Run by Daisy Whitney at daisywhitney.com

Note: I first ran this review in September and am re-running it because this book releases today.

You think vampires that want to kill you in high school are scary? Or maybe werewolves who could rip your throat out?

They’re cotton candy compared to the high school in Courtney Summers “Some Girls Are,” the January 2010 follow-up to her well-received debut “Cracked up to Be.”

No, there’s nothing like the high school hell she makes her characters endure in “Some Girls Are.”

Even standard high school misery, like clueless teachers, cliques and gym are kittens next to Hallowell High, where the Fearsome Fivesome roam the halls. This girl bully gang loves to hate — they devise cruel tricks and horribly mean pranks in a game of chess with other students as the pawns. Their targets have no recourse, nowhere to go. They become nothing when the quintet is through with them.

Regina Afton is part of this crew. Until she’s kicked out for something she didn’t do. Now, she can’t duck fast enough because they’re pulling out all the stops as the four remaining members seek to destroy her. She hides out in the storage room, in the washrooms, with the so-called “losers,” but even they don’t really want a mean girl hanging with them. Because, can a Grade-A Henchwoman really change her stripes?

That is exactly what Regina desperately wants to do in this story — put her past as a very bad girl behind her — only she has to battle the now Fearsome Foursome, their toady boyfriends who do their dirty work, and worst of all, her own self doubts about whether she can be brave enough. The one bright spot is a loner boy who comes to see the good that is still inside her.

“Some Girls Are” is about what it means to be good, what it means to be bad, what it means to change. It’s about how to stand up and how to forgive and, especially, what not to do. It’s about — like the “Kiterunner” — “how to be good again.”

If you’ve talked to me about books for more than two minutes, you’ve certainly heard me mention Courtney Summers and “Cracked up to Be.” It is one of my favorite books of all time and also inspired me to switch genres from women’s fiction to young adult. Naturally, I was nervous reading “Some Girls Are,” hoping it would stand up to its predecessor. I can’t believe I’m saying this but “Some Girls Are” is even better. I was gripped with fear, anticipation, and intense, white-knuckling nerves during the second half of this book, wondering how on earth Courtney would possibly pull of a satisfying ending after she’d tortured her characters.

I won’t spoil the ending, though. You will need to read to find out! The countdown begins to the book’s January release date!

Take a deep breath and steel yourself for Amy Reed’s debut novel “Beautiful.” It’s beautiful for sure, but it’s not easy, nor is it supposed to be. Consider the verbs Reed uses: punched, scraped, gutted, crush, explode, smash, destroy, cutting, burning, scarring. But really, what better words are there to describe thirteen-year-old Cassie’s harrowing descent into the world of drugs, alcohol, abuse and the sex she wishes she weren’t having?

“Beautiful” is a gut check of a young adult novel. It’s the slippery slope of how one choice, one decision marks the line between the good road and the very wrong path. Neither drugs, nor alcohol nor thirteen-year-olds with their legs spread are glorified here. Instead, Reed depicts with a stark kind of poetry how Cassie is ripped apart by each and every decision she makes or doesn’t make. “Beautiful” is a living, breathing organism. With sharp, shattering emotions, the novel reads like a memoir so you feel a part of it, Cassie’s pain your pain, the novel’s pulse the fear of a crash and burn.

Or maybe not.

Because, remember that for a novel like this to work, there has to be redemption. Where and how and if Cassie can find a way out is what will keep you turning the pages. That, and the hope that she will.

It’s rare that I will quote from the actual text in my recommendations, but “Beautiful” is true to its title so share I must. Here are some of the parts I read over and over:

“At first I see a shadow, a blue-black shadow on ribs and side and stomach. But the shadow becomes liquid, a lake of blood under the surface, pain turned into pigment. Then it is solid, bruised flesh stretched over porcelain bones.”

“But not because of the usual reasons I don’t speak, not because I am concrete and my mouth is stuffed with glass.”

