Silver White by Shawn Underhill is amazing young adult novel that treads a thin genre line. It is both a coming of age novel and a paranormal. Evie the heroine has not only been stood up by a fellow who should have been grateful to go out with her, but she just ruined a favorite pair of jeans, not by cutting them, or writing on them, but by turning into a wolf.

Evie wakes disoriented and naked outside her home, wondering how she got there. The last thing she remembered was being angry, very angry. Her mother bundles her onto a plane to fly back to her grandfather’s estate where most of the rest of the family lives.

Her grandparents’ farm with endless acres of forests always brought her a sense of peace. It feels good to be back, but different too. Everyone around her is talking in coded language; her cousin Erica has developed a sudden jealously toward her and a taste for risky behavior.

Safely, tucked away with her grandparents and cousins, Evie learns from her cousin Erica that besides turning into wolves her family has a few other oddities and checkered history. Erica and Evie decide to delve into the family history to find out what they aren’t being told. The big cats’ appearance sends the family into an uproar and stalls their investigation.

Silver White does a beautiful job on revealing the many internal conflicts an average teenage girl who has an extra issue of mutating into a wolf at will. There is excellent conflict between the cousins. Every female knows about female against female jealousy. Erica wrestles with both her affection and jealousy, for her cousin Evie. The wood scenes are particularly exhilarating.

Silver White is an excellent read for teen and adult alike. The close family unity and love is quite a change from the usual teen tales. Apparently, wolves have closer family units. It is a fast, fun read. Currently, it is ninety-nine cents at Amazon. It is a fast, fun read.

Super Heroes fight to save the day against evil and/or criminal despots with super powers or super machines to carry out their nefarious plans. What would happen though, if the evil was a virus that turned a billon humans into Zombies with super strength, super hunger? The Heroes are left to fight for a small pocket of surviving humans against this horde, against a group of gangs that are fighting them for resources, in Los Angeles where "The Mount" is ground zero for operation save humanity. They are heroes no longer because they find themselves trying to survive just the same as everyone else. Some have been hurt and turned, or damaged to where their powers are useless.

Ex-Heroes takes place in a near future where humanity has only itself to blame for what has happened and only itself to turn to for saving its own destiny. It seems a useless hope, but hope continues with this rag tag group of people who all developed their powers a year or two prior to the outbreak. There had to be a reason. I can see the scene easily drawn or filmed as Peter Clines makes good use of his skills from working in the movie industry, placing descriptive details without bogging down the story. Dark humor comes in naming various stars who turned and were counted as extra for stopping the enemy.

My only complaint is that the story drags in sections as it goes from character to character with backstory to current time. Granted in a graphic formate or television series, this dragging out is needed, but in a book form, personally, it drives me nuts. Pacing is primal in keeping the story alive. Ex-Heroes has all the classic touches of Omega Man, Lost, even a bit of Planet of the Apes in a surprising twist that has nothing to do with Apes.... Check it out.

Nancy Louise
©January 30, 2013

The Archived is a most unusual story. The book I read is completed and unedited for publication. Still this one breaks the mold on "everything under the sun" been done before and shows a whole new side one might not have explored before.

Mackenzie an older sister who almost a year ago lost her younger brother. Four years before that she lost her Da (Grandfather). Mackenzie is one of the youngest Archivist ever accepted. Her role is to collect those souls that escape the library, and send them back. Well, not souls really, more like their memories. Every single person who ever existed, is Archived.

Sometimes they escape their shelves, no one knows why, but they need to be put back before they get to the outer world. Normally she encounters them in the narrows which is just as it sounds, and leads confused memories back to where they belong. It is a lonely job, no one else knows she does it outside the archive. It takes a certain gift to do it. Gifts that are not to be used for anything outside of Archive work. Until she encounters a murder mystery that happened in her new bedroom several decades ago in what was once a luxury hotel and is now a musty apartment complex. She just needs to find out what happened and why no one is talking about it. No harm can be done from long ago, right?

And that plus one more spoiler I won't mention is where this introductory book stopped. So naturally like you, I MUST obtain my own copy to read on my iPad to find out where in the narrows it goes. . .

