Reality check, by Peter Abrahams

Cody, a small town quarterback has big dreams for a football scholarship. When his smart, hot girlfriend is sent away to boarding school by her father and he suffers a torn ACL, Cody’s life begins to spiral out of control. He drops out of high school and gets a job at the local lumber yard. But when his ex-girlfriend Clea disappears in Vermont, Cody travels from Colorado to join the search for her. Out of place in the wealthy privileged private school there, Cody doesn't know who he can trust and nothing is as it first seems.
This is full of fast action and mystery - hard to put down.

Daughter of smoke & bone, by Laini Taylor

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well."

The 1st words in this romantic fantasy warn the reader.

Blue haired Karou , 17 year old art student in Prague, has mastered the art of disguising her magical upbringing from her friends and others. Avoid talking about herself, and when forced, tell the truth with a faint sardonic smile. No one believes that her hair just grows that color; or that the monsters she draws in her sketchbooks are real; or that she travels the world via magic to collect teeth for the chimaera Brimstone who raised her from a baby.
But Karou has questions, because hideously ugly Brimstone has always refused to explain how he came to raise her, or where the door behind his desk leads, or why he needs the unending supply of teeth it is her job to acquire for him. And why although he is obviously a powerful magician, he refuses Karou any wishes but the smallest, most inconsequential ones. Then the angel Akiva attacks Karou from out of nowhere, nearly killing her before the attack stops as suddenly and mysteriously as it began. Akiva knows more about Karou than she does herself, but both have shocking things to learn in store for them.

This is a mystery, a fantasy, but most of all a love story. Well written and hard to put down once begun. The first of a planned trilogy, and among Amazon's top 10 books for 2011.

The Marbury lens, by Andrew Smith

Leaving a party at his best friend Connor's, Jack is kidnapped, drugged, tortured and nearly raped. He narrowly escapes his tormentor and returns to Connor's house where he confides all that happened. The boys decide to keep it a secret, but they have fallen into the dark, and will need each other's help to survive.

A mysterious man gives Jack a pair of glasses, through which Jack finds himself in a different, surreal world - one of violence and destruction. Worst of all, a world where Connor is trying to kill him and the 2 younger boys entrusted to Jack's care.

This is a dark and disturbing nightmare of a story that packs an enormous emotional punch. Scary, creepy, and hard to forget.

Ingo, by Helen Dunmore

Ingo is a mysterious undersea world only found in old legends - until Sapphire and her brother Connor are called into that world from their ocean side home in Cornwall, England. But the mer folk that inhabit Ingo are not human, and their world is filled with danger for two human teens. Sapphire and Connor find themselves caught between two worlds in the opening book of this series.
The lure of the sea is as real as the tide, and the writing is hypnotic in this romantic adventure series.

The dark days of Hamburger Halpin, by Josh Berk

When Will Halpin decides to leave his school for the deaf and enter a regular public school, he knows it will be hard. His 1st day teaches him the truth tho. He will never be popular, never be anything but socially invisible. The teachers aren't accustomed to deaf students and don't quite know how to handle him. The other students ignore him. But Will is a keen observer of those around him, and when a student is murdered on a field trip, Will sets out to solve the mystery of who did it.

This is a clever send-up of high school life. All the characters are basic stereotypes - from the boring lecturer American History teacher, to the flirtatious young math teacher reliving her high school glory days, to the ex-marine PE teacher, the pot-smoking insane bus driver, and the tough-guy substitute. Nobody is safe from satire. From the football playing jocks to the homecoming queen princess and the wealthy ugly girl with high social status. And Will doesn't miss a thing, including who among the cast of characters may have murder in their heart.

Gentlemen, by Michael Northrop

I liked the voices in this one - these 4 boys are from troubled families, failing in school, sometimes violent, distrustful of everyone except each other. Then one of the four disappears without a trace, and parents, then police, begin questioning the remaining three. The three have questions of their own, and their suspicions begin to fall on one suspect. Could their English teacher really have killed their friend? And if so, who can they tell - would ever believe their suspicions?

Pressures mount to unbearable levels, and soon even the bonds of friendship and loyalty begin to fray. The mystery is enough to keep the reader involved in this book, and the ending won't disappoint.

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.