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.  

Inhuman by Kat Falls

This book is written by the author of Dark Life, one of this year's Golden Sower Nominees.  I really enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed Dark Life.  When I was little, a movie came out called The Island of Dr. Moreau (it was based on H.G. Wells' book of the same name).  I LOVED it.  An evil scientist was creating hybrid animal/people.  Inhuman also has "manimals" in it.  A biological disaster has caused everything east of the Mississippi to be "quarantined."  A virus is causing those infected to become blood thirsty savages.   Even those not infected often act like savages!  This is a very exciting read. I had trouble putting it down. I am pretty sure that this will have a sequel but don't know when it will be released.   

The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: a True Story by Kevin & Alex Malarkey

I really liked the book Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo.  In fact, I like most books that address near death experiences.  This book is about another young boy who is in a TERRIBLE car accident and miraculously lives.  Most of the story focuses on how the family and the community rally around this young man to encourage his healing, but there are some parts where Alex tells about what HE experienced while he was in a coma. 

Tesla's Attic by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman

I am a BIG fan of Neal Shusterman (author of the Unwind trilogy) and this latest book, co-authored by Eric Elfman, didn't disappoint.  This is going to be a great series.  Tesla's Attic is the first book in the Accelerati Trilogy.  Nick and his father and brother have moved into an old Victorian mansion after a fire destroyed old house and took his mother's life.  He discovers what he thinks is just a lot of old junk in the attic, but soon finds out that the old junk has some pretty amazing powers.  All the objects seem to have been invented by Nikola Tesla.  Now Nick and his friends (a great cast of characters) are trying to keep the objects from getting into the hands of a secret society.  I really enjoyed the creativity of this book.  I am sure the authors had a lot of fun coming up with what each object could do.  I am looking forward to the next book which is due out in February 2015.

Seeing Red by Kathryn Erskine

I thought this was just another book about a boy (Red) whose father dies and he doesn't want to move...but it is so much more than that.  This book takes place in Virginia in 1972, smack dab in the middle of the civil rights movement.  Both Red and his mother are pretty progressive in their thoughts about equal rights for all, but that hasn't always been the case with Red's ancestors.  He finds out about a wrong committed by his family and he goes about trying to set things right.  This is a great historical fiction book.  Lots of references to the events and people involved in the civil rights movement.