Clique Series: Best Friends for Never by Lisi Harrison

The book jacket really sells this book short, although I imagine you would be looking to read this book after reading the first one in the series. This one picks up where the first one left off: Massie fighting to make sure she is the Queen-bee of OCD with her faithful followers, which Claire is still watching from the outside really wanting to be accepted.

The main conflict of this book is that Massie is told that she falling out of the limelight at OCD, and to make sure it happens, another girl in her grade is planning on throwing a co-ed Halloween party. This really frosts Massie, but she regroups to throw the co-ed Halloween party of the century organized by a high-price famous Starbucks drinking party planner. naturally at this party is the basic middle school/ high school drama: two friends like the same guy, girls have crushes on boys, friends stab each other in the back and blow each other off... yet in true Clique fashion this is all done in designer clothes! :)

Additionally, there is tension in Massie's group because of boy trouble and Olivia trouble (you'll have read to find out what that means!). Massie is also getting pressure from her mom to include Claire in all that she does, and Claire has challenges Massie to a no-shopping for a month contest. Needless to say, Massie is stressed! Add to it that the school is looking at implementing a UNIFORM policy. This is one stressed middle schooler. :)

There is a twist at the end of this book, which may lead to Claire being "in" and someone from Massie's tight group of followers being "out"! You'll have to read to find out the "who," "what," "where," "why," and "how"!

I liked the book. Quite honestly, even though this is total bullying in many cases, and I think the girls are unbelievable mean, AND ass to the fact that the money spent on clothes, food, and so on is totally unbelievable, I like just getting lost in this unrealistic world for an afternoon. It is like watch a soap opera that takes place in a middle school except there is no drinking, no drug, no sex, and no alcohol.

Have you read this book or any in the series? Let us know what you think!

Daughters of the Moon: #1 Goddess of the Night by Lynne Ewing

Vanessa really wants to be normal, but she has a secret that she can only share with her best friend Catty. The secret is she can make herself invisible. She is not really sure how or why, but at times in her life when she is under extreme emotion, she disappears. Catty has a secret, too. She can travel back in time, and while Catty experiments with her ability. Vanessa wishes it would go away, but it won't and it is becoming a big problem because every time the love of her life, Michael Saratoga, kisses her... she starts to disappear. You can see how this would be a problem.

In addition to this problem, Vanessa is getting the overwhelming feeling that she is being watched. Catty wants to travel back in time to track this mysterious person, but Vanessa is not so sure about that. It is not until Catty disappears that Vanessa knows she must act.

In enters Serena and Jimena two other girls Vanessa's age that live in the Los Angeles area, and it turns out they have powers also. Serena reads minds, and Jimena has premonitions. These two girls introduce Vanessa to Maggie (the moon goddess mentor of sorts) who begings to teach the girls about the moon goddess who has given them their powers. She also warns them of evil of the Followers and Atrox and the impending show down.

Soon the girls figure out that it is the Followers/ Atrox that have Catty, and Vanessa is willing to do whatever it takes to free her. Even if it means going against the advice of her new friends and Maggie. She just hopes that her powers are strong enough to free Catty.

The cool thing about this series is that each of the books is told from a different character's point of view, so while in this one Vanessa is the main focus, Jimena narrates the next book. The books are about 300 pages and have incredible cool covers. Definitely a fantasy story, but what makes it fantasy is the powers that each of the girls have. It is a classic battle of good vs evil, and in a weird remote way it reminded me of the tv show Charmed... but they are not witches here. Just high school girls trying to be normal. This could very easily be a tv series.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Have you read any of the others in this series? Leave a comment.

The Clique: A Novel by Lisi Harrison

I must admit that I love the covers of these books. They are all cute plaids, prints, and argyle. They also have the oh so familiar pictures of girls whispering. It is this action that pretty much sums up The Clique Series. The Clique is the first book in the series, and it firmly establishes the middle school uber-rich clique of Massie (the Queen) and her followers: Dylan, Alicia, and Kristen. To establish these four as the bossy and mean eltists girls that they appear to be, the author adds in a girl names Claire that has recently relocated to the New York area because her father is friends with Massie's dad. To make her even more undesirable, Claire and her family are living in Massie Block's guest house. Together all the girls attend Octavian Country Day School (an elite all girls school that actually mentions dressing fashionably in the handbook).

The plot of this Clique installment basically chronicles the battle between Massie and Claire. Everyone is mean at some point in the book, which is how middle school feels at some points, but what I actually liked about the book is that because the point of view changes between Claire and Massie the reader is able to see that even though the girls appear one way on the outside, they all feel scared and uncertain. Everyone is afraid of having no friends. How true is that? These girls spend the majority of the book worried that they will have no friends, lose friends, or be friends with some "loser". Claire desperately wants into Massie's clique because they are the clique of power at their school, but she really does some horrible things to hang out and be accepted by some horrible girls. This book is like the movie "Mean Girls".

While I do think that this book spends a lot of time talking about the shallowness of these girls (money, clothes, make-up, boys, etc), I still found the book enjoyable. As long as when you read it, you realize that this is not realistic and that people SHOULD NOT treat each other this way, it is an entertaining read because it is so soap opera- like.