Nancy Louise

Unenchanted by Chanda Hahn is the first book in the series of retold fairy tales for young adults, published by Word Circus. This book rides a wave of popularity due to the television shows Grimm and Once. Like many of the characters in the mentioned shows, the heroine, Mina Grimes, is unaware she is part of a fairytale. Make that several fairy tales.

Mina is an uncoordinated loser. If she can spill, drop it, or make a mess of it she does. She’s always late, often pulls on dirty clothes to wear to school. Her mother forbids her to participate in any extracurricular activities, including sports. Still, she manages to be best friends with the very popular Nan, which saves her from total loserdom.

The fairy tale stories hijack the role as the other lead. Sure, there is the nice guy and the bad boy too. The stories are the star as they come to life in Mina’s town taking her along for the ride.

Does Mina have chemistry with her heartthrobs? This is a bit confusing because if they are only acting out a section from Cinderella, then wouldn’t it be required they had chemistry? I would say no because she jumps into the relationships without any development. Miss Hahn worked so hard to make Mina such a loser that she has left no real reason for a guy to be drawn to her. The cover hints that Mina is attractive, and often that is all males need, especially teenage ones.

Unenchanted has several positive reviews on Amazon showing a good readership for this young adult novel. I applaud the gutsy author for self-publishing. This book offends me on so many levels, but then it wasn't written with me in mind. If flat characters, unoriginal ideas, and even poor editing annoy you, then this is not the book for you. Obviously, it is a hit with teens, and that is how it should be. My only worry is that they will tell their English teachers that 'maked' is a word because published author Hahn uses it in her book.

Do you know what a vampeen is? Neither did I, but you can find out more in Christin Lovell’s book, The Diary of a Vampeen, the first book in The Vampire Chronicles. I bet you might be thinking a vampeen as something to do with a vampire. You’d be close and know as much as our heroine Lexi knows at the start of the tale. Spoiler alert: this is a book aimed at young teens. It is okay if you read it. No one will know you downloaded it to your Kindle. It’s just a simple explanation why everyone is either sixteen or about to become that magical age.

Sixteen is a magical age if you’re a vampeen because all your physical imperfections melt away. You become the prom and homecoming queen overnight. What American girl wouldn’t want to be a size four and have perfect skin? Almost none, which makes the premise so intriguing to teenage girls if all they care about, is their physical appearance. However, wait, you can see better in the dark, run faster, kick butt majorly. Take that you annoying cheerleader who made in fun of Lexi in her non-vampeen state.

Lexi, our heroine, is a little confused if she wants all that perfection at once. Will it cause her to turn from her human boyfriend, and best friend Mel? Sometimes it might be hard to explain why you want your steak very rare. Add to stress of literally becoming a new person overnight, at the grand age of sixteen, Lexi has to pick out if she wants her first to be human or vampire. It makes a big difference because she has to stay with that choice the rest of her life, which could be a very long time.

Now to the actual characters, Lexi and Vampire Kellam have some good chemistry going on. I find Lexi’s current human boyfriend, a lovable doofus. Her friend Mel doesn’t work on so many levels. Her parents are the kind that encourages her boyfriend to spend time alone with their daughter in hope she’ll pick him as a lover. I noticed a trend in YA books, the type of parents that only exist in a teen’s imagination, but most mothers aren’t vampeen either.

Diary of a Vampeen is similar to Twilight and should appeal to the same fans. A very light read has teens only worried about their looks, sexuality, and cars. Now most folks might think that is all teens think about, but I happen to have a higher opinion. If you’re into actual vampire folklore, then this isn’t the book for you. Simple teen angst with sexy vampires thrown in, then it’s the book for you. You’ll even find out what a vampeen is.

Did you hear Zombies are the new Vampire? The werewolf and shape shifter barely got any page play in novels. I wondered how you could make a zombie sexy or intelligent for that matter. Stacey Jay tackles that and more in her Zombie Settler series. In her first book, YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME by Razor Bill Press, we meet Megan Berry, zombie settler.

Megan Berry is the girl we all despised in high school. She is a tiny size four, beautiful, dating the popular older senior guy when she’s only a freshman. She’s also a wonderful dancer and slated to be on the popular dance team. What else can the amazing Megan do, well settle zombies, of course.

If you’re wondering, zombies really are as stupid as they appear on the big screen movies. Most are unaware they are dead. They need someone to explain it to then, that’s where Megan comes in. They have some internal honing device where teenaged zombies only seek out a teenage settler to tell their problems to and deliver any last message. Megan takes the info, then, and sends them to their grave with a blessing, similar to a pat on a head.

