Tristan Hart enjoys his typical teenage life on Coney Island: he has his best friend Layla (who he is starting to look twice at), he is one of the best swimmers on his swim team, he is a lifeguard at the beach, and girls think he is hot - at least until he screws up big time.

But when a freak move wave sweeps him out to the ocean and relinquishes its hold on him three days later, Tristan’s life becomes weird. He keeps dreaming of a beautiful silver mermaid with shark teeth and he can suddenly smell the emotions of others. Not to mention, he grows a tail and some shiny scales.

Layla knows something is up and she is determined to figure it out. Tristan is not going to make it easy for her. He cannot just tell her that he is suddenly a merdude and the heir to the sea kingdom.

The Vicious Deep is pretty awesome. I expected it to be extremely sinister, but it was only something sinister, which was fine with me. The Vicious Deep still had its serious, dangerous moments, but what surprised and delighted me was Tristan’s humor. He was so funny without even trying.

Doesn’t that give you a sense of Tristan’s sarcastic humor? He, through Zoraida Córdova, made me laugh out loud numerous times. I also know that Córdova loves Disney’s The Little Mermaid and alluded to it many times throughout the book in the form of puns.

I loved having this male merman perspective! Tristan wonders what happened to his feet, then his manhood. He wonders if he can still eat fish or if it is now considered semi-cannibalism. He also grumbles about how out of all of the creatures in his mom’s fairy books, she had to go and be the girliest.

I have read mermaid books before and they have had merman in them or a love interest who gets to turn into a merman, but Córdova’s The Vicious Deep is the first mer novel I have read that features a male protagonist who is the sea creature. 

Talking about the plot could get spoiler-y, but I will tell you that there is a very slow-building romance that may never go anywhere (but I hope it does), a dangerous quest, the existence of other creatures, some fights and death, and amazing side characters (especially Thalia and Kurt).

The Vicious Deep is definitely laugh out loud funny but it does not lack in danger and revelation. It was very cool and I am looking forward to Córdova’s second installment in the trilogy, The Savage Blue.

Recommended for lovers of mermaid stories fourteen and up. It is awesome from a guy’s point-of-view. It is not girly at all and there are lots of funny moments. Some language. Some violence.

Kate and Vincent survived the imminent numa threat in Paris as well as their own doubts about their blossoming relationship, but now they are dealing with a more long-term issue: how can they both ease Vincent’s compulsion to die for others when Kate realizes the potential lives that could be lost if Vincent does not act on his instincts?

Meanwhile, all has been quiet on the numa front and it has the revenants antsy. They send for reinforcements to fill in for Charlotte and Charles and amp up the safety measures in preparation for an unforeseen potential numa attack. Rumor indicates the numa have a new leader and it puts everyone jeopardy.

What a follow-up! I am telling you now, if you enjoyed Die For Me, you will want to buy Until I Die immediately! 

Until I Die begins in less than a month after the end of Die For Me. Kate is feeling guilty about Vincent’s agreement to try not to die, so he begins to search for a solution. Hating to feel useless, Kate also tries to find an ideal solution to their predicament by searching through her Papy’s old books.

Charles and Charlotte were still around, just not easily accessible, as they had to temporarily move because of Charles’ mistakes. Two new revenants were introduced in their stead: Arthur and Violette (who both lived in the fifteenth century). Jean-Baptiste and the others particularly desired Violette’s expertise on the numa and their activities.

One very minor thing bothered me: Kate’s research turns up very interesting results, but it seemed too convenient.

Other than that, I was more than satisfied with this riveting revenant sequel. Until I Die had a big twist at the end as well as lots of revelations throughout its pages. Ending on a bit of a cliffhanger, readers will nevertheless fall in love with Kate and Vincent and all the rest all over again in Until I Die.

Recommended for fans of Die For Me and young adult readers fourteen and up everywhere who enjoy paranormal romance. Minor violence.

