Books for Teens

I really enjoyed this first novel in the House of Night Series by PC Cast.  I must admit right up front that this book is more “mature” material than Twilight.  The main character Zoey goes to a regular high school and has a normal life until a tracker approaches her in the school hall and marks her.  What this all means is that she has been marked as a fledgling vampire and must immediately start attending the House of Night (which is like a prep store for vampires.)  Zoey must leave behind her “kind of” ex boyfriend and her not so good home life.  Things start looking up for her as she gets settled in to the House of Night.  Her mentor is wonderful, her roommate is a reliable new friend and a cute guy seems interested in her.  The only problem is that she is marked to be different than all those around her.  Her mark is filled-in, while all the other fledglings only have an outline.  Also, she can feel all the elements: earth, wind, fire, water, spirt and this is very rare.  Because of this she attracts negative attention from the popular kids in school.  Book one ends with Zoey and Aphrodite going head to head to see who will control a secret society called the Dark Daughters.

I enjoyed this enough to go out today and snag book two Betrayed from Barnes and Noble.

Jade Leigh is a goth.  She is the minority at her school.  The teachers and other students pick on her because of her choices.  When her math teacher makes a reference about her being a vampire in front of the whole class, Jade erupts in anger.  Unable to control her reaction, she continues to push her teacher’s buttons until her expels her from his class.  When she arrives at Principal “Hammy’s” office the next day, her father and Mercedes Turner’s mom are talking to Principal Hamilton.  Jade and Mercedes are arch rivals.  Mercedes is Miss Popularity at school, but she also disregards the rules and stands up to authority figures.  The door opens to Hammy’s office and the girls are ushered inside and told their fate.  Their parents have decided to work with Principal Hamilton and allow her to perform an experiment on them.   They drive to a dilapidated building in a bad neighborhood.  Both girls are strapped to a table by medical professionals and injected with sedatives.  They are told they will be put into a virtual reality game to learn their lesson.  The next thing Jade knows she is in her own bed.   She wonders at first if it is all a bad dream.  But as soon as she goes downstairs she knows something is wrong.  When she arrives at school, Goths are everywhere and the Barbies are the minorities.  All her bestfriends are now the Barbies and won’t talk to her.  Jade is disgusted by the thought of everyone looking the same as she does.  She doesn’t want to hang out with Mercedes’ friends.  Working with Mercedes, they look everywhere for Principal Hamilton.  The longer they stay in the game, the more Jade starts to like Mercedes’ life.  How popular she is, how respected she is, how much the new boy in school likes her.  Suddenly she realizes, the things Mercedes likes are not so wrong.  In fact she likes them too when she is on the receiving end.  Jade starts to stand up for the Barbies.  She begins to fall for the new boy Clarik and she hopes he will still like her when the game is over.  Jade and Mercedes start trying everything for a way to escape.  Jade confides in Clarik and he tells her he is in the virtual reality game too.  He’s a very talented hacker and he promises to help Jade and Mercedes reverse the procedure and send them home.  After they find a way out of the game, Jade and Mercedes remain friends.  Clarik still cares for Jade.  At the conclusion, Mercedes and Jade see Principal Hammy confronting another student and telling him she will teach him a lesson.

Bethany’s life has always been over protected. No overnight slumber parties, no staying out with friends. One day her strict parents, put her in the car, pack up all her stuff and tell her they’re leaving. Shocked, she doesn’t know what to say. Her mother sobs in the fronts seat while her dad drives white knuckled through the night. When they finally get to their destination, Bethany is horrified to learn that she is being dropped off at some random relative’s house while her parents take off to do who knows what. How could they do this to me? She wonders constantly. While in this new town, people start acting strangely around her. Almost as if they recognize her…Apparently she looks suspiciously like another girl who lived in that town.