Willa has a very loving family. She has her mother, her step-father, and two older step-sisters. On the surface everything seems to be great. But Willa has a secret. She cuts.

When she can no longer handle her stress she will get up late at night and find her secret place where she keeps razors, bandages, and antiseptic.

Willa doesn’t quite no why she cuts, only that afterwards she feels such a relief. Unfortunately cutting will be the least of Willa’s problems.

Her long forgotten biological father has committed a heinous crime. He has brutally slaughtered his new wife and their three daughters. Now he is on his way to pay Willa and her mother one final visit.

Willa will soon be looking at the past her mother life behind and discovering secrets that effect her existence to this day. Is Willa strong enough to overcome the hardships life has given her? Will she learn from the past’s secrets or is she doomed to a life of violence?

Blood Wounds is a gripping read and highly recommended for anyone looking for a book about growing up under harsh conditions. It is appropriate for ages 14 and up.

Ginny always loved visiting her Aunt Peg in New York when she was younger. Aunt Peg was an artist and would take Ginny on different adventures that would expose her to all the different types of art in the city. Aunt Peg was also the opposite of her sister, Ginny’s mom. So Ginny didn’t grow up in an adventurous home. Ginny was expected to be normal, study hard, and go to college.

But Ginny’s sheltered life is thrown out the window when she gets 13 little blue envelopes from Aunt Peg. Unfortunately these letters are all she has left of her aunt, who died suddenly. Upon opening the first letter Ginny discovers that Aunt Peg has set up one last trip to New York. Upon completing the task in each letter she can open the next. Once in New York she discovers that Aunt Peg plans for her to visit London. Now Ginny is on one last adventure with her Aunt Peg. An adventure that will lead her on a whirlwind tour of Europe and make her question her studious, stodgy life. She may even find a cute boy too!

13 Little Blue Envelopes is a quick, fun read that shows how, sometimes, being pushed out of your comfort zone is okay, and even exciting. Recommended for readers who need a bit of adventure and whimsy. Appropriate for ages 14 and up.

Karl Shoemaker has been going to his high school’s group therapy for a long time, but he promises himself this year will be different. Karl plans to be absolutely normal.

The only problem is that it is hard to be normal when your mother steals money from you to party all night. It is hard to be normal when you have to work five different jobs to make ends meet while also going to school. It is hard to be normal when your friends have similar or worse life situations as you.

It is especially hard to be normal when all your friends are in therapy with you and by not going to the group it looks like you are giving up on them.

There is a new girl in school this year and she fits right in with the Madman Underground, which is the name Karl has for the therapy group. Over the course of the next week Karl will relate to her the many exploits of the Madman Underground and how they always have each others’ back. But if they are such good friends why would he ever want to give them up just to be normal? Karl has a lot of thinking to do and since the Madman Underground always have a crisis or two he will definitely get his chance to decide: stay crazy or be friendless and normal?

Tales of the Madman Underground is a good book for anyone interested in how people deal with many different kinds of abuses or bad home lives. The story is told in an episodic fashion as Karl relates the epic adventures his group of friends have had. Sometimes these flashbacks slows the story down or confuses the main plot but it wraps up really enjoyably if you stick with until the end. I would recommend it for those who want a more realistic drama and it is appropriate for ages 16 and up.

Tender Morsels is a reimagining of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale called Snow-White and Rose-Red. Margo Lanagan takes this short tale and gives it such a breadth and depth that you are bound to the characters and their life journeys. But this new version is just as dark as it is enchanting.

The story starts out with a young girl named Liga. She lives with her father in a run down cabin in the forest near the village. But Liga’s father is not a nice man. He routinely sexually assaults her and goes to the village witch for potions that will cause Liga to miscarry. Liga is young and naive and doesn’t understand what is going on with her body or why her father is so horrendous. Soon she learns that she is pregnant again and decides to hide the fact from her father. When he discovers it he runs to the witch again for stronger potions but on his way back to Liga he is run over by a carriage and dies.

Now Liga is alone except for a new baby daughter. One day she is discovered in the woods by a gang of young men from the village. Liga hides her baby and tries to hide but the boys find her and force themselves upon her. Afterwards she has had too much pain in her life she decides that she and her baby shall leap off a nearby cliff and end it all.

As she is ready to kill her child she is stopped by a glowing magical creature. Liga is given two magic gems, a white one and a red one. The creature instructs her to plant one on either side of her door and she will be troubled no more. Liga does as she is told and on the next morning discovers that her cabin looks brand new and all traces of her father are gone. Everyone in the village likes her and the families of they boys who raped her have vanished as if they were erased from the world.

Liga discovers that she is pregnant again, from the group of boys, and decides to raise her two daughters in the wonderful new world where peace and tranquility reign.

Unfortunately for Liga the world hasn’t changed. She has been unknowingly transported to a magical paradise. The real world still exists and people will find a way to intrude on Liga’s happiness. When that occurs will Liga and her daughters be strong enough to experience the pain and ugliness that only the real world can provide?

Tender Morsels is a superb book and I highly recommend it to everyone. Due to some of the early scenes it is appropriate for ages 14 and up.

