Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein tells the story of two young women, Maddie, a British pilot and Julie, a Scottish interrogator, during WWII. These two young women meet while stationed in England and become best friends. Maddie volunteers to fly Julie to France to complete a mission, but the plane is hit by anti-aircraft fire. Julie parachutes out and is captured by the Nazis. Maddie manages to crash-land the plane and is hidden by the French resistance. Told over the course of approximately six weeks, each girl tells her story through writing.

Would I recommend it?  How could I not? Code Name Verity is one of those books that is good until it becomes great. It will stick with you and haunt you. You will celebrate and you will cry. And the minute you’re done, you’ll want to read it all over again.

Things I liked about the book:

• Julie’s viewpoint takes up the first half of the book. She starts out confessing she is weak and has agreed to give up so many secrets for basic things like her clothes or a blanket to sleep under. Amazingly enough, she made me understand why she’s sold out her country to the Nazis.
• The friendship between the girls is real and believable. In this “white man’s world,” these two girls admire each other, respect each other, and are rather awed by each other’s particular talents despite differences in socioeconomic backgrounds. I can only hope my own daughter grows up to have friendships such as this.
• Loved the things Julie found to write on – hotel stationery, prescription pads, recipe cards, sheet music. I can only imagine what that stack looked like.
• Through Julie’s writing, I felt her slipping away, saw her letting go. So well written, so well done that when she cries out for help on the bridge, it is what has to happen.
• Julie’s family – Jamie, her mother, the boys, the great-aunt – wonderful.
• The Peter Pan references, so British, so perfect.
• Maddie’s part – I don’t want to say too much…Let’s leave it as what Maddie tells you will make you want to flip back and reread and laugh and cry and reread again and squeal, “Oh! Oh! Oh!” because it is simply brilliant. Together with Julie’s part, it is what makes this book great.
• Anna Engel! Loved her! Bit part, true, but she lives up to her translated name, Angel, and gives us some fantastic insight on Julie that made me smile.
• There is closure. It’s bittersweet, it’s teary, and thank goodness, it’s there.

 Things that distracted me:

• This one is all me – it’s similar to why I have issues with 3-D movies. I keep pulling the glasses down my nose to see what the screen looks like without them. In the book about half way through Julie’s part, an American radio personality comes to the hotel and interviews Julie. It’s totally believable and fits in the story but at that moment, I began to think, huh, something is going on and I started (pulling down the glasses) and looking for clues as to how Julie was going to make it out.
• Julie bounces between first and third person. She does explain why she writes in third person about herself at times and I have to admit, I had to consult that part a time or two until I got the hang of things.
• Maddie’s portion of the book isn’t quite as eventful as Julie’s so at times, I found myself wishing she’d get on with it. Of course, she did, quite often in the next paragraph so I felt guilty even thinking that in the first place.

I’d say 8^th grade on up due to the nature of the violence and understanding of the environment and time period.

For things to consider before handing this one to my kid, scroll down, but beware, spoiler alerts ahead.

On the inside cover of the book, is a list of accolades, 16 in all not counting the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature on the front. This is a book that deserves them all. It also deserves a spot on my bookshelf.

Things I would consider before handing this to my kid (SPOILER ALERT):

• This is set in 1943. Julie is captured by the Nazis and tortured. Prisoners are tortured in other rooms, one is decapitated in front of Julie. Concentration camps are referenced, and Julie is sentenced to a camp where she will be experimented on until she dies. One of the French resistance fighters is very touchy-feely with the women. Nazi soldiers shoot prisoners in the legs, in the elbows, in the head.   Julie asks Maddie to shoot her and Maddie does, killing her.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Mass is a fantasy tale about an 18 year old girl trained from early childhood to be an assassin. Sent to a labor camp and not expected to survive, Celaena Sardothien is plucked out of the camp by the crown prince to compete in a competition to become the King’s Assassin. If she beats out the other twenty or so competitors and serves the king for four years, she wins her freedom.

Would I recommend it? No, no I wouldn’t. And believe me, I wanted to like this one. I’m all for strong women characters kicking butt, but this is one of those tales that felt like it was for those with a little less grey hair and fewer laugh lines. First in a series, complete with a prequel set of novellas and currently two sequels, the book obviously has a following but unfortunately, I’m not hopping on this bandwagon.

