The Infinite Moment of Us - Lauren Myracle

Wren Gray has spent her life trying to please her parents and make them proud. She didn't date, she focused on her studies, and she applied for early admission to Emory College where her mother works on a path to be a doctor just as her father wants. But high school is over, and Wren is starting to see that what she wants is not what her parents want, and maybe it's time for her to focus on herself for once.

Charlie Parker had a tough childhood, and has developed a deep need to be needed from that. But when he's alone, all he wants is to be with Wren Gray. He thinks she is everything, and if soul mates exist, she has got to be his. It isn't until just before graduation that they finally meet, but when they do, their souls touch and they are swept into a summer romance so strong, it can only be the beginning of forever.

At least, that's what Lauren Myracle would have the reader believe. I wasn't buying it. I felt like this book lacked substance. There were a few parts I enjoyed, a few quips during dialogue that were cute, but overall, I felt like the whole book read like a MarySue fan fiction. There was a lot of sexual moments, which I have not encountered in YA fiction like this. Generally there's a lot of innuendo and fade to black in the books I read. This was more graphic. I wouldn't say it was pornographic, especially since she only went halfway with her descriptions (at one point Charlie was fingering Wren and his "thumb stroked other places" - really? Lazy, Lauren).

The writing was not overly advanced, but the content is for a more mature reader, definitely. I wasn't a fan. That isn't to say I disapprove of smut (I don't - I love a good smutty romance), I just found this to fall short of my standards.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock - Matthew Quick

It's Leonard Peacock's 18th birthday, and for his present he's going to take his grandfather's Nazi P-38 and shoot Asher Beal, and then himself. But first he has some other presents to deliver to his friends and find out why Herr Silverman, his Holocaust history teacher, never rolls up his sleeves.

To be sure, that is an over simplification of the plot. Matthew Quick tells a powerful story about overcoming obstacles, and shows us how important other people can be in our lives.

I find it very difficult to write about this book, because it was such an emotional ride for me. I remember going through High School wanting to commit suicide, and while my reasons were not the same as Leonard's, I understood his pain. I found myself crying a lot while reading this. 

While this is considered YA fiction, it deals with some pretty adult content, and parents should be aware of that. 

Matthew Quick is also the author of The Silver Linings Playbook. 

Openly Straight - Bill Konigsberg

Rafe Goldberg grew up in very liberal Boulder, Colorado with his very liberal parents (they met at Oberlin), so when he told his parents that he was gay, they were fine with it. More than fine. They threw him a party, complete with paper hats that said, "Rafe is Gay, yay!" But with such a big to-do about his sexuality and his mother becoming the president of PFLAG, Rafe became labeled as The Gay Kid. And he didn't care for it. So in his junior year of High School, he moved across the country to Natick, Massachusetts to attend an all-boys boarding school where he planned not to tell anyone he was gay so that he could shed the label and just be Rafe.

The book raised a lot of questions about what it means to be yourself. If you don't tell anyone you are gay but you've already come out, are you still in the closet? If you say you accept yourself as gay, but you hide that part of yourself from others, are you really okay with it at all? Are you really lying to someone if you hide a part of yourself, or not?

Rafe has to deal with all of these questions as he joins the soccer team, makes friends with nerds and jocks alike, and falls in love.

I think this would make a really great book for group discussion with High Schoolers. The writing is witty, funny, and genuine. I felt like I was going through all the same epiphanies as Rafe as he had them near the end, which was really touching.

Letters from Skye - Jessica Brockmole

In 1912, while stuck in a hospital bed in Urbana, Illinois, David Graham read a book of poetry that he loved so much, he decided to write a letter to the author. Elspeth Dunn, who had never left her beloved Isle of Skye received the letter, and thus began a correspondence between the two; letters that shared their hopes, dreams, and eventually led to their falling in love. But as they fell in love, there were other forces at play. World War I was just beginning, and David was keen to prove himself and get involved.

Flashforward to 1940 and Elspeth's daughter, Margaret, finds herself falling in love with her best friend Paul, who has enlisted with the RAF in the second World War. Elspeth warns her daughter against falling in love during war time, but Maisie is heedless. When her mother disappears after Edinburgh is bombed, Maisie goes looking for her mother's past so that she can understand her present and look to the future.

