Despite being at their mercy, Steve Clarke, aka superhero Reaver, is inexplicably given a boon by arch-nemesis Octagon and his cadre of supervillains, Eleventh Hour - instead of killing him outright, they grant him 2 weeks to take care of his affairs before he reports back to them to fight to the death. Steve uses the two weeks to come to grips with how he became a superhero in the first place, the loss of superfriends, his own moral ambiguity at times, and to reunite with his high school love, the girl who got away (or was pushed away due to Steve's unanticipated mutation caused by a chemical spill which transformed some of the cars occupants and killed others).
An incomplete list of books that I've read and liked. Or not liked. And would recommend. Or not recommend. But mostly would.
Showing posts with label grief. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grief. Show all posts
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman
Nora has a pretty good life - yes, her brother is still dead and her parents are still withdrawn into their own self-absorbed worlds, but she has made a new family of sorts, with bright, charming, boy-wonder Chris and his lovely, capricious girlfriend Adriane as her best friends, and moody, quiet, scholarly Max as her boyfriend. She also has an engrossing translation project for a local professor to strengthen her link with Chris and Max - while they work on translating the "important" parts of an ancient mystical document the professor is obsessed with, Nora translates late 16th century letters from a young woman, stepdaughter to a great magician - busy work to the professor, but more and more fascinating to Nora. When her translation of the letters leads to a new discovery, she never expects it to end with the professor insane, Chris dead, Adriane catatonic and Max gone and branded a murder...but that's what happens.
Labels:
adventure,
betrayal,
courage,
crime,
edgy,
female_protag,
friendship,
grief,
high_school,
letters,
murder,
mystery,
realistic_fiction,
romance,
school,
secret societies,
suspense,
teen
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Sequel to Divergent
Tris, now on the run as war erupts, attempts to figure out what information is so vital, or so dangerous, that some factions would destroy others just to contain it.
Labels:
adventure,
courage,
dystopia,
edgy,
family,
fantasy,
female_protag,
friendship,
futuristic,
grief,
grieving,
rebels,
relationships,
secret_identity,
sequel,
series,
technology,
teen,
terrorists
Divergent by Veronica Roth
In dystopian Chicago, society has been divided into 5 factions, each dedicated to cultivating a certain value:
- Amity (the peaceful)
- Candor (the honest)
- Abnegation (the selfless)
- Erudite (the intelligent)
- Dauntless (the brave)
Labels:
adventure,
courage,
dystopia,
edgy,
family,
fantasy,
female_protag,
friendship,
futuristic,
grief,
grieving,
peer_pressure,
rebels,
relationships,
romance,
scifi,
secret_identity,
technology,
teen,
terrorists
Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
The early days of the Robin Hood story, told from the perspective of "Will" Scarlet. Known to Robin, John, and a few others as just Scarlet, she is a young woman posing as a young man after running away from an arranged marriage.
Labels:
adventure,
courage,
crime,
family,
female_protag,
friendship,
grief,
grieving,
historical_fiction,
myths,
orphans,
rebels,
relationships,
secret_identity,
teen
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Pie by Sarah Weeks
Alice's aunt Polly, world-famous pie maker, dies and leaves her recipe to her grumpy cat Lardo, and her cat to Alice. Alice's mother is jealous of her sister's success with pies and people, someone is out to steal the cat in order to get the pie recipe, and suddenly everyone is trying to make pies to fill the pie-gap. Includes recipes.
SLJ: grades 4-6
SLJ: grades 4-6
Labels:
animals,
crime,
family,
female_protag,
food,
grief,
grieving,
historical_fiction,
humor,
juvenile,
mystery,
realistic_fiction,
recipes
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Close to Famous, by Joan Bauer
13-year old Foster McFee and her mother leave Memphis in a hurry when her mom's Elvis-impersonator boyfriend gives mom a black eye. Leaving with only the items they can fit in their car, which is pretty much everything they own, they end up randomly stopping in Culpepper, West Virginia. With no other destination in mind, they decide to stay in Culpepper, at least for the rest of the summer, and meet and befriend some of the town's inhabitants. Because it is a small town, of course many of the inhabitants are eccentric and quirky, but at least their quirks are a different than the usual fare: Miss Charleena is a former movie star who is hiding out after losing her confidence when her husband left her for a younger woman, Angry Wayne, owner of Angry Wayne's Bar and Grill is...if not angry, at least crotchety and a bit cranky, and Macon is a budding documentarist, just a tweenage one without a camera.
Labels:
courage,
disabilities,
dyslexia,
family,
female_protag,
food,
friendship,
grief,
grieving,
humor,
people_of_color,
realistic_fiction,
recipes,
relationships,
roadtrip
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