It's been quite a while since I've posted, but I've been reading like crazy! Here's a couple of the more recent ones!
"Abandon" by Meg Cabot - Excellent book, very intriguing. It's based on the Hades/Persephone myth but set in modern times. The book deals with a girl who died, but came back to life after escaping the Underworld. She has several serious issues to deal with, such as being disconnected from the world, a former best friend who committed suicide as a result of having an affair with a teacher, parents getting divorced, moving to a new school far away from her previous one, not to mention the Furies who are after her and a tempestuous relationship with John, the ruler of one Underworld. This is the first book in a new series and one I would recommend for middle or high school. The affair is not gone into detail, but mentioned as she tries to avenge her friend. No sex or profanity is described.
"Matched" by Allie Condie - Interesting dystopian book, the first in a planned trilogy. This book reminded me of "The Giver" in that the society is planned by a group of people and the general populace does whatever they are told. Once children are of age, they are matched with their future mates. They attend a banquet where the matches are announced. However, once at home, there is a glitch in the information and one person sees a flash of a second match. What is she to do? The novel winds its way through the society and how professions are determined, friendships, love, even entertainment is all proscribed by the ruling body. What happens when someone rebels? One thing that I love about this book is that it gives the same though provoking feel as "The Giver", including killing the elderly at the age of 80 in a manner that the majority of people don't know that it is murder, but the writer avoids killing babies. That scene in "The Giver" always bothered me, so I'm very glad it is missing from Condie's world. If you're looking for a companion, or a replacement, to "The Giver", this would be a good one. Recommended for middle school or high school. Nothing more than kissing is done sexually, no profanity, and the elderly are killed off using poison in their food, although in the actual scene they simply fall asleep.
