Shift, by Jennifer Bradbury

This is part mystery, part road trip, and all about friendship, both the good parts and the not so good stuff. Chris and Win have been friends since the 3rd grade. The day after high school graduation they take off on a cross-country bike trip from their homes in West Virginia to the West coast. But Win has a private agenda that Chris is unaware of until the day in Montana that Chris gets a flat tire and Win doesn't stop riding. That is the last time Chris sees Win, who completely disappears. Back home, Chris starts college in the fall when an FBI agent shows up courtesy of Win's manipulative father. It becomes clear to Chris that no one is going to find Win unless Win wants to be found, and Chris is the only one who has any chance to find out what happened to his best friend. Bradbury clearly is a biker - no one could write so well about it unless they had put some road miles on a bike. The mystery at the center of the story is intriguing, and her insight into the relationship between friends rings true as well.

Avalon High, by Meg Cabot

This one is fun to read if you like the King Arthur tales. It is set in modern times at a high school in Annapolis, Maryland, where many of the students bear uncanny resemblances to the characters in the Arthurian stories. Ellie (whose real name is Elaine), moves to town and even before school begins she meets and is instantly drawn to Will (Arthur William Wagner), and he is attracted to her too. Will is dating Jennifer (modernization of Gueneviere), and best friends with Lance (Lancelot). The old triangle has just become a foursome, and things don't work out like in the middle ages, but it's lots of fun to figure out just how things are going to go this time around. Meg Cabot (author of The princess diaries) keeps this re-telling fresh and quick-paced, and a fun romance.

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

Katsa was born with eyes of two colors, which means that she has been "gifted" with a grace - an extreme skill, and must live in the palace and serve the king as he sees fit. At the beginning of the book Katsa is feared and despised - her skill is killing. The king uses her skill as a weapon to torture and execute his subjects and his enemies alike. Katsa is wild and willful and unhappy. When she meets Po - prince of a neighboring kingdom and another graceling, and her life is about to change. She begins to see that she can take charge of her own life, and soon she and Po set off on a mission full of political intrigue and personal danger.

This is fantasy that will keep the reader guessing what is coming next and is full of action and touched with romance. There will be sequels, and I hope they are as good as this 1st book promises.

Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson doesn't shy away from tough topics, and Wintergirls tackles the subject of anorexia with characteristic grit and understanding. The story concerns Lia and her friend Cassie who have competed to lose weight, spiraling into the winter of the illness and obsession that characterize anorexia. As the book opens Cassie has died of anorexia, and her death adds the burden of guilt and loss to Lia's already fragile hold on life. This is tough reading, and the author does a great job of exploring the problems of anorexia with understanding.

The last exit to Normal, by Michael Harmon

Ben Campbell is angry and rebellious after his dad announced that he was gay and his family blew apart. Ben has gotten in some serious trouble with the law, and as a result Dad and his boyfriend Edward move with Ben to live in Rough Butte, Montana with Edward's mother. Rough Butte isn't friendly toward gays or skateboarders either. The reader knows where this is going with Ben coming to terms with life, but the book is well written with both attitude and insight.

Hood, by Stephen R. Lawhead

Stephen Lawhood has taken the Robin Hood legends and set them in medieval Wales, where Norman invaders are picking off tiny kingdoms one by one. Bran ap Brychan, heir to the throne of Elfael, has gone into hiding after the ambush and massacre of his father, the king, along with most of the able-bodied men of the kingdom. Pursued and hunted, Bran makes his way deep into the ancient forest where he finds others who have also found safety there. And from hiding he finds ways to secretly help the people of his kingdom who are suffering under the heavy yoke of the Norman invaders. This is a fresh re-telling of the old legends, and a compelling adventure story too.

Aftershock, by Kelly Easton

In a state of shock, 17-year-old Adam walks away from the scene of the car accident that has killed his parents. Stranded on a lonely road in rural Idaho, he heads east, on foot, as random snippets of memory wander in and out of his mind. Too traumatized to speak, his silence is misinterpreted by the succession of characters he meets on the odyssey home to Rhode Island. Stumbling upon a Wiccan meeting in a forest, he is taken in by one of the chatty young women and takes a job as a dishwasher in a local diner, where he is treated as deaf. Weeks later, he hitchhikes with a trucker and finds backbreaking work in Colorado fields with Mexican migrant farmers. He struggles to survive as he devours a frozen pizza found in a taxidermist's cabin, sleeps in a Dumpster, crashes a picnic, and steals a car. The adventures intertwine with thoughts about his girlfriend, locker-room antics, his parents, their bookstore, and his autistic cousin–spontaneously, as if his mind has short-circuited from the crash.
Adam, before the crash, is a normal and likable young man. His cross-country journey home from the scene of the crash parallels his emotional journey back to sanity, and the reader hopes that at the end of that journey he will find a life that feels like home.