An epistolary novel, Jessica Brockmole's debut, was a very quick read. I looked forward to each letter as if I was receiving them in the mail myself. When I read novels like this, I miss the days when people would send letters to one another. They were always so much more personal. My grandmother and I used to correspond via handwritten letter, and I remember feeling empty knowing I would never get another letter from her after she died.

The book is very sweet, and as cliche as happy endings can be, I feel fine with the cavities that I got from the ending.

Horns - Joe Hill

After a night of binge drinking and mourning the death of his girlfriend Merrin Williams, Ig Perrish woke up to find he had grown horns. At first he thought they were simply a figment of his imagination, but he quickly realizes that is not the case. And what's more, he has a new set of powers to go along with his new physical features. Powers that he plans to exploit to find Merrin's true killer.

Call me slow if you like, but since mystery/suspense isn't something I leap to read, I had no idea Joe Hill was Stephen King's son. I found this out today. It made everything make so much more sense. Hill definitely has the skill for writing suspense, and that's what this book was. His character development was pretty astounding as well. I found myself deeply disliking Lee Tourneau and easily sympathizing with the Devil.

Told in sections, the story is mostly from Ig's point of view, except for a section called "The Fixer" which gives Lee's perspective. Rather than distract from the narrative, as some POV changes can do, it filled in the missing pieces and worked really well with the story. The plot also gave a new (to me, at least) twist on who the Devil really may be. And is God really all good, and the Devil all bad?

My favorite bit, I must say, is Ig's sermon to the snakes. In it, he observes that woman is more alike God than man, in that woman is a creator. God fears woman because it is she who steers men away from Him - His competition. God says love and pray now and get salvation later, but woman offers salvation in her own way, and it's much more immediate.
"The devil and woman have been allies against God from the beginning, ever since Satan came to the first man in the form of a snake and whispered to Adam that true happiness was not to be found in prayer but in Eve's cunt."

I definitely stepped outside my usual bounds with this book, not just because it's adult fiction, but because it's suspense. Generally such stories fill me with anxiety and I don't like feeling that way when I'm reading. Reading is supposed to be my escape. BUT it was really good. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and the end left me satisfied - all the loose ends tied up nicely, and every character got what they deserved.

Admittedly, I picked up this book because there will be a film adaptation of it coming out in October, and I saw this picture:

So, I guess I do choose books by their covers sometimes... or in this case, cover films...

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

Cather lives her life in the world of the Mages. In her head, Simon Snow and Tyrannus Basilton are in love, and she's written fanfics involving their love stories a hundred different ways, her most recent story becoming a huge fan favorite.

The Simon Snow fandom is eerily similar to the Harry Potter fandom - with which, I must admit, I am more than familiar - and Cath is a character I can easily relate to. She's introverted, doesn't much care for change, has a complex about taking care of people (but that's never really touched on), and she LOVES her slash fanfiction. I don't even want to get into what that is. If you don't know, perhaps this book isn't for you. There's a lot of insider language dealing with fanfiction and the fandom scene.

A completely dorky read, but since I'm a nerd and a dork and a geek and whatever else, I really enjoyed it. It was sweet and touching at times, and also frustrating at others. I think the most frustrating part though, was looking back at 19 year old me. Granted, it also made me feel accomplished for having gotten my undergrad. Yay! I survived the drama!

Anyway, it's a niche read, definitely aimed at a particular audience. It could be read by those unfamiliar with fanfiction, but I think coming from that angle would not allow sympathy for the main character.

This book is good for grades 9-12 and up. It comes out in September 2013.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes - Eric Litwin, Illustrated by James Dean

By far one of my favorite picture books, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes is quick read that covers all bases. There's singing, colors, and a moral to the story. Pete the Cat is the most laid back cat. And he wears Chuck Taylors. He goes walking down the street in his white chucks, singing his song, "I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes," but OH NO! He steps into messes along the way and his shoes turn different colors. But does Pete cry about it? Goodness no! He just keeps walking along and singing his song because it's all good.

This book reminds me to be adaptable. Sometimes it might seem like there's a mess in front of me, but it's really not so bad. I'll just work around it. Sing a new tune. It will be fine. I think if Pete the Cat and Jake the Dog ever got together, they'd throw a hell of a party.

Oh, and if you're too lazy to go to your local library and check this book out, here's a video of the author telling the story live. With backup guitar.