THE RESISTANCE is the much anticipated sequel to THE DECLARATION.  It picks up where THE DECLARATION leaves off and is told through Peter’s eyes.  He and Anna live together with Ben, Anna’s brother, in a run down house trying to keep out of the way.  Peter and Anna aren’t comfortable being Legal yet and find the stares and nasty comments coming from the other citizens unsettling. 

Peter and Anna work for the Underground whenever they can.  They both want to see the Declaration a thing of the past.  Peter gets his chance when his grandfather and head of Pincent Pharma offers him a position at the company.  Pincent Pharma is responsible for Longevity, the drug that makes an extended life possible.  Peter uses this opportunity to get information for the Underground.  What he finds causes him to question his beliefs about the Declaration, the Underground, and his relationship with Anna.  It takes uncovering a horrible secret to put him back on track.

THE RESISTANCE was just as good as THE DECLARATION.  The suspense keeps you turning page after page.  Peter’s character is so likeable and his devotion to Anna is heartwarming.  Gemma Malley leaves it open for another story and I for one can’t wait to see what happens next.

THE SUMMONING is a story about Chloe Saunders, a typical high school teen with hopes of attracting the eye of a long time crush and becoming an award winning movie director when she finishes school.  All her hopes go down the drain when she sees the ghost of a badly burned, long dead janitor at her school.  She runs screaming through the halls and is restrained by teachers until an ambulance comes to pick her up.  The next thing she knows, she is on her way to Lyle House, a home for troubled teens.

Chloe attempts to be a model student and is determined to get better.  After a couple of sessions with the doctor on staff at Lyle House, Chloe is convinced she has schizophrenia, but Derek, a sullen and rude boy, makes her consider other possibilities.  Derek tells her she is a necromancer, a person able to communicate with the dead.  The thought is terrifying, but strange incidents around Lyle House lead her to believe Derek is right.

I enjoyed reading THE SUMMONING from start to finish, but I have to say that the beginning could have moved a little faster.  I was expecting more ghost communication than there was.  Part of the reason there isn’t much communication with ghosts is the fact that the doctors have Chole on strong medication which supress her abilities.  I’m sure we’ll see more ghost activity in the sequel, THE AWAKENING.  Once I got a quarter of the way into the book I knew I wasn’t going to be able to put it down.  I just settled in and enjoyed the ride.

After the floods, Earth Mother created sheltered environments on the islands that remained.  Honor’s family is relocated to Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea.  The island has been enclosed with a barrier that is supposed to protect against wind and rain.  The light is placed in the sky by a projector – a different color to represent every hour.

Honor and her family don’t fit in.  Her parents stay out past curfew, they don’t teach her things other people on Island 365 know – they didn’t even name her right.

Eventually Honor meets Helix, a kind boy her age.  After their parents disappear, they begin to realize that Island 365 has a terrible secret and together they begin the process of uncovering the truth.

Allegra Goodman has created an interesting addition to the post apocalyptic genre.  You’ll be hoping for a sequel as soon as you get to the end of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND.

Kyle is gorgeous and he knows it.  He ignores or worse, verbally abuses those that don’t meet his standards.  What is on the outside is the only thing that counts to Kyle.

Until……

A girl from his English class, with her green hair, large body, and drastic clothing teaches him a lesson.

When Kyle stands her up for the school dance she reveals her true self.  She is a witch and she cast a spell on him.  A spell that turns him into a beast.

He has two years to find true love.  Someone who will love him even in his beast form.  Someone who will show that love with a kiss.  If he doesn’t find that love in two years he’ll remain a beast forever.

Sammi is a floater.  She has friends in every clique at school, but doesn’t really fit in with any one of them.  Her only close friends are four girls just like her.  They started hanging out together because they didn’t fit in anywhere else.  Just hanging out has turned into four of the strongest friendships Sammi has ever had.