What I liked about it:

• The cover. Honestly, strong woman, great hair, weapons, leather. What’s not to root for?
• The fantasy story of the spirit queen coming back through Celaena had merit and hopefully will play out to an interesting plot in future books.
• The end. I know, I know, I’m not trying to be a smarty pants and celebrate it being over. No, about two chapters toward the end, a secret is dropped about Celaena’s heritage that made me perk up. Plus, for a moment in the last couple of chapters, Celaena allows us in and lets us feel for her. She finally became human.
• In the final chapter, at long last, I got a sense of Celaena being caught off guard and awed by her romantic feelings toward the guy she’s supposed to end up with. But man, I had to read a lot of pages to see her humanity.

What I found distracting:

• When we meet Celaena, she is near starvation, beaten, scarred and being brought before the playboy Crown Prince Dorian. She is a world-renowned assassin and expects people to respect and fear her which they should. Instead, her swagger comes off as obnoxious and I started thinking what this girl needs is a good talking to! Moms. Oi.
• What’s with all the vomiting? She’s starving, she eats, she vomits. She eats, she runs, she vomits. She gets her period, she has cramps, she vomits. Thankfully, she seemed to be able to keep dinner down by the end of the book.
• It was really hard to not compare this tale to The Hunger Games. The competitors spend time training together in a room doing different activities. The first test is archery. It’s a competition to the last (wo)man standing. But there’s no sense of desperation or horror or loss of control that makes The Hunger Games so impactful.
• I couldn’t figure out how to like Celaena. I’m the kind of reader who wants to root for the main character. I want to feel for the protagonist, cry for her, root for her, plot with her and celebrate with her. Instead, I felt annoyance. Sure, Celaena got hurt, but I didn’t feel her pain. There was no horror or sadness or even numbness or fear when other competitors died during tests or were discovered half eaten and mauled in corridors. She comments to Chaol, the Captain of the Guard, how her first kill feels at the end of the book, but it’s too little, too late for me.
• Dorian the Crown Prince needed more page time to prove himself as more than a spoiled playboy. Yes, he changed from start to finish, but to make the maturity stick, he needed more than just an examination of his feelings toward his father’s actions and Celeana. It was interesting to learn what the King thought of his son at the end, but by then, I didn’t really care.
• The fantasy element is downplayed (magic is outlawed!) to the point where when it came in, it threw me out of the story. It ended up playing a larger role and one that I would assume will get bigger in the next two books, though (which might be a good thing!).

Things I’d consider before handing this to child:

• This is a competition amongst people who are trained to kill other people. The main character is an 18-year-old girl trained to kill and she wants to win so she can kill for the king and earn her freedom. Competitors die in gruesome attacks by a fantasy creature – dismembered, half eaten, brains sucked out. One character smokes Opium multiple times. Some kissing. Not sure I’d hand this to a 6^th grader, but 7^th on up, probably okay.

So, I’m sorry to say it, I won’t be reading more in this series, but don’t let that stop you. As I tell my daughter, if we all liked the same book, think how small the library would be.

I admit, I pulled a Percy Jackson with Eleanor & Park, the story of first love in the mid-1980’s. The librarian at the Jr. High told me last year it was the best book she read all year. She told me I should read it. I went as far as to download it and let it sit on my eReader for six months. Then, this past week, I started reading it. When I finished, I read it again. I ordered a paper copy just so the day it arrived, I could drive over to my neighbor’s and say, “You have to read this.” This is the first book in a long time I’ve stayed up past my bedtime to read. And the lost sleep was totally worth it.

What I liked about it:

• This is the story of young love. Not like teenage movie “Enless Love” type love. More like real high school, first nerd love.
• Sixteen year old Park comes from a middle class family. His dad and Korean mom are still madly in love, and they love their kids. Park’s dad pushes Park, but you get the impression there’s a good reason. Park’s mom stands up for herself and her kids and isn’t afraid to voice her opinions. It is quite the contrast to Eleanor’s dirt poor family, abusive stepfather, co-dependent mom and siblings.
• From the beginning, Park is a good guy, but he’s not perfect, and Eleanor never lets you feel sorry for her.
• They fall in love over comic books. Then music. But mostly comic books.
• Park is a boy. Based on the oodles of women’s magazine articles I’ve read, boys love girls because quite simply, they’re girls. Eleanor is concerned about her stomach, her freckles, her hair.  None of that enters Park’s mind.  He sees the freckles at “sprinkles on a donut” and Eleanor as “a mermaid.”  He falls for Eleanor way before he sees her in a way that opens his eyes to the fact she’s got so much “negative space.” And by the time he realizes she’s a girl and decides shyness will get him nowhere, you want them to be together.
• The dialogue is real and smart. It sounds like kids and adults. There’s a fantastic exchange between Park and Eleanor when Park tells her he loves her and she says, “I know.”
• Having been a 16 year old in 1986, I have to admit I enjoyed the pop culture references.

