These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

These Things Hidden is the second novel by Heather Gudenkauf.     


The story begins with Allison Glenn being released from prison after serving five years. She is finally free, but unable to go home to her family. Her parents and former friends want nothing to do with the girl who, as a teenager, was once considered perfect in every way. One unspeakable night, the illusion was shattered.


Allison committed what is considered an unforgivable crime, the core of which is revealed in small moments throughout the book. But what really happened that night? Is it what everyone thinks?


Allison is hurt by the community's coldness, but her main concern is contacting one person - her younger sister, Brynn. Brynn was the one left behind to deal with the anguish of her parents, the stares and whisper of her schoolmates. Yet, she is the only other person who knows the truth of what happened that night -- the night everything changed and her sister ended up in prison.


As the story unfolds, the more heart-wrenching it becomes, with subtle surprises lurking throughout. I found myself unable to put the book down - I needed to know what happened. The ending was definitely shocking and not what I had expected. An excellent twist in the story left me breathless.      


I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read. 

The Riley Bloom Series - Alyson Noël

Book Description from Alyson Noël's site:

"Riley Bloom left her sister, Ever, in the world of the living and crossed the bridge into the afterlife—a place called Here, where time is always Now. Riley and her dog, Buttercup, have been reunited with her parents and are just settling into a nice, relaxing death when she's summoned before The Council. They let her in on a secret—the afterlife isn't just an eternity of leisure; Riley has to work. She's been assigned a job, Soul Catcher, and a teacher, Bodhi, a curious boy she can't quite figure out.

Riley, Bodhi, and Buttercup return to earth for her first assignment, a Radiant Boy who's been haunting a castle in England for centuries. Many Soul Catchers have tried to get him to cross the bridge and failed. But he's never met Riley..."

Book Description from Alyson Noël's site:

"Having solved the matter of the Radiant Boy, Riley, Buttercup, and Bodhi are enjoying a well-deserved vacation. When Riley comes across a young ghost named Rebecca, Riley soon learns Rebecca's not at all what she sees. The daughter of a former plantation owner, she is furious about being murdered during a slave revolt in 1733. Mired in her own anger, Rebecca is keeping the ghosts who died along with her trapped in their worst memories. Can Riley help Rebecca without losing herself to her own nightmarish memories?"

I read both of these books in a couple of hours. They're aimed at a younger age group than The Immortals series, which feature Riley's older sister, Ever; the only survivor of a car accident that claimed the lives of her family. Riley was first introduced in The Immortals books as a spirit who visited her grieving sister and caused a little bit of impish trouble.


Riley is a very likable character: a sweet girl with a bit of a rebellious side. She is headstrong and somewhat defiant, but she does things impulsively out of the goodness of her heart.


Both books take place in "Here & Now" instead of the traditional idea of "Heaven." Noël's idea of the afterlife is something completely different than what most people imagine it to be, and God isn't mentioned, just the Council. I really liked the afterlife she created, her descriptions of "home life" with her parents, and the noted differences in the idea of school.


Perfect reads for middle grades and young teens. I'm looking forward to the final two books in the series, Dreamland and Whisper, both which are yet to be released.

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Bloom

Those Who Save Us is Jenna Blum's debut novel. It follows two stories at once - Anna's and Trudy's. The story takes place in both the present day, and also in Germany at the onset of WWII.

Anna Schlemmer is the pretty young daughter of a lower level Nazi lawyer. Unbeknownst to him, his daughter falls in love with a Jewish man she ends up hiding, and eventually she violates the Reich's prohibitions against carnal relationships with Jews. This results in Anna's pregnancy with her daughter, Trudy, and her father's subsequent repudiation. Forced out into the world alone and pregnant, Anna is forced to make heart-wrenching choices at the hands of an SS officer to ensure her survival, and later, that of her precious daughter.

Trudy's story takes place half a century later. She knows nothing of the truth of her mother's life during those dark days. Her only clue is a photograph of Anna, Trudy the SS officer, which leads Trudy to believe this man is her father. She believes herself to be "pure German," and she does not know the truth of her origins - she is half Jewish. Trudy begins to unravel bits of the past through interviews she does with Germans who were alive during WWII.

What I liked about this novel was the new perspective it gave me regarding the situation in Germany for the German people during the war. Little in history is covered on the average person's struggles and hardship during the war.

It's a beautifully written book that left me in tears many times over.

Confessions of a Teen Nanny Series by Victoria Ashton

                                                                                         

The series follows Adrienne Lewis on her journey as a nanny to 8-year-old child prodigy, Emma Warner. The Warner clan are filthy rich. Emma's half sister Cameron is the same age as Adrienne and she is a spoiled rich girl who uses and abuses everyone that crosses her path - for personal gain. The Warners' college-aged son, Graydon figures most prominently in the last book of the series, where the reader is treated to a look inside the "real" Graydon Warner.


Adrienne's best friend Liz is a nanny in the same building for the neurotic, yet famed, child psychologist Mayra Markham-Collins. She may be famous, but she is clueless when it comes to raising her equally neurotic children, 9-year-old Heather, a child afraid of everything, and 5-year-old David, who creates an imaginary friend named Grumpus.

The books are an easy read for young teens, although the subjects of underage drinking, drugs and some nudity do come up; it's to be expected with the fast moving elite crowd.

Bloodlines is finished!

Well, I've finished Richelle Mead's newest book, and I have to say that I liked it. Maybe not as much as the Vampire Academy series, but it was still really well done.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between Adrian and Sydney, and I hope this "forbidden romance" idea is explored more in book 2 of the series. For those who haven't read Vampire Academy, it will still be easy to understand what's going on, and how Strigoi, Moroi and dhampirs are classified race-wise. Which will explain a little more why Sydney, a human alchemist, is not supposed to mingle with vampires - at all!

There were a couple of surprises in the end, which I'm not going to give away. I really liked how Mead wrapped up the story-line of Kevin and Lee, and I particularly enjoyed the back-story of Kevin and Sydney. Throughout the first half of the book I kept wondering what it was that was between the two of them and what Kevin's big secret was.

The final line of the book left me anxiously awaiting the second book - one of my fave chracters returns!

All in all, a great start to a new series :)

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

I'm 3/4 of the way through Richelle Mead's first book in her new series Bloodlines. The story follows the character of Sydney Sage, the Alchemist from Mead's Vampire Academy series, along with several characters fans will recognize.

So far, I am loving Sydney's struggles between her "training" (that all Vampires are bad), and the fact that the knowledge she is gaining by living with them is offsetting everything she'd been taught growing up. Not to mention, the dashing Adrian Ivashkov returns in this series, and seems to have some intense chemistry with Sydney.


Adrian was a favorite of mine from Mead's previous series; he often brings some well-timed relief to tense situations with his biting remarks and party-boy ways. Of course, the very essence of Adrian is also the cause of many of these tense situations, too.


I like the cross-overs with the characters we've already met from Vampire Academy, even if we don't get to see much of them.


I will follow up with a full review once I've finished the book, but so far the book has me intrigued.

Off to read...
Aili