The Sweet Dead Life Book Review by Bri

The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble is a cute book that relates to the theme of angels, Jenna Samuels is a 14-year old girl is is having a very bad 8th grade year. Her mom

spends all of her time in bed, her dad has left, and her brother Casey is a prev but he’s trying to hold the family together. This was a very interesting book, it had a lot of twist and turns and it made the work very exciting.

Jenna is having a very bad year she thinks she might be dying ,and when she passes out one day Casey races her to the hospital only to get into a car accident. Jenna wakes up in the crash and sees her brother unconscious and she did something she hasn't done in a long time she prayed, she prayed for her brother to be alright and alive. She wakes up in the hospital and her brother is there looking better than ever angelic like, Amber the EMT who helped Jenna, figures out that Jenna’s condition isn’t all from the crash, the hospital runs tests on Jenna and finds out that she was being poisoned. Jenna is thankful at first however when Amber continues to hang out around Casey, she grows suspicious of Amber and with good reason, when Casey tells Jenna why Amber is hanging around. Jenna is caught up in a life changing moment, that will well change her life in ways she didn't even think possible.

This was a very good book a mystery book with a hint of something that I can’t describe, the scenes were realistic and the dialogue scenes between Casey and Jenna. How Preble infused the story with the theme of angels is something that should be praised. This book was very good I give The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble a 4 out of 6.  

Deviant Book Review by Audrey

Deviant by Helen Fitzgerald is a book that takes you on a journey with Abigail Thom. This book is a great read, Ms. Fitzgerald is able to take you into the moment and keep you reading until the end.

Abigail has been living in the state (Glasgow) care since she was nine when Nieve (her mom’s best friend) died, today she was brought to the office and told her birth mother had died the previous evening at a local hospital and the nurse had a letter for her. Abigail was curious--her mother was so close but had never sought for her. Upon retrieving the letter and reading it she was stunned... Her father, was alive and lived in Los Angeles and she was to go live with him. She had a sister too, and they both have $25000 from there mother.

Abigail spends the next 24 hours helping a girl from her group home, she gets a passport, and sneaks out to get to the airport to fly and meet her father. She encounters some difficulty at the airport--they are going to send her back to Glasgow, until her father Grahame Johnstone pulled some strings to keep her here. Upon arriving at her father’s home she meets her sister Becky and her stepmother, Melanie.  The next few days are filled with a lot of changes for Abigail.  Melanie signs her up for driving lessons and gives her a welcome home party with all of her Dad’s friends.

Becky,  Stick, Joe, and Abigail go out her first night in LA.  They take her out to a billboard sign and have Abigail be the lookout while Joe tags the sign.  She is petrified of being caught and being sent back to Glasgow. She learns during the night that Becky is a very passionate person that leads a double life.  Becky is the perfect daughter when she needs to be --but also has a lot of the free spirit her birth mother did.  She liked to drink and smoke pot and she was part of an underground that was searching for answers to a question that she would not share with Abigail she doesn’t think she would understand.

I enjoyed the many twists and turns  that continued to keep me the reader entertained.  There was so much involvement of real everyday circumstances that makes it believable.  Drugs,  juvenile delinquent behaviors, the lifestyle of the rich, a corrupt group of adults and a passionate group of teens that are sure something is wrong and they will do whatever they have too, to expose the wrongs.  If you are looking for that book that pulls you in-this is it.  I rate it a 5 out of 6.

Strangelets Book Review by Bri

Michelle Gagnon’s Strangelets is to say strange in the least, three teens die at the exact same moment in time thousands of miles apart, coincidence or a plan from a science experiment? The book has three narrators, Sophie from California, Declan from Ireland, and Anat from Israel, there is also three other teens Zain from New Delhi, Nico from Germany, and Tosh from Japan. And all of them wake up in a strange hospital with no nurses or doctors, no other patients, and no food; only to find out that they are trapped in the building with only the talents they have.

