The Thing about the Truth by Lauren Barnholdt

      Kelsey finally has a chance to start over. Now that she is starting public school she can get her life back on track. Focus on college, get good grades, and keep her past a secret. No one knows that Kelsey was recently kicked out of Concordia Prep or the reasons behind her expulsion.  Kelsey soon finds that life at Concordia Public isn’t as easy as she thought, especially since she met Isaac.

    Isaac is on his last chance. This Senator’s son has been kicked out of so many private schools that if he can’t make it work at Concordia Public he is off to boarding school. Kelsey wants to stay far away from this bad boy, but when they are forced to work on a school project together the two can’t help but grow close. No matter what her feelings are for Isaac, Kelsey must keep her secrets. As their project to bring the students of Concordia Prep and Concordia Public together draws closer, Kelsey struggles to keep her past hidden.

    Told from alternating view points of Isaac and Kelsey, The Thing about the Truth, keeps readers on the edge of their seat as Kelsey’s lies start to unravel. Author Lauren Barnholdt chose to write the story from a before and after standpoint, which only adds to the suspense of finding out about Kelsey’s past. The Thing about the Truth is a great story and a quick read. The characters are real and the author does a great job conveying their emotions.

52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody

Lexington Larrabee has everything. Fabulous clothes, an expensive car, a mansion, a jet at her disposal and a check for $25 million dollars waiting for her….that is until her dad spoils everything. After causing one too many scandals Lexi’s father decides she has to earn her inheritance… all $25 million. Now she must complete 52 weeks of 52 dead end minimum wage jobs before she can cash in on her fortune. Now add in the fact that her father has stuck her with a babysitter, granted a very cute babysitter who is quite ripped, and Lexi’s world pretty much sucks. But there is more to meets the eye with this rich girl. Underneath her fabulous lifestyle, Lexi’s lives in a world without love. Will her 52 jobs be able to solve her problems or will Lexi be drawn back into her old life of scandal?

     52 Reasons To Hate My Father is a great summer novel. We have all seen the socialites scattered on the tabloids, but in Jessica Brody’s new novel she adds a certain twist to the out of control rich girl that we usually see. 52 Reasons to Hate My Father will keep you entertained and smiling as Lexi struggles to adjust to her new lifestyle.

Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler

“Hershey’s Kisses, the Thin voice said. Twenty-five calories.
The Thin voice whispered, Brown rice, one hundred thirty-five calories. Steamed broccoli, two cups, fifty calories. One bite of chicken, thirty-six calories. Two hours on the exercise bike.

A diet is temporary, the Thin voice said knowingly. Being thin is forever.”

The Thin voice won’t go away. It is constantly there to remind Lisabeth Lewis that she is a failure. Everyone is thin, why not her? Life deals another twist of cruel fate when Lisabeth makes a deal with Death himself. Her new job? She is now Famine…as in one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Lisabeth must now face hunger in a way that she never thought of. She is slammed face first into a world were millions go without food every day, not because they are on a diet, but because they are on the brink of starvation and death. Lisabeth must learn to use her new power to not only help fight the injustices of the world and keep balance, but also the personal demons that live inside her.

Jackie Morse Kessler uses the historic story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the current epidemic of eating disorders to create a story that will suck you in. As the Thin voice plagues Lisabeth into a world of despair, you are completely enthralled at the ironic twist of her being forced to be Famine. Kessler’s unique writing style is sharp, refreshing, and completely addicting. Given the fact the Hunger is only 177 pages, Kessler is able to create a storyline that is well developed, but quick to the point. Hunger is the first installment of the Riders of the Apocalypse series. Rage, the second in the series, was released in April of 2011 and the third installment in the series, Loss, was just released in March 2012. Once you start this series you will not want to put it down.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

“This is the box, Ed. Inside is everything. This is it, Ed. The whole
story of why we broke up."

In Why We Broke Up, Min Green explains to her completely different ex-boyfriend the moments that led to their break up. As Min makes her way through a keepsake box, she reveals the start of the relationship, how they fell in love, and the heartbreak that was unavoidable. The mundane objects in Min’s box all represent a moment that made Min questioned the romance of such a dissimilar couple.

