Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

Logan is a high school senior living in the very small town of Boyer, Missouri. One day, something almost unheard of occurred -- a new student arrived. Sage Hendricks wasn't exactly the hottest girl around, but she was unique, pretty, and being new to town, she definitely stood out. Although Logan had just suffered a pretty brutal breakup with his girlfriend of three years, Brenda, he finds himself attracted to Sage. Little did he know Sage had a very huge secret... she was biologically male.

This was a very refreshing novel. I can't pinpoint any recent YA books that deal so heavily with the topic of transgendered individuals, and it is very eye-opening. Sage's experiences are extremely realistic and at times heartbreaking. This is definitely a must-read :)

-Sam

Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

Restless souls and empty hearts

Brooklyn can't sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca visiting her dreams.

Nico can't stop. He's always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But when Lucca's ghost begins leaving messages, telling Nico to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.

-Barnes & Noble synopsis.

Written almost entirely in prose, this novel was a very fast-paced read. Although quick, however, it was also very emotional. Anyone who has ever lost someone can relate to this haunting tale. The characters of Brooklyn and Nico are fleshed out very well, and this book even ties in with Lisa Schroeder's first novel I Heart You, You Haunt Me, which I would also recommend.

-Sam

By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters

Daelyn Rice is broken beyond repair, and after a string of botched suicide attempts, she’s determined to get her death right. She starts visiting a website for “completers”— www.through-the-light .com.

While she’s on the site, Daelyn blogs about her life, uncovering a history of bullying that goes back to kindergarten. When she’s not on the Web, Daelyn’s at her private school, where she’s known as the freak who doesn’t talk.

Then, a boy named Santana begins to sit with her after school while she’s waiting to for her parents to pick her up. Even though she’s made it clear that she wants to be left alone, Santana won’t give up. And it’s too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life…isn’t it?

-Amazon product description

Bad Blood (Book #4 of the Blood Coven series) by Mari Mancusi

Just when things have begun looking up for twin sisters Sunny and Rayne, being involved with vampires takes another life threatening turn. Sunny's boyfriend, head vampire of the Blood Coven, Magnus, has been ordered to take a blood mate. Hand-picked for him is gorgeous Oxford graduate, Jane. Sunny is saddened by this, but Magnus assures her that Jane will be nothing but a second in command. Prepared to just accept this new twist in her relationship, Sunny begin to grows suspicious of Jane. Together her and her sister Rayne travel to Las Vegas to investigate Jane and stop the blood ceremony that could lead to the downfall of the Coven...

I really enjoyed this book. It was full of twists and I loved the character development of both Sunny and Rayne. Although you don't have to have read the first three books to understand or enjoy this installment, I highly recommend the series as a whole.

-Sam

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

It has been many generations since the Return. Gabry has lived a highly protected life in a small village by the sea called Vista. Her mother, Mary, is in charge of running the lighthouse and destroying all the Mudo that wash ashore during storms (Mudo is another word for the Unconsecrated/Undead). One day, through a lot of persuasion, she decides to join her friends as they cross over the Barrier in order to play around at the long-abandoned amusement park on the other side. The Barrier is the only thing that protects Vista from the Mudo, and with one split second mistake, Gabry's world is shattered.

With the help of friends, both new and old, Gabry begins a journey of self-discovering and tries to come to terms with not how, but why one should choose to live in a world surrounded by the dead. This companion novel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth left me breathless! It was filled with action, violence, romance, and a pretty deep underlying message. Everything I've come to love about zombie culture. I'm eagerly anticipating the third and final installment of this series (due out in spring '11). Read this if you're a fan of the first book, or just like reading a well written post-zombie apocalypse story.

-Sam

If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser

"WHEN YOU GREW UP IN THE PROJECTS, THERE WERE NO CHOICES. NO GOOD ONES, AT LEAST."

In the Frederick Douglass Project where DeShawn lives, daily life is ruled by drugs and gang violence. Many teenagers drop out of school and join gangs, and every kid knows someone who died. Gunshots ring out on a regular basis.

DeShawn is smart enough to know he should stay in school and keep away from the gangs. But while his friends have drug money to buy fancy sneakers and big-screen TVs, DeShawn's family can barely afford food for the month. How can he stick to his principles when his family is hungry?

In this gritty novel about growing up in the inner city, award-winning author Todd Strasser opens a window into the life of a teenager struggling with right and wrong under the ever-present shadow of gangs.

(book cover synopsis).

I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to fans of Todd Strasser (author of Give A Boy A Gun), or just to anyone who likes reading about different ways of life mainstream America isn't always aware.

-Sam.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Lately, even though I've enjoyed the books I have been reading, none (well, save for Living Dead Girl) have been as intense as The Chosen One. Set in a polygamist community, 13-year old Kyra Carlson has been breaking the rules. Once a week she goes out of her community to see her friend Patrick who owns a bookmobile service. Reading anything other than scripture is strictly prohibited. Kyra also sneaks off in the night to meet a boy named Joshua. They fall in love. Later, when the leader of their community, Prophet Childs, decrees he received a message from God saying that Kyra must marry Brother Hyrum, a man who is not only in his sixties, but Kyra's uncle, Kyra vows to run away. But can she bear to leave her family behind?

This novel reminded me of the news story that broke a couple years ago about the Fundamentalist community where the babies were being taken away from their mothers and all of this scandalous behavior was brought to light. It's a short read, but I was hooked from the beginning and I agree wholly with the quote on the cover: "The Chosen One makes the heart race, the teeth grind, and the brow bead up in sweat."

-Sam.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

The little Southern town of Gatlin has never seen much change. Every year the town holds a Civil War reenactment, someone in the Snow family is made Queen of the winter formal, and being in the D.A.R (Daughters of the American Revolution) is akin to being royalty. Sixteen year old Ethan Wate dreams of getting out of Gatlin. He hates everything about his small town and it's social hierarchy. That is, until outsider Lena Duchannes moves into Ravenwood, the oldest, and supposedly most haunted, place in Gatlin, to live with her uncle Macon. As their friendship grows, Ethan discovers a side of Gatlin no one would suspect exists, and learns of certain forces and predetermined fates not of this world.

Beautiful Creatures is a fantastic debut novel. Though a little over 500 pages in length, once I got into the story, I was completely submerged and finished it in an, almost too short, amount of time. I'd recommend this book to all fans of the Twilight Saga, although I must say I enjoyed this story a bit more.

-Sam.