Now this doesn’t sound too bad, no kicking butt like Buffy. You’d be wrong. The zombies are always ruining Megan’s social life by turning up at the same time as her dates do. Now most folks do not know she’s a zombie settler and she’d like to keep it that way. Even though zombies are mindless for the most part, those with evil intents can use them for their own purposes and wreak havoc doing so

The most important thing to Megan is to attend the homecoming dance. Rogue zombies are getting in her way. One even has the bad taste to wear her very expensive dress and to burst into flames while doing so. Someone doesn’t want Megan to go to the dance. (Cue dramatic music.) Enter Ethan, hot, much older zombie settler to rescue Megan again.

This is a book meant for young adults, but they should be appalled to be portrayed as incredibly shallow, petty, and just plain stupid. Having jealous girls who just happened to be witches who cook up the plot to take over the world is plain boring and offensive at the same time. Megan must be as dumb as they come because her best friend has always been a major player in the I Hate Megan club, and Megan never had a clue.

I realize adults often complain that teens are stupid, ignorant, and self-serving. Not buying it, these two dimensional characters don’t sell me. I am appalled at Megan’s parents who seem to let her go out with tons of guys on school nights, then worry about her doing spells that might be too advanced for her. Hello, have they heard of teenage pregnancy or STDs? I am sure every teenage girl would love to have these parents.

YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME tries to be a cross between Carrie, Harry Potter, and Night of the Living Dead. I kept reading YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME because I thought it would get better. I kept waiting for Megan to burst into flames, or at least turn into a sympathetic character. Sadly, she did neither. Save your time and go watch reruns of Grimm instead.

Can you imagine a world where an ungloved hand could steal your memory or your life? Scary, and yet that is the Cassel Sharpe’s world in Holly Black’s novel, WHITE CAT. It is the first book in The Curse Workers series that details a magical world that is most reminiscent of the dark side of the carnival. Magic is regarded as a curse as opposed to a gift, and is used mainly within criminal families.

Cassel’s big dream is to be normal, which is difficult with his family. Graduating from high school and keeping a girlfriend might be easy for a guy whose grandfather doesn’t kill people with a touch. His own dreams and sleepwalking doesn’t seem to help him too much at his fancy boarding school either. People are well aware that he’s a member of a family best known for the crimes they commit via magic. Sure, he tells everyone he has no talent, but no one believes him.

Politicians are polarizing Cassel’s world with their talk of segregating the magic and non-magic. A sleep specialist wants to test Cassel to determine his sleep patterns, but in truth he wants to test out his device that registers magical ability. The government has entered into a war against those with magical talent demanding that everyone should be tested to determine who has talent. The talented ones realize this is simply a method to control those with some degree of magic. There is a question if they will be used by the government or simply disappear. All in all, it doesn’t seem like a good deal, even for a no-talent with a bad memory like Cassel.

Still there are things that make no sense. Why does he constantly dream of a white cat? He’s been told he killed his best friend, a daughter of a crime family. He doesn’t remember it, and his brothers conveniently got rid of the body too. The sleepwalking is troubling and dangerous; it is as if he trying to get somewhere he cannot reach in his waking world. He is beginning to suspect that things are not as they seem, and his own family is lying to him.

WHITE CAT moves quickly with each page pulling you deeper into the machinations of crime families with magical talents. Rather like Harry Potter takes a walk on the dark side, but instead of wands they have hands to work their dark deeds. Supporting characters are fleshed out well complete with details and rituals specific to their crime families.

WHITE CAT is the first book in The Curse Workers series, but this one taste will have you wanting more. Even though the book genre is labeled young adult, adults will find it fascinating. This is a must-read, and I seldom use those words. Beautifully written, and researched, it flows seamlessly allowing us a peek into the world of the curse workers.

I thoroughly enjoy reading series books. I love to revisit old friends and see what new adventures they are engaged in. I've even written the first four of a six book series because I haven't had too much of my characters as yet. Therefore I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review Jon S. Lewis's next installment in the C.H.A.O.S. series, Alienation.