“I am not the girl with the fire or the shovel. This is not my forest. These are not my doll parts burning, not my legs, my arms, my head, my smooth pink torso.”

“This is what I am now: beautiful, with this new body and face and hair and clothes. Beautiful, with this erasing of history.”

Note: The BookChick is pleased to welcome young adult author Daniel Nayeri to the site! Here’s his guest post on EVIL PETS.

by Daniel Nayeri, author of “Another Faust”

Okay, so, as you might know, there’s a character in “Another Faust” named Madame Vileroy, and she’s the devil. Or at least *a* devil. Anyway, we wanted her to be extremely eeeevil. And this got me thinking about villains, and more specifically, villains’ pets.

The pets or little sidekicks that villains keep around them can be a great help in emphasizing their vile nature, provide a bouncing board for dialogue (“Yes, Poopsie, our plan is going purrfectly!”) or they can add comic relief. For example Doctor Claw ends every episode of “Inspector Gadget” by saying, “Next time, Gadget!” But the real evil part is that fat black cat he lovingly pets. And remember Gargamel’s cat in “The Smurfs?” And the stepmother’s cat in “Cinderella?”

(Bookchick note: yes, yes, yes, I remember all these evil pets!)

Black cats may be overdone, but quite a few fantasy villains have baby dragons skulking around. A brilliant recent entry was Mrs. Coulter’s golden monkey in “The Golden Compass”—that thing did wonders for her viciousness. The Wicked Witch of the West had flying monkeys, which seem to be in turns hilarious and horrifying (lot of people seemed to find the flying monkeys funny—don’t know why, prolly the hats).

On the comedy side, the wizard Howl has Calcifer, a sarcastic fire demon (I contend that Howl is the main antagonist for much of Sophie’s first adventure in “Howl’s Moving Castle”). Doctor Evil has Mini Me, Bowser has Baby Bowser (or even better, the Koopa Kids), and The Grinch has a doe-eyed puppy.

For me, Buddy the Dummy was always the pet that our Madame Vileroy kept around, and eventually gave to Christian. The way she treats him were, to me, the most villainous parts of Vileroy’s character, and probably the reason Buddy was always my favorite.

But that brings me to my question: What is YOUR favorite villain pet? Evil, creepy or funny. Doesn’t matter. As for me, the Joker’s smiling fish would be high on the list as would Frankstein’s Cat (if only for that one lonely tooth, dawww…)

By Tram Hoang

Welcome Tram to the Bookchick.com! Thanks for writing this review!

Read enough books for teens and you start to think kids are the witnesses to a lot of bad things. And, sadly, that’s kind of the truth.

I read Ann Dee Ellis‘ heartfelt “This is What I Did” this summer and it reminded me of one of my favorite books, Courtney Summers’ “Cracked up to Be,” which I reviewed earlier this week. Both books center on main characters with dark secrets, who saw bad things unfold and might have been able to stop those bad things from happening.

The success of this type of novel lies in the storytelling.

Ann Dee Ellis relies on a clever episodic style to dole out little bits of eighth grader Logan’s story - the crime he witnessed, the bullying he’s endured as a result. The story is told artfully, like a screenplay with sections of dialogue and stylized illustrations at the start of each chapter suggesting the theme. There are also pictures of notes in the book with palindromes on them (palindromes play an important role in the character’s growth).

I read this book in one day and found the story at times terribly sad, at times incredibly funny, and ultimately hopeful.

I’m not sure how this happened, but somehow in the nine-month history of this blog I have neglected to review/recommend one of my absolute favorite books of all time. Shame on me.

But I am prepared to rectify that mistake today. So here goes.

Courtney Summers‘ debut novel “Cracked up to Be” is the reason I became a YA author. Her novel released in December 2008, but I wheedled an advance copy out of her way back in August 2008 and I devoured it. We are talking a-can’t-put-down-mystery.