Sammi, Caryn, Letty, TQ, and Katsuko are inseparable.  One night during a sleepover, the idea of getting a tattoo to represent their bond to each other develops.  Immediately they are all excited – except for Sammi.  She knows her parents wouldn’t approve and with them teetering on the edge of divorce already, she doesn’t want to give them anything else to fight about.  Sammi hopes the idea of the tattoo just falls by the wayside and eventually is forgotten.  Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.

Together they come up with a plan to get out of the house and go to a tattoo shop close to Letty’s house.  The creepy tattoo artist doesn’t ask to see their IDs and they all start to plan where they will place their tattoo.  Each girl chooses a different location, but all will have the exact same design.  After all of her friends have already been tattooed, Sammi decides she can’t go through with it.

Immediately, Sammi is shunned and becomes on outcast in her group.  They even go so far as to defriend her on her Instant Messaging Buddy List.  Soon after the application of the tattoos, Sammi notices a change in TQ, Caryn, Letty, and Katsuko for the worse.  They become violent, promiscuous, and horribly mean.  In the middle of a fight that lands Sammi in the hospital, she spots the tattoos on her friends’ skin and sees that they have changed.  Tendrils have started to emerge and cover more of their bodies.  Sammi realizes something sinister is going on and that the creepy tattoo artist must be behind it.  She decides to find a way to save her friends and get them out from under the control of the poisoned tattoos.

Milton and Marlo Fauster run into some trouble at the mall ond day and end up in Heck.  Heck is the place where the bad kids go.  Milton can totally understand how Marlo, his kleptomaniac sister ended up there, but he is a good kid.  He is sure a mistake has been made.\

As soon as they arrive, they are greeted by Bea “Elsa” Bubb, the Principal of Darkness of the Underworld’s reform school.  Immediately Milton and Marlo decide they have to escape and begin to formulate a plan.  By using a piece of liver in the cafeteria as a secret hiding place, Milton and Marlo begin to exchange notes until the time comes to make a run for it.

HECK is an enjoyable read that is packed with both, silly humor and creepy imagery.  The author leaves it open for a sequel.  Dale E. Basye has a great website devoted to this book that contains information about Heck itself as well as desktop wallpaper and other free goodies.  Click here to check it out.

For the first time ever, three powerful mediums are going to join hands on a live morning TV show in order to conduct the largest ever seance.  The minute they join hands, people in the live studio audience begin to hear voices and feel the bone chilling cold that is so often associated with the spirit world.  Panic breaks out and rightly so….the spirits have been given the opportunity to come through an open door into the world of the living and they aren’t wasting any time.

Spirits are returning to their dead and decomposing bodies and raising up from their graves.  Zombies begin to brutally attack anyone unfortunate enough to get in their path.  A group of strangers are thrown together and forced to find a way to survive - even if what they have to do is very unpleasant.

Christopher Golden has delivered a genuine horror novel.  Blood and gore flow free throughout the chapters.  However, as weird as this may sound, the violence portrayed in SOULLESS is done tastefully and not disgusting at all.  SOULLESS is a thrill ride – a thrill ride with flesh eating zombies every step of the way.

SOULLESS will be available in stores October 2008.  Check out more on the website.

In the nation of Panem, formerly known as North America, the Capitol rules the twelve outlying districts harshly.  Because of a past uprising, the Capitol requires each district to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games – a fight to the death broadcasted on live TV.

When Katniss hears her twelve-year-old sister’s name called to serve for their district in the Games, she doesn’t hesitate to volunteer herself to go in her place.  Katniss resolves herself to the idea that she will never see her family again.

Once Katniss is transported to the Capitol with the male counterpart from her district, she is put through several days of rigorous training before being thrown into the unknown landscape of the competition.

The HUNGER GAMES is a mix between The Lottery, The Most Dangerous Game, and Stephen King’s The Running Man.  Heartpounding action runs throughout the entire book.  You’ll be holding on to the edge of your seat until you find out who survives this barbaric form of governmental control.