The book begins with a re-creation of the comic book adventures of The Phantom Flyer and the Agents of C.H.A.O.S. - The Menace of the Thule. Our hero, Colt McAlister then swoops in on his grandfather's jet pack, sharpening his flying skills with the help of his friend, Danielle Salazar, and the son of the current director of C.H.A.O.S., Oz Romero. The three are preparing to head off to the C.H.A.O.S. Military Academy.

During the practice, Colt is suddenly faced with a real alien attack, not one of the "target practice" creatures that Danielle had electronically conjured for their drill. The appearance of the shape-shifting creature can mean only one thing: the Thule have succeeded in opening a gate between their world and Earth. The invasion is soon to follow.

Once Colt and his friends dispatch the creature and are on their way to the academy, it becomes clear that he is the target of an assassination plot. Since he has been chosen by the higher-ups to take over the job of the current director of C.H.A.O.S. from Oz's father, Cold is unsure of whom to trust as he begins his training. He also finds out some thing from his childhood that totally unnerve him.

Alienation is full of alien battles, surprise twists and new intrigue yet to be explained. I will be looking for the next installment, knowing I will enjoy every moment of it. I am recommending the series to the young teens that I know. I am sure they will find Colt's adventures as exciting as I do.

Reviewed by MargeAnna Conrad
(c) March 2012

I always wanted to go to a summer camp but that was not in the family finances at the time. I've been able to send my youngest almost every year since she was in fourth grade. I have to say it's been a positive experience in her life. I'm not so sure that Colt McAlister, protagonist of Jon S. Lewis's Invasion can say the same thing. His dad did say the camp is more like a prep school that only lasts one day. Colt doesn't know that he is being prepped to stand in the way of the invasion in the YA, Sci-Fi novel.

Colt only spends one day in the prep school, learning about UFOs and aliens from other planets that are trying to invade Earth. Then he's given an injection to make him forget the whole day. Back to the real world as he knows it, he continues his life with his parents until a drunk driver causes an accident that takes their lives. Now, with his big brothers all busy living their own lives, Colt finds himself moving to Arizona to live with his Grandpa McAlister. He can't get used to his parents being gone. After he finds a cell phone in his backpack that isn't his, he is determined to find out what happened to them. He gets a message saying he can find out the truth, but to do so, he must meet a man he doesn't know in a place he's never been.

At his new school, he meets a teen named Oz who seems familiar and who Colt isn't sure he completely trusts. Together with Oz and his long time friend, Danielle, Colt finds himself deep in the battle against aliens and the evil corporation that had his parents killed. He learns about the organization known as CHAOS and meets a super hero that he thought only lived in the pages of his favorite comic books.

Invasion is a super story for the tween ages but a lot of fun for us older folks as well. I found the characters to be well developed and completely believable, even those from other planets. The relationships between Colt and Lily, and between Oz and Danielle are just beginning but promising. The greatest fun for me is the history of Grandpa McAlister and what he actually did in WWII.

Invasion is great fun to read and I will be looking for the next installment of this series, whether I review it or not. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Reviewed by MargeAnna Conrad
© January 2012

I spent my school years trying desperately to get through with passing grades. My sister and brother blazed through without a hitch... other than being bored with the whole idea of school. I could have sent them on The Study Train, Kurt Frenier's first English-language young adult book, and they would have fit right in!

Ethan, an academically struggling boy in Switzerland, hates his school, hates his home, hates his life. He escapes after school to a ruin where he creates his own world, an imaginary world where he is king and he metes out pennence to those who have crossed him, made fun of him, and laughed at him day after day. He has even fashioned himself a papier-mache crown colored gold.

After being sent to his room with no supper for being home late, Ethan has an odd experience. While watching a rainbow through his second floor window, an envelope bangs against the pane. How odd! Ethan opens the window and the envelope scampers in on the wind. It is addressed to Ethan. It is an invitaion to join the Study Train, an eight year journey of education with everything he will need provided. All he has to do to accept is start packing what ever he wants to bring with him. Deciding to give it a try, though he thinks someone is pulling a prank, he clicks his suitcase closed and a flying train silently appears at his window. Ethan is off on the adventure of a lifetime.

The premise of the Study Train is to invite two children a year to travel the world, learn new cultures and become world leaders. Ethan soon learnes that there is more to the program than he is told. His desire for knowledge and power soon bring him to the attention of a renegade group known as the Untouchables. He has to decided not only if he wants to join them, but if he is the one they have waited for to lead them into world domination.

