Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi

Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Age Group: YA
Rating: 4/5
Source: Publisher

Adonis is a jock. He's on the football team and he's dating one of the prettiest girls in school. Alan is the new kid. He wears lipstick and joins the Fashion Club. Soon enough the football team is out to get him. Adonis is glad to go along with his teammates . . . until they come up with a dangerous plan to humiliate Alan. Now Adonis must decide whether he wants to be a guy who follows the herd or a man who does what's right.

 
CROSSING LINES was a book I’ve never read before. The whole concept about it was different and not something that is always written in YA. I’ve had this book sitting on my TBR pile for a while, but never picked it up, until now.

Adonis is a football athlete. He wants to be up there because football players have it all. Enter Alan, football team calls him Alana, and he’s completely different from every guy in the school. He’s gay. He’s also in the Fashion Club and sadly for him, his dad is a Colonel. Later on, Alan wears red lipstick and the football team hates him for that, until Alan comes in wearing a dress and then the football team explodes.

Adonis is different from the members. He sees the bullying that happens to Alan by his team members, but he does nothing to stop it. He’s a bystander. His sister, who also is in the Fashion Club and friends with Alan, protects Alan and expects him to so the same as does his girlfriend Melody.

But the ending shocked me the most. The trick the football players were going to do on Alan during the Fashion show. I hated them after that. They hurt Alan, they destroyed him, and they landed him in the hospital. But in the end, they got what they deserved. The two players, who attacked Alan, were arrested. Adonis in the end realized what he was doing by not standing up was wrong. Alan could have died.

This book shows how dangerous hate and bullying can go. Alan still forgave them in the end, but the attack should have never happened to him. No matter who you are, what you do, remember that’s you. Don’t change because you may be getting hurt now, but in the end, it’s the bullies who suffer the tough consequences.  Whether people accept you or not, you were born this way and you’re perfect.

Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen

Publisher: Dutton
Age Group: YA
Rating: 5/5
Source: Publisher

The football field is a battlefield

There's an extraordinary price for victory at Oregrove High. It is paid on - and off - the football field. And it claims its victims without mercy - including the most innocent bystanders.

When a violent, steroid-infused, ever-escalating prank war has devastating consequences, an unlikely friendship between a talented but emotionally damaged fullback and a promising gymnast might hold the key to a school's salvation.

Told in alternating voices and with unapologetic truth, Leverage illuminates the fierce loyalty, flawed justice, and hard-won optimism of two young athletes.

I’m not a big fan of books about sports and LEVERAGE was my first one that I read and since this one was on my TBR pile for a really long time, I decided to give it a shot. This book had the most beautiful and lyrical writing I’ve ever read. You can spot a talented author and Joshua C. Cohen is one.

The book centers around the bullying that three football team captains always give to the gymnastics team. I hated Mike, Scott, and Tom. They were simply mean and couldn’t believe this was happening and they were just getting away with it. Now I don’t know much about high school football teams since I go to an all girls private school, so there’s no football and being that my school is small, there’s not much bullying going around and if there is, the guidance department fixes it. You’re never alone, but for Danny and his teammates, they were.

But my heart broke apart when Ronnie committed suicide. Ronnie was just a freshman and to me he wasn’t weak. He was young. So three huge, steroid infused football players beating and destroying the life of a small gymnastic freshman, you bet he’s going to be weak. The football players were huge and evil.

Kurt was one of my favorite characters. I felt bad for what he had gone through and how he felt it was his fault for Lamar’s death. And the three football captains didn’t help at all. At times, especially Scott, they would be so nice they made you feel important and as though they cared for you, and the next thing you know is they are punching you.

The ending was perfect. All three of them got what they deserved and even though no one was going to believe them, Tina had made the perfect plan. No one deserves to be bullying and their evilness made Ronnie kill himself. No one protected him and they kept on telling him to forget it ever happened. You can’t forget something like that. It stays with you forever.

Overall, I loved this book and I can’t wait for Joshua C. Cohen to write more books because I’ll definitely will be reading them.

Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Publisher: Blazer + Bray
Age Group: YA
Rating: 4/5
Source: Publisher

Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.

Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

When I first began reading POSSESS, it was at night and I had just finished another book and my insomnia was kicking in so I decided to read more. I was terrified reading this at night! I thought I was hearing noises coming from my kitchen and I was too scared to even go in there to see. Then, I thought the lights were going to turn off and I was going to be left in the dark.

I didn’t exactly know POSSESS was going to be about exorcism. The only exorcism movie I ever watched was THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE and I couldn’t sleep for a week. I’ve heard of THE EXORCIST, but I don’t dare watch that one. The whole book revolves around Bridget Liu who has this cool ability to banish demons, otherwise known as exorcism. She’s not very fond of her gift, I wouldn’t be either, but it’s who she is and after school she goes with Father Santos and Monsignor Renalt to perform exorcisms.

The scary parts of the book are when the humans are possessed by the demons and the description McNeil uses to describe what’s happening is flawless. I felt as though I was watching a movie and an exorcism was being performed and the demons were talking.

Overall, this book is great and it would be a whole lot of fun reading this one on Halloween night! But just make sure you read it during the day.

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you all have an amazing Labor Day today and wish you all luck on your new school year ahead!

What Would You Do?

What Would You Do? is where I ask a question of a senario and you get to respond on what you would do if that happened to you.


What would you do if you loaned a book to a friend and when they returned it, some of the pages were missing, plus the book was bent in every way possible?


If that happened to me, I would probably die. I love my books so much and keep them in pristine shape. Having someone attcking my books like that would actually make me go out and buy another copy because I just wouldn't be able to look at the book in such horrible conditions. And with the bented up/destroyed copy, I would tell the friend she could keep it.


What would you do if this happened to you?

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Publisher: Hyperion
Age Group: YA
Rating: 2.5/5
Source: Bought


When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society.

The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries. But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapated mansion. Schuyler is a loner...and happy that way. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a popular girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think, but she wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger?

Could those vampire legends really be true? Steeped in vampire lore and set against the glittery backdrop of New York City, Blue Bloods will be devoured by Melissa de la Cruz's legion fans.

For some reason, when I started BLUE BLOODS, I wasn't as captivated as I thought I was. The cover is beautiful, the synopsis grabs you right away, so what not to love? I guess I'm not being bored with vampires. Having read so many books about vampires, they seem to be getting a little dull for me. So when I begin reading a book about vampires, I hope that it will grab my attention right away.

BLUE BLOODS began a bit slow for me. The book didn't even feel like a paranormal book because there were so many "chick-lit" moments. If this book didn't have vampires in it, it would be a chick lit.

I know there are more books in the series, but I don't think I'll be reading them because I just wasn't captured by the first one.

Fury by Elizabeth Miles

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Age Group: YA
Rating: 3/5
Source: Publisher

Sometimes sorry isn't enough....
It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...
Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.
On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.
In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.
Em and Chase have been chosen.

When I first read the synopsis of this book, I acutally thought it was a paranormal book. Also, the blurb gave me that feel as well. But when I began reading it, it was more like a contemporary novel. I did, however, find out later in the book it's actually a paranormal novel.

First and foremost, the cover of FURY is an attention grabber. The girl with the firery red hair connects with the title and most likely people will pick the book up to see what it's about. The book did start out a bit slow for me, but once the Furies came in, then the book picked up speed. I was just so interested in them that I realy wished they were in the book a whole lot sooner.

The Furies were the most interesting part in the book because I just found it hard to connect with Em and Chase. Now by all means, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the book. It was very good, but I wish the pace was faster and more interesting things happened. But overall, I am going to read the other two books in the series.

Elizabeth Miles has created an unique world that hasn't been used before in YA. I think something different from the regular vampires and werewolves will appeal to many readers. Miles's writing will sure entice readers and this book will make you not want to put it down because you're going to want to know what's going to happen next.