 A Printz honor for excellence in Young Adult Literature, Why We Broke Up will send you back in time to when you felt that first pang of love and the earth-shattering pain of your first breakup. We have all been there and we go through it with Min as she re-hatches what exactly went wrong for the basketball team co-captain and classic film connoisseur couple.

Author Daniel Handler, from the famed Lemony Snicket series, weaves a tale of love and heartbreak that we have all known. This book made me laugh, cry, and want to scream at the extreme use of fragmented and run-on sentences. About forty or so pages into Min’s story I was sure Handler had set me up for a disastrous storyline, but I stuck with it and am I glad I did. The feeling of nostalgia that haunts this book cannot be denied. A tale of first love and heartache is one that anyone can relate to. We might not all have Min’s story, but we have all felt her pain.

Be sure to check out the back cover as some of today's most popular authors share their first love/first heartbreak stories.

Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani

In Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani, Shalini has only known one world: India. She lives in a massive house with 37 of her relatives and loves it. She has been engaged to Vikram, the man of her dreams, since she was three years old. Nothing could spoil her wonderful life…except when her father decides to take a new job and uproot her family to L.A. How could she possibly adjust to this completely different lifestyle? Her little sister seems to jump right in, while her mother struggles more and more with these new surroundings. As Shalini adjusts to live in California, will she be able to hold onto the world she has always known and the person she has always known herself to be?

                I instantly gravitated to Lovetorn because of my unhealthy obsession with anything related to India. This was a pretty easy and straightforward read. The author provides a glossary to help the reader understand the different foods, phrases, and words that Shalini uses. This is a great reference tool and I was really glad it was included. Daswani creates a storyline around Shalini’s mother that I thought was very well written and crucial to Shalini’s struggles to accept this new lifestyle. Some of Shalini’s actions and feelings did not seem genuine to me. I think the author could have spent more time on Shalini’s transition from being completely in love with Vikram to realizing that she might feel different. I would have liked to have seen the author develop more into the secondary characters, especially Sangita, Shalini’s little sister and Toby, an American boy who makes Shalini rethink everything she knows. Other than that, Lovetorn provides an insightful look at the lifestyles of India and the transition that many teen immigrants face.  

My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan by Seth Rudestsky

Justin Goldblatt is tired of being the unpopular kid in high school. Sure there are about six kids that he is more popular than, but Justin dreams of being the guy that everyone wants to be. So he devises a plan. First he needs to get Chuck the quarterback to notice him. With a quarterback as a boyfriend, Justin will be unstoppable. Too bad is plan is destined to fail. 

  My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan is the first novel by Seth Rudestsky, who is a Broadway actor and SiriusXM radio host. One thing that really irked me about Rudestsky’s writing style was his tendency for the character of Justin to randomly ramble about absolutely nothing that pertained of helped the story. I wasn’t invested in the storyline and I felt like I needed adderall to keep up with his writing. The premise behind the storyline is interesting, especially when Justin has to pretend to be the boyfriend of Becky, the most popular girl in school. Now add in the fact that Becky is the secret girlfriend of Chuck, the object of Justin's affection, and you have a recipe for disaster for poor Justin. The two supporting characters of Spencer and Becky did help keep the story grounded, but the main character of Justin was more annoying than relatable

Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik

Elise Benton is a pretty normal teenage girl, but her life is turned upside down when her family moves to California and she is enrolled in the elite prep school, Coral Tree Prep. Her new school is filled with the children of A-list celebrities, who are just as glamorous as their famous parents. Elise just doesn’t fit it. Now add in the fact that her mother is the new principal and Elise has a one way ticket to outcastland. When Elise’s older sister catches the eye of Chase, one of Coral Tree Prep’s most popular students, Elise begins to hangout with Derek Edwards, who is definitely the most popular student at school, Chase’s best friend, and a total snob. Or is he?

In Epic Fail, author Claire LaZebnik paints a modern day high school version of Pride and Prejudice. Normally, I steer clear of retellings, but this one took me by surprise. LaZebnik was able to develop the characters in a way that they stood on their own, even though they were modeled after Austen’s infamous characters. The modern day twists that LaZebnik adds to this classic story plus her easy going writing style makes this version not only entertaining, but quite enjoyable.