Looking for teen romance without vampires or werewolves or other fantasy creatures? Then try these books by Simone Elkeles.

The Perfect Chemistry series

In Perfect Chemistry, Brittany Ellis and Alex Fuentes are forced to work together on a Chemistry project by their teacher. Brittany is popular and wealthy; bad boy Alex is a gang member from the wrong end of town. Alex is more than happy to enter into a bet with his friends that he can get Brittany to fall for him, but he soon finds out that her seemingly perfect life is anything but.

Rules of Attraction  and Chain Reaction focus on Alex’s younger brothers, Carlos and Luis.

Leaving Paradise - More than a year has passed since the night of the accident that left Maggie with a permanent limp. Her next-door neighbour, Caleb, who admitted driving home drunk from a party and hitting Maggie, is due home from juvenile detention. Both families are traumatised by the events of that night and since. Maggie’s injury has left her painfully self-conscious, so how will she cope with seeing Caleb every day?  I’m not going to give anything away, but you’ll definitely want to read the sequel to find out how their story ends.

If you prefer your romance dark and broody – complete with vampires and/or other supes (supernatural creatures) – then you’ll love:

 The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

The Iron Fey series by Julie Kawaga

And, if you have been reading the Soul Screamer series by Rachel Vincent, in book five, If I Die, Kaylee at long last works out who her soul mate really is – something we’ve known for ages. It’s just a shame that she has only a few days to live.

Here are a few of the books I’ve read and enjoyed this month.

Book of the month for me (and my daughter) has got to be Cinder by Marissa Meyer. It is a mixture of sci-fi and fairytale – a bit like chocolate with a chocolate filling! Cinder is kind, gifted and beautiful and totally unappreciated and exploited by her guardian, but she’s also part human, part cyborg and she keeps the family financially afloat with the money she earns as a mechanic. The wicked queen is determined to marry the prince at any cost – including waging war on the whole planet. The prince knows that she will enslave his people just as she has her own but his options are limited, especially as she may hold the only key to curing the deadly illness that has already claimed the lives of thousands of his people. 

Be warned – the story is set to span four books with the next in the series, Scarlett, not due out until 2013.

The Young Sherlock Holmes series by Andrew Lane continues with Fire Storm. Much of the action takes place in Edinburgh. The secret behind Mrs Eglantine’s hold on Sherlock’s aunt and uncle is revealed at last. Sherlock has to find a murderer and come to the rescue of both Rufus Stone and Amyus Crowe. The ending sets us up nicely for the next book in the series.

I also enjoyed Steve Feasey’s Changeling: Blood Wolf. It is quite some time since I read the first book in the series but I quickly picked up the story. This book switches between what happens to Phillipa who, guided and supported by Alexa, is trying to help destroy the demon that possessed her and killed her father, and Troy who goes to Canada in the hope that his uncle can give him the answers he needs. Unfortunately, Troy does not like what his uncle has to tell him. Full of grief and anger, he throws away the amulet that not only has the power to help him through the pain of his transformation on the night of the full moon but is the key to his destiny. This series is well worth a look. The books are full of interesting characters and all kinds of supernatural creatures.

Todd Strasser is an author I came across a few years ago when I read Boot Camp ( a fascinating and disturbing story of what happens to young teens who are sent to boot camp by their parents to be straightened out) when I was looking for books to recommend for the Personal Study, which is no longer a compulsory part of the Higher and Intermediate English courses. In Blood on My Hands the story is told by Callie Carson, but this is a bit different from the usual trying to fit in with the popular girls at high school story. It begins with Callie being photographed kneeling over Katherine’s dead body and going on the run.  In a series of flashbacks we learn about the sequence of events leading up to the murder and the lives of the various young people involved.

I read two books by Franny Billingsley, an author new to me. Both have a very appealing and unusual main character.  In The Folk Keeper, Corinna Stonewall has been living disguised as a boy for four years. In her role as Folk Keeper, she has spent much of that time in the darkness of the cellar appeasing the malicious and spiteful ‘Folk’ who would otherwise spoil the milk and cause untold mischief. It is only when she moves to Cliffsend that she gradually learns the truth about her parents and her true nature.

In Chime Briony is convinced that she is wicked; after all, she is responsible for her twin sister’s disability and the fire and flood that almost destroyed their home. Told by her stepmother that she is a witch, Briony is determined to give herself up to the authorities even though she knows that she will be put to death. As her feelings for Eldric grow and develop, Briony begins to understand more clearly her affinity for the marshes and the supernatural creatures who live in and around it.

Both these stories are told in first person. Neither Corinne nor Briony knows the truth behind her strange powers and anyone who has read lots of fantasy books will probably begin picking up clues to their true nature before these naive narrators do. That is part of the charm of the books.

Finally, Fracture by Megan Miranda. Delaney Maxwell should have died when she fell through the ice into the frozen waters below. Her heart stopped for eleven minutes. Against all the odds, she wakes from her coma and despite the brain scans which show brain damage, she seems to be perfectly okay – apart from the fact that she can sense when someone is close to death. She is terrified that rather than predicting these deaths, she might be causing them in some way. Troy who shares her strange new power seems to have at least some of the answers to her questions but can she trust him?

This is a very interesting novel that explores serious issues of life, death, guilt, love , friendship and survival – and it’s free of ghosts, vampires and werewolves.

In no particular order:

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins – Look out for the film.

 Bloodlines by Richelle Mead – the new series following on from the Vampire Academy series which I also heartily recommend.

Patrick Ness’s Walking Chaos series – hard-hitting sci-fi at its very best.