Seventeen-year-old Emily Morgan is an air elemental, but thankfully for her, she is not a pure elemental which means she does not have much power. It is a good thing too. The ones with too much power are rarely, if ever, safe…for others and themselves.

But when Emily takes a summer job only to find that fellow senior and extremely powerful earth elemental, Michael Merrick, frequents the place, she is both excited and fearful. Michael is good-looking and the total brooding type, but he and his family are her family’s mortal enemies.

She should stay away from him. It could never work out between them with her family on the warpath. But their attraction is too hard to ignore.

I read Elemental after reading Storm. While it is not necessary, I recommend that you read Elemental first. I only read Storm first because I was trying to get it done to post the review during its release week (which I did) and I felt like I was racing the clock (which was my own fault for losing track of time haha). Otherwise, I would have switched the order because things that happened to Michael and Emily appeared in passing more than a few times throughout Storm and so I already knew what was going to happen. I just did not know what happened during the beginning and the journey to get there, which definitely colored my view of this fifty page novella. 

Like Storm, Elemental has two points-of-view: Emily’s and Michael’s. This is something I really like in novels because 1) I think young adult books need more male perspectives and 2) I really enjoy the pairing of a female’s and male’s point-of-view. I also really enjoyed getting to know Emily and for that matter, really getting to know Michael because he is almost a different person in Elemental. I really understood him more after reading it. It also really showed how there are always two sides to every story, but it was also frustrating because most of the characters in both books only want to know their sides. Only time and three more books in the series proper will tell if a resolution comes to pass. I am all too ready for that journey!

Elemental provides a concise yet more in-depth view of Michael and introduces the reader to Emily. It was very bittersweet and beautiful for me because I read Storm first.

Recommended for fans of Storm and those fourteen and older who are interested in a new young adult series that features male perspectives with the paranormal twist of controlling the elements. One instance of minor violence.

KTeen has made Elemental available for free at all the major eBook retailers until 6 May 2012. KTeen asks for readers to use the #Elemental hashtag when posting about books in this series.

Becca Chandler gets a lot of attention…for all of the wrong reasons, thanks to her no-good ex-boyfriend Drew. But all of that unwanted attention takes a sort of backseat when she saves Chris Merrick after two guys beat him up in the high school parking lot. Because of her good deed, she is suddenly mixed up with all of the Merrick brothers and their secrets. Despite her attraction to Chris, the new kid, Hunter, also makes her heart race. In the midst of everything, all of their lives could be in danger.

The Merrick brothers - Michael, Gabriel, Nick, and Chris - are pure Elementals. Each can control a different element: earth, fire, air, and water. In Storm, Brigid Kemmerer tells Becca’s and Chris’ stories from each of their points-of-view in the third person. Storm opened with Becca’s point-of-view and I was like, hold up a minute…I thought these books were supposed to be from a guy’s perspective?! I just had not realized that we lucky readers were going to be able to get into two different characters’ heads.

Becca is an only child and Chris is the youngest of his brothers and an orphan. Both of the protagonists are juniors in high school. Michael is the eldest brother and Gabriel and Nick are twins (yes, twins! Not only did I get to read a young adult novel with a male perspective, a rarity, it also featured male twins, another rarity!). The twins are seniors at the same high school and Michael is out of school and working (he is twenty-two).

When I was told about Storm, I was not only excited about the story, but also excited about the author, Brigid Kemmerer, when I learned that she is not only a Maryland resident, but one who basically lives a hop, skip, and a jump away from me in an area of the state I actually know. What I did not realize until I began reading, however, was that Kemmerer set her story in our area which meant that I got to squeal a little bit every time her characters went to a place I know.

As for the story and the characters, I enjoyed both immensely. I liked Chris and his brothers a lot (I would have to say that Gabriel is my type, but I will see if that assessment still holds up when I read book two, Spark). At first, Michael really bothered me and I am sure he will bother you too, but as more came to light about him, I just wanted to be there for him too. I really liked and related to Becca and I felt horrible for her obviously unearned bad reputation at school. I also really liked Hunter, the “New Kid”. He was deep and mostly let things roll off of him like water.