Judy and Kyle Renneker are fraternal twins who live in the middle of a family of nine. Everyone in the family competes against each other just to survive. If you want the biggest helping of dinner you need to make sure you are first in line. If you want an amazing present for Christmas you better start dropping hints in July. That is how life has always been in the Renneker family. But since Judy and Kyle are twins they compete against each other more than any other member of the family and it always seems that Judy wins. When Kyle came out as gay to his family Judy came out as a born again Christian. She is always one-upping her twin.

Then one night Judy and Kyle’s parents make an announcement. The family will have another member soon. Garret Johnson, the son of a friend of their father’s, will be staying with them for the rest of the school year. Garrett’s parents are moving to California but want him to have the stability of staying at one school for his junior year of high school. At first Judy and Kyle are concerned that their home will have one more person squeezed into it, but soon Judy notices that Kyle has an interest in Garret. Now she sees Garret as an opportunity to compete with her brother for a boyfriend.

But Garrett has his own plans. He makes it no secret to Judy and Kyle that he is a vampire. Garrett even has a Van Helsing type stalker at school who has vowed to destroy him. Judy and Kyle aren’t sure what to make of any of this but can’t deny being intrigued. So who will win in this love triangle? Judy? Kyle? Or the vampire?

Gemini Bites is a very funny, yet realistic, story of sibling rivalry gone haywire. Highly recommended for those looking for a quick, fun read about family, romance and vampires. It is appropriate for ages 16 and up due to a few scenes involving physical intimacy.

Donna’s father died four years ago; right before she started high school. Soon after her older brother left for college. Donna, her mother, and her little sister have all been dealing with their grief in different ways over the course of Donna’s high school years. After her father passed Donna became quiet and reclusive. She believes it is better to feel nothing than experience grief any longer. She has friends but doesn’t say much. She focuses on school and tries to get through each day. But on the inside she misses her father; so much that it socially paralyzes her. Donna will soon graduate high school and then she will be forced out of the cocoon she has built for herself.

Donna’s metamorphosis starts when she attends a funeral for a school mate who tragically died. The funeral is held at the same funeral home that held her father’s. She can’t help but notice how peaceful the corpse looks in the coffin and how well the makeup makes the deceased look dignified. As she gets up to get some air she notices a greeter who wasn’t at her father’s funeral. After chatting with him she discovers he is actually the mortician and is filling in for his brother. She compliments him on his work as she leaves.

She keeps thinking of the mortician the rest of the day, and how he helps prepare the dead to say their last goodbye. She begins to like the idea of helping people with their grief more and more. Soon she makes a choice to apply to mortuary school and intern at the funeral home over the summer after she graduates. What Donna doesn’t expect is that her new direction will help shatter her cocoon of solitude. Her mother objects and wants her to attend the same college as her brother. Donna will not let it go and applies to mortuary school anyway and this begins a feud with her mother.

What started as a simple decision that has brought her peace has now torn apart her relationship with her mother. Donna’s life is turned upside down and she begins divesting herself of her mother’s influence. Can Donna get her life back under control? Can her relationship with her mother be repaired? Can two grieving people who depended on each other for so long find lives on their own? Donna is about to start living life rather than just watch it go by. But life isn’t always unicorns and rainbows. There is always death, waiting for everyone, and perhaps our attitude about death can tell us a lot about our attitude about life.

Putting Makeup On Dead People is an excellent book. It hits the right mix of humor, self-discovery, family drama, and of course death. I highly recommend this book, but it is appropriate for ages 16 and up due to portrayals of physical intimacy and drinking.

In a few short months Iris Anderson’s life has turned tragic. First her father loses part of his leg in the attack on Pearl Harbor that forces America’s entry into World War II. Then before her father arrives home her mother commits suicide.

Her father copes by moving Iris out of the Upper East Side of New York to the poorer Lower East Side. He works as a private investigator but his skills as a sleuth have diminished since he now walks on a prosthesis. He can barely pay the bills. Iris herself faces difficulties because she has changed schools. Instead of the private all girl school she is used to she now attends a public school. No one wants to be her friend because of her upper class background. And she doesn’t want to keep her old friends from her private school because they now look down upon her for being poor;  even though one, Grace, keeps calling to talk to her.

Then one day a boy from her school, Tom,  suddenly goes missing. Her father is hired to track the young man down. Iris decides to secretly help her father’s investigation out by infiltrating Tom’s gang of friends, who are called the Rainbows because they wear zoot suits and like to dance in Harlem.

But can she live with the lies she must tell to her would be friends? Will she be able to deal with the classism,  racism, and bigotry that her new friends endure everyday? Can Iris help find one boy in a world where young men are killed everyday in a horrendous war?

The Girl is Murder is a good mystery novel that captures a place and time extremely well. There is lots of Fifties era lingo and Iris is a compelling character who is discovering who she really is while dealing with a horrible loss. Plus the novel leaves open the possibility of a sequel or a series. Recommended to mystery and historical fiction fans. The book is appropriate for ages 14 and up.

