What if death wasn’t the end for teenagers? If you died in your teen years, you got a second chance. You got to ‘live’ as an undead person. You were able to go home, to go to school, and spend time with your friends.

What if your friends and family didn’t want to let you back into their lives?
What if an undead guy wanted to join the school gridiron team?
What if an undead guy asked you to the homecoming dance?

These questions and quite a few more are put into the spotlight in Daniel Waters’ novel Generation Dead.

Oakville High has the highest populace of ‘differently biotic’ teens in the states, and not too many of the ‘traditionally biotic’ students are sympathetic to their situation. The first book in this series is set in and around Oakville High’s community. We get to spy on the hotbed of political correctness gone crazy as living and dead students alike try to get on with their ‘lives’ as best they can.
Mainly we’re following Adam, Phoebe and Tommy as they figure out what is going on with each other and what is wrong with society.
I have an incredibly biased opinion of men writing female characters and make no secret of it. Daniel blew my expectations out of the water, and wrote a gripping, well thought out, emotionally charged and entertaining book, spending a good part of the book in the heads of his female characters.

The book travels in so many different directions that you would think you’d be easily lost. However the character viewpoints are easily followed as we head hop through our cast. Each character’s voice is very individual; there is no mistaking who you’re with. There is definite character development and plot lines are tight.

I can only imagine how our own communities would be shaken up if something like this actually happened in real life. I hope I would have the intestinal fortitude to have an open mind and the patience to get to know the differently biotic kids in my area.

Daniel keeps a pretty cool blog or two online as well; including one that is mentioned in the book, written by one of the undead characters.

http://watersdan.blogspot.com/ and http://mysocalledundeath.blogspot.com/
I recommend them both.

There’s the Generation Dead series website, which also looks like a bit of fun.

Daniel Waters – Generation Dead

Published 4 July, 2009 by Hyperion Press
Series: Generation Dead Ser.
Paperback, 416 pages
ISBN: 9781423109228

Walking through the book section at your local store there are so many covers that are eye catching and intriguing, it’s difficult to pick a stand out easily. Blood Song is slightly different with splashes of gold and rich scarlet to make you take that second glance.

At the moment, you can safely take the risk of judging YA books by their covers; and trust me, if you bothered to take that second glance at Rhiannon Hart’s debut novel and picked it up, you will now be nodding along with me when I say, aren’t you glad you bought it?

Zeraphina has a craving for blood, and travelling North. When her sister, Lilith, loses her betrothed and is asked to consider visiting a prince from the northern city of Xallentaria (who may take her hand in marriage and her mind off her deceased love), she leaps at the opportunity to go. Upon arrival to the city, Zeraphina meets Rodden, and her entire perspective on life is irretrievably altered.

She hears voices, and knows that Rodden is keeping secrets from her. There is more to the North than just an innate sense of wanderlust. Nobody will tell her why it is so wrong to want to know more about Lharmell. But what really is the big deal?

I found this this book to have quite a few unexpected twists and turns, but not enough to give you whiplash. There isn’t too much foretelling and some of the surprises are certainly brow lifters. I loved the connection Zeraphina had with her animal companions; Griffin, an eagle, and Leap, a Verapinian drain-cat (page 64 had me giggling).

Lilith and her mother Renata are not ashamed to be social climbers, but when you take into account their own homeland is suffering from unknown forces, the gold digging attitude is a little more palatable.

About the only elephant in the room I objected to even slightly here is the fact that there are so many Vampiric markers and telltale signs, and yet the word Vampire is never uttered.  Perhaps with the Vampire fad hitting saturation point at least six months ago, this may not be a bad thing for everyone.

If you are looking for a book to take you away from it all, look no further than Blood Song. Definitely a must read for the school holidays.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsbYhfu–m0

http://rhiannon-hart.blogspot.com/

ISBN: 9781742750965

Format: Paperback

Imprint: Random House Australia

Published: 01/09/11

Aloha fellow Burn Brighters,

Welcome to my first official review! If you haven’t been keeping up with recent posts, then you’re probably thinking, “Who the heck are you?”; and you should definitely check out my intro (which I only worked a short three hours on!). But if you have, then you should already know that I’m the new kid on the block. I was chosen as your teen blogger, and I hope to bring more humor and fun into Burn Bright with my reviews. I hope you follow me throughout my journey, and oh yeah, please keep your hands and feet in the ride at ALL times!

The lucky book that I’ll be reviewing for you all today is Tighter by Adele Griffin. This is the first book that I’ve read from her, but she also has two other novels, Sons of Liberty and Where I Want to Be.