Since this is a lot about my feelings and opinions so I do not give anything important away, I want to let you know that chapter 28 was particularly amazing. Call me naïve or slow, but I was so caught up in the other elements of the story (see what I did there?) that when Becca’s story came to light, it brought tears to my eyes and I definitely had one hand clamped over my mouth. She also made me so proud.

Then, there was a betrayal. I had started to suspect it and I could not add it up, but it happened. My suspecting it did not lessen the effect though.

But wait! After that there was a huge twist that knocked me off my feet (figuratively, since I was laying in bed in the wee hours of this morning finishing the book). But I did actually smack my forehead. How did I not see it coming? Well played Mrs. Kemmerer!

Storm has a lot of tension, which I enjoyed (and it obviously fits the perfect title). And the emotions, Becca’s especially, were potent. I felt what they were feeling as I read. It was so cathartic. I felt like I forged this connection with this book because I know the places, the setting, in real life, and I used to hang out in this particular county a lot a few years back and any number of these characters could have been people I knew. It is a rare and special thing to have that kind of a connection with a book.

Brigid Kemmerer’s Storm is excellent. I am beyond impressed with the story, the history, and all of the characters, especially Becca and the Merricks. It is full of secrets, betrayal, and real teenage problems when you strip away the elements. I am burning (mmhmm, think about it! The next book is Spark!) for more!

Recommended for readers fourteen and up who enjoy paranormal young adult books, especially one like this that involves the four elements and a male point-of-view. Even without firsthand knowledge of the setting, I am positive that many people will be able to really connect to the characters and the story. Some language and alcohol use. Some minor violence, like fistfights and assault.

Werewolves are real - and everyone knows about them. Mackenzie’s best friend, Amy, was killed by a white werewolf and Mac’s dreams and waking moments have been haunted by it ever since. Amy gives Mac cryptic information in her dreams while the Trackers come to Hemlock to weed out those who are infected with lupine syndrome.

Mac decides to look into the details of Amy’s murder after she learns that everything and everyone has been keeping secrets from her: the town, Amy’s boyfriend Jason, their good friend Kyle, and even Amy herself.

She will learn secrets that will betray everything she knew and that will make her feel like she is losing Amy all over again.

Hemlock is a poisonous plant and I found it to be a fitting name for this town that becomes a place of grief after Amy’s murder and then turns into a place of poison when Mac learns of all the secrets and betrayal that were kept from her.

Hemlock began with a terrifying dream Mac has that was very real for Amy, followed by the funeral. Then the story proper started.

I was surprised and pleased when I learned that the whole world was aware of werewolves. I have found it rare and in fact I can only think of one young adult series that does that as well: Christine Johnson’s Claire de Lune books. These books could not be more different though.

I really liked Mac. She was at once sure of herself and stupidly brave when it counted, yet she also suffered from low self-esteem. I felt bad for her, trying to hold everyone together while she was falling apart inside. I liked her older cousin Tess as well, who was her legal guardian.

Kyle was awesome even though I did not approve of some of his decisions, especially the one at the end. He would definitely be the guy I would choose though.

I liked Jason as well, but not as much as Kyle, because he was so self-destructive and he made bad decision after bad decision. But I absolutely felt for him as well.

The side characters all play interesting roles. Serena and Trey Carson and Tess’ boyfriend Ben, and various Trackers all had more to them than I suspected at first.

Speaking of the Trackers, they hunted down the infected and were supposed to send them to government-run internment camps, but Kathleen Peacock implied through her characters that the Trackers sometimes killed werewolves and humans who might get in their way.

There was also a less influential counter group called the RfW - Regs for Werewolves. It was a national network of activists who lobbied for increased werewolf rights.

Between the humans and werewolves, I noticed an “us and them” mentality as Mac described them. The masses wanted to persecute all of the werewolves while a few, like Mac, just wanted the bad ones to pay for what they have done while treating the good ones like people rather than animals.

