SHOCKTOBER Truth or Dare by Jacqueline Green YP FIC GREEN

Truth or Dare?  It's just a stupid game, right?  Not for Tenley, Caitlin, or Sydney it isn't.  Sure it started as a game, but when they start receiving messages that if they want their most painful  'truths' hidden they'll have to complete more and more dangerous dares, they realize it's deadly serious.

This is a very twisty and exciting thriller from a debut author.  The novel starts off fairly quickly with the basic set up, but takes its time revealing the dark secrets of our three protagonists. Splitting between their viewpoints is a good way to keep the reader more in the loop than the heroines and build tension.  Green really populates her novel with plenty of characters that are more than just set dressing.  It makes the book more than just a Pretty Little Liars knock off, and something special of its own.  It has a great 'just one more chapter' quality that kept me flying through its close to 400 pages! I think there are enough reversals and false clues to keep most readers guessing, but even if you DO figure out the culprit...YOU DON'T!  The book ends with a twist cliffhanger that means you'll have to wait for a sequel to unlock more secrets...if you dare!  

You can find Truth or Dare in our catalog here.

Blood on My Hands by Todd Strasser YP FIC STRASSER

When Callie Carson finds her ex ‘friend’ Katherine (number one mean girl, queen bee in school) lying on the ground outside a party with a knife in her she assumes it’s another one of her mean spirited pranks. However, upon pulling the knife from Katherine she realizes:

1. It’s REAL!

2. Katherine is ding dong dead!

3. She isn’t alone!

Her picture is taken with a cell phone and is online faster than you can say, “Viral.” Now everyone thinks Callie is a murderer and has to find the real killer. But how do you find a killer when over half the school has a motive?

Okay, so right off the bat it is a little, tiny bit hard to feel for Callie after pulling such a bonehead play like assume a knife is fake and play Sword in the Stone with a dead body, BUT the book being from her perspective helped me warm up to her within a few chapters. Callie used to be a willing salve to Katherine’s evil whims and the book has loads of flashbacks showing how MEAN Katherine really was and giving Callie plenty of suspects. It reminds me of a faster paced and shallower version of Rosebush by Michele Jaffe (YP FIC JAFFE). It isn’t that it is completely shallow; just that Strasser’s recent thrillers are fun, suspenseful, quick reads and Rosebush succeeds in being something more. There are a good amount of twists and turns, a rekindled romance, and a nicely satisfying ending. The ending was more believable than a fair amount of teen murder mysteries and thrillers. The choice Callie makes at the end may leave you wanting to strangle her (I did!) or you may think she makes a good choice. If you want a good mystery and you enjoy teen thrillers, especially if you liked Strasser’s last thriller Wish You Were Dead, then you should have a fun time with Blood on My Hands.

Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser YP FIC STRASSER

An anonymous blogger called Str-S-d wishes Lucy Cunningham, the most popular student in school was dead. The next day Lucy disappears and the small affluent town is thrown into a panic. Madison is a teen girl at the center of the mystery. Lucy was once her best friend and soon Madison receives notes warning her she is in danger. Could it be Madison’s long time cyber stalker or the new boy Tyler, that Madison can’t help being drawn to? And when more of Lucy’s friends appear on Str-S-d’s blog and then disappear will she be able to solve the mystery and save her friends?

Wish You Were Dead is a white knuckle thriller that grabs you (and poor Lucy) from the very first chapter and hooks you in until the last page. The author ends chapters with the kidnapper’s point of view. These sections are super creepy and scary without giving away who the villain is. There are plenty of great plot twists and I was kept guessing until the very end. Everything plays out like a really fun and scary horror movie, which means there are times you’ll want to yell at the characters, “What are you doing!? Don’t go in there!” But that’s what makes scary books fun. Best of all, Todd Strasser will be writing two more books in this series, so there are plenty more scares to come!

Breaking Up (A Fashion High graphic novel) by Aimee Friedman; Art by Christine Norrie

Just remember: "There's a fine line between a friend and an enemy."

Chloe Sacks is excited to start her junior year at Georgia O’Keefe School of the Arts (aka Fashion High) with her three best friends, MacKenzie, Erika and Isabel. Together they set themselves apart from the other students and hold a solid place in the school’s popularity ranks. However as school gets underway, Chloe realizes things aren’t quite the same between the four girls. She is particularly bothered by MacKenzie, who seems to become obsessed with climbing the Fashion High popularity ladder. In order to obtain posh status MacKenzie begins hanging out with Nicola Burnett, one of the most popular and beautiful girls at the school. (Nicola also seems shallow and stuck-up.) Mackenzie also starts flirting with Nicola’s boyfriend, Gabe. Chloe is troubled by the ever-present sense that she and her three best friends are growing apart.

Chloe has another issue. She recently befriended Adam, who doesn’t rank well with the popular crowd in high school. In the past he has often been the butt of Gabe’s jokes and taunting. Her BFFs, especially MacKenzie, would ridicule her if they knew that she and Adam spoke to each other in class. She would be committing “social suicide” if she started hanging out with Adam, even it was strictly platonic. However, Chloe sees something special in Adam, especially after he shows her one of his paintings. As they sit next to each other in art class she begins to realize he’s more than a geek obsessed with math and science. Chloe eventually invites Adam to Gabe’s New Year’s Eve party and her friends are far from supportive. Based on the way they reacted to the two of them together, Chloe decides to continue seeing Adam, but doesn’t tell anyone.

Eventually Chloe and Adam’s secret romance is discovered. Her friends are furious for lying to them, and Adam thinks Chloe is ashamed of him. Chloe is left alone to ponder her future and determine if these lifelong friendships are worth saving. She also needs to come to terms with her heart and what people might think about her falling for a math and science geek.

If you enjoyed Plain Janes and Janes’ in Love by Cecil Castellucci, you will enjoy Breaking Up. Christine Norrie’s illustrations are simple, clean, and capture the personality of each character. It makes me wish Hopeless Savages was still in print. As well, it is easy to see a little bit of yourself and probably your friends in Friedman’s characters. Chloe’s struggle with maintaining a lifelong friendship is an identifiable struggle while in high school. People change as they get older, and true friendship can sustain such things.

Other books available at Moore Memorial Public Library by Aimee Friedmann: Sea Change, The Year My Sister Got Lucky, A Novel Idea, and South Beach.