The Study Train by Kurt Frenier was an interesting read. The premise of educating students to become world leaders could probably be put into practice, a fact that makes the story believeable. The fantasy soon takes over and the adventure truly beings, the adventure of a decision to live for good or for evil. To live for the good of the world or to take power over it. The language was occationally more colorful than what I would want my young teen to read, but such is the way of the world these days. I recommend this story for over 15s who still enjoy adventure.

Reviewed by MargeAnna Conrad
(c) December 2010

When I first saw Sherri L. Smith's Flygirl on the Scholastic flyer, I thought it was another "Amelia Earhardt" story without reading the blurb or info on the flyer. Thank you to my friend, Carol Baldwin, who is researching multicultural females for her upcoming young adult novel for opening my eyes as to what Flygirl is really about.

Ida Mae Jones' family comes from a long line of black women marrying white men and having children who were lighter and whiter than the generation before. Her father was of the generation required to marry a white woman and be considered "passé blanc" in order to give his family a better life. He met Ida Mae's mother, a black woman and was shunned from his upper crust family. He died when Ida Mae was sixteen but not before showing her the ropes in the plane, crop-dusting. Unfortunately, she can't get her pilot's license due to being a "black" female in the early 1940’s living in Louisiana. She plots to work and save her money to make it to Chicago to follow in her father's footsteps and get her pilot's license. When the war breaks out and Ida Mae's older brother signs up as a doctor or medical staff worker to help out, Ida Mae seems lost. The crop dusting becomes less important but the will to fly stays with her.

Ida Mae's younger brother brings home an article about the newly formed WASP for female pilots. Flygirl follows Ida Mae's life through those few years of her trials and tribulations of training to become a WASP and also to keep her secret safe so she doesn't suffer humiliation or worse: death by hanging for pretending to be a white woman. She is one of the few Negro women who made it through a military organization during a time when segregation was the norm. Ida Mae Jones gave up a lot to do what she wanted to do most: fly planes and help in the war effort.

I'm really thankful that Carol Baldwin alerted me to Flygirl. The writing was strong and the author did a great job portraying a young woman trying to pass herself as something she is not. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is studying multiculturalism or who just wants a good read on the history of WASP.
 
 
Reviewed By Elysabeth Eldering
© August 2010

I saw a poster in a local Indie bookstore for Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator under the Puffin/Sleuth division of the Penguin Publishing group. My interest was piqued as I have always felt we have some sort of psychic abilities, whether they are well known to us or not.

I researched the book online and was gong to order it from the online store but I was in the same Indie bookstore a few weeks later and there was a copy of the book on the shelf staring at me, calling me to purchase it.

I purchased the book and came home to read it. I think Ms. Allison has a knack for capturing the mindset of a young girl trying to find herself.

In Jennifer Allison's Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator, we find Gilda Joyce and her friends discussing their summer plans. Gilda hadn't really made any plans so fudged a bit and blurted out that she was going to spend time with her cousin in California. A cousin she had never met and knew nothing about. She even wrote her mother's cousin a letter saying that she wanted to come visit. To Gilda's surprise, an airline ticket was sent for her to come out and visit. This was done by the cousin's secretary didn't really know better. The mother's cousin was too busy with his work, and taking care of his daughter to be bothered.

Gild arrives in California and the fun begins. Her cousin, Juliet Splinter, and the secretary involve Gilda in some sightseeing and shopping. Gilda starts hearing noises behind the wall of the room she is staying in. She and her cousin investigate to find more than they bargained for. In the end, Gilda and Juliet become friends and have solved the mystery of the noises. Gilda thinks it is all due to her psychic abilities and tries to get Juliet to believe this, too.

Overall, Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator is a fun, quick read for young girls who like a little adventure in their lives. I recommend this book for girls in about the fifth to seventh grade level, although I think even older and younger will enjoy it. Since there aren't really many boys in the book nor are there things of interest to boys, I sadly cannot recommend this to boys unless they like reading books geared for girls.
 
Reviewed By Elysabeth Eldering
© January 2010

Mary Downing Hahn's Deep and Dark and Dangerous cover intrigued me with this girl in a watery shadow. This book is available on the Scholastic school order forms.

