Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer

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Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer

Katie Alender

Scholastic Press: 2013, 296 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Colette Iselin is going back to her French roots!  A junior at a private school in Ohio, Colette leaps at the chance to spend nine days in France for a school trip.  But Paris is on alert right now: there's a serial killer targeting the young and beautiful and the killing method of choice is decapitation.  Colette isn't worried until she starts seeing visions of a pale woman in a pink ball gown and large white wig, like Marie Antoinette herself. Colette starts to investigate and teams up with a local French boy since her self-obsessed "friends" don't seem that interested.  Colette learns that her father's family may have been a part of something and now it seems that Colette is also involved and in danger! Can she solve the mystery and keep her head connected to her body before the trip is over?

Prom and Prejudice

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Prom and Prejudice

Elizabeth Eulberg

Point: 2011, 231 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennet is a musical scholarship student at Longbourn Academy, the sister school of Pemberley Academy.  Things are hard for scholarship students, since the majority of the school's student population are wealthier than some foreign countries.  Prom is a big deal at Longbourn but Lizzie wants nothing to do with it.  Sure, she'll help her roommate and best friend, Jane - especially now that Charles Bingley is back from studying abroad - but that's the extent of her prom involvement.  But Charles isn't the only one back; Will Darcy is back at Pemberley after studying abroad in London too. Lizzie and Darcy's first meeting does not go well (surprise) and she's pretty sure it's because she's a scholarship student.  Chance keeps throwing them together even though Lizzie wants nothing to do with him...or does she?

Carry On

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Carry On

Rainbow Rowell

St. Martin's Griffin: 2015, 522 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Rainbow Rowell first wrote about Simon Snow and Baz in her novel Fangirl.  In Carry On, Rowell has devoted a full novel to the characters that were only briefly mentioned in Fangirl.  Simon Snow is "the chosen one," the one who will stop the dark force that threatens the world of magic.  Except that he's pretty sure he's not really "the chosen one" since he's terrible at magic and is more focused on why his nemesis for the past seven years is missing from their last year at the Watford School of Magicks.  Baz has his own reasons for missing so much school but he won't share it with Simon.  After all, Baz likes seeing Simon squirm.  There is magic, teen angst, friendship, and relationship drama; after all, they are in high school, even if they have to deal with monsters on occasion.

Looking for Alaska

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Looking for Alaska

John Green

Speak: 2006, 221 pages

Reviewed by Ellen Dickman

This is on many lists for young adults and a few banned book lists.  I enjoyed this book; it's about a teenage boy, Miles, who attends a co-ed boarding school.  He must deal with some unexpected and difficult life events.  I would love to read this with a book club as I would enjoy other readers' perspectives of his character.  

P.S. I Still Love You

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P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #2)

Jenny Han

Simon & Schuster Books: 2015, 337 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

I highly recommend to those interested in this book to start with the first in the series by Jenny Han: To All the Boys I've Loved Before.  This book immediately follows where the first book left off (in a cliff-hanger, by the way) with high school student Laura Jean trying to figure out her feelings with Peter and with another boy from her past who comes back to into her life due to the events from the first book.  These books are a charming coming-of-age series that follows an innocent, family-driven protagonist who deals with love, heartache, the drama of friends and enemies, and figuring out what it means to grow up.