I must also admit that I checked the next one out of the library to read.

Have you read The Clique or any of the other books in the series? What do you think?

The Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

As you may already know, I judge a book by its cover, and I must admit that I really was interested by the cover. I do enjoy historical fiction and this book does have this element. It also has a twist of fantasy, a twist of adventure, and a very weak twist of romance.

The story begins in India, in 1895, where our protagonist, Gemma, is arguing with her mother. Pretty normal for a 16 year old girl and her mother... time and place don't matter. Mothers and daughters have moments when they don't see eye to eye. What happens next in the story is unexpected, through a vision, Gemma sees the death of her mother and awakens to find that it really happened. This changes her world...

The story then transports itself to England where Gemma is set to a girls finishing school named Spence. From here the fantasy/ gothic elements are developed as these visions continue for Gemma. Eventually she confides in her friends Felicity, Pippa, and Ann about the visions and together they learn about the Order, an ancient group of women who maintained the magical realms and regulated their power. They also learn that there were two students in the past at their schools that also possessed this ability, but somehow it went wrong when the girls turned to evil. Gemma must decided what she is going to do with this power, how can she help others, and what role did her mother play in all of this.

I must admit that I enjoyed this book. While it was over 400 pages, I found that I kept wanting to go back and read more. I will say that the book it not without its flaws. There are parts that I felt where not always clear when you are first learning about the magic, but if you keep reading, it becomes more clear. At some points in the book, I wished that it moved a little faster, but it wasn't so bad that I wanted to skip pages. I also have to say that I felt the ending was a little lame, but I was happy to learn that there is a sequel, so perhaps that is why it ends the way it does.

The book is rich in its layers... discussing multiple social issues, art, music, the Victorian time period and social customs, magic, romance, culture, and the list goes on... If you like female main characters that go against societital norma, that develop unsuspecting friends, that take on adventure and danger, this might be the book for you. I noticed that many people that liked/ read Twilight also read this series, and while they are not the same, there are similar qualities.

Plus it has a movie coming out...

Have you read this book? Leave us a comment as to what you thought!

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan

This is book 2 in the The Sage of Darren Shan series of Cirque Du Freak. One of my friends said that lots of her students really liked this series. I have kind of come to the conclusion that it is the next step after RL Stine/ Fear Street. Kind of scary... but no too much... easy to read.

This particular book picks up the story after Darren was turned into a half vampire. Evidently he did it to save a friend, but you will have to read book 1 to get the full details of the story. :) With that said, this book does give enough information that you can read it without reading the first one.

Darren is struggling with the fact that he must drink human blood to live. As this book progresses he gets weaker and weaker because drinking the blood of animals is just not enough. In addition to this plot line, is the one in which Darren is searching for some aspects of a normal teenage life while facing that fact that he is half vampire. In an attempt to achieve this, Darren and his vampire mentor Mr. Crepsley join up with the Cirque du Freak again so that Darren can have friends his age while still respecting, and accepting, that he is half vampire. Being a part of this group and learning to have "human" friends brings its own challenges for Darren. This leads to the climax of the story that involves Darren trying to save his new human friend of a horrifying death.

If you like mild vampire stories where they contain traditional vampire qualities, but are not evil, this might be something you would want to read. You may want to think about reading the entire series. Also, if you like horror without tons of blood and guts, but enough to make it interesting, this might be for you, too.

Again, if you loved Goosebumps, RL Stine, and Fear Street, this might be the next horror series for you.

Have you read this book or any other Cirque du Freak books? If so please leave a comment.

angus, thongs, and full-frontal snogging by Louise Rennison

This book was amusing, and I thought it was a pretty quick read. I think one of the reasons why is because it is written as diary entries of a 14 year old girl that lives in England. The entries are short (some are even one sentence or two words!) as she records many of the problems that most 14 years face: boy problems, friend problems, family problems, and self-esteem problems. She does it in a really sarcastic, funny, realistic way that I think is appealing. It even has a glossary in the back, so the American readers can understand her British slang. For the most part I thought that was pretty cool, but after awhile I got tired of looking things up, so I just relied on figuring out meaning from the context of the sentence. Pretty much like you should do any time you come across a word you don't know, and you do not have a dictionary handy.

Some of her situations are so right on... for example, she is daydreaming about her current semi-boyfriend. He plays soccer (football in the book), and she begins to fantasize about him becoming famous. How she would be in all the papers with her big nose, and how she would have to worry about the paparazzi. Eventually, she comes to this conclusion...

5:15 p.m.

I can't marry him, the pressure is just too much. I am losing my own self-esteem while he gets all the attention. I'll have to explain to him tonight that it is all over.

The really funny part is at this point, they are not really dating. He had just asked her to attend a dance with him, but who hasn't let their imagination take over when daydream about a boyfriend?

This book is part of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series which as of right now has 8 books in the series. They all have equally compelling titles, and all have a picture of the crazy cat on the cover somewhere.

These are good books to read for fun. To be honest, there really isn't a lot of academic value to them. They are funny stories about being a girl and facing what life gives you. So if you are looking for something to read for fun over break or summer vacation, this book and the rest in the series might be worth a look.

Have you read any of them? What did you think?