Ali discovers some family secrets the summer she spends with her aunt and cousin in the cabin on the lake in Maine. Ali's mother is deathly afraid of water and hasn't been to the cabin since she was a young girl. She also suffers from chronic depression and lets a life-changing event consume her. When Ali finds the torn photograph with her mother and aunt, she starts inquiring as to who is missing from the picture. Ali's mother goes into a deeper depression and does everything she can to keep Ali from finding out the secrets that she has held for so long. Then, Aunt Dulcie and her daughter, Emma, show up to whisk Ali away for the summer. Dulcie needs to do some artwork for an upcoming show and needs a babysitter for her 4 almost 5-year-old daughter. Ali is the perfect age to help out so that Aunt Dulcie can attempt to work.

Upon arriving to the cabin on the lake in Maine, Ali and Emma begin a trip of discovery. The photograph keeps haunting Ali. Events spiral out of control and the next thing you know, Ali is finding out the biggest family secret of all.

With this dark cover, the girl in the water, and a title like Deep and Dark and Dangerous, one cannot not want to read this book. I found this book hard to put down and had to read it until I knew all the details. This is very well written for a book geared for the younger side of the Young Adult market. The only problem I did have with the book was that all the characters seemed to have the same type of voice in that a 5-year-old spoke as well as an adult and a teenager had similar wordings that the adult characters in the book had. Other than that, I recommend Deep and Dark and Dangerous for the tween group of readers who like a little suspenseful reading.

Reviewed By Elysabeth Eldering
© January 2010

Allie Nichols a ghost magnet? What keeps attracting ghosts to young Allie when all she is trying to do is live her normal preteen life?

Allie has a nightmare that haunts her for days. Her dreams are so realistic that when she awakens from them, she feels as if she were actually where the dream occurred. She wakes up from a fire dream tasting the soot, feeling the heat on her skin as if she were the one in the fire, and smelling the smoke. She is shortly afterwards visited by a ghost who seemingly wants Allie to help him out. Allie is taken in by his decent looks, his soulful eyes, and his soft-spoken mannerism.

Fires and mishaps seem to follow closely as Allie delves into the ghost's past by first interviewing the cafeteria lady, Mrs. Hobbs, for a class project and then searching the microfilm at the public library. The further Allie delves, the more problems occur. Everything seems to be pointing to Mrs. Hobbs as being the culprit with the scary supernatural powers. Allie and her best friend, Dub, must figure out what is going on before anyone else is injured or harmed.

I read The Ghost and Mrs. Hobbs in two sittings. It is a very short, quick read and kept me on the edge of my seat. I never really knew what to suspect as everything was unfolding. I did feel I was right beside Allie and her family as they experienced all the odd occurrences around them. A definite read for the fourth through sixth graders in your life. The Ghost and Mrs. Hobbs is suspenseful enough to keep reading and fun enough to engage all reading audiences.

Reviewed By Elysabeth Eldering
© January 2010

Competition and high school; they seem to go hand in hand, no matter how much you'd like them to be separate entities. Competition with friends, enemies, and family members seem to be the way during the teen years. When you've been competing with a perfect older brother for attention from your parents as long as you can remember, it would be great to accomplish something spectacular in your own right. Kimberly Lange is about to get the chance in Vikk Simmons' Video Magic.

Kimberly Lange is competing against the perfect-in-every-way and beautiful Marla Morgan, Drama Diva, for an internship on the senior project. She knows she can do the job better, and that Marla prefers to be in front of the camera, not behind it. But Marla is the best friend of Greg Winters, the super hot senior in charge of the project. Everyone believes there must be more to Greg and Marla than friendship.

Kimberly spent her summer on her own project to prove she's the best person for the internship. Her work pays off and she gets the job. Now, can she do everything to show she is worthy of the chance? Does Marla hate her for winning? Does Marla hate her more now that Greg is showing Kimberly more attention than necessary on the project?

Kimberly learns about friendship, love and her own family through her ordeal in Video Magic. She finds love and learns to have more respect for others. The story could have moved more smoothly in places. Time jumped once or twice, passing quicker than I thought it should have. Beyond that, Vikk Simmons has woven a fine story of young love and teen competition that will bring hope to those of an age when either can be quite frustrating.
 
Reviewed By MargeAnna Conrad
© April 2009