“Cracked up to Be” is the story of Parker Fadley, the most popular girl in school who also happens to harbor a horrible secret. Something very bad happened and it just might be her fault. So she does what any good cheerleader would do — quits the squad, ditches school and starts failing. It’s her punishment, the one she imposes on herself. She can’t talk about what happened, she certainly can’t fix it. Self-loathing is her solution, sarcasm her shield. That’s how she deals. But pushing people away isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and there’s still maybe just a tiny sliver of hope left in Parker — hope that she can be redeemed.

What is so special about this book is the voice of Parker, the writing style and a very clever device Courtney employs. The reader doesn’t know until the end what Parker did and why she hates herself. That backstory unfolds in pieces throughout the novel and it’s what will keep you turning pages.

I’m also thrilled to report that I snagged ANOTHER sneak peek at a Courtney Summers novel. I just finished reading her second book “Some Girls Are,” slated for a January release. I’ll publish a full and proper review later this fall, but I will leave you with two teasers:

There is no sophomore slump for Courtney, but rather a sophomore streak

Once again, Courtney forbids her main character from owning a cell phone.

When it comes to high-concept storylines in young adult literature, they’ve pretty much all been done — wizards, faeries, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, dystopian futures, zombie apocalypses, even werewolf nookie now. So it’s a daunting task for an author to surprise you with a new, fresh world. Michelle Zink does just that in her debut “Prophecy of the Sisters,” the first in a trilogy. Lia, the eldest of twin sisters, discovers she is the heir to an ancient prophecy concerning nothing less than the possible destruction of, oh, just the ENTIRE FREAKING UNIVERSE!

Zink doesn’t think small or write small - all the action and consequences are big and involve issues like the end of days, good and evil, chaos and peace. The story isn’t religious at all, but her characters must deal secularly with the fates they have been handed - the very fate of the world. What is so fresh and original in this novel is the world Zink creates, or rather the “Otherworlds,” the places inhabited by those bad guys - very bad guys - our heroine must keep out.

“Prophecy of the Sisters” brings a new and unique mythology to the young adult genre and leaves you with a feverish desire for its sequel!

Oh, the kissing. Yes, the kissing. My God, the kissing.

“Perfect You” by Elizabeth Scott is the perfect kissing book. If you want a hefty dose of YA butterflies, buy this book. You’ll fall in love with the guy, with the girl, and with the endless kisses they share. OK, “Perfect You” is about much more than kissing. Because as wonderful as kissing is, smooches alone cannot sustain a storyline. Characters and conflict do and “Perfect You” has plenty of that because the main character Kate is faced with quadruple teen dilemmas – best friend has ditched her, Dad is making her crazy with his crazy new job, parents have mucho money trouble, and, oh yeah, the boy she has a mega crush on likes her too but she can’t accept that he does so they just kiss instead.

“Perfect You” doesn’t take the easy road and just ride along on the lip-locked high. Kate has to face up to everything she lost, everything she is losing and everything she is preventing herself from having. What she winds up with will be worth it.

This book is why I love YA.

What constitutes beauty — perfection or flaws? The answer, or answers, in all of their sizes and shapes are worthy of a book and now they are in a novel. In Justina Chen Headley’s “North of Beautiful,” the protagnonist has been at war with beauty for all of her 17 years. That’s because she was born with a port-wine stain on her face, descending from her eye down to her jaw. She and her mom have spent thousands of dollars on countless procedures and all Terra has to show for it is a Beauty Box full of magazine photos of fashion models and the most expensive makeup to cover up one half of her face.

It isn’t until Terra travels halfway around the world to China that she learns what true beauty is and she finds it over and over in unlikely places and people and things.

“North of Beautiful” isn’t about the story so much as about the ideas. It’s a meditation, in fictional form, on art, beauty and the maps that lead us to who we are, who we aren’t and who we can be.