Madapple by Christina Meldrum

Confession.  This book made me so nervous, I skipped pages and read the ending.  I rarely do this - honest. Aslaug is being raised by her brilliant, troubled mother who keeps her totally isolated from the rest of the world.  They spend time collecting herbs, preparing them for medicine or food. Aslaug has been taught Danish, Sanscrit, Greek, world religions and mythology, but nothing prepares her for the reality that faces her when her mother dies.
The book is arranged in alternating chapters of court testimony against Aslaug for the murders of three people and the real story of Aslaug's life as she tells it.  The story builds and builds suspense and worry.  Try to resist skipping to the end like me, and hold on for the truly fascinating story.

Jude by Kate Morgenroth

This is a terrific page turner as long as you can overlook one thing - he's still alive even though he was there when his father was gunned down.  Then settle in for a character you can admire and see what happens to him when he goes to jail.  His mother's good friend persuades Jude that if he goes to jail for a crime he didn't commit, it will ensure his mother staying state's attorney and help her in her run for mayor.\  It will make her look good because she is willing prosecute her own son. He's willing for his mother to despise him, until the truth comes out. Unfortunately, the friend appears helpless to lessen Jude's sentence as he had promised.

Paper Town by John Green

Must confess - this is one of my favorite YA books, mystery or regular fiction.  And if you want a hilarious version of what the book is about go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5ppwMTErrc and watch John Green tell you.  As a matter of fact, go see all of them. I think there are at least 5.
Margo Roth Spiegelman is the next door neighbor to Quentin "Q" Jacobson.  They have been friends until junior high, but not since she became the most popular girl at their high school.  "Q" and his two buddies aren't.  When she shows up at his window one night and asks him to drive her around while she does preposterous things involving large dead fish and hair remover.  Then she disappears, leaving clues which Quentin follows.  The biggest is paper towns which are towns which don't exist but listed on maps.  Go on the journey, it is sooooh worth it.

What I Saw and How I lied by Judy Blundell

What genre is this book?  Suspense, mystery, romance, coming of age, realistic, family, racial relations?  The novel has them all, intricately woven in a fast moving plot.  It's worth rereading just to get all of it. The main character, Evie (Evelyn) didn't see but she figures it out.
Her mother is gorgeous and in comparison, Evie feels that next to her she's"like wallpaper as usual".  All of a sudden there's a "fun" vacation to Florida that doesn't quite seem like a vacation. It starts after some strange phone calls.  While in Florida, she is taken shopping for clothes suitable for her age 15 going on 16.  When she appears in one of her new dresses, her moonlight dress, her mother makes Evie go upstairs and change into her regular clothes - plain pink dress with lace around the collar.  What's that about? Then her stepfather becomes a different person - drinking heavily, grouchy.  What's going on?  Read and find out.

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