A LIT & Speculative Blog

Bec by Darren Shan

Bec is a young orphan living in a small ring fort in Celtic Ireland. She is studying to be a priestess. She's not especially powerful, but she has an extraordinary memory and her teacher, Banba, believes she can one day prove herself useful to the clan they live with... her people are faced with a...threat -- demons invade and take over much of the country. Night becomes a time of fighting and bloodshed. The world seems poised to fall to the demon invaders.
In the middle of the nightmarish war, a strange boy comes to Bec's village. He's a simple-minded youth who can run very fast but can't even tell them his name. As addled in the head as he is, he carries a message -- his kinsmen are in trouble and need help. The warriors of Bec's village are suspicious of the boy, but, for reasons she doesn't fully understand, she persuades them to help him. A small band of warriors are sent with the boy, to brave the demon-ravaged lands beyond the village. It will be a journey of great danger, savage fighting, stunning revelations and lots of bloodshed. And Bec is going with them.

If you liked Darren Shan's Cirque Du Freak Series and you're waiting for the next book in that series, I'd recommend you try his Demonata series. Read an excerpt at amazon.com

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. She says: "My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss." He says: "It's been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort." But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down.

Juli Baker devoutly believes in three things: the sanctity of trees (especially her beloved sycamore), the wholesomeness of the eggs she collects from her backyard flock of chickens, and that someday she will kiss Bryce Loski. Ever since she saw Bryce's baby blues back in second grade, Juli has been smitten. Unfortunately, Bryce has never felt the same. Frankly, he thinks Juli Baker is a little weird--after all, what kind of freak raises chickens and sits in trees for fun? Then, in eighth grade, everything changes. Bryce begins to see that Juli's unusual interests and pride in her family are, well, kind of cool. And Juli starts to think that maybe Bryce's brilliant blue eyes are as empty as the rest of Bryce seems to be. After all, what kind of jerk doesn't care about other people's feelings about chickens and trees? Bryce and Juli's rants and raves about each other ring so true that teen readers will quickly identify with at least one of these hilarious feuding egos, if not both. A perfect introduction to the adolescent war between the sexes.

Tribes of Palos Verdes By Joy Nicholson

Medina Mason and her twin brother Jim have just moved with their parents - their father, a heart surgeon to the stars; their mother, a former beauty queen trying to eat her way to happiness - to the exclusive California beach community of Palos Verdes. Medina at fourteen is awkward, hostile, instantly unpopular, while good-looking, easygoing Jim is quickly at home among the surfers, "towel girls," and potheads who make up the local surf scene. As Medina watches her parents' marriage disintegrate and her brother drift dangerously away from her, she turns to surfing, finding a bitter solace in the challenge of the waves. But no matter how much control Medina gains against the sea, at home and at school her life remains chaotic. While a red tide approaches, brushfires rage, and Jim is caught in the middle of his parents' cruel warfare, Medina struggles to save herself and her brother from the forces that conspire to tear them apart.

Read An excerpt from amzon.com