This was definitely a theme throughout the book, but the majority of Hemlock was about Mac digging into Amy’s murder and learning things she might have preferred to have kept buried. But in the end, it was better to know.

Hemlock was a paranormal murder mystery and thriller with a mostly satisfying conclusion (the mostly has to do with one of Kyle’s decisions) and the promise of more to come.

Recommended for readers sixteen and older who enjoy paranormal and werewolf books and who want a fresh take on the genre. Some language, murder, and drugs and alcohol.

Juliette’s touch is lethal and powerful, but to her, it is just a horrible curse, one that got her locked up in a tiny cell in an asylum. She is extremely lonely, lacking parental love and the ability for human touch. She feels forgotten. It seems as if though as long as she is locked up, no one cares to give a second thought to how she is doing. Now, The Reestablishment that destroyed everything under the guise of making it better wants to use Juliette as a weapon.

Tahereh Mafi did not provide too much detail on The Reestablishment, which was fine with me because getting into the nitty gritty can sometimes be distracting and superfluous. Basically, society went down hill and The Reestablishment said they could fix it when in fact, they made it worse. What Juliette does not know is that there are rebel groups that are very organized and are waiting for the opportune moment to strike back. It was obviously a dystopian society, but the book did have some paranormal elements with Juliette’s ability.

The plot was good and I loved Adam, Kenji, and I even had a cautious fascination and hate of Warner, like Juliette did. It was really hard to just dismiss the guy as an evildoer, which he was, but he was so charismatic. Go Tahereh! 

Where was I? Oh, plot. A teenage girl who can kill with her touch is just fodder for a good story and there was so much more to her than that. I believe Shatter Me was a good introduction to the characters, story, and trilogy, but there were a few things that bothered me.

The incessant strike-throughs (you know, these) drove me a bit crazy. I thought the were superfluous rather than clever even though I know they were meant to demonstrate Juliette’s thought process, as well as the lack of commas where needed. And honestly, the first twelve chapters were not as exciting as I had hoped them to be and I was beginning to despair as I read. Around chapter thirteen, Shatter Me became more interesting to me and by chapter nineteen I was definitely more into it.

So to sum it up, Shatter Me started too slowly for my liking but it picked up and I ended up enjoying the story. The grammar evened out as I read on (or maybe I did not notice it as much anymore) and the characters really interested me, especially the boys because each of them was so different, all wanted Juliette for different reasons, and I just wanted to dig deeper and learn their motives.

Recommended for young adult readers sixteen and older who are fans of dystopian fiction like Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky and Possession by Elana Johnson.

Some time has passed since the infant inconvenience was born to Lord and Lady Maccon and given the name of Prudence. Alexia and her gruff werewolf husband have settled into parenthood while living in Lord Akeldama’s second best closet. Lord Akeldama has spoiled his adopted daughter and everyone has settled into domestic bliss. That is, until Alexia receives a strange summons from Alexandria to call upon the vampire queen of the Alexandria Hive. The Maccons and Tunstells board a steamer for an adventure that will change everyone’s lives.

I am sad to see the Parasol Protectorate end but it ended very well and it was every bit as satisfying as the four books that preceded it: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, and Heartless. Plus, Gail Carriger has penned a young adult spin-off with the first book coming out some time in February 2013 as well as another adult spin-off debuting some time in 2013, so at least I will be able to return to this world she has created in the future.

As for Timeless, a few new characters were introduced to the reader, but none that were meant to leave a lasting impression. This fifth and final installment was all about the characters we have already come to know and love throughout the series. Well, okay, I guess technically there was a new character of note although readers knew she would be coming for the last two books: the infant inconvenience in the flesh, Prudence Maccon. As a metanatural, she was a precocious toddler who was a fast learner because of her mother and her ability to steal the supernatural from werewolves and vampires, if only for a time.