All of the teens are connected in someway or form and the only way that they can think of is the last day they remember August 31st, except for Nico which his last day was in April hiking with his father. After the unfortunate and unforeseen death of one teen out of six, the five split up in search of clues on how to get back home. The group separates and encounters things that should not exist like huge reptile dinosaurs that were suppose to be dead thousands of years ago, add teenage hormones and romance to the mix and you get a recipe for disaster. With the help of the scientist who started it all will the group back it to there correct universe and their correct time? Or will the push of a button kill the remaining life on Earth?

This book was fantastic! This book was quite different from what I usually read, but when I was engrossed within the story I didn’t care that it was my ‘usual’ type of book.  The plot was interesting on how the author laid the book out switching in between characters, and how she used the alternate universe was splendid. This book is great if you are looking for a Paranormal/Sci-Fi Romance kinda feel, there's humor and serious parts to the books as well and is very well round. Overall I give this book a 4 out of 6.

Itch Book Review by Bri

Reading "ITCH" by Simon Mayo has really changed my perspective on how I view science. This book made me itching for more, a marvelous piece of work by Mayo. We follow the story of Itchingham   Lofte, "Itch", and his epic adventures revolving around a single rock. When I started this project I was immediately excited when I read the back and seeing that there is an featured augmented reality animation app,  the animation was truly fantastic a short snippet of the book, which part... well you're gonna have to read the book to find out.

Itch is 16 year-old teen who has an unusual hobby: he collects all the elements on the periodic table and it gets him in trouble with his mom, a lot. For instance like an explosion that burns off Itch's eyebrows and automatically demotes his collection to the shed in the back yard and weekly check-ins of his room and his collection. It's just not Itch's week, so to protect his most valuable pieces he brings them to school, which includes wallpaper laced with arsenic. Itch and his cousin Jacqueline, Jack for short, are in the same class, and they are on a trip to the school's greenhouse and when everyone becomes violently ill Itch blames himself because he brought the wallpaper to school. But when Itch and Chloe, Itch's little sister, met up with Cake Itch's "supplier" of almost all of his collection, says that there wasn't enough arsenic to make arsenic gas, so Cake gives him a rock saying that it is an element.  

However when Itch brings the rock to his professor Mr. Watkins, he suggests that they inquire the help of another professor Dr. Flowerdew a chemist; when Dr. Flowerdew runs tests on the rock they find out that it is highly radioactive and Dr.Flowerdew runs out of the school saying that he has a lead container at home. Itch agreed to let Dr. Flowerdew to take it but when Dr. Flowerdew doesn't return it, that's when things get crazy. Itch, Jack, and Chloe are in a race for their lives and a race against time, with the police, secret organizations, and multiple other countries following the three teens every move they only have letter to follow and help them make their decisions. Will Itch, Jack, and Chloe be able to beat the clock before their time runs out, or will the rock fall into the wrong hands?  

I loved this book, I usually don't read books from this genre and I was really surprised on how much I liked the action and thrill. Not trying to be cliché or anything, but this book keep me at the edge of seat the whole way. This being written by a British author, there were a few terms I didn't quite understand. Over all a marvelous book, with a sensational ending that I didn't expect. I would definitely recommended this book to science lovers and to people who don't know what "2Na + 2H2O = 2NaOH + H2" creates, I give this book a 5 out of 6 hands down. An excellent work that should be in everyone's collection.

Hey,

I can’t wait for the sequel that is coming out in 2014. Try to take a moment and look at the Sterling Publishing website for the book, I put the link at the bottom and check the book out, Itch came out this April and is now available and don’t forget the about the app!

http://www.sterlingpublishing.com/itch

Hey

Hey guys!

This is going to be a book review blog with Young Adult and Adult books.
There is going to be, so far, two people reviewing for this blog.
Audrey and me, Bri!

The first review will be up in a few days.

Thanks,

Audrey and Bri