First Love

LOVE AND OTHER PERISHABLE ITEMS by Laura Buzo. Knopf, 2012.

Amelia is shy of her 15th birthday but already hard at work as a checker in a grocery store. She is the baby here, too young for most of the activities the other employees enjoy on their time off. But she is still old enough to be smitten with Chris, a uni student who shows her the ropes. It takes only la little encouragement from Chris for Amelia to fall in love with him. Told in alternating voices (Amelia and Chris through his notebooks), this story of first love rings true in its emotional depth.

Vintage

PERIOD 8 by Chris Crutcher. Greenwillow, April 2013.

A new book by Chris Crutcher is always cause for celebration. Teens will find much to love in his latest offering, PERIOD 8. Meet Paulie. He's basically a good guy. But he has just messed up big time. When Paulie tells his girlfriend Hannah he has cheated on her, he hopes she will at least hear him out. has no intent to hear more from Paulie and storms off. Thankfully, Paulie has someone else to turn to for advice. His teacher Mr. Logsdon (Logs to all) is always there to listen. And then there is Period 8 when the whole class can speak their minds without fear of betrayal. Of course, there is much more to the story than one teen being unfaithful to his girlfriend. Life is more complicated than that, after all. And Crutcher has put this book on steroids (his own words, not mine) as it shines light into some pretty dark places. Mystery, politics, and more play a role in this fast paced thriller, sports story, novel about being friends. What does it mean to be fully human? What is truth? Does anyone know how to tell the unvarnished truth? Should they? Lots of questions. Crutcher leaves the reader to provide the answers. <611>

Grave Business

GRAVE MERCY by Robin LeFevers(Houghton Mifflin 2012) combines romance, intrigue, and assassination in an action packed romp through 15th century Brittany. Ismae is sold to a pig farmer by her father. However, when the pig farmer sees that Ismae was poisoned in the womb by her own mother, he throws her into the cellar. Ismae escapes and flees to the convent of St. Mortain, a convent dedicated to service to St. Mortain, Death. There Ismae is trained in the wiles of seduction and in the many ways of assassination. Her first mission sends her the court of Anne who is supposed to be crowned as Duchess of Brittany. However, there is some opposition to this move. Betrayal, love, war: all will entrance readers of paranormal romance. <317>

Woman of Steel

Elisa has been promised in marriage to a man she has not met. Her father is trying to form alliances that will save his kingdom from the threat of invasion from a neighboring region. Elisa is nervous about meeting Alejandro. Her discomfort is made deeper by the fact that he intends not to tell his subjects about the marriage. After a perilous journey from her home to Alejandro's kingdom, Elisa is ensconced in a room. She is treated with some deference due to her status as a princess. Should others at the court learn she is also the bearer of a Godstone, attitudes could change quickly. As a bearer, Elisa is destined for something. But what? As she searches for an answer to her purpose, Elisa suddenly finds herself kidnapped and placed square in the middle of a raging war that will affect not only her own country but her new kingdom as well. Can a pampered princess perform the heroics expected of her? <528>

THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson (Greenwillow 2011) has echoes of GRACELING, FIRE, and FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK and yet it is not in the least derivative of these excellent books. Instead, Elisa and her world, subtly but completely built by Carson, are unique and unforgettable. Romance, mystery, intrigue and espionage: there is much here for readers who enjoy action and adventure with a soupcon of religion and myth.