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Fiction | Page 233 | LitPick Book Reviews
Fiction
Just One Wish
Just One Wish
Janette Rallison
Seventeen-year-old Annika Truman knows about the power of positive thinking. With a little brother who has cancer, it?s all she ever hears about. And in order to help Jeremy, she will go to the ends of the earth (or at least as far as Hollywood) to help him believe he can survive his upcoming surgery. But Annika?s plan to convince Jeremy that a magic genie will grant him any wish throws her a curveball when he unexpectedly wishes that his television idol would visit him. Annika suddenly fi nds herself in the desperate predicament of getting access to a hunky star actor and convincing him to come home with her. Piece of cake, right? Janette Rallison?s proven talent for laugh-out-loud humor, teen romance, and deep-hearted storytelling shines in a novel that will have readers laughing and crying at the same time.

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Boost
Boost
Kathy Mackel
Thirteen-year-old Savvy is six two and full of raw basketball talent; her three-point shot is deadly. But she’s also skinny and gets pushed around on the court. Her older sister, Callie, is a freshman on varsity cheerleading, but she’s not quite light enough to be a flier—her coveted position. Both girls need to boost their level of competition to get off the bench and into the action. When steroids are found in Savvy’s gym bag, she claims they are not hers. Suddenly, accusations are flying and nobody knows who is telling the truth. When it comes to competitive sports, no one is exempt from being offered a boost.

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Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies
Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies
Erin Dionne
Thirteen-year-old Celeste Harris is no string bean, but comfy sweatpants and a daily chocolate cookie suit her just fine. Her under-the-radar lifestyle could have continued too, if her aunt hadn?t entered her in the HuskyPeach Modeling Challenge. To get out of it, she?s forced to launch Operation Skinny Celeste?because, after all, a thin girl can?t be a fat model! What Celeste never imagined was that losing weight would help her gain a backbone . . . or that all she needed to shine was a spotlight. A hilarious debut featuring friendship, family, mean girls and even celebrity crushes, Celeste?s story is a delicious treat that doesn?t add a pound.

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If I Stay
If I Stay
Gayle Forman
In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck... A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

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Willow
Willow
Julia Hoban
Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen year- old Willow?s parents died in a horrible car accident. Willow was driving. Now her older brother barely speaks to her, her new classmates know her as the killer orphan girl, and Willow is blocking the pain by secretly cutting herself. But when one boy ?one sensitive, soulful boy?discovers Willow?s secret, it sparks an intense relationship that turns the ?safe? world Willow has created for herself upside down. Told in an extraordinary fresh voice, Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girl?s struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boy?s refusal to give up on her.

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The Bird
The Bird
J Marshall Martin
"We are off on a race against time, through such specific geography from West Coast to East - Seattle to Savannah - that the land itself is part of the adventure. J. Marshall Martin (in his second novel) slips 16 year old Tripp into the driver's seat of his father's beloved black Thunderbird. Unfolding quick page by quick page, Tripp fulfills the last request of his powerful grandfather - to 'kidnap' him from a nursing home and return him to their real home (for both of them) Savannah. Grandfather guides as backseat driver and Tripp travels to try to keep his memory of his mother, while his father is locked away in grief over her death. Hobble, companion and fellow traveler, rides shot-gun as a salami eating, unstoppable three legged dog. Then they are joined by Angie, in all black, with pierced belly button, purple hair and dragon tattoo, hitching her way to find somewhere, too. Martin has powered this novel with the soft spots and rough edges milled by these strong characters in the act of finding how hard the responsibility is to step off into a new part of their lives. Who will Tripp be once back home after going against his father's demands, while aiding the irrepressible will of a sneaky, quirky grandfather." -- Carol Lee Lorenzo, author of "Nervous Dancer."

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The Way He Lived
The Way He Lived
Emily Wing Smith
"It’s a testament to Smith’s skills that although her central character speaks only through other people’s recollections, his identity emerges distinctly by the end of the novel." ―Publishers Weekly, starred review Winner of the 2009 Utah Book Award (young adult category) Sometimes being true to yourself means sacrificing everything... Joel Espen could never be who he really was in the small town of Haven. Still, there was always something different about him. Sixteen years old. Green eyes that could see right into your heart. A selfless need to save people. Even the way he died reflected the way he lived: helping others. But how are you supposed to just go on living like normal after suddenly losing your brother . . . your best friend . . . your first love? As the six teens who were closest to Joel try to find the meaning behind his death, they begin to realize that tragedy can sometimes set you free―by revealing who you truly are.

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Ignatius MacFarland: Frequenaut!
Ignatius Macfarland
Paul Feig
After being teased one too many times at school, Ignatius MacFarland decides to build a rocket. Maybe extraterrestrials are nicer than his classmates! But when his rocket takes an explosive wrong turn, Ignatius ends up in another frequency run by former English-teacher-turned-dictator, Chester Arthur. Mr. Arthur has taken the art, culture, and advancements of our world, shared them with this new frequency, and convinced the creatures around him that he's a genius. It's up to Iggy and Karen, another trapped earthling, to expose Mr. Arthur for the fraud that he is-and to hopefully make it home alive. Part comedy, part science fiction, and part fantasy, this debut novel, with line art by talented newcomer Peter Chan, makes being a geek, well, kind of cool.

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Ghost Cats of the South
Ghost Cats of the South
Randy Russell
In this companion volume to the popular GHOST DOGS OF THE SOUTH, award-winning folklorist Randy Russell presents more than 20 original stories of cats who reach between the worlds of life and death. Each story is birthed from existing folklore, noted incidents of ghost cats, and first-person accounts. No mere compendium of reported incidents and sightings, this ghostly volume introduces the reader to the fuller circumstances and personalities of known encounters with cats who have landed on their feet in the afterlife.

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Eon: Dragoneye Reborn
Eon
Alison Goodman
Eon has been studying the ancient art of Dragon Magic for four years, hoping he'll be able to apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But he also has a dark secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been living a dangerous lie for the chance to become a Dragoneye, the human link to an energy dragon's power. It is forbidden for females to practice the Dragon Magic and, if discovered, Eon faces a terrible death. After a dazzling sword ceremony, Eon's affinity with the twelve dragons catapults him into the treacherous world of the Imperial court, where he makes a powerful enemy, Lord Ido. As tension builds and Eon's desperate lie comes to light, readers won't be able to stop turning the pages ...

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