Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige is a fractured fairy tale but the story line is far from fractured. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is thought of the good, kind girl from Kansas, and the wicked witches are considered evil. However, roles have switched around. Dorothy found her way back to Oz after her first trip, and she turned into a tyrannical monster. Dorothy is joined by many of the people who helped her on her first journey such as Glinda, the Tin Man, the Lion, and the Scarecrow, all of which have completely changed. Now, another girl from Kansas has arrived by way of a tornado and she is named Amy Gumm. The order of the Wicked recruits her and train her for her mission, to kill Dorothy. 

I am quite the Wizard of Oz fan, and I absolutely loved this spin off of the story. The character development is superb. Additionally, the imagery was astounding. I truly felt like I was in Oz all throughout the novel. This book has a wonderful plot line full of many unexpected turns and surprises. Right when you think you may have something figured out, Danielle Paige proves you wrong as you turn the page. 

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy fantasy novels as well as fractured fairy tales. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, is a beautifully written novel that is eye opening, thought provoking, and touching. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is about a fifteen year old boy named Christopher Boone. Christopher loves math, hates the color yellow, and lives his life by following various patterns and rules. One day, the neighbor's dog is killed and Christopher is wrongly blamed. Christopher takes it upon himself to find out who the real killer is. While on his investigation, Christopher finds out much more than he was ever expecting or looking for. 

This novel is absolutely stupendous. It is beautifully crafted with Mark Haddon's exquisite writing style. The character development is also phenomenal. You really fall in love with the characters throughout the book while suffering through their struggles alongside them. The voice throughout the novel is spot on. I really enjoyed how all the chapters were prime numbers, to add to the voice of Christopher. Additionally, I enjoyed all the different math problems and topics in the book, and thought they were really interesting. 

This is a very eye opening and touching novel. At points it really pulled at your heart strings. I learned so much by reading this novel and I am truly grateful I decided to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend this book to readers ages 13 and up, so the reader may have a better understanding of some of the topics discussed and some of the language. 

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper are two books that are somewhat similar to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. These two books are directed towards a younger audience than The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon but they are also wonderful. All of these books feature similarities between their protagonists. While these books are very different at points, they are also somewhat similar. 

A novel full of mystery and suspense, with a book-lover protagonist who works at the National Archives, count me in! 

The Inner Circle is about a man named Beecher White, who works at the National Archives in Washington D.C. One day, Beecher's childhood crush shows up, Clementine, and asks Beecher to help her find her father. Beecher wants to impress Clementine so he brings her to a private room that is used only by the president. In the room they find an ancient dictionary. This dictionary may seem like nothing, but it proves to be the beginning of a large series of events. A murder occurs, and this along with many other events sends Beecher and Clementine further down the pike trying to figure out what is going on. Beecher is met with many dilemmas that not only affect him, but many others as well. 

I loved this novel by Brad Meltzer. I thought this was a quick read due to the amount of suspense that Mr. Meltzer packed into each page. I was constantly on the edge of my seat while reading this and never wanted to put it down. The Inner Circle was full of many twists and turns that constantly had the reader second guessing very many things. I really appreciated the beautifully developed plot and the absolutely amazing character development. Throughout the novel, I felt that I had known Beecher forever. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend this book to any mystery and suspense lovers. 

Dystopian, fantasy, and adventure all combine beautifully in Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen. 

Red Queen is about a girl named Mare. She lives in a world divided by the color of blood. The silver blooded are the higher class and possess unnatural powers. The red blooded are left for the silvers to rule over. Events take place and Mare is thrown into the world of the silvers and everything that is known is questioned. Mare finds herself having to make several life changing choices affecting her and her world. Along with all of this, romance and drama surround Mare.  

Mare is a very strong and independent heroine. She is full of rage, compassion, and motivation. She will fight for a cause even when she is met with obstacles and opposition. 

This novel was full of unexpected events at every page. The plot development is like no other. Victoria Aveyard also did a wonderful job with the imagery in this novel. As the book progressed, I felt like I had personally known the characters my whole life. 

I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book to book clubs, for there are many interesting themes and conversation points in this novel. Some of these include: segregation, social norms, judgment, trust, and fear of the unknown.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the novel:
"The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain." 

      For a brilliant mystery novel with an unique twist read Girl, Stolen by April Henry. I have previously read two other novels by April Henry and I am quite a fan of her writing. The reviews for the other two novels are here and here. 

