As I rapidly turned the final page of Among the Hidden, wondering what was going to happen to Luke and if he would ever find his way free of being an "illegal" child, I thought back on what I had just read. And I felt myself relax from the frantic pace -- I had read the entire 152 pages in two forty-minute train rides, plus some time waiting on the platform.

I hadn't hoped for much in the beginning. Haddix's story starts out a bit slow, with a few too many telegraphed emotional punches for my tastes. The characters were clear, but a bit heavy and slow moving, weighed down with heavy pity that lasts for several chapters. Continue Reading -->

There once was a young girl named Hazel who loved dueling pirates and robots, superhero baseball, and daring adventures to strange new worlds. Together, Hazel and her best friend Jack have traveled to Narnia, defied the Magisterium, and been the heroes of Hogwarts, using their limitless imaginations to explore impossible kingdoms and thwart formidable enemies. In the words of the sage Forrest Gump, Hazel and Jack were like peas and carrots, and nothing could ever separate them.

But one day, Jack changes.

He gets something in his eye, and seemingly overnight, Jack begins to act like a different person. Suddenly, he does not want to play with Hazel and her babyish games anymore. Continue Reading -->

Wow! I recently finished Where She Went and it was perfection in my eyes. Maybe even better than If I Stay. Everything was perfectly tied up by the end and the whole thing gave me insight into what it's really like to be in an incredibly popular band (which made it VERY interesting to go and see The Vamps last Wednesday which was insanely good and also got me fascinated on the real lives of the band members). One thing's for sure, I never want to be in a popular band. It sounds miserable.

Where She Went is told from the perspective of Adam, three years after Mia woke up from her coma and went of to Julliard, basically stamping Adam out of her life. Since then, the band, Shooting Star, completely took off with the album that Adam wrote after his break-up, the songs of which ended up winning numerous awards. Continue Reading -->