Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Wow! This is quite the intense historical fiction novel.  Queenie is a British spy in Allied France during WWII and she has been captured by the Nazi's.  She will do anything to avoid the torture that is leading up to her inevitable death. (because that is what happens to spies when they are caught).  In an attempt to avoid torture and prolong her life, she decides cooperation is her best course of action, but she still does it on her terms.  Instead of easily spelling out what the Nazi's want, she is giving it to them in narrative form.  She is writing her story.  You learn about her unbreakable friendship with Maddie a civilian pilot working for the British government.  This is a wonderful story of friendship and bravery.  There is a lot of detail about the role of some women during WWII as well as spies and pilots.  I can't go into much more detail in the summary because, just like a spy, I don't want to give any secrets away.  I CAN tell you this...there are lots of twists at the end that I did NOT see coming. This book kept me reading because I just had to find out what happened to Queenie and Maddie.

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

This is a great fantasy book! Callum has been taught his whole life by his father that doing magic and going to the Magisterium (a school to train to control one's magic) is pretty much a death sentence, at least it was for his mother.  Once he gets there, however, he meets friends for the first time and learns to enjoy his new home away from home.  He learns, however, the his father may not have been telling him the whole story and what he does know about his early life and the death of his mother may not be true. Lots of interesting twists and revelations make this a book that you just can't put down.  I can't wait for the next one.

The Space Between Trees by Katie Williams

This is a mystery, but not in the usual sense.  Yes, there has been a murder but the book is more a focus of how we relate to each other and the lies that we tell ourselves and others and the lives we touch.  Evie, the main character, is an odd girl.  When a girl in her class is killed she finds a way to work herself into the dead girls life to try to find out what happened to her.  I found this page turning and suspenseful because I just thought Evie was a little creepy and it kept me reading to put things together.

Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen has done it again!  Carl Hiaasen is one of my favorite authors.  I have read everything he has written for both adults and kids.  This book does not disappoint.  Richard's cousin Malley has done a most dangerous thing...she has run off with someone she met in a chat room and Richard is extremely worried about her.  This story follows Richard's adventure of finding Malley.  Skink is one of my favorite characters.  He is a reoccurring character in many of Hiaasen's adult novels.  Skink USED to be the governor of Florida...till he lost it.  Now he is a slightly crazed, "ragged, one-eyed wandering vigilante." This is one of those laugh out loud Hiassen mysteries that I love so much!