery store for anything they might need to make it through this. Food and gas become impossible to get, people she has known her whole life suddenly pack up and leave, and people are dying all around her. As Miranda's life changes before her eyes she keeps a detailed record of everything in her journal. Through her entries we can understand the frustration and terror she is going through. We also see Miranda develop into someone stronger than she ever thought she could be.

And the verdict is: Great book, fast read, interesting plot.

New Hunger Games Book comes out August 24, 2010

I am super excited the release date for the next book in the Hunger Games has been released!!! I absolutley loved the first two books and I am dying to find out what happens in the third. Will Katniss pick Gale or Peeta, will there be a full on revolution, will there be another game? I just can't wait.

2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Starting January 1st I will be participating in J. Kaye's 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge. Here are the rules:

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post. To learn how to sign up without having a blog, click here.

2. There are four levels:

--The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.

--Just My Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 25 Young Adult novels.

--Stepping It Up YA Reading Challenge – Read 50 Young Adult novels.

--Super Size Me YA Reading Challenge – Read 75 Young Adult novels.

3. Audio, eBooks, paper all count.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010.
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My goal is Stepping It Up or 50 books. That would be about one YA book a week, leaving me time for other genres.

Teen Read Week 2009

This is just a little video I made using Animoto. These are some pictues I took of the Teen Read Week book discussion set up. I couldn't include any with kids so these are just of the set up before they came. I also included some of our new fiction book displays. Enjoy!

Books with Bite

I was a student teacher-librarian at a high school library in Western PA. At the end of October we celebrated Teen Read Week and our theme was "Books with Bite" I created a reading list of books we had in the library and thought I would share it here.

I Love You, But I’m Afraid I’m Going to Eat You
Blue Bloods Series by Melissa De La Cruz
Jessica’s Guide To Dating On The Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith

FANTASY BITES
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Immortals Series (Evermore and Blue Moon) by Alyson Noel
Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

Werewolves and Monsters: Something Furry This Way Comes
The Sight by David Clement-Davis
Tartabull’s Throw by Henry Garfield
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
The Blooding by Patricia Windsor

Demons and Zombies: Give Up Your DeadThe Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
Bill’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
The Death Collector by Justin Richards
The Demonata Series by Darren Shaw

Ghosts and Ghouls
The Presence: A Ghost Story by Eve Bunting
The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
The Afterlife by Gary Soto

Deadly Little Lies (A Touch Novel)

by Laurie Faria Stolarz
304 pages

As sequels go Deadly Little Lies wasn't bad.

In the first book, Deadly Little Secret, Camelia is immediately drawn to the new guy at school with the troubled past, but Ben is more mysterious than anyone could have thought. Ben has a special ability called pyschometry that allows him to sense the future through touch. Camelia and Ben have an undeniable attraction to one another, but Ben tries to keep his distance. At the same time Camelia begins receiving threatening messages and all signs point to Ben as the sender.

This book pick up four months after Deadly Little Secret. Camelia hasn't been the same since Ben left her. Ben returns to school just as heartbroken Camelia is finally starting to heal. The electricity between Ben and Camelia is just as strong as ever, but Ben is also trying to distance himself. Camelia also realizes that her sculptures are starting to predict the future. With the help of her two best friends she tries to decipher the messages in her pottery, but doesn't understand enough about her new powers and knows that Ben might be the only one who can help her. But after going back and forth with Ben, Camelia finally decides it is time to move on (it doesn't hurt that the sweet new guy at work Adam keeps asking her out), but then the messages start appearing again. Just like the first time they appear mysteriously in her room or in the mail, but this time they warn her that she is going to die. Camelia knows Ben is the only one who can help her, as long as he isn't the one trying to kill her...

Although predictable, this was a quick, exciting read and I enjoyed it. Laurie Stolarz breaks up some of the chapters with Camelia's aunt's diary entries from 1884. Readers lean that Aunt Alexia also had the ability to see the future through art, but this development is left open for the next book in the series. This book was hard to put down. The tension between Camelia and Ben is intense and you just want them to be together. I love Camelia's friends Kimmie and Wes, who provide Camelia with comic relief as well as good advice. Stolarz flawed characters are endearing and believable, even when Camelia hides her death threats from her parents. Overall I liked it.

And the verdict is: Not my favorite YA series, but I will defiantly read the next one.