They Both Die at the End

They Both Die at the End

By: Adam Silvera

This book made me so angry. So I loved it. I love when a book forces a strong reaction out of me. I was pissed at the end of this book. They Both Die at the End tells the story of Mateo and Rufus. They live in a future with an invention called Death Cast. Death Cast calls you on the morning of the day you will die, letting you know you will die. It cannot tell you anything else about your death.

Mateo and Rufus get the call on the same morning. Using an app called Last Friend the boys find each other and decide to spend their last day with their last friends. I won't tell you what they decide to do, but it is an interesting concept. How would you spend your last day if you knew it would be the last day? Would you want to know it's your last day? 

I highly recommend this book. It was so hard to put down. I had to keep reading to find out if they actually both died at the end. I won't tell you though. 

I learned about this book from this Buzzfeed Article:

21 Books That Are So Good, People Literally Could Not Put Them Down

#Murdertrending

#Murdertrending

by: Gretchen McNeil

I was super excited about getting this book. I told my family all about it and they just stared at me like I was crazy. This book definitely has an original storyline. Dee has been convicted of murdering her step-sister and her punishment is being sent to Alcatraz 2.0. Alcatraz 2.0 is an island where convicts are sent, then hunted down and brutally murdered by professional assassins. All of this is filmed and viewed by everyone in America through an app. 

The thing is, Dee is innocent. She was framed for her sisters murder. When she gets to the island she is supposed to be offed by Prince Slycer, only Dee ends up killing him instead. After that, things on the island get stranger and more dangerous every moment. 

Can Dee and her friends find a way off the island? Will she live through the night? 

This book is good for high school kids, it's a little gory for middle school. I generally enjoyed the book. Towards the end it did become a little unrealistic and predictable to some degree. I still couldn't put it down for the last 50 pages though. 

Starsight

Starsight

by: Brandon Sanderson

Here is the problem I am having with this book. It's going to be at least a year before the next book comes out. By then I will have completely forgotten everything that happened with Spensa and M-Bot. 

But I guess that's a good problem right? I enjoyed this book almost as much as I enjoyed the first book. It took me in a direction that I wasn't anticipating in any way, I was hoping to learn more about the fight for Detritus... but instead we were light years away. Literally. 

In the second book Spensa finds a way to jump to the Krell planet and become a member of their new pilot force designed to fight the Delvers (the actual bad guys).

Spensa disguises herself as an alien and befriends several of the Starsight pilots, including a fellow human. Then things go sideways. 

I wasn't sure what kind of journey Spensa would go on after the first book, this is definitely not what I had imagined. This is an engaging sequel to the first book. 

Skyward

Skyward

When I was looking for my next book to read I looked at which books on my Goodreads list had the highest reviews. This one was the highest, so I had some expectations of this book.

It lived up to it! I finished the book at 4:45 and the library closed at 5. I drove halfway there before realizing there was no way I was going to get there in time to get the next book. I had to wait a whole 24 hours to find to what happened to Spensa and M-Bot. Torture! 

Spensa is living on Detritus. She and the rest of humans on the planet live below the surface to hide from the alien Krell that are attacking the planet from space. Spensa's greatest dream is to become a fighter pilot. However, her father betrayed his fellow pilots ten years earlier, therefore Spensa's quest to become a pilot is full of challenges and hurdles. Spensa is a high-spirited, determined, young woman who readers will immediately fall in love with. 

This book is a great read for your readers that like the Hunger Games, Divergent, or Lunar Chronicles series. 

The Iron Trial (Magesterium #1)

The Iron Trial

by: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

I really wanted to love this book. I decided to read it next because a student returned it to the high school library and begged for the next book in the series. He told the librarian he had never read anything with so many plot twists in his life. (Obviously he has never read a Robert Galbraith book.) I'm not sure if it was the time of year, or the content, but I struggled to stay awake every time I sat down to read this book. In defense of the book, the two weeks before Christmas break are some of the worst teaching weeks of the year. I did enjoy the plot twists. I did enjoy the anti-hero point of view. It just felt a little too similar to Harry Potter in structure. (An outcast boy at magic school. He has a best guy friend and a best girl friend.) I feel like I didn't hardly get to know Call's sidekicks, Aaron and Tamara. I wanted to know more about them. In the end I was just left with more questions, which I guess is the point since it's a series. I was not curious enough to get the next book in the series though. 

I would recommend this to my middle schoolers that love Harry Potter or fantasy. High school would enjoy it as well, but I think it suits the middle school angst a little more. 

Dry

Dry

By: Neal and Jarrod Shusterman

This book gave me so much anxiety. I ended up Googling how to siphon gas while I was reading. I also took a mental note of all the drinkable liquid I had available in the house. The problem with this book is, it's completely possible. My sister has a biology degree with a minor in geology. She has already told me more than once that we are consuming our drinkable water at a rate that's unsustainable. I definitely recommend this book. It stressed me out. It made me think. It was something new and different. I will admit I wanted a little more resolution, but I think I always feel that way. I like things to end with a neat bow. I enjoyed this book so much more than I expected to. 

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

by: Beth Macy

This wasn't a book a necessarily wanted to read, but it was one I felt I had to read. As someone who has been personally affected by opioid addiction I felt like I needed to educate myself. For anyone with a loved one, or who is struggling personally, with opioid addiction: this book is a good history lesson. This wasn't a difficult read as much as it is dense. Macy has done her research. I absolutely recommend this. 

I'm struggling with what to say about this book. I was so affected by the stories of these people, but at the same time imagined my family members and their struggles while I read. I closed the book and cried.