Fractured Light

Fractured Light by Rachel McClellan stars Llona who is an Aura, a supernatural with the ability to harness and control light.  Llona has spent her whole life running from the Vyken's whom killed her mother and working hard at remaining anonymous.    When during her senior year she starts making friends she finds her life changing and realizes that her powers are far different than she has imagined. 

This was a great book with a new and original mythology that I enjoyed.  Llona is a strong heroine who isn't afraid to question what she has been told and does not fall into the "I'm in trouble because I made stupid decisions" trap that so many female heroines fall into.  Her relationships with her friends, her bother and the complicated relationship with Christian make for an interesting story and everything folds together at the end (although a little predictably).

Appropriateness:  There is no adult content in the book.  Llona skips school excessively but is otherwise a model teen.  The romance is limited to a few clandestine kisses.  Llona is a high school senior and acts her age.  I would recommend this book to teens 13+

Pregnant Pause

Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan follows Elenore a pregnant sixteen year old.  After finding out that she is pregnant her mother tells her that she can either come with them to Kenya or she can marry her boyfriend.  She marries her very immature boyfriend and takes a job working at her inlaw's weight loss camp.  While there she has to make a choice as to what she is going to do about the baby (her inlaws want the baby as does her sister), her cheating looser of a husband and the ins and outs of working in the camp.

Stories about teen pregnancy are generally riddled with problems.  Many authors feel the need for a happy ending which results in almost glamorizing the pregnancy. Nolan however, succeeded in making Elenore's story into a cautionary tale as opposed to turning the situation into an "everything will be all right and work out perfectly in the end" situation. Elenore's story is very complex and her problems are laid out for the reader to see and she doesn't have much of a happy ending.  The looser boyfriend continues to be a looser and she realizes that she has to figure out how to do everything herself.  I enjoyed the story, found it emotionally stirring and finished it quickly.

Appropriateness:  This book is full of adult content however, the author does not glamorize any of the negative behavior and most of it is not done by the main character while she is narrating the book (her boyfriend is a looser).  There is sex talk (but no descriptive sex), drug and alcohol use, driving while high, teen pregnancy, emotionally abusive adults and suicide (I think I got it all but may have missed some, if teenagers do it and it's bad then it happened).   Even with all the adult behavior I would not think twice about handing this book to a middle school reader (although it is complex enough to be enjoyed by high school students) because the adult behaviors are handled in a way that serves as a cautionary tale and it would serve as a good start off for parent child discussions on these topics.  I would recommend this book to teens 13+

Review copy obtained from Amazon Vine.  Release date September 20

Blood Ties

Blood Ties by Mari Mancusi is the sixth book in the Blood Coven Vampire series.  This series follows Sunny and Rayne as they deal with living in a supernatural (and silly) world and deal with their sexy vampire boyfriends and the stresses of living in a world with vampires and vampire slayers (and vampire vampire slayers) and fairy princesses.  It is a hilarious series that manages to be both satirical and silly and serious at the same time.

This book is narrated by Sunny (who is not as entertaining a narrator as her sister) who must deal with one of her friends who has been turned into a vampire because of her.  She travels the world and fights unwanted romantic feelings to help him turn back into a human.

While I did enjoy this novel I did not find it as enjoyable as others in the series (although I've never enjoyed Sunny's novels as much as Rayne's).  It seemed like a filler book and although the ending did continue the plot most of the book was just going from place to place without a solid point for the reader to look towards and I found the romance lacking.  Sunny's boyfriend showed his age and seemed to treat her like the kid she is (compared to his extremely advanced age).  It wasn't enough to make me worry about the series (although a lot of series do take a major divebomb in quality when they get this many).  The preview for the next book in the series has me hoping that the next will be as exciting as some of the previous books.

Appropriateness:  There was a bit of wine drinking and some sex talk (but no sexual content beyond kissing).  I would recommend this book to teens 13+ who are fans of paranormal romance and comedy.

Dead Rules

Dead Rules by Randy Russel follows Jenna who finds herself on a school bus going to a mystery school.  She soon realizes that she is attending a school for the dead.  The school has different types of students dependent on how they died.  Jenna is a Riser, one of the good kids who died by an accident.  Jana is obsessed with her boyfriend and is determined to kill him so they can be together forever but things are not as simple as she would like them to be.

I really enjoyed this book.  It was original and different and unlike anything I've read in a long time.  The idea of following ghosts from their world (as opposed to from the human side) was different.  I enjoyed reading about the different ways the characters died and the hierarchy in which they were placed in the school because of their death.  It's sort of sick and twisted and comedic at the same time.  The book is not action packed but there is enough humor and mystery to keep one interested.

Appropriateness:  I was worried that this book would glamorize death but it does the opposite as the more connected a student is to their death the worse their placement in the school with the suicides not being able to interact or be themselves.  The book has many cautionary tales as to keeping oneself safe and the dangers of drunk driving.  Aside from the kids who died while drunk driving and talks of others using drugs and ruining their lives there is no substance abuse and there is no sexual content.  I would recommend this book to teens 13+ who are fans of paranormal and ghost stories.