YA Thursday - Recent Reads

NEED by Joelle Charbonneau (HMH BFYR hardcover, 3 November 2015).*

There's a new social networking site exclusive to the students at Nottawa High School in Wisconsin. The site, called NEED, will grant a person's need when they sign up.  For some, a need is as simple as the latest cell phone or tickets to a concert.  But for Kaylee Dunham, the need is a new kidney for her younger brother.

After making her request, Kaylee has second thoughts and tries to investigate the site, but she keeps
coming up against brick walls.  And then some of her fellow students are inujured or killed, and she's sure it's somehow connected to NEED.

Joelle Charbonneau has created a terrifyingly believable mystery/thriller/social commentary that is absolutely unputdownable.

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A School for Brides: A Story of Maidens, Mystery and Matrimony by Patrice Kindl (Viking BFYR hardcover, 14 July 2015).**


This companion to Keeping the Castle takes place in the same location:  Lesser Hoo, Yorkshire. Some of the same characters are present in minor roles, but the focus of the story is the students of Winthrop Hopkins Female Academy, a school  for young ladies aspiring to marry.  

Unfortunately, there is a lack of single young men in Lesser Hoo, but both students and instructors are hopeful.  Not that the students need much instructing.  This is a quick, humorous read that will be loved by Jane-ites and other fans of light Regency romance.

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Ten by Gretchen McNeil (Balzer + Bray hardcover, 18 September 2012).***

Ten Seattle high school students have been invited to a private party on Henry Island. They've just arrived at the island when a huge storm hits.  After watching a creepy DVD, they decide to call it a night. In the morning, one of the girls is hanging from the rafters, and there's a red hash mark on the wall.

The power has gone out, so they are unable to call for help. Unsure whom to trust, they begin to turn on each other.  The number of hash marks increases...

This is a well-crafted homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, a classic you should read if you enjoyed Ten.






FTC Full Disclosures:
*Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing me with an e-galley.
** Library book.
***Purchased.