The Nest by Kenneth Oppel

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The Nest 

by Kenneth Oppel

"Everything makes nests.  Birds for their eggs.  Squirrels make dreys to sleep in through the winter, bears make dens, rabbits burrows.  Our houses are just big nests, really.  A place where you can sleep and be safe - and grow."  Nests are usually comforting places, places to raise a family, places to feel protected.  But when nests contain special wasps that want to take your baby, a nest can be a very scary place indeed.  The Nest is to wasps what Jaws was (and still is!) to sharks.  A fast-paced thriller that will have you swatting at imaginary wasps until the very last page.  Read it with the lights on!  

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

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I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Flawed 

by Cecelia Ahern

I was not prepared to love this book.  Flawed is written in the same vein as the Uglies or the Scarlet Letter.  There is a criminal court, and then there is the Flawed court.  The Flawed Court names crimes in your personality, in your demeanor, in your character.  If you are found guilty in the Flawed Court, you are branded as Flawed and must keep separate from the other non-Flawed in your community.  

Celestine is perfect; perfect looks, perfect grades and a perfect boyfriend.  But...an incident on the bus gets her in trouble, she's seen as supporting a Flawed.  And it will cost her everything she holds dear.

As Celestine goes through the trial, she realizes that the world is not black and white and that what seems to be perfect on the surface, just might not be.  As she is soon to learn "If you make a mistake, you learn from it.  If you never make a mistake, you're never the wiser."  Celestine has a lot to learn about what makes a person 'Flawed' and whether it is a good or bad thing.  I for one am cheering for her!  

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

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The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly 

by Stephanie Oakes

Minnow has lived most of her seventeen years in the woods.  She is a Kevinian.  She believes in a God named Charlie who has glass green eyes.  There are rules.  One is that the Prophet decides who he is going to marry.  The Prophet decides everything.  Minnow has questions.  The Prophet's answer to Minnow's questioning is that God has told him to take Minnow as one of his wives.  Minnow doesn't want to marry the Prophet.  And that's where we meet Minnow, at the Missoula County Juvenile Detention Center.  

In The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly we hear the story backwards.  The story unfolds little by little as Minnow sits in the Missoula County Juvenile Detention Center.  From her move from the city to the woods.  To her exploration of the woods around her.  To her meeting with Jude.  To the fire.  

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is a complicated coming of age story.  Minnow's life is tragic, yet it is also sacred.  She has to determine which questions need to be answered, and which ones she has to leave to faith.  The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is a great read for people of all ages, but most importantly for girls in their later teens through their mid-twenties.  Minnow's self-realizations on her own terms make her a hero to women worldwide.  To be a part of her struggle and to see her come out on the other side gives all of us hope the we can do likewise!

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

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Delirium 

by Lauren Oliver

Love is a disease.  That is the premise of Delirium.  On your eighteenth birthday, you get the cure.  No more heartbreak, no more embarrassing encounters, now you can be safe.  Arranged marriages and content lives, that's the future for Lena, and she can't wait.

Until.......she meets a boy.  I know, you've heard this story before, but wait!  I thought that I had it all figured out, but I promise you, there are enough twists in the plot to keep you on your toes.  The story line might seem trite, but Lena's path is different.  Yes she falls in love, yes she rejects the cure; but how she gets there will surprise you!

I highly recommend Delirium!  It's one of those books that you are actually glad that it will be a series.  It will remind you of your first love and you can reminisce about how love sick you were.  Would you have gotten the cure?  Of course not!  Love might be a disease, but it's our shared infections that shape who we are.  Oliver has written a treatise on love, romantic, parental and friendly, and I loved every minute of it!  

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

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The Girl You Left Behind 

by Jojo Moyes

The Girl You Left Behind refers to two girls.  One, Sophie, was left behind in France during WWI; the other, Liv, in the present day Pacific Northwest.  Their stories intertwine through a painting that hangs in Liv's sterile home.  The painting is of Sophie and was painted by her husband before she was left behind.

