Book Recommendation: Uglies

Scott Westerfield

Pages: 448

Ages: 12+

Tally is tired of being ugly. From her dorm window, she can see the bright shining lights of New Pretty Town and she wants nothing more than to turn sixteen and get Prettied so she can live there. Shay is a rebel. Shay is exciting. When she reveals she's escaping, Tally has a choice: stay and be Pretty, or see what lies beyond the city she's always known.


It's hard to say enough good things about this book. It was really brilliant cover to cover. You felt torn about Tally's decisions right along with her - wondering what she would do, what you would do in that situation. It transports you to a world where teens get the very thing they all want - to be just as pretty as everyone else. But while it sounds great on the surface, it doesn't come without consequences - some of them severe. What if becoming pretty meant you had to lose your true self in the process?


Scott Westerfeld's website: http://scottwesterfeld.com/

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Book Recommendation: Shiver

Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: 390
Ages: 14+

Ever since that fateful day, the yellow eyes have haunted her thoughts and dreams. Some days she thinks she'd be more at home with the wolves than in her own pale life at Mercy Falls, with increasingly distant friends, and parents who have never been more than occasional inhabitants of the same dwelling. So when her fellow high schooler, Jack Culpepper is violently attacked by the wolf pack and the hunters go on a killing spree, Grace is desperate to stop them. And then there, on her doorstep, bleeding profusely, he appears. The one with yellow eyes. Only he's no longer a wolf - he's human. But can he stay that way?


This was one of those books that gets under your skin and becomes incredibly difficult to put down. The characters are so real, the writing like poetry, the story simple, yet compelling. It is told from two points of view, both of whose voices I loved. Read it!


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Book Recommendation: Beautiful Creatures

Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Pages: 563
Ages: 14+

Though all his life he's been able to fit in, Ethan Wate has always known that the tiny southern town of Gatlin isn't for him. The people are too close-minded, ambitions too small, the girls fluffy and fake. Lena is a newcomer to Gatlin, a powerful Caster from a family shunned by those in town. Ethan instantly feels the connection between them. What he doesn't know then is how strong that connection is, and how deeply it will test them. Plagued by a strange dark curse, her relationship with Ethan will threaten their friends, family and the community of Gatlin itself.


A stormy southern gothic tale, this was first and foremost a love story. It is unique in that it is for a female readership, but written with a male protagonist - I loved this! The writing was exquisite, and the story, though lengthy, kept me riveted from cover to cover.


Want more book suggestions? See my other Book Recommendations.