Likely Story by David Van Etten (Random House/Knopf, 2008)

Cindy: Written by YA author/editor David Levithan, playwright David Ozanich, and One Life to Live writer, Chris Van Etten, under the name "David Van Etten," the story is about a girl born (literally) and raised on a soap opera set, the daughter of a TV daytime diva who has never won the daytime Emmy. She blogs about how soap operas are so unrealistic and that there needs to be a show that is a likely story showing the drama of everyday teen life. Before you can say "Erica Kane," Mallory is pitching, writing, and casting her own tv drama and her life gets as complicated as the shows she mocks. Pure fun for this recovering All My Children addict. Our 7th and 8th grade girls can't get enough of this series and have kept me from the advance copy sequel, All That Glitters, while they pass it around. Book #3 is set to pub June 2009 so the fun will continue in Red Carpet Riot. Can't wait--a perfect start-of-summer read to anticipate.
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Lynn: I can’t help it – mention soap operas to me and my eyes roll involuntarily. It is a direct result of overexposure to As The World Turns and their ilk in my formative years so I wasn’t exactly eager to read this despite Cindy’s enthusiasm. When our book club teens loved it I decided I needed to curb my skepticism and give it a try. What a treat! Mallory is a heroine after my own heart and this very affectionate spoof of the soaps is smart and charming. There’s enough satire to keep us curmudgeons smiling but it is never mean-spirited. And just like the soaps, this is addictive. I’m going to send my clairvoyant secret twin out to retrieve the sequel right away!

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Lynn: A young girl disguising herself as a boy to escape desperate poverty, dragons with elemental powers, a kingdom in crisis – these plot elements make Eon sound like any other ho hum fantasy. Not so! I think this is one of the year’s best. Sadly it is not being released until the end of December so put this on your not-to-be-missed list. Goodman sets the story in a richly described Asian-style country in the midst of a power struggle. Vivid characters fill the complex plot and their struggles propel a pulse-quickening pace. Goodman takes standard elements and weaves straw into gold in this mesmerizing tale with plenty of thematic heft. I can’t say it enough: don’t miss this!

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Lynn: For those who don't know me, let me say upfront that I a major fan of science fiction and fantasy and I might be a trifle outspoken about those genres now and again. It's been a great year for speculative fiction and this exciting book is one of my favorites.

Set on a world settled by colonists seeking a simpler, closer to God life, the story follows a young boy just days from his thirteenth birthday, about to become officially a man in his settlement of Prentisstown. The town has no women, a virus having killed them all when Todd was just an infant. The virus left the Noise, the ability of every man to hear the constant stream of thoughts of all those men around him. When Todd "hears" a strange area of silence, it triggers his foster fathers to send him fleeing the settlement but the other men of the town ride out to track him down.

The idea of the Noise is an integral and fascinating part of this story and Ness raises intriguing issues based on the idea, including the wonderful depiction of how animals sound. While this is a tense dystopian novel, it is also a startling and unique coming of age story asking what does it mean to be a man. Heart-pounding unrelenting suspense kept me flying through this book. This is the first of a series and the cliff-hanger ending left me hanging by my fingernails! Note: There is a lot of horrifying violence in the story and some very upsetting deaths.
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Cindy: I stayed up WAAAAAYY too late last night finishing this un-put-downable title and am paying for it tonight. The voice in this novel may be the strongest element in a very fine story that has many strengths. Interesting that it is voice that stands out in a novel that creates chaos and lack of privacy by having too many voices being heard. And, the voice of the dog added humor in a novel that needed that to get us through the rest of the events.

The ending was as much a cliffhanger as Lynn promised, and I can't STAND waiting for sequels when the ending leaves you hanging as badly as this one does. I mean, really, what am I supposed to do between now and the Fall of 2009 while characters' fates hang in the balance? If anything happens to the girl in this book, maybe Todd can hook up with the girl in Graceling by Cashore--they have the same incredible survival endurance, whereas I'd be dead by page 43. More than hating to wait for sequels, I can't stand to not read exciting books that people are talking about. Count me a fan of this one and recommend it to readers who liked The Hunger Games by Collins.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Lynn: Tamora Pierce blurbs this book saying, "Here's a WOW of a book," and that sums up my feelings pretty well. Kristin Cashore has created an intensely interesting world and peopled it with characters that sparkle with complexity and life. The terms fast paced and compulsively readable can't be used often enough here. There are moments in the plot that literally made me gasp out loud but the core of the book is the naturallly evolving development of the characters who take control of the reader's heart. Teens are going to be standing in line for this one and storming the librarian's desk demanding more the minute they finish the last page.
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Cindy: This is a fabulous first novel and I was with Cashore for most of the trip. The plot bogged down a little for me at the end starting with Katsa trekking through the snowy mountains with no coat, no sleep, and no food, but hey, I like my Gortex... I'll be interested to hear what others think of the final chapters. (Throw us a comment!) I'll definitely be booktalking this and am eager for the next installment myself!

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Cindy: I read this book months ago in manuscript and it haunts me still. Find it, read it, talk about it.

Lynn: This wins the page turner of the year award. Teens will love this and I want the sequel NOW.