Numbers by Rachel Ward

Numbers by Rachel Ward

Whenever Jem meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die.

Burdened with such an aweful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. But while they're waiting to ride the London Eye Ferris wheel, Jem notices all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today's date. Terrorists are going to attack. Jem's world is about to explode.

I was captivated, this strange gift that Jem has, how would you handle this? how would anyone? It seems so crazy. I especially liked the message Jem gives toward the end of the book - "You're all alive and kicking. You've been given another day. We all have." - "we know it's all going to come to an end one day, but we shouldn'y let it stop us from living."

In some ways it reminded me of Elsewhere but grittier.

Captivating, compelling, tantilizing and intriguing.

Here's the cover illustration for the UK edition

Remembering Raquel

Remembering Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde

Fourteen-year-old Raquel Falcone is, as one of her classmates puts it, the kind of kid who has the tendency to be invisible. That is until the night she's hit by a car and killed while walking home from the movies. In brief, moving chapters, we hear about Raquel from her classmates, her best friend, her family - and the woman who was driving the car that struck her. The loss of this seemingly invisible girl deeply affects her entire community, proving just how interconnected and similar we all really are.

Left me feeling very thoughtful.

A Map of the Known World

A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell

Loved it!! Read it in one sitting! Have a ton of sticky notes pasted to pages that need to be reread and enjoy yet again. This book reminded me of how teens are often searching for some kind of escape - from old friends, from the small town that is suffocating, from being labeled a certain kind of person, from the pressures placed on them from parents, families, histories, teachers. I know I was definately one of those teens, longing for the day when I would strike out on my own, discover that far off place and escape into the person I wanted to be. This book captured all of that.

Here's the summary.

Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt trapped in her small town. Her parents are increasingly overprotective, and even her best friend, Rachel, has begun to slip away.

So Cora seeks solace in art, drawing elaborate maps and envisioning herself in exotic locales. Then Cora's mapes lead her someplace unexpected: to Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died. Cora forms a tentative bond with Damian - himself an artist - who reveals to her the truth about who her brother really was. As Cora begins to piece together the fragments of her life, she finds herself falling for Damian. But will she have the courage to follow the chart of her heart?

Here's some of the quotes I flagged.

"They say no land is left to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me."

"Kids stream by me, swiftly dodging and moving past in circling eddies, like a river will wash around a tall rock of log."

"Cliques seem to gather their members, the way a magnet will draw filings of iron."

"I will map the world that I know better than anything. The world, the places I've shared with Nate. And I will finish his last, unfinished piece with this map of the known world. I'll draw the places we used to go and the kids we used to be. Then I will mount this map on the pedestal Nate built."

"We sat around the table, five of us, my grandparents, parents and me, caught in a silence as thick as an oil spill and twice as deadly

I know this will be one that I will rave about for a while.

Read On.

Love, Aubrey

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne La Fleur

A tragic accident has left Aubrey's world turned upside down. Starting a new life all alone, Aubrey has everything she thinks she needs: spagetti-o's and Sammy her new pet fish. She cannot talk about what happend to her. Writing letters is the onlly thing that feels right to Aubrey, even if no one ever reads them.

With the aid of her loving grandmother and new friends, Aubrey learns that shes not alone, and gradually she finds the words to express the feelings that once seemed impossible to describe. The healing powers of friendship, love and memory help Aubrey take the first steps toward the future.

Readers will care for Aubrey from page one and will watch her grow until the very end, when she has to make one of the biggest decisions of her life. Love, Aubrey is a brave, honest, funny, and hopeful book that is not to be missed.

Winter break reading

Wrecked by E.R. Frank

Dear anyone who cared about Cameron, I was the driver of the "other" car. The police and my mother and my father and plenty of people are saying that I didn't kill her. But I know I did. That's what her parents must believe. And my brother Jack. He always sees what's true. I want to tell him how sorry I am about the accident. I want to say a lot of things to him and everybody - like how Cameron was smart and beautiful and kind in a way that isn't all that common in high school. Like how much Jack loved her and how sometimes I can hear him crying through the wall at night. I want to say how bad everything can get. In one split second. Upside down and shattered. Just like that. Wrecked. --- from the back cover.

The novel gives an honest portrayal of the ups and downs that plague the main character Anna, as she tries to cope with the aftermath of the accident. Guilt, fear, friendship and the pain of learning to move on are at the heart of this book. If anything, I would have liked a stronger finish.

Stuff I've been reading

Keturah & Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

Kethurah has enchanted many in her village, not with her beauty alone but also with her captivating storytelling. So when Kethurah becomes lost in the woods and meets Lord Death she rallies and through her storytelling ability saves herself for another day, but is she clever enough to save her friends and family and the lives of those who live in the village?

An interesting mix of fairytale, romance and suspense woven together in an incredible story where Death has a leading role. The character of Death you want to hate, you don't want to understand him or worse yet sympathize with him - and yet you do begin to view this character differently by the end of the book.
"If untimely death came only to those who deserved that fate, Keturah, where would choice be? No one would do good for its own sake, but only to avoid an early demise. No one would speak out against evil because of his own courageous soul, but only to live another day. The right to choose is man's great gift, but one thing he many not choose - the time and means of death."
At times this book reminded me of the Book thief by Marcus Zusak, in which Death is the narrator - honest, humble and lonely.

I enjoyed the pacing of the book and found myself wondering if she could fulfill the promises she makes to friends, neighbors and Lord Death.
Read On.