Seven Wonders: The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis

If you liked the Percy Jackson series, you are going to like this one.  This is book one of what I am assuming will be at least 7 books (get it...seven wonders).  Book One starts with Jack McKinley standing up for a kid against the school bully.  The next minute he has blacked out and is in a hospital on a tropical island.  He and 3 other preteens have been whisked away to this island because they all possess a gene G7W that gives them superhero potential, but may also kill them by the time they are 14.  They are tasked with finding some lost artifacts of Atlantis (the source of Atlantian power) that have been hidden in the 7 wonders of the ancient world.  I love the mythology, and Atlantian legend as well as the information about the 7 wonders of the world.  I have read Books 2 (Lost in Babylon) AND I JUST NOW finished Book 3 (The Tomb of Shadows.)  All three are exciting and action packed and leave you wanting more!  Now I have to wait for book 4!

   

The Originals by Cat Patrick

I am going to make a point to read more of this author's work because I really enjoyed this book.  Lizzie, Ella and Betsey live an unusual life.  They USED to live as identical twins, but now they are having to live life as one person.  They each take 1/3 of the day.  They are now in high school and starting to show some differences.  The girls begin to ask questions about the life they are being forced to lead by their mother.  These questions lead to even more questions!  This novel just pulls you along!! I loved this very "original" book.

Boy 21 by Matthew Quick

What a wonderful story of how true friends and love can bring you through tough times.  Finley loves basketball and uses it as an escape from some of the tragedy of his life.  His coach asks him to befriend Russ, a boy dealing with his own tragic loss.  Russ, who insists on being called "Boy 21," has lost his parents and is now struggling to deal with the world.  He claims he is only here on earth for a short time in order to learn about human emotions and that his family will soon return from space to get him.  Finley and his girlfriend attempt to help Russ through his tough time while dealing with their own family issues.  I just loved the characters in this book.  I like stories that delve into how people deal with grief and overwhelming situations.  This was a truly satisfying read.

Unbreakable: The Legion Book 1 by Kami Garcia

Hold onto your hats folks, this is a fast moving book.  Unbreakable was written by the coauthor of Beautiful Creatures.  Beautiful Creatures was a great supernatural story and so it this one.  It's a ghost story on steroids.  Kennedy never believed in ghosts till a very nasty one (a "vengeance spirit") tries to kill her.  But then things get WORSE.  Kennedy's mom is killed and she is saved by members of an ages old secret society that is supposed to protect the world from a demon!  This is right up my alley. This book gives you a lot of information about the secret society as well as their task in a very short time.  It is action packed and highly engaging...I couldn't put it down.  Now I have to wait till October 7th for book #2.

The Wells Bequest by Polly Shulman

So years ago I read this book called The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman and loved it.  It was about a magical library (The New York Circulating Material Repository) that lends out objects instead of books.  In the story, some of the items from the special Grimm selection (like the fairy tales...magic mirrors, wands, etc) go missing and the library pages have to find them and save one of their own.  Polly Shulman has now given us a companion book to this.  It's not so much the second one in the series because you can read each one as a stand alone book.  This time the book focuses on the collection in the Repository that contains items from science fiction books like the time machine from the H.G. Wells' novel The Time Machine.  I liked the adventure/time travel in this book and the new characters we get to meet as well as all the references to classic sci fi books.  I just LOVE the idea of a magical library and am hoping this author writes about other collections.

Fallout by Todd Strasser

Imagine living during a time when tensions between the United States and Russia were so high there was a possibility of nuclear war.  Welcome to the early 1960s.  That is when this book takes place.  The Cuban missile crisis is taking place: the Russians are moving nuclear missiles into Cuba.  Schools and practicing air raids and "stop and cover" drills.  The threat of nuclear war is ever present.  People around the United States were building bomb shelters.  This book is about one such family that then has to take cover in their shelter when the unthinkable happens and Russia bombs the US.  The book goes back and forth between the present when they are in the shelter and the past as they went about their normals lives and tensions grew.  This is a story about survival, since a shelter built for 4 is now housing 10 since some of the neighbors forced their way into the shelter when the sirens went off.  It was an interesting story that explored a lot of "what ifs."  I also liked the author's note at the end that spoke about his own childhood home and bomb shelter in which the book is based.

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

Ok fans of Bad Girls Don't Die and From Bad to Cursed, Katie Alender has given you another ghost story that will keep you reading.  It kept me reading all Sunday and I finished it late afternoon!  Colette is very excited to visit Paris with her French class and hopes she finds out a bit more about her father's side of the family while she is there.  When they get there, the newspapers are full of stories about people getting murdered by beheading which causes some concern.  (I think that if I was escorting a bunch of high schoolers to a foreign city while a serial killer was on the loose I would be a bit more apprehensive but anyway...) Colette soon finds out that the murders may have a tie to the French Revolution and goes about trying to find out what, if anything, her family has to do with them.  Before each murder you get a little glimpse into the world of the serial killer's victim. There is also the side plot of Colette figuring out who she is as opposed to who she pretends to be with her friends.  I really enjoyed this ghost story as well as all the glimpses of Paris.  I have been to Paris and I LOVED it and really liked hearing about all the neighborhoods.  I hadn't been to the Palace of Versailles and now I really want to go. 

Hitler's Secret by William Osborne

Hitler' Secret is an action packed, thrilling historical fiction novel.  Lena and Otto have both escaped to England escaping from war torn Europe.  Now they have both been recruited to go back into Germany to capture what the British feel to be the one thing that can defeat Hitler and the Nazis.  The author has previously worked as a screenwriter for more than sixty movies including The Mummy.  Well, it feels like a movie with all the action (from car chases to parachute drops to hang gliding) and all the different locations.  This is a fast paced read that I really enjoyed. There is a historical note at the end provided by the author that I also enjoyed.