The events of Timeless were almost too much for Alexia, especially toward the end. And readers know how much it takes to upset Alexia.

I did not think it was possible, but I came to love Professor Lyall and Biffy even more in this book. I really enjoyed every scene that involved one or both of them.

Alexia’s half-sister Felicity made another appearance which was thankfully brief because she had become even more evil and I was afraid of the trouble she might cause. 

Madame Lefoux made appearances throughout the book and although seeing her brought up some affection towards her from Alexia, she was not sure she could be trusted again.

Floote took a turn in character and it became clear that he put his promises to Alexia’s deceased father above all else. Still, by the end, Floote was able to maintain an air of secrecy.

Gail Carriger allowed her characters to reveal secrets to each other and to the readers, but she still left a lot to the imagination.

A lot of exciting things happened in Timeless and one thing that had me very worried. New relationships were formed between the characters and just diving back into Alexia’s world was like taking a vacation in another time. The Parasol Protectorate is truly a favorite series of mine and one I hope everyone will read. Now that this chapter is over, I hope to carve out time soon to read the whole series again, but back to back.

Recommended for teens and adults who enjoy steampunk blended with a few other genres.

Maddy Swift is a high school junior with only one real friend who can be overly dramatic. Her short-term dream is to finally attend the school’s formal with a date, so when the attractive new guy, Stamp, asks her to a house party, her life changes.

When Maddy sneaks out to meet Stamp, she ignores the bad storm and is struck by lightning. She awakens in what she thinks if a few minutes later, but quickly realizes something is very wrong.

Zombies Don’t Cry begins with a prologue before taking the reader to a period two weeks earlier. Maddy and her best friend, Haze, are in home ec class talking about the accidental deaths of three of their female classmates. Hazel believes the class is cursed. Maddy blows her off, but in a way, Hazel was right.

Zombies Don’t Cry was a relatively quick read that once again shook up my zombie beliefs. It was not the first zombie book I have read in which the zombies were able to function. It was the first that not only had a hierarchy of zombies, but also two different kinds of zombies. And the type of zombie one became depended on whether a person was bitten or experienced a high volume of electricity. Yes, electricity. The, I guess, mechanics of becoming a zombie and zombie nature that Rusty Fischer introduced were clever.

Other than that, I thought the plot was just alright and so were the characters. I have not forgotten them, but they do not stand out in my mind. I made it through Zombies Don’t Cry with no problem, but while nothing bothered me, nothing wowed me either.

Recommended for fans of zombie books and the paranormal. It may not be spectacular, but give it a try if you have the time.

Samantha Kingston is a good girl who has made some poor choices in her life that stem from her lack of popularity in elementary and early middle school and her now popular state. She has a popular, sought-after boyfriend, three popular best friends (Lindsay, Ally, and Elody), and anything else she could want as a senior in high school. Friday, February 12 is just another awesome day in her awesome life until it turns out to be her last.

But then, miraculously, she gets a second chance. Then a third, a fourth…reliving the last day of her life seven times gives her the chance to figure out the circumstances of her death and what she could lose.

In February, I downloaded the free Story Teen Crush sampler for Kindle and in between books, I decided to, well, sample. Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall was first on the sampler and the only sample I have gotten through so far. I kept thinking the sample would be short but it kept going for like five chapters and I.could.not.stop.reading. Samantha and her friends, Lindsay, Ally, and Elody, get into a terrible and likely fatal car accident, yet everything suddenly stopped and Sam woke up in her own bed…on the tragic day she just lived through.

And it kept happening. The first time the accident happened, I was reading quickly like I was tumbling down a hill - like a snowball rolling down a hill and it gets bigger and rolls faster. That was how I was reading each time I got closer to the time when everything stopped for Sam over and over again.. It was crazy and I knew I had to keep reading the book even though I had planned on reading something else.

Also, as I read, certain things about the story and the characters kept reminding me of the movie Mean Girls, but way harsher and less comedic. Sam and her friends were the mean girls although there was more going on there than that. There were also cliques and horrible pranks and readers would think that these kids would not do this stupid crap since their school’s nickname used to be Suicide High. But they did. And they partied hard because there was nothing else to do.