The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, books 1 and 2 in James Dashner’s sci-fi trilogy which boys will enjoy.

The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman – tough and uncompromising fantasy with a tough and uncompromising hero. Great stuff.

Divergent by Veronica Roth– I love sci-fi and this pushes all the right buttons.

Birthmarked and Prized by Caragh O’Brien – Dystopian sci fi with strong likeable characters defying those who would control their lives.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young – a dystopian quest / adventure story.

Inside Out and Outside In by Maria V. Snyder. Fabulous sci fi.

Cloaked by Alex Flinn – Lots of fairytales rolled into one and given a modern twist.

Wither – the first in the Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman– a terrific book but not for the faint-hearted. (I may have cheated here as I first read this book a few years ago but if you like dystopian fiction this is fantastic – but chilling.)

The Iron Fey series by Julia Kagawa – I love this series. In The Iron Queen – book three in the series - Meghan Chase finds herself back in the Nevernever facing seemingly impossible odds. Only she can stop the False King and the poison spread by his iron fey. The two rivals for her love, Ash and Puck, travel with her but ultimately she alone can save both the fey and her mortal family.

The fourth book  – The Iron Knight – was supposed to be released on Jan 6 but is available now – yahoo! Meghan is a gutsy heroine and you’ll love Ash.

Raised by Wolves and the sequel, Trial by Fire, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. If you prefer werewolves to vampires, you’ll enjoy this series.

 If you enjoy fantasy and would like a break from vampires and werewolves, I recommend the Faeriewalker series by Jenna Black.

As an English teacher I have the perfect excuse to read lots of books written for teenagers but most – if not all – of the books I read can be enjoyed by adults too.

Here’s to 2012 and lots of great new books.

Have a wonderful holiday.

See you next term.

Of course, your first instinct is to go back to bed but why not take a book with you. There are lots of book suggestions on this blog or perhaps there’s a book on a shelf somewhere that you’ve been meaning to look at but haven’t had the time.

Whatever you do today, stay safe.

Monster Book Week draws to a close tomorrow. Don’t miss out on your chance to take part in the Monster Book Hunt and ‘What am I?’ competitions. Make sure you hand in your competition forms to Mrs Turner in the library by the end of the day on Friday 4 November.

By Monday the monsters may have gone but the library remains a great place to find books to suit every taste. You can also revise for exams, do your homework, look up information or even get involved with the Library Magazine, The Blurb.

Thanks to everyone who has taken part in Book Week.

Those of you who collected sponsors for the Sponsored Read have until Wednesday 16th November to hand in your sponsor form and sponsor money to your Tutor (or to the school office).

The Fear is the third book in Charlie Higson’s series about zombies in London. You’ll find information on the first two books in the series – The Enemy and The Dead – on the Books for Boys page. The series continues next year (2012) with The Sacrifice. Be warned, many of your favourite characters do not survive.

The Undead by Kirsty McKay is set in Scotland. New girl Bobby is on a school ski trip to Aviemore. She’s already convinced that it’s the school trip from Hell (except that it’s freezing cold) even before everyone who gets off the bus at the roadside cafe turns into a zombie. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Bobby and the few other survivors (including bad boy Smitty) are trapped by the falling snow and blocked roads.

The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses by Ty Drago isn’t really about zombies at all – at least not slow, dim-witted ones. When Will Rutter suddenly discovers that his next-door neighbour, his maths teacher and the assistant principal of his school are all walking corpses and no-one else seems to have noticed, he is forced to run for his life.

He is taken to a secret location where he meets the Undertakers, a group of children who, like him, are able to See the Corpses in their true form. The Undertakers are the first and only line of defence against the ever-growing army of Corpses who, unlike zombies, are clever and cunning and cannot be easily defeated. If you cut off the head of a Corpse or even chop off its arms and legs, it simply transfers to the nearest dead body.

Unfortunately for Will, the Corpses are especially interested in getting their dead hands on him.

If you prefer ghosts to zombies, then The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade may be just what you’re looking for. The story is told by cheerleader Alona Dare who was killed by the school bus, and Will Kinnian who can see, hear and even touch ghosts but spends most of his time ignoring them in the hope that they will leave him alone. 

Alona is used to getting her own way and isn’t going to let a little thing like being dead stand in her way.  

Desires of the Dead is the sequel to The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting. Violet is drawn towards the bodies of murder victims. Each victim and their murder share the same signature – a sound, smell, aura – and Violet is drawn to them.

Violet has always thought she should keep her gift a secret but when she helps the police find the body of a kidnapped boy, she fears that she will be unable to hide what she can do for much longer.

If you entered the ‘Dress Blurbie as a Monster’ competition check out all the entries which will be on display in the library.

Click on Frank to see my efforts.

BOOK WEEK 2011 (Mon 31st Oct – Fri 4th Nov) has a MONSTER theme.

Make sure you join in the fun.

Pick up a sponsor form from your Tutor and take part in our SPONSORED READ.

(Full details are on the sponsor form.)

What would you expect to see or buy in a MONSTER SHOP? Collect a form from the library, make a suggestion, and you could win a prize.

You’ve still got time to turn Blurbie into a monster. Blank Blurbie sheets are available in the library. (Entries by Friday 7th October.)

Keep your eyes peeled for details of the events and competitions being held during BOOK WEEK itself.  

To start us off, Mrs Turner is holding a competition to dress our Library Magazine mascot, Blurbie, as a monster. You can pick up a competition form from the library or print the copy attached. Blurbie monster

We look forward to seeing your drawings. (There will be prizes for the winning entries.)