Sophie's journey consists of the struggle to keep her family and community together while the men are off fighting the war.  Her town has been invaded by the Germans, and the small inn that her family owns that was once a safe place for the town to gather, now serves the needs of the Germans.  Devastated by the separation from her husband, Sophie is put to the test: what would she do, how far would she go, to ensure that she was reunited with the love of her life?

Liv is struggling with loss of a different kind.  Her husband has left her a widow at 28 years old.  He was a prominent architect, and their home serves as a monument to him, his vision and their marriage.  Unable to afford the upkeep, yet also unable to let it go, Liv holds on for dear life to all she has left of him, this home that he designed.  Hanging in that home is the painting of Sophie that they purchased on their honeymoon.

It is the painting, the one they call They Girl You Left Behind, that serves as the focal point in the story.  In Sophie's narrative, the painting is of her, painted by her beloved husband.  She keeps the painting visible at the inn to remind her of who she was before the war, before she was left behind.  The German Kommandant also notices the painting.  It reminds him of all that he has left behind as well; Sophie reminds him of all he has left behind.

In Liv's narrative, the painting is a reminder of her husband, the promise of a bright future.  It is a reminder of everything that she has lost.  Moyes does an excellent job of telling these women's stories.  She expertly weaves art through the lives of our characters.  Painting and architecture lure us into the hearts of both Sophie and Liv.  And we have to make some decisions for ourselves.  Should a painting stay with a family even if they don't appreciate the beauty of it?  If someone has legally purchased a stolen piece of art, should they have to give it back?  And of course, the real questions Moyes is asking are how do we move on after we've been left behind?  Can we pick up our lives after heartbreak?  And what are we willing to risk to be with the ones that we love?

The Girl You Left Behind will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.  I highly recommend you get to know Sophie and Liv, you will love the story that they have to tell!

Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell

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Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker 

by Patricia Hruby Powell

Josephine Baker has always been a fascinating figure.  She was bold, she was exotic and she was brave.  When I saw this biography by Powell, I immediately ordered it for the library.  

The book does not disappoint.  Illustrated by Christian Robinson, the book's bold colors and bright pictures help to depict Powell's bold and bright words.  The rhythm of her words are musical and you can feel the beat as you read them.  I found my hips swaying and my foot tapping throughout the story.

Arranged by time period, Josephine covers her birth to her death.  As scandalous as her life was, this books thoroughly covers all her escapades and still keeps it rated PG. From her banana dance to smuggling notes in her underwear, all ages will experience her ebullience (to use a vocabulary word from the book!) without blushing.  

If you are looking for an alternative biography for Black History Month, or you just enjoy reading about interesting people, Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker just might be the ticket for you!

The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

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The Girl in the Blue Coat 

by Monica Hesse

The Girl in the Blue Coat is the story of war.  As I started reading, I thought to myself, not another drama about the survival of the spirit during the Holocaust, however, I was quickly drawn into the lives of Hesse's characters.  Yes, the war is the backdrop (and central plot) of this novel, but in it's heart, The Girl in the Blue Coat is a story about love, friendship and the choices that we're faced to make.

Hanneke is a young Dutch woman who has lost her first and only love to the war.  What started as patriotism for her beloved country, has turned to a bitter taste towards all things combat related.  Closing herself off from everyone and everything, she goes to work for the local undertaker, mainly delivering items bought on the black market.  Even though Hanneke's family is not Jewish, her town is still overrun by German soldiers who would just as soon shoot you for carrying contraband than look you in the eye.  Hanneke's job is dangerous.

Hanneke is willing to live with a closed heart, making her deliveries and avoiding all personal relationships, until....she is asked to find something that even her black market contacts would find difficult; a young, Jewish girl.

The search to find the girl in the blue coat, Mirjam, becomes that eternal quest, the hero's crusade, that epic adventure that brings child to adulthood.  But like all great adventure stories, it is not the destination that Hanneke seeks, but the journey.  I felt for the characters in The Girl in the Blue Coat.  I cried, I worried, I ached, and at times loved Hanneke, her parents and her friends.  

This is a story that will appeal to young and old, boys and girls, and anyone who has ever fought for a friendship, lost a loved one or has felt the sting of betrayal.  If you can take another WWII tale, I would recommend this one.  Hesse makes it worth your while!