There is a good and bad side to everything in this crazy world of ours, especially pills and medication.  Pills are great! They relieve pain, stop allergies, loosen muscles, and even make you fall asleep if you’re having trouble doing so. But in some cases, such as Jamie’s, taking too many can become addictive and very dangerous.

Everything started when she ripped some muscle tissue while clearing a track hurdle. The doctor diagnosed it as a major lower lumbar strain. Instead of going to her therapy sessions, Jamie decided popping pills would be a lot simpler. When you first get to meet Jamie (the main character) she’s actually right in the middle of stealing medication from both her parents and siblings. Since she won’t be home for half the summer, Jamie thought it was a good idea to stock up.

After moping around for the first half of summer, Jamie’s mom decides to get her a job. She’ll be leaving New Jersey and going to a small island called Little Bly to live with an old friend of her mother’s. Jamie’s job is to babysit his daughter, Isa. When she finally arrives and settles in, everything seems normal. A normal house, a normal island, with normal beaches, and like any other normal little town, everybody knows everyone and gossip spreads quickly.

When taking Isa and her older brother Milo to the beach, Jamie notices the way people look at her. She thinks it’s probably because she’s not a local, until Isa tells her about Jessie, her old babysitter who passed away in a plane crash, along with her boyfriend Peter. Besides sharing similar names, Isa informs Jamie that she and Jessie looked alike and that the stares were probably the result of old emotions having been stirred.

Throughout her stay Jamie feels like someone is watching and following her at various times. At first she’s not very sure who. Could it be Peter, Jessie’s boyfriend, who also passed away in the same plane crash? Did Peter cause the crash? It can’t be him, he died over a year ago. Are ghosts real? Could Jamie, Isa, or Milo (Isa’s older brother) really see them? Or are the pills just getting to Jamie’s head?

But there’s also a cute local boy named Sebastian, who Jamie starts to have feelings for.

Even though I really loved reading Tighter, I didn’t like the ending very much. Towards the end, it felt like the author was in a rush to finish the book. There were just too many loose ends that weren’t tied up and left me questioning things. During the story, Jamie has this nagging feeling that someone is watching her, and she suspects that someone is Peter’s ghost. After finding some clues in various places in the house (missing tiles on Isa’s fireplace, a J carved into a chair) Jamie wants to do her research to find out what really happened to Jessie and Peter. She even looked through his Facebook, reading all of his private messages. But we never find out what really happened.

Besides that, I really found myself enjoying Tighter, I usually don’t like books with ghosts in them, but even I have to admit it was really good! 😀

Tighter—Adele Griffin

Published 10 May 2011 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

Paperback, 224 pages

Book summary

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.
—
A much anticipated novel from Maureen Johnson, I held high hopes of seeing her venture into supernatural mystery. I knew from previous books that this author can really keep the reader’s interest and has very relatable to characters. I am very excited to say that she does not disappoint!

It took me some time to get into the book; there was a lot of filler about the main character, her family, her life and the new school she was attending. As this is the first in a trilogy, it made more sense to me to have the extra details in there to set up the whole series. I started to really get into the story about halfway in, when we see the Ripper set his eyes on Rory.

I felt that Rory’s character kind of holds back and I hope to see her open up and become stronger throughout the series. But she is definitely brave and you will find yourself rooting for her. As Rory delves deeper into the Ripper mystery and her connection to it, the story becomes more intense and gripping. I was pleased to see that the murder scenes are not too shy on the details. You get enough info that you can picture the scene, but not make your stomach turn.

I have to give major props to all the details and research that went into this story. It was very appreciated and noticeable. I really enjoyed the addition of ghosts and the secret ghost police. The combination of real life with the supernatural worked well. The thing I appreciated the most, from the beginning of the story, was the lack of drama and gossip. The characters were so reasonable when it came to student interactions. I was just not ready to read another book that had over the top drama with a new girl, in a new country, at a new school. I know you have all heard that one before! This story takes it to a level where sometimes it’s just normal that people can get along, even with a whole new list of social rules to follow.

Even though I have yet to read all of her books, Maureen Johnson has never failed me. At this point I would recommend any of her books. This by far is one of my favorites by her—she knows how to tell an interesting story.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

http://cubicleblindness.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCubicleBlindness?feature=mhum
http://twitter.com/#!/Cubicleblindnes
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4303947
http://www.librarything.com/home/Krista23

The Name of the Star—Maureen Johnson

Hardcover, 370 pages

Expected publication: September 29th 2011, by Putnam

Series: Shades of London #1