Girl, Stolen is about a 16 year old girl named Cheyenne. Cheyenne is very sick with pneumonia, so her mom runs into the pharmacy to pick up her prescription and leaves Cheyenne in the car. It will just be for a minute so nothing could go wrong? Completely and utterly wrong. Not only is Cheyenne sick with pneumonia, she is also blind. In addition, she usually has a seeing eye dog with her, but today she left the dog at home. So when Griffin steals the car and drives off, his world turns upside down when he finds out that there was a blind girl in the backseat. 

Girl, Stolen helps readers understand some of the struggles faced with being blind. It opens your minds and leads you to discover various obstacles faced by blind individuals that usually go unnoticed. 

As the story develops the characters grow immensely and you feel as if you have known the characters forever. Also due to April Henry's stupendous imagery you feel as if you are right next to the action throughout the novel. Girl, Stolen was very suspenseful and had me intrigued the entire time. Twists and turns meet you on each page having you constantly second guess your previous thoughts. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. The audience for this book is probably around grades 7-10. I reccomend this book to mystery fans and action lovers. 

For a brilliant mix of science fiction and dystopian literature, I recommend Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Illuminae is about the invasion and destruction of a minor planet. The destruction is due to two corporations fighting over it. Luckily, before the planet is destroyed, many citizens are able to escape on spaceships. They are still knee-high in troubles and peril. The ships are being chased by other ships, that want no witnesses of the destruction of the planet, alive. To exasperate the current dilemma, a deadly disease breaks out on several of the ships. 

Illuminae is unlike anything that you will probably ever read. The story is completely told through journal entries, emails, online chats, medical reports, maps, interviews, other reports, and several other forms of media. I absolutely loved that the authors didn't use the traditional format and styles of writing, but instead used forms of writing, that you would never suspect to make up a whole entire book.

Illuminae has a stupendous, page-turning plot, full of twists and turns. This book never lost my attention. The character development is also amazing. I don't know how the authors were able to accomplish it by just using the forms of writing that they did, but they did. I would say that the character development in Illuminae is better, than a good amount of books (I have read) that use the traditional writing format. Some themes shown in Illuminae are romance, resilience/perseverance, selflessness, and hope. All of these themes are interwoven beautifully and executed wonderfully.  

I would highly recommend Illuminae to science fiction lovers, dystopian fans, and to those who want to add variety to their reading repertoire. 

If you like Illuminae, don't miss the sequel Gemina (releasing October 18th, 2016). 
​

The Body in the Woods is a spectacular murder mystery that had me sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time. 

This book is about three teenagers named: Alexis, Ruby, and Nick. These three have very different backgrounds but are all part of their local search and rescue team. One day they go out to search a park for a lost autistic man. The search and rescue team splits up into groups and starts searching. Ruby, Nick, and Alexis are all in the same group. During their search for the man, they find a dead body. Ruby, Nick, and Alexis are scared, yet curious about the girl's death. They start spending a lot of time trying to find the killer before the killer finds them. 

The Body in the Woods has wonderful imagery. I always found myself feeling that I was in the book. This book also has a very suspenseful plot. I constantly thought I had the mystery solved, just to be proved wrong after reading further. April Henry did an amazing job at character development. Even though the book had three main protagonists, I felt like I had known each of them their entire life. 

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. I recommend this book to readers grade 6 and up, due to the subject matter. The Girl who was Supposed to Die is another novel by April Henry that is also very good. You can read my review for The Girl who was Supposed to Die here.

Combine Dystopian, Romance, and Christian Fiction and you get Remnants: Season of Fire. 

This book is about the Remnants, a group of people with special powers gifted by the Maker. The Remnants also have protectors who are called Knights. These two groups together are called the Ailith. The main character Adrianna was gifted with the power of empathy. Throughout the book it is quite interesting to see what it would be like to have the the power of empathy. The Remnants are always fighting their enemies, the Sheolites. The Sheolites worship Sheol and the Ailith worship the Maker. Sheol is a dark and evil force and the Maker is a good and bright force. As the constant fighting between these two groups continue, the Ailith try to follow the Maker's path. Adrianna finds herself having to sacrifice her own desires and wants for the well-being and safety of others. 

One thing I enjoyed about this book was how the point of view changed occasionally from Adrianna to her knight.  This book is a sequel and doesn't really recap anything that happened in the first book. I also felt like some of the romance wasn't needed.  I highly recommend reading the first book to get the full story before reading this book. I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. I received this book as a part of BookSparks Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge in exchange for an honest review.