Real time thought from when I was reading:

It was really interesting to see the same day over and over again from different angles and to piece things together. Seven is a very significant number in religion and in more classical literature. There is a reason Lauren Oliver had seven chapters with Sam experiencing the same day seven times. Reliving the same day seven times with Sam was a new experience for me. I loved seeing the various sides of each character and the many way things could play out just by changing a few details. It was hard to hate the main characters, especially Lindsay, after learning more about them in that one day than I would have if each day was a new one. I actually pitied a lot of the characters, liked Sam, and wished and hoped really hard that everything would work out.

At 97% through Before I Fall, I started to realize what Sam might do and I felt my eyes go as big as saucers. Wow. I just - I finished Before I Fall late at night and I could not stop wondering about the aftermath. How would everyone else feel? I found myself studying each character in my mind and imagining what they went through after. I could not stop thinking about Sam’s bravery and I ached for everything that happened. Everything worked out - just not the way I thought it would.

Recommended for everyone - especially teens - but I really do not care how old you are. The story is exceptional, the characters are well-developed, and Before I Fall will keep you glued to its pages.

A crack in the ice. Fractures rippling outward. Eleven minutes is all it takes to change a life.

Delaney Maxwell spent eleven minutes trapped beneath the ice of a frozen Maine lake. When her best friend, Decker Phillips, finally pulled her out, she was dead. Pale skin, blue lips, no heartbeat. Yet the paramedics got her to the hospital and hooked up to machines. Not only did she live, but she was anything but a vegetable.

Delaney is just as alive as anyone else - maybe more so. Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Then she meets Troy Varga who came out of a coma with the same abilities she is experiencing. At first, she feels like he is the only one who can understand her, but she soon learns his motives differ greatly from hers.

Written in the first person from Delaney’s point-of-view, Fracture is intense right from the start. And Janna’s (a secondary character) retelling of what happened to Delaney while she was in the hospital was intense and scary. Decker’s reactions and actions, as Janna explained them, were frantic but also showed the depth of his feelings for Delaney.

I loved Decker and I understood the skirting around he and Delaney did because they were young and this one traumatic thing happened, but turned out okay, so things between them kind of continued on as normal. But then Troy came into the picture and of course, I thought he was creepy and dangerous at first, but once Delaney (and thus, the reader) got to know him a bit better, I felt more comfortable with him. Chapter 10, particularly pages 138-139, completely sold me on him. He went through something traumatic too. It has stuck with him and it affects him every moment, so I felt for him.

But Megan Miranda was really clever (and why would she not be - as I prepared this post, I learned that she is a former scientist). After that, I saw a different, scarier Troy and was wondering how in the hell I fell for it. Boys. It must be boys. And Delaney’s confusion. I did have to rely on her observation, after all.

As Fracture progressed, Delaney continued to spiral downward and I was really worried about her. She was broken inside and she was right on the edge of not caring anymore. That is a horrible feeling, but sometimes the only feeling one can cling to.

After another traumatic event involving Delaney, but one where she was not in danger, all of her friends abandon her. It disgusted me. She deserved better. By this point in the story, I did not care for Decker or for Troy. As I kept reading the aftermath of this latest traumatic event, I was appalled! How dare these kids, these people who were supposed to be friends, treat Delaney in this way? It really affected me and angered me.

Fracture is definitely an emotional book as you all can probably tell from my rambling, and not only because of the previous paragraph. Most of the time when I read about death or see it on television, I am moved but ultimately fine. However, at points, Fracture had me really thinking about death and that is a scary place to go. But the premise of Fracture, the story, and its execution were all amazing. Any books that makes you feel like this and really think is a worthwhile read.

Recommended for young adult readers sixteen and older who enjoy contemporary fiction with a twist of the paranormal. If you liked Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, you will like Fracture.