4 Stars

In Season of Secrets, Molly Brooke and her older sister, Hannah, live with their grandparents. Their mother has passed away and their father needs time to find a good job and get things straight.

Not far from her grandma’s house, Molly has found a man who was hurt badly by a hunt. She learns that he thrives in summer because he is the god of summer. And the man that hunted him was the Holly King, the supernatural being that thrives in winter. Winter is, in fact, drawing near and Molly’s man is growing weaker by the minute. She visits him often in an old abandoned barn until winter arrives and he disappears.

Meanwhile, Molly and Hannah’s father visits them and Hannah is having a hard time coping with all that has happened lately. She disobeys her grandparents and father a lot. At school, Molly and Hannah meet new friends. In the spring, Molly is invited to Emily’s birthday party. Emily was such a shy girl but she turns out to be a very fun person. Also, spring is when Molly’s man comes back.

It is the man’s turn to hunt and defeat the Holly King so that summer may come. He takes Molly along and they soon are victorious. Summer comes and brings Molly’s birthday. She has her family there (including her dad) along with Emily and another friend from school named Alexander. They play a game of tag. During the game, Molly meets with her man one last time. He is in the woods and she, the god, and all the trees sway and dance. Molly returns to the game.
So, in the end, Molly’s father finds a job and will soon be taking them back to their home with him. The girls are happy to be with their dad, but I think they will also miss their grandparents because they stayed there for so long.

Lochan and Maya are eldest of five siblings. Lochan is seventeen and is close to graduating high school. Maya is a year behind him. When they were young their father abandoned their family and ever since then their mother has relied more and more on alcohol. Lochan has tried to be the man of the house and look after his three younger siblings. He relies heavily on Maya for help and as a team they are pretty successful. Unfortunately their mother has started a dating a new guy and she is drinking and partying now more than ever. Their mother would usually only be gone for a night or two, but has now ceased coming home at all. Lochan and Maya are thrust into the roles of parents for their younger siblings now more than ever.

Lochan and Maya are suffering from many symptoms of abandonment and child abuse: guilt, depression, confusion, and an overwhelming sense of responsibility; that they can keep their family together through sheer force of will. They also suffer from one more symptom: the need for a escape, a place where their hopes and dreams of a better life can run wild. Unfortunately they have no time for themselves. On top of their own schoolwork they need to help the younger siblings with theirs. They need to cook, to clean, buy groceries, and get the kids to bed on time.

All the realities of parenthood weigh heavily on their shoulders. At least they have each other as best friends to see them through. But recently there has been lingering glances, and the holding of hands. If Lochan and Maya are acting like the family’s parents, why can’t they be the parents? They begin to feel their only release from the pressures of life is each other and soon they believe they are falling in love with one another. They know that incest is a taboo and illegal, but their hormones and life situation seem to be forcing them into each others’ arms. They also know that their love won’t end well and that there won’t be a happy ending, but their love is the only escape from their lives they have.

As readers we know that Lochan and Maya are doomed from the start, but sometimes people have to learn the hard way that you cannot do everything by yourself, and that by clinging to the pieces of a broken home you only make things worse. Through all of the troubles Lochan and Maya face as they try to stay afloat in life you know they have the best of intentions. But in the world good intentions are not always enough and sometimes they can have disastrous results. Lochan and Maya start down a road of tragedy, forbidden by their responsibilities and depression to find any other way out.

Forbidden is a very well written book that is about the effects of children being left to fend on their own. Within that context it also deals with the taboo of incest, but is mostly used as a plot twist to depict how out of hand life becomes for their family.Readers who come from rough home lives may identify with Lochan and Maya’s feelings of guilt and responsibility. The book does have frequent swearing and a few depictions of physical intimacy. It is appropriate for mature readers 16 and up.

Sunny is a Nigerian American. She had lived in the United States until she was 9 when her parents quickly moved back to Nigeria. Now she is 13 and is growing up. She goes to school but is often picked on because of her skin color.

See, Sunny is an albino. She has pink eyes, and pale white skin even though she is from African descent. The kids in her class tease her and call her ‘akata witch’; a very offensive term that is used for African-Americans.

One day after a fight she befriends Orlu, a boy who stood up for her and tried to protect her. Orlu soon introduces Sunny to ChiChi, another girl in their neighborhood. Chichi doesn’t attend school and lives in a small unkempt house. Orlu and Chichi share a very special secret; they can practice juju, a kind of magic. They think Sunny can too.

Soon Sunny is initiated into the hidden world of magic. She begins to attend magic school and learns about her spirit face, juju knives, and masquerades that can summon dark spirits.  The three of them are soon joined by another boy named Sasha who is also from America. What the four of them do not know is that the magic elders plan for them to defeat an evil sorcerer who is murdering children in order to summon an evil spirit.

Can Sunny learn enough magic in time to help her friends? And if she does will she be brave enough? Sunny will have to truly know herself to do her best, but how do you do that when you are just a thirteen year old girl in a new magical and menacing new world?

Akata Witch is a beautiful book about magic, mysticism and discovering your family roots. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about other cultures or who loves magic and fantasy. It is appropriate for ages 12 and up.