The Revenge of Seven (book 5 of the I Am Number Four series), by Pittacus Lore (2014)

We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart (2013)

Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.
No one is a criminal.
No one is an addict.
No one is a failure.
The Sinclairs are athletic, tall, and handsome.  We are old-money Democrats.  Our smiles are wide, our chins square, and our tennis serves aggressive.

Cadence narrates the story of her wealthy family's summers on their private island.  Three cousins and a friend, fifteen glorious summers.  Until something happens.

Well written, mysterious.

* language, sexual inferences, alcohol

Goodreads.com

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Hollow City (Book 2 of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series), by Ransom Riggs (2014)

We rowed through the harbor, past bobbing boats weeping rust from their seams, past juries of silent seabirds roosting atop the barnacled remains of sunken docks, past fishermen who lowered their nets to stare frozenly as we slipped by, uncertain whether we were real or imagined; a procession of waterborne ghosts, or ghosts soon to be.

Hollow City begins where Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children left off.  Jacob Portman and his friends make the treacherous journey from Wales to London to find a cure for their beloved Miss Peregrine.  But it's 1940s England, and wights and hollows lurk everywhere.

This is a page-turner!

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Waiting for Normal, by Leslie Connor (2008)

Maybe Mommers and I shouldn't have been surprised; Dwight had told us it was a trailer even before we'd packed our bags.

Twelve-year old Addison Schmeeter lives in upstate New York with her mom.  Addie's family situation is complicated, to say the least.  She believes in heroes and she longs for things to be normal.

I shook my head.  "I know the health stuff is important, but I think there's more to getting happy than that."

She leaned forward, kind of studying me.  I worried that I shouldn't have said it.  Soula actually might have been happy just to have good health.

"I think you need heroes, too," I said.  I made a little fist for punch.

"Heroes?"  she asked.  "Like friends and family?"

"They can be friends or family," I said.  "Webster's says-"

"Webster's?"

"The dictionary," I explained.  "A hero is someone who sets themselves apart from others.  You know - someone who is strong or shows courage, takes a risk.  And I know Webster's is probably talking about well-known heroes.  Like from the newspapers and history books.  Inventors and athletes and people like Martin Luther King."

"Uh-huh."  Soul was still listening.

"But don't you think it's possible . . . " - I twisted up my face - " . . . that every person is a hero to someone else?"

Goodreads.com

My rating:  10 out of 10 stars
Loved, loved, loved it!

To check this read out at NOLS, click HERE!