The Heretic's daughter, by Kathleen Kent

Andover, Massachussets is a tiny village just a few miles from one who's name resonates down the years through American history - Salem. In The heretic's daughter, Kathleen Kent tells the story of her ancestors Thomas and Martha Carrier and how they were caught up in the witch-hunt hysteria of the 1690s, told through the eyes of their daughter Sarah. The depiction of life in early, plague swept New England is fascinating in itself. But the emotional drama builds slowly to it's inevitable hysterical storm and we see the Carriers trapped by family ties, by economic realities, and by the Puritan faith itself. This is a strong story well told. The author makes us care about these people and understand both their lives and the forces that eventually bring tragedy to them. One of the best historical fiction books I can remember reading.

City of bones, by Cassandra Clare

15 year old Clary and her friend Simon are in a New York club when Clary witnesses a murder committed by three teens covered with strange tatoos and using bizarre weapons. But she is the only one who can see the 3 murderers, and the body disappears. Clary soom finds herself deeply involved in a clan of Shadowhunters - warriors dedicated to hunting and killing demons who stalk the earth. And the Shadowhunters are interested in finding out why Clary has the sight that allows her to see them and the demons. Clary soon finds that her life up to now has been a falsehood, and almost everyone she knows is not who she thought they were. Her friend Simon is her only constant friend, tho she is soon drawn to a handsome Shadowhunter named Jacy, who is equally drawn to her. There are plots and counterplots, twists and turns on every page. Fantasy readers won't want to miss this one and it's sequels.

The Good guy, by Dean Koontz

Timothy Carrier, a quiet stone mason having a beer in a California bar, meets a stranger who mistakes him for a hit man. The stranger slips Tim a manila envelope containing $10,000 in cash and a photo of the intended victim, Linda Paquette, a writer in Laguna Beach, then leaves. A moment later, Krait, the real killer, shows up and assumes Tim is his client. Tim manages to distract Krait from immediately carrying out the hit by saying he's had a change of heart and offering Krait the $10,000 he just received. This ploy gives the stone mason enough time to warn Linda before they begin a frantic flight for their lives. (Amazon)

This thriller grabs the reader from the first page and doesn't let go. I could barely put it down until I had it finished, when I could finally resume my life.

Feed, by M.T. Anderson

This story is set in the future, where large corporations have taken advertising and consumerism to extremes. Humans have "feeds" implanted in their brains almost from birth, feeds that are part Internet, part advertising. The ability to read and write and even to think for ones self has been almost completely obliterated. Titus, who narrates the story in his frighteningly simple voice, is leading a contented life of partying and shopping until he meets Violet. Violet didn't get her feed until she was in grade school, thus her brain retains developed thought processes independent of the feed. Violet is doing the unheard of - she is fighting the feed. Through Violet, Titus begins, dimly, to realize that his thoughts are not his own but are implanted for commercial purposes.

This is scary reading, especially in the light of current brain research that is working on identifying a person's thoughts through brain scans. If your thoughts can be scanned, is it a big leap till can they be altered? Today Channel One (brought to you by Coca Cola) - tomorrow, who knows.

Gym candy, by Carl Deuker

Carl Deuker is one of the best sports fiction writers working today. I have read so called "sports" books where all the action takes place off field. Not Deuker. The reader gets a lot of football in this book, and it's written so that even a non-athlete can find it interesting and understandable. The title of the book refers to steroids. Gym candy is an inside look at the motivation for a high school athlete to get involved in steroid use, and the problems that go along with it.
High Heat (baseball) has been my favorite Deuker book for a long time, but this one is just as good and well written.

Life as we knew it, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Miranda is a typical sophmore in high school - anxious for her driver's liscence, hanging out with her friends, arguing with Mom, and looking forward to Prom. An interesting astrological event has her neighbors in lawn chairs viewing the moon on the evening an meteor is predicted to hit the moon. The meteor hits, and life on earth is changed forever as the collision shifts the moon closer to the earth causing violent earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, huge tsunamis, and millions of deaths. All that Miranda has taken for granted suddenly begins to disappear. Food and gasoline are in short supply, and winter is coming on without heat or electricity. This is hard to put down, and hard to forget.

Princess Ben, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

When Princess Benevolence's parents are killed, she finds herself under her aunt, the queen's, thumb, being groomed as a royal princess. The plump princess is starved, corseted, and forced to attend endless tedious lessons for dancing, conversation, card playing - things the queen believes she needs to learn. But Princess Ben is independent and smart. When the queen locks her in the tower in a fit of rage, Ben finds a secret and magical hidden room where her real education begins. Her secret education pays off when Ben learns the kingdom is about to be overtaken through the queen's treachery. and only Ben (and her magic) can save her kingdom. The story is entertaining - funny and clever. Princess Ben's transformation from a sulky girl into a dedicated leader is an entertaining journey.

This author writes warm and funny stories, and Princess Ben is one more. If you like her humor, try Dairy Queen and The off season too.

Pride of Baghdad, by Brian K. Vaughan & art by Niko Henrichon (Graphic Novel)

"In April of 2003, four lions escaped the Baghdad Zoo during the bombing of Iraq. The starving animals were eventually shot and killed by U.S. soldiers." These are the final words in this moving graphic novel that tells the lions' story. The author and illustrator imbue the lions with majesty, dignity, and pride. We follow the story of the lions from their captivity in the zoo, through their struggle to survive in the middle of the bombing, their search for food and shelter in the bombed out city, and if their death does not move the reader, the reader doesn't have a heart.