 What I found Distracting:

• I got nothing. That’s how much I liked this book.

 Things I would consider before handing it to my kid:

• Strong swearing at the beginning, sexual language throughout. The stepfather is abusive mentally and physically to Eleanor’s mom. Eleanor fears her stepfather will abuse her next. There are a couple of make out sessions between Park and Eleanor but they’re more suggested than graphic. I’d say 8/9^th grade on up.

This book is a trip back to high school and will leave you with a happy ache in your middle. Enjoy it!

You know how the saying goes.  The book is always better than the movie.  Well, in the case of The Maze Runner by James Dashner, the movie made the book better.

A dystopian set tale, The Maze Runner opens with a young man (Thomas), suffering from temporary amnesia, arriving in what he believes to be a type of prison called The Glade.  Through the course of the story, Thomas pieces together memories to solve the mystery behind the Glade and his role in it.

Would I recommend it?  Yes, I would.  It’s not the best dystopian fiction I’ve read, and I felt it was light in depth, but the concept of the prison on the page and the inner-workings of the Glade society kept me interested.

What I liked about it:

• The concept of the Glade.  The massive walls, the contained society, the magic box that delivered whatever they needed and the Wicked creeper bugs on the walls – it was just the right touch of creepy, big brotherness that made me look over my shoulder every now and then.
• Some of the descriptions were spot on.  There’s a moment where a character is pleading for his life and the description of snot made me think, “I’ve seen that snot!  I know that snot!”  Ah, momhood.
•  “He finally pulled his grief back into his heart.”  Love that line.  Didn’t see what brought it on coming, either.  Well done.

What I found distracting:

• The Gladers have a slang language that hit me in the face right off the bat.  Interestingly enough, though, Thomas comments how he gets used to the language and I realized, I did as well.
• Three years have passed since the first Glader arrived and in that time, curiosity has given way to survival and complacency.  Thomas arrives and is full of questions that aren’t being asked.  As an adult, I wanted to shout at them, “Don’t quit!  Keep asking!”
• Some of the answers seemed a little too simple and some of the leaps of faith annoyed me.  But I realize some of these may be explained in the next two books which I have not read.  I wanted a few more answers.
• The ending was too good to be true, which it’s supposed to be, but it annoyed me.  Come to find out, it annoyed my son who read it in 6th grade as well.

What I would consider before giving this to my kid:

• It’s violent and the violence is close, not just something off in the distance.  Also, as I mentioned, the slang take a while to get used to and translation might be difficult at first for some.

Now, back to the movie which truly made me appreciate the book more.  The movie just doesn’t have the time to develop the characters.  It also depicts several locales (the map room, the cliff) differently than the book which I found disappointing.  Overall, it’s an entertaining two hours, however, if you’ve read the book, it’s hard not to walk out of the theater filling in the holes with what you know from the page.

As you might have already figured out, Cinder is a retelling of the classic fairy tale Cinderella with a sci-fi, fantasy twist which makes this version quite readable for an adult.  Instead of a fairy godmother, our heroine has a research doctor looking out for her.  Her side kicks aren’t talking mice or birds, but an android with a celebrity crush on the prince.  And instead of a slipper, Cinder’s downfall is a metal foot.

Would an adult like it?  Yes, this one is worth reading, as are the sequels Scarlet and Cress.

What was good about the story:

• Prince Kai first meets Cinder at her stall in the marketplace.  She’s a mechanic, not a princess or a marriage prospect.
• The setting is interesting, futuristic, post-apocalyptic but in a world trying to rebuild.
• Cinder, as a character, is sympathetic, but she doesn’t let anyone pity her, including the reader.
• Yes, Cinder wants a dress to go to the ball (what girl wouldn’t?), but it’s so she can check out the food, not to find a husband.
• Prince Kai scoffs at the idea he’ll meet a girl and fall in love at the ball.
• When Cinder hits bottom, you feel for her.  You hate the step mother, the evil Queen, and mourn for her losses.
• The ‘romance’ between the Prince and Cinder is one of those great ones where by the end of the book, you know these two are meant to be even if they haven’t even kissed yet.

What I found distracting:

• This story comes with an evil queen who wants to rule the world.  In order to understand that world, there is a political storyline and a plague woven through the fairy tale story that at times made me want to make a flow chart to keep the factions straight.  That being said, it lends backbone to the tale and provides a great story as the series goes on to hang the fairy tales on.

Good story, great characters, strong female role model, male protagonist dealing with struggles and trying to do the right thing.  This is a good one and worth the space on your bookshelf.