Sleepless by Thomas Fahy

Emma Montgomery has been having gruesome nightmares. Even worse, when she wakes up, she isn't where she was when she fell asleep. And she's not the only one. One by one the students of Saint Opportuna High start having nightmares, and sleepwalking. And the next morning one of their classmates turns up dead.

Something is making them kill in their sleep. Emma and her friends need to band together, to keep themselves awake until they can figure out what's behind the murders--before anyone else dies.

-Amazon product description.

In The Woods by Robin Stevenson

"When Cameron discovers a baby abandoned in the woods, he tries to discover whether his sister is the mother."

-taken from book summary.

This book is a real quick read (only 124 pages), but it is one that I enjoyed. It's plot is in the vein of the book After by Amy Efaw that I reviewed awhile ago, but this time it's a story told by someone other than the mother of the abandoned baby. It's a glimpse into the side of the story that is usually left untold. What do siblings think when something like this happens? Is family more important than the truth?

My only qualm is I wish this book had been longer! I wouldn't have minded following the characters for a hundred more pages or so.

-Sam.

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

"Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.
Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was."
-excerpt from book cover.

Living Dead Girl, though a mere 170 pages in length, is by no means a light read. This novel tells the story of "Alice", a fifteen year old girl kidnapped by a pedophile five years previously. Every day for the last five years she has had to endure unimaginable abuse at the hands of her captor, Ray. Every day she wishes for death - for freedom. Although a work of fiction, this book echoes stories we hear about every so often in the news headlines, and is all too real.

I read this book in less than a day, and although I do recommend it, I want to put a small disclaimer that it does get pretty intense and is at times a bit graphic. All things considered, I feel it is a book that tells a cautionary tale that needs to be read.

-Sam.

The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard

Take Romeo and Juliet. Add The Outsiders. Mix thoroughly.

Colt and Julia were secretly together for an entire year, and no one—not even Julia’s boyfriend— knew. They had nothing in common, with Julia in her country club world on Black Mountain and Colt from down on the flats, but it never mattered. Until Julia dies in a car accident, and Colt learns the price of secrecy. He can’t mourn Julia openly, and he’s tormented that he might have played a part in her death. When Julia’s journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he’s desperately trying to forget her. But how do you get over someone who was never yours in the first place?

-Amazon product description.

Fat Cat by Robin Brande

Super smart, overweight teen Cat decides to be the test subject for an experiment of her creation in one of her AP science classes. The experiment? Go 207 days living like the first humans (or homo erectus) used to live. This means giving up all technology (emergency items such as cell phone, and basic hygiene routines like showers not included), and eating a diet that consists of all natural foods.

However, when Cat begins to lose weight, suddenly she goes from nerdy tomboy, to ultra hottie.

I loved this book so much I read it in a day. It's a very relatable, funny, and fast paced book. I highly recommend this one.

-Sam.