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.

What if you knew that Faeries existed? What if you saw them playing tricks on people and they never knew? What if one of them wanted you and there was no way to resist him? Aislinn has known about “sight” since she was a child. Her grandmother taught her all the rules to keep her safe from the faeries and other creatures that coexist with our society. However, when an important faerie named Keenan (which she later finds out is a King in his realm) takes notice of her, she does everything she can to avoid him. She turns to her almost boyfriend Seth with her secret and they work together to try to stop Keenan. The Summer King’s power is too strong and she unknowingly is forced to enter the faerie world when he decides he wants her for his future queen. Once chosen, Aislinn must complete a special ritual. She must take the staff from the winter queen or choose to be a summer girl. If Aislinn is the One when she takes the staff she will be transformed into the Summer Queen. However, if she is not the right person she will succumb to the cold and be turned in a winter girl. Keenan’s mother is the Winter Queen and will lose her throne if her son finds his Summer Queen. The Winter Queen does everything in her power to ruin Keenan’s chances of ruling the faerie realm. But what about Seth? Aislinn wants nothing more than to be with him. How can she rule the faerie world with Keenan and not have Seth?

Last night I finished reading this book to my daughter Haille. We can’t wait to get book two to find out what happens. Jared, Simon and Mallory move into their great aunt Lucy Spiderwick’s house after their father leaves them. The house is huge, but falling apart. Immediately the kids start noticing a scratching sound in the walls. Upon further inspection they find some kind of creature has built a home in the wall of the kitchen. Mallory busts open the wall to remove the creature’s belongings. Later that night she is tormented while she sleeps. Of course their mom doesn’t believe them, so the kids are on their own to figure things out. Secret hiding places, faeries, magical books, tricksters…this book will keep you flipping through pages!